Chapter – 56
Recently, Calvin had been visiting my study more often. He sat on the sofa and read a letter.
“Merina… what does she want?”
“What’s going on?”
“Merina sent a letter asking to meet. What could it be?”
“Is it good news?”
Even though Calvin had said before that he would no longer like Merina, I pretended not to remember and asked anyway.
“A while ago, Merina insulted you again, didn’t she? The day I was on patrol.”
My brother sighed.
“Even the Mage Tower Lord. Seriously, why does she casually call the Tower Lord’s name like that? After committing such rudeness, she wants to meet me? I won’t go.”
“But are you really okay with that, Cal?”
“Of course, I might soften if I see Merina’s face in person…”
As expected, he still hadn’t shaken off Merina.
I should probably be more careful with my words in front of Calvin and the Crown Prince from now on.
After some hesitation, Calvin tore the letter into pieces and threw them into the trash bin beside my desk.
“If you’re going to refuse, isn’t it polite to write a reply and send it back, Cal?”
“What did I ever say to such a kind older sister? Telling someone to reply even to a person who insulted them.”
Calvin looked at me sympathetically.
What is this about?
I wanted Merina to be rejected more firmly, so I suggested it.
Since the topic came up, Calvin said he would write a reply right then, borrowed paper and a pen from me, and wrote a rejection letter in one go. Then he asked me to send it.
He then ran over to Riss.
“Liss, when will you grow up?”
The reason my younger brother often visited my study was because of the little silver fox.
Within a month, Riss had grown larger than the combined size of my two palms, but was still small.
“Still, you should be able to let it go outside soon. I heard that silver foxes are extremely active animals.”
“Wow, then I can run twenty laps in the training ground with it?”
It might be too hard since it was still a cub, but it was something to stop later.
I glanced at Calvin’s letter.
It said that although he was grateful, he was too busy for the time being to meet.
I found an envelope, put the letter inside, and sealed it with sealing wax bearing the LeVian family crest.
Knock, knock.
Ted visited my room carrying some documents.
“It’s been a while, young master.”
“I haven’t seen you in a while either. By the way, is Tea currently the most popular person in the LeVian estate?”
“Me?”
Ted replied in surprise, and Calvin shrugged as if he didn’t know.
“Letty, who’s my assigned maid, keeps talking about you.”
“And so does Cassie.”
When I added a word, Calvin laughed and said, “See?”
“In the LeVian estate, I used to be the most handsome face, but Tea has stolen that position from me. Haha.”
“To me, you’re still the most handsome, Cal.”
“Of course, I’m the only one for you, right?”
Calvin, who said goodbye affectionately to Riss, left my room.
“Miss, what are you doing?”
After Calvin left, I was gathering the scraps of paper he had thrown in the trash.
“I need to check something.”
Fortunately, since Calvin had torn the letter only two or three times, it was easy to reconstruct Merina’s letter.
To dear Cal,
How have you been?
I’ve been busy and couldn’t contact you for a while.
I’m afraid I might forget your face, so I want to meet you.
I want to meet you alone in the garden where the night roses release their fragrance, so please contact me.
— Your Lina.
“The garden where night roses release their fragrance” is a social term meaning a secluded place late at night.
She asked to meet alone?
Private meetings between a man and a woman are Merina’s way of gaining allies.
So when she was cornered again, she tried to lure my brother.
“I may have expected too much.”
I wondered if Merina’s behavior might have changed because many exceptional situations had occurred.
“Is something wrong, miss?”
“No, it just means that nothing has changed yet.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Well, I’m not sure yet.”
The more changes there are, the longer my life may be, which is good. But if too many things deviate from my predictions, the probability of failure increases.
“I see. Then would you like to receive good news for sure?”
Ted smiled and spread a simple map of the empire and surrounding countries in front of me.
“This is today’s Blue Bird report. We found two more branch offices in the provinces, and one of them caught my attention.”
“Where is it?”
“Here.”
Holding a pen, Ted marked a spot in the northeastern region of the empire.
“Though it looks like an ordinary shop, there are very few residences nearby.”
“So it’s a suspicious area for a shop to exist?”
“Yes. There seems to be a warehouse for storing goods, but there is very little actual trade.”
Then it must be a building made for purposes other than being a shop.
“More importantly, a blue-haired man appears frequently. He wears a mask, so his face is unknown.”
Blue hair is not very common, and the fact that he wears a mask was suspicious.
“If this man is the one we expect, then this branch is very special. Because he rarely reveals himself in other branches.”
“So at least the northeastern branch is a place where he does not hide that he is the leader.”
“Yes. We will continue monitoring it.”
“Please take good care of it.”
Ted nodded and placed other documents in front of me.
“Here are some urgent documents that need your review.”
“Thank you. Oh, on your way, please send this letter to Count Ichel’s estate.”
Ted accepted Calvin’s letter, bowed, and left the room.
“Northeast, huh…”
The Blue Bird branch where Silah appears is not far from the border region where the Kazas Empire, the Litten Kingdom, and the Holy Kingdom meet.
What bothered me was that it was a location close to several countries.
“What are they plotting?”
Should I ask that strange mage about Blue Bird since he said he wouldn’t kill me?
No. He said he would encourage my madness, but he didn’t say he wouldn’t ruin my work.
In the end, Silas Bernstein could be a useful tool if I used him well, but could become a knife that would stab me if I was careless.
Like everything else.
“It’s still hard to trust anyone…”
When I thought of the one person who had been my faithful assistant, my heart ached.
But I couldn’t confide in him because I didn’t want to see him die.
* * *
The most recent gambling house found on the outskirts of the capital was being cleaned up, and Lexian personally visited it.
The place, which had been hit by several explosions, was half-ruined but still had many documents left and was being cleared.
“This is…”
Several boxes inside the gambling house had a blue bird emblem on them—the same symbol found on the mage’s robe when the mage attacked Rosia.
“It’s clear that it is connected to an unknown organization.”
Then perhaps Rosia knew something about the gambling house and the organization? That was why the organization member tried to harm Rosia?
This explanation seemed logical, but Lexian felt like he was missing something.
As the commander of the imperial knight order, his instincts told him that this case was not ordinary.
He wondered if there was something on Rosia’s side, but the knight from his family assigned to watch her reported only that Rosia was attending tea parties, balls, or volunteer activities diligently.
It didn’t seem like Rosia had decided to live safely now.
Lexian smiled slightly, thinking of the unpredictable young lady from the marquisate. But his chest ached when he thought of the blue-haired man beside her.
He wanted to get rid of the man who dared reach out to Rosia.
The one who should hold Rosia’s small hand was him…
“Damn it.”
Realizing the rising desire inside him, Lexian cursed, making a passing knight flinch.
“It’s nothing.”
“Yes, sir.”
The knight bowed and left with the documents, and Lexian entered a nearby warehouse. It was where Rosia had swept away old papers and medicine bottles.
“Ha.”
After rubbing his face several times, Lexian finally regained his composure.
Recently, Rosia LeVian had done nothing. She simply stood in her place, yet he felt bewitched and wanted to approach her.
He wanted to stroke her silk-like hair, hug her narrow waist, and kiss the softly closed lips…
Bang!
To suppress the rising vulgar desire, Lexian hit his head against the wall.
“She is like my younger sister. She thinks of me as an older brother.”
He hit his head against the wall a few more times and muttered the same words like a spell.
Staggering, he grabbed a bookshelf, and something fluttered down in front of him.
Unintentionally, he bent down and picked up the paper.
“Is this… a map?”
