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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Smoke and Secrets
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But Eric continued as if he had no intention of listening to my answer anyway.
“If this man hadn’t passed out, you would have been arrested by the Royal Knights, Imeline Wedgwood.”
Eric picked up the glass slipper lying next to the man on the floor. He then strode over and knelt before me. I cleared my throat, a fresh blush creeping up my face.
*Is he really… kneeling before me to put on my shoe…?*
“Put it on.”
“Ah, yes.”
Eric placed the glass slipper in front of me and stood up.
He watched me put on the shoe with a weary expression. The moment I was done, Eric began to interrogate me.
“Why on earth did you come here? Did you follow this scoundrel of a marquis’s son knowing what’s up there?”
“You know him?”
I gestured to the man sprawled at the bottom of the stairs. Eric nodded.
“He’s the one who was making a scene on the first floor earlier.”
“The first floor…? So he didn’t come from the princess’s room…?”
Eric furrowed his brow.
“The princess’s room?”
Only then did I realize this man hadn't come from the princess's room, but from the dining hall via the stairs. Then who was the man I saw leaving her room earlier?
I thought hard, looking back and forth between the man and Eric. A simple jacket. Unadorned attire.
Realizing the man leaving the princess’s room was dressed exactly like Eric, I narrowed my eyes.
“You came out of the princess’s room, didn’t you? I’m right, aren’t I?”
Eric took a step back, seemingly flustered by my accusation.
“Be quiet.”
Then he spoke with irritation, as if annoyed at himself for retreating.
I, too, shook my head and stepped back.
Wow, he acts all prim and proper, but he was fooling around with that flirtatious princess? I glared at Eric, dumbfounded.
My anger quickly shifted to the man on the floor. I walked over to him.
“Damn it, now I’m pissed. Hey, you. You weren’t even the princess’s man?”
Fueled by my anger, I prodded the man’s cheek with the tip of my shoe. But the man, who seemed to be out cold, didn’t stir.
*Is he dead?*
Seeing what I was doing, Eric stepped in my way.
“What do you think you’re doing? You came up here without even knowing what’s at the top of these stairs?”
“Oh, I know. A room closed off on all sides, with a soft bed…”
I muttered, looking up the stairs where Eric was pointing. At my words, his cheeks and ears began to turn red. He mumbled.
“Why does everyone come to a place like this, knowing full well…”
*What’s with him? He came here too, so he must have known…*
My mind automatically filled with images of the secret rendezvous the princess and Eric must have shared. At the same time, a dangerous plan began to form.
*A huge scene to ruin the wedding…*
Come to think of it… I did come here today to jump the princess’s man…
I sized Eric up from head to toe, as if admiring a delicious meal. For starters, he’s tall. Broad shoulders. And his personality…
Eric suddenly yelled.
“You knew that and still came here, just three days before your mother’s wedding? How much more trouble do you have to cause to be satisfied? You seemed to care so much for your mother. Was that all an act?”
I scowled at his outburst.
*His personality is the absolute worst!*
I mean, who is he to talk? He’s here too, just three days before his own father’s wedding. The hypocrisy was astounding.
While I was stammering in disbelief, Eric grabbed me and started pulling me away. It seemed he thought we needed to flee the scene of the crime.
“What do you think will happen on your mother’s wedding day when news breaks that her daughter was arrested by the Royal Knights after promiscuously carousing at the Rose that Blooms at Night and nearly stabbing a nobleman? Have you even considered that?”
Listening to his lecture, I finally snapped. I shook off his hand and yelled back at him.
“Fine! That’s just great! I was already planning on making a scene at my mother’s wedding anyway…!”
The moment I wrenched my arm free, I slipped on the stairs.
Eric reached out to catch me. His arm wrapped around my waist, but he was a fraction of a second too late, and both our bodies bent at a spectacular angle.
Our faces were so close I could feel his breath on my skin.
I looked at Eric’s handsome face and thought.
*Maybe his personality doesn’t matter that much…*
It was then.
Something slipped out from inside Eric’s jacket as he leaned over.
*Thud.*
It fell to the floor, landing in my line of sight.
A document envelope.
*That’s…*
It felt like my heart was pounding in my ears.
It was a familiar envelope.
An envelope I had definitely seen before!
Ignoring the fact that I was about to fall, I reached for the envelope. This made Eric tighten his grip on my waist, which paradoxically made it impossible for him to stop me from snatching it.
As I grabbed the document and scrambled away, Eric spoke firmly.
“Give that here.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
Eric reached out with his long arm, but I moved further up the stairs. He looked like he couldn’t even be bothered to chase me.
At the bend in the staircase, a large candle was burning brightly. It was a massive candle, as if symbolizing the burning passions of the nobles at the Rose that Blooms at Night.
From the bottom of the stairs, Eric said through gritted teeth.
“Do you even know what that is…”
“I do. I know what this is.”
I pointed at the envelope.
My eyes were already fixed on it.
Eric must have sensed something unusual in my gaze, because he abandoned all pretense of decorum and started up the stairs.
“Miss Imeline Wedgwood. I think you’re mistaken about something. That document is something you’ll never have reason to see in your entire life…”
Eric tried to placate me as if I were a clueless child. It was because I was moving the envelope closer and closer to the candle flame.
“You don’t like playing with fire, do you?”
“…But I do.”
Without another word, I pulled the document from the envelope and held it to the flame.
Eric lunged for me, but it was too late.
Acrid smoke filled the hallway.
“What are you doing, Imeline!”
*‘Imeline! Get up. Take this document, go out the back door, and run to the nearest police station.’*
My mother’s pale face. Me, running outside with all the jewelry I could carry. The sound of a gunshot that followed…
And the translucent letters that had appeared inside the envelope when I opened it.
Even in my dreams, and after waking from them, I knew why those letters were translucent.
I had learned about secret ink back when I was captured by loan sharks and forced to manage their ledgers.
If you treat ordinary paper with a special solution, write on it with secret ink, and let it dry, the writing vanishes without a trace.
But when exposed to high temperatures, the writing reacts and reappears in a translucent state.
Once revealed, the writing cannot be erased until it comes into contact with water. That was the secret of the document containing the Duke’s misdeeds.
Covering my mouth, I held up the document for Eric to see. As he read the translucent letters that had appeared, he froze.
I found one of the clearest names illuminated by the candlelight and read it aloud.
Robert von Dennique…
“Twenty million gold.”
Seeing the ledger clearly stamped with Robert’s seal, I gave a bitter smile.
I found it.
The evidence that Duke Orleans was plotting treason with Robert.
That was it.
The document I had seen in my dream contained proof that Orleans was conspiring with the prince second in line to the throne. For their treason, they absolutely needed the coastal land left behind by Viscount Wedgwood.
Eric, who had been staring at the document in confusion, saw my smile and snatched it from my hand.
I watched him take the document, slowly lowering the hand that had been covering my mouth. It seemed I would be fine now.
“What is this… How did you do that?”
“It’s a common trick southern loan sharks use when making double-entry ledgers.”
“…A double-entry… ledger?”
He clutched his forehead, his eyes hazy. A vein throbbed at his temple.
I watched him calmly and crossed my arms. At this point, there was only one thing I was curious about.
“Why would that man… steal this?”
Hearing my voice, Eric leaned against the wall for support. It seemed he didn’t even have the strength to comment on my insolent tone.
*‘How many times have I told you to cover your nose and mouth when heating secret ink, Imeline! If you don’t, you’ll pass out. Unless you’re some legendary Aura Knight, that is!’*
Eric’s body slowly began to slump. So he wasn’t an Aura Knight after all?
Still, he lasted a while. A normal man would have already—
*Thump.*
I shrugged as Eric collapsed to his knees before me.
*This is how he should have collapsed.*
He glared up at me with the expression of a hero falling in defeat, staring down the villain. His bloodshot eyes were redder than usual.
“Just what… kind of woman are you… Imeline Wedgwood… You… you…”
I crouched in front of him and lifted his chin with my finger as he panted for breath.
“Just get some sleep. It’ll be better for you.”
“…This crazy woman…”
*Thud.*
The next moment, Eric’s head fell limply into my arms.
