Episode 36
I slowly moved the fork and picked up a grape from the cake. As I brought it to my mouth and chewed, a tangy sweetness spread.
Smiling with the corners of my eyes, I spoke to him.
“Eat it, Aiden. It’s sweet.”
The strength drained from his forcibly raised red eyes.
With a complicated expression, Aiden let out a hollow laugh and glared at the cake before picking up his fork.
Then, he devoured two slices of cake in just four bites.
I was glad he ate well, but I was bewildered that the cake, of which I hadn’t even eaten half a slice, disappeared in an instant.
“Shall I give you more?”
“No, Your Majesty. It’s more than enough already.”
I didn’t ask what was enough.
For some unknown reason, Aiden seemed relieved and was smiling.
After moving to the reception room, Aiden seated me at the head seat and chose the sofa closest to me out of the six available.
“We found the inn where the assassins were staying.”
“Those assassins?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. They had been there since two days before Your Majesty arrived.”
“They sent assassins as soon as they knew I was going on vacation. Have you found out who sent them?”
“We are currently sweeping through all assassin groups within a two-day radius of Lingrove. Additionally, we are looking into the disappearance of six knights. We will find out soon.”
“What happened to the missing forester?”
Aiden gritted his teeth and his eyes flashed, then his eyebrows drooped sullenly.
I felt like I knew the answer just from his expression.
The forester who suddenly quit after Nerian’s death and whose whereabouts have been unknown since then.
A thought crossed my mind that there might be another reason for not being able to find him despite Aiden and White Shadow’s best efforts.
“He might already be dead.”
Aiden sighed and nodded.
“It seems he was silenced.”
“So we can never reveal that the Marquis of Senwood assassinated the Emperor? Didn’t you find a clue?”
“The missing forester was not the type to keep secrets, but we haven’t found any evidence other than his words.”
Aiden explained with a gloomy face the connection he found between the forester and the Marquis of Senwood.
Before the Emperor’s death, the forester suddenly started spending lavishly.
To those who asked where he got the money, he boasted that he had connections with a high-ranking person.
Among the people he bragged to about his money was a woman he was trying to win over.
He took her to a fancy residential area and showed her a splendid house, claiming it was his.
That house was the only piece of evidence linking the missing forester to the Marquis of Senwood.
“That house is one of many properties leased by the Marquis of Senwood. The official owner on paper is his nephew, Viscount Gelphillow, but it seems he was trying to transfer the house to the forester through his nephew.”
“Is there no record of the transaction? This concerns the assassination of the Emperor. The forester wouldn’t have acted without substantial certainty.”
“It’s hard to confirm without finding a contract. Viscount Gelphillow claims he knows nothing about it.”
With the forester’s disappearance, any traces he left behind also vanished.
Since the opponent was the nephew of the Marquis of Senwood, White Shadow couldn’t move recklessly. Even if they wanted to capture and interrogate him, the Marquis of Senwood would raise a fuss.
We’ve wasted too much time.
It’s been over a month since the Emperor died, so any remaining evidence would have evaporated by now.
I regretted not starting the investigation sooner. Even though I knew it was pointless, I couldn’t help but feel regretful.
“Shall I just sweep them all away?”
I looked up at Aiden’s voice to see him looking at me with a face like a puppy begging for a walk.
His face was so harmless that I almost said yes.
Sweep them away? Do I want to turn all the nobles of Belpator against me?
“Absolutely not, Aiden.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
I spoke sternly, and he meekly agreed.
He was like an unpredictable puppy—sometimes docile, sometimes fierce.
As I sighed and looked at him, Aiden’s expression was so puppy-like that I couldn’t help but worry.
“Aiden, can you really use that power so easily?”
“That power? Ah, ‘that power’. I can sweep away the Marquis of Senwood without even going mad.”
“I said no.”
“That’s what you said.”
His face, smiling faintly, looked unusually gentle like a puppy in front of its master today, so I asked cautiously.
“I heard that the side effects are significant because it’s a special power. Why did you promise to use that power for me?”
“Because that was the only thing I had. I’m not handsome or polite. From then on, I think I just wanted Your Majesty’s favor.”
“Excuse me, what?”
“Favor.”
“What?”
I thought there was something wrong with my hearing. As I rubbed my ears with my fingers and asked again, Aiden looked sullen and closed his mouth.
I could tell he was sulking, but it didn’t make any sense.
“Sorry, but could you say it one more time? I think I misheard.”
“Were you planning not to show me any affection after taming me?”
He asked with a face that looked wronged, and this time, I was speechless.
When did I ever… Well, I did try to tame you a moment ago by giving you cake.
The situation matched, but that doesn’t mean you should look like an abandoned puppy, does it?
No, wait, you’re not a dog; you’re a human.
I didn’t even know where to start correcting him, and Aiden continued to look wronged right in front of me.
Barely holding onto my drifting sanity, I decided to answer his question first.
“Who said I wouldn’t? It’s just that, well, yes, I mean, I’m concerned. I heard that using that power is a great burden on you.”
Desperately trying to change the subject, I left the unspoken words unsaid, but I hoped he would understand my intention.
Fortunately, Aiden smiled slightly, accepting my effort.
“That’s correct. As you know, my father went mad and died after using that power twice. Since we’re on the topic, I have a favor to ask, Your Majesty.”
“A favor?”
“If I go mad, can I come back to Your Majesty’s side?”
What kind of strange request is that?
Not understanding what he meant at all, I tilted my head and asked again.
“Are you planning to go mad somewhere?”
“When His Highness Lothania becomes Empress, she will use my power at least once. If I become a mad dog, I ask to be released. The previous Emperor granted me that much mercy.”
After his lengthy explanation, Aiden smiled forlornly.
I just stared at his red, gem-like eyes that shone with a sad hue, not knowing what expression to make.
My mind felt foggy.
He knows what we intend to do with the beasts.
If Lothania awakens and becomes the master of the beasts and the Emperor of Belpator, Aiden will have to live the life of a dog once again.
Perhaps a life where he goes mad and dies like his father.
Unable to say anything, he added, looking flustered.
“Don’t worry. Even as a mad dog, I won’t harm Your Majesty. I can promise you that.”
So, can he return to my side?
Is that your ‘favor’?
Unable to face him any longer, I lowered my head to avoid his eyes.
“Lotti, Lothania said she would break the dog’s pact.”
If we bring the snake and the eagle, he promised to break the dog’s oath in exchange for not aiming for the Emperor’s seat.
That was our agreement.
Aiden’s voice, mixed with self-mockery, fell above my head.
“Ah, the agreement.”
It was just one word, but it felt like I had heard many things.
If he were as blunt as Vitrain, I would have an excuse, but Aiden didn’t speak any further after that.
Taking a deep breath, I looked up, and his eyes were the same as before.
The gentle and sad eyes of a puppy looking at its master.
I must have taken a breath for too long; an unexpected remark slipped out with my exhaled breath.
“The agreement is void.”
Even so, Aiden’s eyes remained unchanged.
There were things I didn’t know back then that I know now. As my perspective changed, the situation changed, and Belpator needed the beasts.
That means, I and Lothania, who will live in Belpator, also needed the beasts.
No matter what the relationship between them and us, it was a fact.
I needed the beasts; I needed Aiden.
