"....Monitor Your Highness?"
"Oh, don't pretend not to know. When someone like the Grand Duke comes looking for someone like me, there must be something in it for him, right? Don't you think? I'm offering to help!"
"...."
He tilted his head slightly. It must have been unexpected for Ersen to so openly acknowledge that he was being treated shabbily.
"I have nothing to lose, and you... you'll have nothing to lose either. I swear it on my life."
"Your Highness."
He called out as if to stop me, but his gaze was already undeniably cold. He was calmly assessing the unpredictable, inscrutable 'Ersen' who kept veering off in strange directions.
"Well, of all I have, my life is the only thing I can bet on you. What do you say?" I mumbled languidly and smiled wryly.
He shook his head, then reluctantly nodded as if he had no choice. "I suppose I have no choice. I'll humor Your Highness's little game."
"Ahahaha, a game, you say."
Mentioning my life was the correct answer. He seemed to have decided to observe me further.
'He probably intended to observe me today and deal with me if I seemed like a threat to Crown Prince Theodore.'
Given my malicious behavior combined with an inscrutable attitude, it wouldn't have been strange for him to kill me at any moment.
"Good, then now."
"Now?"
But if this goes well, there won't be such incidents in the future.
"Grand Duke, let's go for a walk."
"Why is that?"
"Because I want to see you under the sunlight!"
For a brief moment, he looked dumbfounded.
"Why are you looking at me like that? I don't miss opportunities!"
"Ah, really?"
Now I need to give Brother Marcus time to search this palace.
"And think about it. What if I set the mood perfectly to tell you something important, but then I'm suddenly shocked by seeing you standing under the moonlight and forget what I was going to say?"
"...Oh dear, you're overly gilding me."
Such compliments are probably something people say in newspapers and behind his back all the time, yet he pretends to be both accustomed and embarrassed.
'He's probably wondering why I'm praising him so much.'
As always, he wouldn't believe a single word I said was genuine. He's feigning embarrassment, showing an opening to figure out my intentions.
'Don't worry. I'll tell you Ersen's schemes, the ones you want, one by one, and not too late.'
If he believes in Ersen's greed, not mine, then he might be able to do it too.
"I mean it. So you'd better get used to it." I ignored his doubts. And then, leading the way with light, dance-like steps, I said, "...Both my brother and you. I like you all very much."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. You're all capable, and innocent..."
"...Innocent..."
"And beautiful too."
Unlike me.
He slowly walked behind me as I fluttered ahead. Perhaps tired of pretending to be embarrassed by compliments, no reply came.
***
"Hmm."
At that moment, someone was watching the two figures heading outside. That someone, who had been lying on his arm propped on a long chest of drawers half a step away from where the Grand Duke had been standing by the window, slowly sat up.
Then, propping his chin like a carefree idler, he mumbled, "He's peculiar..."
His half-closed, dull silver-gray eyes looked bored. The man had shoulder-length black-purple hair and diamond-shaped purple earrings. At first glance, he looked like a free-spirited mage, but as he descended from the chest of drawers and began to walk leisurely, it became clear that he was a knight. Despite his footsteps making almost no sound, his movements were disciplined.
"It's not easy to be so calm when looking at Kyle."
And besides—why is he so suspicious? Putting aside his brazen behavior, the fact that he acted like he knew something important, despite being in a position where it would be difficult to know, was annoying.
"Yawn."
After a big yawn, the languid expression in his eyes sharpened. He gazed intently with sharp eyes in the direction Ersen and the Grand Duke had disappeared, then grinned.
"Hmm. I was originally planning to investigate the room where that evil demon died, you know."
It was a very mischievous smile.
"—Drag it out a bit longer. It seems like it's not something that can be resolved by checking just one place."
It was a small mumble, but Skyle probably heard everything. He'd probably drag it out for half a day. That would be enough to figure out what that person was hiding.
"What could there be to see in this desolate palace, though?"
Marcus Il Naha. One of the only seven Sword Masters in the Empire, and the one among the half-demon clan most amicable with outsiders. Born with the unique magic 'Stealth,' albeit weak, he was a person specialized in hiding and destroying. Searching and just leaving wasn't his style, though.
"Let's see. Now, I wonder if our amazing prince hasn't hidden any naughty drawings or anything?"
Marcus smiled coldly and loosened his shoulders. Then, he instantly vanished into another shadow. His destination was the most private part of the Second Prince's palace. The third floor, where the deceased Imperial Consort Eris's room and the current Prince Ersen's bedroom were located side by side.
***
'How should I stall for time?'
I pondered, conscious of the Grand Duke silently following me. In truth, I couldn't leave this palace as I was under confinement. That meant only the gardens within the Second Prince's palace were an option... The problem was that the unkempt gardens truly had nothing to see. They weren't worth looking at for long.
'Come to think of it, isn't this the first time this person has stayed in my palace for so long?'
The sudden thought made me pause involuntarily.
'Oh, it is, isn't it?'
I became serious without realizing it. I even felt a little anxious. One thing was certain: no matter how much it was to stall for time, I didn't want to show him that desolate garden.
"Your Highness?"
The Grand Duke, who had come up beside me, called out, tilting his head slightly. His demeanor was that of someone concerned, but the atmosphere was chilling. I quietly observed his face, which was watching my expression, then slowly pulled up the corners of my mouth.
"Grand Duke. On second thought, I think you're dressed too lightly. Won't you be cold?"
He slowly opened and closed his eyes. And, unusually, he asked with overt skepticism, "...Are you referring to me?"
"Of course! Look at you. Your face already looks pale!"
He narrowed his eyes slightly, then smiled faintly, as if telling me to calm down. "I am naturally pale. You don't need to worry." I could almost hear him saying, "How dare you."
I let out a strange "Hmm" sound and playfully shook my head. "I can't allow that. I want to spend a long time with the Grand Duke..."
Ah, that would be it. A strange expression seemed to flash across his face for a moment, but I dismissed it as my imagination and clapped my hands.
"Yes, let's go there. Trust me, Grand Duke."
"...So you don't need to worry about me."
"Alright, alright. I'll guide you to a warm, bright, and beautiful place."
Humming, I started walking again. He quietly watched me, then belatedly began to follow, walking beside me instead of behind.
"This building is falling apart, but there's one place worth seeing."
"It's a palace with a humble beauty. Anywhere is fine with me, Your Highness."
"No. We'll be seeing each other continuously from now on; I can't ruin the first impression. —Alright, we go in here."
The place I guided him to was an ambiguous spot to call a garden. It was a place I discovered after regression while secretly searching Eris's room, unbeknownst to the other palace staff.
'I found records Ersen wrote when he was young.'
The records weren't much, just diary-like scribbles made with a finger on the wall. Entering the room that had been off-limits to me before regression, I found it was Eris's room. The wall in that room was double-layered, and when one layer was removed, the wall behind it appeared.
'It was there. Ersen's picture diary.'
Perhaps because he wrote it when he was young, before the age of seven, the sentences were short. In summary, it said his mother told him to kill everyone, and he would help his mother...
'It was written in blood.'
At the end of the diary, there were no words, but a drawing. A woman hanging herself. The drawing alone was particularly dark, as if drawn over several times. That's how I learned the full story of the shocking incident Ersen experienced when he was seven. He had witnessed his mother taking her own life.
Calming my complex emotions, I walked casually. What was important now was another part of the diary. Around the middle of the record, he wrote about finding a secret place, saying that if you open the back door between the warehouse and the building, a beautiful space surrounding a small pond appears.
I had found that record and visited the place by myself about twice; it was quite a sight to behold.
The problem was...
'This is a magic space.'
Well, it's not a curse, so it should be fine for him. It's not good for my body, but that's...
'Rather, it might give him confidence that I have something he doesn't know, so isn't it hitting two birds with one stone?'
...Truthfully, I was a little impatient to show him the place.
"Hurry, come in."
"..."
Creak-.
We arrived at our destination, and I opened the small door. I jumped through the doorway first and urged him to follow. He smiled faintly, looking back and forth between the garden visible beyond the door and my face. Perhaps because the area in front of the door was dark, half of his face was shadowed.
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