Episode 29

I held Lothania’s hands tightly to prevent her from reaching for the carriage door again and said,

“If Vitrain wanted to kill me, he wouldn’t do it so sloppily. We can’t rule out all suspicion, but it’s better not to act rashly.”

Though Vitrain had indeed attempted some sloppy scheming, I decided not to tell Lothania about it.

“Then who could it be…?”

Lothania muttered dejectedly, the fire of murderous intent in her eyes now dampened.

She must be scared. I am too.

I had feared being torn apart by beasts, but facing such a direct threat for the first time was terrifying.

The fact that someone could try to kill me anytime, anywhere, was a more frightening threat than a sword at my throat.

It’s strange.

I often find myself surprised by how my personality seems to have changed recently.

Today was another instance. Thanks to Aiden, I barely escaped death. Instead of wanting to flee, I felt angry and defiant.

There’s no way someone could harbor such deep resentment towards me after just a month. The unknown person targeting my life must be driven by their own desires.

They either want something I have or I am standing in the way of something they desire.

I didn’t want to die for such a trivial reason. I didn’t want to run away. I didn’t want to give up or let them take anything from me.

I wanted to fight.

I may be the timid fourth princess and the powerless empress from a small country, but I still wanted to fight.

Holding the small hand of the child who had entrusted everything to me, I smiled gently and said,

“Whoever it is, I’ll find them, Lotti. I’ll make sure they never target us again. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

“Mother…”

“Next year, we’ll definitely come back to see the elephants, okay?”

“Yes!”

Lothania responded with a bright smile, like a blooming flower.

Though she had great spirit and charisma, she was most beautiful when she smiled brightly.

Once she had calmed down and sat quietly, I asked what she had discussed with Henry earlier.

Lothania hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Aunt Bonita sent someone to the Kingdom of Dirmil.”

“To the Kingdom of Dirmil?”

“Yes. She’s clearly trying to send you back.”

That made sense. There would be no other reason for Bonita to contact Dirmil.

After being banned from the palace, she had stirred up the nobles to try to reinstate the former empress. When that failed, she reached out to Dirmil?

She was certainly a troublesome person.

I patted Lothania’s head, who looked apologetic, and confidently said,

“Don’t worry, Lotti. The Kingdom of Dirmil won’t be able to do anything to me, the Empress of Belpator.”

“Really?”

“Of course. But I will need to have a talk with Marchioness Senwood.”

Maybe I should have confronted her directly from the start.

Though I hadn’t mentioned it to Lothania, I wasn’t sure if Henry had come to her of his own will or under Bonita’s orders.

The fact that Henry took Lothania away, causing our group to scatter, and then the assassin appeared right after, seemed too coincidental.

With things as they were, the vacation was effectively over.

Regardless of what Vitrain said, I decided we should leave for Brincia early the next day as I returned to the summer palace.

* * *

“An assassin?”

Vitrain’s face hardened as he repeated the word, and Aiden let out a dry laugh.

“You look like you don’t know anything.”

“Of course, I don’t know. Why would I harm Her Majesty?”

“And you expect me to believe that after you hired thugs?”

Vitrain clenched his teeth at Aiden’s sharp words.

It was pointless to lie any further, especially since Sione had already seen through him.

Cold eyes and an even colder rejection.

Sione didn’t even bother to interrogate him about the lies; she simply turned her back and ignored him.

He should have begged for forgiveness. He shouldn’t have tried such a petty trick in the first place.

For the first time, he felt utterly exposed in front of others earlier today.

When Sione saw through his ruse and rejected him, he felt humiliated and helpless.

In his desperation to salvage his mistake before the vacation ended, he made a foolish choice that put Sione in danger, closing the little bit of trust she had opened to him.

Vitrain closed his eyes and rubbed his face in frustration.

“Go on. Are you sure it was an assassin?”

“There were six of them, all skilled with swords. We’ve checked everyone who entered Lingrove today, so they must have been hiding since at least yesterday.”

“And the mastermind?”

“I killed them all.”

Aiden shrugged as he answered.

Judging by their skills, they were adept swordsmen. Even if he had spared one, it was uncertain they would have revealed who hired them. But with them dead, it was a moot point.

Vitrain looked at Aiden in surprise.

“That’s unusual.”

As the head of the intelligence agency, Aiden was used to such situations. Vitrain expected him to have kept at least one alive for questioning.

Aiden thought he would do that too. That was the dog’s way.

From the moment Sione disappeared into the crowd, he couldn’t remember what he had been thinking. When he finally spotted her from a distance, with a glinting sword over her head, he just acted.

When he came to, the assassins were all dead on the ground.

Vitrain narrowed his blue eyes and looked at Aiden.

There was no need to use the “eyes of the eagle.” The dog was always an open book.

It wasn’t hard for Vitrain to read Aiden’s thoughts, and he let out a dry laugh.

“I thought you were loyal to the Emperor, but it turns out you’re just a dog with no principles.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Aiden’s demeanor changed. In the blink of an eye, Aiden’s sword was at Vitrain’s throat again.

Vitrain, annoyed at being caught off guard, frowned.

“Enough. I won’t tolerate this twice.”

“You’re the one who should know your place. Snooping around like a scavenger.”

Vitrain’s calm demeanor cracked as he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, glaring at Aiden with murderous intent. Aiden adjusted his grip on his sword, ready to strike.

With the Empress and the Crown Princess’s carriage ready to depart, the tense standoff between the dog and the eagle left the onlookers uneasy.

Among the knights, Melbrid sighed deeply.

“Both of you, stop.”

When neither Aiden nor Vitrain responded, Melbrid placed his hands on his hips and warned sternly.

“Shall I report your fight to Her Majesty?”

That did the trick. Vitrain clicked his tongue in annoyance and withdrew his hand from his sword, and Aiden lowered his weapon as well.

They turned their backs on each other simultaneously, and Melbrid let out a heavy sigh before boarding the carriage.

After Vitrain left, a woman in a black dress who had been observing from the shadows approached Aiden.

“No other suspicious figures, Captain.”

“No one else approached the Crown Princess?”

“Except for Young Lord Senwood.”

“And the thugs in the alley?”

“You took care of them, right? I need to reach the summer palace before our princess does.”

Anna, a member of the White Shadow and Lothania’s maid, said nonchalantly, balancing on one leg.

Aiden waved her off, and she swiftly mounted her horse and rode towards the summer palace.

She had the important task of getting Lothania into her bunny pajamas before the princess arrived.

Aiden watched Anna disappear before mounting his own horse.

Despite reactivating the White Shadow for some time, he felt like something was still slipping through his fingers.

The whereabouts of the missing forest ranger remained unknown, and the broken clues never seemed to connect.

And then there was the assassination attempt on Sione.

Was the sly eagle pretending ignorance? Or was it the snake’s unseen trickery?

Or perhaps someone else was trying to take a bite out of the beasts’ prey.

That seemed the most likely scenario for now.

“Henry Senwood…”

If he wasn’t the son of a princess, Aiden would have dragged him in for questioning immediately.

The late Emperor Nerian had cared for his nephew greatly.

Eventually, Aiden would have to confront Bonita’s ambitions, but for now, Nerian’s shadow still weighed heavily on him.

“A dog with no principles.”

The eagle’s words echoed in Aiden’s mind, and he let out a groan, scratching his neck.

Vitrain was wrong. Aiden’s loyalty was unwavering.

Nerian had been his savior, his parent, and his master. That’s why he resented him so much.

His savior was the only one who could kill him, his parent died at that person’s hand, and he remained a dog.

After his master’s death, neither able to laugh nor cry, Aiden’s sole remaining wish was to live as a human. But he was still just a dog.

As he rode after Sione’s carriage, Aiden suddenly felt a wave of sadness.