CH 23

Eugène’s biggest suspicion was that he was bizarrely non-resistive. In fact, it was for this reason that he laid down his weapon as the enemy wished. Eugène belatedly realized that the Emperor had other intentions in his mind.

“Did you surrender because you believed so?” 

The Emperor looked at Eugène, who had no immediate answer, tilted his head, and added another question to his previous one. Eugène spoke innocently like a child but had no way of knowing his deepest intentions, and so, could not readily answer and remained silent. The Emperor tapped his lap with his delicate fingers.

“Let’s assume that is the case, but what if that judgment was wrong on your part? Did you intend to risk my life solely because of your own conclusive opinion?”

Though it was a question that seemed to be a harsh rebuke, Eugène read a deep mischievousness in the Emperor’s eyes. The Emperor possessed the disposition of a carnivore in every way and unfortunately resembled a wild beast even in his ways of looking for pleasure.

Eugène smiled bitterly and lowered his eyes at the Emperor’s nasty habit of teasing him whenever he had the chance, even though he clearly knew that the other person could not resist. He feared that a hasty answer would further encourage the Emperor’s playfulness, which did not fit the situation. 

“A commander always has a second plan. It is not the way of a soldier to bet everything on one judgment.”

Eugène cleverly escaped the Emperor’s intended trap. As soon as he finished answering, he crouched down, lowered his arms tied behind his back, struggling to feel inside his boots. The Emperor had no idea what Eugène’s sudden action meant, so he continued to watch him without taking his eyes off.

He tucked his fingers into his boots and found the little main gauche he had hidden in the gap of his long socks. Although it was called a main gauche, it was more like a knife rather than a dagger in terms of its overall shape.

The blade of the main gauche, which was only as long as the index finger, was thin and sharp enough to peel off the skin as it was. Eugène carefully removed the scabbard and tucked the tip of the main gauche into the groove of the handcuffs. As a result, his wrists painfully twisted and his fingers cramped, but Eugène, with an expressionless face, focused only on uncuffing the handcuffs.

Soon after, the shoddy hasp snapped open. Eugène dropped the handcuffs on the floor and relaxed his red-lined wrists a few times to check their condition. The Emperor watched the scene curiously, wearing such an expression as if he was watching some kind of feat. The Emperor, who had been leaning against the wall, leaned forward and closely watched the work he was doing, and looked up at Eugène with a merry smile as he approached him.

“Seems like you know some interesting antics. Picking a lock. Isn’t that one of the tricks of a thief?”

The Emperor asked in a half-joyful, half-doubtful tone. Indeed, hiding a dagger in the boots or picking the lock with the tip of a blade was not something typical nobles would do. Eugène responded quietly, cutting off the knot of cloth that bound the Emperor’s wrists with his main gauche.

“It’s a skill that any trainee officer who has no relatives to pay the ransom in case he is inevitably caught by pirates must learn. If you don’t want to be a slave to a galley for the rest of your life, you have to know at least one way to free your hands and feet.” 

To learn this trick, he had to concede a two months’ worth of wine ration to a senior sailor. The water used for drinking during the voyage was kept in the dock for several months, so it always smelled excessively filthy. The water tasted really terrible if one were to drink it without any additives, so it was a great sacrifice to offer two months’ worth of wine that would moisten his throat during mealtimes.

He mentioned that it was an essential skill to the Emperor, but in fact, he was the only one among his comrades who had mastered it. Most trainee officers valued the sweet wine in front of them more than the freedom of the distant future. But Eugène was desperate to survive, and he knew that if he learned such tricks, he would one day put them to good use.

“It is an admirable virtue to be concerned about the future. I think I can see why you are a good commander.”

The Emperor nodded and removed the piece of cloth from his wrists. Perhaps because they were tied with silk, there was no red mark on the Emperor’s wrists, let alone a wound. Eugène slipped the used main gauche inside the waist of his pants and asked the Emperor. 

“Shall we escape now?”

“Pr atja qbrrlyif?”

“Po sbe kjca ab, P rtjii tjnf ab vb la. Valii, beg rlaejalbc tjr lwqgbnfv j iba mbwqjgfv ab j ktlif jub.”

Snfc atbeut tf kjr agjqqfv lc atf mfiijg bo jc ecxcbkc wjcrlbc, atfgf kjr cb qgfafcalbercfrr lc Seuècf’r jrregjcmf. Pc ojma, tlr pevuwfca kjr cba kgbcu. Ktf bcis kfjqbc tf meggfcais ybgf kjr j wjlc ujemtf tlvvfc lc tlr qjcar, yea kjrc’a la wemt yfaafg atjc rajcvlcu lc ogbca bo ecqgfvlmajyif wehhifr klat atf Swqfgbg tfiv tbrajuf? 

Not only did they not know that Eugène still had a weapon, but they also did not know anything about the Emperor’s actual skills. Only if he wants to escape, it was not a bad choice to try now.

“You’re not a man of mercy to your enemies, are you?”

The Emperor gently rubbed his wrists here and there, which had no marks left on them, and quietly sounded him out. When Eugène silently turned his gaze back to the Emperor, he smiled softly and leaned back against the stone wall again.

“Then forget it. Let’s wait like this. I tend to be quite attached to those who belong to me. It seems that there is still a lot left to teach, but for now, since they’re my people, I do not wish to harm them.” 

“… From what you’re saying, it doesn’t sound like you’re worried about me. By ‘my people’, do you mean to refer to those people over there?”

“That’s right.”

“How could that be?”

No matter how much Eugène thought about it, he couldn’t understand, so he asked back as if he was dumbfounded. What kind of subject would dare to kidnap the Emperor? They didn’t even know that the other person was the Emperor. When the Emperor heard him, he rolled up the corners of his mouth and smiled. 

“It’s not impossible to put together an impatient boss who is under pressure to bring out results and an underling who doesn’t know exactly who he serves. Could you not tell just by looking at what is happening right now?”

As he had suspected at first, the Emperor seemed to know their real identities. However, Eugène did not know the reason behind that firm conviction, and still showed signs of doubt.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Pistol.” 

“Pardon?”

“Did you not think that the pistols they had were a bit strange?”

“Pistols… come to think of it, the barrel seemed to be shorter than the ones I’ve seen before. It seemed as if the speed of the fuse was much faster than other models.”

Since it was an urgent situation at the time, he didn’t pay much attention to it, but when he thought about it again, something did seem odd. After hearing the Emperor’s point, he felt doubtful again because of which he immersed himself in agony and narrowed his eyebrows. 

The pistols they possessed were distinctly different from those seen before. It was an improved product in many ways compared to the ones previously produced, and the barrel itself was short, making it easy to carry, and the fuse was quick to burn, so it was advantageous for shooting.

Just looking at its shape, it reminded him of the Army’s improved model of the pistol he had heard of. It was a new weapon that was said to have not yet been supplied to the officers of the Army because there had not been many productions yet, so it was something that would never fall into the hands of such ruffians, however…

Eugène, having thought that far, suddenly turned his head and looked back at the Emperor. But before he could say anything, he heard urgent footsteps from the end of the hallway.

“You seem to have figured it out now.” 

The Emperor looked towards the door with a faint smile on his face. There was a loud sound of the lock being opened, and the door opened so violently that the hinges became unstable. The light was dim and he could only see the silhouette of the person who entered, but Eugène felt some familiarity with him, who could not even see his face. It felt like someone he had met once.

The man, who looked around the room as if frozen for a moment, trembled when found the Emperor. Then he approached him with large strides and got down on his knees. Eugène unconsciously tried to get in the way of the Emperor, but the Emperor raised his hand to stop him.

The man, who could not hide his embarrassment and surprise, bowed his head in front of the Emperor with a deathly pale complexion. The Emperor scrutinized his blank face and clicked his tongue.

“Was Our message that We will visit sometime soon that unreliable? It was such an overly direct invitation, We almost misunderstood it, Victor.” 

The Emperor’s voice as he greeted the man was surprisingly kind and friendly. There was an indescribable smile in his gentle voice. But when he heard those words, Victor’s face hardened even more. He was completely rigid, as if he would crumble if touched, so he did not even dare to look up and bowed his head to apologize for his own fault.

“I apologize, Your Majesty. I didn’t expect Your Majesty to be riding in that carriage.”

Victor said, with a feeling of wanting to bury his forehead in the ground as it is if he could. It was fortunate that he found out, albeit late. If he hadn’t asked about the identity of the abductees as a confirmation, he might have committed a rare disloyalty of not only abducting the Emperor with his own hands but even torture.

“Oh no. We weren’t the original guest of honor of this banquet?” 

“… Your Majesty.”

“Did you use such a wild method all because you wanted to invite someone? This is not the way We wanted you to do it.”

The Emperor’s tone of asking in a soothing way was more terrifying than a snapped rebuke. From the Emperor’s appearance, Eugène saw the vision of a cat and a wild beast playing with its prey with its claws hidden.

Victor Adelphe, the Emperor’s hidden minion, whom he had met once before, lowered his head as pitifully as a mouse in front of a cat. Since he couldn’t make any excuses, he just licked his lips and lowered his gaze. 

Victor had no words to justify his actions. The mistake he had made was so great that an excuse was simply out of the question. He felt his mouth dry and shook his head once more.

He could not understand how he made such a mistake. Victor had ordered the kidnapping of a nobleman who had won the bid for a spy from the Federation of Five Nations at Count d’Estuaire’s brothel, not the Emperor who came out in secret.

It was only two weeks ago that Victor Adelphe learned of Irene Spencer’s existence. Victor, who had been retracing their roots to find out the route through which the spies of the Federation of the Five Nations seeped into the capital, finally found a clue at Vauzelle Port and tracked it down.

The clue he got was a simple rumor that a merchant along with a woman from Kamann had entered the port as a married couple but returned without the wife. He said that she ran away with another man, but Victor didn’t believe it. What made it suspicious was that while the merchant’s wife was called to be a rare beauty, enough to be rumored to have fled, the merchant had returned home in a hurry without even looking for her much. 

He was quick to give up, even if one were to consider that he was ashamed of other people’s attention. Regardless of whether he loved her or not, men didn’t easily give up on beautiful women. Even more so if the merchant was an overweight and ugly fellow who gained a beautiful wife as somewhat of compensation.

He followed the trail of Irene Spencer, who disappeared from Vauzelle Port. Fortunately, her outstanding beauty always caught the eye of someone. She moved by changing her identity several times, but Victor did not lose track of her and was eventually able to find out that her whereabouts were connected to Count d’Estuaire’s brothel.

Irene Spencer – no, now Helena Nartier – was Victor’s only harvest in months since he started pursuing the Federation of Five Nations. After being reprimanded by the Emperor, he was uncharacteristically impatient, and even more anxious after failing to win the bid despite offering an amount that was well above a courtesan’s average ransom.

“I apologize. I have nothing to say to Your Majesty.” 

But no matter what the circumstances, there was no excuse. In addition to failing to chase the spies of the Federation of the Five Nations, he even committed such disrespect to His Majesty for a mistake he made in the middle of it. If he hadn’t heard from his subordinates that the abductees called each other ‘Sir Gersen’ and ‘Muiel’, it might have reached a point where it would have been difficult to dismiss this incident as a simple mistake. Fortunately, he figured out the pseudonym the Emperor was using before it was too late, otherwise… Victor did not even dare to imagine the aftermath that would follow.

Gersen was the last name of the Emperor, a nickname the Empress Mother liked to call, and Muiel was the name of the Emperor’s most beloved hunting hawk. As a child, the Emperor loved Muiel so deeply that he put it to sleep in his own bed, and Victor, who had spent his childhood with the Emperor, was well aware of that fact.

“We are not asking for such an apology, Victor. Just because you’re Our milk brother, it doesn’t excuse you from everything. If you hadn’t been Rachel’s only child, We would have struck your neck today.”

That man is the Emperor’s milk brother? Eugène knew that Baron Bouilhet, a primary court attendant part of the royal guards, was the Emperor’s milk brother, and raised his eyebrows at this unexpected remark. However, after careful thought, if the other person was the Emperor, it was likely that there would not only be aristocratic milk siblings but also commoner milk siblings. 

When a child is born in the imperial family, a noble lady is usually taken as a nanny, but that did not mean that the noblewomen were the ones who directly breastfeed. They were primarily responsible for supervising the commoner nannies, who were the ones doing the actual breastfeeding.

If Victor Adelphe was the Emperor’s milk brother, his mother was most likely the commoner nanny. It was evident just by seeing the Emperor call her name so intimately.

“Perhaps this is what you wanted. Be grateful to Sir Eugène. If all Our achievement tonight was your unexpected incompetence, We wouldn’t have dealt with you as mildly as We’re doing right now.”

The Emperor took out a small folded note from his pocket and threw it over Victor’s lap. Viktor, frozen upright, looked up at the Emperor in astonishment. The Emperor wore the hat he had put down on the seat next to the bed and passed by him indifferently. 

Due to the comradeship situation of serving the same master, sympathizing as they were in the same miserable state, Eugène could not turn away from Victor and gently put his hand on his hat to greet him and followed the Emperor.

Victor, embarrassed, remained sat blankly on the spot, unable to see the Emperor off, and carefully opened the note on his lap only after the two left the room.

There was written one of his many pseudonyms and the address of the safe house registered under that name. Only then did Victor realize what His Majesty meant by this note, and bit his lip in shame.

<To be continued in Volume 2> 

T/N: uwaah~ thank you so much for keeping up with this novel so far and for all your lovely comments!! they literally make my day >< hope you all stay till the end ;] have a good day! p.s. if there’s anything that didn’t make sense to you or you couldn’t understand in this volume, then please feel free to ask. the same goes for the rest of the future volumes (ofc once each of them ends… to avoid spoilers).