CHAPTER 94……………………………………
Confession (2)
It was around the time when they were planning to get a new office with the money they’d earned from solving a few commissions.
Given the nature of their work as information brokers, it wasn’t unusual for clients to come knocking at night—but the slums turned into a lawless hell after dark.
So the two of them spent days wandering around, looking for a respectable place in the central district rather than the slums. As always, though, they never quite had enough money.
Up to that point, both of them still carried debts for various reasons, and rent in the central commercial district was incomparably more expensive than anything in the back alleys.
That was why the offer—catch a con man commissioned by the Merchants’ Guild, and they’d lend them an office space—was irresistibly sweet.
“But underestimating him as just a petty con artist was the mistake.”
Anje had nearly died back then.
“Yeah, I remember that. We thought he was just a scammer, but it turned out he was a drug addict and a smuggler, right?”
“Right. We really almost got ourselves killed.”
Even now, whenever he thought back on it, Gray still felt his heart sink.
Even if he’d long since given up on any romantic hopes, Anje was Gray’s most precious family member, partner, and friend. If he had lost her in a moment of carelessness, he would never have been able to forgive himself.
“If it weren’t for you, I’d have died. Thank you, Gray.”
At the unexpected gratitude, Gray’s expression turned awkward.
Is he embarrassed?
Despite his flippant words and behavior, Gray tended to get shy when praised like this.
But Anje soon realized her assumption was wrong.
“…Actually, it wasn’t me who saved you.”
“What are you talking about? When I came to, you were right there beside me.”
Frowning, Gray scratched his head.
“The truth is… when I arrived, everything was already over. That druggie bastard was beaten senseless and sprawled on the ground, and you’d even had some light first aid done. All I really did was contact the city guard.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me until now? And if that’s the case, who on earth saved me?”
Wasn’t the reason obvious?
Gray had hoped that the gratitude and admiration Anje directed at him would eventually turn into love. But even after several years, that never happened.
Damn it!
At last, Gray had to admit that gratitude and love were completely different emotions. In novels, people always fell in love with their savior—but in reality, especially with Anje, it was something he should never have expected. No matter how many years passed, she never opened her heart to him.
A self-mocking smile crossed Gray’s face as he shrugged.
“After that, though, the boss listened to everything I said, right? Unlike before, you followed my lead pretty well. You’ve got to seize opportunities when they come, don’t you? So I kept my mouth shut.”
Anje approached him with a dangerous look on her face.
“Now that I think about it… you little bastard!”
With one leg hooked over the windowsill, ready to jump at any moment, Gray spoke quickly.
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down. That’s why I’m telling you the truth now, okay? Don’t come any closer! If you get any closer—”
Putting on an overly dramatic expression, Gray pretended he was about to jump. All he got in return was Anje’s scornful laugh.
She walked right up to him and smacked him hard on the back.
“So you enjoyed fooling me all this time, huh?”
“Ow! Stop it! That hurts!”
Despite her small frame, Anje didn’t pull her punches. After taking a few hits and writhing in pain, Gray faced her as she crossed her arms.
“So who saved me, then?”
“I don’t know! I’m dying here!”
“Tch!”
When Anje raised her hand again, Gray panicked and blurted it out.
“The Duke of Side!”
“What?”
Anje doubted her ears.
“That can’t be… right.”
The duke—the man who’d tried to kill her—had saved her instead? Unable to believe it, Anje stood there with her mouth hanging open.
“What do you mean, ‘it can’t be’? I heard the scream and ran over, and I saw the duke coming out of the office. He had a bandage on one shoulder, like he’d been injured. I guess he circled back briefly because of that.”
“But the duke never acted like that at all.”
Having collected herself, Anje insisted again that it couldn’t be him.
“He probably forgot about it. Do you think he had the leisure to get a good look at your face in the middle of all that? And even if he did, would he remember a face he only glimpsed for a moment after all these years? Besides, you know you’re not exactly a once-in-a-lifetime beauty, right? Honestly, your kind of looks are pretty comm—”
Gray only shut up after getting smacked on the back a few more times, pouting in dissatisfaction.
“You’re sure it was the duke who saved my life?”
“What do you take me for…? How else do you think I knew the layout of this place and found you when you first came here? It all stuck in my memory from back then. I thought it was strange that the duke—who should’ve been on the battlefield—was wandering around the capital, so I secretly came here to check it out myself.”
“……”
“So… don’t hate him too much. He doesn’t seem like a bad person.”
With that, Gray threw himself out the window. He’d set the stage well enough; the rest was up to them.
Landing lightly in the thick bushes beneath Anje’s room, Gray hesitated for a moment, then climbed up into an old tree nearby.
If he was going to stay up all night, he needed a comfortable position.
The bushes were good for hiding, but in summer they were crawling with all kinds of insects, both flying and creeping up from the ground. Stretching his legs out along a sturdy branch, Gray crossed his arms and closed his eyes.
The cool night breeze brushing through the leaves felt nice.
A mischievous smile spread across Gray’s face as he rested.
Part of the reason he hadn’t told Anje about the duke’s commission was because he knew she wouldn’t stay quiet if she found out—but he couldn’t deny there was a bit of spite mixed in, too.
The duke’s request was to protect Anje from the assassins sent by Hildegard.
Entrusting that task to none other than Gray was an astonishingly wise decision. It was as if the duke had immediately seen that Gray would stake his life to protect Anje.
Gray admired the duke for that judgment—and at the same time, felt jealousy well up inside him.
Thinking about something and actually acting on it were two very different things. Execution required money and power.
Hmph! We’ll see how well you do!
Snorting, Gray glared with narrowed eyes at the balcony door of the duke’s room, right next to Anje’s. Jealousy bubbled up like a spring that night.
Thin layers of red fabric overlapped to form a dress that clung and flowed over a beautiful female body.
At the sight of Hildegard—her slender waist cinched with a gold-threaded sash, her loosely braided hair draped over one shoulder—the emperor found himself unable to think straight. Though he already had several concubines, her appearance now was exactly that of the lover he had always dreamed of.
He prided himself on having countless women, concubines and mistresses alike, but not one of them had ever pleased his eyes as thoroughly as Hildegard did. And yet, he clearly remembered that she hadn’t looked like this until recently.
As he gazed at her with satisfaction, a trace of doubt crossed the emperor’s eyes.
“Did your tastes suddenly change? I don’t recall you looking like this before….”
She had been beautiful then too, but not in this alluring way—more like someone too pure and delicate, as though she might be hurt just by being touched.
“Whatever may have happened to you, my lady, I find this far more to my liking.”
Though layered, the fabric was so thin that every movement revealed glimpses of her ripe, seductive silhouette. Clearly on purpose, Hildegard crossed her legs and leaned toward the table.
Picking up a single plump cherry piled high on a tray, she rolled it around in her mouth before smiling languidly.
The red cherry rolling between her red lips stimulated the emperor’s senses.
After lingering over it for a while, Hildegard smiled brightly and bit into the cherry. Sweet, crimson juice—surely sweet—beaded dangerously between her lips.
She stuck out her small tongue and licked the juice from her lips, then opened her mouth to speak.
