Chapter 9
“Ahem…”
Overwhelmed by embarrassment, Blanc pretended to be composed and cleared his throat.
He had somehow ended up in the office, but a high priest, a fixer, and a prince—no matter how he looked at it, it was an awkward combination.
“It’s a fine day.”
The high priest seemed to be trying somehow to break the ice, but he failed.
In the end, while a servant cleared the table and brought out fresh tea, Blanc, Vieta, and Theodore sat amicably on the sofa in silence.
No, Blanc was the only one keeping silent.
“….”
When Blanc casually looked ahead while pretending to drink tea to hide his tension, the high priest and Vieta were whispering to each other.
‘Is it really all right for the high priest to be so close with a believer?’
Seeing them like that, Blanc inexplicably grew sullen.
Even granting them the benefit of the doubt, a high priest and a believer could be friends, but how dare they whisper with a prince right in front of them?
It was extraordinarily rude.
Still, he couldn’t say anything.
He couldn’t tell what they were saying, but the two of them looked incredibly close.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
The servant who had finished tidying bowed and withdrew.
On the now-neatly arranged table sat a silver teapot and teacups, along with neatly presented desserts.
“I greet you, Little Sun of the Empire. I am Theodore Bonaventure de Brienne, the high priest. Please feel free to call me Theodore.”
When the high priest stood and bowed, Blanc made a single imperious gesture and had him sit back down.
“Vie….”
“It’s all right. I didn’t come here just to exchange greetings.”
Vieta also tried to offer the proper greeting to royalty, but Blanc cut her off at once.
He might have accepted a formal greeting from the high priest, but he didn’t want one from Vieta.
“…Yes.”
Vieta tilted her head and sat down.
Once again, an awkward silence filled the office.
“Do the two of you have something to discuss? If not, perhaps we should send the believer on her way.”
Blanc found it difficult to open his mouth under the high priest’s somewhat pointed remark.
To be honest, there was nothing for Blanc and Vieta to discuss.
The assignment had been successfully completed, and the remaining payment had been settled in full.
But Vieta was crying.
He had vowed not to let it bother him, but that didn’t mean he could simply send a crying woman away.
However, Blanc was too cautious to lay his feelings bare.
“We simply met again after a long time, so I wanted to say hello. I was also curious whether you were doing well.”
“…I’ve been doing well, thanks to you. I hope you’ve been well too, Your Highness.”
Vieta’s expression as she said this was utterly peculiar.
It was the sort of look that asked whether they were really close enough to exchange such pleasantries.
“…I’m glad to hear it.”
Watching Vieta sit so quietly, Blanc couldn’t shake his frustration.
He resented his own inability to steer the conversation skillfully, but he also disliked the way Vieta treated him like a stranger.
Where had she put the nerve she’d shown when she vaulted the imperial palace wall, or when she knocked down and threatened a prince the instant they met? He couldn’t understand why she was acting as though they were complete strangers now.
Vieta was just as frustrated.
She should have been thanking Iseria and Fulcare right away, but she had ended up being held by a prince.
‘What possible reason could a prince have to exchange greetings with me?’
Since he was both her former client and a prince, she had tried to wait until Blanc spoke, but she couldn’t endure it any longer.
“But why did you stop me?”
Theodore lightly jabbed her in the side at her bluntness, but Vieta ignored him.
Instead, she looked at the prince with a clear determination to leave immediately.
If she stayed like this, it was obvious she wouldn’t be able to leave the office until sunset.
“I was just wondering whether you managed to catch the cat.”
The prince’s eyes darted about for a moment as if he were flustered, and his ears were slightly red.
“…The cat?”
Vieta tilted her head to one side.
Catching cats was an assignment she had received recently, but she found it strange that the prince knew about it.
Vieta herself always kept her clients’ information carefully guarded, so there was no way it could have leaked.
“Didn’t we meet in the garden that day?”
“…I did? With Your Highness?”
Vieta quickly retraced her memories.
But she had never met the prince separately in the garden—of that she was certain.
“Wasn’t there a rather unfortunate incident by the garden wall?”
“Huh?”
Vieta clapped her hands together once before she even realized it.
“Then… were you the person I met, Your Highness?”
When she had jumped over the imperial palace wall, she had encountered a golden-haired nobleman.
But there wasn’t just one blond person in the Empire, and he had merely been a handsome nobleman passing by.
Besides, Vieta’s mind had been filled with thoughts of Chichi the cat at the time, and she wasn’t observant enough to remember every minor detail.
“Yes. I suppose I was the only one who recognized you, Fixer.”
Although the corners of his mouth lifted, hurt was written all over the prince’s face.
By contrast, Theodore stared at Vieta with an expression that said he wanted to tear his hair out on the spot.
“Please accept my belated apology for my rudeness toward Your Highness back then.”
Before the situation could grow any worse, Vieta quickly bowed her head.
Thinking it over, she remembered threatening to beat him if he didn’t cooperate.
Now that she thought about it, she had clearly threatened and insulted a member of the imperial family.
“Ah, it’s all right.”
Though Vieta bent nearly to the waist to offer a proper apology, the prince’s expression grew even darker.
“Then, since it seems there is nothing left for the two of you to discuss, perhaps the believer should take her leave.”
Theodore dismissed her with a smile.
But Vieta saw it.
She clearly saw Theodore’s lips form the words: We’ll discuss this later.
Before the prince could change his mind and detain her, Vieta quickly left the office.
And then,
[Hello?]
Before she had even made it out of the temple, the damned goddess caught her.
***
“Your Majesty, it’s Fulcare.”
As stars began to fill the sky outside the window, Fulcare sought out the Emperor, carrying a heap of documents.
There were faint dark circles beneath his eyes, and even his usually immaculate hair was somewhat disheveled.
No wonder—he had been working overtime for several days straight.
Before the prince departed on his pilgrimage, Fulcare had to determine who was behind the monster attack somehow.
“Come in.”
The Emperor’s bedchamber was grand and ornate, as though symbolizing the power and dignity of the Empire.
Unlike the Empress’s bedchamber, which she had decorated in rose red, the Emperor’s was filled with purple and gold, the colors symbolizing the imperial family.
A long chandelier hung high from the ceiling, its crystals glittering, while one wall displayed a painting of the Emperor receiving a crown from the goddess.
The golden bed positioned in the very center symbolized the Emperor’s dignity through its size and color alone, while its pillows and blankets were covered in soft silk that even nobles found difficult to obtain.
The Emperor was leaning against a large south-facing window.
His eyebrows were sharply defined, his jawline crisp, and his healthy skin faintly bronzed.
His light bedtime clothes accentuated the muscles honed through years of training, further highlighting his sturdy physique.
Though he was over sixty, the Emperor still cut an imposing figure.
That was only natural, for the Emperor was a war hero who had led the war against the monsters from the front under the goddess’s protection.
“Has the investigation made any progress?”
The Emperor led Fulcare to a luxurious solid-wood table, then personally fetched wine and filled a goblet for him.
Fulcare, on the other hand, found the hospitality uncomfortable.
“I can’t say for certain, but ….”
“This is the first time I’ve seen the Chief trail off.”
Knowing what sort of upheaval his next words might cause, Fulcare found it difficult to speak.
“The consort wasn’t behind this, was she?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
That would have been absurd compared with the incident she’d caused.
The Emperor took a sip of the wine in his glass.
Fulcare swallowed the sigh that had risen to his throat.
Having held his position for so long, the Emperor did possess a politician’s discernment.
Outwardly, he pretended to do nothing and merely watched, but behind the scenes, he never let down his guard against countries that might become a threat to the Empire.
However, he was unusually lenient when it came to matters of the inner palace.
Everyone who enjoyed gossip knew that this was what had caused the rift between the Empress and the consort.
Whether he had tolerated the consort’s rudeness all this time because he was a lecher or for some other reason, countless rumors circulated behind his back.
In Fulcare’s view, however, the Emperor was simply an ordinary man.
There were far too many things the Emperor had to concern himself with.
In fact, the Emperor had handled no shortage of difficult matters while rebuilding the Empire, which had been devastated by war.
The affairs of the inner palace had merely slipped down his list of priorities.
Of course, the minor inconvenience that came with being Emperor had probably played a part as well.
When the Emperor’s purple eyes prompted Fulcare to continue, he silently placed a sheet of parchment on the table.
“…The recent monster attack appears to have been the work of elves.”
The wineglass slipped from the Emperor’s hand and struck the floor, red wine seeping across the golden carpet like blood.
“At the very least, Iseria wasn’t responsible.”