On the way back to the capital, the subjugation force was caught in an unusually heavy downpour. The rain was so thick that they couldn’t see an inch ahead, forcing the force to stay at various inns in nearby villages for about two days, splitting up by knight orders.
Diana lay sprawled on one of the inn beds, which wasn’t all that soft or large, for nearly two days. It wasn’t because of the rain, but rather…
“I don’t want to go…”
…because of Kayden, who clung to her and whined for two whole days, saying he didn’t want to leave her.
Kayden wriggled under the blanket, pulling Diana into his arms from behind. He buried his face in the nape of her neck and let out a deep sigh.
Diana, struggling to keep her eyes open as if her body were weighed down like a soaked sponge, looked back at him in disbelief. Kayden immediately locked eyes with her and gave a sly smile.
“What? Want to do it again?”
“…You still have energy?”
“Yup. Want me to share?”
“In the end, it’s because of your greed, Kayden. You just want to do it again as soon as I regain my strength!”
“Got me.” Kayden shamelessly shrugged his shoulders.
Diana, at a loss for words due to his brazen attitude, shook her head in disbelief. Even that small movement sent a sharp pain through her waist. Groaning, she collapsed back onto the pillow.
“When will the rain stop…”
“Why? Do you want to get back to the capital quickly?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t. I already have to see the faces of the first princess and Duke Findlay, and once we’re back in the capital, Marquis Kadmond will join them too. I really hate that.”
Flinch. At the mention of ‘Marquis Kadmond,’ Diana’s body flinched ever so slightly. Kayden, being pressed so close to her, felt the tremor distinctly. A sense of unease instinctively washed over him.
Kayden propped himself up on one arm. “Diana?”
“…Yes? What is it?”
“You seemed to react when I mentioned Marquis Kadmond. Did something happen?”
“No? Nothing… happened?” Diana shook her head desperately. It was a mistake to recall Ludwig’s face at Kayden’s words. She had thought of how Ludwig had kissed the back of her hand, leaving a mark.
But Kayden already knew Diana’s expressions well enough to recognize when she was lying. And just a moment ago, she had even stammered over her words. One of his thick, straight eyebrows raised slightly.
With a mischievous expression, Kayden bared his teeth and bit her shoulder. At the same time, he started tickling her side with one hand. “Nothing happened, you say? Just by looking, I can tell something happened. Not telling me means you want to be bitten, right?”
“Kyaa! No, that’s not it! Seriously, what am I supposed to do with this perve—!” Diana squealed.
Kayden kept pestering her for a while, trying to extract information about Ludwig. Eventually, Diana, overwhelmed by the tickling, surrendered and collapsed onto the bed. Her shoulders were now covered in red marks as if flowers had bloomed on them.
“It’s really nothing…”
“Then it won’t be hard to tell me. So, what is it?”
“Well, it was the day when I went to visit the fourth concubine. I ran into him briefly in front of her place.”
Diana paused, unsure of how to describe Ludwig’s demeanor from that day. The fact that he had kissed the back of her hand was one thing, but the strange atmosphere she had sensed from him that day…
“He just… seemed to be flirting a bit.”
“…What?”
“Gasp, what am I saying? Forget I said that.”
Diana panicked, realizing too late what she had just blurted out. But by then, Kayden had already caught every word she had said.
Kayden’s lips twisted into a crooked grin. In a chilling tone, he muttered. “So, you’re saying he was flirting…”
“Kayden, are you listening? I misspoke, okay? It could have just been my imagination! Kayden? Hey!”
Diana tried desperately to change the subject, but it was no use. In her urgency, she even forgot to speak politely, slipping into casual speech.
But Kayden, too focused on Ludwig’s mention, merely ground his teeth while listening to her words like a melody.
As if Antar wasn’t enough of a bother, now there’s Marquis Kadmond too. It’s chaos from all sides. Kayden had already been struggling to keep his irritation under control whenever he saw Antar, but hearing that Ludwig had been making a move on Diana made his already fraying patience snap. Of course, none of this was Diana’s fault.
As Diana struggled to calm Kayden down, she suddenly felt frustrated and raised her voice. “Marquis Kadmond was the one flirting, so why are you the one who touched me?”
“That’s separate. I’m touching you because I just want to.”
“…”
Diana was so taken aback by his bold and straightforward attitude that she was at a complete loss for words. She muttered in an exhausted tone. “You’re such a pervert…”
“So, do you hate it?”
“… I’m hungry.”
“Oh, you’re changing the subject. So that means you don’t hate it, right?”
“I said I’m hungry! Move aside!”
Diana barely managed to push Kayden off her as he tried to cling to her again and staggered to her feet. Her claim of being hungry was no lie. She hadn’t had a proper meal in nearly a day, having been holed up in the room with Kayden. Kayden knew this too, so he didn’t insist any further and got up as well.
As they were changing clothes together, Diana noticed the marks Kayden had left on her shoulder through the mirror and smacked him with her cardigan in alarm. Having been caught, Kayden silently endured her punches. Fortunately, it was late autumn, and the rain made the weather chilly, so the marks would be hidden under her clothes.
With much difficulty, the two finally left the room and started heading downstairs to the inn’s first floor.
“…Mizel?” Diana widened her eyes in surprise when she spotted a woman in a long cloak climbing the stairs.
After Kayden had safely returned from the subjugation mission, Diana, still anxious that something might happen to him, had secretly followed the subjugation force instead of returning to the capital.
When they were trapped by the rain, Kayden and the Fourth Order discreetly secured part of the inn for the Wings Guild members. Since the identities of both parties had been revealed during the mutant monster incident, it was no longer necessary to hide, and the inn was only occupied by the Fourth Order, making it possible. So, it wasn’t strange for Mizel to be in the building. But the fact that she was rushing up the stairs without even bothering to wipe off the rainwater was concerning.
“Guild Master!” Mizel, having just noticed Diana, hurried her pace up the stairs.
Realizing instinctively that something serious had happened, both Kayden and Diana’s expressions stiffened.
Out of breath, Mizel handed Diana a soggy note, her face twisted with anxiety. “It’s a message from the capital. Millard Sudsfield tried to kill Viscount Sudsfield… but failed. At the time you ordered his surveillance, I didn’t believe it would come to this, but… he really…”
Mizel closed her eyes tightly as if in horror. But Diana, rather than being surprised, calmly unfolded the note Mizel had handed her.
[During surveillance, Millard Sudsfield attempted to kill the target. Prevented the act without revealing identity by breaking the window. Millard Sudsfield is currently imprisoned by the capital’s guards.]
As Diana read the concise report, her eyes grew cold.
Kayden, who had once heard from her that Millard had killed Viscount Sudsfield in the past and took the Opera Diamond mine’s deed to give to Rebecca, sighed deeply.
“So, in the end, this time as well…”
Diana finished reading the note and silently turned her gaze to the window. The rain that had poured so heavily as if it would break the window was now thinning. Faint light was beginning to peek through the clouds.
“…With the rain letting up, the first princess will receive this news soon.”
What choice would Rebecca make in this lifetime?
…In truth, the answer was already clear.
NOTICE
Hello, Alyalia is here~
This will be the last chapter I will update on the Moonlight Novels since I’ll be transferring this novel to another site. Starting next week, you can find the new updates in here. Just click the word here (the bold one) and you’ll be directed to the new site right away. That’s all I have to say, thank you for reading it~
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Hi, you said you’re going to transfer to another site, right? What’s the new site so I can continue reading your works?
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