Chapter 123
Meanwhile, Estelle bowed to the Empress and descended from the training ground.
At that moment, Nicholas approached her.
“You have great skills, Lady Estelle.”
“Oh, you must be Sir Nicholas from the military police?”
Estelle, who hadn’t had a chance to greet him formally earlier, now offered him a respectful greeting.
Although Nicholas wasn’t as legendary as Killian, Mikhail, or Ian, he was still a well-known and skilled knight among his peers. He had also faced off against the “Black Moon” at the last ball.
“To think you had such skills and stayed only in the North. If we had known earlier, we would have tried to recruit you to the military police.”
Nicholas said this while handing Estelle a water bottle naturally, showing consideration for her exertion during training.
“Thank you, Sir Nicholas.”
Feeling a bit thirsty, Estelle reached out to take the water bottle he offered.
At that moment,
“I agree with Nick. Perhaps we should have suggested you to join the military police earlier.”
Killian suddenly intervened and casually tapped Nicholas’ hand holding the water bucket.
Because of this, the water bottle he was trying to hand fell to the floor, unable to reach Estelle’s hand.
“Oh no… I’m sorry.”
Killian quickly picked up the fallen bottle himself. Since the water had already spilled, it was no longer fit for Estelle to drink.
“My apologies, Nick. That was careless of me.”
“It’s alright, Your Grace.”
Killian returned the bottle to Nicholas and ordered a servant to fetch fresh water.
“I’m thirsty as well, so it would be appreciated if you could bring some more.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
The servant fetched fresh water for both Estelle and Killian.
Killian received the cups from the servant, personally handing one to Estelle and keeping one for himself. This was to ensure that the water wasn’t tampered with, either by Nicholas or the servant.
“Thank you, Your Grace.”
“It’s nothing. I spilled the water, after all.”
After returning the cups to the servant, Killian looked up at the stands where the Empress was seated.
The Empress was watching him, and their eyes met.
He knew. This could be a trap set by the Empress.
She might have instructed Nicholas to act suspiciously to test whether Killian was the “Black Moon” searching for Estelle.
But he had no choice. If the Empress had offered Estelle the water directly, he would have ignored it. The Empress would never risk implicating herself. She never acted directly.
However, if Nicholas handed the water to Estelle, it was different.
‘…He could be a pawn to be used and discarded.’
Beatrice could order Nicholas to kill Estelle and then act as if she had nothing to do with it.
Therefore, Killian couldn’t just stand by and watch Nicholas approach Estelle. If something happened to Estelle, his plans would fall apart.
To protect Estelle, he couldn’t remain idle, for the sake of his parents who sacrificed their lives for her and for Marquis Fideut and Viscount Percel, who died trying to uncover the truth.
‘The Empress must know that too.’
A trap that he had no choice but to walk into, even knowing it was a test.
‘Do you believe now that I’m the Black Moon, Beatrice?’
Killian did not take his eyes off Beatrice.
She responded with a sly smile and a slight nod of her head.
* * *
[It seems Lady Estelle Niore will be able to join the Knights of Ruchtainer without any issues.]
Sophia read the letter Killian sent and felt relieved.
It was good news that Estelle was joining Ruchtainer, but the phrase “without any issues” reassured her the most.
It meant that nothing worrisome had happened.
The letter was written in a roundabout way, likely because there was a risk of it being exposed to outsiders.
‘The Empress invited Sir Nicholas and created an opportunity, but nothing happened. Could she have been testing us?’
Sophia touched her chin, feeling uneasy. Killian likely had the same concerns.
However, because he had to protect Estelle, he had no choice but to take the test.
Did he handle it well? Did he overextend himself out of concern for Estelle?
‘Should I have stayed there that day, even if it meant stabbing Ian in the eye? … .’
She should have stayed more determinedly. She was too mindful of the Empress.
‘It’s fortunate that nothing serious happened for now, but…’
Sophia continued reading the rest of the letter with a worried heart.
[My beloved fiancée, I wonder if you returned safely that day.]
Just as Sophia worried about Killian, he was concerned for her.
After returning from the palace, Ian had carried her to her room when she sprained her ankle.
He told her to rest after receiving treatment. It wasn’t a severe injury, so after a night’s sleep, it only felt slightly off when walking.
Sophia wrote back to Killian, assuring him she was fine.
Then she paused, frowning.
‘But Ian, that guy… Wasn’t he really instructed by the Empress to take me out of there?’
It was suspicious indeed.
Taking her out for no apparent reason, and his sudden compliance since their return from the Grand Duke’s house.
‘Maybe he’s not just a remorseful family member but the actual mastermind.’
She thought keeping a close watch on him might be best.
By observing Ian closely, she might catch the Empress’ tail.
With that thought, she finished the letter.
“Jenny, please deliver this reply to the Grand Duke’s residence.”
“Yes, my lady.”
After instructing Jenny to deliver the letter, Sophia resumed examining the documents she had been looking at since morning.
It was the analysis of the Alvedian trade records from the third library.
Ian’s behaviour yesterday had been quite strange, but it had led to a significant discovery in the remaining time.
‘Finally, I deciphered the secret of “?”.’
She had figured out what the persistent morpheme “?” in Alvedian meant!
‘It means “difficult, dangerous, something to be cautious of”.’
I can’t believe that such a meaning is given to a line scribbled like a pig’s tail. The world of language was truly amazing.
Thanks to this, Sophia was able to see again words that she had previously interpreted awkwardly because she did not know the meaning of ‘?’.
“Yeah, I thought it sounded like that.”
Sophia nodded as she reviewed the trade list with Alvedi.
When she sorted the words marked with “?”, they related to gunpowder, weapons, mercury, and things connected to demonic beasts.
She remembered initially guessing that “?” might mean something dangerous while translating Alvedian .
‘But then, what made me think that guess was wrong.…?’
She recalled there had been a word that didn’t fit the meaning of “dangerous,” which had made her hypothesis fall apart.
Sophia rechecked the words she had set aside back then. Finally, she found the word that had confused.
‘Bracelet…?’
In Alvedian , it translates directly to ‘a precious ring that adorns the wrist,’ but it essentially means ‘bracelet.’
However, some bracelet items were marked with “?”.
‘Why would a bracelet be marked with “?”?’
Sophia tilted her head in confusion.
Can a bracelet be dangerous? Was it a typo in the document? Or was it a literary expression, indicating it was dangerously beautiful?
It didn’t make sense.
Even stranger, there were also bracelet entries without the “?”.
There were two bracelets marked with “?” and thirty without in one trade record.
So, they were deliberately separated…
‘Am I overthinking something trivial…?’
Such minor obsessions usually wouldn’t matter when translating trade items.
The character “?” was easy to overlook and wasn’t a commonly used morpheme, which added to the confusion.
‘I’m not even writing a thesis, so is this obsession worthless?’
Sophia felt she was spending too much time on this one character while more important matters awaited.
Just as she was about to give up, a botany book on her desk caught her eye.
It was a toxicology book she had procured recently to investigate the “Rosarphi” plant, thanks to Ian. (T/L: The traditional definition of toxicology is “the science of poisons.”
And suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, Sophia’s mind cleared.
She quickly set aside the Alvedian trade ledger and opened the toxicology book to the bookmarked “Rosarphi” section.
‘I’m sure I read something like this…’
There was little known about Rosarphi, and the records were scant.
Thus, Sophia quickly found the passage she was looking for.
[Rosarphi contains a highly toxic substance called abrin poison in its seeds, so caution is advised.]
It was a plant with a deadly poison for which there was no antidote.
Sophia continued reading the passage.
And she found another clue.
[Rosarphi is sometimes specially processed and used to make bracelets, necklaces, and ritual ornaments.]
Rosarphi, with its beautiful red hue, was used in various ornaments.
‘A bracelet made of Rosarphi…’
Then “dangerous bracelet” made sense.
And if Fraus was supplying such bracelets to the Empress…
The relationship between the Empress and Fraus was deeper than it appeared.
And the Empress’s decision to betroth Sophia to Killian also made complete sense.
‘Every piece of the puzzle fits perfectly.’
(T/L: AYee whats with this cliffhanger.)
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