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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Of Intruders and Cats
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I left the room holding an empty tray, pretending to be a maid on an errand.
The two knights standing guard in the hallway paid me no mind. They seemed engrossed in a card game.
They were the imperial knights Empress Cavalla had assigned along with the maids, and their duty was likely more to watch me than to protect me.
I passed them and went down the stairs.
It seemed the imperial knights weren’t trusted, as Calius’s own knights were standing guard on the floor just below.
Among them, I spotted a knight with familiar red hair and approached him.
I was wearing Lamia’s clothes with my head covered by a hood, but he recognized me instantly, his eyes widening in surprise.
“Your High—”
“Shh.”
I quickly put a finger to my lips, signaling him to be quiet.
“The imperial knights mustn’t know.”
I grabbed his sleeve and blindly pulled him down to the next landing.
Though I had calmed down significantly thanks to Lamia, my body was still trembling.
The red-haired knight asked in a low voice.
“What’s wrong? You’re trembling.”
“There’s a suspicious person.”
“What?”
“The servant who just came to my room! He has unusually shaped eyebrows, so you should be able to spot him easily.”
The red-haired knight looked bewildered.
“I’ve been standing on the landing the entire time, but no one besides the maids has gone up to Her Highness’s floor.”
“...!”
Stunned, I was at a loss for words. I stammered.
“Is—is there only one staircase to the upper floor? What about the window? He could have come through the window. Or maybe he was hiding in another room and then…”
“Aren’t the imperial knights on the upper floor? If there was anyone who seemed suspicious, wouldn’t they have stopped him?”
“Those are my guards, but I only met them for the first time today. I don’t trust them.”
I wasn’t even sure if they were truly imperial knights to begin with.
The red-haired knight looked confused by my words. He then narrowed his eyes, tilting his head in suspicion.
“Then where are your maids, Your Highness? Why have you come down alone?”
I flinched involuntarily at his distrustful gaze.
His face seemed to merge with the faces of all the others who had mocked me.
“They said she was mad.”
“Didn’t you hear? She’s lost her mind.”
“She keeps lying, as if she’s possessed.”
The laughter of those who whispered and mocked me.
The stares of those who feigned belief to my face, only to shrug and dismiss me the moment I turned my back.
The violence I had suffered at the hands of Viscount Felsus, dismissed as hallucinations, delusions, or outright lies.
All those memories weighed down on me.
‘He doesn’t believe me, either.’
A creeping sense of helplessness washed over me—the feeling that nothing I said would make a difference.
But.
‘If I let them disbelieve me, I’ll just be repeating the same miserable life I had before.’
I glared at the red-haired knight, my eyes wide with determination.
“Do you think I’m mad, too?”
My blunt question took him completely by surprise.
“What? N-no, that’s not what I meant…”
“Even if I were mad, I am here as the Marchioness Rodrian. As the Marquis’s knight, you have no right to dismiss my words.”
I commanded him firmly.
“Go to Marquis Rodrian at once and tell him what I said.”
“P-please, calm down. I’ll report this to the commander.”
That was the wrong answer.
I frowned and glared at him.
“If you don’t want to tell the Marquis, I’ll tell him myself. Where is he?”
Perhaps my intensity seemed rather fierce.
The red-haired knight, who had been trying to act so mature, looked like he was about to cry as he spoke.
“No, that’s not it! My lord hasn’t returned yet, so Bren… I mean, Viscount Criff went to find him. That’s why I was going to report to the commander first… I swear, I don’t think you’re mad, Your Highness…!”
“...!”
I was startled. It was the first time I’d ever seen a man—one much taller than me and clad in armor, no less—look like he was about to cry, no matter how young he seemed.
‘Did I misunderstand?’
Even standing in such a cold hallway, my face flushed.
Trying my best to appear unfazed, I said,
“W-we don’t have time for this. Marquis Rodrian could be in danger. Hurry and report this to your superior.”
* * *
Meanwhile.
Calius was outside the outer walls of Avene.
The blizzard that had begun at sunset was now raging fiercely.
The wind obscured his vision, making it hard to see more than a few feet ahead.
But Calius rode on, facing the blizzard as if it were nothing new.
The white horses of Ronheim, massive and resistant to the cold, pressed onward without complaint.
Reaching a deserted place, Calius dismounted with a calm expression, as if he were out for a stroll.
He reached for a sack tied to his saddle.
Just then, a long, drawn-out cry echoed through the air—a sound somewhere between the howling wind and a wailing child.
Yeeeeeowl!
Woooooo!
Calius let out a soft chuckle.
“To come all this way just to whine.”
He took something out of the sack.
It was a type of fish incredibly difficult to find in the northern cities, albeit a dried one.
“Here, a special treat.”
He tossed the dried fish into the distance.
At that, something flashed past the corner of his vision, obscured by the blizzard.
“I’d like to get you something fresh someday… but that would be a bit difficult.”
Muttering, Calius reached into the sack again and grabbed a few more dried fish in one hand.
As he was about to scatter them, he suddenly froze.
“...?”
Amid the howling wind, he heard a faint, discordant sound.
The sound of footsteps crunching in the snow.
The sound came from the direction he had just traveled.
‘Three? Or four?’
It was difficult to believe that a group of people gathering in such a remote place, at this late hour and in this foul weather, was a coincidence.
His expression hardened as he placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.
Yowl!
Mraaaaw!
The strange, wind-like cries from before now echoed all around Calius.
* * *
“My apologies for the late introduction. I am Hawick Blago. Alex has given me the gist of the situation. You saw someone suspicious?”
The red-haired knight, who had introduced himself as Alex, had hidden me in a safe room before fetching his commander.
The commander was a man with a rugged, honest face and hair cropped so short you could see his scalp.
‘Like a walking boulder.’
I wondered if that was what a golem—the legendary monster made of rock—would look like in human form.
Even his thick cloak couldn’t conceal the rugged contours of his muscles.
“Sir Hawick.”
I spoke calmly.
“I know who that man is. He’s extremely dangerous. I believe he’s been following us from the capital. Has Marquis Rodrian not returned yet?”
“Viscount Criff went to find him. He should be back soon.”
Whether it was because he was naturally stoic or because he failed to grasp the gravity of the situation, his expression remained impassive.
“Rest assured. My other men are searching for the man you described, both inside and outside the inn.”
I said forcefully.
“I heard Marquis Rodrian went out alone. He could be in danger. Where on earth did he go?”
Hawick furrowed his brow, looking uncomfortable.
“My lord is… with the cats.”
He stopped mid-sentence.
Thinking I must have misheard, I leaned forward slightly and asked,
“What did you just say, Sir Hawick?”
“Ahem.”
Hawick, unable to hide his discomfort, cleared his throat and reluctantly answered.
“My lord has gone to look after the cats.”
“The cats?”
“Yes, the snow cats.”
I hadn’t misheard.
Unable to believe it, I asked again.
“So, when you say cats… you are referring to the small, carnivorous animals I’m thinking of, correct?”
“Yes, that is correct. The small, carnivorous animals.”
I looked back and forth between Hawick and Alex.
‘Cats? Why would he suddenly go to look after cats? Where are they? What kind of cats? Did he have to go right now? What is this all about? Did he go to a friend’s house? Or are they wild cats?’
A thousand thoughts raced through my mind.
Oblivious to my bewilderment, or perhaps just ignoring it, Hawick and Alex remained both calm and serious.
The two men whispered to each other, occasionally glancing my way.
“The cats must have been starving while our lord was away, Commander.”
“That must be why he rushed to feed them.”
Alex glanced out the window.
“And the blizzard has to pick up now, of all times.”
“Mm.”
Hawick nodded.
‘What is this? Is this really the time for such a conversation?’
Dumbfounded, I was about to lose my temper with them when Hawick reassured me.
“Our lord will be safe. Please, do not worry.”
“Aren’t you going to send people to look for him?”
“Our lord’s orders were to prioritize your safety, Your Highness.”
The commander’s face showed no trace of concern for Calius as he spoke. Neither did Alex’s.
‘No matter how skilled Calius is with a sword.’
He had ordered his men to search, so it wasn’t as if Hawick was ignoring me.
‘Then why are they so calm…?’
