Episode 61

Lothania, with one cheek puffed out from the candy in her mouth, spoke sternly through her muffled voice.

“I will never allow Mother to marry someone she doesn’t want. No matter what that snake is plotting, I will definitely stop it.”

“Understood, Your Highness.”

Aiden responded with a firm face, but Lothania’s gaze was full of suspicion.

He was not very convincing.

Despite hovering around her every day, Sione was still talking about marrying another man.

“Do better, Duke Tilender. How do you expect to win Mother’s heart like this?”

Even with Lothania’s sigh-filled reproach, Aiden had no words to say.

He thought they were getting closer little by little, but Sione’s heart still felt distant.

As Aiden left the Crown Princess’s palace, he wandered through the early autumn night, where a fairly chilly breeze had begun to blow as the night deepened.

Had she forgotten the summer night concert they spent together?

Looking up at the brightly shining autumn moon, Aiden sighed and called for Erik, the lieutenant of the White Shadow.

Due to the captain’s recent habit of practically living in the Imperial Palace, Erik, who was waiting inside, rushed to him.

“Any movements from the House of Zernia?”

“No, it’s been quiet all day.”

“And the Duke?”

“They say Duke Zernia hasn’t done anything for days now.”

“Hasn’t done anything?”

“Yes, he’s been holed up in his room and hasn’t come out, like a snake hibernating in winter.”

“Are you sure? Who’s keeping an eye on the House of Zernia right now?”

“Theo has been in charge since this year.”

Theo was a veteran with long experience in the White Shadow.

Feeling reassured that a member who wouldn’t miss any of Lian’s movements was on the case, Aiden turned to leave but then looked back at Erik.

“Who was in charge of that snake before Theo?”

“Last year, the one handling the House of Zernia was….”

Erik’s face hardened as he trailed off, trying to recall.

“It was Minster.”

Upon hearing his answer, Aiden’s sharp eyebrows knitted together.

Noticing the captain’s suddenly keen gaze, Erik cautiously asked, “Do you think this is related to the current situation?”

Aiden didn’t respond.

Minster.

The rat from the White Shadow who was currently locked up in the interrogation room of the Duke of Tilender’s annex was Minster.

Nothing could be definitively said, but with Lian Zernia involved, everything was suspicious.

“Tell Theo not to take his eyes off Duke Zernia for even a moment.”

Leaving this instruction to his subordinate, Aiden turned away.

The moon that had been shining brightly moments ago was now obscured by clouds, casting shadows.

As Aiden stepped into the darkened shadows, he thought.

The beginning of all this was the sudden death of the Emperor, the master of the pact.

And then there was the Emperor’s sister, Bonita, who was suspected of orchestrating his death and was killed by the snake’s power.

Hadn’t Bonita’s attitude, which had made the Senwood Marquisate a staunch ally of the Emperor, changed suddenly last autumn?

And Minster, the only witness who could prove that Bonita assassinated the Emperor.

That faint but suspicious link between Minster and Lian Zernia…

Lost in these tangled thoughts, Aiden continued to walk through the darkness until he found himself in a familiar place.

The clouds had cleared, and the moonlight now illuminated the roof of the Empress’s palace.

The white curtains of Sione’s second-floor bedroom window were fluttering in the wind.

Normally, she would have been in bed by now, but the room was still lit.

Aiden glanced up at the window before leaping onto a nearby tree.

He intended to watch over her until she fell asleep.

He told himself that he would leave once Sione lay down in bed and the lights went out, just to make sure she was safely asleep—nothing more.

Muttering excuses that seemed to be directed at no one in particular, Aiden peered into Sione’s bedroom.

However, she was nowhere to be seen inside.

He thought she might have stepped out for a moment, so he continued to wait, but Sione did not reappear.

The white curtains continued to flutter in the wide-open window, and suddenly, with his vision turning white, Aiden lunged toward Sione’s room terrace.

* * *

The cool early autumn breeze made me leave the window open.

It was quite late, but there was something I needed to confirm, even if it meant staying up all night.

I had brought every book related to the Empire’s Serpent from the royal archives.

There wasn’t enough space on the desk, so I spread them out on the floor and sat there.

Just as I began flipping through the closest book, Aiden, with a pale face, burst through the window.

“Your Majesty!”

I was so startled that my heart nearly leaped out of my chest.

It was Aiden who suddenly barged in, yet he looked more shocked than I was.

“Aiden?”

“Your Majesty! Are you all right?”

“What is the meaning of this?!”

Startled by the commotion, the Royal Guard and the maids stationed at the Empress’s palace rushed into my room.

It turned into a full-blown panic in the middle of the night, and it wasn’t until I reassured everyone about ten times that nothing was wrong that I could send the knights and maids out.

After barely managing to calm the situation, I turned to Aiden, the cause of all this chaos, and demanded an explanation.

“Aiden, what on earth is going on?”

“My apologies, Your Majesty.”

“Never mind the apologies—what happened? Why did you do that?”

“I thought Your Majesty had disappeared…”

“What?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Aiden mumbled incoherently before bowing deeply and apologizing.

Seeing his drooped shoulders and dejected expression, I couldn’t bring myself to scold him further.

So, he was passing by and decided to check on me, but I happened to be sitting on the floor, obscured by the desk, and out of sight.

Thinking I had been kidnapped, he had panicked and rushed in, repeatedly apologizing with a sullen face.

I was about to dismiss it as an overreaction when something struck me as odd.

“How could you just happen to be passing by the Empress’s palace at this hour? Aiden, why haven’t you left the palace yet? What were you doing?”

“There was still work left for the Captain of the Royal Guard…”

“And you were passing by and decided to check? This is the second floor, Aiden.”

“Well, I am rather tall…”

I glared at Aiden as he continued to mumble incoherently, and his shoulders slumped even further as if they might touch the ground.

Giving one last warning to the hunched, miserable-looking man, I said sternly.

“Aiden, I cannot stand liars.”

Aiden’s eyes widened in shock, and soon he confessed everything. He admitted to secretly meeting with Lothania and climbing the tree outside the Empress’s palace, apologizing repeatedly with a pitiful expression.

I nearly burst out laughing; his behavior was unexpectedly cute for someone of his size.

Suppressing my laughter by pressing my lips together, I asked in a stern voice.

“Why were you meeting Lothania at this hour?”

Aiden rolled his red eyes around, then, with a face of utter misery, asked.

“Your Majesty, are you going to marry Duke Zernia?”

At that moment, I understood what they must have talked about during their late-night conversation.

I had been so overwhelmed lately, thinking that I should give Lian an answer soon, that I had said something unnecessary to Lothania during the day.

It seemed that she had called Aiden to discuss her fear that I might actually marry Lian.

Those two always bicker when they meet, but they’re secretly close.

Just as I was about to tell him that wasn’t the case, Aiden, with eyes resembling red candies dropped in water, asked again.

“Are you rejecting my proposal?”

“Ah…”

I covered my mouth with one hand and swallowed hard.

Oh my goodness.

I had completely forgotten.

Among the three beasts, his confession was the only genuine one, which is why I hadn’t been able to reject it outright.

I had been so caught up in thinking about how to respond that, with all the headaches that followed, I had completely forgotten.

“I’m sorry, Aiden.”

I hurriedly apologized, and Aiden slowly lowered his gaze.

Clearing his throat, he tried to appear composed, but his voice was anything but steady as he said.

“Even if Your Majesty marries Duke Zernia, I will continue to protect you without fail.”

“That’s not it, Aiden. I’m not marrying him. If I were to get married, I’d rather—”

“—rather?”

Rather what?

Was I about to say that if I had to marry someone, I’d rather marry you?

Get a grip.

I’ve been so overwhelmed lately that I almost let that slip out.

I turned away from Aiden and shook my head.

“It’s nothing.”

Aiden tilted his head and looked at me before cautiously asking, “Then, does that mean you haven’t rejected my proposal yet?”

Is everyone obsessed with marriage?

I was about to snap and say that I was sick and tired of the very idea of marriage, but when I turned back to Aiden with a frown, his face looked like that of a puppy.

Not just any puppy, but one looking up at its owner with innocent, sparkling eyes, full of anticipation for a treat.

If Aiden were a snake, I might have suspected that expression was just a lie, but Aiden was a dog.

I knew I should tell him clearly that this wasn’t his treat, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it.