71 - The Bride of the Great Lord is a Warrior from Hell
“Yes, I will…….”
“You knew what I was going to say?”
Reikart muttered with a blunt grumble, tilting his head.
Alisha blankly stared at the face that had approached her cheek in an instant.
“……”
With a soft tchok, his lips landed on Alisha’s blank cheek and then retreated.
His lips lingered on the opposite cheek before pulling away.
“It’s a shame I’m such a simple person.”
The man, who seemed to have poured extravagance from head to toe, said arrogantly.
Reikart’s words, ‘a simple person,’ sounded very peculiar.
“Pardon?”
Alisha stammered, dumbfounded.
Reikart offered his hand towards her bewildered face.
Alisha reflexively placed her hand on his, only realizing what was happening when she saw his face tilting.
A ticklish kiss landed on the back of her hand.
Alisha felt embarrassed by her outstretched hand, but she didn’t pull it away or act exaggeratedly.
She deliberately pretended to be nonchalant.
Reikart’s forehead touched the back of her hand where his lips had been, then lifted.
Reikart, who had expressed respect and affection for his fiancée, said calmly.
“Do it for me.”
At the casually thrown request, Alisha reacted hypersensitively without realizing it.
“Yes? Do what?”
The man who had introduced himself as a simple person smiled.
His silver-gold hair seemed to shatter as it caught the sunlight.
“Just heal me. Anything is fine with me.”
A face that seemed to have nothing to do with simplicity lowered to meet Alisha’s gaze.
“Yes? Yes……”
Alisha tried to ignore the face that was making her vision blur.
She was just surprised by the other person’s sudden request at an unexpected time.
Alisha kissed both of Reikart’s cheeks and stepped back.
Even in the moment his lips touched and left, his amber eyes stared steadily at Alisha.
When their lukewarm body temperatures overlapped, she felt an unidentifiable, unbearable sensation, but she barely managed to finish what she was doing.
Reikart, without taking his eyes off Alisha as she stepped back, said,
“I will be going now.”
“Yes.”
“Someone has given me a lot of tasks. Even His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t use me, a member of the Imperial Family, this harshly.”
“I’m sorry……”
“Lady, please move when your heart has calmed down.”
Reikart, with an expressionless face, threw out words that sounded like teasing and left the Thicket.
“Heart….”
Only after hearing his words did Alisha bring her hand to her chest.
A violent throbbing was spreading from where her hand touched.
She was surprised her heart wasn’t bursting.
No wonder her vision was blurry and her head was spinning.
How red must her face be?
Regret washed over her, but there was nothing she could do.
It was already too late, and she couldn’t suppress the beating and fluttering of her heart, no matter how hard she tried.
Moreover, the other person had exceptionally sharp hearing.
A sigh almost escaped her, but fearing that even that would be heard, Alisha simply pressed her lips tightly together.
As she held her breath, she could feel her ears throbbing.
Reikart, having left the Thicket of the Grand Theater, let out a slight laugh.
He stopped walking and briefly looked back at the Thicket.
“Did you come from the future?”
His face, devoid of laughter, whispered the words he had wanted to utter since earlier.
As expected, no answer returned to his quiet soliloquy.
After staring at the Thicket of the Grand Theater for a while, Reikart checked the time and resumed his steps.
He had a lot to do.
Numerous ladies lined up to enter the Imperial Palace Opera House.
The guests invited to the Opera of the Night were seated near the orchestra.
The Imperial Family members were in the second-floor royal boxes, and the host, the Empress and the Emperor, were seated in the central royal box on the second floor.
The central royal box on the second floor was specially decorated and had a slightly protruding terrace-like shape.
Alisha, as Grand Duke Tessen’s fiancée, stayed on the second floor.
The royal boxes were independent, respecting each person’s privacy.
“You’ve arrived?”
Alisha had arrived before Reikart, who was busy with official duties.
“Yes. Are you well?”
Reikart stared at Alisha, who was already seated, before sitting next to her.
“Yes.”
Alisha was busy looking around with her Opera glasses.
“Josefina said nothing happened. She was busy chatting and playing with her friends.”
“That’s a relief.”
“An old support rope was found among the ropes supporting the chandelier around the stage. There were problems with two ropes on the chandelier near the stage stairs.”
Reikart whispered in a low voice that only Alisha, who was right next to him, could hear.
Alisha lowered the Opera glasses she had been holding to her eyes and turned to look at him.
“The Imperial Palace Opera House isn’t large, but considering the enormous maintenance costs every year, it’s strange. The problems have been taken care of, and preparations to hold the person in charge accountable are complete.”
“Shouldn’t you inform Her Majesty the Empress or His Majesty the Emperor first?”
“That’s what I intend to do.”
Alisha nodded with a bewildered feeling.
She had been abruptly forcing troublesome tasks on Reikart, and she wondered if she was perhaps acting foolishly based on misinformation.
“Pierre Gick returned home safely.”
Reikart continued to speak in a low voice.
“He came?”
“Yes. Wasn’t that what you requested, knowing that?”
“I don’t know….”
Originally, Pierre Gick was supposed to come to see the opera performance, help Josefina, who was accidentally injured, and become lovers.
Was everything before just a coincidence?
If so, it was strange that Josefina wasn’t injured today.
If Josefina’s injury was a simple accident, it should have happened, but it didn’t.
Alisha wondered what effect the conversation she had with Josefina at noon had had on her.
The current situation was already so different from the situation at this point in the past that the accident might not have occurred.
“I didn’t find any problems in the second-floor royal boxes.”
“……”
“It’s possible I might not be able to find it.”
Alisha felt uneasy at Reikart’s words.
“It’s a place where it’s easy to predict that His Majesty the Emperor, the Empress, and the Imperial Family will be staying, so it’s originally a place with thorough security. If the knights, who check three times, haven’t found any problems, it may be difficult for me to find them as well.”
Reikart spoke about the possibility of him making a mistake.
“Is that so?”
Since she didn’t know exactly what kind of accident it was, her anxiety only grew.
“I requested His Majesty to add security around the royal boxes.”
Reikart said reassuringly to Alisha, who looked calm but was constantly looking around.
As Alisha nodded, the lights on the first floor went out one by one.
At the same time, the curtain on the stage opened.
The performance began.
The opera performance prepared by the Empress was dignified yet didn’t miss out on the fun.
Alisha fixed her gaze on the stage, which she couldn’t take her eyes off, and thought about the accident in the royal box.
Hidden weapons, assassins, thugs.
An attack capable of long-range strikes in a situation with limited visibility.
While watching and listening to the beautiful songs, she imagined destructive fights in her head.
An actress playing an elegant lady on stage stumbled, twisting her movements and stomping her foot hard.
The audience made sounds of pity as they watched the actress struggle not to fall.
The lady actress smiled brightly and barely managed to avoid the crisis.
The actress retreated naturally with a gesture that was either part of the script or a mistake.
However, because she had stomped her foot so hard, a weak prop rolled off the stage and fell into the orchestra pit.
The orchestra player picked up the prop and placed it back on the stage as if this kind of thing happened often.
The audience briefly laughed at the humorous situation and moved on.
The act ended, and the curtain closed.
The image of the prop rolling off the stage remained in Alisha’s eyes like an afterimage.
There were no weapons in the royal box.
The Order of Knights was guarding the Opera House on the day of the performance.
The concealment of assassins making long-range attacks was also ruled out.
What was the probability of an object or person in the royal box accidentally falling over the railing?
What if, instead of an object or person, the railing itself fell due to an accident?
Feeling an ominous premonition, Alisha leaned forward and turned to look to the side.
Among the second-floor royal boxes, the only one with a protruding shape was the central one where the Emperor and Empress were sitting.
“Alisha?”
At Reikart’s call, Alisha blurted out what she had realized.
“What is the probability of the Opera House royal box railing falling?”
“That must not happen.”
Reikart answered and stood up.
“Your Highness?”
“Get out of here.”
Reikart headed towards the box next door.
Alisha examined the stage and stood up.
When she went outside, Reikart had already gotten the Emperor and Empress out of the royal box.
Alisha was even a little flustered by the quick response.
It hadn’t even taken three minutes from the time Reikart stood up from his chair to the time the rope blocking passage in front of the main royal box was put up.
The Emperor and Empress, without questioning what they had heard, followed Reikart’s words and headed to the VIP seats on the first floor.
Starting with the Emperor and Empress, the VIPs in the second-floor royal boxes, starting from the center, went down to the first floor or left the Opera House.
The performance ended safely.
The Empress decided to give the closing remarks she had planned to give on stage at the banquet hall instead.
As soon as the opera cast and orchestra players finished their performance, they moved with their luggage, which had been prepared by the Imperial chamberlains and maids.
The Imperial Family and invited guests also received guidance to move to the banquet hall around the time the performance ended and left early.
The Opera House quickly became silent.
After everything was over.
Reikart and Alisha returned to the Opera House with the Imperial Family’s permission.
Alisha was puzzled.
Reikart had Alisha stand on the safe stage, where there were no devices, and then headed to the second floor.
“Your Highness?”
The stage of the Opera House, brightly lit, was beautiful.
She felt strange standing there alone.
“It’s here.”
At Alisha’s call, Reikart answered from the central royal box on the second floor.
“Your Highness, that’s……. Your Highness!”
Just as Alisha was about to warn Reikart after discovering him.
Reikart, who had approached the railing stone, put his weight on it and jumped, stomping his feet.
Kugung!
The end of the elegant royal box, which had seemed so sturdy, crumbled.
“Your Highness!”
Alisha tried to get off the stage and go to Reikart.
Perhaps because of the warning they had given when the two of them entered the Opera House not to come in no matter what happened, no one was coming in.
From outside, she could hear people calling, ‘Grand Duke!’
The moment she heard the earth-shaking sound, Alisha felt like her heart had dropped.
“Don’t come this way!”
Reikart was hanging onto the thick, luxurious red curtains that had been installed for the privacy of the royal box.
He climbed down along the curtains, which were tilted along with the collapsed railing.
Reikart, covered in dust from the collapsed railing, shook off his shoulders and hair.
“Wh-what are you doing?!”
Alisha involuntarily shouted.
“……I’m sorry. Did I scare you?”
Reikart, who had paused for a moment at the shout directed at him, said cautiously.
“Of course, I’m scared!”
Alisha shouted without holding back on the stage, where the sound echoed well.
Her eyes were red, and fear and terror still lingered on her face.