“Uh—”
I reflexively stepped back.
Even so, I couldn’t avoid it all, and looked down absently at my arm that had gotten wet in an instant.
“I, I’m sorry! My leg is uncomfortable… I’ll prepare for you to wash up!”
“…It’s fine.”
Only my wrist and the area below it were wet. Most of the beverage had fallen on the expensive-looking couch.
“You, you should wash up though?”
“No, I’m really fine.”
“Th, then, cl, clothes at least. I’ll help you change!”
The wet sleeve was thoroughly soaked with the beverage, still dripping sweetness.
“Please wear this. Ah, I’ll help you!”
The attendant brought a blouse in the same style that Rilke wore. I refused, saying I could do it myself, and put the new clothes on the intact part of the couch. As I unbuttoned the shirt that was giving off a sweet smell, I suddenly realized the attendant hadn’t stepped back.
He stood there in that spot, as if he had become one of the stone busts. Unlike his flustered complexion, his sunken gaze seemed to stand out.
I turned my back and finished taking off my clothes.
And I faced the bizarrely splendid painting I had been turning my back to, contrasting with this building.
I looked at the painting quietly, and soon realized the artist had tried to depict a famous historical event. It was a painting themed on the Majolica Theater Troupe, who had been executed immediately on stage after staging a play that alluded to overthrowing the imperial throne.
From somewhere, a thick ambergris scent wafted over.
Panic-stricken people ran around inside the winding theater like a whale’s intestines. Unlike the tragic theme, the figures wore comedic costumes because they were actors. All sorts of colors met colors, all sorts of screams met screams. The mental states of the figures in the painting had no set form and were unruly to the point of being chaotic.
It was a painting that didn’t match the achromatic palace, but its eeriness alone harmonized with it.
“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t wash up?”
Rilke, whose face was flushed with heat, approached. He was looking at my changed attire.
“I just changed clothes.”
I answered with my back to the painting. Rilke nodded without interest.
And the place we were guided to had no Empress.
In the magnificent second-floor reception room, only one person sat and greeted us.
“…”
A sunken gaze looked up and down.
As if searching for something, the man who had been carefully examining my face for a while opened his mouth.
“Rilke has brought an interesting guest.”
Uncharacteristically, that child had a shrunken face like a mouse before a cat.
The Regent, Duke Yorick’s eyes, reminiscent of a bird of prey, opened thinly.
“I know you. House Meyer’s half-breed omega.”
“…I am Joachim Meyer.”
The ambergris that had been faintly drifting through the palace came thickly to my nose.
“I am Clemens Yorick.”
He introduced himself.
The Regent Duke was famous for using honorifics to all omegas. ‘All omegas should be respected.’ That was what he said while being called a gentleman in society.
Duke Yorick used honorifics to me as well, but it immediately felt similar to the honorifics Rilke used.
“Where is Her Majesty the Empress?”
I asked while looking around.
“Ah, you didn’t know, it seems.”
The Regent Duke answered with a face like a stone sculpture.
“This is my palace. To commemorate the labor and achievements of my brief regency period, it’s a palace the Empress personally built anew for me.”
Facing him, I thought that the Empress had truly given a gift she poured her heart into.
A palace terribly resembling its owner. Tightly closed mouth. A neat but bleak face.
“Your Grace, may I excuse myself for a moment?”
“Ah, Rilke. Of course. Feel free to use my palace anytime.”
I grabbed Rilke’s back as he turned.
“Where are you going?”
“…I arranged to meet the court music director.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Why are you clinging like a duckling. Young Master Meyer, please sit.”
Rilke didn’t make eye contact with me. Looking at the floor, he twisted his wrist free and quickly left the room.
Through the gap in the door where that child left without looking back, I could see someone watching.
“…I.”
I couldn’t understand at all why I had to be doing this with the Regent Duke, who in the past hadn’t had even a grain of oat’s worth of interest in me.
If something had changed,
“I came to see Her Majesty the Empress. Excuse me, but I also,”
When my eyes met Prince Benedict’s, the Regent Duke between us had turned to look at me.
Really because of that one moment?
The thought came to mind that if I met that man again, I wanted to ask if what I saw was correct, but when it actually came to it, my mouth wouldn’t open.
“The Empress will be here soon.”
The Regent Duke said. I scanned the room’s structure.
“Why are you standing like that?”
“…”
“Sit down. Let’s wait together.”
I alternately looked at the door someone was guarding and toward the terrace, then sat at a somewhat distant spot.
“Is Count Meyer doing well?”
Regent Duke Yorick seemed almost unchanged from when he had been offering his arm to the Empress.
Somewhat faded-looking black hair, grayish complexion, but a person whose eyes like a bird of prey gave a wild impression. He belonged to the quite neat side, so in the early days of ascending to the regency position, rumors were rampant that one could see why the Empress was so obsessed with him. That was also why people throwing themselves into the bedroom of the grand duke, rumored for eccentric behavior, never ceased.
The Regent Duke wasn’t an alpha, but like some rulers in history, he very much liked omegas.
“You’re quite taciturn. I have many things I’m curious about regarding you, young master.”
I don’t know at all what I should say. The Regent Duke leisurely rose like a beast leader.
“Then shall I make those tightly closed lips open?”
“The palace seems to suit Your Grace very well.”
I barely found something to say, but he sat beside me. I moved to the side. The fragrance harvested from giant sea beasts wafted so thickly it made me frown.
I recalled the rumors I’d been hearing. Mikhail hadn’t talked about a false gentleman for nothing.
“It has to. Because I personally paid attention to everything from one to ten.”
“…I thought Her Majesty the Empress did it.”
The Regent Duke sat beside me again. I moved to the opposite side again. I felt his smiling gaze but didn’t make eye contact.
“What kind of gift is giving whatever one likes? The Empress is someone who knows how to give true gifts.”
He moved to sit beside me again. Only the sound of constantly shifting positions to move seats could be heard in the silent room.
“Will you also give me a true gift, young master?”
The Regent Duke asked leisurely to the end. I sat pressed against the armrest for the last time. Even though it was daytime, I only examined the dark interior.
The Regent Duke rose again, and this time came very close.
“There’s a magic stone mine on an ancient island.”
I told him. The approaching body stopped.
“What do you mean?”
I stood up from my seat.
I went around the table while watching the Regent Duke and sat in the opposite seat again.
“My hyung-nim… there’s a mine he’s trying to purchase.”
In fact, he probably hasn’t decided yet. There was a high possibility that Mikhail was holding off until more certain information came out.
“And so?”
“I know about it.”
What the Regent Duke coveted most were female omegas. It was a famous anecdote that after a fellow who had nothing to show but a hereditary title took his stunningly beautiful omega wife, who had been his territorial subject, to the Regent Duke’s residence, he obtained a fief and wealth within two months.
And what he liked next after female omegas was wealth.
“You’re saying interesting things.”
The Regent Duke, who had no interest in state affairs, devoted himself to using state administration to rake in wealth.
“Say more.”
“…”
“Where is the location?”
The Regent Duke leaned his body against where I had been sitting. He placed his dry hand on the armrest.
“It’s in one of the caves on the coastal cliff.”
“That’s too broad.”
“I’m not feeling well. If you send me back, I’ll definitely deliver detailed information by letter.”
“Since earlier, you’ve been acting as if I’m going to do something,”
The Regent Duke curled his lips up.
“There’s no need to be so wary. The Meyer Trading Company is one of my biggest business partners. I want to be on friendly terms with Count Meyer.”
Certainly, if he harmed me or Rilke, Mikhail would retaliate.
The situation flowed in a different direction. The Regent Duke leisurely rang a bell and instructed an attendant to bring tea.
“Shall we hear about the magic stone mine in detail first?”
The attendant who brought the tea had a familiar face. It was the palace servant from earlier who had spilled a beverage on me.
“To show mercy as a noble, I employ several children like that.”
The Regent Duke, who had briefly stopped the conversation, pointed to the palace servant with an uncomfortable gait. Even though he must have heard, the palace servant showed no sign and left politely.
“Now let’s talk again.”
“…So they say he slipped below the cliff and luckily discovered it.”
“A noble family’s tomb robber. I’m hearing this for the first time.”
“It’s a trend that’s been secretly going around among the southern nobles since the island was discovered.”
“Then it should be easy to confirm with just a little investigation. I’ll thoroughly look into whether what you say is true. —But how long are you going to do that?”
The Regent Duke asked.
I reflexively leaned back from his upper body tilted toward me and raised my head. Dry gray eyes that seemed to mock me collided directly.
“I think I’m showing enough courtesy to my transaction partner.”
He pointed out my attitude with his eyes.
“You seem far less valuable compared to the magic power mine. Didn’t you know that yourself and propose it to me? How funny. I’m interested in the mine, not you. —Now, that’s good.”
The Regent Duke, who evaluated me as finally being worthy of a transaction partner, lightly clasped both hands together.
“Were you a mage?”
His voice sounded cautious.
“No, but they say he was carrying a magic power measuring device. And it was black magic stone.”
“Estimated reserves?”
“About as much as Your Grace possesses.”
Hmm, the Regent Duke made a contemplating sound.
While watching him, I held the teacup the attendant had brought out. Warm warmth spread from my fingertips. Only then did my tense body seem to loosen a bit.
I didn’t know I would use information from the past in this way.
“Hyung-nim is still pondering, but I think he’ll eventually send someone to the south.”
“Do you plan not to tell me which family the trading family is until the end?”
“I apologize.”
I was in the middle of providing all information except for the mine’s location and the name of the current owning family. I had no choice but to answer whatever he was curious about, except for the key points.
“Ah, more curious things. I have them.”
“Yes, please speak.”
I straightened my back.
Yellowish-gray eyes glistened with heavy luster and met mine.
“Have you ever comforted your own chest?”
“…Pardon?”
“How soft are your nipples?”
The corners of the Regent Duke’s mouth rose.
