Chapter 24
Chloe gently warmed the glue sealing the envelope with a candle flame and carefully removed it. As soon as she took out the letters inside, Sylvia clung to her eagerly, asking to see.
“There are three letters in total.”
Contrary to her thoughts that it might contain the last words of the deceased empress, all three letters were from an unknown person addressed to someone named Esther Penselors. Chloe handed the first letter, which began with a comment about the good weather, to Sylvia. When she looked at the second letter, she noticed that the paper’s color was slightly different.
It seemed like letters written on different days were put into one envelope, making Chloe tilt her head in curiosity. Were these letters never meant to be sent?
“Marie, this looks like a love letter,” Sylvia said, pointing to the middle of the letter and reading it aloud.
“Your father and mother will not be obstacles to me. If you allow me, I am willing to abandon everything I have and leave with you.”
“Were they a couple opposed by their families?”
“It seems so.”
Chloe stroked Sylvia’s head as she focused on reading the letter, then turned her attention to the second one. It was only about half the length of the first and was written in rough handwriting…
“Marie? What’s with that expression? Is there something strange in it?”
Sylvia, who had almost finished reading the first letter, snatched the second one from Chloe’s hand. Chloe tried to stop her, but Sylvia was quicker to read the letter.
“This will be my last letter to you. It must have been my mistake to believe your sweet words. Those words were probably not meant only for me, but…”
Chloe quickly covered Sylvia’s eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s not something pleasant to read.”
“Is it something indecent?”
“No, it’s more of an ethical issue…”
Having witnessed all sorts of human behavior in the palace, Sylvia brushed Chloe’s hand aside with a sigh. Although Chloe’s face was filled with concern, Sylvia wondered who was really worried about whom.
Who thinks the emperor might have a conscience? Who sees whom as innocent?
Sylvia quickly read the second letter aloud.
“I have seen your child. He resemble you so much that I cannot bring myself to hate him. How could you, after having a child with someone else…? What is this? Isn’t this person trash?”
“That’s why I told you not to read it, Princess.”
The first letter was a love confession, and the second one was a farewell declaration. Both of them were curious about what might be in the third letter. They put their heads together and opened the third letter.
It was just one line.
“Was there ever a moment, even once, when you were truly sincere with me during the time we spent together?”
The neatly pressed handwriting suggested that the writer took a long time to craft this one sentence.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s written by Mother.”
“And the recipient doesn’t seem to be the Empress either. Judging by the writing style, it seems to be a noble. No noble would meet the Empress without knowing her identity.”
A noble in the capital would surely have known the Empress had a child, so it was strange to learn about the child’s existence late and feel betrayed by it. Moreover, it wasn’t unusual for nobles to have affairs and separate lovers even after marrying for strategic reasons, but the late Empress, Lea Olfenster, was known for her moral rigor.
“Then why is this letter here? Whose is it?”
“At least this letter was written more than 20 years ago. Here, it says they hoped to meet at Leveret Station, which the previous emperor closed down in the capital about 20 years ago because he disliked the sight of the train smoke. They’ve been restoring it for the past three years…”
Sylvia just shook her head as Chloe explained the worst policy her biological father had enacted. Although Luke Olfenster wasn’t a virtuous ruler, he was certainly better than her father.
“A young noble in the capital from about 20 years ago?”
“That’s a place to start narrowing down suspects. But we still don’t know why the Empress had this letter.”
Chloe pointed to a section of the first letter with the most writing and murmured.
“If we could obtain letters from nobles from that time, we could compare the handwriting. Even if the handwriting isn’t unique, the way they space their words or use punctuation…”
As Chloe slowly traced the letters on the page, she suddenly stopped. The neatly written letters seemed to be dancing before her eyes, asking if she recognized them.
Yes, she knew these letters…
She couldn’t not know them.
Chloe Langsher blinked slowly at the handwriting she hadn’t seen in three years. Her vision darkened, but even when she reopened her eyes, it didn’t change.
It was the handwriting of Troy Langsher.
This letter was a love letter from a young Troy Langsher.
* * *
The dawn air was cold.
Gideon only entered the ruined mansion after carefully inspecting the guards from afar. The Langsher mansion, left in its burned state from three years ago, was an eyesore and a dangerous ruin in the capital, but the emperor wanted part of it preserved.
Sometimes, the emperor would sit alone in the ruins, keeping his guards at a distance.
The emperor didn’t like anyone approaching during those times, except for Gideon. The Imperial Guard speculated it was because Gideon was the most loyal knight, but Gideon knew the real reason.
This place held the emperor’s childhood memories. Gideon was part of those memories, which allowed him access.
He sometimes imagined young Luke Olfenster and Chloe Langsher playing together. Gideon had watched from about ten steps away, satisfied with keeping his distance. Luke Olfenster had been pleased with Gideon’s stance.
Of course, Chloe disliked the presence of anyone else, so Gideon rarely got to follow them. He still remembered thinking it was strange whenever he saw them play.
They were so exceedingly ordinary.
A young boy consumed by his first love and an innocent girl who knew nothing. At least back then, Luke genuinely liked Chloe in a naive way. Considering the parents he grew up watching, his intense anxiety and obsession were relatively mild.
Gideon occasionally recalled those childhood days and indulged in hypothetical scenarios. What if the Crown Prince hadn’t died? Would they have ended up together in a normal relationship? But, given that Luke Olfenster’s father was Hesel Olfenster, there was no scenario in which they would have found happiness. It was a foolish thought.
…However, young Luke probably didn’t realize that unfortunate truth.
Gideon watched the emperor sitting quietly amidst the ruins. He looked like a corpse. This was a grave he had dug for himself.
Pitiful, yet unworthy of sympathy. In some way, both of them were remarkably like their parents.
“It’s time to go, Your Majesty.”
The emperor’s unfocused eyes blinked a few times, returning to reality. He slowly rose and glanced back at the ruined mansion.
“Gideon.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Why did you save me that day?”
The emperor’s gaze remained fixed on the ruins, not on Gideon.
“I thought you would become a knight of Langsher…”
Gideon didn’t respond. It wasn’t something he had chosen. His life had never offered him any choices.
He simply had to do it.
Fourteen years ago, at the age of fifteen, Gideon Edant had to carry Luke Olfenster and run.
Sometimes, things are predetermined. For example, on that day fourteen years ago, when Luke Olfenster was moved to the imperial villa in the capital under the pretext of being ill, the guards conveniently absent, and the rain pouring down, erasing their tracks. That day, Langsher’s knights arrived.
“I don’t want to go, I’m staying here…”
Gideon dragged the crying Luke, who refused to walk, and carried him. As they barely escaped the mansion filled with knights and entered an alley, Gideon knocked Luke unconscious and tied him tightly to his back.
He bled deliberately to mislead their pursuers, ambushed them one by one, and set every dirty trap he knew.
As they gradually moved out of the capital, Gideon, with his body in shambles, wished someone would end it all. Yet, he continued to carry and guide Luke.
The rain was fortunate.
The blood washed away in the rain. Gideon kept walking, and walking, and…
He suddenly looked back. The path he had walked was stained with strange patterns of blood mixed with rain. Stopping here and waiting for someone to end it didn’t seem so bad.
As if answering his wish, Troy Langsher appeared. Gideon felt relieved at that moment. He let go of his sword. The sound of water splashing was heard.
He thought it was the end.
“…Your revenge is justified, Troy Langsher.”
Rain trickled down his face. For a moment, Gideon thought the man was crying. With hollow eyes, Troy gazed at Gideon. Instead of grabbing his sword, he reached out and wiped the blood off Gideon’s cheek.
Then, he stared blankly at Luke Olfenster and…
“…Go that way.”
He whispered words that the unconscious Luke Olfenster couldn’t hear.
“Go, and don’t come back here. Please, just leave.”
Plot twist !!!