Chapter 16
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Chapter 16
Helena's piano melody drifted softly through the silence that hung between them. Just as Charlotte, her words caught in her throat, was about to offer some excuse, Armand spoke in a glacial tone.
"On the day of Count Oslo's reception, you were standing right beside my carriage, bidding farewell to Philip Oslo. Your eyes never left me, so I thought perhaps you were simply another young lady captivated by my appearance. But now..."
Armand's gaze gleamed not with frivolous amusement, but with sharp, unmistakable menace.
"...I'm beginning to suspect that your visit to me today, Charlotte, stems from overhearing something I let slip on the day of Count Oslo's reception."
"I—that is to say..."
Charlotte stammered and faltered. She was utterly taken aback by this sharp side of Armand, so different from the impression he'd first made.
"Ah, to fulfill my duty as a man of honor, I suppose I should inform the Knights of Holland..."
He leaned toward Charlotte and whispered as though divulging a tremendous secret. His dense musculature rippled beneath the thin fabric of his shirt.
"...Why such a delicate young lady takes such keen interest in the prince's disappearance, where she obtained such privileged information—they would certainly be curious about that."
Charlotte swallowed hard. Leopold had said he came to London in secret for political reasons. Only the Knights of Holland, his closest confidants, and the prince himself knew of it. So it would certainly seem suspicious that a lady from Brentwood possessed such classified knowledge. Especially now that Leopold had vanished.
Armand smiled as though he could read every thought crossing Charlotte's mind.
"Being dragged away by the knights while your family's honor is tarnished...mmm, doesn't that sound dreadful, Charlotte?"
Charlotte's neck stiffened at Armand's icy voice. Then he spoke in a honeyed tone.
"Or perhaps...you could simply confide that secret to me first? With appropriate compensation, I could very well protect your secret, Charlotte."
Armand winked at Charlotte like a man conducting a clandestine transaction. Expecting compensation from a lady—perhaps he truly was the unscrupulous man Philip had described.
'And I've revealed my weakness right in front of such a person!'
Charlotte's lips began to dry with self-recrimination and anxiety as Helena's piano performance drew toward its conclusion.
Armand, having overheard the exchange, offered a thin smile and gestured toward the fan clutched in Charlotte's hand with a tilt of his chin.
"Miss Charlotte, when your sister's performance concludes, leave that damned gaudy fan here. Then I shall have reason to seek you out—using the fan as my excuse. As for secrets and their price... we can exchange them at that time."
The moment his cold voice ceased, Helena's playing stopped. Armand drained his wine glass in a single motion and rose abruptly from his seat. Then, as though he had never worn such a frigid expression, he called out to Helena in a frivolous tone once more.
"Bravo! A truly flawless performance! I must say, you demonstrated remarkable skill with that newly developed damper pedal..."
Yet Charlotte, frozen and unable to utter a word, heard the conversation between Helena and Armand as though it were echoing from some distant place.
***
Having barely arrived home after leaving Armand's Mansion, Charlotte found her mind in a daze.
Armand, contrary to the seemingly careless attitude he displayed, had posed sharp questions. Yet the moment Helena's performance ended, he wore a warm smile as though nothing had transpired, lavishing praise upon her musical prowess.
'Was everything he showed me until now nothing but a lie? Was even his drunken behavior at Count Oslo's Mansion merely an act?'
Charlotte could not suppress her shock at Armand's strikingly different personas. His exaggerated welcome, which she had dismissed as the behavior of a frivolous philanderer, and his densely muscular frame—hardly befitting a noble—now appeared in an entirely different light.
Charlotte recalled Armand's parting words.
'Meeting ladies such as yourselves is surely fate. I do hope we shall meet again.'
With a seductive smile, Armand had risen and pressed his lips to the back of Helena's gloved hand. When it came time to do the same to Charlotte's hand, he had not forgotten to whisper in a low voice audible only to her.
'I do look forward to the secrets we shall share, Miss Charlotte.'
Upon hearing Armand's veiled threat, Charlotte had been forced to drop the fan she had tucked into her sleeve before leaving the drawing room. Everything that followed remained a blur. She could not recall how she had returned home, what new complaints Helena had voiced in the carriage, none of it. Instead, her heart only tightened at the memory of the suspicion burning in Armand's eyes.
'I sought out the Rochefort Family hoping to glean information, and instead I've only invited suspicion. How perfectly ridiculous, Charlotte Augusta!'
Charlotte tapped her forehead repeatedly as she gazed at her reflection in the vanity mirror. She had believed she could extract new information from the seemingly incompetent Armand, but it had all been her own delusion.
Then, a familiar voice reached her from behind.
"You never cease to reveal new facets of yourself to me."
By the window stood Leopold, tall and striking, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. He narrowed his eyes at Charlotte as though genuinely surprised.
"Last time you were rolling around the bed like a kitten, and now you're pecking at the desk with your head like a woodpecker. What's next—are you planning to become one?"
Despite his teasing remarks, Charlotte sprang from her seat as though meeting a savior and cried out.
"Your Highness Leopold!"
Relief and joy flickered across Charlotte's face for only a moment before her expression crumpled into something vulnerable, and she approached Leopold.
"Your Highness, something terrible has happened. I... that is to say..."
As Charlotte gazed at Leopold with the pitiful eyes of a guilty puppy, one of his eyebrows arched upward. He then tilted his chin slightly in a gesture urging her to speak.
Charlotte climbed onto the bed and pulled at the hem of Leopold's sleeve, drawing it toward herself as she spoke.
"The truth is, I visited Armand Rochefort's estate today. Given his reputation as a philanderer, I thought that seeing Helena's beauty would convince him to let us inside. That part went well enough, but then..."
After recounting the entire conversation she'd had with Armand to Leopold, Charlotte continued.
"...so it seems Armand has become suspicious of me. I should have anticipated that someone who is your friend wouldn't be a frivolous person... Surely he doesn't actually suspect me of being the culprit? Or will he hand me over to the Knights of Holland, or use my mistake as leverage for blackmail...?"
At Charlotte's words, Leopold's straight, delicate eyebrows twisted slightly. He opened his mouth slowly.
"...Charlotte."
"Your Highness, are you disappointed in me for doing something so foolish?"
Frightened by Leopold's low voice, Charlotte spoke first.
"I swore to help you on the honor of my future husband, and now I've ruined everything. If the investigation is delayed because of me..."
Leopold turned his head toward Charlotte and spoke. His face bore an intelligent, trustworthy gaze and a gentle smile that would reassure anyone.
"That's not it... It's all right, Charlotte. I should have told you about Armand beforehand."
Suddenly, noticing tears glistening in Charlotte's eyes, Leopold reached out with one hand and tucked her disheveled hair behind her ear. Charlotte felt her heart warm at his unexpected tenderness.
Leopold slowly began to speak.
"Armand is my secret knight, Charlotte. Despite appearances, he is a devoted and valiant retainer of unwavering persistence. By now, he's likely searching for me by any means necessary. Since you asked him questions that seemed like you were testing him, it's only natural that he would suspect you—and your entire family."
Charlotte wiped away her tears, her eyes wide with shock as she spoke.
"What? A secret knight? ...Then, the reason you created a pretext to find me, was it to investigate my family...?"
Charlotte brought both hands to her lips. Of course. The "old friend" Leopold had told her to meet could never be merely some reckless nobleman's son.
Leopold paused in thought before responding.
"Likely so. He probably doesn't believe you—a mere innocent young lady—were directly involved in my disappearance. Rather than handing you over to the search party, he's probably watching your father and those around you more closely on his own."
Armand Rochefort knew everything about Leopold's political movements during his time in England. He knew about meeting the spies planted here, about contacting the heads of state attending the Vienna Conference—all of it. So it was far more likely that he was investigating Leopold's case separately, rather than working alongside England's search party.
Leopold resumed his usual unhurried expression and shrugged his shoulders.
"If I fall under Armand's suspicion, it becomes troublesome. As a secret knight who swears his oath to his liege rather than to a nation, there is nothing about me that Armand doesn't know. So even a clumsy lie would be exposed in an instant."
Charlotte bit her lip several times before lifting her gaze to look at Leopold and speaking.
"Then what should I do? Should I simply say it was a slip of the tongue from a curious lady? Or perhaps mention that I can see Your Highness...?"
Leopold offered a faint smile at Charlotte's innocent words.
"Unfortunately, sometimes the truth sounds more fragile than a lie. Just as the truth that only you can see my soul does."
Leopold raised his tall frame and turned to face Charlotte. Though he sat casually on her bed, the noble dignity ingrained in him as a prince remained unchanged.
Leopold continued speaking.
"A secret knight who knows everything about his liege. And yet...there is always an exception."
"An exception? What exception?"
Though Charlotte's eyes still glistened with tears, curiosity stirred within her at Leopold's oddly composed demeanor. Then Leopold spoke in a low voice, as if sharing a secret.
"If something were to shake my soul—something I would not reveal even to the knight who shares all my pain and joy with me...that would become an exception, wouldn't it, Charlotte?"
Charlotte blinked her eyes slowly, as if struggling to comprehend Leopold's cryptic words.
"Wait, so you're saying something has happened that shakes Your Highness's soul, but what exactly...?"
Leopold caught sight of Charlotte's adorable expression as she shook her head in denial, and a faint smile played at the corners of his lips.
"Falling in love."
Leopold whispered, his eyebrows arching slightly.
"Tell Armand Rochefort that you were my secret lover, Charlotte."
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org