Chapter 31

“Well, I hope you are not a cheater,” Eckart said.

“Of course I’m not a cheater to you. And I’m going to do the same to Ober.”

It was a decisive and puzzling answer.

Eckart was amazed at her forthcoming attitude and innocent face. He felt it every time he met her, but she was a woman who was literally unpredictable.

“Do you think Ober believed everything you said?”

“I do not know. Maybe not everything, I think. He is pretty much suspicious.”

“He actually is, and I think he is better at deceiving people than you.”

“But privately he said he would contact me separately. If he hadn’t believed what I said, he wouldn’t have sent me back like this.”

She couldn’t read Ober’s intention thoroughly, but she knew one thing more accurately than anyone else.

Be it his genuine heart or not, he was not the type of person who kept anything unnecessary in his hands.

“He needs me too,” she said, slightly elated. Ober was a traitor, according to her. He was a betrayer who deserted his lover.

“Anyway, though you find it inconvenient, I hope we can meet secretly like this for the time being. Maybe he put his moles in the mansion, too. Being careful pays off anyway,” she said,

as if to tease him further.

“Meeting you like this every time?” he asked back in embarrassment.

In fact, today the emperor was also wearing a black robe from head to toe like he did on the day he first met her first. As he hid himself completely with a black robe, he could disappear right away in the shade of the garden any time.

“Well, I hope we can meet in an official setting to wrap up this whole deal, but that’s impossible.

Don’t you think you will feel much more comfortable if you disguise yourself to meet me rather than me disguising myself and entering the palace?”

“… ”

There was nothing wrong with her remarks.

“I hope that isn’t the trick of your communicating with Ober more easily.”

At that point, she quickly changed her facial expression as if she ate rotten carrot stalks.

“Look. Don’t you know what I did to deceive that bastard?”

She gently pulled her red lower lip with her white fingers. Though the surroundings weren’t very bright, she came closer to the emperor in a fit of anger.

This allowed Eckart to take a glimpse of the wounds on her lips.

“I bit my lip as hard as I could because I could’ve been caught if I had shed crocodile tears.”

“…”

“It really hurt. I still feel pain on my lips. It really hurts even when I drink water.”

Marian pouted a sullen face.

“Got it. I believe you.”

“I know you won’t believe me even though you say that.”

She finally asked the question that she wanted to ask.

“By the way, if I want to contact you suddenly, is there any other way for me to contact you without going through Mrs. Charlotte?”

“Do you need another method to contact me?”

“Well, I think so. I just wonder what I should do if something happens so urgently that I can’t wait, or if I have something that I want to let you know without letting others know.”

“Hmmmm…”

Eckart was lost in thought for a moment and then leaned in slightly.

The moonlight made the contrast of his face even more pronounced along its curvature. His face was more handsome than the statue by a famous sculptor in Faisal, which she saw in Lennox’s salon one day.

“Let me see if I can find another communication method.”

“Really? Thank you.”

She came to her senses after she was dumbfounded for a moment.

“By the way, this garden is called Crescent Garden. Is that right?”

“Yes, it is.”

Eckart felt strange when she suddenly changed the topic, but she looked around lightly, not caring at all about his reaction. As she felt like she carried out her plan to some extent, she could now enjoy watching the scenery around her.

In the distance, a tiny crescent was hung between the tiny ranges of Nate Mountain. Mrs. Charlotte said there would be no better place in the capital than here to see the crescent moon rise in the western sky. It’s perfect for watching the sunset or enjoying the early morning glow. Marianne looked a little sentimental and looked at Eckart. He was smiling again.

“Beautiful. I like it here. So, would you come here to meet me again?”

She asked shamelessly, but she didn’t feel nervous at all about being rejected.

“…Yes,” Eckart barely answered in the positive, to her surprise.

***

A wagon parked in the shadow of the mansion drove along a remote path through the northern gate into the Imperial Palace. Though it was closed door without any security guards near it, it was actually a door used secretly when the emperor went out.

The horseman pulled over the wagon under a willow in the quiet back garden of the palace, and opened the door. Eckarte got out of the wagon with his black robe. Only after he went farther away did the little carriage return to where it was.

Eckart walked, muffling his footsteps. Deputy Chamberlain Kloud was waiting to greet him.

“Welcome, Your Majesty.”

Eckart took off the black robe and gave it to him. Kloud escorted the emperor to the closed post. When he opened the wooden door covered with vines, a dark staircase appeared. Kloud lit a portable oil lamp on the wall skillfully.

The two started to walk, holding the small lantern. The path that led straight down the stairs looked like a narrow cave because it was an old underground passageway. It was so narrow that only one adult male could barely pass through it. However, it was not a simple structure, and there were several forked roads on both sides of the road.

“It’s time they got here by now.”

Eckart opened his mouth first. Kloud checked the time.

“They arrived about three hours ago when we didn’t take into account the time they spent quarreling with the guards at the palace.”

“That sounds good. Let’s move right away.”

“Got it.”

They didn’t talk anymore after that. Only their walking footsteps were heard steadily.

Holding the lantern at the front, Kloud found the right road skillfully.

They walked like that for 10 minutes.

At the end of the road, a bookshelf suddenly appeared. Kloud turned off the lantern, placed it on a shelf on a nearby wall, and then fumbled for the invisible bookshelf and gently pushed its seventh compartment. Then the bookshelf turned around miraculously.

When they came out through the gap, they arrived at the emperor’s study.

Eckart left the study after checking out his clothes. He headed for the living room instead of the bedroom as usual. Kloud followed him.

“Announce that I’m here.”

“His Excellency has arrived!”

The chief chamberlain in front of the door announced in a clear voice. Eckart walked slowly through the wide door. Two men who were sitting at the golden table in the middle of the parlor stood up one by one. Both were familiar to him.

“May the glory of Airius be bestowed upon Your Majesty!”

One of them with a profound voice greeted the emperor politely.

“It’s been a while, Duke Wales.”

Eckart twisted his mouth and laughed.

Wales von Kling. He was Marianne’s father and the closest friend of his father and late emperor Cassius. When Eckart was a child, he vaguely remembered that he used to play, was wrapped in Kling’s arms, and he learned how to walk. When he was old enough to distinguish right from wrong, and he hardly saw Duke Kling face to face.

“We haven’t seen each other for a long time.”

“You’re very patient, Duke Kling. You offer me the same greeting every year, but you’re not sick and tired of it at all.”

Eckart didn’t laugh while answering. His remarks were a reprimand of the duke’s cowardly behavior who deserted the capital.

“I’m sorry, Your Excellency.”

Kling bowed more deeply. Actually, he had been stuck in his provincial territory for more than twenty years. It was only once a year that he came to the capital to attend the emperor’s birthday banquet. He rejected the position offered by the new emperor Eckart when he was inaugurated, so it was natural that he incurred Eckart’s wrath.

“Curtis.”

While sitting down at the head table, he called a name. Then a dark-haired man who stood next to Kling approached him.

He stood exactly two steps behind the emperor’s left shoulder as if it was his original place.

Eckart just waited for that man to stop there instead of him hugging to greet him.

“Since we’re going to have a long talk, sit down.”

Duke Kling sat down, looking at the empty seat next to him.

He didn’t think the emperor’s spies would not be operating in Lennox, but little did he expect that one of them was Astolf’s chief knight. If Curtis hadn’t come to tell him that “The emperor is protecting your daughter,” and if Curtis had not recommended him to come to the capital, he would have continued to trust the spy a good knight of Astolf and use him valuably.