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Chapter 25
Duke Aindert furrowed his brows ever so slightly.
“Forgive my limited knowledge, but… may I ask, where exactly is Tenebe located?”
Though his tone turned polite, suspicion lingered in his voice.
Before Rosalyn could answer, Erich smoothly intervened.
“It was a kingdom in the southwestern isles. Some two hundred years ago, when the First Emperor waged his wars of conquest, Tenebe was annexed into the Empire.”
“Ah, I see…”
Given how many states had been either conquered or erased from history back then, his ignorance was only natural.
That was precisely why Rosalyn had chosen to claim Tenebe’s royal lineage as her guise.
No one would think to verify it. Even I stumbled across its name purely by chance.
Even if he suspected, he had no way of confirming.
Rosalyn lowered her gaze to the floor at a slant, crafting an air of wistful melancholy.
“Of course… It would be unreasonable to expect you to know of a nation lost two centuries past.”
Erich added helpfully,
“Though in the southwestern isles, there are still some who recall its name. After its annexation, the royal descendants became known for their charity—feeding the poor, tending to orphans.”
That much, at least, was true.
Fifty years ago, their line had dwindled to almost nothing, leaving only faint memory.
But regardless of a kingdom’s fall, royalty was still royalty.
Even a princess of a dead nation could prove an irresistible bait to a man like Duke Aindert.
Though his eldest daughter had been married into the Imperial family, the ducal house itself was still merely nobility.
To add “royal blood” into the lineage…
Even while pretending indifference, Rosalyn could sense his interest sharpening.
“…My apologies, Your Highness. I spoke out of turn.”
His attitude shifted to respectful at once.
Rosalyn donned the mask of a magnanimous princess.
“Think nothing of it. It was my fault, for not disclosing my station from the beginning.”
“If it pleases you, shall we continue this conversation in the banquet hall?”
The Duke himself stepped forward to escort her.
As Rosalyn followed, her eyes were not bright with triumph but clouded and heavy.
So this is the man who leads the greatest ducal house of the Empire…
Even as the hunger for noble blood burned in his gaze, he never let his guard fall.
He lowered himself, yes, but it was only the crouch of a predator hiding in tall grass.
The carpeted hallway to the banquet hall felt less like a welcome and more like a passage into a tiger’s den.
Well… isn’t that exactly what I came for? To steal away a cub from the beast’s lair.
Rosalyn’s thoughts wandered to the one person who should have appeared this evening.
Cassis.
Though this entire ruse hinged on her being introduced as his bride-to-be, the Duke never once summoned him.
Where is he?
* * *
“Ugh, exhausting.”
After the banquet, Rosalyn collapsed backward onto the guestroom bed.
“That old tiger…”
The words slipped out unbidden, laced with irritation.
She recalled the exchange at dinner.
“I would very much like to meet the young lord.”
That was the true reason behind tonight’s masquerade. By presenting herself as Cassis’s prospective bride, she could naturally request a meeting with him.
But the very first attempt had already failed.
“I regret to say, the young lord is unwell this evening. I cannot make introductions.”
“Oh dear. Is he gravely ill?”
“He sustained an injury while on duty. A few days of rest should see him well again.”
Cassis was wounded—but not in any “duty.” He had been stabbed by an assassin, right inside his own home. Rosalyn knew better than anyone, for she had been there.
But when the Duke mentioned “a few days”…
So he truly intends to keep me from seeing him.
Rosalyn feigned a sigh.
“What a shame, to have traveled so far for nothing.”
Right on cue, Erich chimed in with the perfect suggestion.
“Then perhaps this: since Her Highness has come such a long way, and has no proper lodging in the capital, why not stay here at the manor? In a few days, the young lord will have recovered enough to receive you.”
To refuse would have seemed odd, so the Duke agreed with ill-concealed reluctance.
Still, without Cassis present, the banquet had been hollow—an endless exchange of pleasantries, all surface and no substance.
Except for the probing.
The Duke never struck directly, but even casual chatter would suddenly twist into a pointed question, forcing her guard up again and again. By the end, her head throbbed with the effort of keeping her composure.
“What delicacies are most common in the southwestern isles? My travels have never taken me so far.”
Rosalyn couldn’t even recall what she’d answered. Something vague about seafood, most likely.
Even now, her temples ached from the memory.
Now what…
She had secured a pretext to remain in the ducal manor. Next came the task of finding Cassis.
He was here, she was certain.
When she first asked to see him, the Duke had paused—just for a heartbeat.
He’s here. But for some reason, he cannot be brought before me.
Rosalyn stretched her arms wide, a smile tugging at her lips.
“In that case, perhaps it’s time for a midnight walk.”
After all, the night was the perfect ally of secrets, in any age or land.
She would wait for darkness to fall. Then she would hunt.
* * *
The hour was deep, the estate quiet but for the occasional hoot of an owl.
Rosalyn slipped out of her chambers, an oil lamp covered with cloth in her hand, casting only a muted glow at her feet.
This feels just like the infiltration work back in my old missions…
Disguise. Silence. Patience. Those were the core tenets.
She placed her steps with painstaking care, avoiding every creak of the floorboards.
But she had no need to wonder where to begin her search.
Erich definitely knows something.
As they parted ways after the banquet, he had leaned close and whispered:
“Tonight, the moon hides. Perfect weather to view the stars.”
Ordinary men spoke of bright moons, not absent ones.
The words had been a code, plain and deliberate.
A hint… of where to go.
When she first arrived at the manor, she had noticed the towers that speared the night sky.
Other than the Duke’s own residence, the northern tower was the tallest…
And what better place to view a moonless night than the highest spire?
Rosalyn’s lips curved into a determined smile.
She turned her steps toward the northern tower—and began to climb.
