Chapter 10
Hyuga shouted at Harvich, as if he could not believe the words that had just come out of his mouth.
At that, Harvich gestured for the other retainers to leave.
The attendants, who had remained reluctantly in the uncomfortable room, hurried out of the council chamber.
Once every trace of presence was gone, Harvich sank into his chair.
The growing headache made it difficult to stand.
He pressed his temples out of habit and let out a sigh.
“The day the curfew decree came to Cassius’ territory, there was no warning either.”
The maid who forged Lincia’s handwriting and wrote a letter that carried fatal weight for the duchy.
Harvich thought back to Lincia on that day.
She had truly looked as if she knew nothing, trembling all over.
Like a foolish woman who could not even bring herself to mention that there was a spy in the ducal castle, only bowing her head as if to await punishment.
That was why Lincia’s pregnancy was even harder to believe.
“…Are you saying there are still spies in the inner castle we have not found?”
Harvich only nodded in silence.
If she had truly conceived a child against her will, then she was the victim and deserved protection.
But in the end, Lincia had chosen to side with the imperial family.
She had claimed he was the child’s father.
“There are too many uncertainties about Lincia’s pregnancy.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“Even if she had been unfaithful, a child cannot be conceived in a single night.
What odds she could have carried on for so long without being discovered?”
Hyuga’s face turned deathly pale as he understood Harvich’s words.
“Are you saying the imperial family had a hand in the duchess’s pregnancy?
Then all the more reason she should have been cast aside!”
Hyuga’s voice shook, unable to hide his confusion.
“Think of your son.
I cannot bear to lose you to the hands of the imperial family as well.”
At that, Hyuga swallowed hard.
His son, Ron Grentia, had been suddenly summoned to the imperial palace, only to return without his legs.
The Emperor had forced Ron to kneel for an unendurable length of time.
The blood flow cut off, Ron’s legs had rotted, and they had had to be severed.
Hyuga had despaired when he saw his son return, crippled.
Harvich had gone straight to the palace, but Julius refused to see him.
Instead, a bundle of papers had been thrown at his feet.
Letters voicing rebellion against the Empire, journals filled with insults aimed at Lincia.
Harvich’s brow had furrowed, unable to tell when or how such things had been leaked.
“Treason is punished with beheading.
But, considering he was only a newly grown knight, His Majesty declared it a light punishment.”
Harvich had returned to Cassius with nothing gained.
There had always been spies in the ducal castle, but never before had they stolen documents from the inner castle itself.
This time it had only been Ron’s journals and letters, but it meant that classified secrets could be leaked at any moment.
Ever since Lincia’s maid had been recruited by the imperial family, defections among the inner staff had become more frequent.
Ron’s misfortune had also come from failing to notice that an inner manager had changed loyalties.
The ducal castle had always been vigilant about spies.
It took years for anyone to rise high enough to become an inner manager.
Most were discovered long before then, demoted to the outer sections or banished underground.
And yet, even now, the number of imperial spies confirmed to have infiltrated the castle exceeded ten.
Letting them remain was deliberate.
They had little chance of accessing true secrets, and killing them would only invite more skilled infiltrators.
“To think that even the inner servants are being recruited by the imperial family makes me wonder if one of the retainers has turned as well.”
“Well.
At first, I thought those who opposed war did so for the sake of all.
But these days I wonder if perhaps they were only opposing war for the sake of the imperial family.”
Or perhaps, under the pretence of duty, they simply wished to tighten the leash around his neck.
Harvich mocked himself.
Then what meaning did any of it have?
“Your Grace.”
“Starting over from the beginning feels overwhelming.”
Harvich rubbed at his eyes, weariness tugging at him.
Now that things had become so tangled, he felt the temptation to throw it all away.
But he could not.
He carried responsibilities he could not set down.
“…When did the rats of the imperial family begin to multiply so?”
He had thought the clamour was simply the noise of opening a new era.
But if it was in service to the imperial family, that changed everything.
Lincia’s pregnancy could not have been achieved by imperial power alone.
No matter how much effort he poured into the duchy, it felt like pouring water into a broken cup.
“But there is no one among the retainers who would do such a thing.
They all resent the imperial family.”
Yet the same resentment toward the imperial family meant many harboured discontent with the decisions of the late Duke as well.
“They did once.”
Harvich thought of Julius.
The man with the unreadable face who could sniff out others’ desires better than anyone.
And now that Julius had become Emperor, he had the power to fulfil them.
“I believe it is highly likely some were bought off.
For now, investigate all of Lincia’s personal maids.”
Hyuga dragged his hand down his face, dismay flickering in his eyes.
“After we dealt with the maid who forged her handwriting, no new maids were assigned.”
“What?
Then how has Lincia managed until now?”
A year had passed since Lincia’s personal maid had been executed as an imperial spy.
How had she endured all that time without one?
“The inner staff have been taking turns attending to the Duchess, as I recall.”
“Why arrange it that way?
Did I not say she should have a new maid assigned?”
“Kaden Avalon argued against it.
He claimed the Duchess must not be given a personal servant.
With the imperial family ever seeking to test loyalty, those closest to her would be the easiest to sway.
And every retainer agreed.”
Harvich had always shown Lincia his back more often than his face.
But today, that truth cut all the deeper.
Even after their conversation ended, Lincia could not bring herself to move.
If not for Tereo’s voice, she might have stood there until a maid came to fetch her.
“It has been a while, Your Highness.
Where were you rushing off to just now?”
Tereo approached Lincia with easy familiarity.
“Though, judging by how little ground you covered, not very far.”
At the sly, mocking tone so characteristic of him, Lincia frowned.
“…That is none of your concern.”
She ignored Tereo, clinging to her, and walked forward.
All she wanted was to return to her chambers quickly.
Yet still, Tereo followed.
Lincia came to a sudden halt.
She did not want him to know where her chambers lay.
As overseer of imperial supplies to the duchy, he could easily find out if he wished.
But she would not lead him there herself.
“Do you have something to say to me?”
“Ah, so you are willing to speak with me?
What an honor.”
Lincia faced him.
Black eyes paired with blue hair that suited them not at all.
The bright sea-colored strands clashed with his damp, shadowed nature.
“Every time I came to Cassius I
regretted not seeing your face.
And now, it seems you’ve done something quite remarkable.”
“…”
“Pregnant, are you.”
