Chapter 46
46. Precarious (2)
Liene found herself alone with Black in the bedroom, where a strange current of air made it harder to breathe with each inhale.
“……Thank you for your concern. I’m fine now, so please go and attend to your business.”
“Would the Princess do that if she were you?”
“…….”
Black took Liene’s silent, closed-lipped expression as an answer.
“Lie down. I’ll keep watch by your side.”
With those words, Black dragged a chair from in front of the fireplace and sat down next to the bed.
“…….”
Liene sat on the bed, fidgeting with the edge of the blanket. In truth, she could have insisted more, regardless of whether it aroused suspicion. I have a lot of work to do, and there are more pressing matters than the baby in my womb. You have no right to do this to me. Is it normal to use concern as an excuse to watch someone? You may be engaged to me, but I am the ruler here. I am the one wearing the crown. But Liene couldn’t bring herself to say those things. Because the concern seemed genuine. That man… he didn’t suspect anything. Not even once. If someone saw a bloodied sheet, wouldn’t they usually suspect menstruation and question it? Black believed that the problem was with the baby. That fact confused Liene greatly. How can he do that? I suspect everything, every moment. I can’t keep my mind on even the smallest things. How can that man be like that?
“……Is it difficult for you to talk to me about the child?”
Black asked abruptly, watching Liene, who was holding the blanket and growing increasingly somber.
“……Pardon?”
“Are you worried that I’ll be constantly conscious of the child’s real father? Is that why you couldn’t even say you were in pain?”
“That’s… …perhaps.”
“That’s unnecessary. It’s my child.”
“…….”
This was suspicious. Why? If you had a child, I would be on edge about everything.
“We both know that’s not true. It can’t be.”
Her reply was sharp.
“You can’t sincerely… …it can’t be. Because we’re human.”
“I’ve decided to do so, and I’m trying.”
“Is that something that can be done just by trying?”
It’s not. Your own flesh and blood died, didn’t they? Is that something that can be forgotten just because time has passed? You haven’t forgotten that you were betrothed to me when you were a child, which you don’t even remember. So how can you forget a death?
“No one is that magnanimous. …I can’t believe it.”
“It’s not exactly an act of magnanimity.”
“Then what is it?”
“Because it seems like that’s the only way you’ll accept me. Without resentment or hatred.”
“…….”
“What can I do to make you believe me?”
Saying it like that is why I can’t believe it. Saying such righteous things, as if you’ve stepped out of a book. Things like that don’t exist in this world. They never have in the world I live in.
“Does that mean you’ll do anything?”
“……If that’s what it takes to make the Princess believe me.”
It was such a blindly devoted statement that it was hard to believe Black had said it. He was a predator everywhere else. An existence that had no reason to be blindly devoted. But why was he being blindly devoted to her? It doesn’t make sense.
“In return, the Princess must also offer me something.”
“What… …is it?”
“A promise. A resolve. Anything. Something like a vow to make the child in your womb my child, no matter what.”
“…….”
“Can you do it?”
“First, show me.”
Liene finally let go of the blanket and faced Black.
“Show me that you’ll do anything.”
“What do you want?”
“I heard that Fermos took in an old man begging in front of the temple. I want to meet that old man.”
Black frowned briefly before answering.
“Isn’t that completely unrelated to the child?”
“No. It’s related.”
It was very related.
“I need to hear what others have to say about the man who claims he will be the father of my child.”
“…….”
Black finally understood why Liene said she couldn’t trust him.
“It seems the Princess’s mind has returned to the time before I announced our engagement. Back to when you suspected my identity and intentions.”
Liene couldn’t bring herself to deny it.
“Very well. I will do as you wish. However,”
Black’s lips twisted into a wry smile. The sight of his white teeth was like a blade carving into her heart.
“The Princess can never break her promise again.”
Black relentlessly followed Liene’s gaze until she finally nodded. * * * She couldn’t just lie down all day. Liene stayed in the bedroom, forcing herself to wait until the medicine Black had mentioned arrived. She swallowed the medicine Madam Flamvard gave her in one gulp and headed to her office. The medicine was extremely bitter, so much so that she thought it would startle the baby even more. Still, Fermos had meticulously checked the ingredients in the medicine and assured her it was safe.
“It must be somewhere.”
What Liene was looking for were the royal records from 20 years ago.
“Father held his coronation 21 years ago. So, what happened to that man must have occurred when Father was King.”
If there had been talk of an engagement, it must have been a fairly prominent family. Liene scanned through the families who had attended the coronation.
“He said it started with ‘F’……”
Among the thirteen families invited to the coronation, none had that consonant. Her arms ached from rummaging through the heavy royal records, which were thickly covered in dust.
“Could the engagement itself be a lie?”
Liene stared at the unchanging letters, no matter how much she looked, and bit her lip.
“No, Madam Flambard might have been mistaken. It might be among these.”
Liene carefully examined the thirteen families. Six of them were the great Nauk nobles who had created the Lisebery Treaty. Three others had either died out or lost their former glory over time, and the remaining four families had left Nauk one by one over the past 20 years.
“None of the timelines match.”
None of the families who had left Nauk matched what Black had said. She felt dizzy from eating dust and examining the old letters for so long.
“Maybe the timeline is wrong.”
Unless Black had made it all up, he might not have given the exact timeline. Usually, when talking about a long period of 20 years, people didn’t specify the exact year.
“It might have been a little before 20 years ago.”
Liene began to search for records from before the coronation.
“……What is this?”
And she discovered something very strange. The records from before the coronation, that is, from 25 to 21 years ago, were missing.
“What on earth is going on?”
Incredibly, there were obvious traces of that part having been cut out with a knife. It was already outrageous that someone had tampered with the royal records, but the fact that the exact part she needed to know was missing was extremely suspicious.
“Could it be…….”
There was one person she couldn’t help but suspect.
“Fermos…….”
He had been hiding in the office, even though she had never granted him permission to enter. No one knew how often he had been coming and going before that.
“Did that man order him to?”
Could there be something about Black in the missing five years of records? So he had anticipated that she would look for them someday and had them removed in advance?
“What, then… …I should be suspicious, shouldn’t I?”
The hand she had placed on the missing pages trembled.
“That man is strange.”
Thud! Liene put down the records and stood up. There was no point in looking for the missing records; they wouldn’t appear.
“I should search his room, at least.”
If Fermos was the culprit, there were two possibilities: he had either destroyed them or hidden them. She decided to leave the outcome to chance. If she was lucky, he would have hidden them without destroying them yet. Liene got up and headed somewhere. Across from Madam’s bedroom was the room she had used as a child. Now, Fermos was said to be using that room as his office. * * * Thud! The door wasn’t locked. If it had been locked, Liene would have gladly broken it down. She had no intention of searching secretly from the start. The royal records were the property of the royal family, and naturally, no unauthorized person could possess or damage them. This time, she intended to hold him accountable. She had no intention of considering his status, but what Fermos had done was disloyalty and an insult to the royal family.
“Oh…? Princess? What brings you here?”
But Liene hadn't expected Fermos to be in this room at this hour. Liene, who was almost flustered, quickly composed herself and said,
“I came to ask something.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“……That shouldn’t be important.”
“Oh, um……. Well, yes, it’s not. I was just a little surprised. By the way, shouldn’t you be lying down, Princess? I don’t think my Lord would be happy to see you wandering around like this.”
“I’ll get straight to the point.”
Liene cut off the unnecessary conversation.
“What did you do with the royal records you stole?”
“……Pardon?”
Fermos widened his eyes and raised his monocle.
“What did you say I did?”
“I don’t want to make this long. If you have them, hand them over. It won’t erase your crime, but it will lighten it a little.”
“So, what are you talking about? Royal records? What records, why would I, when would I have taken them?”
“……. Are you trying to deny it like that?”
“Absolutely not! No, why would I take the royal records? I could just look at them and memorize them.”
Fermos, jumping up and down, looked genuinely wronged. His face clearly showed that he knew nothing.
……No, still, you never know. This guy is so brazen. Who knows if he’s good at lying.
“It must have been because you didn’t want me to see them.”
“Hmm? Are you saying there are records that you haven’t seen yet, Princess?”
“…….”
She was speechless at that question.
“It’s understandable that you suspect me. But I swear to the God of War, I have never touched the royal records.”
When Liene looked unconvinced, Fermos held out his hands with a harmless expression.
“Do you know who the God of War is in Tiwakan?”
“……No.”
“Lord Tiwakan.”
“I see. Why is that…….”
“Swearing to the God of War is like swearing in my Lord's name. There isn’t a single person in Tiwakan who would use my Lord's name carelessly.”
“…….”
Fermos’s face was so full of conviction and pride as he said those words that she couldn’t help but believe him. Even a mercenary who made a living from war, no, especially such a mercenary, desperately needed faith. Belief was the only thing that made a life with nothing but death and money human. For Tiwakan, that was Black.
“……Since you say so, I won’t force my suspicion any further. I hope those words are true. For the sake of your leader’s name.”
“The one thing I would never do in my life is to tarnish my Lord's name. A man like that doesn’t deserve to be called a Tiwakan.”
……Okay. I understand that. Liene quietly swallowed a sigh. Then who on earth did this?
“Are you planning to find the culprit?”
Fermos asked, seeing the worry clearly on her face.
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll help. It just so happens that you gave me a clue about the Cardinal's killer, so I have some free time for once.”
“Would you?”
“Yes. But there’s a condition.”
……My Lord or his subordinate. They all tried to get something in return for giving something. She couldn’t help but believe they were all in it together.
“What is it?”
“Go back to your bedroom. And lie still. My Lord said he wanted to see the old man who knows the whereabouts of Jongje? He ordered me to bring him to the castle now, so I’ll let you know when he arrives. Until then, you should get some rest.”
He was trying to get something. Something better for Liene, who had to give it, than for those who were trying to receive it.
“It’s not that hard for me.”
“I’m not doing this for you, Princess, but for my Lord. If you want me to be of help, you must do as I say. If something were to happen to you…… Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it. Anyway, please keep in mind that the result will be very bad.”
“…….”
What Fermos said felt like a blow to somewhere inside her. For that man, he said. That sounded like that man was so worried about her. Why was that man going so far?
“Will it be enough if I say I’ll try?”
“No. It won’t do. You must lie still.”
“Then promise me. That you will definitely find the culprit. The real culprit. I swear to the God of War.”
Fermos might put forward a fake culprit for the sake of his Lord. She couldn’t rule that out. Fermos readily raised his hand and swore.
“If that’s the only way you’ll lie down, then gladly.”
“……Thank you.”
That made it even harder to understand. Could people with other motives act like that?
“Please go back now. I’ll only move once you’re back in your bedroom. Have you taken all your medicine?”
In the end, Liene returned to her bedroom, escorted by Fermos. Fermos even went so far as to place a mercenary to guard Liene’s door.
