Chapter 62

After all, Eckart finally announced the decision in a low voice. Even before the marquise refuted him again, he called Grand Duke Christopher standing at a distance.

“Hey, let me ride a horse with Marianne. Let 20 knights including Curtis follow me and you take care of the rest of the procession, Grand Duke Christopher!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“They should follow me at least ten steps away from my horse.”

“You bet. Please wait a minute as I have to send the advance party to check out the road conditions ahead.”

Eckart nodded. Grand Duke Christopher quickly left to call up the knights.

“I will never forget your efforts for me. Thank you.”

Marianne appreciated their help at the right time. Although she felt Mrs. Chester’s sharp look, she took the pains to smile, pretending not to notice it. As there were no more excuses, everyone went back to their places.

The procession that stopped because of the accident waited for a while before leaving again. Twenty white horses each carrying a knight were ahead of the rider with an imperial flag.

The scenic beauty of the sun setting in the mountain ridges was superb. The splendor of the setting sun fell through the dense tree trunks. The smell of grass and the fragrance of wildflowers carried by the evening breeze was everywhere. Even the hoofbeats sounded like the cheerful beat of percussion instruments.

“It’s so different from what I saw inside the wagon. How pretty!”

Marianne admired the landscape unfolding before her eyes. As if she had forgotten the accident a little while ago, admiration filled her face.

“Let’s move by wagon tomorrow. The roads will be tougher,” Eckart said, reining in the horse tightly once more. He was supporting her back with one arm, who was seated on the horse slantedly. Her flowy long dress covered not only the horse’s saddle but more than half its body. At a distance, the horse seemed to be wearing a red lace.

“Will do. I’m sorry for what happened a moment ago. I didn’t want to lose favor with anybody. In the end, I think I caused trouble for you.”

Eckhart looked down at her, feeling her warmth. After a brief hesitation, he brought up a different topic.

“… Weren’t you really hurt?”

“Nope. As you can see, I’m very fine.”

“Don’t loosen up for the rest of your journey. Although the Eluang Knights will always be by your side, they will find it more difficult to escort you than inside the Imperial Palace. That’s why the enemy is targeting you.”

“Do you think somebody has secretly instigated Barton to do that?”

Marianne turned her head to look up at Eckart’s eyes. He looked at her with hIs blue and cold gaze.

“I have no doubt that there is somebody behind this trick, regardless of whether it was his evil act or someone else’s behind the scenes…”

“Why were you trying to kill Barton when you were not sure then?”

“Because I didn’t want to have you hurt twice.”

It was a decisive and heavy answer. She tightened her grip on the saddle.

“I know if Barton was really serious about killing you, he wouldn’t have stopped there. But that can’t prove his complete innocence. Should I still forgive his carelessness?”

“Who knows? Someone else might be the real culprit, right?”

“I couldn’t find the true criminal in that place anyway. If I found the real criminal, I would have to kill Barton. Even the true criminal might be a man of the lowest class, instigated by someone else. The harsher the punishment, the greater the pressure he will feel. ”

“…”

“Everyone is afraid of death. So, they prefer the less dangerous side.”

What he meant was that if Barton was a true criminal, he would receive the due punishment; otherwise, he wanted to instill fear into the true criminal to stop him from committing further evil.

Marianne understood his point. But she did not want to regard someone’s life as the natural weapon in fighting.

“What if it was just an accident?”

“Marianne, This is different from the snake accident at the ball. No matter how tough the roads are, it can’t be coincidence that the wheels of a normal wagon are falling off without any damage to the shaft. In other words, it couldn’t happen unless someone planned it in advance.”

At that moment, Eckhart recalled the shape of the broken wheels of her wagon.

The wagon she got in was almost new. It never drove long miles enough for the shaft to be worn out and broken. And the shape of the shaft showed that it was not broken due to any outside force or shock. Its overly clean circular axis added to the speculation that someone might have artificially tightened it loosely.

“Let me save Barton’s life in response to your request. If he doesn’t meet Chester or Hubble after returning to the capital, he will be safe for the next three years. I can promise that.”

This meant that he didn’t forgive Barton completely.

“Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty.”

As his suspicion was reasonable and justified, she nodded at that point.

She was still more inclined to believe that Barton was not the true criminal. If he was, as Eckart said, it would be impossible to save his life. She already made a big concession by leaving Eve in the mansion.

When they were done talking businesslike, silence fell again between the two.

Marianne was lost in idle thoughts, looking afar. The scenery was still beautiful but not as attractive as before. Instead, she was troubled by complex political stuff messed up in her head.

‘Was it really Barton? If not Barton, who would it be? Mrs. Chester? Duke Hubble? Ober? If they intend to harm me, can they also target my father? I left Iric behind because I was worried about my father’s safety, but…”

All sorts of assumptions and speculations dominated her thinking.

She twisted her hair with her fingertips like a habit and suddenly realized she was leaning on his chest.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was…”

She erected her body and stiffened like firewood. As she suddenly raised her upper body, she slightly staggered. When she hurriedly looked for the saddle with her hand, she found a much larger hand rested on the back of her hand.

“Marianne.”

It was a low and cool voice as usual. She could recognize that voice even among the crowds. “You don’t have to say sorry.”

His other hand holding the bridle pulled her head lightly. Her tortuous chocolate hair again scattered on the chest of his dark red robe. The tip of his straight jaw pressed on the top of her crown gently as if he had set up a trap to stop her from running away.

“You are a woman who doesn’t have to apologize to me for this kind of stuff.”

She slowly blinked her big green eyes again.

His heart was beating like crazy in her ears, so much so that her head felt like spinning. She was not sure if the beating was coming from his chest or her own heart was beating with thrill.

“Why don’t I have to apologize?”

She didn’t intend to ask that question, which popped out as if the flower buds came out.

“Why do you think I’m not the type of woman who doesn’t have to apologize to you?”

But he didn’t reply.

She stopped leaning on him and erected her upper body. She looked at him with an expression mixed with anxiety and hope in her eyes. His face, on which the sunset was shining, was a mixture of reddish light and infinite dark shades.

“That’s because…”

Only then did Eckhart realize what he said to her.

In Aslan mythology, which he read as a child, the glow of the setting sunset was the hem of Astrid, the goddess of deception. Of course, young Eckart did not believe it. He just guessed that the sunset might be brilliant like that. Even though he was wet behind the ears, he also thought it was something like an exaggeration to promote the nobleness of divinity. But now, he rather hoped that the glow of the setting sun would really be Astrid’s hem. Otherwise, there was no excuse for justifying his actions. As if he was bewitched by the goddess’s beauty, he revealed his inner thinking. He was rarely embarrassed. He couldn’t afford to reflect on why he did this stupid thing. He had a hard time answering what he had to answer right now. Though he didn’t show any noticeable expression, he fumbled because he couldn’t hide his embarrassment.

“…Is it because I’m your important hostage?”

But she interpreted his ambiguous actions quite differently.

“Is it because you want to show the people here that we are in love? Is it because you don’t want to pay attention to this kind of trifling stuff because we have to attract their attention to our love affairs in the days ahead?”

The more she said, the more emotional she was. Fortunately, Eckart tightened his left hand on which she was leaning on. The bones of the swollen back of his hand and the dark blue veins became clear as if they had been ripped out of the skin.