Episode 33

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Not long after sending the eagle away, someone knocked on the door.

It was Aiden, with a triumphant expression on his face.

“Your Majesty, we have secured a witness.”

“A witness?”

“Yes, the one who leaked Your Majesty’s information in the back alley. He hasn’t left yet, so just give the order, and we’ll arrest him immediately.”

I wondered where he had gone after breakfast, and it seemed he had been busy breaking the knees of the Lingrove thugs.

His efforts were commendable, but Vitren had just confessed a short while ago. I had already decided to postpone his punishment.

I slightly averted my gaze from Aiden, who was looking at me expectantly like a puppy seeking praise, and said,

“That matter will be put aside for now.”

“What? Just let it go? Your Majesty was in danger.”

“You saved me, didn’t you? That’s enough.”

“Moreover, it’s a perfect opportunity to clip the eagle’s wings.”

Aiden looked at me with a face full of incomprehension.

From his perspective, it would be hard to understand. After all, I had made an agreement to catch the snake and the eagle, and now I was seemingly throwing away the opportunity.

While I was contemplating how to placate Aiden, who might start grumbling about agreements and deals, he unexpectedly nodded readily.

“If it’s not Your Majesty’s wish, I have no choice. The preparations for departure are complete. I will escort you to the palace.”

I looked at Aiden’s outstretched hand for a moment, then met his eyes and asked,

“Is that all?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s the first time you’ve obeyed my words without any protest.”

“…Should I not obey?”

“No, I was praising you.”

As Aiden tilted his head in question, I quickly grabbed his hand and answered.

A well-behaved dog is the best dog, after all. Indeed.

I was about to walk towards the door, thinking the preparations were done, but Aiden, holding my hand, didn’t move.

When I turned around to see why, he looked at me with an expression like a puppy needing to go out, lips slightly parted.

“Lord Aiden?”

“I…”

“You?”

“It’s nothing.”

After making me curious, he said it was nothing. Why did he look so uncomfortable then?

Facing him, I asked again,

“If you have something to say, say it, Lord Aiden. Why are you acting like this?”

“…Thank you for calling me a human.”

Then, with an awkward expression, Aiden looked away.

I realized he was still thinking about what happened with Bonita in the morning.

“It was a natural thing to say, no need to thank me.”

“Is that so? It was the first time anyone said that to me.”

He answered with a peculiar expression, unclear whether he was happy or sad.

A sensitive dog must have been unknowingly hurt many times.

Indeed, anyone would be hurt if they were called a beast to their face, unable to share a meal or anything.

Recalling Bonita’s nasty words, Aiden’s face, accustomed to looking away, came to mind as well.

I pulled Aiden’s hand and led him to the mirror.

Standing in front of the large mirror, our considerable height difference was reflected.

“Look, Lord Aiden. You are a person no matter how you look at it. It’s so obvious that it doesn’t even need to be said.”

Aiden carefully examined his reflection and mine in the mirror.

Black hair, red eyes. Thick eyebrows, a straight nose, not too thin nor too thick lips, and a chiseled jawline.

He looked like a fierce and handsome man no matter who saw him.

When I brought him to see his reflection, his red eyes in the mirror kept meeting mine.

As we looked at each other through the mirror for a moment, Aiden’s neck slowly turned red.

When I looked at his actual profile instead of the reflection, even his ears were red.

Why is he acting like this? Has he never seen a mirror before?

“Lord Aiden?”

He continued to stare at the mirror, not looking at me, then finally covered his mouth with his hand and muttered something.

“Lord Aiden? I didn’t hear what you said.”

“Just call me by my name, no need for the title.”

That’s not what I heard. He clearly said something else.

It’s strange, but if that’s what he says, what can I do? I nodded, and Aiden turned away without looking at me.

He escorted me to the carriage without making eye contact.

When I got into the carriage with Lothania, he bowed respectfully and closed the door, but we still didn’t meet eyes.

I had no idea why he was acting like this.

As I shook my head, Lothania moved to sit next to me and asked,

“Mother, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, Lotti. I just feel sad that our vacation is over.”

When I asked while stroking Lothania’s honey-gold hair, she shook her head vigorously.

“Mother’s safety is much more important! We can come back for vacation next year.”

When I was twelve, I think I was a child who only cared about myself.

It was both admirable and sad to see Lothania maturing so quickly.

Worried that I might have been frightened by the assassins, Lothania filled the conversation with cheerful stories.

Apart from the Beryl Lake and the festival of the lake spirit, there were many enjoyable things around Lingrove, she said.

Listening to her talk about hoping to have a worry-free vacation next year, I became curious.

“Lotti, about Marchioness Senwood and her son, did you spend vacations together every year until last year?”

Lothania, who had been chattering happily, nodded with a somber look in her eyes.

“Did you used to get along well with the Marchioness? I heard you were quite fond of her.”

Lothania nodded again.

If what Bonita said about Lothania being close to her aunt and Bonita doting on her only niece was true, the change in their relationship now seemed too extreme.

The relationship I remembered between Lothania and Bonita was Lothania desperately trying to get away from her aunt’s embrace on the day of the Emperor’s funeral.

As I continued to stroke Lothania’s hair, I carefully asked,

“Then, after His Majesty passed away, did something happen that I don’t know about? Did the Marchioness say something?”

Lothania shook her head slightly and hesitated before starting to speak with difficulty.

“Since last fall, Aunt Bonita started acting strange.”

“Strange? How so?”

“She used to be nice, but she became kind of scary. Henry noticed it too. He said Mother was acting weird since last fall.”

Lothania thought that perhaps a rift had formed between Bonita and the Emperor around that time.

Although she didn’t know the details, she recalled several instances when her aunt visited the palace and had loud arguments with the Emperor.

It was also around that time that the Emperor of Belpator, who had mourned the late Empress for a long time, decided he needed a new Empress.

Bonita, who had been subtly involved in internal affairs as the Emperor’s only sister, was being sidelined, and the Emperor needed someone to take on the role of the matron of the empire.

In the Belpator Empire, apart from the three ducal families, there was no noble family that wasn’t connected to the House of Senwood.

The Emperor had chosen a new Empress from another country partly because of this, but Bonita had vehemently opposed my appointment as Empress.

“Last spring, Father got very angry. Since then, Aunt Bonita stopped coming to the palace.”

So, on the day of my wedding to Nerian, it had been months since Lothania had last seen Bonita.

Lothania was worried because Bonita kept glaring at me throughout the wedding, but I was too busy that day to even notice her gaze.

The wedding day passed, and then the Emperor died.

Bonita attended the Emperor’s funeral, and I vividly remembered that day as well.

“So that’s why you were wary of Marchioness Senwood that day, Lotti…”

I murmured, recalling the image of Lothania clutching my skirt and trembling in Bonita’s arms. Lothania hugged my waist and buried herself in my embrace.

“She was smiling.”

“Hmm? What did you say, Lotti?”

“That day, Aunt Bonita’s eyes were smiling, Mother.”

Lothania hugged me tightly and trembled.

For the first time, she spoke out loud about what she had seen that day.

She couldn’t have told anyone.

She must have been terrified. Afraid that what she saw was real.

Even though their relationship had become strained recently, Bonita had been someone who filled the void of a mother for Lothania for over ten years.

Lothania, who had the courage to face even the beasts, found it completely different to confront someone who had been family as an enemy.

All I could do was hold Lothania, who had faced that fear alone, feeling utterly powerless to do anything more.