Chapter 19
Inside the spacious office.
Reuter, carrying a thick stack of papers, was standing at his desk giving a report to his boss.
A quiet voice resounded in the office alone.
“… So, they are currently secretly moving to the north.”
“You’re going to make a big deal out of this.”
Dante rested his chin on the desk and tilted his head.
This was tiring work.
Rushing in and making a big deal out of things before they had a chance to take shape.
“It seems that way now.”
“How long has it been since you sent a large amount of jewels and minerals to the North last time and why are you sending people again… It’s just unnecessary.”
“It looks like they are openly wary of the ever-growing power of the prince. Perhaps, you may have already noticed the meeting to be held in Justian.”
“Not that they can do anything about it anyway.”
Dante took off the mask and set it down on the desk.
He lifted a hand tiredly and rubbed roughly between his eyes.
Reuter glanced at the black mask on the desk and opened his mouth.
“The goods are due to be handed over today through the Vinitus bar. The owner, Raphael, will be watching.”
“I know. I’ll be there.”
“What?”
Reuters asked, frowning.
Dante looked up at him as if he was wondering what he was doing.
Reuter clenched his fists as if surprised.
“Prince, no more. You can see it from the other side.”
“There’s not much to do anyway. You just need to make sure it’s passed properly.”
Dante brushed back his messy bangs and leaned back against the back of the chair.
For several days, he couldn’t get a good night’s sleep as he avoided the empress’ eyes and watched the movements of the empress faction aristocrats.
He raised one arm and placed it over his eyelid.
“I don’t understand why you act so alone at such an important time. Then, if you meet someone who recognizes the Prince face…”
At Reuter’s words, Dante lifted his closed eyes heavily.
“I know.”
He murmured in a small voice as if sighing.
“I wonder if they want to see.”
Dante raised his low, sunken gaze toward the ceiling.
“Or not?”
“… If the purpose is to confirm the transaction, I’d rather go out on my own…”
“Reuters.”
At the prince’s call, Reuter looked up at him with a firm expression.
Dante’s red eyes pierced Reuter’s face.
“Whether you go out or I go out. You and I are the same people from the Empress’s point of view.”
“It is, but…”
“And anyway, this will be the last time I’ll be avoiding the public eye like this. Because I was planning to move properly soon.”
“Ah….”
“So, just look at this once.”
Despite his light tone of voice, his gaze was heavy and serious.
Reuter lowered his head, avoiding Dante’s gaze.
No matter how long I’ve seen him, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to those eyes.
Soon, Dante took his eyes off Reuter.
He slowly got up from his chair and headed for the side door next to the office.
*****
To be left alone like this again.
Letier looked around with a confused feeling.
Again, I wasn’t sure if it was right to stand still until Ziegler returned.
‘I’ve told him I’m headed toward the raw material stores, so if he has a great head, he’ll find me there.’
Letier decided to go to the east, where raw material stores are gathered, to save time.
I was going to go and buy something first, and if he didn’t come, I was going to call Ephron.
Just as I was stepping out, I heard a high-pitched scream from the alley on the left.
“Kyaaaa!!”
Letier quickly turned my head in the direction of the sound.
That alley…?
It’s the alley where the man who ran past me earlier jumped out.
At the sudden woman’s scream, people passing by the street began to gather in the alley one by one.
“What, what’s going on?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Ugh… ugh…!”
Soon, the plaza was filled with the murmurs of the crowds.
Somehow it didn’t feel right.
Letier grabbed the boy returning from the side of the alley and asked urgently.
“What happened over there?”
“Ah! That, that… Another murder happened in that alley. A man is lying down with foam on his face. I need to report soon…”
“A murder case?”
“What? It’s been quiet for a while, but again?”
Another passer-by who heard the boy’s words clicked his tongue and said.
It seemed that something similar to what had happened in front of Simon’s raw material store the other day had happened.
Could it have something to do with the man who jumped out from there?
After thinking for a while, Letier moved her steps toward the alley.
Even at a glance, the cramped alley was filled with people who had flocked in a short time.
I stuck my head out and lifted my heels high, to see if I could see anything, but I couldn’t see anything because it was so crowded.
“Hah…”
Letier took a deep breath and began to squeeze through the crowd using her short body.
“Wait… wait a minute…!”
When I forced my body into it, it seemed like I was moving forward somehow.
Letier made her way to the center, stepping into the crowd and pushing back little by little.
Finally, after pushing the large woman aside for the last time, Letier was startled to face the fallen man.
Violet bubbles pouring out of the eyes and mouth that have lost their focus.
The skin gradually turns blue.
At first glance, it was an unusual sight.
“Ugh….!”
The man, who had been lying quietly and trembling, suddenly twisted his body.
The man raised his nails and scratched his face as if in pain.
The sight was almost grotesque, and the people around him gasped and stumbled backwards.
What should we do…!
I didn’t have anything to help him at the moment.
Letier felt a deep sense of shame at herself for not being able to do anything with a sick person right in front of her.
“Ugh… help me…!”
The man with a terrible groan reached out his hand toward Letier.
The man met Letier’s eyes in pain.
He turned over and started crawling toward her.
“……!”
As he crawled toward her, he suddenly dropped his head to the floor and coughed up a cloud of purple vomit.
“Omg!”
“This…!”
“My lady, be careful!”
People murmured, and at the same time a large woman standing behind Letier quickly pulled her back.
Even as Letier was helplessly dragged by the woman’s hand, she couldn’t take her eyes off the man.
“It’s the guards! Clear the way!”
Someone had called in a quick report, and guards were arriving on the scene.
“Come on, move forward!”
“Get out of the way!”
After struggling through the crowd, the guards looked at the man and carried him onto a stretcher.
Letier watched silently as they took the man and left.
Even if they rushed to the nearest hospital without delay, I wasn’t sure if the man would survive.
The remaining guards at the scene were drawing pictures with white chalk on the floor where the man fell and diligently writing something down in their notebooks.
Letier crept closer to the guard.
“Hey, do incidents like this happen often in the capital recently?”
The guard, who was diligently taking notes on the scene of the incident with a thick pen, raised his head and glanced at Letier.
He quickly scanned Letier from head to toe.
The guard, who roughly grasped her identity, quickly lowered his gaze and spoke bluntly, probably thinking that Letier’s question was just a result of the innocent curiosity of an aristocratic lady.
“It’s nothing, lady. If you stay in a place like this for no reason, you will only throw away your eyes. Before you see anything worse, please return to the mansion.”
“If you tell me….”
“Hey…! It seems to have been sorted out. Let’s go back!”
“Yes! It ended a little faster this time, how about a beer on the way?”
The guard ignored Letier’s words and immediately turned to his colleague’s call.
They left the scene without hesitation.
The people who had gathered to watch were gradually leaving the alley.
The faces of the people returning to their places were not different from usual.
It’s just an expression that the spectacle to see is over.
Everything happened in an instant.
The guards who rushed in as soon as something happened and cleaned up quickly.
People who don’t blink an eye even after seeing this scene.
What the hell is going on in the capital right now…?
Letier stood for a moment, frowning, then looked back at the spot where the man had collapsed.
The purple bubbles that the fallen man spat were still smeared inside the drawings the guards had drawn with white chalk.
“……”
Letier approached the scene without a word.
Purple bubbles scattered here and there as if recording difficult moments.
She looked down at the purple foam, then bent down and slowly reached out.
By the time Letier’s long, white fingers reached the top of the purple foam, she thought there was an urgent sound of footsteps approaching from somewhere, and a large hand came out and grabbed her hand.
“Huh?”
“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”
