Waiting For Your Reincarnation Chapter 147

The next day, as if they had made a promise, they went straight back to the capital. After more than two weeks of being stuck together, there was a new, harder wall between them.

 

As they rode back in the carriage, Zephyto remembered Elita’s words.

 

“Love and work.”

 

He glanced at Iris’s expression as she stared out the window, her face an unknown depth.

 

He hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but recalling Elita’s words once more made him feel sick.

 

His brow furrowed once and didn’t straighten for the rest of the ride back, and Iris, who spied him, didn’t take her eyes off the carriage window.

 

A barren desert seemed to lie between them.

 

Shortly after returning to the capital, Zephyto headed to his office as usual. Upon hearing of his return, Elita entered the room with a new assignment.

 

Her eyes were unusually dark today, as if she’d been working while he was away.

 

“Did you enjoy yourself?”

 

“No.”

 

“I’m glad. If you enjoyed yourself there, it’s not fair of me to be all work and no play. Did you get anything out of it?”

 

“They’re definitely up to something, and it’s not just the black market. There’s a new town underground.”

 

Zephyto pulled the map from his pants pocket and handed it to Elita. She unfolded the map on the spot and studied it carefully.

 

Elita’s eyebrows move fluidly as she reads the waterway markings on the map, revealing her emotions. Seeing this, Zephyto opened his mouth nonchalantly.

 

“Plague aside, there will be a war soon, and they want to kill me there.”

 

“…You mean a war in this time period, and this map has something to do with it?”

 

“My instincts say yes, but I have no solid information. I need to find it.”

 

“I can’t believe they’d go to all this trouble just to kill a prince. Is that what you’ve decided?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

Elita was probably talking about the Emperor’s seat. If Ragnar was determined to kill him, he would not stand for it.

 

He leaned back in his seat and rubbed his heavy eyes with his hands. Tiredness was piling up on top of him.

 

Elita set the map down on the desk and tapped her index finger against the materials she’d brought with her.

 

“Speaking of slaves, did you notice anything unusual?”

 

“Mmm.”

 

He groaned softly at her question and lowered his hands. Recalling his time on the black market, Zephyto slowly raised his upper body. It was a strange place to be, to say the least.

 

“Come to think of it, they all seemed pretty useless as slaves.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Not a single useful adult, just a bunch of kids, and the guy selling them kept emphasizing how smart they were.”

 

“I see…”

 

Elita looked convinced by his explanation. Zephyto looked at her curiously, then turned his attention back to the document.

 

It contained pictures and information about the children. What caught his eye was the intelligence test scores listed in the information section.

 

He ran his index finger over it and looked up at Elita. Elita shrugged as if she was about to say something.

 

“We recently found a child who miraculously escaped from the black market.”

 

“Where is the child now?”

 

“He is currently in the care of a duke.”

 

“Good. Have you interrogated him?”

 

“The kid said that as soon as he came to the black market, he took some kind of test. He said that they categorize people by giving them a rating.”

 

“Ratings? Like physical strength?”

 

Zephyto’s eyebrows arched slightly, and Elita shook her head slightly at his question.

 

“Intelligence ratings, as it says in the materials here. They say it goes from A to Z. If your rating is close to Z, you’re not even considered human.”

 

“Why are they looking for children with high intelligence? I’m sure it’s because of the war…”

 

“Recently, the first A-ranked child came out, and the crown prince’s entourage bought it. The child said he was taken to a laboratory and forced to create some kind of medicine. If he’s not good enough for their standards, he’s sold as a black market slave.”

 

“Your brother is really in trouble.”

 

“I think we should find the hidden laboratory in Telene first. I suspect they’re making a drug that will cause the plague, and it’s easy to get into Telene with that as a pretext, isn’t it?”

 

“Yes, I suppose so, and kill me too.”

 

Zephyto rested his chin on the back of his clenched hands. He was trying to organize the report he’d received from Elita.

 

If he closed his eyes, he could see Iris’s pleading face, begging him to trust her, along with the darkness, which kept distracting him as he tried to think about Ragnar’s intentions.

 

Lost in thought, he gazed into her sunset eyes.

 

“Any word from House Elter?”

 

“Ah…, come to think of it, isn’t there a surveillance team we’ve put in place?”

 

“Uh.”

 

“They seem to have gotten into trouble while investigating the black market after you left, and we’ve lost contact with them.”

 

“Did they get caught… Well, send more backup.”

 

“Yes, sir. And this Elter family you mentioned…, what’s the big deal about going to the gambling house like it’s a daily occurrence?”

 

“The kids, not the duke’s side.”

 

“Nothing out of the ordinary that has been reported so far, and that includes you, Iris, of course. I don’t know if you don’t have any evidence or if you really don’t know what you’re jumping into, but we’re not coming up with anything.”

 

“I see.”

 

Elita coolly spoke the words Zephyto had been holding inside. Looking at Iris, it was hard to tell if she had entered the storm on purpose or if she was just a good person caught in a disaster.

 

Zephyto wondered which hand he should play.

 

Seeing the confusion in his golden eyes, Elita took a back seat and offered a suggestion.

 

“Why don’t we wait a bit longer, at least until the celebration?”

 

“…….”

 

“You never know when or how a person will turn.”

 

Zephyto tilted his head slightly at her cold words, and she didn’t bat an eye, despite his own somewhat cold demeanor.

 

Zephyto frowned tiredly and waved his hand in the air. It was his way of telling her to leave. At the same time, he added a word.

 

“Stay here until we get the right information. And find out more about the slaves Ragnar purchased.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

Finishing her report, Elita hurried out of the office. Left alone, Zephyto rested one hand on his stomach and stared out the window. At the same time, his eyes widened slightly.

 

“Iris?”

 

He looked out the window and saw Iris strolling through the gardens. Just as he had found his office upon arrival at the imperial castle, it seemed that she had headed to the garden in search of sanctuary.

 

Like a butterfly chasing a flower, he rose from his seat and moved closer to the window.

 

Zephyto’s gaze fell on her white, thin wrist, the thread bracelet he hadn’t been able to buy for her in the Telene capital after all. His hand naturally slipped into his pocket where the money was.

 

“Can I really trust you?”

 

He’d been spying on Iris for over a month, but she hadn’t done anything. She had even begged him to trust her.

 

Zephyto wanted to trust her, wanted to win her over, that she was willing to become a full Ophir for him, even though she was an Elter, because she had always been his only hope.

 

But broken trust was hard to rebuild.

 

Iris looked up, as if she sensed the gaze looking down on her from here. Feeling his heart drop to his feet, Zephyto hid behind the curtain.

 

He let out a nervous breath. Time passed, and he slowly paced and looked out the window.

 

“Iris.”

 

His eyes locked with Iris’s as she watched the window. She saw the panic in his eyes and her lips slowly curled.

 

“Zephyto.”

 

She smiled to herself as she said his name clearly, without sound.

 

‘How could she look at him and smile like that again?’

 

The words slipped out of his mouth as he watched her.

 

“A celebration. Let’s just wait until then.”

 

As he watched Iris stare down into the garden, her eyes focused on him, Zephyto made up his mind.

 

If Iris’s behavior until Ragnar’s celebration was untroubled, he would no longer doubt her. He would trust her once more.

 

He raised his hand in greeting, smugly knowing he had been caught out of hiding. The corners of Iris’s mouth curved upward in a smooth smile.

 

He lifted his head slightly and stared at the sky. The moon in the night sky shone brighter than ever, illuminating Iris. He looked at the full, round moon and prayed.

 

May this peaceful time last forever.