Masquerade - Chapter 9
Linzburn must be aware of this fact, yet Rejun was concerned about why he had deliberately raised this issue.
Normally, the royal family would never allow it, but it was hard to be certain. Since Crensen regarded Count Linzburn as his right-hand man, he might have already made a request. Even Linzburn’s son was the consort of Princess Rhienze, the heir to the throne, so no matter how much Rhienze resisted, it might not be easy.
Although it was a possibility that defied common sense, Rejun had experienced far too many similar incidents while in this position. Crensen was inexplicably lenient towards the House of Nobles, and because of this, the House of Nobles had begun to covet power they shouldn’t have.
Linzburn answered with a brazen smile.
“I’m not asking for Daellum’s Promise to be broken. I just want us to discuss it openly, together in the Grand Council.”
Does he want to maintain the granted lands while having a say in the royal budget?
Rejun responded coldly to this laughable greed.
“Giving up exclusivity means breaking the promise. There is no other interpretation.”
At this firm statement, nobles related to the royal family finally began to add their voices. Nobles who suddenly found themselves in a position of potentially having to return their lands exchanged glances.
Linzburn, surveying the chamber, finished his proposal and sat down. As his turn ended, another noble who had been waiting immediately brought up a different agenda.
After the Grand Council ended, Rejun headed straight to his office in the government building.
He felt weary from the morning.
Although it had been his daily routine for over four years, he had been particularly tired lately.
As always, the House of Nobles was eyeing power, and Crensen had been neglecting the increasingly reckless House of Nobles for years. In this situation, Rejun, in his position as Prime Minister, felt like he was just pouring water into a broken glass as he tried to keep the House of Nobles in check.
Rejun sat at his desk in the office and rubbed his forehead.
The House of Nobles always schemed to fill their bellies in various ways, but he hadn’t expected them to extend their reach to a royal celebration. And that wasn’t all. Now even Daellum’s Promise was being mentioned.
Linzburn’s intentions weren’t pure either. He simply wanted to understand the finances of the Royal Household Department and collude with merchants he was connected with to embezzle the department’s budget. He had already been gradually influencing various departments in Shilom in this way.
So if the House of Nobles were to take control of the Royal Household Department as well, the royal family would truly fall into Linzburn’s hands.
Rejun recalled Linzburn’s greedy face. To think he could be so avaricious even with his hair turned white. How could he make such a reckless move…
He paused, feeling suspicious.
This was too much of an overreach. Linzburn was not foolish. He knew it was an unattainable desire, was he making excessive statements to conceal another purpose?
If so, it might have been aimed at the Princess’s dowry rather than the Royal Household Department from the beginning. If the dowry decreases, the range of choices also narrows. Did they want a more modest country instead of the Duchy of Castile?
In that case, it would be a spiteful move to constrain the Second Princess, stemming from historical incidents.
Rejun was relatively young compared to the average age of the Grand Council members, so he didn’t vividly know about the past power struggles before Crensen’s ascension to the throne. When he was young, he was busy taking care of the territory as a proxy for Duke Nisendel, who was the commander of the Eastern War, and when he grew up a bit more, he too went to war.
But he knew that the eastern nobles, including his father, had once supported Princess Elia, who was the heir to the throne. He had heard that if the Princess hadn’t suddenly fallen into a coma at the late king’s funeral, Princess Elia would have naturally ascended to the throne.
Was it because of this that they were preemptively checking the Princess who would appear in official settings and were worrying about her bloodline?
His thoughts stopped there as he knew nothing about the Princess. Only the fact that she was very sickly and had spent half of her life bedridden was known.
Even that, he hadn’t personally met her. Despite being of age, she didn’t appear in official settings. Even after taking the position of Prime Minister, he had requested several official audiences, but all were rejected. It was the same when he carefully mentioned his connection to the late king and requested a meeting.
Rejun thought he should look around the separate palace where the Princess stayed. The Castile people would soon be coming and going, so it would be good to pay attention to the deployment of the royal guards. It seemed good to request an audience again before the Didante Ball.
When he was about to start work, he unconsciously opened the desk drawer. There was a decorative box in one corner that would contain a handkerchief. He stared at it quietly for a moment, then clicked open the lid of the box and took out the handkerchief.
Although he’s not the knight of knights, Rejun had his own… knightly and stubborn side. Him not paying attention to the opposite s*x was not, as rumored, because he disregarded women. It was because he shouldn’t hold onto emotions he couldn’t take responsibility for. It was similar to why he doesn’t accept tokens of affection.
Of course, he had no intention of neglecting his duty to eventually find a partner. No, he was rather on the cautious side. Therefore, this situation of suddenly receiving a woman’s handkerchief was very displeasing to him. No matter how much it was just a handkerchief, his conservative thinking made it difficult to exclude the traditional meaning of a token of affection.
He had always thought that his encounters with the opposite s*x would be far from impulse or temporary events.
But ‘Bree’…
Rejun had to admit that he was now genuinely curious about ‘Bree’s’ identity.
His father’s letter was strange from the start, and the first meeting, the forced bet, the handkerchief, and the ridiculous dance were all strange. Looking at just the handkerchief, dance, and location, it seemed like a romantic entanglement, but ‘Bree’s’ attitude seemed far from it, making the incident even more puzzling. The back view of her leaving the balcony without regret, saying she had found out everything she needed to know. Among all the orderly schedules and thoughts in his head, only the matters related to ‘Bree’ remained out of place.
It had been a long time since he had such personal feelings.
When the Eastern War was at its height, ending the war was his only goal in life. After losing countless comrades and relatives and finally leading the war to victory, he hadn’t thought about it. He naturally stayed in Shilom to prevent the House of Nobles from trying to turn a blind eye to the East that had become a living hell, and as the king was dragged around by the House of Nobles, he gathered like-minded individuals in the Grand Council to confront them.
His life had been made up of only duty and responsibility, with no room for emotions to interfere.
Rejun slowly turned the handkerchief over.
There were only intricate embroidered patterns.
What kind of clue was there supposed to be?
Not even that common name was engraved. Complex ancient vine patterns bordered the edges, and in the center, two poppy birds were flapping their wings. It was an iconography wishing for peace and well-being.
Furthermore, an investigation into Wernyu Mountain silk had been conducted over the past month. But there were no cases of smuggling, let alone official bestowal by the royal family. The entire quantity of Wernyu Mountain silk had been imported intact into the palace. There was absolutely no possibility of leakage. It could only be seen as having been exchanged in a personal relationship.
The number of people who could casually handle such valuable items was limited even in the palace. Perhaps one of the Princess’s close maids?
But Rhienze’s maids were mostly from noble families, and because he often encountered them in the court, he wasn’t unfamiliar with their faces. Then only Princess Elia remained. If it wasn’t the imperial family or foreign royalty he had in mind, someone close to the Princess seemed appropriate.
Rejun folded the handkerchief again and put it back in the box.
[It’s time to reclaim the duty you’ve forgotten.]
The incomprehensible sentence from his father echoed in his mind.
* * *
The ribbon decoration at the end of the white parasol fluttered long in the wind.
Elia was sitting blankly in the garden. On the wooden table in front of her, a letter she received a few days ago fluttered under a paperweight.
[Elia. Would you visit the main palace within a few days? I have surprising news about this Didante Ball and your partner. I can’t tell you how happy I am to share this news with you! With joyful heart, Rhienze.]
It was a letter from Rhienze. Rhienze, Crensen’s only daughter and heir to the throne, had been taking care of her cousin Elia, who was not in good health. Since Elia had never approached Rhienze first, it was actually a one-sided relationship of being cared for.
