Episode 41

The golden key adorned with small jewels glowed faintly.

It seemed to be very old, showing the wear of time.

Seeing with my own eyes that I was right brought a sense of relief.

“Sierra, what is that key? Did it just come out of the book?”

Ludwig asked with a curious expression, as if he was seeing it for the first time.

“Yes. I was thinking about what the ‘hundredth’ in ‘Hundredth Sanctuary’ could refer to, and this came to mind.”

I held up the book and said,

“The Lost Century… It refers to the Hundred Years of Darkness. So there’s a book about that period.”

Ludwig said, sounding surprised.

“Then, could this key actually open a secret passage somewhere around here?”

“I think so. Judging by its size, it doesn’t seem to be for a drawer or a safe. Where could it fit?”

I looked around, pretending to search, and circled the prayer room.

“Oh? Why is there a keyhole in this clock?”

I headed toward a large grandfather clock.

Its hands no longer moved, having been left unattended for many years.

As described in the original story, the large grandfather clock had a keyhole.

I inserted the key, which was the size of my hand, into it.

When I turned it to the left with some force, there was a loud clanking noise, as if some mechanism was moving.

As I stepped back from the strong vibrations, the wall slowly began to open.

Rumble-.

“……!”

A hidden space behind the wall was revealed.

Ludwig peered inside, looking astonished.

“I’ve lived in the Grand Duke’s castle my whole life, but I never knew there was such a place hidden here.”

The secret passage appeared to be several hundred years old.

As the wall moved, the clock also turned, revealing a floating purple magic circle behind it.

“It’s a detonation spell. It seems designed to explode if someone tried to force the passage open without the key.”

“…….”

If we hadn’t found the key, I would have planned to break in forcefully, knowing there was a space behind the clock.

‘Thankfully, we found the key.’

I sincerely thought so.

The interior was not dark, as torches were burning.

“Since we don’t know what might come out, I’ll go first.”

I nodded and followed him into the passageway.

After walking for a short while, we came upon a large space.

It was a vast area, large enough to live in without any lack of comfort.

The place, evidently ancient, resembled a temple.

I shivered from the cold emanating from the stone walls.

There were a couple more passages in the room apart from the one we had entered through.

‘Are those passages leading outside?’

I recalled hearing that in the old days, when wars were frequent, mansions had secret passages built for escape, and it seemed this was one of those.

“There’s a safe over there.”

What I noticed was a safe that looked surprisingly new among the old artifacts.

It must have been placed there by the council.

Ludwig walked over to the large safe and placed his hand on it.

Click-.

Contrary to the expectation that it would be locked, the safe opened easily.

“……!”

And inside, it was completely empty.

Seeing the utterly dust-free safe, I doubted my eyes.

The council had been practically driven out of the Grand Duke’s residence after the sudden succession announcement on the day of the hunting festival.

They wouldn’t have had the time to retrieve the account books from this secret place.

“It seems we were a step too late.”

I muttered in frustration.

Clank-.

A small thud was heard from somewhere, as if a rat was scurrying about….

“Eek-!”

A man dressed as a servant, looking absolutely terrified, was staring at us from a distance.

“A rat from the council, I see.”

The man, clutching a pile of documents, was trying to escape through the opposite passage.

“Wait!”

Having been discovered, he didn’t look back and bolted toward the passage.

“I’ll go after him.”

Watching Ludwig chase after him, I felt anxious.

While we were searching for the key, the man must have sneaked in through another passage.

He was undoubtedly acting on the council’s orders. If we let him escape, our plan would be ruined.

‘It seems he knows the layout of this maze-like place very well…’

As I was fretting, I heard the man’s scream from a distance.

In the cavernous space, the scream echoed like a reverberation.

“Did they… catch him?”

As I cautiously peered into the passage where Ludwig had disappeared, I saw him returning from a distance, holding the pile of documents and with the man subdued.

The man seemed to have been knocked out, losing consciousness instantly.

“I’m glad you caught him.”

I sighed in relief.

I thought finding the key would solve everything, but it turned out to be another hurdle.

Back in the prayer room, Ludwig spread the pile of documents the man had been carrying on the desk, revealing the council’s account books filled with all sorts of corruption.

Fortunately, the documents the man had tried to escape with were now in our hands.

Ludwig called for his lieutenant to bind the unconscious servant with ropes and take him away to prevent any further mischief.

We then examined the documents taken from the man on the desk.

“These are definitely the council’s account books. They document all kinds of corruption.”

“Wow, they’ve embezzled a lot.”

The amount of money they had siphoned off from the estate’s annual revenue was enough to buy ten castles.

Such large-scale embezzlement couldn’t escape severe punishment, even for those close to the imperial family.

Once this outrage was made public across the empire through the media, the imperial family would have no choice but to respond to the people’s outrage.

A mere slap on the wrist would be impossible.

“It also shows that they paid millions of gold coins to some residents as drought relief recently.”

Ludwig said as he read through the documents.

“The date indicates it was the day before the hunting festival… They planned to cause a scandal by making you go berserk and then bribe agitators to get you expelled from the family.”

The amount paid to the agitators was substantial.

I recalled the men who had gathered the residents and slandered Ludwig before I came to the Grand Duke’s residence.

When their plan on the day of the hunting festival failed, they were desperately trying to bring him down through other means.

And it was quite effective, turning half of the residents against him.

But that was all over now.

Once the council’s true face was exposed, people would support the new power.

At that moment, Ludwig put down the documents and approached me.

“You’ve helped me once again, Lady Sierra.”

He knelt on one knee before me, took my hand, and kissed it respectfully.

I could feel his sincere gratitude.

This was a gesture usually reserved for pledging loyalty and respect to one’s lord with all one’s heart.

“There’s no need to go this far. I just wanted to help….”

“In fact, I should have knelt before you several times. Under the tree in the rain, and on the day you held me in the forest.”

He then stood up and looked down at me.

“When I become the Grand Duke, I want to make a knight’s pledge to you, who is my eternal benefactor.”

“A knight’s pledge… Isn’t that a master-servant relationship?”

The only person in the empire to whom a Grand Duke would make such a pledge was the emperor.

Exceptionally, it could also be made to a lifelong companion, but it was usually used for political purposes and was rare.

“There’s no law that says it must be to the emperor. I’d rather serve my benefactor who saved me than the emperor.”

He smiled faintly and uttered the most irreverent words.

“Ludwig, a knight’s pledge is precious. You can only make it once. I appreciate how grateful you are to me now, but I’m afraid it might come back to haunt you later.”

Whether pledging loyalty to the emperor in the future or falling in love with Jenna and pledging to her, the recipient couldn’t be me.

I waved my hand and politely declined.

Ludwig smiled ruefully and said,

“I didn’t mean to burden you. Instead of a pledge, as the Grand Duke, I’ll do anything to help you.”

That’s exactly what I wanted.

“If you say so… Alright, I’ll let you know if I need anything.”

I said, trying to hide the smile creeping up on my face.

At that moment, I heard the sound of two people arguing outside the prayer room door.

When I opened the door, I saw Desar standing stiffly in the same position, and the person in front of him was…

“Who is this lady? This is the prayer room of the Founding Grand Duke. Outsiders shouldn’t be allowed in.”

The elderly woman adjusted her glasses and looked at Desar and me with disapproval.

“It’s alright, Rachel. She’s my guest.”

Ludwig came up behind me and addressed her.

‘If she’s Rachel…’

The nanny who was Ludwig’s caretaker?