Once I’d made my decision, acting on it was quick. If I stopped by the Marquis’s estate, Ian would definitely tag along, so I decided to head straight from the imperial palace.
‘This time I need to disguise myself more thoroughly.’
No matter how much I disguised myself, Kevin would recognize me anyway, but the journey there was the problem. It wouldn’t be good to have rumors spreading that Aila was lurking around the information broker’s place.
After spraying the hair spray I’d prepared in advance and tying up my hair, then covering my entire body with a worn cloak, I didn’t look like ‘that’ Aila. Just to be safe, I put on the cloak’s hood and even wore glasses, creating an appearance that wouldn’t be recognizable unless someone confirmed my features right in front of me.
‘What worries me is whether Kevin will readily give me information this time too.’
He would easily sell information about the Caesius family even if he didn’t understand why I was asking. But it was questionable whether he’d sell information about the Sayus family or the imperial palace. At least since the Caesius family was on the pro-Crown Prince side, he probably wouldn’t chase me out immediately, but I was still worried.
‘Worrying alone won’t change anything.’
I headed out to town feeling a bit more positive. The road to Song of the Sun was crowded with people even in the evening since it was an area with many taverns and inns. When there were this many customers, the rule was to call an employee from the back door.
I turned my steps and entered the alley leading to the back door. Suddenly, I felt a dull impact on my arm and someone grabbed me, stopping me in my tracks.
“Ugh.”
The grip strength holding my wrist was quite strong, which was flustering, but what surprised me most was that someone had grabbed me without me sensing any presence at all. Wondering who it was, I raised my head to check and saw brown eyes between a face thoroughly covered with cloth.
“Your Highness?”
After reflexively blurting that out, I bit my tongue. His Highness’s eyes were a brilliant golden color. So recognizing him now, disguised with magic, was clearly a mistake. His Highness didn’t seem very surprised that I’d recognized him. Rather, he merely smiled enough to cast a shadow on the cloth covering his mouth.
“I’m curious how it feels to break my final warning.”
That warning had been issued just yesterday. But from my perspective, it was unfair—His Highness usually used personal contacts when he needed information, and if he absolutely had to use an information broker, knights would normally handle it. So it was impossible for me to have anticipated meeting His Highness here.
‘Besides, I disguised myself perfectly, so how did he recognize me?’
No matter how sharp one’s eye, in this darkness, recognizing the disguised me as Aila was an extremely difficult task. When almost no part of my body was exposed, I was confused about what exactly His Highness had seen to determine I was Aila.
“If you were going to cover up, you should have covered up to your ankles.”
As if reading my thoughts, His Highness said this while gesturing slightly. I’d worn short shoes that exposed my ankles since I was going out to the common quarters, and that seemed to have caught his eye. I couldn’t resent His Highness’s memory, which never forgot anything he’d seen once.
“I, I was merely trying to go to a tavern. It’s been a long time since I wanted to meet that… person. I had no idea Your Highness would come to such a place, but if it bothers you, I’ll use a different establishment.”
Even though I wanted to immediately prostrate myself or run away, it wasn’t easy because of my captured wrist. I tried spouting off something Aila would do, but His Highness didn’t release my wrist.
“That’s a painful excuse to listen to.”
Instead, His Highness gripped even harder, as if he might break Aila’s wrist. A groan escaped involuntarily.
“You came to meet the information broker Tiel used, didn’t you? That ‘competent information broker’ you babbled about is Kevin, isn’t it?”
If he already knew everything, saying more would only create unnecessary trouble.
“Kevin said Sir Aila came because Tiel introduced him. Are you going to claim that Tiel also told you that when you receive a letter bearing the imperial family’s handwriting, you should memorize the contents and burn it immediately?”
I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut. I didn’t know the karma from selling him out once would come back to me like this.
“You imitate his gait and manner of speaking, clumsily copy his attitude when dealing with enemies, approach me saying things Tiel would say, yet tremble when actually facing me—I need to know why.”
I couldn’t believe I’d been leaving so many clues behind. This was why I preferred physical work to clumsily using my head, but things in this world really didn’t flow the way I wanted.
“I will never appear before Your Highness again. No, if you behead me right now, I will gladly accept it.”
It was a life I’d already lost once; it wouldn’t be different if it were taken again. Though I’d tried to avoid death as much as possible out of apology to Aila who might return, there was no other way when things got this twisted. I steeled myself and closed my eyes, but the sword of judgment didn’t fall.
When I cautiously opened my eyes, His Highness was looking down at me with utterly inscrutable eyes. The sword hadn’t even left his scabbard.
“Your Highness?”
“I can’t let you hide when I don’t know your intentions. The Caesius family might be scheming something, and how would I know if you’ve made some kind of contract with the Sayus family?”
“That’s, that’s absolutely not true!”
‘It would be troublesome if rumors spread that the Marquis’s family made some kind of contract with the Sayus Ducal family and tried to oppose the Crown Prince because of me.’
As long as I was using this body, I at least didn’t want to cause trouble for the family.
“Since I can’t trust your words, it would be best to keep you nearby and watch you.”
“Pardon?”
Keep me nearby—I couldn’t tell if my comprehension was slow or if His Highness was speaking while omitting too much explanation; I was dizzy enough not to be able to distinguish.
“From today, I appoint Aila Caesius as my guard knight. I’ll send appointment letters to the Third Knights Division and the Marquis’s family as well, so rest tomorrow and report to the Crown Prince’s palace starting the day after.”
For simply trying to obtain information, the price that followed was far too great. I felt like I’d been caught in a terrible trap with no way to escape.
“If you try to run, I’ll capture you, and if you try to die, I’ll use any means necessary to keep you alive, so don’t have such foolish thoughts.”
His Highness immediately released my wrist as if that was all he had to say. Yet I still couldn’t move, as if rooted to that spot. I couldn’t even gauge where I’d started making the wrong choices.
Perhaps after becoming Aila, I should have completely forgotten His Highness and lived his life. But unfortunately, that wasn’t a way of life I could adopt. I’d lived too long for His Highness alone to know any other path, and I didn’t want to take a path I didn’t know. So even if I returned to my own funeral, I had no confidence I would make a different choice. I was truly a dog with a collar.
Like a dog, I watched my master’s retreating figure for a long while.
* * *
In the end, I returned to the Marquis’s estate without even meeting Kevin, and the appointment letter had already arrived. It was a situation where I couldn’t even doubt whether it was a dream. When the Marquis and his wife asked how this had happened, I gave the rough excuse of “I don’t know either” and came to my room, only for Ian to make a fuss this time.
“Young master! How exactly were you appointed as a guard knight? You’ve been practicing swordsmanship so much lately—have you become able to use sword aura?”
Sword aura was something only those who had poured everything into the sword for a very long time could use. There were those like His Highness who used sword aura from childhood through talent alone, but at least Aila wasn’t one of them. Even I, who had devoted myself so much to swordsmanship, hadn’t achieved it, so this body couldn’t easily master it.
“I don’t really know either.”
Suppressing a sigh, I decided to fix my behavior from now on. If my small habits reminded His Highness of Tienas, it was better to correct them.
‘I don’t want to remind him of Tiel in front of His Highness anymore. Besides, at this rate, the innocent Caesius Marquis family will get dragged in too, so I should change my behavior even now.’
I retracted my resolution not to clumsily imitate Aila.
“Ian, has my gait changed a lot recently?”
“Yes! It’s changed so much you’re unrecognizable. Maybe it’s because you’ve been exercising—you’ve become really cool.”
“What was it like before?”
“Um, you walked more weakly? People who approached you said it was elegant, but to me it was lacking backbone. Now it’s sharp! Like a knight, with proper form, really cool. And when you walked ten steps, you’d turn your head around about twice, but lately you don’t do that at all.”
“The lack of strength aside, why did I turn my head around like that?”
“Obviously to check if there were any appealing people around! These days you only look straight ahead, and I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.”
The moment I heard this, I got the sense that imitating Aila wouldn’t be an easy task either.
“Ha… Right. That aside, what about my speech? Has my manner of speaking changed a lot too?”
“Wouldn’t you know that best yourself, young master?”
Ian narrowed his eyes suspiciously since I kept asking about the past.
“Right. I’m trying to fix it, so I want to hear from someone else’s mouth how it’s different.”
When I said that much, Ian’s suspicion quickly disappeared. Instead, he was moved that I was trying this hard and even got teary-eyed with joy. I felt guilty enough to wonder how sad he’d be if he knew it wasn’t that I’d changed my mind but that the person had truly changed.
“As for your speech, how should I put it—compared to before, you’re overflowing with intelligence now! Before, whenever you opened your mouth, it was stu… No, never mind. Anyway, it’s hard to imagine you’re the same person who found it tedious to read even half a page of a book.”
No. Seeing that he almost said stupid before stopping, maybe he won’t be that sad after all.
“Half a page is a bit of an exaggeration.”
When I objected, thinking that surely no human could be like that, Ian shook his head.
“Don’t you remember when the Marquis locked you in the study to make you read books? That evening you broke out in hives all over your body—it was such chaos.”
Another deep sigh flowed out. I understood now why I was so shocked when I headed to the study to gather information. Even though I’d only skimmed the surface and couldn’t properly explore the suspicious areas, the reaction had been remarkable. At this level, I couldn’t even gauge how I was supposed to imitate Aila.
“Right. Thanks for telling me. I’ll try harder.”
“Aw, don’t try too hard. Doing things you’ve never done can ki… I mean, it’s bad for your health.”
I decided to pretend I didn’t hear Ian’s harsh words.
‘Since I absolutely can’t imitate his speech, it seems better to start by imitating his gait and the habit of throwing flirtatious glances at anyone.’
Here another problem arose.
‘But exactly how am I supposed to throw flirtatious glances?’
I already felt overwhelmed.
