TCTR 63

Chapter 63

Heath kicked the suitcase with his foot and began roughly pulling out its contents as if tossing them.

“By the way… I can’t quite remember his name… Was it Bessen Yeongsik?”

He had long left the Bessen household, but that seemed correct.

“He’s attending this time as a noble of the Bessen family, right?”

He nodded at Hian’s question.

“Yeah, probably.”

“Then why are you preparing medicine for him? He’s not even one of your attendants, yet you’re taking care of him?”

Hian buried his face between his arms on the table and asked.

“You just play with us and let someone else deliver the medicine.”

“Nope. I’m taking it myself.”

“Is that really necessary?”

Heath handed over some fresh herbs.

“Doesn’t matter who delivers it, as long as it gets there. Don’t bother yourself with unnecessary work.”

I chuckled softly, tucking the herbs safely into my arms at his childlike words.

“It’s not just the medicine that’s delivered, but your heart too.”

“…?”

I gently stroked Hian’s reclining head. He closed his eyes like a cat, as if asking for more.

“When someone worries about you when you’re sick, it gives you strength. That feeling is what’s being sent along too.”

“…I don’t really get it.”

“You both have good relationships with your families. Haven’t you felt that before?”

I remembered when I was little; if I was sick, it felt nice when the nanny or Kischel took care of me.

“But when you’re sick, the doctor comes, and attendants watch over you anyway—why bother?”

Really?

I lightly tapped the two of them who still wore reluctant expressions.

“Then you’ll feel it next time. How much it helps to have someone by your side when you’re sick. When you get sick, I’ll take good care of you then.”

Worried about Kischel, who was feeling nauseous, I was about to leave when Heath suddenly grabbed me.

“Don’t you want to spend a bit more time with us before you go?”

“I’m busy.”

“Hmm… then at least have a cup of tea, okay?”

Having received such rare herbs, I had no choice but to stay for a cup of tea before leaving. An impromptu tea time, then.

Sitting down and squinting my eyes into a diamond shape, Hian smiled and gently tugged down the corner of my eyes.

“You probably looked like this when you were little.”

“What do you mean?”

“Kind of… round…?”

“Are you saying chubby?”

“What are you saying? You’re too thin—you need to eat more.”

“Oh, there’s crepe. Do you want some?”

“Huh? I like crepes.”

Then Hian blinked as if he remembered something and leaned his head back.

“Speaking of childhood… my mother once tried to ask the former duke to let us make you a playmate, but got rejected.”

“Huh…?”

I widened my eyes in surprise at this story I had never heard before.

“Usually, if the genders are different, you don’t make them playmates, right?”

Noble girls were typically kept out of the eyes of other nobles until their debutante ball. They might accompany their parents occasionally or appear at family parties, but that was about it. Playmates were usually matched by the same gender.

“Their ranks and ages matched. And my mother was friends with your mother.”

“….”

Hearing another story I’d never known, I felt a little dazed. I tried to recall my mother’s face, now fading in memory, and shook my head.

Heath raised his teacup.

“Your mother must have been a very kind person.”

I see. She had a kindness I had never seen. I couldn’t say anything, so I just turned my head bitterly.

There was no pretense, no falsehood in that expression.

Hian and Heath instinctively leaned in, approaching me. I could read worry and sympathy in their eyes.

“Of course, being kind outside doesn’t mean she was kind at home.”

“So don’t make that sad face, Inerea.”

Their eyes followed sharply, but I deliberately ignored them. I had decided to use that emotion to my advantage.

“You promised that we would protect you, remember ‘that day’?”

I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. I felt my body trembling faintly.

They dropped their words over my head again, like reaffirming their promise.

“Nothing will ever make you sad.”

“Jepino’s guardians are on your side, Inerea.”

Whether they felt protective instincts or romantic feelings, if it could benefit me, I would exploit it even now.

“Then… can I ask one favor?”

“We never refuse a lady’s request.”

“Especially if it’s you.”

Watching them speak confidently, I cautiously opened my mouth.

“If it’s alright… could you secretly prepare a carriage on the Rüman Isles that no one could track me in?”

Late at night.

I woke up to a knock on the door.

“Duke, His Highness the Crown Prince sent me. Could you spare a moment?”

Checking the time, it was early morning, but I ran out in my pajamas.

A knight from Eshdwa was waiting.

“What could it be at this hour?”

I tried to sound gentle, showing joy rather than suspicion, yet I couldn’t erase my curiosity.

‘Except for the times I visited him during a long voyage, he never showed his face. What could it be at this hour?’

From a lover’s perspective, I had gone to see him daily as a matter of duty, but after that day, I never saw him again.

“You should go immediately.”

I followed the knight.

The place I arrived at was the front of Eshdwa’s room, where I was always received formally and sent away.

“You may enter.”

Cautiously, I pushed the door open.

The thick scent of cigars mixed with Eshdwa’s unique scent hit me.

“Eshdwa…?”

Stepping into the dark room, I looked around and soon saw him sitting slouched against the window frame.

Eshdwa wore a thin nightgown, his chest moving rhythmically as he breathed in and out.

He slowly lifted his eyelids, eyes half-closed.

There was a faint smell of blood.

“Eshdwa, are you hurt?”

I hurried toward him, but he raised a hand to stop me.

He stood there, biting his lip lightly.

“It’s not my wound.”

His voice was low, deepened by sleep.

The concern I felt moments ago… had been genuine.

The distance he created showed the boundary between us.

“It seems a spy has infiltrated this delegation.”

Closing the gap between us slightly, he brushed my cheek.

Only then did I realize the source of the blood smell. His hand. Beautiful, long hands, saturated with the scent of blood.

“We caught a few, but there might be more.”

“If it’s a spy… who sent them?”

He smirked, placing the end of his cigar in his mouth.

The moving ship caused the moon, previously hidden by clouds, to shine through Eshdwa’s window.

Bloodstains were scattered across the floor.

A shiver ran down my spine.

“The Rüman Empire… could there be anywhere else?”

“But the Rüman Empire is an ally of the Libedro Empire. Why…?”

“Seems the newly ascending emperor doesn’t want that.”

He summarized the situation simply and clearly.

I understood why he called me.

“Could it be… Esh, the reason you’ve stayed in this room until now was to catch the spies? If you’d left, the impatient spies would have come looking first?”

“Quick thinker, as always.”

I clenched my fist with the hand that couldn’t reach him.

Bathed in moonlight, Eshdwa was impossibly beautiful, impossible to look away from.

No need to pretend to be in love… simply watching him was enough.

But the words from his beautiful lips reminded me that this picturesque scene was reality, not a fantasy.

“This is information from the spy, Inerea.”

“Speak…”

“The second son of the Crown Prince, the second prince of the Rüman Empire, seems to have an interest in you.”

“Excuse me?”

“He’s supposed to send a proposal soon, led by the first prince.”

He smiled faintly, as if it didn’t matter if my heart was trampled to pieces.