🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 22
Rui’s exploration of the mansion, which had begun on the first floor, eventually reached the fourth.
The landscape and still-life paintings hanging along the walls caught his eye. Display cases placed throughout the hallway showcased sculptures, intricate handicrafts, decorative swords, and other precious artifacts.
As he admired each display in turn, Rui suddenly spotted a glass model of a sailing ship. It looked remarkably similar to the wooden one Ron had once made for him, causing him to stop in his tracks.
“A sailing ship! It has three triangular sails, so it’s a Latina!”
He chuckled to himself before tilting his head.
“…Or maybe it’s a Redonna?”
Unable to remember, Rui’s shoulders drooped.
“…I miss Dad.”
The father who used to sit him on his lap and tell him stories about sailing ships was gone.
Rui forced himself to brush away the sadness welling in his heart.
I’m okay. I still have big sister.
Just as he gathered his courage to continue exploring, a rough hand suddenly grabbed his arm.
“What are you doing? You’re not allowed to touch that.”
“Ow! Cindy!”
Only after Rui cried out did Cindy let go.
Rubbing his aching arm, Rui looked up at her resentfully.
Realizing belatedly that she had grabbed him too hard, Cindy didn’t apologize. Instead, she raised her voice.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you even know how expensive this is?”
“Do you know how expensive it is?”
Rui asked with a sulky expression.
“W-What? Anyway, it’s expensive! It’s made of glass. They say things like this are crafted at the Eastern Mage Tower. Everything decorating these hallways is valuable. If even one thing breaks, it’ll be a disaster. Don’t touch anything carelessly. If Lord Rui causes trouble, I’ll get scolded too.”
“I didn’t touch it.”
Rui spoke firmly while staring at her.
“You kept looking at it. It looked like you were about to reach out.”
“So did I touch it? No.”
Rui answered clearly, word for word.
His calm reply only irritated Cindy.
Lately, all the servants in the mansion talked about was Rui. Many of them said they were happy they could see him every day, and that alone annoyed her.
What’s so great about him?
He was nothing more than a dependent guest, yet he was apparently going to continue living at the Duke’s estate. It was obvious he had nowhere else to go. Judging from the shabby silk pouch that held all his belongings, he hadn’t even been able to bring proper luggage when he fled.
The Vita siblings were nobles in name only.
They were practically beggars.
“If you’re just baggage, then act like baggage and stay quiet. If you cause trouble, won’t it only become a burden on your sister?”
Rui glared at her, but Cindy merely snorted in disdain before continuing.
“Just existing is already a burden, Lord Rui. So you’d better behave yourself.”
Because it wasn’t entirely untrue, Rui felt like crying.
Seeing that he couldn’t answer, Cindy grew even more triumphant.
“Now hurry back to your room and stay there.”
With his shoulders slumped, Rui quietly turned away.
Just as Cindy smiled smugly over her little victory—
Tiny specks of shimmering light drifted toward Rui.
The scattered lights circled around him as though trying to comfort his gloomy heart, gently tapping against his hair.
“I’m okay.”
The moment Rui murmured weakly, every speck of light froze.
Then, all at once, they shot toward Cindy.
The glowing swarm streaked forward and hooked around Cindy’s foot just as she was about to take a step.
“Ahhh!”
With a shriek, Cindy stumbled awkwardly.
As she fell, her hand slammed against the display case.
Thud.
The impact caused the glass sailing ship resting atop the stand to tilt.
It wobbled precariously without falling.
Then the cluster of light gave it one more tiny push.
Tap.
The ship toppled from the display stand.
Crash!
It shattered across the floor with a deafening noise.
“Eek! What do I do?!”
The loud crash brought servants running from every direction.
Seeing Cindy sprawled on the floor beside the shattered glass ship, every face turned deathly pale.
Some shouted Cindy’s name.
Others stamped their feet in panic, wondering what they were supposed to do.
Covering her face with both hands, Cindy instinctively looked toward Rui.
If he had been standing nearby, she could have blamed everything on him.
Unfortunately for her, he was already quite far away.
Realizing she was staring at him, Rui silently mouthed the words:
“Looks like you’re in trouble.”
Then he turned around and walked away.
The swarm of light circled Cindy once before happily following after Rui.
Behind him, Cindy burst into tears.
“I’m ruined…”
Rui ignored her.
After reaching the end of the hallway, he whispered softly to the lights.
“Thank you.”
The lights buzzed excitedly.
It seemed his sparkling friends had punished Cindy for him.
The little lights always followed Rui around, occasionally helping him with small inconveniences.
Sometimes they even let him hear the hidden thoughts of people nearby.
That was exactly why Rui disliked Cindy.
The buzzing lights gathered around his ears.
[A pay cut? No… I might even get fired. It’s all because of that brat.]
That was probably Cindy’s inner thoughts.
“So Cindy really is a bad person. Thanks for telling me. I’ll be careful.”
Rui thanked his sparkling friends once more.
The lights happily swirled around him again, as though reassuring him.
We’re here, so don’t worry.
Rui continued exploring the mansion.
Wherever he went, more tiny lights emerged from every corner and joined him.
Leading the ever-growing swarm of sparkling companions, Rui marched forward proudly.
*****
“What in the world is His Highness thinking?”
Line felt as though a whole baked potato was lodged in his chest.
Even after obtaining intelligence on the level of Hellfire, Kazar had made no significant move.
In Line’s opinion, the best course of action was obvious.
He should negotiate directly with the Emperor.
Discovering the last surviving member of the Cantio bloodline was an achievement even the Emperor couldn’t ignore. In exchange, Kazar could probably secure a promise naming him Crown Prince.
Yet contrary to expectations that he would immediately head for the Imperial Palace, Kazar had remained at the Edelweiss Capital Branch the entire time.
Line ruffled his hair.
“His Highness must have a plan. I should just focus on work.”
Scratch. Scratch.
As his quill continued racing across the papers, the office door opened without a knock.
There was only one person who would enter his office on the top floor of the Edelweiss headquarters without permission.
“Your Highness?”
Without answering, Kazar walked inside and sat down on the sofa.
Fatigue was plainly written across his face.
“Where have you been?”
“The merchant company.”
The brief reply was enough.
There was only one merchant company Kazar would personally visit—
Forest Merchant Company, the business he secretly owned under another name.
“I check on it occasionally myself. There didn’t seem to be any problems.”
“There were documents requiring my signature.”
Kazar leaned back before adding,
“More importantly… the Empress’s dogs are all over the streets.”
He muttered irritably.
“Well, that’s because Your Highness refuses to return to the Imperial Palace. Of course they’re getting desperate. You’re obviously alive, but you haven’t shown yourself. They have no idea what you’re doing.”
“And the investigation?”
Setting down his quill, Line sat opposite him.
“We’ve confirmed that the one who tried to sell you out was the Empress. Just as expected. We’ve found evidence that Deep Night was involved. One of their agents infiltrated the Kingdom of Valois disguised as a slave trader named Jair.”
“The Marquis Pegimul lent a hand too.”
Kazar leaned deeply against the sofa.
Nothing surprising so far.
“That’s not the end of it.”
“It isn’t. Their real target wasn’t Your Highness.”
“It was Princess Mahel.”
Kazar crossed his arms as his gaze turned icy.
“So I was right.”
He had suspected as much.
Still, knowing they had intended to use his life as bait left a bitter taste.
“What? You already figured it out?”
“If they truly wanted me dead, they would’ve acted when I was poisoned with Redfire. Instead, they intended to drag Princess Mahel into it and destroy her.”
“Exactly!”
Line snapped his fingers.
“They’d accuse the Kingdom of Valois of harming an Imperial Prince and demand someone’s head. It would’ve given them a perfect excuse to start a war.”
As far as Kazar knew, the Empress herself had originally come from Valois.
Her father had been a noble of the Kingdom of Valois, while her mother was the eldest daughter of House Pegimul.
She had been born and raised in Valois before being adopted into House Pegimul and eventually becoming Empress.
“So it has something to do with the Empress being from Valois.”
Line nodded.
“I only learned this recently myself.”
“The Empress’s biological father was actually the Chancellor of Valois.”
“Why wasn’t that public knowledge?”
“Because House Pegimul worked very hard to suppress the information. Not only was her father the Chancellor…”
“The Empress herself had once been engaged to the King of Valois.”
“…Engaged?”
“The previous Marquis Pegimul didn’t have a daughter. He desperately wanted his family to produce an Empress, so he went to Valois and negotiated with the King. I don’t know what terms they agreed upon, but the engagement was immediately broken.”
Breaking a royal engagement wasn’t something that happened over a trivial bargain.
“Was she forced into it?”
“No idea. What’s important is what happened afterward.”
“Once the Empress had settled in the Empire, the King of Valois closed the borders and purged the Chancellor’s entire family.”
“The official charges were things like embezzlement and breach of duty. None of it deserved execution.”
“But they killed everyone.”
“Even the servants.”
“Doesn’t that stink?”
Incidents like this usually pointed to only one possibility.
“They were hiding something.”
“That’s what I think too. We still need to investigate further.”
“Because of that purge, the Empress was left completely alone.”
“It seems she didn’t know why her family had been executed either. She sent several envoys back to Valois, but the closed borders prevented them from entering.”
“So His Majesty simply stood by and watched.”
“Exactly.”
“House Pegimul already stood at the very top of the noble faction, so the Emperor had no reason to help.”
“That was also when the relationship between the Emperor and the Empress deteriorated sharply.”
“It wasn’t exactly affectionate before, but it became much worse.”
“The surprising thing is that I never knew any of this.”
“The King of Valois and the previous Marquis Pegimul worked together to erase every trace.”
“The rumors never spread into the Empire.”
“So… the Empress wants revenge against the King of Valois.”
“Whether it’s revenge or not, one thing’s certain.”
“She definitely doesn’t feel kindly toward him.”
Line quietly studied Kazar’s thoughtful expression before asking,
“So…”
“What are you going to do?”
“Even if we keep digging, the only thing that’ll come out is probably Princess Mahel.”
“That’s true.”
There was no intention of moving according to the Empress’s plans.
“I suppose it’s time I returned to the Imperial Palace.”
At Kazar’s words, Line’s face brightened.
“Finally! That’s the right decision, Your Highness.”
“Please, let’s stop working overtime.”
“Look how dry my skin’s become.”
Just as Line began complaining dramatically, they sensed someone outside the office door.
