Kaien let out a small gasp at the feeling of his head clearing, even though he wasn’t in pain.
Just holding hands was enough to make his slight headache disappear and fill him with a refreshing sensation. If he could, Kaien would want to live his entire life holding Philome’s hand.
Without realizing it, Kaien closed his eyes and fully embraced the wave of comfort that washed over him.
Philome gazed quietly at Kaien, who was smiling peacefully with his eyes closed. Just by holding hands, both Kaien and Liazell had calmed significantly.
Later, when she asked, Kaien mentioned that it was an unusual case. The simple contact had proven to be quite effective.
Philome wondered if she might be a saint, so she tried holding hands with Sophia as well. However, Sophia remarked on how cold her hands were, leading her to fill the bedroom with heating stones that day, causing Philome to wake up drenched in sweat the next morning.
“Ah, Duke. So what happened to Ethan?”
Philome had heard from Kaien a few days earlier that he would soon deal with Ethan completely.
Kaien opened his eyes.
“I was just about to tell you. Today’s the day.”
“You’re going to release the drugs at the banquet today, right?”
“Yeah.”
Ethan was determined to carry out that plan.
Philome couldn’t quite grasp that the day had come, as she had never been entirely sure he would go through with it.
Kaien’s subordinate, Ken, had helped him come up with a plan and distribute the drugs, and they were going to spread them at the party.
“So, are you going to attend yourself?”
“No, there’s no need for us to make a move.”
“Ah.”
Understanding Kaien’s plan, Philome smiled slyly.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?”
“That’s right.”
Kaien smiled with satisfaction at Philome, who understood him perfectly with just a glance.
It was, quite literally, a plan to use the enemy’s enemy. If Kaien were to make a move, it would be too obvious, and things might get complicated.
However, if a family that was openly at odds with the Kevan Marquisate stepped in, it would make sense.
“Who are you planning to use? The Count of Dephra?”
Kaien asked in surprise.
“What? How do you know?”
“It’s because the people from the Kevan Marquisate curse the Dephra family every day.”
Having heard endless complaints about the Count of Dephra’s family, it was easy to connect the dots.
“You pick up on things quickly when I drop a few hints.”
“I completely forgot about it, but it seems things are going well.”
Philome said awkwardly.
At first, she had participated in the plan, but as various issues arose, she had completely forgotten about Ethan and Emon.
It was only when the plan was nearly complete that she remembered, and she was relieved to hear it was progressing smoothly.
“Good. Just keep forgetting about them.”
Kaien chuckled at the thought that she had completely forgotten about them.
“I’ll handle everything, so don’t worry.”
It was better for Philome to forget about them entirely than to feel uncomfortable worrying over them.
At that moment, something came to Philome’s mind, and she grinned.
“Shall we go see Emon? It sounds like fun to dress up extravagantly and tease him.”
“That’s not a bad idea. I’ll take care of the extravagant styling.”
Kaien felt even happier at the thought of playing a prank on Emon. He hoped the Kevan Marquisate would fall apart as soon as possible.
In any case, if they were caught and investigated for distributing drugs, evidence of their corruption and other illicit activities would come pouring out, so there was no need to do anything else.
“By the way, what’s that?”
Kaien pointed to Philome’s right hand with his chin.
On her right ring finger was a ring made of wildflowers.
“Oh, this was a gift from Liazell. Look at this.”
Philome wiggled her left ring finger, which was intertwined with Kaien’s.
“She asked why I keep wearing it, so I told her it’s an engagement ring that I wear with you. Then she gave me this today.”
Philome laughed as she looked at the ring on her right hand.
“The right ring finger is from Liazell.”
“Then the left one is mine?”
Kaien asked, wiggling his own left ring finger, which had a ring identical to Philome’s.
Philome grimaced.
“Are you really going to keep competing with a child?”
“If I don’t keep my guard up, I might lose to her, so I have to stay competitive. Don’t you think?”
Philome clicked her tongue.
Seeing that she seemed ready to get up, Kaien hurriedly said to keep her with him a little longer.
“There’s a royal banquet scheduled.”
“When?”
“In a week.”
“Since you’re mentioning it, I guess I’m expected to attend with you.”
“Yeah. It’s the last big banquet before we fully enter winter, so it can’t be helped.”
“I’ll prepare.”
Kaien licked his lips.
Noticing that he was hesitating, Philome asked, “…Is the Third Prince coming?”
“Yeah.”
Philome spoke with slightly downcast eyes. “He’s attending a lot of parties, even though it’s been 10 years since he returned.”
Meanwhile, the Crown Prince barely showed up once a year. It was quite a contrast.
“The Imperial Consort can’t interact with the nobles, so she’s using Winston.”
“By the way, I’m curious about something.”
“Sure.”
“Why is Winston the Third Prince? Isn’t he the Second Prince?”
“The Imperial consort had a child before Winston, but she had a miscarriage. It was late in the pregnancy, and since it wasn’t a natural miscarriage, His Majesty specially designated him as the Second Prince.”
Philome nodded in understanding.
“But there’s a secret behind that.”
“What is it?”
“The Imperial Consort used the Second Prince to solidify her position. At that time, she was merely a favored concubine. Although she had strong support from the noble faction, she could hardly become the official Empress.”
The Imperial Consort sacrificed the life inside her to rise to that position. This wasn’t just a simple rumor.
The Duke of Wintbell had been watching the Empress, who had suddenly gained the Emperor’s favor and received the support of the noble faction, learned about this.
Philome hesitated before asking, “Does His Majesty not know?”
The Emperor was far from being a tyrant. He had implemented many good policies, and even as he aged, his eyes and ears weren’t clouded by sycophants.
It was hard to believe that such an Emperor could be deceived by the Empress’s plans.
“Of course he knows. But by getting pregnant with Winston, he missed the chance to hold her accountable.”
Philome understood those words.
Kaien scoffed. “The Empress is truly lucky.”
While the Crown Prince’s position was secure, the existence of the child couldn’t be ignored. The Empress had timed her pregnancy perfectly, and the child had safely become a prince. Moreover, the fact that this prince was devoted enough to live away from home for ten years for the Empress could only be described as fortunate.
Suddenly, Philome was curious about Kaien’s plans. “How do you plan to bring them down?”
This was the first time she had asked since they had shared everything.
Kaien stood up and pulled out some documents from his desk, handing them to her. “Read this.”
Philome read the documents with a puzzled expression.
With each sentence, paragraph, and page she turned, her expression grew increasingly grave.
Finally, after reading the last page, Philome asked in disbelief, “You’re saying they’re in collusion with a black magician?”
Black magicians are those who wield corrupted powers.
While magicians and spirit users utilize their innate abilities, black magicians gain power by taking lives. The sin of killing a child is heavier, and the more innocent and weak the life taken, the stronger the power gained, which is why black magicians are rejected by society.
The country periodically hunts them down and puts out wanted notices, but they are a vile group that continues to emerge like cockroaches.
“Yeah. They probably plan to ally with the black magicians to gain power.”
“How can they want to make Winstons the Emperor while simultaneously destroying the country?”
If they used black magician’s power to make Winston emperor, they would obviously no longer hide and would become active.
If that happened, the country would never function properly.
“Can’t they think that far ahead?”
Even with limited thinking, one could deduce at least this much.
As Philome muttered seriously, Kaien replied lightly, “When desires are too great, it’s hard to maintain rationality, so it’s possible. The unfortunate part is that we still haven’t found solid evidence.”
“Because the black magician group is too secretive?”
“Exactly. That’s the problem.”
