Chapter 53
Don't Die
The start of the territorial inspection, with coachman Mazarin, Eddie Lev's executive secretary, Sir Maxim, and five guards, was quite pleasant.
Klaud, dressed in full regalia, and Monica, who had put all their heart into dressing Yuan, were a beautiful pair, like something out of a painting.
The territorial inspection was a simple and tedious task of looking around Rockenhardt's farmlands, commercial districts, and residential areas, but it was also a time to drive the carriage emblazoned with Rockenhardt's insignia through large and small villages, making it clear that the Lord was present and looking after them.
Klaud sat with his arms crossed, watching Yuan, who was stuck to the window as if trying to bury her nose in it.
She had been like that ever since they entered Central Rockenhardt, after passing through the small villages.
"Is your eyesight bad?"
"It's my first time seeing the territory like this."
The woman's voice echoed in Klaud's ears, Lancelot's voice, boasting that she knew him better than Klaud did.
A bitter smile briefly touched Klaud's lips. To be so amazed by a small city that couldn't even compare to the capital.
"...But is it always this empty?"
"There must be something. It's the central city of Rockenhardt. You said you wanted to buy books, so I told you to go to the bookstore first. Sit still."
Klaud spoke, recalling the list Yuan had written down all evening yesterday of things she wanted to do when she went to the village.
At the very top of the paper, which was filled with over thirty items, was written:
<Purchase the latest collection of academic medical papers>
So that was what he intended to take care of first.
"We have arrived."
Sir Maxim knocked on the carriage door from outside.
Soon, the Deposed Emperor and his wife emerged from the carriage emblazoned with the Rockenhardt insignia. And their expressions hardened simultaneously.
"I told you to go to the bookstore."
"This is the bookstore."
The bookstore with the sign [Attic Bookstore] was in worse shape than an attic.
The small wooden door at the entrance was moldy in places, so much so that one wouldn't even want to touch it, and the interior visible through the glass window had more wrinkled, dried meat on display than books.
Klaud quietly examined Yuan.
Yuan, too, had been expecting a huge bookstore packed with books, so she was momentarily speechless, blankly watching a spider spinning its web in the corner.
Klaud's eyebrows twitched subtly.
"Isn't there a more proper bookstore?"
"I am sorry, Your Highness. The situation will be similar even if you go to another bookstore."
Executive Secretary Sir Maxim replied calmly, inwardly admiring Klaud's handsomeness under the bright sun.
This was the closest large city to the Black Manor, which could be said to be the headquarters of this territory.
Befitting the name Central Rockenhardt, this was a place where people didn't quite 'die' of starvation.
In order to make a living, people in the commercial district didn't specialize in selling just one item, but maintained their livelihoods by selling books and dried meat at the same time, like [Attic Bookstore].
These were things that were originally illegal in other territories, but were being allowed at the discretion of the Lev brothers.
Klaud fell silent as he saw the situation of the territory, which he had belatedly been briefed on, with his own eyes.
And the moment he met Yuan's worried eyes, he felt as if he had become the most useless person in the world.
"Um... Your Highness. You don't have to buy the book, so you can go to the next place."
Yuan whispered in a small voice, subtly tugging at his arm.
Klaud's gaze, which had sunk, swept across the streets of the commercial district, which were just beginning to show signs of spring, yet still had a desolate atmosphere.
"Let's walk a bit. What you're looking for is a book that every territory is obligated to have supplied by the Imperial Family, so it must be somewhere."
Klaud straightened his back and gestured with his chin to have Executive Secretary Sir Maxim and the guards step back. Then, he quietly grabbed Yuan's arm and pulled her along.
"Your Highness?"
Soon, the Deposed Emperor and his wife mingled among the people who were glancing at them furtively.
***
The more they looked around Central Rockenhardt, the more desolate and impoverished it seemed.
One had to be grateful that there were only a few people begging in the square; it was as desolate as the capital of a defeated nation after a war had swept through.
The old buildings were grand and ornate, but they were not maintained, covered in dust and cobwebs, and naturally incomparable to the ever-sparkling capital.
Reflecting the plight of people who were barely making ends meet, the cafes and restaurants with a good atmosphere that had tables set up outside were occupied by dried jerky or pickled foods that had not been sold in winter, waiting for their owners instead of customers.
Naturally, there was no one with the leisure to have a lazy afternoon tea.
The hands of the clock on the distant chapel clock tower were already pointing to 4 o'clock.
The restaurants, which should have been busy preparing for the evening, had been closed for a long time.
The store with a huge candy-shaped sign that would have made Yuan's eyes sparkle if it were open was firmly shut.
Now that spring was approaching, everyone must have flocked to the land they had been slowly cultivating with frozen hands all winter.
A sense of dismay slowly crossed Klaud's indifferent face, which had been as calm as a tranquil lake, like a small sailboat pushed in by the wind.
To make matters worse.
Unexpected dark clouds were rapidly gathering.
"It looks like it's going to rain."
Yuan said softly to Klaud, who seemed to be in a very low mood.
Klaud, too, had been watching the tide of dark clouds. In the distance, Sir Maxim gestured that he would prepare the carriage and quickly disappeared.
"That's a good sign. I heard that everyone has gone to plant crops, so rain is a good thing, right?"
A good sign, she says. Those were excessively thoughtless words coming from someone who hadn't even managed to do the first thing on the paper.
Klaud, looking at the faint smile on Yuan's lips, soon pulled her arm and moved towards the huge but old and shabby antique shop across the street.
Unexpected luck followed as soon as they entered the store named [Rockenhardt - Objet].
In accordance with this place's method of selling items that had nothing to do with the store's name, this antique shop also had more books than fancy antiques or unusual objects.
Yuan was unable to obtain the 'latest version' of the collection of academic papers she wanted, but fortunately, she was able to find a book that was not too many years old.
When Klaud handed over a gold coin with a dissatisfied expression, the hunched, short old man, who had been staring wide-eyed since their appearance, shook his head.
"How can I accept money from the Lord? It's nothing much, but please take it."
"It's alright."
"I have been able to live this long thanks to the grace of the late Emperor and Empress... I am just grateful. Prince Klaud, the treasure of Euphris."
The sound of the gold coin pouch that Butler Gustav had packed stopped jingling.
From within the old man's wrinkled hand, which had more wrinkled parts than smooth ones, a portrait of him as a child from the days when he was called that name suddenly appeared. It was something the old man had been cherishing in his arms.
"You have grown up just the same. Beautiful and dignified. You look just like Emperor Alexei in his youth."
Swish-.
The downpour brought by the dark clouds poured down outside. The more violent the sound of rain hitting the old windows, the deeper the silence became.
Yuan, who was hugging the dusty book, alternated between looking at the old woman with an affectionate gaze as if she were looking at her own grandson and the purple eyes that shimmered in rhythm with the falling raindrops.
"You have gained a virtuous and beautiful Princess, so may you always be happy."
The flickering voice, like a dying candle, permeated Yuan with a warm light.
The old woman was so frail that one would believe she could die sitting down if she closed her eyes, but her eyes sparkled with a vibrant light of pure reverence itself.
Yuan bowed in place of the frozen Klaud, and instead of the gold coins the old woman was refusing, she piled a bunch of dried meat and unknown fruits that she had bought from other stores on the counter, feeling awkward about leaving empty-handed.
"Come again. Prince, Princess."
The old woman gave her last greeting with a faint smile.
***
The couple could not leave the front of the huge antique shop and stood side by side under the roof.
Yuan sighed as she saw that her white dress, which had been styled like a young lady going on a picnic, had been soaked through as she had blankly stepped out from under the roof for a moment.
'Monica took the time to style me, and it's all soaked.'
She glanced up at Klaud, who seemed to have been downcast since earlier, but their eyes met.
Klaud's eyes, which had lowered his gaze to her wet clothes instead of her eyes, darkened.
Klaud, who had been slowly scanning the old book in his hand, the white sleeves with their intricate lace and pearl buttons, and the clothes that had been soaked by the rain and revealed her skin, paused and suddenly raised his head towards the rainy sky.
'Is it that unsightly?'
Her hair and clothes, which had been decorated in various ways, must be a mess.
He always seemed to disapprove of her appearance, so it would be no different now.
Yuan, who had taken a step to try to reflect her appearance a little more in the glass of the closed tailor shop across the street, was helplessly pulled in front of Klaud by the force that had suddenly pulled her towards him.
"Wait here until the carriage comes. And don't wander around anywhere on your own again."
Soon after, a very warm warmth touched her back.
He untied the clasp of the cloak he was wearing, put her in his arms, and closed the front of the cloak.
In the end, they were both wearing one cloak.
Yuan was blankly immersed in his arms, turning her eyes to gauge his intentions through the falling raindrops.
"...Your Highness?"
"Tell the tailor not to make any more white clothes."
"Do you not like this dress? Is it strange?"
Yuan asked a little sullenly, but Klaud did not answer.
However, at the time when night was approaching.
His breath, which could not be drowned out by the sound of falling raindrops, poured down on the crown of her head and the back of her neck from very close by.
Yuan trembled at the sound of his breathing, which seemed to be steady and a little rough, and carefully grabbed his arm that was across her shoulder.
Yuan's ears flushed hotly as his solid arm twitched.
A clear resonance was transmitted from his warm body, which was pressed tightly against her shoulder blades.
No, perhaps her heart, which had been beating madly since earlier, was reaching towards her shoulder blades and pounding on his chest or somewhere.
Yuan carefully released his warm arm and hugged the old, large book she had been carrying under her arm.
She felt like she was going to die from the ticklish and burning sensation wherever his breath was pouring down.
"Your Highness."
Yuan opened her ticklish mouth around the time he began to move his lower body away from her, unlike his tightly pressed upper body.
Fortunately, Klaud stopped with his waist pulled back about half a step without taking her out of his cloak.
"What can I give you? You bought me books and other things... I want to repay you somehow."
"......"
"As Your Highness said. The West Annex is ultimately yours, so it can't be called a gift."
Yuan asked, trying to turn her body.
Klaud did not release the arm that was across her collarbone, but only turned his head slightly to darkly look down at Yuan, who was looking up at him.
Only after the sound of rain had broken the silence several times did a very low whisper flow from his lips.
"...Don't die."
A force strong enough for her to feel clearly entered the large hand that was holding her shoulder. Yuan saw a distant underground in his darkly sunken eyes.
"You can do anything."
He murmured very quietly.
"Just don't die."
