🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 17
It might be better to just give up on the safe altogether.
The problem was that, in that case, I’d have to find some other kind of evidence.
There was the note about poisoning, but since I hadn’t actually faced any physical danger yet, it wasn’t enough to push things all the way to a divorce.
The most reliable way would be to catch them in the act…
But that was impossible.
How was I supposed to follow a Sword Master who’d gone out to enjoy a secret rendezvous?
“Haaah…”
I’d somehow managed to come to work and go through the motions, but none of it was registering in my head.
Tap tap tap tap!
I tapped my pen restlessly against the desk, bounced my leg, and eventually even started clutching my head and screaming.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Ah! You startled me! Your Highness? What on earth is wrong?!”
Anna, who had been preparing a light snack because skipping breakfast was bad for me, flinched in shock—but there was nothing I could say in response.
“Huuugh…”
After spending the entire day working while letting out strange groans, I left early and collapsed onto the bed.
Of course, that didn’t make me sleepy, nor did it help me come up with a solution. When Killian finally returned late at night and saw me lying there without moving, he visibly startled.
“Should I call the personal physician after all—”
“No, I don’t need one.”
I curtly refused and patted the wide space beside me.
“Cover up and go to sleep already.”
I’d asked Anna to prepare an extra blanket. I also lined up three pillows lengthwise between Killian and me, as if drawing a boundary—specifically to stop myself from rolling over onto him.
Killian scoffed.
“You really don’t know how persistent your sleeping habits are.”
“I won’t do that tonight. Just sleep.”
When I urged him again, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. I pulled my usual sour expression to reassure him.
“I’m tired. That means turn off the lights.”
Only then did Killian wash up and lie down. Still, he seemed to be merely closing his eyes rather than actually sleeping.
I couldn’t sleep because my head was a mess, but he probably hadn’t slept properly last night either—so I had no idea why he was like that.
I briefly considered sneaking a look through his trouser pockets while he slept, but my heavy eyelids won out and I abandoned the plan. If it were Killian, he’d spring awake the instant I touched his pants anyway.
I fell asleep without another worry—and the next morning…
Thanks to my stubborn sleeping habits, I woke up in Killian’s arms again.
“Eek!”
At least this time, he wasn’t bare-chested.
Killian, fully dressed in his shirt, looked at me with clear eyes and said,
“As you can see, the pillows were useless.”
He was holding both me and the pillows at the same time, like a giant teddy bear.
It seemed I’d ended up wrapped in his arms along with the pillows themselves.
“…Ahem. I’m not usually like this.”
“That’s not very convincing. You probably had terrible sleeping habits even as a child.”
Who knows. I wasn’t even sure myself. Since the age of ten—the earliest point I could remember—I’d never slept next to anyone else.
With no rebuttal, I just puffed out my cheeks and slipped out of his grasp. And regardless of whether Killian scolded me or not, I decided to skip breakfast.
Instead, I held a small tea break in one corner of the office. Naturally, the guests were Anna and Randel. As I cut into a moist pound cake, I asked,
“If you had a safe containing something important, where would you hide the key?”
“A safe key?”
Anna tilted her head, clearly caught off guard.
“How important are we talking?”
“Something like a family heirloom? Something that could cause serious trouble if it leaked out.”
She thought about it seriously before answering.
“I don’t have any heirlooms, but I’d probably pry up the floorboards a bit and hide it underneath. Or maybe under the bed?”
I’d already checked under the bed, so that was out.
“Hm, under the floorboards. What about you, Sir Randel?”
“I would deposit it in a bank vault.”
“That’s more sensible than I expected.”
“…That kind of hurts to hear.”
“I just thought you’d say you’d rely on the underworld or something.”
Since he was a mercenary, I’d assumed he’d be familiar with the criminal world. Anna nodded in agreement.
“I’m a hardworking man who earns his money honestly, saves it in the bank, and pays taxes on time.”
Randel replied indignantly, then added in a serious tone,
“If you want to make sure no one can open the safe, it might be better to remodel the office itself. Nobles usually build hidden rooms behind their offices, don’t they?”
I’d thought long and hard about where Killian might keep the key, but my imagination had limits. That was why I’d called Anna and Randel—though Randel, unaware of the real situation, seemed to think I was trying to hide a safe myself.
Well, hiding or preventing access—it was all the same in the end, right?
I stroked my chin, deep in thought.
Realistically, the office was the most likely location—but I had no opportunity to enter it. Killian practically lived there, and aides and business associates came and went constantly.
On top of that, we shared the bedroom after work, making it difficult to sneak out quietly at night.
Do I have to wait until Killian leaves the castle entirely?
After the archducal castle was attacked on our wedding anniversary, the Heart Knights postponed their scheduled monster subjugation missions and went into reorganization.
The next hunt was in a month.
Will I even survive until then?
In the end, I decided to abandon the safe.
At this rate, running away in the middle of the night would be faster.
Yet even as I repeated that to myself, I couldn’t let go. I kept checking the floors around the castle, following Anna’s advice.
How long had that gone on?
The opportunity came sooner than I expected.
By then, I’d grown somewhat used to sharing a bed. Sleeping beside Killian no longer felt strange, and I’d dropped my prickly attitude.
There’s no point exhausting myself by staying on edge all the time. Killian treats me well, like always.
It was on a night when I’d grown dull to the threat of poisoning—dull enough to think like that—
That Killian quietly left the bedroom.
* * *
Half-asleep, I stirred at the sound of the door.
Where is he going at this hour?
I rolled over absentmindedly, then jolted upright, sucking in a sharp breath like I’d been stabbed.
“Don’t tell me…”
I rushed to the window. After biting my lip and waiting briefly, I saw a familiar figure.
Killian was striding quickly down the main road leading from the main building to the front gate.
He wasn’t using a horse or carriage, and no one followed him.
Instinctively, I felt like I knew where he was headed.
“Hah. So the one planning to run away in the dead of night wasn’t me after all.”
My heart pounded while my body grew colder by the second.
Logically speaking, intuition was nothing more than a guess. I had no certainty about Killian’s destination.
Even if he was going to see the Flame Baron’s daughter, all I had to do was avoid being poisoned.
As long as the meeting didn’t become public knowledge, it wouldn’t harm my reputation.
Then why does it feel like this…
The sense of betrayal made my teeth chatter.
What was Killian, anyway? What kind of special relationship did we even have?
My mind went blank, but I barely managed to turn away from the window and ran straight for Randel’s room.
For security reasons, Randel stayed not far from my chambers. Just as I raised my hand to knock, the door opened from the inside—as if he’d sensed my presence.
“At this hour, what—”
Randel, stepping out with a half-awake expression, widened his eyes when he saw me.
I clenched my teeth.
“Answer me honestly. Can you defeat Killian?”
“Of course not. But…”
With a sigh, Randel ran a hand over his face.
“I think I could follow him from a distance without being noticed.”
That was enough. I handed him a heavy pouch.
“You said as long as you don’t break your contract with Killian, it’s fine. Then make one more contract—with me.”
The pouch contained so many jewels and gold coins that my arm ached from holding it, but Randel showed no sign of taking it.
“I don’t need this.”
“I’ll give you as much as you want.”
“Didn’t I tell you before? I said I’d help you. Just tell me what you need.”
I let my arm drop.
My vision blurred, unable to focus. Yet beyond Randel, I could clearly see the archducal castle’s front gate.
“Follow Killian. Report to me where he goes.”
Randel replied with a silent bow and immediately ran toward the window—then paused. He must have been planning to jump out, but instead he turned back to me and said,
“The guards patrol the main building every twenty minutes. If you go to the Archduke’s office right now, you won’t run into them.”
My shoulders trembled.
Sensing that I wanted to ask how he knew, Randel spoke first.
“It doesn’t seem like Your Highness is trying to hide a safe. And among the people around you, there’s only one person who would own one.”
After that brief explanation, he leapt out the window.
The curtains fluttered.
After staring blankly at the path he’d taken, I came to my senses and headed for Killian’s office.
This chance won’t come again. I can’t waste time.
I had to open the safe before Killian returned.
Dim lamps lit the corridor, making it easy to find the office. Unlocking the door was easy too.
Killian and I shared spare keys to each other’s offices, for emergencies.
Good. No one’s around.
After carefully checking my surroundings, I slipped into the office and began searching Killian’s desk by moonlight.
I opened everything I could, except the locked drawers.
Between the reception sofas, under them, even the floor—I checked it all.
Nothing.
Not the safe key, not even a scrap of evidence that could prove poisoning or an affair.
If the key isn’t here, there must be a hidden room.
Biting my lip, I scanned the office again.
To the left of the desk was a terrace, straight ahead were a display cabinet and sofas, to the right were the entrance and bookshelves—and behind it all loomed a massive mural.
Left and right are out.
They led to the outside and the corridor, leaving no room for a secret space. And there was no way he’d build one near the sofas where guests often sat.
That left only the wall behind the desk.
Even in terms of movement, this is the optimal spot.
I turned around and stared at the mural covering the entire wall.
It depicted the founding emperor raising his sword in battle. Since the archducal castle originally belonged to the founding emperor, having such a mural wasn’t strange.
But aside from this, I’d never seen Killian decorate his room with paintings. Most of the artwork he bought hung in galleries or on the first floor of the main building.
Unable to light a lamp for fear of light leaking outside, I felt around the mural carefully with my hands.
Is there a door behind this?
But no matter where I tapped, there was no response. There didn’t seem to be any special mechanism.
Then… did he leave a clue within the painting?
I stepped back and tilted my head as I studied it.
“Ugh. Do I have to look at it upside down or something?”
That was when—
“Huh…? Did I imagine that?”
No. I was certain.
The painting was shimmering.
More precisely—
The founding emperor’s eyes.
They were glowing.
The same golden eyes as Killian’s.
