“Young master, are you awake?”
The servant who had been standing outside noticed the signs of movement and came inside. Accustomed to a knight’s life, this kind of service felt unfamiliar to me, so I firmly suppressed my desire to dismiss the people immediately. I knew well that this fellow also had the title of knight, but that was all there was to it.
“Yeah. I’m up.”
Two servants bowed their heads and entered the room. It was peculiar that both had sturdy physiques like knights or mercenaries.
“The tea party at Count Eren’s house that was scheduled for this afternoon has been canceled.”
“I see.”
I had something else planned to do today anyway, so it worked out well. However, perhaps thinking my short answer stemmed from anger, the two servants made distressed faces that didn’t suit their builds.
“We understand you’re upset about not being able to attend the tea party during your rare time off, but the Count’s family doesn’t have any particularly bad intentions. It’s just that after seeing His Highness’s state yesterday, word went around that even a minor tea party wouldn’t be looked upon favorably, so they hastily canceled it.”
“That’s right. There are many people refraining from social activities and gatherings for a while.”
The fact that the tea party was canceled itself wasn’t particularly significant news, but the explanation that followed was somewhat concerning.
‘Reading His Highness the Crown Prince’s mood definitely means they dealt with the Second Prince and his remnants.’
It wasn’t a bad sign. I tried my best to make an expression that showed I wasn’t thinking about anything.
“Yeah. It’s fine. I had something else to do today anyway.”
“You have something else to do? Did you perhaps meet someone to your taste at yesterday’s funeral?”
With those words, I had to admit that the servant’s worries yesterday were very justified. It seemed that a fellow who looked like he’d spread scandalous rumors just by his appearance had deliberately gone around meeting people, which was why the scoundrel rumors had reached even my ears.
“It’s not like that, I just have somewhere to go. Are you going to leave me like this?”
I asked using the tone that a scoundrel would likely use. Then the servants read the mood and brought water to wash my face.
‘No way. I’m not even a child, and they’re still having someone else do this for me?’
Another one poured oil bit by bit onto the long silver hair and brushed it. I didn’t particularly want to know the secret to maintaining this long silver hair like silk, but I learned it anyway.
“Young master. Ian-nim will arrive soon. How about going together?”
Ian must have been that servant from yesterday. I had a feeling he was the only one who could speak harshly to this scoundrel or stop him even a little. But I couldn’t take a servant to my current destination.
“I’ll think about it after changing clothes.”
“Yes! I brought the clothes you were originally going to wear today and everyday clothes.”
It seemed he was going to dress up again for the tea party. I had to disguise myself and secretly go down to the village, so I naturally couldn’t wear those clothes and chose the everyday clothes. And the clothes spread before my eyes were shocking enough to be stunned.
‘Didn’t they say this guy was a knight? No. Even if he wasn’t a knight, he wouldn’t wear clothes like this.’
I could accept that the entire outfit was white. But the biggest problem was that to my eyes, it looked almost the same as being half-naked. Supposedly covering things up, frills were attached brilliantly all over, but the jewels hanging on them looked incredibly cumbersome. No matter who looked at it, it wasn’t clothing you’d wear in everyday life.
“No. I told you to bring everyday clothes, not party clothes.”
Thinking the servants made a mistake, I grabbed my dizzy head and spoke, and the fellow with short hair became flustered.
“I-I’m sorry. This is a new design from the boutique you often visit for everyday clothes, so I thought you’d like it.”
So that meant Aila usually enjoyed wearing these insane-looking clothes. I desperately held back from grabbing my head and giving a speech about the dignity a knight should maintain. As long as I was borrowing this body, I couldn’t react too extremely.
“Today I want to wear the most modest clothes. Clothes that wouldn’t stand out even if I went down to the village.”
“Young master, surely today you’re not going after commoners…”
The servant looked at me with shocked, disbelieving eyes. I could guess the rest without hearing it. He wanted to ask if I was planning to seduce commoners. But rather than persuading him otherwise, it seemed better to just proceed quickly with the task.
“Are you always this talkative? Then just leave. I’ll prepare myself.”
I felt sorry for getting angry at innocent people, but it was originally rude for a servant to interfere this much anyway. Separate from the fact that this fellow deserved to hear such words.
“I apologize. I’ll bring you new clothes right away.”
The last outfit the servant brought was form-fitting and flashy with subtle jewels embedded in it, but thinking of the first outfit I’d seen, it belonged to the much better category. I was satisfied with this much and quickly dismissed the servants.
‘I can’t go down to the village wearing what this guy usually wears anyway.’
I killed my presence and snuck into the wardrobe, moving to the deepest part possible. In a place so neglected that dust had piled up thickly, ordinary clothes by my standards were lying around crumpled. There was even a hat nearby, which saved me trouble.
‘No matter how you look at it, I’m still a noble’s son, but still, this much should pass muster.’
Unlike my old body that specialized in killing my presence and infiltrating among people, Aila was sluggish and his body was unbearably heavy, but he was shorter than me and his body was supple. I just needed to squeeze into crowds of people, use disposable magical dye to conceal the color, and walk around.
* * *
I secretly escaped the room through the window and came down to the village. Perhaps because I bought magical medicine at a shop along the way that dyed my hair brown for half a day, the stares that clung to me definitely decreased. I didn’t know why, but there were about two people following me, but after wandering around various alleys, I successfully shook them off.
‘They were probably guys trying to do something with Aila, or thugs trying to extort money.’
I thought lightly and entered a restaurant where village people were sparsely filling seats. It was <Song of the Sun>, an inn and restaurant combined, and there were usually two reasons to visit this place. Either you were truly a customer, or you were here to meet someone.
“Hello! What would you like to order?”
“I’d like to stay in the last room on the fifth floor.”
One gold coin and one silver coin. Though it was a well-managed inn, it was a place mainly frequented by commoners, so these were denominations of currency not often used.
“Ah! Understood. Please have a seat for a moment.”
Soon the child brought a key. Instead of going to the stairs, I went outside. Naturally, because this inn was a four-story building.
After passing two more alleys, I inserted the key into the keyhole of an old door that appeared and turned it. At a glance, it looked like an empty house or perhaps a barn. But I knew.
“Kevin. Open the door.”
I climbed up the stairs and knocked on the ceiling rhythmically three times, and someone popped out.
“It wouldn’t have been easy to find, so how did ‘that’ Aila find this place?”
It was the information broker, Kevin. Even though I’d disguised myself somewhat, I couldn’t fool his eyes. Actually, if he were the type of person who could be fooled by such tricks, I would have looked for a different information broker in the first place. When I remained silent, he narrowed his eyes and examined me from head to toe.
“Seeing that you have that key, you must have come through <Song of the Sun>… Not many people know that route.”
“I came to buy information, not to be figured out.”
“Oh my, I talked too much to a customer. Please come in.”
The interior wasn’t much different from when I came two months ago. After looking around once to check if anyone else was there and taking a seat, Kevin’s eyes hidden under the worn hat gleamed.
“Somehow you don’t seem like the Aila I knew. Well, whatever. What do you want to know?”
“I won’t waste words. Tell me what happened to the Second Prince, what happened to His Highness the Crown Prince and the Sayers family.”
When I took out a pouch of gold coins and held it out, Kevin checked it roughly and grinned.
“Who are you targeting this time? His Highness? Someone from the Sayers family? Either way, it’s bold.”
When I frowned, Kevin raised his hands as if surrendering.
“I’m sorry. It’s an occupational hazard. I’m also bothered that you found your way here using a method I didn’t tell you about.”
It meant he was irritated that someone without permission had come. I didn’t know since he’d been quite polite to me, but it seemed he had this side too.
“Since I paid, you should talk. If your information is trustworthy, I’ll tell you who I heard this route from.”
“It seems that person also taught you how to handle me. Fine. Actually, it’s not even worth the money. The Second Prince committed treason and was imprisoned alone in the underground dungeon. He’ll be executed soon. His Highness is deeply grieving over losing a knight he cherished. The Sayers family, who should be sharing in the glory, are saying on the surface that they fulfilled their role, but in reality seem quite angry about losing Sir Tienas.”
“The Sayers family is angry? Isn’t it a knight’s role to lose their life protecting their lord? There’s no way the Sayers family wouldn’t know this. Moreover, Tienas wasn’t even someone who played a major role in the family.”
“How would I know the inner workings of nobles?”
No, it was frustrating that I didn’t understand why they were acting like that even though I knew those inner workings best.
“They’re not just pretending?”
“At least within the information I have, there’s no reason for them to do such a thing.”
I let out a deep sigh and voiced the question I’d been putting off.
“Then what about His Highness? Isn’t he satisfied with having dealt with his political enemies? I’m not talking about surface-level things. I want to hear information closest to the truth.”
I meant, wasn’t he pretending to mourn for some purpose? For me, this was the most realistic reason. His Highness could feel somewhat regretful about my death or disappointed at losing a useful pawn. I had even dared to hope for that. But acting crazy like that was completely unbelievable unless there was another reason.
“No way. His Highness’s grief is very genuine. You seem not to believe it, so I’ll give you one piece of related information.”
Kevin twisted his lips into a mischievous expression.
“After the funeral ended, His Highness had a major conflict with the head of the Sayers family, Duke Darian. Do you know the reason?”
There was no way I could know. Knowing well that this was Kevin’s way of speaking, I shook my head with patience.
“They say His Highness declared he wouldn’t return Sir Tienas’s body. The Sayers family officially claimed to receive the body several times, but he only repeated ‘I cannot allow it’ and turned them away at the door.”
My mind stopped working.
“What?”
“So, it’s certain there’s conflict between His Highness and the Sayers family.”
“There’s nothing good about that, so why on earth would His Highness…?”
Something that had no benefits when said aloud slipped out without me knowing. My heart was so unsettled that if I didn’t voice this question, I felt I’d vomit immediately.
“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? Maybe he was in love with that knight?”
