Chapter 35

Ren sprang to his feet.

“Y-Your Highness. When did you get here? What made you come to the princess’ room suddenly?”

“Why did you come to Asto Palace this evening?”

As Ren rolled his eyes around to find an excuse…

Lisbeth ran to Lark with the teacup on the table.

“Brother!”

“Yes, Lissy.”

“I made tea for you. I made it myself. Can you drink this and do me a favor…”

“Oh, dear. Princess!”

Chwarak—!

Ren rushed over, picked up the teacup, and scattered it on the floor.

“Hey!! What are you—?!”

“Shh.”

Ren, who smiled and put his index finger on his lips, soothed Lisbeth.

“It’s late at night, so be quiet. And the tea was cold. Let’s make it again tomorrow.”

“Brother, don’t do that. Drink first. I’ll make it again.”

“Princeeess?”

Ren grabbed Lisbeth’s arm and pushed her into the room.

“Let go of me!”

“Lissy, did you make this brother a cup of tea yourself?”

When Lark asked with affectionate eyes, Lisbeth nodded with a smile.

“Yes, Brother. I have a request, after having a cup of tea…”

“Tomorrow! Let’s have tea time tomorrow.”

“What do you care—!?”

“Yes, Lissy. This brother is tired today, so I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Lark’s eyes flashed as he spoke with a smile.

Somehow, because her brother’s face seemed a little angry, Lisbeth nodded helplessly.

Lark smiled at her, then looked at Ren and said bitterly.

“You come with me.”

***

Lark’s office.

Ren stood nervously in front of Lark, who had sat down and didn’t say anything for a long time.

Ren had thought of a rough excuse on the way here.

“Lissy is all grown up. She wants to make tea for her brother.”

“I know, right? I went there because she asked me to help.”

“Aha. Really? Did you bring the tea leaves yourself?”

“What?”

Lark chuckled, opened the desk drawer, pulled something out, and threw it on the table.

Ren’s eyes widened in surprise.

A box of tea leaves containing poisonous herbs. It had been taken from Lisbeth once before.

‘This. I hid it in my room. When did he—’

Blaming the complacency for not handling it beforehand, Ren bit his lip.

“… Raplexia, or something? A poison that paralyzes fertility. Well, it’d be worth watching if I had a drink.”

“…”

“Ren, you’ve been sneaking around to find out what this is, right?”

Lark asked, raising his eyes sharply.

“It seems that this is the tea Lisbeth was giving me earlier.”

“That…”

“The thought of making her one and only brother into a disabled person is shocking. It is an issue that cannot be overlooked.”

“It wasn’t the princess who kept it.”

“Then?”

“I kept it. You must have found that one in my room.”

“Aha. You made Lisbeth feed me this?”

“I didn’t know it was poisonous. I thought it was just tea leaves that smelled good, but when I looked it up, there was a problem.”

“Hahaha!”

Lark tilted his head and smiled.

How could he believe such a foolish lie? Ren frowned, biting his lips.

“Ren.”

“…”

Lark opened the drawer and took out two small projector stones.

The moment he saw the blue marble-shaped projector stones, Ren felt an ominous feeling.

“I didn’t suspect you just because of the poison that came out of your room.”

“What is this?”

“They’re projector stones with clear images of you doing things behind my back. Someone started giving me this information anonymously. It’s been a while.”

“What did I do?”

“The spy who infiltrated my bedroom two months ago.”

Lark said while touching one of the projector stones.

“You found the guild he belonged to and wiped them all out. You, who should have caught the tail and found the cause, looked like you were trying to destroy all the evidence.”

“…”

Ren slowly closed his eyes and sighed.

‘Damn it.’

At first, as Lark had said, he had gone to the assassination guild to find out who was behind it.

But Ren found a surprising discovery there.

The assassination guild was pretending to be a healthy tavern, but the tavern’s manager was none other than the eighth prince.

The eighth prince had no ties to succession fights and was only a six-year-old child. He must have bought the tavern with someone’s handiwork without knowing anything.

He was only listed as the general manager of the assassination guild, but if this fact were discovered, punishment would be unavoidable.

Ren blew up the guild with all the evidence to prevent the eighth prince from being unfairly held accountable.

“And again.”

Lark pointed to another projector stone towards Ren, who could not answer.

“You said you were going to catch illegal slave traders.”

A recently discovered illegal slave traders.

This matter was clearly intended.

As illegality prevailed and the empire’s security declined, the approval rating of Crown Prince Lark fell.

It was certain that this was the act of Lark’s political enemies.

“Didn’t you say you wiped out the exchange but missed the slave trade representative?”

“…”

“You gave money to the representative of the slave trader you missed and made him run away on board a boat. Setting up a slave store and clearing it all seem like your work.”

Again, Ren had nothing to say.

The representative of the slave trader, like the 8th prince, was a person whose name was only listed without knowing anything. It was a foreigner who didn’t even speak the imperial language.

He had only come to the empire to earn money and had only signed a daily contract. The man was unaware that his name was sold as a slave trader’s representative.

Ren couldn’t let him be innocently held accountable. In the end, he forced him to run away.

“Can you explain to me?”

Lark picked up and laid out several more projector stones from the open drawer.

“It’s not just one or two.”

“…”

In front of Ren, who had hardened, Lark approached and stood tall.

“Are you plotting treason with my enemy?”

“…”

“Answer me.”

“No.”

After Ren said that, he smiled to himself. Lark couldn’t have trusted him.

If it had been a while since he had been treated this way, and those shreds of evidence all pointed to himself…

“Okay. I believe you.”

“… What?”

But Lark grinned and grabbed Ren’s shoulder and nodded his head.

“I believe you.”

“What?”

“That you’re not plotting treason.”

“But…”

Ren was taken aback.

“Wh-Whoever sees it is suspicious. How can you believe me? No, I’m not saying I plotted treason…”

“Ren.”

Ren paused at the sight of sadness that passed through Lark’s eyes for an instant.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I doubted you for a moment.”

Back in his seat, Lark looked down at several projector stones and clapped his hands on the desk.

“These reports that came to me may have been sent to other nobles. Perhaps this anonymous informant is trying to frame you.”

“… What?”

“I will save you. I must.”

“…”

“So from now on, you have to tell me, without exception, why you acted like this. There is no need to hesitate.”

Lark’s eyes shone.

“No matter what you say, I’ll believe it.”

***

The next day, Serburn Street.

Lark was running with me next to me, jogging in the evening.

“Excuse me, Your Highness.”

“Mm.”

“May I ask why you are playing here? I think I told you yesterday. If you ever need me, send your stamp to the duchy.”

Then, without having to set a separate meeting place or time, we decided to meet at 11 a.m. the next day at the ‘fine restaurant 3rd floor’, which was set as the meeting place.

“If you need information urgently, tell me what it is.”

“It’s nothing like that. Can’t I be here just to work out? At the same time, I want to see your face.”

Lark, who responded deftly, focused on running again.

I asked, speeding up.

“Your face is too gloomy for that. Is there any problem?”

“Umm, no. Not at all. Thanks to your help, I cleared up a misunderstanding with my aide and made my plan on how to resolve this situation. It’s all thanks to you. Thank you.”

“What? Well, is there anything else I can help you with?”

“It’s my job from now on. You don’t have to worry. I feel uncomfortable when I get too much help.”

“Then what’s with that frown on your face? You’re obviously faced with many problems, so I can’t help but care.”

After a slow pause, Lark opened the water bottle and looked at me with a tilt of his head. He smiled and rubbed his forehead.

“I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. So what’s wrong?”

I asked, slumping on the rock.

“It’s just a family matter. To be more specific, my sister has been acting up.”

“Aha. Her Highness Princess Lisbeth?”

“That’s right.”

“What trouble did she run into?”

“She brought poison into the imperial palace.”

“Pardon?”

“She brought it in without knowing it was poison.”

“Was it the second prince’s trick?”

“Perhaps. I told her to tell me how she got it, but she never opened her mouth.”

“Why didn’t she tell you?”

“The little one was trying to make a deal with me. ‘If you want to know, give me the national treasure, Pharma Crystal,’ she said.”

“Wow. The scale is immense.”

“Even if I had her mouth open anyway, it wouldn’t be beneficial information. He must have cut off his tail as the second prince is no fool. But the thought that he’ll be able to approach Lissy in some way n the future…”

Watching Lark rubbing his forehead with a tired expression, I was envious of Lisbeth for a moment.

‘Her brother loves her.’

She must have acted like a fool and brought in the poison without knowing it was poison, but was there any problem?

A powerful older brother closed his eyes, trying to eliminate the people working hard behind the scenes.

“Ah, why don’t you get angry and force her to open her mouth?”

“…”

At my words, Lark paused and muttered a laugh.

“How could I do that?”

“You’re a sweet older brother, Your Highness.”

“Why, do you think I’m stupid? Do I look like a guy who can’t distinguish between public and private affairs?”

Lark raised his eyes and asked with a playful smile.

I shook my head.

“No. You’re the older brother that every little sister in the world dreams of. You idiot brother.”

“Haha…”

“Here.”

I pulled something out of my tracksuit pocket and flicked it out in front of Lark.

A black invitation card was tucked out between the index and middle fingers.

Lark tilted his head.

“… What’s this?”

In fact, it was supposed to be sent anonymously to the imperial family, to be more precise, to Lisbeth. But since I had met her brother by chance, it would be better to tell him directly.

This was an invitation to a secret social gathering for the third generation of chaebols.

“You don’t have to give her the national treasure. Take this and make a deal with Her Highness.”