TVWD 56

Chapter 56.

Lately, Calvin had been coming to my study more often. He was sitting on the sofa reading a letter.

“What’s this? A letter from Merina?”
“What does it say?”
“She wants to meet. Why all of a sudden?”
“Isn’t that good news?”

He had once declared he wouldn’t have feelings for Merina anymore, but I pretended not to remember and asked anyway.

“Didn’t she insult you again not long ago? The day I was on patrol duty?”

My brother let out a sigh.

“Even the Tower Master! Why does she always call him by name, anyway? Such disrespect. And after all that, she still asks to meet? I’m not going.”
“Are you sure about that, Cal?”
“Well… if I saw her face in person, I might go soft.”

As expected — he still hadn’t gotten over Merina.
I’d better continue being careful with my words and actions around Calvin and the Crown Prince.

After some thought, Calvin tore the letter into pieces and threw it in the trash bin beside my desk.

“If you’re refusing, you know it’s polite to send a reply, right?”
“What did I ever do to deserve such a kind sister? You’re telling me to answer even someone who insulted me.”

He looked at me with pity.

What’s that supposed to mean?
I only said it because I wanted Merina to be properly rejected.

Saying he might as well write it now, Calvin borrowed my paper and pen. He wrote the refusal in one go and asked me to send it for him, then ran off toward Liss.

“Liss, when are you going to grow up already?”

The reason my brother had been visiting my study so often was because of the little silver fox.
In a month, Liss had grown bigger than my two cupped hands but was still small.

“She’ll be able to go outside soon. I read that silver foxes are very active.”
“Wow, then she can run twenty laps around the training grounds with me!”

She was still a baby — that would be too much. But I could stop him later.

I glanced at Calvin’s letter. It simply said, “Thank you, but I’m too busy for now, so I can’t meet.”
I put it in an envelope, sealed it with wax, and pressed the Levian family crest into it.

A knock sounded — Ted entered with a stack of documents.

“It’s been a while, young master.”
“It has. I hear you’ve become Levian’s most popular man these days, Ted.”
“Me, sir?”

Ted looked surprised, and Calvin shrugged as if to say it was obvious.

“My maid Letty talks about you all the time.”
“Same with Cassie,” I added.

Calvin laughed.

“See? I used to be the most handsome man in Levian, but Ted’s taken that title. Ha ha.”
“You’re still the most handsome to me, Cal.”
“See? My sister’s the only one who understands me!”

After saying a warm goodbye to Liss, Calvin left the room.

“My lady, what are you doing?”

As soon as Calvin was gone, I was busy piecing together the scraps of paper he’d thrown in the bin.

“Just confirming something.”

Thankfully, he hadn’t torn it too many times, so it didn’t take long to reconstruct Merina’s letter.

To my dearest Cal,

How have you been? I’ve been so busy I couldn’t write.
If this keeps up, I feel like I’ll forget your face. I want to see you.

Meet me in the garden where the roses of night release their scent — just the two of us.
Please write back soon.

— Your Lina.

The phrase “the garden where the roses of night release their scent” was a social term — it meant a late-night, secret meeting.
And she demanded to see him alone?

Private meetings between a man and a woman were how Merina liked to win people over.
So she was trying to lure my brother again now that she was cornered.

“I guess I was expecting too much.”

I had wondered if all the changes lately might have altered Merina’s behavior — but apparently not.

“Is something wrong, my lady?”
“No. It just means nothing’s really changed yet.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Hmm… I’m not sure.”

The more things changed, the longer I lived — which was good.
But too many unpredictable changes increased the risk of failure.

“I see. Then shall I bring you some good news instead?”

Ted smiled slyly and spread a map before me — a simplified layout of the Empire and its surrounding nations.

“This is today’s Blue Bird report. We found two more local branches — and one in particular caught my attention.”
“Where?”
“Here.”

He tapped a spot in the Empire’s northeastern region.

“It looks like an ordinary shop, but there are hardly any residences nearby.”
“Suspicious place for a shop, then?”
“Exactly. There’s a warehouse for storage, but hardly any actual trade goes on.”

So it wasn’t really a shop — it was built for another purpose.

“Most notably, a blue-haired man appears there often. He wears a mask, so we can’t identify him.”

Blue hair wasn’t common — and the mask made it even more suspicious.

“If he’s who we think he is, then this branch is very special. He rarely shows himself at ordinary ones.”
“So the northeastern branch is the only one where he doesn’t bother hiding that he’s the boss.”
“Yes, ma’am. We’ll keep monitoring it.”
“Good. Keep up the work.”

Ted nodded and placed another pile of documents before me.

“These are urgent papers you’ll want to check.”
“Thank you. Oh — on your way out, please deliver this letter to Count Ikkel’s estate.”

Ted took Calvin’s letter, bowed, and left.

“The northeast, huh…”

The Blue Bird branch where Silla was said to appear wasn’t far from the border shared by the Cazas Empire, the Litton Kingdom, and the Holy Kingdom.
The fact that it was close to several nations at once bothered me.

“What are you plotting…?”

That strange magician had said he wouldn’t kill me — should I ask him about the Blue Bird organization?
No, even if he encouraged my madness, he never promised not to ruin my work.

Silla Bernstein could be an excellent tool depending on how I used him — but if I got careless, he could easily become the blade that cut me down.
That was true of everything.

“It’s still hard not having anyone I can trust…”

Thinking of the one loyal ally I’d lost made my chest ache.
But I couldn’t afford to open my heart — not when I couldn’t bear to watch him die.

The most recently discovered gambling den on the outskirts of the capital was being cleared out when Rexian arrived in person.

There had been several explosions there — the place was half-ruined, but much evidence still remained, and his men were sorting through it.

“This is…”

Several boxes inside bore the emblem of a blue bird — the same insignia that had been embroidered on the robe of the magician who attacked Rosia.

“There’s no doubt this is connected to that unknown organization.”

So Rosia must have known something about the gambling den and the group — and that’s why one of their members tried to kill her?
It all seemed to fit… yet Rexian couldn’t shake the feeling he was missing something.

His instincts as Captain of the Imperial Knights told him this case wasn’t simple.

He wondered if Rosia herself might be involved somehow — but the knight he’d assigned to watch her only ever reported that she attended tea parties, balls, and charity events diligently.

Had she really decided to live a quiet, proper life now? That didn’t sound like her.

Rexian smiled faintly, thinking of the unpredictable Marquis’s daughter — but when he recalled the blue-haired man at her side, a dull pain throbbed in his chest.

The thought of that man touching Rosia made him want to destroy him.
Because the one who should be holding her delicate hand… was him.

“Damn it.”

Realizing the desire boiling up inside, Rexian cursed under his breath. A passing knight flinched.

“It’s nothing,” Rexian said.
“Yes, sir.”

The knight bowed and left carrying the files, while Rexian stepped into a nearby storeroom — the same one where Rosia had once gathered old papers and vials.

“Phew…”

He scrubbed his face with both hands, forcing his reason back into place.

Lately, Rosia Levian hadn’t done anything. She simply existed — and yet he felt drawn to her as if enchanted.
He wanted to stroke her silk-like hair, wrap his arms around her slender waist, press his lips to her softly curved mouth—

Bang!

Rexian slammed his head against the wall to crush the rising lust.

“She’s like a sister to me. She sees me as her brother.”

He repeated the words like a spell, hitting his head a few more times.

When he finally steadied himself, leaning on a bookshelf, something fluttered down before him.

He bent down to pick up the paper — and frowned.

“A map?”