There were no suspicious names on the gallery attendee list.
Aside from people from House Meyer and the Regent Duke’s side, they were just ordinary names that I didn’t know well or that had nothing to do with any unusual incidents.
What on earth had Rilke been looking at? That kid’s glances that kept flicking anxiously toward the gallery as if seeking an answer came to mind.
I closed the list with an unsettled feeling like facing an unsolved task. It might be nothing, but I intended to ask Mikhail again. Investigating these people’s movements one by one would take time, and holding onto this until then was meaningless.
“Jake. Is Jake there?”
Outside the window, the sun was setting.
It was time to go handle another problem I’d been putting off, a problem that could be resolved by enduring just a little difficulty.
“Why are you calling me?”
Jake had also been busy lately preparing the mansion for winter. Tending to the house whenever seasons changed was originally the mistress’s job, but it had naturally fallen to her long ago.
“Don’t tell me—”
Both ends of Jake’s eyes sharpened.
“Do I have to change the sheets again?!”
“…Yeah.”
Benedict endured without complaint the troublesome process of sneaking out of the imperial palace every night to find me. So I could endure this embarrassing process too…
“Why again today?!”
“Uh, anyway, we need to change them before nightfall.”
A week had passed since the trial ended. Unlike before when we mainly just slept, Benedict wanted to do more.
We had never gone all the way, but even so we got excited and were soaked with sweat and bodily fluids. We used his handkerchiefs or towels I’d prepared since a few days ago, but days when it couldn’t be perfect kept occurring. Yesterday too, Benedict had suddenly lit up the room and caressed me enough to truly drive away all sleepiness. My face grew hot as the sensation of hot lips and touches seemed to rise through my whole body again.
“Why have you been like this lately! What on earth do you do every night!”
Jake, who had rushed over, lifted my clothes before I could stop her.
Her eyes widened. She hastily pulled my clothes down.
“This is really too much! If you’re going to do this, just take him away!”
Jake shouted.
“Even me and Mikhail-nim in our prime weren’t this bad!”
“It’s not like this every day!”
“I need to see what state the sheets are in!”
Jake began leading the way with a grumbling face. It was different from usual when she would quietly send away the taciturn maid. I followed behind her awkwardly. And when we reached mother’s room and saw the condition, Jake made a fuss again. She had me stand by the bedside and circled around as if monitoring.
“You can’t do this! His Excellency says it doesn’t matter to him, but…! No matter how I look at it, this is clearly being a pushover—”
Unable to bear it any longer, I stopped her words.
“Jake, think about it. Does hyung seem like someone who’d be at a disadvantage?”
Though he sometimes takes big losses, I tossed that out.
“That’s right! His Excellency is always amazing… Are you running away right now?!”
After dodging Jake like that for a while, I could safely enter mother’s room again.
Still, whether she’d accepted the request, the bed had been cleaned spotlessly. Clink, clink, the bell Lucia had gifted was swaying in the wind that came through the open window. Thinking it might be confused with the sound of Benedict coming, I closed the window.
I sat on the sofa in front of the window and looked over the trial records again.
It was a bit early for Benedict to come. Since he’d been busy lately, he might even come later. Even so, I wanted to wait for him. It didn’t matter how long it took.
I spent time leisurely like that. I finished organizing documents and read books too. It was around the time I was appreciating the unfamiliar scenery outside the window looking down from mother’s room. Clink, along with a small bell sound, I felt a presence behind me.
I turned around gladly.
And made eye contact with Rilke, whose eyes were wide open, in a disheveled state.
What.
Is that.
“I’m happy.”
That kid murmured.
“I didn’t think I’d be able to meet you right away.”
Really, he spoke.
Rilke with a bizarre appearance was truly before my eyes. My eyes also widened. It was a shock like the sky collapsing.
“Are you… curious how I know?”
A giggling laugh could be heard.
Rilke’s explanation, full of superiority, seemed to reach my surprised ears from far away. Clumps of dirt fell, thud thud, from that kid’s disheveled hair.
“Did you think I couldn’t see through it?”
Rilke no longer used honorifics.
“How arrogant to think only you knew about the secret passage. There’s one more passage in this house. The spell is the same, and of course… if I hadn’t been able to pinpoint the location thanks to you—”
That kid mentioned catching a clue from the chase we’d had in the middle of the night.
“Now, Joachim. Come here.”
Rilke gestured.
That kid was wearing a sword at the waist like during the hunting festival.
“Come here.”
“……”
“How pitiful. Are you trying to run away?”
That kid drew the sword. It was a thin rapier.
“I don’t want to hurt you, so come here while I’m asking nicely.”
“……”
“I’ll drag you even if I have to.”
The entrance to the secret passage was right next to the door. Rilke blocked both exits at once.
“You won’t come…?”
That kid laughed. He didn’t seem in his right mind.
Rilke, holding the sword, rushed at me.
“If you won’t follow obediently, I’ll take you by force even ifhurk…!!?”
I struck away Rilke’s wrist and simultaneously delivered a roundhouse kick.
Thwack, the chin turned, clang, the thin sword flew and hit the wall.
Before the rapier even fell, I grabbed the staggering collar and slammed him to the floor in one motion.
My heart was racing and my breathing was rough. Rilke himself was nothing much, but I was just so surprised…
Looking at the face that had fainted foaming at the mouth, I belatedly answered.
“You really were looking down on me.”
Fortunately. Rilke still acted as if I were a necklace he could grasp in his hands.
Feeling cold sweat flowing down my back, I looked down at Rilke absurdly. First, I took off his coat. I didn’t know where he’d been or what he’d done, but both his hair and clothes were completely messed up.
I tied his hands firmly with the tattered upper garment. I made sure he couldn’t do anything foolish even if he woke up, and roughly pushed the bound, unconscious Rilke into a corner. I sat down exhausted. Mental fatigue was greater than physical tiredness.
There were two conditions to enter through the passage.
Knowing the spell, having Meyer family blood mixed in.
I looked at the slammed-down Rilke with disturbance.
Rilke had Meyer family blood mixed in.
**9. Secrets of the Old Mansion (1)**
“Come with me.”
Benedict was sweeping up his hair. The two eyes revealed beneath held a clear light of confusion.
“To the imperial palace, let’s go together.”
Those were his words upon discovering the situation.
“I can’t leave you in a place where Rilke Yorick can enter without hesitation.”
Outside, Mikhail’s voice could be heard.
‘What on earth is this…! That crazy bastard!!’
That was Mikhail’s reaction upon seeing the unconscious Rilke.
After subduing Rilke, I shouted to alert them to the situation.
Mikhail, who had always gone to bed early since contracting black spots, came running in his nightclothes and gave orders to the knight captain who also seemed to have rushed from bed. Currently, all the mansion’s knights had been summoned too.
—’How on earth did this bastard get in!’
After much deliberation, I also confessed about the secret passage.
The moment Mikhail, who had thought Benedict really came and went by magic, was greatly surprised and about to shout at me, Benedict happened to arrive.
And now this situation.
‘Right now, first block that place…!’
‘No… I can’t block the magic passage. I can only guard it. And isn’t His Highness the Prince still here…’
Through the gap in the not-quite-closed door, Mikhail and the knight captain’s voices flowed in raw. With Mikhail’s frantic voice, half-audible, as background, Benedict continued persuading.
“Think about my position. As soon as the door opened, people were coming and going haphazardly, and Rilke Yorick was beside you. You were sitting blankly on the floor.”
“…I was fine.”
He swept up his hair once more.
Benedict said that while he was grateful I handled the sudden situation well, he opposed staying in such a dangerous place. He was firm.
“But hyung and the knights are here too, and I don’t think I should leave the mansion empty.”
“I’ve been holding back because it seemed too rushed, but I can’t stand it anymore.”
He suddenly spoke passionately.
“Should I send a marriage proposal to House Meyer?”
Benedict no longer swept up his hair.
He was looking at me as if resolute.
Before I could understand what he meant, he strode over.
“If you don’t want to, it can’t be helped. I can easily carry you.”
Then he really tried to lift me up. Because his previous words were flustering, because the hands coming under my waist and thighs were flustering, because the whole situation was flustering, I just blurted out whatever came out.
“Okay! I’ll walk! Okay, I’ll go!”
I ended up leaving through the secret passage with Benedict. Until we exited through the opposite entrance, he held my hand firmly. And only then did I realize I’d left without saying a word to Mikhail.
“I’ll send someone to Count Meyer as soon as we arrive.”
Benedict presented a solution and left no room for objection.
