Chapter 22.
Louis’s exploration of the mansion, which began on the first floor, had reached the fourth. His eyes were drawn to the landscape and still-life paintings hung on the walls. Along the corridor were display cases containing sculptures, crafted ornaments, and ornamental swords—artifacts on full exhibit.
As he continued walking and admiring everything in turn, Louis came across a glass model of a sailing ship. It resembled the one Ron had once made out of wood, and it brought him to a stop.
“A sailing ship! It has three triangular sails, so it’s a Latina!”
Giggling to himself, Louis tilted his head in confusion.
“Or… maybe it’s a Redonna?”
Now uncertain, Louis’s smile faded.
“I miss Dad…”
There was no longer a father to sit him on his lap and tell him stories about ships. Louis tried to shake off the melancholy and sadness clinging to the corners of his eyes.
‘I’m okay. I have my sister.’
Just as he was about to cheer himself up and resume his exploration, a rough hand grabbed his arm.
“What do you think you’re doing? Don’t touch that!”
“Ow! Cindy!”
Only after Louis cried out did Cindy let go. He rubbed his throbbing arm and looked up at her with a wounded expression.
Cindy, realizing she had grabbed him too hard, instead raised her voice.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you know how expensive that is?”
“Do you know how expensive it is?”
Louis retorted with a sulky pout.
“What? Anyway, it’s expensive! It’s made of glass. I heard it was made at the Eastern Mage Tower. All the decorations in this hallway are expensive. If you break even one, it’ll be a disaster. Don’t touch anything! If you cause trouble, I’ll get scolded too.”
“I didn’t touch it.”
Louis looked up and replied firmly.
“You were staring at it. You looked like you were about to touch it.”
“So did I touch it? No, I didn’t.”
His calm, deliberate reply annoyed Cindy even more.
Lately, all the mansion’s staff had been talking about Louis. Many were envious of those who got to see him every day, which only made Cindy more irritable.
‘What’s so great about him?’
He was a mere guest, yet it seemed he intended to stay indefinitely at the duke’s mansion. He obviously had nowhere else to go. He hadn’t even brought much luggage—just a shabby silk pouch. The Vita siblings were nobles in name only—practically beggars.
“If you’re baggage, act like it and stay put. If you cause trouble, you’ll just be a burden to the young lady.”
Louis glared at her, but Cindy merely scoffed with disdain and continued.
“You’re a burden just by existing. So behave.”
It wasn’t a lie, which made Louis want to cry. But when he couldn’t find words to respond, Cindy pressed her advantage.
“Hurry up and go back to your room quietly.”
Shoulders slumped, Louis turned around. As Cindy smiled, savoring her small victory—
A flicker of light approached Louis as he trudged away. The tiny motes of light that had been scattered throughout the hall began swirling around him, gently brushing against his hair as if to comfort him.
“I’m okay…”
At his faint words, the motes suddenly froze midair. Then all at once, they shot toward Cindy. The glowing swarm zipped straight to her feet just as she was about to turn and walk away—and tripped her.
“Ahh!”
Letting out a ridiculous shriek, Cindy flailed and fell awkwardly, slapping the nearby display case with her hand. The ship model tilted from the impact.
Wobble, wobble.
Still precariously perched, the model ship teetered before one last nudge from a light mote sent it crashing to the ground with a smash.
“Eek! What do I do!?”
Startled staff rushed to the scene, turning pale at the sight of Cindy on the floor and the shattered glass ship. Some called her name in alarm, others panicked, unsure of what to do.
Covering her face with both hands, Cindy instinctively turned to Louis—only to realize he was already standing far away. Too far to pin the blame on.
As she noticed him watching her, Louis silently mouthed:
“You’re in big trouble.”
Then he turned around.
The lights that had swirled around Cindy now followed after Louis. Behind him, Cindy sobbed, crying, “I’m ruined,” but Louis ignored her.
Once he reached the end of the hall, Louis whispered to the lights.
“Thank you.”
The motes shimmered with joy.
It was clear now—his sparkling friends had punished Cindy for him. They often followed Louis around the mansion, helping in small ways. Sometimes, though rarely, they even revealed the thoughts of the people nearby. That’s why Louis disliked Cindy so much.
The lights glimmered around his ears.
[Docked pay? No, she might get fired. And it’s all because of that damn brat.]
That had to be Cindy’s true thoughts.
“Cindy’s really a bad person. Thanks for telling me. I’ll be careful.”
Louis once again thanked his sparkling friends. The motes swirled around him in a circle, as if to say don’t worry—we’ve got you.
Louis’s exploration continued. Throughout the mansion, motes of light gathered and danced around him. With more and more of them following him, Louis strode forward with courage.
Meanwhile…
“What is His Highness thinking?”
Ryne felt like he’d swallowed a whole roasted potato—his chest was tight. Even with top-level Hellfire-grade intel in hand, Kazar had made no move. He was still holed up in the Edelweiss capital branch.
In Ryne’s judgment, the best course was to strike a deal with the emperor. Discovering the last Cantio was an achievement even the emperor couldn’t ignore—enough to earn a promise of the crown prince title. But contrary to expectations, Kazar hadn’t returned to the imperial capital.
Ryne ruffled his hair.
“His Highness must have a plan. I should just focus on work.”
He busily scratched away with his quill, until the door to his office—on the top floor of Edelweiss—swung open without a knock. Only one person dared enter unannounced.
“Your Highness?”
Without a word, Kazar walked in and slumped onto the sofa, exhaustion all over his face.
“Where have you been?”
“The merchant guild.”
Ryne understood instantly. There was only one merchant guild Kazar would visit—Forest Guild, which he secretly owned under an alias.
“I check in there sometimes too. Everything seemed fine.”
“There was a document I had to sign myself. More importantly, the empress’s dogs are swarming the streets.”
Kazar muttered with a scowl.
“That’s because you haven’t returned to the palace. They must be panicking. They know you’re alive but have no idea where you are. Must be driving them crazy.”
“What about the investigation?”
Putting down his pen, Ryne sat across from Kazar.
“It was the empress, as expected. The Deep Night made a move—disguised as a slave trader named Jae and infiltrated the Kingdom of Valrua.”
Rumor had it for years that Marquess Pegimule supported the information network “Deep Night.”
“So the Pegimule family was involved too.”
Kazar leaned back deeply against the couch. Not surprising—yet.
“That’s not all, is it?”
“No. The real target wasn’t you. It was Princess Mahel.”
Kazar’s eyes chilled as he crossed his arms.
“I figured.”
He’d suspected it. But using his life as bait left a bitter taste.
“What, you knew?”
“If they wanted to kill me, they would’ve acted when I was poisoned by Redfire. They were using me to frame Mahel and ruin her.”
“Exactly. ‘You touched an imperial prince—now pay with your head.’ They could use it as a pretext to wage war on Valrua.”
As far as Kazar knew, the empress was originally from Valrua. Her father had been a noble there, and her mother the eldest daughter of the Pegimule family. She’d grown up in Valrua before being adopted by the previous Marquess Pegimule and becoming empress.
“So this is tied to her Valruan background.”
Ryne explained further.
“I just found out myself—her biological father was Valrua’s prime minister.”
“Why wasn’t that public knowledge?”
“The Pegimule family worked hard to suppress it. Not only was he prime minister, but the empress was engaged to the Valruan king.”
“She was engaged to the king?”
“The previous Pegimule marquess had no daughters. Wanting to produce an empress, he negotiated with the king. I don’t know the terms, but the engagement was quickly broken.”
Breaking off a royal engagement was no small matter.
“Was it forced?”
“Who knows. But what’s important is what happened after. Once the empress settled in the empire, the Valruan king closed the borders and purged the prime minister’s family. The charges were flimsy—embezzlement, corruption—but not worth death. Yet he killed them all. Even the servants. Doesn’t that stink of a cover-up?”
Events like this usually had obvious motives.
“They were hiding something.”
“We need more info, but the empress lost her entire family in that purge. She tried sending envoys several times, but the kingdom’s borders were sealed.”
“And the emperor just stood by?”
“Pretty much. The Pegimule family was the head of the noble faction—no need to intervene. That’s when the emperor and empress’s relationship took a nosedive. Not that it was great to begin with.”
“I’m more shocked I didn’t know this until now.”
“The Valruan king and the Pegimule marquess erased all traces. Word never spread to the empire.”
“So the empress wants revenge on the Valruan king.”
“She definitely doesn’t harbor good feelings.”
Ryne observed Kazar, who looked deep in thought.
“What will you do?”
“Even if we dig deeper, all we’ll get is Princess Mahel’s name.”
“Exactly.”
They had no intention of dancing to the empress’s tune.
“I’ll return to the imperial capital.”
Kazar’s words lit up Ryne’s face.
“Good decision, Your Highness. Let’s stop pulling all-nighters. Look at my skin—it’s a mess.”
As Ryne grumbled, someone stirred outside the door.
