CHAPTER 58……………..
I really wish they wouldn’t call me that.
Yd and Ayla didn’t go back, saying they were worried about us.
Maybe because we had lived together like ordinary country folk, it felt awkward to be called princess in front of them.
But Theodora wasn’t the kind of person to stop just because I asked, and I also had things to say. So I turned to Yd and the children.
“Would you mind stepping out for a bit?”
“No! I’m staying with Mom!”
Right, if he just backed down here, he wouldn’t be Aslan.
But I didn’t want Aslan to hear what we were about to discuss, so I shook my head firmly.
“No, Aslan.”
“No, no! I want to stay with Mom—!”
“I’ll take him, madam.”
Aslan, who was about to throw himself onto the floor, was scooped up by Yd before he could finish.
With a betrayed look, Aslan stared blankly at Yd.
Pretending not to notice, Yd quickly tucked Aslan under his arm and hurried out before the boy could start thrashing.
I quickly called after him with thanks.
“Thank you, Sir Mente.”
“Think nothing of it.”
He said that through the narrowing gap of the closing door.
Click.
At last, the room was quiet. Theodora and I faced each other.
“I’ll ask first, Sir Theodora.”
“Please ask, Your Highness.”
She lowered her head and waited for my question.
With a heavy heart, I spoke the name I hadn’t thought I’d utter again.
“Did His Majesty send you to me because Mars is about to make a move?”
“Yes. I believe Your Highness has already guessed the identity of the assassins.”
I nodded silently.
The assassin group known for returning tokens was none other than the Kahel Assassins.
They had one peculiarity.
Some assassins occasionally demanded personal details of their clients, but Kahel went further.
They required not only the client’s identity but also an item stamped with the family crest.
For nobles, handing over their family’s name was a risky, disadvantageous bargain.
Yet they still requested Kahel’s services—for good reason.
Kahel had never once failed an assassination.
They had never been caught up in a murder trial, and the entrusted family crests were always returned intact.
It wasn’t high risk, high return but low risk, high return.
Even if it cost a fortune and risked family honor, if the failure rate was truly zero, there was no reason not to use them.
Of course, the story changed if the opponent was the Imperial Knights led by Theodora.
However…
“Wasn’t His Majesty’s timing too late? If it weren’t for Sir Mente, you’d be seeing my corpse right now, not me.”
“I set out around the same time as they did. But they interfered…”
Theodora had happened to witness Mars dealing with Kahel, and before they could attack me, she wanted to secure proof that Mars had ordered my death.
But, as expected of elite assassins, they quickly noticed they were being tailed and obstructed the Imperial Knights.
They blocked roads, forced detours, or attacked civilians, creating incidents the Knights couldn’t ignore because they bore the Imperial crest.
“As expected of people who live off others’ lives—utterly disgraceful…”
Seeing my exasperated face, Theodora ground her teeth, still bitter at the memory.
“Preventing it in advance would have been best. But you had your own knights, and you yourself are skilled with a sword, so I believed you could endure for a time. I misjudged. Lady Louisa, your strongest knight, was absent, and you were already battered when I arrived…”
“…”
That pricked my conscience a little.
Even putting Aslan aside, if I hadn’t abandoned the sword unlike the original Minerva, I could have stalled until Theodora arrived.
Honestly, with a body that had turned into something like a limp slime, it was a miracle I lasted as long as I did.
“And then suddenly—a daughter? When I last saw you, there was no sign. Whose child is she?”
Still disbelieving, Theodora asked, her face baffled though her voice remained controlled.
I dodged her gaze with a frivolous quip.
“Whose child would she be? She’s mine.”
Theodora finally raised her voice.
“That’s not what I meant! Who is her father?”
Ah, this is getting troublesome.
How was I supposed to explain this?
But I couldn’t just say I picked Aslan up.
Not only did I not want Aslan to hear that, but also, with our faces so alike, no one would believe it anyway.
When I avoided answering with an annoyed expression, Theodora frowned strangely and asked,
“Surely it isn’t Yd Mente, is it?”
“Why drag Sir Mente into this all of a sudden?”
“Because it makes no sense otherwise! For Your Highness to socialize with a neighboring noble? And even teaching his daughter? Is Lady Ayla also your daughter then?”
I snapped at her absurd theory.
“What nonsense is that supposed to be!”
Me having both Aslan and Ayla with Yd?
Might as well write a novel!
Even if Aslan’s identity could be glossed over, that misunderstanding had to be cleared.
So I reluctantly gave a half-explanation.
“…We just grew close by chance. I almost lost Aslan once, and Sir Mente and Ayla found him for me. That’s when we first met.”
Even with the truth, Theodora’s suspicion didn’t fade.
“Your Highness.”
“What now.”
Her brown eyes narrowed.
Feigning defiance, I met her gaze with a curt reply.
When she looked like that, sharp questions always followed.
This time was no different. She went straight to voicing suspicion about Yd.
“Your Highness, that man, Yd Mente—he is suspicious.”
I asked flatly, as if I had expected it.
“Are you saying Sir Mente is Mars’s agent?”
“Half right, half wrong.”
Theodora answered without hesitation.
Indeed, the idea that Yd was Ayla’s true father was nonsense, but suspicion up to that point wasn’t unreasonable.
Still, from what I had seen, Yd was clearly not Mars’s man.
I waved my hand dismissively.
“Of course I suspected him at first. I watched him closely. But no—he isn’t.”
“And how can you be so sure?”
I shut my mouth.
I had no hard proof.
Catching that, Theodora sighed softly and pulled something from her cloak.
“This isn’t something to be dismissed so easily. Look at this.”
“What now…”
Reluctantly, I accepted the item and froze when I saw it.
“This is…”
“Yes. A ring engraved with the Imperial seal. Prince Mars’s property.”
It was exactly what I had tried to retrieve from Kahel’s leader yesterday.
Proof that Mars had ordered my death.
But why did this tie into suspicion about Yd?
I looked at her quizzically, and she said with a grim expression,
“It was Yd Mente who found it. As if he already knew who they were, he deliberately sought it out.”
“No, Sir Mente is just far more meticulous than he looks. Maybe he just searched on a hunch and happened to find it.”
Honestly, after nearly being assassinated, rummaging through their belongings wasn’t unreasonable.
Theodora let out a strained, hollow laugh and asked,
“If only that were so. But do you know where this ring was found?”
Theodora was a seasoned knight who had seen it all.
For her to react like this…
I swallowed hard.
“…Where?”
“In the inside of his thigh.
