Chapter 35

Goldina. Outcast. Wizard.

It’s unlikely, but maybe, just maybe, it might be an act aimed at me alone, unrelated to the emperor.

However, the masked man who suddenly appeared didn’t seem to be trying to harm me, but to recruit me as a member of a certain group. He asked me if I was lonely. If it was hard to endure keeping so many secrets.

Outcast.

He had slowly raised his left hand and gripped his right forearm, which had an enchantment tattooed on it. I didn’t know if I could believe it, but… My abilities weren’t even what the average person needed… But still, that was all I could guess.

The emperor had a thoughtful look.

“And they approached you even as they infiltrated the palace. Even if they used the medicine in advance, they’d be in big trouble if you screamed.”

“Yes.”

“Maybe if I didn’t show up, they’d have kidnapped you by force. Does that give you any idea who it could have been?”

“I don’t know… I need to know. I wonder why the hell he approached me… If I was the aim, shouldn’t I be investigating it on my own?”

“No way.”

I thought I had persuaded him with my logical reasoning, but the emperor cut me off abruptly, speaking forcefully. What could he be thinking?

“Consider it, at least. If they were interested in my life in the first place, wouldn’t they have overdosed and killed me? They don’t mean to kill me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“What if Xenon was just taken advantage of? What if he was just used as a tool? Then you won’t get the right information, whether by blackmailing or torturing him, and you’re going to mess with the academy instructor for nothing.”

“If you can’t deal with the consequences, just quit.”

Look at how you listen to the end and then reject it. I’m speechless. This is too much.

“They say you have to go into a den of wild beasts to catch wild beasts!”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing. Of all the things I’ve bought, you are the one that’s caused me the most trouble.”

“But they were after me. What am I… I think it would be good to know why. Please. I will approach it without too much risk.”

Instead of answering, the emperor silently stared at me with an exasperated face. His face looked like he was saying “fine, do as you please”, but somehow I kept my mouth shut and tried to meet his gaze.

It was me, as always, who averted my eyes first. His sarcastic voice somehow managed to push my pride down even further.

“It is still just an assumption of yours that the power has nothing to do with the empress. There is no need to say more. I’ll take care of the rest.”

He really was like an unyielding brick wall. His advisers probably talked until their throats failed in vain.

If he has made a firm conclusion, there was no more reason for me to speak.

I pursed my lips, but I had no choice but to bow my head.

At that moment, a servant’s voice was heard from outside the door. “The Duke of Thiaheb asks to see you.”

“Tell him to come in.”

Hearing this, I began to leave, but surprisingly, the emperor offered me a chair in the living room.

Last time, I’d been there as the emperor had been paid a visit by the empress dowager and Vicky’s father.

He really did intend to keep me around in the future. That’s why I needed to familiarize myself with these influential people in advance.

I happily sat down. However, the ordeal from earlier had left me looking rumpled and disheveled, my wrinkled school uniform looking out of place against the opulent room.

Duke Lyon Thiaheb, with his face so similar to Vincenzo’s, walked into the living room, showing off his slim figure and flamboyant attire. Then, with one knee on the ground, he paid his respects.

“Greetings, Your Majesty the Emperor. Long may you reign.”

The emperor turned his head without looking at him. Duke Lyon seemed not to want me present to this meeting, but met my eyes in acknowledgement.

“What brings you here?”

“I heard that something serious happened today, so I wanted to check in on your health, Your Majesty.”

“Me?”

“No, the person who was attacked isn’t even your Majesty, so why am I worried? The one who was attacked was your favorite pet, not you…”

Duke Lyon was almost bruised by a cookie basket thrown by the emperor. For a nobleman, his reflexes were pretty good, but the cookies spilled all over.

The pet that the emperor cared about? I’m the one who was attacked.

I listened to the conversation, remembering that Duke Lyon’s linguistic habits were strange.

Duke Lyon nonchalantly picked up a cookie that fell on his knee and put it in his mouth. His eyes were wide open and he glanced at the snack in his hand. I’m sure he thought it was delicious, too. Even I ate it and came to my senses, so I asked if I could have a piece.

“Haha, I was wondering what you were talking about because the whole royal family was going crazy over this, but it’s really good. It’s sweet and doesn’t break easily. It’s very savory. The smell of butter…”

“What do you want to say? Just get to the point. I have a lot to do today.”

“Tsk, how impatient. You’re going to kill one of them, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

Duke Lyon seemed to be joking, but the emperor nodded, and the conversation stopped there. The emperor’s best friend looked unfazed by his speech, but surprised by the content of his words.

Unable to withstand the strange silence, I intervened cautiously, “Duke, what’s the story about the cookie causing the royal family a commotion?”

“Oh, you mean that? It’s just that this cookie is making me laugh.”

Perhaps because he saw me at the banquet hall, he has treated me as if I were a noble lady, not a servant or maid.

“This is actually a secret, but one of my subordinates has a spy planted near the empress. Even if you don’t want to hear it, the stories flow one after another. Of course, some of the people on this side will be on that side…”

I didn’t know how to feel, I was terrified to hear more but I couldn’t stop listening.

He planted a spy. I had never talked to Duke Lyon in person, so I thought he was just a good person, but he was also quite cunning.

As I nodded a little, he continued to talk animatedly, “Everything the empress does is strange on a normal day, but this time it seems that she threw a fit to find out who dropped the cookies on the aisle of the west building.”

My heart was about to pound out of my chest, but I couldn’t show it. I glanced at the emperor, who was rolling his eyes, but I could not read any emotions from him.

“I don’t understand what that means. So what?”

“It’s nothing but cookies, so why the fuss? The story is ridiculous up to this point. I don’t know how this happened, but suddenly everyone has a package of cookies like the one the empress dowager’s carrying around the palace.”

The emperor intervened, not understanding. “…carrying around the palace?”

“I told you, these cookies, which were very precious until the day before, were given to me by the emperor so I could taste them. At first, the empress was losing her mind when she saw her subordinates walking around with packages of cookies. I don’t really know what she’s thinking anyway.”

“Everything you do is clever. It’s so funny.”

The emperor’s red eyes looked directly at me saying that. I understood at once that his compliment was directed at me, not at the empress dowager.

When a hunter praised a hound, did he look like that? I couldn’t be happier every time the emperor smiled due to my plans. My heart beat pleasantly.

“That’s why the Empress was in a bad mood all day, interrogating people. ‘Did you have a cookie party or something? Huh?’ I couldn’t rest in my room, so I came here myself.”

“Still?”

“Huh?”

“She’s still in a bad mood?”

“I told you so? I saw a servant passing by with their cheeks swollen and red by the empress’s hand until just now. I’m telling you, if you don’t hurry up and do something about her, there won’t be any people left in the palace.”

The emperor touched his chin. “I’m still in a bad mood…”

“Why, does that mean anything?”

“No, I need you to investigate something.”

“What is it?”

“Do you know anything about the chieftain’s wife?”

“What’s the matter?”

“Come to think of it, I think I’ve heard rumors that they were being held somewhere…”

“We’d better find out.” Leon nodded instead of asking for more details.

The emperor looked at me. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Yes.” I excused myself with dignity, recalling the royal manners that I had learned.

The emperor, who acknowledged my greeting, spoke to me as I was about to turn around. “Maybe we should give it a try? Within the boundaries of safety.”

“Yes…?”

“Do it, but keep in mind that your life is not yours.”

I couldn’t hide the happy look on my face and bowed deeply. When I heard the status of the empress dowager, I was convinced that the group that sent people after me was a completely different group from the one that poisoned me. As much as they approached me, as long as I could figure out their intentions, I decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to hear them out.

“You’re smiling from ear to ear. Go.”

“Yeah.”

As I was walking out the door, the two of them spoke again.

“The pet seems to be in good health. It must have been effective when you called in a doctor and made him treat her and cursed him for not working.”

“Nonsense…”

With those words, the heavy door of the drawing room closed. No more conversations were heard after that.

9. Getting entangled

My room looked as if nothing had happened. All the windows and doors had been fixed completely, contrary to my expectations.