In The Basement Of Duke Ivanstein's Mansion - Chapter 11

“Duke Ivanstein……”

As expected, Genoa’s face hardened terribly upon hearing Mel’s voice. At the same time, Mel’s body stiffened. He must be recalling the slave girl Mel from the past in her voice. Although it stemmed from a misunderstanding, she hadn’t realized that her betrayal had left such a deep mark on Genoa.

When Mel had fled from the Ivanstein ducal family that day, she thought he might be disappointed that she hadn’t stayed by Genoa’s side until the end. But in any case, Mel was a slave. She believed that her existence would surely be just a tiny fragment in Genoa’s life, who was born with a noble destiny.

‘Don’t be afraid. Pull yourself together.’

She had to survive first. The princess would keep her mother alive only if she had value to use, and she needed to live to save her mother someday.

“Didn’t you just doze off while looking at documents? I’d like to ask what that has to do with me.”

Mel gritted her teeth and questioned. This is what Princess Amelia, not the slave Mel, would do. Nobles and royalty valued honor and pride. They hated being insulted more than death, rather than appearing pitiful and begging for their lives.

“I know my position, but even so, you can’t commit such rudeness to me.”

“……It seems my subordinates have been very disrespectful to the princess. Bane, apologize to Her Highness.”

Whether her attitude was correct, the sharp atmosphere around Genoa softened somewhat. Mel quietly swallowed a sigh of relief as she watched Bane bow his head and apologize to her.

“My lord suffers from severe insomnia. That’s why he reacted so sensitively, so please forgive him.”

“……Insomnia?”

Mel was greatly shaken by Bane’s following words. Why was Genoa, who had been healthy until 15 years ago, suffering from insomnia?

“Why is Duke Ivanstein suffering from that?”

“Why, what do you……”

“Since when did he develop this? Is it to the point where he can’t sleep at all?”

At Mel’s questioning, Genoa and Bane exchanged surprised glances. Judging by the princess’s tone, it seemed as if she was actually worried about Genoa suffering from insomnia.

Is the princess unable to think straight right now? They say that when you lose your country, you can’t endure without gracefully going mad. Maybe she’s gone mad in quite a docile way, Genoa thought.

“……Tch.”

If she was pretending to be worried about him to try and clear her suspicions, he could praise her for that. He would be able to tell immediately if there was even a slight hint of such intention. Genoa was very sensitive to such tactics.

But the princess hardly knew how to hide her true feelings. Was it because she had been raised so preciously that she didn’t need to hide her feelings?

“Put her in a usable room.”

Genoa no longer felt the need to interrogate the princess and got up, dusting himself off. The princess’s anxious gaze followed him, but he ignored it. If there had been something suspicious about the princess, it might have been interesting, but as it was, it was just disappointing.

“Wait a moment. We should finish our conversation……”

“It’s finished.”

Genoa cut off the princess’s words decisively and left the warehouse. Then he ordered Bane, who was following behind him.

“Tell the emperor that we’ll postpone going to the imperial palace until the archbishop arrives in Harttenberun.”

“His Majesty will be greatly disappointed.”

“If we chop up Reibritton into small pieces and put them in his wrinkled mouth, he’ll shut up for a while.”

Genoa’s face contorted at the thought of the emperor waiting with his mouth wide open like a baby bird waiting for its mother.

The emperor was also gradually outliving his usefulness. It seemed that the sooner they threw the princess to him, the sooner they could divert the old man’s attention.

“Bring some food to the princess, and assign a few people to make her look presentable.”

There was no longer even a hint of interest in Genoa’s voice as he gave orders regarding the princess.

“If we present her to the emperor as she is now, all our efforts so far will have been in vain.”

* * *

There were no other abnormalities in Genoa’s body. The archbishop, who had arrived in Harttenberun without hearing any particular information, was angry enough to lose his temper. Thanks to this, the princess was completely cleared of the false accusation that she had somehow subdued Genoa.

“Rather, he’s even healthier now, certainly!”

He said he had been practically kidnapped by Ivanstein’s people while he was offering prayers at dawn.

Since they hadn’t completely settled Reibritton yet, thinking something had happened to the Duke, the archbishop had prayed for Ivanstein’s health without sleeping a wink on his way here.

After worrying about all sorts of things and arriving in Harttenberun, what the archbishop faced was the Duke’s physical condition, which was more vigorous than usual.

“Why do you make people worry, why!”

The face of the archbishop, known to be usually kind and gentle as if facing an angel, had transformed into that of an arch-demon today.

He performed all possible tests with the holy items he had brought just in case, but the results didn’t change. Duke Ivanstein had slept well. Not just well, but he had slept like a baby. That was the archbishop’s conclusion.

“I wonder how much blood of how many people Duke Ivanstein had to be covered in to sleep so deeply!”

He couldn’t hide his anger as he mentioned the rumor that Genoa could only sleep when covered in blood. The archbishop returned to the empire with such a demonic face.

“……Make sure to provide better meals to Her Highness.”

Bane ordered the soldiers while rubbing his face with his hand.

With this, the princess was truly innocent regarding Duke Ivanstein’s unprecedented deep sleep. Having treated such a princess harshly, the situation had become embarrassing. The princess, who already seemed too thin, appeared to have become drastically haggard.

“His Majesty is getting impatient, so select a few suitable women and throw them to him as concubines.”

Genoa also frowned at the princess’s condition and gave her some time. He postponed sending her to the emperor at least until some life returned to the princess’s face.

“Is our lord still in the office?”

“Yes, he never seems to leave the office at all.”

Genoa was dealing with the inevitable tasks that follow a war, day and night. Harttenberun’s office had now become no different from the Duke’s office in the Ivanstein ducal residence. Negotiations with prisoners captured after conquering the royal palace, as well as matters like territorial subjugation and rewarding merits, were all handled here.

These were originally tasks that the emperor should handle, but they had long since become Genoa’s responsibility. The emperor was probably enjoying intimate pleasures with the concubines who were substituting for the princess. Meanwhile, Genoa’s insomnia persisted.

“Then why at that time……”

Bane quietly swallowed a sigh. He still couldn’t figure out why Genoa had been able to sleep so deeply.

Since the archbishop with the strongest holy power in the empire hadn’t discovered anything, it was certain that the princess had no connection to his lord’s unprecedented deep sleep. However, Bane couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something about the princess.

‘Could it be because that slave and the princess look alike……’

For a moment, an absurd thought crossed his mind, but Bane shook his head and knocked on the office door.

“My lord, I’m coming in.”

There was no response to come in, but Bane habitually opened the office door and entered. Inside, no sound could be heard except for the scratching of Genoa signing documents.

The meal that had been sent in by a servant a few hours ago was still untouched. Bane swallowed a sigh and opened his mouth.

“You’ll collapse at this rate.”

“That wouldn’t be so bad.”

Genoa answered without taking his eyes off the documents.

After waking up from such a deep sleep that day, the taste of that good rest made his terrible insomnia feel all the more acute. His head was throbbing, and fatigue weighed heavily on his shoulders. Genoa pressed his fingers firmly against his temple and took his eyes off the documents to ask.

“How is the princess now?”

“The same as before.”

At Bane’s answer, Genoa sank deep into his chair and sighed. The princess was excessively quiet. They say not even her breathing is disturbing.

“I was told she was a princess with a mouth that ruined her country, so I expected her to be a bit more hysterical.”

It was a boring situation. It was laughable how even the noblest princess behaved quite docilely in the face of survival. Noble princesses and lowly slaves. They were alike in that they would do anything to survive.

“How dull.”

Perhaps it was about time to hand over the princess to the emperor. As Genoa’s mind was leaning in that direction.

“……My lord!”

From far away, along with urgent footsteps, someone pounded on the office door as if to break it down. When Bane opened the door, a knight rushed in as if diving.

“It’s a black messenger pigeon!”

“What?”

In the knight’s arms was a messenger pigeon with its feathers dyed golden. This was sent from the imperial family. Bane hurriedly untied the letter from the pigeon’s leg and brought it to Genoa.

As Genoa read through the letter, his face hardened terribly, and he abruptly stood up.

“We’re returning to the empire.”

“Has something happened to the imperial family?”

“Read it. I’m going to see the princess.”

Genoa silently handed over the letter and left the office. Bane exchanged glances with the soldier before hurriedly following him while reading the letter.

[Helius Vervan de Raon II. Deceased.]

Bane’s steps, following behind Genoa, came to a halt.

The emperor was dead. Without even getting to see the face of Amelia Reibritton that he had been waiting for so eagerly.