After two days at the imperial palace, things became incredibly hectic. Not just for me, but for everyone in the Meyer estate.
It was because of the secret passage. Mikhail had to allow several mages to search through the estate, and since it involved maintaining a great family secret, knights had to accompany them to ensure they didn’t do anything reckless.
Inevitably, many people kept coming and going. After enduring it for a while, Jake finally protested. The reason was that the maids’ work was endless, but after quietly hearing the full story from Mikhail, he chose the method of temporarily reducing the cleaning.
“They definitely said ‘there’s one more secret passage.'”
‘There’s one more passage in this house.’
I conveyed to the mages what I had heard from Rilke.
“So the intruder was using a different secret passage, and then due to some trigger, was able to pinpoint the location of this secret passage?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
It was the day I had snuck into Mother’s room holding the rabbit.
“That child saw me going in there. But does pinpointing the location help much in finding the secret passage?”
Rilke had said the same thing.
“It does.”
The mage explained that if they could narrow down the search location, it would save much more time in finding another secret passage.
“Suspicious locations, you mean?”
I went to find Mikhail and asked.
“I don’t think we should approach it that way. To put it bluntly, who besides you would have known there was a secret passage in that tiny room Mother used to frequent?”
Mikhail looked at me with sparrow eyes.
My brother had naturally scolded me for hiding the existence of the secret passage, but since the matter was what it was, he was focusing on solving the problem first.
“What about the kitchen?”
“That’s a place you would like, not Rilke.”
Since we couldn’t just sit idle, Mikhail and I started naming random places. The kitchen, the reception room, the attic, Rilke’s room—various locations came up. Among them were places that the mages had already finished searching.
“Looking at every single wall would really take a long time.”
“What about the underground dungeon?”
We were already in the middle of reinvestigating the physician’s death anyway.
“So what you’re saying is…”
Mikhail’s expression became strange.
“Are you saying Rilke killed the physician?”
“It’s just speculation ahead of the facts, but it’s possible.”
The reinvestigation was facing difficulties.
That day, the Meyer family knights had stood guard in groups of several, truly thoroughly. But if there had been a secret passage in the underground dungeon, Rilke could have easily approached the physician while avoiding the ironclad security.
“…Now I’m curious about something.”
If there really were two secret passages.
“Why didn’t Rilke use the secret passage they knew about and instead used the one in Mother’s room?”
Was it coincidence?
“You’re right. In an urgent situation, ordinary people would choose the familiar path.”
“What if the familiar path was blocked?”
Hmm, Mikhail made a contemplative sound.
“I should tell the mages to investigate the dungeon first. If there’s a secret passage inside the dungeon, that brat Rilke wouldn’t have been able to come and go there anymore.”
Among the keys Rilke took when leaving the estate was the key to the underground dungeon. However, Mikhail had immediately replaced all of them with new ones as soon as the keys disappeared.
“I’ll have them check if the stolen keys were among that bastard’s belongings.”
It’s already gotten this late, Mikhail said as he stood up from his seat.
“I should start getting ready. …But Joachim, you look quite splendid today?”
As if noticing for the first time, Mikhail scrutinized my outfit carefully. Under that gaze, I answered shyly while trying not to look like I was bragging too much.
“It’s clothing that His Highness Benedict sent me.”
Saying he couldn’t just sit still and that he should wear even fancier clothes, I left first, leaving behind Mikhail who was calling for Jake.
“What brings this on?”
Stefan was waiting. My cousin also carefully examined my outfit as I came down the stairs.
“Could it be made by the Stork tailor?”
Stefan mentioned a famous clothing shop in the south. Actually, I didn’t have much of an eye for such things, so having nothing to say in response, I changed the subject.
“How’s Deina?”
“She’s gotten much better.”
Stefan and Deina were staying within the estate as guests of the Meyer family. Especially Deina, who had suffered mentally for so long, was in a very weakened state while carrying a child.
Come to think of it, the cousin before my eyes was the man who had recited a passionate confession in court, and also the man who devotedly stayed by his weakened lover’s side every day.
“What. Why are you looking at me like that?”
I really hadn’t known.
That the very small part I changed would enable their fiery love.
“I’m just newly amazed that hyung is the father of Deina’s baby.”
Stefan scratched his head vigorously. It was an embarrassed gesture, and wherever his thoughts had jumped to, he suddenly said this:
“I’m going to marry Deina.”
Ah.
“What? Is that all the reaction you have?”
I couldn’t assert that Deina was a good person, but Stefan, who had a gambler’s temperament, wasn’t a good person either, so it was fine.
“When Mikhail and Jake have been at it for 10 years, what’s there to be surprised about?”
This time Stefan went “Ah.”
“True. I was really shocked when I first found out about that.”
“There’s something else to be shocked about, Stefan!”
Mikhail, now even more splendid, was coming down the stairs.
Checking his dazzling cufflinks, Mikhail lifted his chin.
“Joachim and His Highness Benedict have become *that* kind of relationship!”
“…Excuse me?”
Stefan had a disbelieving face even until we arrived at the palace. Mikhail kept bragging the whole time. Normally I would have stopped Mikhail as he pointed at the clothes I was wearing and said those clothes were also sent from the imperial family, but I couldn’t.
I was actually nervous.
The letter in my hand bore the same deep, vivid red color as when I first received it.
Even the same red color varies enormously.
The red color Benedict possessed resembled flames. It also resembled a rose blooming bright and brilliant under the sunlight.
On the other hand, the imperial red was dark and warm. It was a dignified and heavy light, to the degree that you couldn’t think it was derived from the Augentier imperial family’s hair color.
Meanwhile, the red color the Empress chose as a member of the imperial family was…
“Welcome to Her Majesty the Empress’s salon.”
It was a red color as eerie as fresh blood.
“Joachim. Joachim?”
Mikhail was calling me.
I had been looking toward the Empress, dressed in a splendid dress of the same color as the stationery, when I turned to my brother distractedly.
“I called you several times. Where have you left your mind?”
Mikhail was speaking in a serious tone.
“I’ve been so excited since earlier that I forgot something important. I had something important to discuss with you—”
“Count Meyer!”
They were Mikhail’s close friends.
The nobles who approached with urgent expressions saw me beside him and flinched slightly. Mikhail smiled and asked if they had some good news to share, but they said it was difficult here and pointed toward the terrace.
“Can’t be helped. See you later.”
And soon the same thing happened to Stefan. I stared blankly at my cousin’s back as he was quickly surrounded by people he knew.
I was left alone in an instant.
Originally, being left alone was familiar, but perhaps because it had been a while, I suddenly felt unaccustomed to it. I unnecessarily straightened the gifted outfit and leaned against a wall as usual. From the center of the hall, I could hear a sarabande being played by the Empress’s pianist.
That’s when a vivid red dress hem entered my left field of vision.
It was the Empress.
The Empress, wearing a terribly splendid dress, was smiling brightly with a face splendid enough not to be overwhelmed by such a dress. Her delicate fan unfurled. The woman of the most noble status in the Empire stood in one side of my vision, surrounded by her supporters without moving any farther away.
I moved locations.
I went and stood against a wall a bit farther away.
Normally I would have just let it be, but I felt like the group the Empress had formed was gradually approaching.
I moved locations a couple of times. I was about to move again when I realized I could no longer do so.
Like a fish cornered at the edge of a pond, I was now completely surrounded.
“…”
Hot yet cold.
The glances and expressions I had vaguely sensed completely encircled my surroundings.
The group of nobles centered around the Empress completely trapped me and freely emitted the atmosphere they intended. As if something had gone seriously wrong, they were preparing to passionately condemn while coldly glaring at me.
“Anyway, the important thing is… that this person truly harbors such feelings, isn’t it?”
Their conversation was being heard whether I wanted to hear it or not.
I pretended not to hear. I tried hard to concentrate on the already distant harmony of the dance music.
There was decorum at the imperial salon. One could not leave the banquet hall until all the invited royalty had entered. Benedict hadn’t arrived yet.
Thinking of the decorum, I leaned there like a decoration, silently looking down only at the shadow at my feet.
“Hello, Young Master Meyer?”
Someone spoke to me.
A blue dress hem touched my shadow.
“It seems the noble ones have been startled by an absurd rumor.”
It was Lady Marian, the Regent Duke’s mistress.
She still wore heavy makeup. Below her doll-like adorned face, I could see her lifeless nape moving.
“A rumor that started at the palace, and at the Meyer estate.”
Behind Lady Marian, the Empress was still waving her fan. As if this was an intended situation, her cold, stern eyes were observing this direction.
“I… told them it couldn’t be true.”
As if she couldn’t bear such talk, the lady sighed through her dark lips.
“I truly told them there must be a misunderstanding. But everyone doesn’t believe my words. To clear up their misunderstanding, especially the misunderstanding of that noble person, I’ve come to act as a bridge.”
A misunderstanding.
“Let me ask you.”
I could guess what question would come.
“Do you harbor affection for His Highness Benedict?”
I lowered my gaze.
That I had stayed at the palace, and that Benedict came and went to the Meyer estate, couldn’t remain secret forever.
“…If one is an imperial citizen, naturally…”
One cannot help but harbor affection for him.
I don’t doubt for a moment that at the foundation of the sharp gazes of those surrounding me lies their own feelings of caring for and loving Benedict.
I recalled the Empress’s fluttering fan and the hostile gaze behind it. She was extremely displeased with the rumor that her son Benedict and I were entangled.
“That’s not the kind of thing we’re talking about!”
Just then, one young lady who had been watching from nearby interjected.
“Lady Bridget. Please don’t do that.”
The Regent Duke’s mistress tried to dissuade her. The young lady swallowed a sigh and, lowering her voice, pressed:
“Not the feelings one should rightfully have as a person of this country, but your own selfish feelings as Young Master—are they truly such feelings?”
But unfortunately, it was a voice louder than the piano. The Empress seemed to have heard as well. An unpleasant tremor could be distinctly felt passing through the group.
I couldn’t answer.
