“Why do you keep looking at me like that? Have we ever met before?”
“…….”
Maybe this was why he could not let go of his suspicions about her.
When she unconsciously tried to clasp her hands together, he grabbed one of Rachel’s hands with his remaining hand. His long, rough fingers slipped between hers and intertwined with them.
“Why don’t you stop bothering your hands? What is it, is it hard to talk about?”
“……We haven’t met before.”
“Sounds like a lie.”
Avoiding his pouring gaze, Rachel barely lowered her eyes. She had thought she had hidden it well all this time.
It seemed that without even realizing it, she had been making all sorts of mistakes. With her hand caught, she could not even run away.
No, even if he had not caught her, she could never have run away.
“……We haven’t met before. It’s just, when I saw the Duke, someone came to mind. I’m sorry.”
The man stopped and lowered his head. His black hair, which had come down close to her, brushed against his forehead.
“Who is it?”
“…….”
It would probably be hard to get past this without telling him. And if she failed to properly handle this now, she thought that one day this man might notice .
Even though her name was on the list of families with severed supernatural abilities, if he kept witnessing her suspicious behavior and growing suspicious, he might eventually figure it out.
“He’s someone I hate. No matter how much I begged and begged, saying I wasn’t that person and that it was unfair, he never once looked back at me.”
Rachel thought of Nathan Valencia from her previous life.
With a cold and emotionless face.
-I would rather have been executed together with you.
He was someone who had offered mercy that did not feel like mercy.
-As His Majesty said, you are someone I will never see again. It’s a waste of time.
And when she rejected that mercy, he had returned the same treatment to her.
Looking at it this way, he and the man from this life seemed a little different.
Perhaps because he did not know about her regression, he had become a little gentler.
‘If he had been a little gentler back then, if only that had happened.’
“Is he a lover you’ve been hiding?”
The stiff voice falling beside her ear brought her back to reality. Rachel shook her head slightly.
“No. I told you he’s someone I hate. You look a lot like him, Duke, so sometimes memories related to him come back to me. That must be why I looked at you like that without realizing it.”
Rachel still kept her eyes lowered and bowed her head slightly.
“I’m sorry for making you misunderstand, Duke. I’ll try not to make you uncomfortable about it anymore.”
“…….”
He was silent for a while. Then he let go of Rachel’s hand. His footsteps moved backward.
When she raised her eyes, his face, too complicated to describe, was staring at her. He covered his face with one hand and turned around.
“I understand for now. First, let’s check the safe. I’ll keep watch outside.”
“……Yes.”
Rachel passed him and carefully approached the safe.
……Did she handle it well?
For now, it was a question she could not answer.
Either way, securing the evidence came first.
Rachel checked inside the wide-open safe. More than gold bars or jewels, the piles of documents caught her eye.
After checking them, they were contracts stating that they had taken huge profits from the merchants and nobles of the Borza Kingdom and shared those profits with other northern lords. There were also letters boasting while using
His Majesty the Emperor’s name, along with replies from the Borza Kingdom. And then—
“……!”
Rachel’s face stiffened when she found an unexpected letter. This was a letter exchanged between one of the Borza Kingdom’s envoys who had visited Olsher this time and Marquis Tauren.
A huge amount of gold had passed between them.
……Along with half of a contract for a request to silence the other envoys if the Borza Kingdom failed to assassinate the Emperor or said anything that might make the Emperor suspicious.
“I knew something was strange. So this was it.”
“……!”
When she raised her eyes, she saw him frowning. Their eyes met, and the tension in the deep crease between his brows relaxed.
“If you’ve got everything, shall we leave now?”
“……Yes.”
Rachel followed him out of the study. This time, instead of heading inside the mansion, they stood by the railing of a corridor overlooking the outside.
Holding an activated concealment magic tool and a flying magic tool in one hand, he held out his empty hand.
“…….”
Rachel slowly took the hand he offered. His palm was still strangely rough, firmly gripping her hand and wrist.
The moment their bodies floated gently into the night sky—
“Did you avoid me because of that man?”
The man’s voice came from ahead. Rachel answered honestly.
“That was part of it. I also did it because I hated the Valencias. But now, rather than thinking about those things, I just want to become independent and live comfortably.”
“…….”
From the beginning, the fact that she was doing something like this with Nathan Valencia was an unexpected situation.
If everything had gone according to plan, her connection with this man should have ended when the fake heir incident was over.
“……Can I ask who that man was?”
“No.”
“…….”
Looking at the man who still showed her only his back, Rachel added a little more.
“He’s someone who doesn’t exist in this world anymore. There’s no reason for you to know.”
“……I see.”
The conversation ended. He did not turn around even once until they flew over the wall.
Flying from the fifth floor over to that distant wall under the moonlight was quite a rare experience.
Outside the wall, Nathan returned to the place where they had first taken flight and gave a short signal before asking,
“Are you planning to go straight to the Imperial Palace?”
“Yes, I am, but…….”
Rachel blinked as she saw people approaching from a dark alley. They were Nathan Valencia’s aide and escort knights.
When had they been here?
While Rachel carefully kept her expression under control, the aide, Vale, approached and held out the reins.
“Did everything go well?”
“Yes.”
“The results of the court meeting should be out soon. I hear His Majesty is looking for the Duke.”
“That’s good.”
He handed the reins to Rachel and said,
“If you’re going right away, I’ll lend you a horse. Since the court meeting results will be out soon, it would be better to arrive before then.”
“…….”
Rachel agreed, but.
After hesitating, Rachel took the reins. She had learned horseback riding as part of her education, so she was not very skilled at it.
She put her foot in the stirrup and climbed up, and before she knew it, he had ridden over on another horse. His gaze was fixed on her foot.
“Your foot.”
“……I had it treated. It’s fine.”
“Still, you never know, so don’t push yourself. Let’s go.”
He briefly kicked the horse’s side and rode ahead. Rachel quietly followed behind him. Since they were moving at the pace of a slightly faster walk, it was not difficult to keep up.
“…….”
“…….”
There was no conversation between them. Rachel was complicated in her own way after having revealed some of her true feelings.
In truth, she had no idea what he was thinking. She had told him right to his face that he resembled someone she hated, so perhaps he had started to dislike her a little too.
Clip-clop, clip-clop—
After a long silence, the gates of the Imperial City came into view. The Imperial Knights lined up in front of them gave a signal.
“Stop!”
“What is it?”
Nathan, who had been heading straight for the gates, stopped his horse. His cold gaze turned toward the knight who seemed to be in charge.
The hesitant knight pointed at Rachel, who was right behind him.
“Who is that? I don’t believe I saw her when you left.”
“She is an important witness in this incident. Tell His Majesty first that I have discovered who is behind this incident.”
“……!”
“Move.”
The way immediately opened, and they entered the Imperial Palace. Rachel once again realized Nathan Valencia’s position.
To be able to immediately bring someone of unknown identity into the Imperial Palace with just a single word.
Even while the palace was under lockdown because of an attempt to assassinate the Emperor.
‘As expected of Duke Valencia.’
It had truly been a good decision to clear up some of his suspicions this time. And she had not been found out about , either.
……Of course, another problem has arisen now.
Still, she would somehow be able to get past that. Besides, independence was right around the corner. Since this man had also made a promise, he would at least not interfere.
Soon, they arrived at the Sun Palace, where the Emperor stayed. In front of the eastern entrance, where the Grand Assembly Hall was located, Rachel got down from her horse.
Comments (0)