Chapter 26
After that, I could not meet Tristan again.
Maybe he had changed the place where he cared for the horses, because no matter how long I waited, Tristan did not appear. I even circled around the duke’s estate, but there was no sign of him, not even the sound of hooves.
Of course, he would need to come out to manage the horses. I became scared thinking—what if he was neglecting his work just to avoid me, and then got beaten because of it?
I still left the lunch basket in the spot where we always met, but even after several days, it remained there, untouched. Just like the first time we had met.
Did I make Tristan angry?
I became very anxious.
No matter how many times I thought about it, I could not figure out why he was acting like this. I did not even feel like blaming him. Because I had seen his eyes—shining brilliantly for a moment, and then turning darker than ever right after.
Why, what made you like that?
But the scariest thought was—what if I never see Tristan again?
If he really decided to avoid me, there weren’t many ways left. I could follow Ludwig to all the social gatherings in hopes of seeing Tristan by chance again, or I could even barge into the Achenbach duke’s estate.
Neither of those seemed like methods with high chances of success.
What should I do now? I returned to the Opal Palace, clutching my head, and collapsed onto the bed.
Without Tristan’s agreement, accusing the Duke of Achenbach of treason would also become complicated. I didn’t want Tristan to be branded as a slave, or suffer terribly because of it.
But more important was this: the reality might not follow the original story.
If I revealed the duke’s crimes based only on the story, and Tristan ended up executed as well, I would never forgive myself.
What on earth is the problem, what is it?
Alone, I kept muttering words of resentment toward Tristan.
I thought we had grown close… was that only my illusion?
Was it really such a terrible thing to say I wanted to make you happy?
Why are you running away from me? Why?
At that moment, someone knocked on my door.
“Why.”
“Um, Princess…”
It was Emma, one of the maids of the Opal Palace—more accurately, a spy for Theo.
After surviving the incident where Richard lost control, the remaining servants of the Opal Palace swore loyalty to me. But mostly, that was because of fear. Being a spy was not something one could quit easily just out of goodwill.
So some of them quietly resumed their spy work. About three out of the six who had survived.
I didn’t feel much regret about this. In fact, I left them alone, thinking I might use them one day.
And I was right—since I had used Emma to make contact with Theodora, it was a good decision.
I wondered if Theodora had sent a message, and I quickly sat up. As expected, Emma whispered to me:
“Would you like to go out for a little outing? There’s good tea prepared.”
She didn’t mention the place, but I knew it was Theodora’s invitation.
My head was already full of worries, so this was perfect. I immediately hurried to Jasper Palace.
Jasper Palace was as small as Opal Palace. Like Opal, it was tucked away in a lonely corner where light barely reached, with no proper garden.
But the real value of Jasper Palace was only seen after entering through the doors.
Though small and modest on the outside, the inside was like a splendid gallery. The marble floor was polished so brightly it reflected my face, and the white-painted walls were decorated with paintings collected from all across the empire.
It looked even more splendid than the last time I came. As soon as I entered the hall, I paused to admire the large lion statue that greeted me.
“Lucy!”
Just then, a woman with flowing red hair rushed toward me and hugged me tightly.
“Welcome! I missed you! You never come unless I call you!”
Theodora Hill Esperusa. Mistress of Jasper Palace, and the 7th Princess. This was only our second time meeting.
“Big sister, I can’t breathe…”
Mumbling into her chest, I was finally released.
A beautiful woman with burning red hair and deep green eyes looked at me warmly.
“I prepared everything you asked for, but you’re so busy meeting some boy that you ignore your sister. Too mean.”
By “what I asked,” she meant the matter of Duke Achenbach. We had promised—once I found out more about his treason, I would report it to her.
She giggled at my stiff expression.
“Come here.”
Theodora led me into her room.
Inside was a huge table far too large for just two people, piled high with desserts—all of them my favorites.
Anyone else, I would have been surprised at how she knew my taste without me saying. But Theodora was the greatest information broker in Esperusa, rumored to know everything that happened within the imperial family.
“Lucy, before the real talk, I need to tell you something.”
“Yes?”
I looked up from the table just as she smiled at me brightly like the sun.
“I finally cut off the tail of the Blue Serpent.”
And then she added:
“It’s thanks to you.”
The “tail of the Blue Serpent.”
That was what I had written in the first letter I sent her. It was also the reason she held such unconditional goodwill toward me, even though this was only our second meeting.
The “Blue Serpent” was the most powerful underground information organization in the empire. Theodora had been searching for one man who had escaped from them.
Because he had betrayed her mother.
The head of Blue Serpent was Theodora’s grandfather. A cold-blooded tyrant who cared only for money, seeing even his own children as tools.
Her mother had tried to flee from him, wishing to leave the underworld and live a proper life. Her escape plan was perfect. If it had succeeded, the 7th Princess Theodora would never have been born.
But she was betrayed.
By the one person she trusted most—the man who promised to run away with her.
Her father sold his own daughter, who tried to flee, to the emperor as a concubine. Theodora’s mother, who only wanted freedom, was trapped in the grandest, most dazzling cage of all.
Since childhood, Theodora grew up hearing this story, and naturally inherited her mother’s love and her hatred toward her grandfather.
On her fifteenth birthday, her mother passed down to her a secret information network she had built in the shadows. Theodora named it Teridion—after a spider that hunts snakes despite its small size, with deadly venom.
So when she said she had cut off the Blue Serpent’s tail, it meant she had finally taken revenge and dealt with her mother’s betrayer. No wonder she seemed more thrilled than last time.
“It wasn’t thanks to me, really. You had already found most of the trail. I only helped a little.”
I wasn’t just being modest. She already knew what region he had gone to. Even if I hadn’t given her the city name and specific hideout, she would have found him eventually—just like in the original story.
“You saved me time and money. That’s very important.”
Her tone became serious.
“As I said before, and I’ll say it again now that it’s over—I owe you a great debt. From now on, Teridion and I will wholeheartedly support anything you wish to do.”
I smiled.
Having Theodora’s help was more than welcome. In the original story, she had stayed completely neutral, even after Imelda won. The fact that she survived the bloody succession war without ever taking sides showed just how capable she was. To have her on my side—it was reassuring.
“Thank you, sister.”
When I replied, she stared at me, then suddenly rushed over and hugged me again.
“Oh my, how are you so mature? You’re only twelve years old! Children don’t have to be like this! You should be playing and making trouble! Even if it’s hard in this household!”
“Big sister, I can’t breathe…”
She didn’t let go this time, holding me until I was nearly faint, before laughing and finally releasing me.
“All right, now let’s talk business. Eat, eat. I recommend the banana pudding first—it’s not too sweet, but fragrant and smooth.”
I followed her suggestion and took a big spoonful of pudding. The pure sweet banana taste filled my mouth.
“The Duke of Achenbach’s treason plan has three main stages.”
As I savored the pudding, her servants brought over a stack of thick documents. She took a few from the top and began explaining.
“The first stage is to cause chaos in the empire. To turn the nobles’ and the emperor’s attention away from the duke. This stage is being carried out in many different ways all across the empire.”
“For example?”
“Pirates in the west.”
I swallowed the pudding hard.
Pirates. Ruthless crews that hijacked ships and demanded ransom. I remembered hearing at the birthday celebration that the west had become dangerous because of them.
The western part of the empire, next to the sea, had mild weather all year and little humidity. Nobles often went there for summer holidays, and the region’s economy relied heavily on their visits.
Yet even now, just months before summer, the pirate problem was still unresolved.
“The pirates are based around Molt, led by a fallen knight, it’s said. That he took his knights and became a pirate. Half true, half false. He is a knight, yes, but he didn’t fall and turn pirate.”
“Then what?”
“He was ordered to. By Duke Shardina.”
A completely unexpected name had come out.
“The two dukes have joined hands?”
