Chapter 43

“Ian! Ian, where are you?”

Ian was still not familiar with this mansion. Yet, the fact that he had hidden so well indicated that he indeed had a remarkable talent for hide-and-seek.

“He’s not here either.”

Louis said as he closed the wardrobe door in the empty guest room.

Outside the window, the servants and knights searching for Ian made the place noisy. Closing the wardrobe door and glancing outside, Louis turned around and left the room.

“We haven’t found him yet. Let’s check elsewhere.”

Following quietly behind Louis, Vivian began to wonder why he was participating in the hide-and-seek game. Looking at his neatly arranged back, she speculated whether Ian had some leverage over him.

Then she shook her head vigorously at her absurd thought.

Leverage over Louis? Impossible.

At that moment.

“What is this place?”

Louis stopped and looked back, asking.

“Indeed. This is my first time seeing this place too.”

Louis pointed to an empty room at the end of the mansion’s third floor. It wasn’t exactly empty.

Various large and small objects were covered with white cloths. It was a fairly large room used for storage.

Despite being a storage room, it was well-maintained and not very dusty. Louis walked into the room and looked around with interest.

“Doesn’t it seem like a place where a child might hide?”

Louis’s golden eyes sparkled. Like the eyes of a lion before its prey. Vivian gulped unconsciously.

Louis was right.

The room was several times larger than the other rooms.

Sunlight streaming through the thin curtains illuminated the dust floating in the air. The reflected dust created a mysterious atmosphere, as if something grand was hidden there.

The room was filled with all sorts of junk. It was a perfect place for a child to hide.

Vivian nodded resolutely to Louis and entered the room.

“Ian. Are you here?”

Vivian’s voice spread quietly through the room. But there was no other sign of life. Vivian began to lift the cloths covering the objects one by one.

“He’s not here…”

Lifting the third cloth, Vivian couldn’t hide her disappointment. Without much expectation, she lifted the fourth cloth.

“What is this?”

An unexpected object caught Vivian’s attention. It was none other than a sofa. To be precise, it was a book on top of an old sofa. The moment she saw the book, Vivian forgot about looking for Ian and reached for it.

As soon as she opened the book, Vivian let out a short scream and dropped it.

“What happened?”

Louis, who had been looking for Ian on the other side, approached upon hearing Vivian’s scream. Vivian’s face was burning red, and she was covering her face with both hands, her head bowed.

“What kind of book is it…”

Louis bent down to pick up the book that had fallen on the floor. At that moment, Vivian let out a sharp scream and lunged at Louis.

“No!”

Vivian hadn’t meant to do that from the start.

Looking into Louis’s golden eyes, she thought so.

Initially, she had intended to snatch the book away or drop it to prevent him from seeing it.

She had no plan to push Louis onto the sofa and climb on top of him.

“Well, that is…”

Vivian was fully reflected in Louis’s deep golden eyes, which were very close.

“Well…”

Her mind was screaming at her to get up immediately, but for some reason, her body wouldn’t listen.

“Is it a book I shouldn’t see?”

His lips were so close. Every time they moved, it felt like they might touch.

Her heart began to race uncontrollably, as if it were broken. Her fingertips tingled from the intensity of her heartbeat.

At that moment, Louis’s golden eyes, which had been staring at Vivian, slowly moved to the book on the floor.

The book was opened halfway.

Vivian hurriedly covered his eyes with her palms.

“No, you can’t see it.”

“Vivian.”

Louis called her softly, but Vivian had no intention of removing her hands.

Louis slowly raised his hand and grabbed her wrist.

“I won’t look, so please move aside for a moment.”

“Then close your eyes tightly.”

“…Alright.”

At his response, Vivian slowly lifted her hands from his eyes. She could see Louis’s golden eyes peeking through.

“I told you to close your eyes!”

Vivian covered his eyes firmly enough to make a slapping sound.

“Ouch!”

Did I cover them too hard?

Vivian flinched at the sound, but she still couldn’t remove her hand from his eyes.

She turned her head slightly. The book lying open on the floor was half pictures, half text. She didn’t know what the text was about, but the pictures were the problem.

It was an image of a n*ked man and woman entangled together, something Vivian had never imagined.

Closing her eyes tightly again, Vivian pressed her hands harder against Louis’s eyes.

“This time, I really won’t open my eyes. I promise.”

As Louis’s red lips moved, his breath tickled Vivian’s neck.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Louis’s lips curled into a smile.

Swallowing hard, Vivian slowly lifted her hands from his eyes. Louis’s eyes were closed.

Feeling relieved, Vivian tried to get up from Louis.

“Sister?”

It was Ian’s voice.

Vivian found herself even closer to Louis’s golden eyes, which were now wide open. Startled, she quickly moved away from him.

‘Smooch.’

As Vivian pulled away from Louis, a strange and slightly embarrassing sound came from their parted lips.

* * *

“Did you find Young Master Ian?”

Rayden, who had been following Louis after he urgently summoned the royal guards to return to the palace, asked.

“Yes, we found him.”

Rayden looked at Louis, who was walking unusually fast, with a puzzled expression.

“You said you had something to discuss. Are you sure it’s fine to leave now?”

At Rayden’s words, Louis suddenly stopped. Rayden quickly adjusted his pace to match Louis’s sudden halt.

Louis stood still, deep in thought, then started walking quickly again.

“I’ll come back next time.”

“Another time? Didn’t you stop by specifically because you thought it was important to meet today?”

Without answering Rayden’s question, Louis walked silently towards the waiting carriage. Without looking back, he climbed into the carriage.

Watching the carriage Louis had boarded, Rayden was certain that something had happened between Louis and Vivian. If his hunch was correct, it would be wise to keep a low profile and avoid Louis as much as possible today.

Rayden mounted his horse, which had been waiting beside the carriage, and signaled to depart.

He knew that his lord became particularly emotional whenever he met Lady Vivian.

He didn’t know what had transpired between the two today, but judging by Louis’s expression, it was likely something unpleasant.

After confirming that Louis had gone straight to his study upon arriving at the Crown Prince’s palace, Rayden sighed in relief and headed to the knights’ headquarters.

However, upon seeing the documents on his desk, he groaned and furrowed his brow.

“Do I really have to report this today?”

“Shouldn’t you?”

The deputy commander of the 2nd Imperial Knights answered as if questioning why Rayden would even ask. Recently, there had been orders from Louis to monitor certain nobles who were suspected of tampering with the rights to mine magic stones.

The reports on his desk indicated several organized movements had been observed. These were the results of his subordinates’ hard work over several days.

Rayden took the report and reluctantly left the knights’ headquarters.

Matters concerning magic stones were sensitive and important enough to be reported not only to the Crown Prince but also to the Emperor. Naturally, it had to be reported immediately, but today, his steps felt particularly heavy.

‘Knock, knock.’

Rayden knocked on the door of Louis’s office, taking several deep breaths to calm his nerves.

“Come in.”

At Louis’s voice, Rayden opened the door and stepped inside. Seeing Louis’s appearance, Rayden had to resist the urge to turn around and leave the office.

Louis was standing with his arms crossed, looking out the window.

As winter approached, the trees had shed their leaves, leaving them bare. The fountain, still operating, sparkled as it dropped water into the now somewhat desolate garden.

Swallowing hard, Rayden finally spoke, looking at Louis’s troubled back.

“The report on the magic stone mining rights of Marquis Cloak and Earl Moore, which you asked us to investigate, has come in.”

Louis turned from the window and sat at his desk. He extended his hand, signaling for the report.

Approaching cautiously, Rayden placed the report in Louis’s hand.

Louis’s golden eyes began to scan the document slowly.

“As you suspected, there are indeed suspicious activities. It appears that the magic stones circulating in the black market are very similar to those from Cloak and Moore.”

At Rayden’s report, Louis tapped his finger on the desk.

“Additionally, the volume of transactions is increasing. It will take some time to find concrete evidence. It seems that Cloak and Moore have conspired together.”

Louis’s head snapped up.

“Conspired together? Why? Are they lovers?”

“…”

Rayden’s mind raced to understand Louis’s words. Unable to grasp his meaning, Rayden braced himself for reprimand and asked.

“We don’t have any information suggesting they are lovers… Should we investigate?”

“Didn’t you just say they conspired together?”

Louis turned his gaze to Rayden, touching his lower lip.

Why was his face turning red?

Seeing his superior blush, Rayden felt chills run from his toes to his scalp.

“What I meant was that they colluded, not that their lips actually touched…”

“You should have said that from the start!”

Before Rayden could finish, Louis slammed the table and stood up, glaring at him. His gaze was so fierce that Rayden’s large frame flinched noticeably.

“W-What did I do wrong…”

Seeing Rayden’s genuinely confused and wronged expression, Louis’s intense gaze softened. He slumped back into his chair and waved his hand dismissively.

“Never mind. I’ll read the report thoroughly and give you further instructions later. You may leave.”

Rayden hurriedly exited Louis’s study, eager to escape.

Watching Rayden scurry away, Louis sighed and pressed his fingers to his temples.

“What am I doing…”

Louis muttered to himself, leaning back in his chair.

His first kiss.

Their lips had accidentally collided. He could still feel the tingling sensation on his lips. Louis frowned as he looked at his hand, which had unconsciously moved to touch his lips.

Covering his face with one hand, the tips of Louis’s ears turned red.

Trying to focus on his work, Louis picked up the report Rayden had brought. He read the same sentence repeatedly before finally moving on to the next one.

It took him twice as long as usual to finish his work that day, and it was late at night by the time he could retire to his bedroom.

The next morning, after an unusually long training session, Louis found a letter requesting an audience on his desk.

The letter bore the seal of the Dinever family.

Swallowing hard, Louis turned the envelope to see who it was from.

[Ian Dinever]

The envelope was marked with clumsy, forceful handwriting.