Chapter 19
“An Unwelcome Guest (1)”
“What are you all doing here?”
At the end of the hallway, Zygmunt looked ahead for a moment, as if trying to understand the situation.
The moment his gaze landed on Ivin, who was lying motionless, Vivian quickly leaned close to the small hole in the door and shouted,
“Please help, Mr. Lindemann! The maids are beating Ivin for no reason!”
Ivin was still lying there as if she were dead.
Zygmunt looked back and forth between the maids and the fallen Ivin, then frowned deeply and raised his sharp chin.
“Illa, explain what happened.”
“Mr. Lindemann… that is…”
The maid Illa hesitated, then lowered her head.
“Speak. Why are you all gathered here, and why did you use violence against that maid?”
The maids, except for Illa, stood there with their eyes shut in fear.
Seeing that, Vivian grew even angrier.
“They suddenly came and beat her one-sidedly. I saw everything!”
It was true.
Just because she gave her a piece of bread, they beat Ivin as if they wanted to kill her.
Were the maids of the Grand Duke’s residence always this cruel?
The reality was so different from the novel, and it disappointed her deeply.
“I’m sorry, Miss, but I was asking the maids here. Now, Illa? Answer me.”
At Zygmunt’s call, Illa slowly raised her head.
Her face trembled with anger as she glared viciously at Ivin.
“I got angry because Ivin ignored the Grand Duke’s order.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Grand Duke clearly said not to give the Miss even a sip of water, but she brought her bread. Bread that the Grand Duke provided to us.”
“She brought bread? To the Miss?”
“Yes, Mr. Lindemann. We all saw it.”
At Illa’s words, the other maids nodded.
Then Zygmunt slowly approached the storage.
As he got closer, Vivian’s heart pounded as if it would burst.
Because in her hand was the bread Ivin had given her.
Finally, Zygmunt stood in front of the door and asked,
“Is what Illa said true?”
“…No, it’s not.”
As Vivian shook her head, Illa jumped in anger behind him.
“The Miss is lying! We clearly saw it!”
While Illa spoke, Vivian pressed herself as close to the door as possible and crushed the bread in her hand, pushing it into her narrow sleeve.
Fortunately, it was soft bread that didn’t crumble much, and it wasn’t very big.
Zygmunt, who didn’t know this, carefully observed Vivian’s calm expression.
“May I go inside and check?”
At his question, Vivian raised one eyebrow slightly and answered,
“Go ahead.”
She worried what might happen to Ivin, who was already in a terrible state, but there was no need to reveal the truth.
Whether the bread was poisoned or not no longer mattered.
No matter the truth, sides had already been drawn.
If it became known that Ivin brought bread, Vivian would also be in trouble.
After all, she accepted Ivin’s kindness, which meant she stood on her side.
Zygmunt unlocked the storage door and stepped inside.
“Hmm…”
Vivian raised both hands as if she knew nothing.
“See? There’s nothing.”
“I see.”
Zygmunt nodded with an uncertain expression and slowly turned around.
Behind him stood Illa, her face red with anger.
“Illa, what is going on?”
“That’s impossible… I clearly saw it!”
Hearing her desperate cry, Zygmunt seemed to recall something and turned back to look directly at Vivian.
“Now that I think about it… you may have already eaten it.”
At his suspicion, Vivian’s voice rose slightly.
“If that were the case, Illa would have said it from the beginning—that Ivin gave me bread and that I already ate it.”
“…That makes sense.”
“Illa and the maids beat Ivin for no reason. They should be punished properly.”
“I will decide that myself. Illa, lock this maid in the storage.”
Zygmunt pointed his thin finger at Ivin lying on the ground.
Lock Ivin up?
Vivian stared at him in shock.
The ones at fault were Illa and the others, yet the one being punished was Ivin.
“What? Ivin did nothing wrong!”
As Vivian shouted, Zygmunt rubbed his ear as if annoyed.
“I will investigate that later.”
“No, you won’t.”
No matter what, how could they lock someone in that condition inside this cold storage?
Vivian, filled with anger, stepped forward.
Zygmunt took a step back and warned,
“If you come any closer, Miss, things will become more difficult for you.”
“How? Will you keep me locked in here forever?”
“That may be possible.”
“If I get out of here, how will you face me then?”
“That won’t happen.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Just as Zygmunt was about to reply, a servant suddenly ran over and handed him something.
The servant spoke while catching his breath,
“A-A letter from the Grand Duke, Mr. Lindemann.”
As Zygmunt looked down at the letter, his composed face suddenly collapsed.
“Is this certain?”
At his question, the servant nodded strongly.
Zygmunt stood still for a moment, then said with a frustrated expression,
“The Grand Duke… has ordered that the Miss be released.”
The atmosphere of the training ground, which should have been full of dust, was very different today.
Normally, the knights would be covered in sweat and dirt, but now they stood in neat lines wearing clean armor without a speck of dust.
Some knights whispered while looking at the imperial guards standing like statues at the edge.
“What’s going on? Everyone came without warning…”
“Yeah… all the key members of the Second Cavalry are here. How many is that?”
“Isn’t that too many for escort? Why did the Crown Prince come here?”
“Shh, he might hear.”
Visitors came to Viette Castle from time to time, but never this many at once.
Nearly a hundred imperial soldiers stood there, all expressionless.
At the front stood Crown Prince Michael and Leon side by side.
The two brothers only shared black hair—their atmospheres were completely different, and so were their clothes.
Leon’s hair fell naturally, while Michael’s was neatly combed back without a single strand out of place.
If compared, Leon looked more fierce, but in behavior, Michael was far worse.
Leon felt uneasy about his sudden visit.
“If I had known Your Highness would come, I would have prepared something.”
“What preparation? Were you going to call women to this dusty place?”
His arrogant tone was especially unpleasant today.
Michael Ester, Crown Prince of the Warford Empire and Leon’s half-brother, stood proudly as always.
There wasn’t even a grain of humility in him.
Leon suppressed his irritation and kept a blank expression.
Michael, looking ahead with cold eyes, let out a heavy sigh and spoke,
“The number of your knights has decreased. Did they all die?”
“The number of knights has not changed since last time.”
“So you’re saying I’m wrong?”
“I only wanted to provide correct information.”
“So you’re saying I’m wrong, right?”
Michael smirked and lightly tapped Leon’s shoulder.
Then he touched the hilt of his sword and muttered,
“If you want, I can reduce their number right now. Then I’d be right.”
What a terrible person.
Leon held back his anger and answered calmly.
“They are knights of His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Technically, they’re your knights. You gathered them.”
“I am also a knight of His Majesty. And a knight of Your Highness as well.”
“Quiet. You always have an answer.”
Michael clicked his tongue and continued,
“His Majesty praises the Eastern Kingdom and the Black Knights, but I disagree. We should wipe out the monsters completely, yet you only reduce their numbers.”
His pure white uniform didn’t suit the harsh training ground at all, especially compared to Leon’s black uniform.
As the favored Crown Prince, Michael always looked elegant and refined.
At least on the outside.
“Then I will try harder to gain Your Highness’s approval.”
“There’s no need. No matter how hard you try, you’ll never gain my favor.”
Leon didn’t care about his favor at all.
He was just playing along.
“By the way, how is your wedding with Lady Kihis going?”
At the question, Leon slightly lowered his head.
It was a question he expected—and pressure.
“There is much to prepare, so it has been delayed.”
“It was His Majesty’s consideration to let you handle the wedding instead of holding it in the palace. If you misuse that opportunity… you know what will happen.”
Consideration?
It was just avoiding trouble.
Now Leon understood why Michael suddenly came to Lavric.
Surveillance.
He came under the Empress’s orders.
“That will not happen.”
“Since I’m here, I plan to stay at your residence for a few days.”
“So suddenly…”
“Why? Are you hiding something?”
There was.
Vivian was currently locked in the underground storage.
Excuses filled Leon’s mind and disappeared.
Why come like this so suddenly?
When Leon didn’t answer, Michael frowned.
“What? Are you not welcoming me?”
“…No, Your Highness. Of course, you are welcome.”
Satisfied, Michael nodded.
“I’m quite hungry. Let’s see what kind of food our noble Knight Commander eats.”
