#34. Discovered (2)
Andrei hadn’t been able to focus on training lately.
After meeting young master Pavel and young lady Sasha by chance, Andrei discovered a secret no one else knew.
Count Tula had been tormenting Pavel and Sasha in cruel ways.
This terrible truth weighed heavily on Andrei’s mind.
For weeks, he struggled with what to do and what was the right thing. He couldn’t sleep properly and was distracted during training.
Finally, he reached a conclusion.
‘I must tell His Grace the Grand Duke.’
Andrei decided he needed to inform Grand Duke Volkov of the truth.
He couldn’t risk the message getting twisted or lost by going through others or sending a letter.
But until now, the Duke had been away, so Andrei had to endure his frustration in silence.
Now, the Duke had returned. Today would be the day he revealed the truth.
‘How should I request an audience? Should I ask Father for help?’
Andrei, who had never accused anyone before, was nervous.
‘How should I start? How can I prove I’m not lying?’
These thoughts made his head spin.
But soon, they were replaced by something urgent.
As he picked up a towel to wipe away sweat after training, a letter fell out.
“What’s this…?”
He didn’t know when or who had put it there.
He cautiously opened the suspicious letter.
“……!”
His eyes widened after reading the first sentence.
It was in Sasha’s handwriting. He knew it well because he had kept and reread her past thank-you letters many times.
‘Why would young lady Sasha send me a letter?’
Andrei read the short letter carefully.
And when he finished, there was only one thought in his head:
“The young lady is in danger.”
The letter could be summarized simply:
Count Tula had called her, and the atmosphere felt ominous.
Andrei interpreted it as,
‘Count Tula is planning to harm young lady Sasha.’
Anxious, Andrei dropped his sword and left training immediately.
He couldn’t sit still while Sasha might be trembling in fear.
He rushed into the castle without waiting for any servant’s guidance and headed straight for the banquet hall.
“Wahaha!”
“Drink more! Drink!”
The hall was noisy with knights drinking together.
“Huh? Isn’t that Andrei?”
“Oh! Andrei! Come have a drink!”
Andrei ignored the knights calling out to him and strode toward Igor, who was sitting at the head seat.
“Father.”
“Oh? Andryusha!”
Igor stood up happily when he saw his son.
“You’re still here and not home?”
He spoke warmly, but Andrei couldn’t answer politely like usual.
“I must see His Grace the Grand Duke.”
“What?”
Igor was shocked by his son’s sudden request.
“What did you just say? You want to see His Grace?”
“Yes. As soon as possible. No, I must see him right now.”
“…Why?”
Igor’s expression turned serious. Andrei quickly replied in a low voice,
“It’s about young master Pavel… and Count Tula.”
Andrei couldn’t explain everything here, so his words trailed off.
“Hmm…”
“Father, please.”
Seeing his son’s desperate face, Igor finally nodded.
“…Alright.”
His son was not the type to be reckless. There had to be a reason.
Without asking more, Igor grabbed his coat and headed upstairs with Andrei, shaking off subordinates trying to stop him.
The Grand Duke, who had just returned to the territory, was likely resting in his bedroom.
Grand Duke Volkov’s bedroom
It was a private place where not just anyone could enter, but Igor had been the Duke’s closest aide for many years.
He politely knocked.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Igor, Your Grace.”
“…Come in.”
When the door opened, Dmitri stood in front of a wall decorated with a portrait of his late wife.
The Medvedev father and son entered, and Dmitri turned his head.
“What’s the reason for coming here at this hour?”
The Duke’s blunt voice carried both irritation at being disturbed and curiosity.
“That is…”
Igor gave a sheepish smile and signaled to his son to speak.
Andrei stepped forward, pressured by the heavy atmosphere, and finally opened his mouth.
“Your Grace, I have something to tell you.”
Dmitri’s eyebrow twitched.
A mere junior knight had come unannounced at this hour, demanding to speak.
Normally, he could have scolded him and thrown him out immediately.
But Dmitri allowed Andrei to continue.
“Speak.”
“Yes!”
Andrei, tense and stiff, explained everything as best as he could.
What he had seen and heard at Pavel’s cabin.
Count Tula’s hidden crimes.
And the dangerous situation Sasha was currently in.
After finishing, Andrei urgently added,
“We must stop the Count right now!”
“……”
Despite Andrei’s desperate tone, Dmitri didn’t rush to act.
He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
Could his loyal younger brother Gregor have done such things?
But in the end, Dmitri stood up.
He didn’t want to doubt his brother, but he couldn’t shake off his worries.
He remembered Pavel’s healthy, bright appearance today…
Sasha’s affectionate gaze toward his son…
And Gregor’s face, glaring at the two as if he wanted to kill them.
‘I need to see for myself.’
If Andrei’s claims turned out to be misunderstandings, he could go back to trusting his brother fully.
With resolve, Dmitri quickly went to his brother’s bedroom.
It was empty.
“……”
He then headed for Gregor’s office.
“Y-Your Grace!”
The steward at the door was shocked when the Duke appeared.
Dmitri frowned at the man’s overreaction.
Was it just his imagination that the steward looked like a guilty thief?
“Open it.”
“Um, well…”
“I said open it.”
The Duke’s gaze was filled with killing intent.
The trembling steward swallowed hard and opened the door slowly, his hands shaking.
Dmitri took note of that as he entered the office.
“……”
It was empty.
He looked around but found nothing suspicious and was about to leave when the steward’s nervous presence at the door caught his attention again.
Dmitri turned back and searched the room more carefully.
But even after a long time, nothing unusual appeared.
He clicked his tongue and was about to leave when—
“…How dare you…!”
A very faint voice reached his ears.
It was so soft and muffled it sounded like a mosquito’s buzz; a normal person wouldn’t have noticed it.
But Dmitri’s sharp senses picked it up clearly.
And he instantly recognized the voice—
It was his brother’s, filled with rage.
Step by step, Dmitri moved toward the sound.
He stopped in front of a large bookshelf and scanned the area.
‘Something’s strange.’
His instincts told him there was a hidden space here.
There had to be a secret mechanism to open it.
Dmitri closed his eyes and recalled what he had learned during his heir training:
The castle’s structure, its secret spaces, and mechanisms were all memorized perfectly.
‘To open the hidden room in this office, I think…’
As Dmitri reached for the bookshelf to trigger the mechanism, the voices became clearer than before.
He stopped and listened carefully.
“How dare you deceive me!”
“……”
“I told you, your life and your family’s lives are in my hands! You’d better obey me if you want to live!”
The content of the words made Dmitri’s face harden.
“Tell my brother that everything you did was on my orders!”
“……”
“Do you understand? Say it was all a misunderstanding, that you took care of Pavel because I ordered you to!”
“…No.”
“What?”
“I won’t follow your orders. Not this time, or last time.”
Last time?
Dmitri’s brows furrowed at the strange words.
“You ordered me to get close to Pavel because you wanted me to kill him, didn’t you?”
The trembling voice was clear and deliberate.
Dmitri’s eyes shook with shock.
‘What…?’
