The Owner of the Golden Goose (5)
“…Listen.”
I knew better than anyone that the 2nd Imperial Consort had placed an assassination request with the organization.
I shook my head firmly.
“I want information on everything except anything related to the organization.”
“Hmmmm, in that case.”
Somnia narrowed her eyes and clicked her tongue.
“There is one piece of information that feels too valuable to give away for free.”
She pondered for a moment before smacking her palm with her fan as if granting a generous favor.
“Fine. In honor of the return of a reaper everyone thought was dead, I’ll take the loss this time.”
Somnia stretched her lips into a wide, sly smile.
“Do you know that the 2nd Imperial Consort’s original marriage partner was not the emperor?”
Oh dear. I really don’t like messy drama.
I frowned as I stared at her.
“There was once a rumor that the daughter of the Radcliffe Marquisate had a man she truly loved.”
Rumors were sometimes more accurate than the truth.
Somnia grinned like a mischievous clown, baring her teeth.
“Aren’t you curious what the most foolish mistake a pair of star-crossed young lovers could make?”
Could it be true?
On the road leaving the headquarters of the Golden Goose.
I mounted my horse with a rather heavy bag slung over my shoulder.
Inside the bag were various magical tools and gold coins.
Since I had decided to work with her, these were the bribes—no, the advance payments—I had agreed to receive from Somnia beforehand.
Splash, splash.
Rain was falling over the streets.
I rode slowly.
The hood pulled low over my head gradually grew soaked.
—Twenty-some years ago, the fact that Cabelius III, who had nothing to his name, was able to ascend the throne was largely thanks to the Radcliffe Marquis.
Somnia’s words echoed in my ears.
—The world knows him as a heartless emperor who slaughtered his siblings alone to seize the throne. But what are the odds that the youngest prince could claim the throne without any help?
It had been a transaction.
Cabelius III had agreed to accept a consort from the Radcliffe family.
—Originally, Helena was destined to become empress. But she got caught up in a strange scandal at the time and had no choice but to become a consort instead.
That the unmarried daughter of a marquis, blinded by love, had invited a stranger into her bedchamber. That she had lost her virginity before even marrying the emperor.
Once all sorts of ugly rumors spread, even the Marquis Radcliffe could no longer insist on the original arrangement.
In the end, Helena Radcliffe became the 2nd Imperial Consort rather than empress.
‘And less than a year after marrying the emperor, the 2nd Imperial Consort gave birth to the 2nd Prince, Lloyd.’
The birth of a prince should have been a joyous occasion.
Yet Cabelius III had reportedly shown a lukewarm reaction at the time.
—The emperor had his doubts. Whether Prince Lloyd was truly his own blood.
He had even gone so far as to send a formal letter to the Holy Kingdom requesting proof that he and Lloyd were father and son.
But the result of the divine power examination confirmed that Lloyd was indeed the emperor’s child.
It had been publicly declared in the name of the Holy Emperor.
—After that, no one dared speak behind Lloyd’s back about his origins. The emperor continued to treat the 2nd Imperial Consort coldly, but he began showing genuine affection toward the 2nd Prince.
Humans were weaker toward their children than their spouses.
After all, affection for a being who shared their blood was something special.
—But Kayla. Or rather, Rachel.
Somnia had said while lazily fanning herself.
—Can we really trust the Holy Emperor’s certification without question?
No. Absolutely not.
I knew the current Holy Emperor very well.
Considering the timing, the Holy Emperor who had verified that Lloyd was the emperor’s biological son was the very man I knew all too well—the old bastard who was still lounging about in the position of Holy Emperor even now.
‘The Holy Kingdom and the Radcliffe Marquisate.’
The mercenaries I had seen at the grand temple had definitely said they had taken requests from both the Holy Kingdom and the Radcliffe Marquisate at the same time.
‘As I thought, there must be a connection between the two.’
But when had that connection begun?
And for what reason had they become entangled?
I still couldn’t quite grasp it.
—Hey, Rachel. You said you’re going to make the 3rd Prince emperor, right?
I recalled Somnia’s smiling face.
She had pointed at me with the tip of her elaborately decorated nail.
—Then you need to show the emperor clearly. That the 3rd Prince has the power to crush the Radcliffe Marquisate.
It was a perfectly convincing argument.
After all, the reason the emperor wanted to place the 1st Prince on the throne was because the Crowner family stood firmly behind him as powerful backing.
‘Because at this point, the Crowner Duchy is the only great noble house capable of opposing the Radcliffe Marquisate.’
By that logic, Edwin had nothing.
No matter how many talented people I brought him, the power to support them ultimately came from the recognition of those born into noble blood.
‘But he has only just been acknowledged as a prince by the emperor.’
There wasn’t nearly enough time to win the favor of the other nobles.
‘Well, that can be handled gradually.’
I briefly reined in my horse.
Because Somnia’s final words had come to mind.
—And this is something I feel I must tell you.
What followed was utterly shocking.
—Angel’s Breath has disappeared.
—…What?
—Exactly what I said. The entire organization has been wiped out.
It was something I couldn’t make sense of.
Hadn’t I just encountered someone claiming to be from Angel’s Breath at the imperial hunting grounds not long ago?
‘The old back-alley information broker said tracking was impossible, but…’
I had never imagined it was because the organization called Angel’s Breath had vanished.
—It was about three months after you died, I think? They suddenly disappeared without a trace.
From then on, the number of assassins sneaking into the Golden Goose had dropped sharply.
At the same time, Ian’s movements had also vanished.
—Is he… dead?
I asked just in case, though I doubted Ian would have died.
But Somnia had given only a vague answer.
—I don’t know. He disappeared as if he no longer existed in this world.
Disappeared. But why?
When he had killed me in that manner, I had assumed he was planning something grand.
‘What exactly did you want, Ian?’
I still hadn’t even figured out why he had killed me.
And now I had to uncover why he had suddenly vanished as well.
‘In the past and now, the one who makes me happiest and hurts me the most is…’
I looked up at the sky and smiled bitterly.
‘Always you.’
As if to wash away my troubled heart, the rain grew heavier.
I took a short breath and pulled on the reins.
It seemed best to hurry before the weather worsened any further.
The distance from here to the prince’s palace was considerable, after all.
Creak. Jingle.
Along with the sound of old hinges, a clear bell rang out.
I stepped into the inn, leaving the roaring thunder behind me.
‘In the end, it came to this.’
I had planned to head straight to the prince’s palace, but the weather had turned foul.
If it were only rain it might have been fine, but the fierce wind made the roads dangerous.
In times like these, staying the night at an inn seemed the wiser choice.
“Krr, you should’ve seen that bitch’s face.”
“Back in my day, I took down several Great Wolves all by myself…”
Perhaps because it was a shabby inn located between villages.
Or maybe because the weather was particularly bad today.
The inside of the inn was packed with rough-looking men with crude language and vicious faces.
‘This isn’t a good place to linger. I’ll leave as soon as the rain stops.’
I sipped the warm liquor I had ordered the moment I entered.
Thanks to my deeply pulled hood, no one seemed to realize I was a woman.
That was fortunate for me.
Creak. Jingle.
Perhaps because many were in the same situation, customers kept pouring in without pause.
Just then the door opened, and three men wearing dark hoods appeared.
The inn, which had been deafeningly noisy until a moment ago, grew somewhat quiet.
It seemed everyone was gauging the newcomers.
“What’ll you have?”
“Something strong. We’ve got a long way to go.”
They ordered drinks and gathered in an empty corner table.
Once their order was placed, they continued their conversation without making a sound.
‘Wait. Those guys…’
Why had I only noticed now?
Judging by their attire and presence, they were clearly well-trained assassins.
I further suppressed my presence and secretly read their lips.
‘This isn’t working.’
One of the men moved his lips.
‘The Guardian is quite cunning, so if we can’t find the Prophet like this, it’ll be us who end up in trouble.’
Guardian? Prophet?
More troublesome terms had appeared.
I pondered deeply over what those unfamiliar words might mean.
Then, from another man’s lips, I read a word that should not have been spoken.
‘We must find the Prophet before anyone else.’
The man moved his lips with a grave expression.
‘The angel is furious, so we must hurry and breathe life into him.’
I clutched my glass, even forgetting to breathe.
According to the myths of the Leon Holy Kingdom, when an angel breathed into someone on the verge of death, their soul would depart, and the deceased would finally find eternal rest.
In other words, a belief existed on this continent that the beings who brought death to humans were angels.
Angel’s Breath.
Some had commented that it was far too poetic a name for an assassination guild.
But it was merely one of many unremarkable names taken from stories.
And the members of Angel’s Breath had referred to their leader, the guild master, as Angel. In my lifetime, I too had often been called by that very alias.
‘Is this a coincidence?’
The hands holding my glass trembled faintly.
‘Just what the hell is going on?’
I had just come from hearing Somnia tell me that Angel’s Breath had disappeared.
Yet these men were casually talking about Angel’s Breath.
Using words that only those belonging to Angel’s Breath could possibly know.