| Chapter 17

But he couldn’t miss the opportunity to become king. Duncan eventually married the queen, and she bore two sons from that union.

Leon, the youngest prince who was the only survivor among Freemont I’s children, was now eighteen. Having reached the age where he could rightfully succeed to the throne, he chose the eldest daughter of the Heskel family as his princess consort, and this was one of the factors making Freemont unstable now.

While the Duncan family still had the greatest military power in Freemont, if one were to name the second, it would be the Heskel family. Moreover, the Heskel family was related by marriage to the Alta family, and the Alta family harbored considerable resentment towards the Duncan family for betraying their trust and choosing the throne.

Thus, Leon’s choice was enough to appear as if he was wary of the current king Freemont II’s family.

However, Leon still needed recuperation for one or two months a year, and the eldest son of Freemont II was only ten years old. The nobles were watching to see which side they should put their weight behind. And the same was true for the Edmus royal family.

Edmus was not politically peaceful either. They had experienced a war with Askun, which shared a border, several years ago, and due to bad weather last year and the year before, citizens whose lives had suddenly become impoverished were struggling to pay taxes.

There were even small-scale rebellions in some nobles’ territories. Although they were suppressed relatively early, it was uncertain what would happen if life became even harder.

The Edmus royal family tried to turn the arrow towards Freemont. If they had Freemont with its fertile farmland and abundant resources, they wouldn’t have become this desperate. Moreover, with the political situation there not being good, the nobles were divided between those who thought they should somehow find an opportunity to invade Freemont again and those who thought it wasn’t time yet.

Count Balshwin, of course, opposed the war because he gained a lot from long-standing trade deals with the Duchy of Freemont. He argued that if a war broke out when the continent was already devastated, the people would suffer, but everyone knew what he was really worried about.

However, because the count’s family was a prestigious family that had supported Edmus for a long time, they had people’s support and couldn’t be easily moved.

Lars’s plan was to take away Balshwin’s biggest source of money. And he decided to use Bickman for that plan.

About 10 years ago, while wandering the continent, Bickman had saved the lives of a family. They had been robbed by thieves, and the woman and child among them were on the brink of death, but he helped them receive comfortable treatment. It was the most meaningful thing Christopher Bickman had done in his life.

Surprisingly, they were the family of the largest trading company in Freemont, and after recovering their health, they returned to their hometown. And every year around that time, they sent precious gifts.

If Bickman had been a little smarter, he would have established trade deals with them like Balshwin, but the only thing in his head was women. Nevertheless, thanks to the gifts sent by the trading company, the baron’s family could keep their pockets full even while the country was in turmoil.

It wasn’t difficult to move him. There was an abundance of material to blackmail him, a man overflowing with affection for women. Most were disgusting gossip, and Lars promised to burn all the evidence he had gathered if he just connected him with the Freemont trading company.

But somehow Balshwin noticed our movements and stepped in to deal with the baron. We were planning to put forward Kirhin as a proxy at best, but seeing how he killed the baron at this timing, there was a high possibility that he had also figured out about the meeting with the Freemont trading company people.

Yanken quietly kept his mouth shut as he watched him lost in thought. Soon, Lars, furrowing his brow, muttered as if talking to himself.

“We moved so secretly, where could it have leaked from?”

There’s no way they could know about my existence. Moreover, the number of people moving for this operation was very small, all members of the unit that had guarded Lars’s side during the war.

If information had leaked, it was more likely from Bickman’s side than mine. As if he had read his thoughts, Yanken answered.

“They probably don’t know about the captain’s existence. Although Balshwin treated Bickman like an idiot, in terms of trade deals, he was always cautious because he could threaten his own pocket at any time.”

“I’ll have to send a letter to them first. With the baron’s incident and the risk of exposure, it would be better to postpone the date by a few days.”

“I’ll take care of it right away. But…”

Yanken’s gaze, who had been nodding, rolled towards the bed.

“What are you going to do with that child?”

“Kirhin said he would take responsibility.”

Lars, who had risen from his seat, looked at the soundly sleeping Lucienne. Her hand was still clutching his cloak. Yanken raised his thick eyebrows as if he hadn’t expected him to come out so neatly.

“There’s a lot to teach Kirhin. About the succession of the title and such.”

Kirhin had demanded succession of the title in return for stepping up for this task. It might be a natural thing since his brother’s body and mind were not sound, but still, since the principle was that the right of succession belongs to the firstborn child, a clean handling of affairs was needed so that the royal family wouldn’t find fault. Kirhin knew nothing about such things.

“Are you leaving the cloak behind? It’s quite chilly outside.”

Yanken, who had been frowning towards the sleeping Lucienne, soon saw Lars gesturing towards his own outer garment. He glared with a feeling of injustice, but after a brief exchange of glances with the underlying superior-subordinate relationship, Yanken had no choice but to take off his cloak and hand it to Lars.

“Don’t pretend to be weak. Where’s that spirit that stayed in the mountains for three days and nights even in the dead of winter to hunt bears?”

The words ‘Who was it that was there with me then’ got stuck in his throat due to Lars’s attitude of proudly putting on his cloak. A resentful gaze involuntarily flew towards the bed.

“Let’s go back now.”

Lars strode away. Yanken shook his head and followed behind him like a shadow.

He had heard the story from the spy planted in the prison before visiting Mrs. Almon that Lucienne hadn’t said a word about Lars whom she met that day. If not for that, even though she had managed to come out alive like this, no one would have been able to find her.

If the baron’s murder case was concluded as Mrs. Almon’s doing, there was no need to worry much about that child’s mouth. Moreover, if Kirhin used her as a maid, it wouldn’t be a bad situation as they could check on her from time to time.

As they went out into the darkness, a cool breeze hit the nape of his neck, and he looked at Lars walking ahead with aggrieved eyes. Oblivious to his feelings, the moonlight was exceptionally bright today.

* * *

Perhaps due to exhaustion, I woke up suddenly after sleeping like the dead without any dreams. It was because of the warmth and brightness of the sunlight pouring onto my face. Sunlight like this never entered where I slept, and I had never slept until it got this bright in the first place.

No, I have to boil water because today is the day to wash Mrs. Vino’s body…!

As I struggled to get up, I felt something strange. My room, which was a storage room, was always chilly at dawn, so I used to sleep with two layers of old blankets, but the air in this room was warm, and I was pressed down not by a light blanket but by a heavy cloak. Above all, I was in a bed, not on the floor.

The first thing that awakened my memory was the faint fragrance lingering on that cloak. The fishy smell of the prison, Peterson’s terrifying face, and the emotions from the moment I was hanging myself on the candlestick holder came rushing back like a wave, causing my hands to tremble slightly. I gathered the cloak and hugged it tightly to my chest.

‘If you’re going to doze off standing like that, you might as well go inside and sleep.’

I remember clearly everything he said. Among them, when I recalled what he said to ‘me’, the nape of my neck felt a little warm.

…Why did he help me? Since I was caught in the crowded marketplace, rumors of me being dragged to prison must have spread in an instant.

Besides, that attitude.

Seeing how he could treat a nobleman like that, I thought he might be a priest of higher status than I had imagined. But I couldn’t fathom how high his status must be to treat the baron’s son like a child.

As I was sighing, I suddenly frowned at the pungent odor that assaulted my nose. Thinking it was different from Mrs. Vino’s, I hesitated as her closed-eyed face flashed in my mind. What brought me back to my senses was the door bursting open.

Nina, was it? The woman with the same impeccably neat attire and expression as before entered and raised an eyebrow. I could tell she disapproved of me in many ways.

As I hesitantly folded the cloak that had been covering me, I was suddenly horrified. The source of the stench was me, and part of that smell had seeped into the cloak.

It was only natural. I had slept with it covering me all night.

“The master is calling for you, so hurry and get ready. The bathroom is over there.”

Looking at me with my reddened face with indifferent eyes, she put down the clothes she had brought and turned around. I quickly bowed my head.

“Thank you.”

As if she hadn’t heard my greeting, Nina disappeared with the same rigid posture she had when she entered. I hurriedly gathered the clothes and the cloak and walked to the bathroom. My only thought was that I needed to wash this cloak first.

Having eaten almost nothing yesterday, wringing out the water-soaked cloak wasn’t easy, but I did my best. After soaking the cloak in soapy water, I quickly washed my hair and body, then stomped on the cloak to squeeze out the water. Surprisingly, the cloak was so clean that less dirty water came out of it than from my clothes.

I wiped my body with the towel I had used to shake off the remaining moisture from the cloak and unfolded the clothes Nina had given me. I blinked in surprise. I had naturally assumed it would be a maid’s uniform, but it wasn’t.

The dress wasn’t flashy, but it had neat lace embroidered on the neck and sleeve parts. The silk fabric felt soft to the touch, and the blue color gave an elegant impression. Judging by the clean workmanship and material, it couldn’t possibly be a maid’s uniform.

When I came out after putting on the clothes as best I could, a maid I hadn’t seen before was waiting. The woman wearing a plain ash-gray maid’s uniform looked a few years older than me.

“The master is waiting for you.”

This brown-haired woman also seemed displeased with using such a polite manner of speech. I tried to hide my nervousness, but I swallowed hard. I quickly raised my hand holding the neatly folded cloak.

“Um, could I just hang this laundry before going?”