Reunion (3)
‘Whether Helena knew that fact at the time and commissioned the job is impossible to say.’
The Assassins’ Guild had only learned that the late First Consort was pregnant after the job had succeeded.
‘She probably didn’t know. If she had, she wouldn’t have dared attempt something so dangerous.’
In any case, from the Second Consort’s perspective, she had eliminated a rival to her own son as well, so one could call it fortunate.
‘But if someone who shares the secret betrays you, it’s all over.’
If Ian had decided to blackmail her, the Second Consort would have had no choice but to be at his mercy.
After all, if it came to light that Helena had assassinated not only the First Consort but the Emperor’s child as well, the minimum punishment would be execution.
‘That’s why it’s puzzling.’
Why was Marquis Redcliffe leaving alone the man who held his daughter’s weakness?
‘Don’t tell me the Marquis doesn’t know what his daughter has done?’
The one who had visited the guild with Helena at the time of the commission had not been the Marquis.
‘If that’s the case, it makes sense.’
Helena’s crime was high treason, the kind that could drag the entire marquisate into ruin.
If the Marquis had known, he would have done everything in his power to eliminate Ian.
The dead, after all, tell no tales.
‘Ian’s name had come up in the conversation between those mercenaries from the temple, too.’
Between Marquis Redcliffe and the temple stood Ian.
He seemed to be nothing more than a messenger, but the fact that the Marquis entrusted him with matters involving the Holy Kingdom meant he trusted Ian that much.
‘Marquis Redcliffe is the head of the Second Prince’s faction.’
Following him meant Ian’s goal was to place the Second Prince on the throne.
“So we’re destined to become enemies after all.”
The lover I once cherished and the enemy who killed me had apparently taken it upon himself to become my political rival as well.
‘Well, then.’
I frowned and stared out the window across from me.
The sky, dyed like red paint, was gradually darkening.
‘Just what was Ian’s reason for killing me?’
It couldn’t have been simply to destroy the guild and obtain the Miller name and a viscount’s title.
He wouldn’t have betrayed me for something so trivial.
He couldn’t have.
‘If he really did betray me just to gain those things, I think I’d actually go mad.’
The longer I dwelled on thoughts of Ian, the more a dull ache spread around my eyes.
I rubbed my temples and stood up.
‘In any case, there’s no longer any need to investigate Ian’s movements separately.’
Viscount Ian Miller, who followed the Second Prince’s faction.
The man I had thought was merely a namesake turned out to be the very person I had been searching for.
‘That means killing Ian right now is still impossible.’
Ian was no longer a hidden assassin lurking in the shadows; he was a noble.
And I, too, was no longer the head of an assassins’ guild, but a prince’s nanny.
It was a combination where neither of us stood to gain anything from a direct confrontation.
‘If it were up to me……’
I wanted nothing more than to strangle that traitor’s neck with my own hands right now.
But I had to endure.
‘I have things I must protect.’
Edwin and Emilia. Catherine and Sage.
And even the maids working at the Third Prince’s Palace.
‘One wrong step and we’d all be wiped out.’
With Ian backed by the Redcliffe Marquisate, my chances of winning were practically nonexistent.
‘If it’s Ian, even the slightest mistake on my part would be enough for him to notice my true identity.’
Ian was a sharp man.
Moreover, there was nothing he didn’t know about me.
‘He knows my fighting style, my manner of speech, my gait—down to my eating habits.’
I had felt a twinge of regret at not being able to question him directly when we met, but on reflection, fleeing immediately had been the right call.
‘If our eyes had met……’
He might have recognized me.
The eyes were the only part of me that could still reveal my past self.
“Haa.”
Just as I let out a small sigh—
Whoosh, thud.
A small pebble struck the window from outside.
I quickly rose and looked out.
Beneath the shade of a tree stood a familiar figure.
It was Lily, the doll Somnia had planted in the Second Consort’s palace.
* * *
“I’m sorry.”
I offered Lily a sincere apology as she hid beneath the shade.
“I completely forgot today was the day we were supposed to meet.”
“It’s all right. I didn’t forget.”
“Did you run into anyone on the way?”
“No. I made sure to take a route where no one would be.”
Lily smiled on her smooth, porcelain-like face.
“Even if someone had seen me, no one would have noticed my presence, so you needn’t worry.”
As she said, there was no sense of presence from her at all.
Even the artificial sound of a heartbeat was absent.
“You can control your heartbeat as well.”
“Yes. My master added the function in case there are times when I must appear as a real doll. When I erase my presence completely, I silence every sound my body makes.”
What a convenient function.
I glanced at Lily’s serene face before changing the subject.
“So, what news do you have to report?”
“A man named Viscount Ian Miller visited the Second Consort’s palace.”
So the bastard had gone to the Second Consort’s palace after all.
I listened to Lily’s report with a furrowed brow.
“He came on a day that wasn’t their scheduled meeting. The Second Consort’s head maid wondered if he had come early because of something related to the Prophet.”
Lily continued smoothly, without a single stutter.
“The man called Viscount Miller appeared to be in his late twenties to early thirties, with ash-blond hair that carried a dark grayish tint and grayish eyes……”
“His appearance is enough.”
At my interruption, Lily’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
“Was that information you already knew?”
“…More or less.”
I folded my arms and nodded.
“Forget his looks. Did you learn anything about what he discussed with the Second Consort?”
“If you mean the conversation, do you want the full transcript?”
Something about that phrasing felt off.
I frowned at Lily.
“Are you saying you overheard their entire conversation?”
“Yes. The hearing of the dolls created by the Golden Goose is a hundred times sharper than a human’s.”
I was speechless.
Just how had Somnia created something like this?
After a brief moment of admiration, I urged Lily on.
“I want the full transcript.”
“Please wait a moment.”
Lily stared blankly into the air for a second before beginning to move her mouth at a steady pace.
“You’re later than expected. I heard you arrived at the Imperial Palace some time ago. Ah, my apologies, Your Highness the Second Consort. There was a small problem on the way. A problem? What kind of problem……”
The flat, emotionless voice reciting the conversation between the Second Consort and Ian contained far more information than I had anticipated.
‘Ian and the Second Consort aren’t as close as I thought.’
It seemed Ian had won over Marquis Redcliffe first.
And Helena appeared unable to say a single word about casting him aside, even after seeing that he had taken her father’s side.
‘Of course—she’s being blackmailed.’
Furthermore, Ian seemed to have a rough idea of the Prophet’s whereabouts.
‘He doesn’t know the exact location, but traces are always left where people have passed.’
Since he had found the villages the Prophet had recently stayed in, it was only a matter of time before the operatives following Ian located him.
Assassins were, after all, the best at tracking.
‘And the most important piece of information is……’
Ian would be participating in the upcoming subjugation expedition as an attendant to the Second Prince.
‘He’s even finished surveying the entire expedition zone. Not a single detail has been officially announced yet.’
Had the Redcliffe Marquisate tipped him off in advance?
Then the First Prince’s side must already know where the subjugation would take place as well.
‘Other information might be easy to obtain, but this concerns the subjugation that will decide the next heir to the throne.’
Even if it had been my past self, obtaining information about the subjugation would have been difficult.
‘Damn it. This is why you need a powerful noble as your backer.’
In both assassination and war, information was everything.
As expected, the quality and quantity of information one could obtain depended on how wealthy and powerful one’s supporter was.
“That’s all.”
Meanwhile, Lily finished relaying everything she had heard and blinked her lively eyes at me once more.
“Was there nothing else said about the subjugation?”
“No. Unfortunately, that was the entire conversation.”
What a shame.
I clicked my tongue softly and rubbed my brow.
“I should be heading back now.”
Lily turned to me and blinked her large eyes.
“Do you have any further instructions?”
“…If Viscount Miller visits the Second Consort’s palace again, let me know. Report everything he says and does there.”
“Understood. Any other instructions?”
When I shook my head in silence, Lily curtsied lightly.
I watched quietly as her figure disappeared.
“…I won’t even have time to be angry.”
The subjugation that would decide the princes’ fates was approaching fast.
I turned my back and gazed at the Third Prince’s Palace.
As I lowered my head, weighed down by an inexplicable heaviness, a bell-like voice rang out.
“Naaacheee!”
Emilia, who had spotted me from afar, was running toward me.
Behind her, Catherine was hurrying after her.