Chapter 67
The heads of the attacker and the attacked both turned toward the door at the same time.
There stood a soldier, expressionless.
“It’s getting very late. Since the night is deep, both of you should return now.”
“I’ll be leaving soon.”
Lerazie responded shortly, then looked up at Calliope.
“I hope you can come out now.”
Only then did she realize that her posture might have looked rather embarrassing to others.
“Oh my…!”
She quickly stepped back, yet maintained an air of dignity in her expression.
He, too, brushed off his clothes and stood as if nothing had happened.
However, both Calliope and Lerazie deliberately avoided each other’s gaze.
As a result, neither noticed that the tips of their ears had already turned red.
Lerazie accompanied Calliope to where the carriage was and offered his farewell.
“Thanks for being with Arsene today. I’m really terrible at playing with kids.”
“Considering your childish personality, I’d have thought you’d be good at it—surprising.”
Calliope replied teasingly, pretending to be distracted, which made him chuckle softly.
Now, there was one last thing to say.
“Lerazie.”
Calliope’s calm voice carried through the air to him. He, too, had a serious expression.
“Can I trust you?”
Her question carried a lot of meaning. He looked intently at Calliope and answered:
“As long as you don’t betray me first.”
Then he asked in return:
“And you?”
“The same goes for me.”
Calliope lifted her chin and declared arrogantly:
“I can forgive mistakes. But deception? That I will never forgive.”
Her words were a firm warning. Lerazie raised one corner of his mouth.
“I’ll return the sentiment exactly as you said.”
Even if, after achieving their goals, they went their separate ways.
“Until then, let’s do well as partners.”
Lerazie suddenly extended his hand. Calliope looked at the large hand offered to her and shook it.
“Looking forward to working with you.”
Surprisingly, the hand she held was warm.
On the way back after seeing Calliope off, Lerazie thought to himself:
“I wonder if I talked too much…”
He worried that he might have revealed too much about the royal family’s weaknesses—or his own and Arsene’s.
Especially regarding Arsene, he had never spoken to anyone about it. Yet, strangely, the words flowed easily in front of Calliope Verdi.
“Well, we are partners, so it should be fine to mention this much.”
Whatever the reason or motivation, the two were going to be married in the future.
“It wouldn’t be right for Calliope Verdi not to know what Aegis already knows.”
He justified his actions that way.
“Besides, I didn’t tell her everything…”
Lerazie had only shared the surface-level facts. The deeper truths, which could only be supported by his own perception, had to remain unspoken.
“Strange. Why aren’t the soldiers stopping me?”
The day after Arsene’s birthday, the guards at the Ninth Prince’s palace only saluted him as he approached, offering no resistance.
Suddenly, he recalled how Lucius had specifically instructed him to come this way.
Checking whether the recording device he carried was working properly was almost a subconscious act.
It was something he always carried whenever he received a ‘mission.’
“Were they really already dead? Am I the only one thinking of someone capable of this?”
Crown Prince Lucius’s eyes shone with intensity. It was natural for those investigating to appear visibly unsettled.
“The Seventh Prince is a Sword Master…”
“Perhaps with a power we don’t understand…”
The hundreds of eyes glancing at him and the whispers pierced Lerazie like sharp daggers.
Instead of reacting, Lerazie quietly activated the recording device. It was an unspoken assertion: he had an alibi.
“Ha… ha ha… That’s right. I nearly misunderstood my righteous brother!”
Despite having just tried to accuse someone falsely and bury them, Lucius switched his demeanor as easily as flipping a hand.
And so, that ‘incident’ was buried.
“….”
Recalling the past, Lerazie wiped his face roughly.
Back then, all he could do was prove his innocence.
The helplessness he felt upon seeing the brutally dead, realizing he couldn’t clarify the unjust deaths or punish the culprit, still lingered vividly.
The wounds from that time were still hidden deep within him.
“Someday… I will make them pay for their sins.”
Lerazie clenched his fists tightly.
He would channel this intense anger and hatred to accomplish all the plans he had laid out.
“Seventh Prince.”
Hearing the call from a servant, Lerazie shook off his thoughts. His eyes narrowed as he examined the servant’s attire.
A servant belonging to the Emperor’s palace.
Quick, too. Perhaps it was better described as urgent.
“What is it?”
“The Emperor requests your presence, Seventh Prince.”
Lerazie let out a bitter smile at the Emperor’s predictable actions.
“Is it really necessary to say this at such a late hour?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll guide you.”
Without the slightest hint of hesitation, Lerazie led the servant ahead.
The servant guided him not to the audience hall, but directly to the Emperor’s bedroom.
Lerazie twisted his lips.
The Emperor never left any official traces of anything disadvantageous. This time seemed no exception.
“I have to admit, his meticulous and thorough personality is impressive.”
It was precisely why Lerazie, despite long preparation, had never found a decisive weakness.
Yet, like roots creeping into cracks in a rock, he was slowly probing for the smallest flaw.
“So someday…”
Lerazie stepped into the Emperor’s bedroom. He felt the heavy door close behind him.
That door would not open again until the Emperor permitted it.
“You seem to have had quite an enjoyable time.”
Bartole spoke, lounging as if leaning on a couch in his bedclothes.
Though his posture seemed careless, Lerazie knew it was a deliberate method to make his opponent let their guard down.
Indeed, Bartole’s yellow eyes glimmered like a sly snake.
“Yes. Thanks to His Majesty’s careful supervision.”
Lerazie replied, referring to the Emperor’s watchers.
“You’re still quick to notice things.”
Bartole smiled leisurely, a compliment Lerazie did not appreciate.
“Then you know why I called you, don’t you?”
Lerazie did not answer. Bartole did not seem to expect a reply.
“Arsene… would you leave that child alone in the palace?”
Bartole got straight to the point. Lerazie found this fortunate.
He stared expressionlessly at the Emperor, who had never felt like a father despite their blood relation.
“Please tell me why you summoned me.”
“What a boring fellow you are.”
Lerazie asked stiffly, and Bartole clicked his tongue.
“Every time I have to make you say it, I think—if only you behaved as I wanted, I might have treated you better.”
“I never sought your approval anyway.”
Lerazie thought coldly.
“You have one task to perform.”
“I thought so.”
From the moment Bartole summoned him to the bedroom, and from the moment he leveraged Arsene as a weakness, Lerazie had guessed it.
The Emperor would use it as an excuse to issue an order disguised as a negotiation.
Lerazie asked in a low, heavy voice:
“Are there still enemies that need to be eliminated?”
