ESL Chapter 62

“Come here, Lea.”

His voice echoed in her ear as her body was pulled backward. The hand of Lanster that had been naturally holding hers fell away, and when she looked up, she could already see Luciel’s back. Having moved her behind him, Luciel held out the handkerchief he was carrying.

“Wipe it. You might catch his idiot germs.”

His tone was so utterly serious that Lea reflexively took the handkerchief and wiped the back of her hand where Lanster had pressed his lips. Lanster, who had been watching, made a look of pure disbelief and said,

“Isn’t that a bit much, even for a crown prince? I might just have you thrown in for defaming royalty.”

“Go ahead.”

At Luciel’s response — complete indifference to whether he did or not — Lanster turned to Thomas, who had followed behind, and complained with an aggrieved expression.

“Can you believe this, Thomas? After I went out of my way to help, and this is what I get. Isn’t that too much?”

But Thomas appeared to have no intention of indulging his complaints.

“You brought it all upon yourself, Your Highness. More importantly, it has been a while. Young lord. You look remarkably beautiful today.”

Even Thomas ignored him and offered his courteous greeting to Luciel, leaving Lanster looking thoroughly wronged. Lea suppressed a laugh at the sight.

“That is hardly a compliment I welcome, Sir Thomas.”

The word ‘beautiful’ seemed to chafe him, but despite Luciel’s blunt manner, Thomas still spoke with a smile on his face.

“His Highness has been looking forward to seeing you, young lord. As it is rather late tonight, perhaps it would be best to rest for now and speak tomorrow. The two of you may be fine, but surely the young lady still needs her rest.”

The Crown Prince already had sharp eyes, but his attendant Thomas was a cut above. Lea looked up at the sky, thinking that this — the ability to even guess at her age — was what they called seasoned experience. Just as Thomas said, the night had grown quite deep, the moon hanging high in the middle of the sky. It had been an exhausting day in one way or another, she thought, and as she covered her mouth with her hand and let out a small yawn, Luciel’s gaze turned toward her. In his beautiful emerald eyes lay a trace of self-reproach for not having thought of her comfort sooner.

“I didn’t realize it had gotten this late. I’m sorry, Lea. Are you very tired?”

“Mm… a little.”

“Sir Thomas.”

At Luciel’s call, Thomas inclined his head slightly, as though he had expected this.

“I have already prepared a place for you to rest. This way, my lady. I will show you.”

“Ah… thank you. See you tomorrow, Luciel.”

“Yes. Sleep well.”

Luciel answered Lea’s farewell with a gentle smile. He watched her retreating figure as she followed Thomas, then turned his head at the sound of Lanster’s voice.

“I always wondered… You never so much as blinked no matter how many gorgeous women threw themselves at you body and soul, and all this time you had a pretty young lady like that tucked away. You sly thing.”

At the Crown Prince’s teasing, Luciel looked at him with an expressionless face.

“Your manner of speech has grown considerably coarser since we last met. I find myself deeply concerned for the kingdom Your Highness will one day inherit.”

It was the kind of remark that could easily offend, yet Lanster seemed to find Luciel’s attitude all the more entertaining for it.

“It’s been so long since I’ve heard that tone from you — I’ve missed it. You can speak informally, you know. Such stubbornness.”

“How could a mere nobody of a noble dare to speak so casually to Your Highness.”

At Luciel addressing him formally while still saying everything he wished, Lanster grinned and threw an arm over Luciel’s shoulder.

“Yes. This is the Luciel I know. Come on. Let’s go to my office and have a drink. Catch up after all this time.”

As Luciel was practically dragged along by Lanster, a faint smile had already found its way to the corner of his lips.

****

At the break of dawn, Cheor led the Mihael Order of Knights and paid a visit to the Teor branch. Or rather, it would be more accurate to call it a raid. No one paying a mere visit would bring an entire fully armed company of knights along. An ordinary person would have been cowed at the sight of armed knights lined up in formation, but Razen smiled pleasantly and received him as though nothing were the matter.

“What brings His Grace the Duke all the way to this humble establishment?”

Sly fox. Cheor muttered inwardly, though he kept the smile fixed on his lips. He knew that while this place was publicly known as a branch of the Yurasen Empire, in truth it served as the intelligence division of Duke Kaien’s household. But what could he do? It openly flew the Yurasen Imperial flag and was visibly protecting its own citizens. As a place symbolizing diplomatic relations with the Yurasen Empire, he could not afford to act too recklessly.

“I have received a tip that a person who has committed a grave crime is hiding here. I will need your cooperation in conducting a search.”

At Cheor’s words, the smile that had been resting on Razen’s face turned cold.

“That sounds to me as though you are saying our branch is harboring a criminal.”

“You heard correctly.”

Cheor maintained his smile and carefully studied Razen’s expression. And he did not miss the way those sharp eyes wavered — just for an instant — at the words ‘grave crime.’

‘Unlike his reputation in society, he is still a green youth beneath it all. To fail to conceal even something like that.’

The smile at Cheor’s lips deepened. Luciel was certainly hiding here. That red-eyed woman was most likely with him as well.

‘Even so, what a waste. To think that Zakar fellow had his eye on that woman too. Where on earth did he meet her?’

As he clicked his tongue inwardly, his eyes sharpened at Razen’s next words.

“Are we to take those words as an insult to this branch, an official establishment of the great Yurasen Empire? A formal letter of protest from the Empire may well be on its way to the royal palace.”

As Razen moved to block the search, Cheor was certain. If he could only apprehend Luciel, a trifling letter of protest was nothing. The royal household would have to deal with it anyway.

“Do as you see fit. Search the premises.”

At Cheor’s command, the knights of the Mihael Order moved inside the branch in swift, orderly fashion. They were all from the 6th unit under his direct command — every one of them knew Luciel’s face.

“This will take a little time. Bring me a cup of tea.”

At Cheor’s words, Razen answered without being able to take his eyes off the knights entering the branch.

“…I will show you to the office.”

From Razen’s expression, Cheor felt once more the certainty that Luciel was hidden here, and smiled with satisfaction. It took less than an hour for that smile to shatter.

“…He’s not there?!”

Slamming his teacup down with a loud crack, Cheor glared at the reporting knight as though he might kill him. There was no way he wasn’t here. Checkpoints had been set at every road in the capital, yet there had been no word of Luciel being found. If he was not at the palace, and not here, then where in the world was Luciel? He was shaking with fury when Razen’s composed voice snapped him back to his senses.

“If you have doubts, you are welcome to look yourself.”

The look in Razen’s eyes as he held his teacup and watched him was now brimming with ease, quite unlike before. Only then did Cheor realize he had been played.

‘I thought him a green young fox, but he was a fox after all. How dare he deceive me?’

Grinding his teeth where it could not be seen, Cheor rose to his feet. He needed to return and review his plan once more. There must be something he had overlooked. Cheor watched Razen rise alongside him and forced out words that did not come easily.

“…I apologize for the intrusion.”

“Not at all, Your Grace. The formal letter of protest should take about two days. I will send it along as soon as it arrives from the Empire.”

As Razen smiled pleasantly and spoke as though it had been Cheor’s own request, he ground his teeth once more.

‘Insolent little fox.’

Irritated, he turned sharply to leave the office, when Razen’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Ah, and the cleaning costs incurred from your knights tramping back and forth in their boots will be forwarded to the Mihael Ducal House. Please do take care on your way out, Your Grace.”

“……..”

Cheor shot Razen a brief glare, then slammed the door shut behind him and walked out.

“Pity the door is still intact.”

Thinking it would have been nice to include the door in the repair bill as well, Razen walked to the window with his teacup in hand. He watched Cheor march away at the head of his knights, bristling with fury, and took a sip of his tea. The tea tasted particularly good today.

****

“Hah…hah…ugh…”

The sound of a man’s ragged breathing and a rhythmic creaking bored into her ears. The sight of a man’s face — contorted with cruel pleasure — gripping the slender thighs of a girl not yet fully grown and moving his hips made Arhvina forget even to breathe.

“Mo…mother… haa…..save me…save me, please…”

The girl, pinned beneath the man and unable to move, reached out a frail hand toward her. As though begging to be rescued from this hell.

She wanted to reach out. To take that hand and save the girl from the man. But her body would not move so much as an inch, as though rooted to the ground. She screamed for him to stop, but the desperate cry only circled inside her throat.

“…It hurts… it hurts… I can’t bear it… mother… aah…”

The girl’s white hand fell limply, and blood began to seep from her eyes and mouth. Then blood welled up from across the girl’s pale white body.

“No! Rosia! Rosia!”

Arhvina flung out her arms and snapped her eyes open. Since seeing the vision in the recording orb, she had been plagued by nightmares every night. It was punishment for her sin of having failed to protect the child.

“…….”

Hot tears streamed down between the two hands covering her face. After waking from a nightmare, she always cried like this for a long while before she could bring herself to rise. But today, a familiar voice was what brought her tears to a stop.

“You have become even more of a crybaby since we last met.”