Chapter 46
Before being abandoned, I decided to abandon first.
“I heard the dancers talking while passing by. They said that when the party starts later, they must make the big man with red hair lose consciousness. And they told me to make him sign some document.”
After hearing my words, the expression of Gary stiffened for a moment.
I knew he was someone who stayed alert to every situation, so he would not ignore what I said.
“I don’t know whether those people are real dancers or someone sent them to do bad things. It may be nothing, but the conversation felt strange. I thought it would be good to tell Assistant Gary first.”
Gary nodded seriously.
“Thank you for telling me. We will be careful, so you don’t have to worry anymore, madam.”
He probably thought I was surprised because of it and tried to comfort me.
Just telling Gary made my heart much lighter. I believed he would handle the rest well.
As night came after the sun set, lights began to turn on inside the castle.
When I first saw the castle, I thought it looked exotic. But seeing the lively party atmosphere now, it really felt like I was in a foreign country.
The mother of Marquis Zilan was from a desert tribe near the border.
His wife was also not from the empire, so their culture seemed to have influenced this place.
Dancers were dancing on round sofas and carpets with beautiful patterns.
The cheerful music of the musicians echoed, making it feel like a different world from the heavy rain outside.
If I didn’t know Marquis Zilan’s plan tonight, I would have felt grateful that he cared for us.
I lifted my drink to my lips and secretly looked across the hall.
The marquis looked absorbed in the dancers’ performance.
But beside him, Ricardo had an indifferent face and quietly drank his wine.
The dancers’ skirts and shawls spun in front of my view.
When I looked at Gary, our eyes met.
We didn’t show it on the outside, but we could feel the strange tension from the conversation we had earlier.
Next, my gaze moved to Carun.
Tonight, Carun planned to walk into the trap voluntarily.
He seemed bad at hiding his feelings.
With a sulky face as if he was angry somewhere, he emptied his wine and put the glass down loudly.
One of his hands was clenched tightly.
I worried whether he could even pretend to be drunk properly.
While drinking the beverage poured by the marquis’ wife, I frowned slightly because of the unfamiliar taste.
I tried it because they said it would help me sleep, but it tasted vaguely like warm milk mixed with alcohol.
As the banquet became more lively, people around me seemed slightly drowsy and drunk.
Only Gary and Ricardo remained completely steady.
Carun, who kept drinking—whether for acting or because he was really angry—looked very drunk.
Dancers gathered around him and tried to steal his senses.
It seemed the operation had begun.
‘Finally.’
Carefully watching the timing, I slowly slipped away from my seat.
I even had to move quickly to shake off Ena who was waiting outside.
After leaving the banquet hall, I recalled the memory of being guided around the castle by the marquis’ wife.
“That side was the marquis’ office. I should go up the side staircase without being noticed.”
It seemed all the servants inside the castle were sent to the banquet.
Fortunately, there were no people in the corridor.
The sound of rain hitting the window hid my footsteps.
‘The evidence of the secret communication between Marquis Zilan and the third prince must be somewhere in the office.’
Even if the trap failed this time, the marquis could deny everything by saying he knew nothing.
So I had to obtain proof that he was connected to Eliain before he destroyed all the evidence.
Holding my breath, I opened the office door and sneaked inside.
The candlelight flickered dangerously in the silent room.
“Secret letters are usually kept in places like this.”
Using my knowledge from romance fantasy novels, I quickly searched under the desk and among thick books.
If I could get evidence containing cruel schemes, the original story itself might change.
The third prince who tried to corner Ricardo would instead be pushed into danger.
If used well, Ricardo’s position in the imperial palace could become stronger.
Maybe the long struggle for the throne in the original story would not be necessary.
Thinking so, my hands moved faster.
“But why isn’t it here?! Damn it. Where did he hide it?”
I felt anxious as if people would enter at any moment.
Maybe the incident had already broken out in the hall downstairs.
If so, the marquis would rush up to destroy the evidence.
In a hurry, I crawled to the sofa, lay my face on the floor, and searched under the sofa.
But I couldn’t catch anything.
I saw a large candlestick on the console table.
Just as I was about to check the base of the candlestick—
A big hand grabbed my wrist from behind and pulled me up.
“Mom— ugh!”
I was so shocked that I almost screamed, but a large hand covered my mouth and turned me around.
“What are you doing here?”
Ricardo asked me with the scariest face I had ever seen.
He removed his hand from my mouth, but I was too confused to even make an excuse.
“Are you looking for this?”
In his hand was an imperial sealed letter—the thing I was trying to find.
He had already found it before me.
He was sitting in the banquet hall earlier.
Did he teleport?
I was confused about how he entered before me.
It seemed he had already achieved his goal.
“I, I was… I lost my earring earlier…”
When I tried to squeeze out an excuse with my mind completely blank, I heard footsteps outside.
Someone was rushing up the stairs.
Ricardo and I moved at the same time.
We opened the door and went into the corridor.
But the footsteps were heard from the floor below.
The window outside was a cliff, and the opposite side was a closed wall.
There was nowhere to hide.
The footsteps were already very close.
Someone would turn around after coming up the stairs and immediately face us.
At that moment—
Ricardo pressed me against the wall and leaned his body toward me.
He grabbed my waist with one hand and lifted my chin with the other.
Then he lowered his head and kissed me.
My lips naturally parted in surprise.
I could only widen my eyes silently.
My eyes met Ricardo’s.
His deep navy-blue eyes looked straight down at me.
I tried to push his chest with my hand, but I couldn’t move.
Instead, he pressed closer, and his strong body was clearly felt through my dress.
When he parted my lips and pushed deeper inside—
My mind turned completely blank.
I couldn’t remember what was happening.
“Cough. Ahem.”
Only after hearing a low coughing sound beside us did my confused mind return.
As expected, Ricardo’s gaze slowly moved toward that direction.
Even then, he did not move away from me.
He held my waist tighter, looking at Marquis Zilan with sharp eyes as if blaming him for interrupting.
“I-I am sorry for disturbing the two of you.”
The very flustered marquis apologized.
Only then did I understand Ricardo’s intention.
Ricardo slowly pulled away, and I was finally freed from the wall.
My legs lost strength, and I almost sat down.
Ricardo slowly rubbed my lips, which were shiny with saliva, with his thumb, and shamelessly said to the marquis:
“This is rude. I thought this was a remote place. Was this the marquis’ room?”
The marquis could only show a displeased face and couldn’t answer.
Then, sounds of soldiers running up the stairs were heard.
From that urgent sound, I knew.
The dancers’ scheme to use Carun was discovered and suppressed by Gary.
The marquis rushing to the office also meant he had guessed it.
“What… what is happening?”
The marquis pretended to know nothing while looking at the surrounding soldiers.
But in my eyes, his acting did not look good.
The good thing was that the evidence I tried to find was already in Ricardo’s hand.
‘Wait. Then why did he kiss me?’
I looked at Ricardo in confusion.
