Chapter 65
The night the moon swallowed the sky. It was almost dawn.
When Jeyas heard that Hale had locked the masked men in the underground prison, he headed there immediately.
Creak—
Unlike the bright and splendid mansion above, the underground was dark and damp. If not for the faintly burning candles on the walls, he wouldn’t have been able to see a thing.
He passed through a corridor lined with cells on both sides and reached the very last room.
“Haa…”
When he opened the door, a man sat idly in the center of the room.
The same one whose mask Senika had ripped off during the day.
What was his name again?
“Seiban.”
Jeyas’s voice echoed through the cave-like cell.
Seiban lifted his head to look up at him. Beneath his swollen eyelids, his green eyes still hadn’t lost their light.
“I heard you still haven’t revealed your boss.”
“I have no boss.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m not here to ask about that anyway.”
Jeyas stood before him. He grabbed Seiban’s hair with his gloved hand and forced his head back.
Then their eyes met—
Seiban flinched.
A chilling aura emanated from Jeyas’s dark red eyes. It felt as if he could devour him at any moment.
Gulp—
“Were you ordered not to touch Senika?”
“…”
Even trembling in fear, Seiban kept his mouth tightly shut.
Jeyas hadn’t expected an answer on the first try anyway. He drew up his pheromones, and soon a black aura rippled around him.
“Three times. I won’t ask more than that.”
The oppressive pheromones began to coil around Seiban’s body, starting from his feet. When they climbed up to his neck, a strangled groan escaped him.
“Answer.”
He struggled, trying to free himself from Jeyas’s grip.
But it was useless. Jeyas had no intention of letting go until he got what he wanted.
The more his prey resisted, the deeper his fangs sank in.
“Answer.”
“Arghhh!”
Seiban clawed at his own throat, trying to scrape off the dark aura that wrapped around his neck.
But all that came away under his nails was red blood. Pheromones weren’t something you could touch, no matter how much you wanted to.
“Answer.”
“Ugh—f… fine! I’ll talk!”
The black aura that had etched itself like a tattoo on Seiban’s body instantly vanished.
Then his body slumped forward. He didn’t try to catch himself—just clutched his neck and glared up at Jeyas from the floor.
Cough!
Rough coughing filled the room. When the sound finally subsided, Seiban slowly pushed himself up.
“Bastard…”
“That didn’t sound like an answer.”
“Phew…”
He staggered over and dropped onto a chair.
To hide his trembling hands, he clenched them into fists and finally spoke through gritted teeth.
“I don’t know how you found out, but you’re right. We were told not to touch the young lady.”
“Why?”
“How should I know? I just did as I was told.”
Jeyas had already expected Seiban’s knowledge to be limited. There was no point assuming he was lying now.
So instead of digging deeper into that, he changed the question.
“What were you ordered to do?”
“You must have a strange hobby—asking things you already know.”
“Answer.”
“Tch.”
Annoyed by Jeyas’s unrelenting tone, Seiban clicked his tongue and snapped,
“To threaten you.”
“Not kill me?”
“They said a threat would be enough.”
“Guess that failed.”
Jeyas let out a short, cold laugh.
The order exposed just how little Richt understood him—it wasn’t anger he felt, but sheer disbelief.
‘To think someone who can’t even gauge his opponent properly holds a seat as an elder…’
Crack, crack—
Jeyas rolled his neck, loosening it.
Then, with a face that looked less cold than serene, he left the underground prison.
‘The Lord will probably overlook this much.’
Laughter echoed everywhere during the festival of a hundred brews.
To be precise, it could be heard even inside the mansion—since some of the servants were allowed to come and go freely.
Unfortunately, aside from the first day of the festival, I’d been stuck in the mansion the whole time.
“So in that case… Miss?”
“Hmm?”
Apparently I’d dozed off again, because Rita lightly tapped my shoulder to wake me.
She sat across from me, looking concerned.
We were in the middle of a lesson about etiquette—something I needed to learn as heir. I knew it was important, but still…
“I’m sleepy…”
I whined, flopping face-down on the desk.
Yeah, maybe I was too old to act cute—but I really couldn’t help it today.
It wasn’t because Rita’s lessons were boring; actually, she made them quite fun by using real examples that made it easy to understand.
‘It’s this cursed schedule’s fault!’
It was the fourth day following this brutal routine, and I was dying of exhaustion.
According to Rita, Father had been living like this—or worse—for decades. How was that even humanly possible?
Of course, I’d made things worse by insisting on taking swordsmanship lessons too…
“Ugh, isn’t this too much?”
“Your physical development advanced earlier than expected, so—”
“I know, I know. It’s nobody’s fault.”
If I had to blame someone, it’d be Father—for putting off my successor training so long!
If he’d just started it on time, my schedule would’ve been much lighter.
But I also knew exactly why he delayed it, so I couldn’t really hold it against him.
It was my destiny, after all. I had to accept it.
“When I become the head of the house, it’ll be even tougher, won’t it?”
“Judging by the Lord’s schedule—yes. Though other Lords may differ.”
Hmm. So Father might not be typical. I should ask Jeyas sometime.
Speaking of which, it had already been four days since I’d last seen him—since we went to the festival together.
I hadn’t even been sick, so it wasn’t like he was visiting less for that reason.
‘What’s he been doing all this time?’
It’s not like he had any duties here. And with all the restrictions placed on him, moving around freely should’ve been hard.
Don’t tell me he’s out there enjoying the festival without me…?
‘No way. Not Jeyas, of all people.’
He didn’t even seem interested when we went together—no way he’d be sightseeing on his own.
“Rita, how long does the festival last again?”
“Tomorrow’s the last day.”
“The final day must be gorgeous, right?”
“Probably?”
“There’ll be fireworks as pretty as stars, exciting performances, everyone dancing around bonfires…”
“Well… something like that.”
Her non-denial basically confirmed it. No matter how they tried to make each year unique, festivals always ended up similar.
And I was sure she’d caught the meaning behind my words—that I wanted permission to go see it.
It wasn’t even a big request! I wasn’t skipping class—just a little break in the evening would be fine, right?
“Oh, speaking of that—what happened to the guys who attacked us?”
“Who?”
“You know, the masked ones who came after me.”
Technically, they’d gone after Jeyas—but since I was there too, saying “me” wasn’t wrong.
“They’re still locked in the underground cells.”
“It’s been four days. Haven’t they found out who ordered it?”
“Nope. Those bastards are tough. Even under torture, not one of them opened their mouth. Must’ve been paid a fortune.”
Rita shuddered in disgust.
How stubborn could they be? They hadn’t seemed that scary to me at all.
But wait—Jeyas said he knew who was behind it. So why hadn’t he told anyone?
Judging by Rita’s face, she really didn’t know. Maybe he’d only reported it privately to Father.
Guess I’ll have to go ask Father directly. Jeyas hadn’t told me back then, and I doubted he would now.
“I’m gonna go see Father.”
“But class isn’t over yet!”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
“M-Miss!”
Ignoring Rita’s flustered voice behind me, I stepped out of the room.
After a few steps, I glanced back. The door was shut tight.
‘So she secretly wanted me to go too, huh?’
If she’d truly meant for me to stay, she would’ve chased me down by now.
That was as good as an unofficial approval. With a light heart, I headed toward Father’s office.
When I arrived, I knocked. Tok tok — then stepped in.
“Huh?”
No Father—only Theo standing there, looking surprised.
“Miss, how could your first word on seeing someone be ‘huh’?”
“Ah, sorry.”
I hadn’t meant to sound rude—it just slipped out from pure confusion.
After clearing his throat, Theo asked what brought me there.
“I came to see Father. Where is he?”
“The Lord is out at the moment.”
“Out where? Will he be long?”
“Hard to say.”
“How can you not know?”
“He didn’t tell me where he was going.”
That threw a wrench in my plans. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that Father wouldn’t be in his office—he was always there.
Hmm… but maybe I didn’t need to ask him directly. Theo was his closest aide—he might know.
“When the Lord returns—”
“It’s fine. I can just ask you instead.”
“Please, go ahead.”
Theo bowed politely.
Even though we were on familiar terms, that kind of formality still felt odd. But I couldn’t tell him to stop—there were still boundaries to keep.
“Did you find out who was behind it?”
“Pardon? You mean the ones imprisoned in the underground cells?”
“Yeah. I’m curious who ordered them.”
“Hmm… well.”
“Well? What kind of answer is that?”
Was he hiding something from me?
“So do you know or not?”
“Rather than that… how about I tell you an interesting rumor going around the mansion lately?”
A rumor? Out of nowhere?
