Until The Real One Shows Up​

The bright morning sun shone through the curtains and teased the corners of her eyes. It was the moment when Anastasia, who had tossed and turned several times, was finally getting out of her bed.

“Oh…!”

At a movement, pulling her collar from behind her, Anastasia let out a small scream and collapsed behind her. Without missing the gap, someone hugged her tightly as if locking her in.

“… Where are you going?”

His voice, which was subdued, was strangely sexy. Anastasia swallowed her dry saliva and then slowly turned her head.

Wilhelm was staring intently at her with his freshly opened eyes.

Her heart heated up from the morning with a straight gaze only towards her.

“I have someone waiting for me.”

“Who are you waiting for? Who?”

“Who do you think it will be?”

“Well. It’s not a man, is it?”

“It’s a man.”

Wilhelm’s brow furrowed quickly. Anastasia smiled lowly in response to that instantaneous reaction, and gently eased his brow with her finger.

“Relax your face. It’s because I’m meeting the High Priest.”

“Oh. You said you got a call yesterday afternoon.”

It was then that Wilhelm’s expression softened.

But it wasn’t completely restored. He spoke in an unusually childish voice.

“I don’t want you to be alone with another man.”

“You’re jealous of the priest, not of anyone else.”

“A man is a man, even a priest is a man. I can’t help it.”

Anastasia shook her head, and now she was really about to get up. 

“Ah…”

Wilhelm pulled Anastasia’s body closer to him, and the outline of the fully-close body felt intact. 

Anastasia’s face turned red at his firm body even though she just woke up. 

And before she could open her mouth, Wilhelm buried his face in Anastasia’s neck and began to kiss her finely. 

The tickling sensation quickly spread throughout Anastasia’s whole body on the white neck.

“A little more…”

“Ah…”

“Can’t you stay with me?”

Such blatant temptation. A soft touch crept over her chest, and she couldn’t bear it. 

Anastasia, who had been struggling with her expression halfway through, put out a condition.

“Just half an hour.”

“That’s enough.”

Wilhelm, who smiled, quickly climbed onto Anastasia. It was the moment when he grabbed both cheeks and kissed urgently, and quickly tried to enter the next stage.

“Your Majesty the Empress.”

The voice of Mrs. Rochester was heard in the distance.

She was the one who had never come in to find her master first thing in the morning in recent mornings.

In this unusual situation, Wilhelm and Anastasia’s actions stopped at the same time.

Anastasia looked into Wilhelm’s eyes for a moment, puzzled, as she secretly escaped from underneath him.

Ignoring Wilhelm’s pitiful expression, she asked after coughing.

“What’s going on, Mrs. Rochester?”

“I am sorry, Your Majesty. However, an urgent telegram came in…”

“Come in at once.”

As Anastasia and Wilhelm were quickly dressed, Mrs. Rochester walked in front of them.

Seeing a white, tired expression on her face, Anastasia intuitively noticed that something big was about to happen.

“The High Priest is said to have died, Your Majesty.”

Wilhelm and Anastasia looked at each other at the same time in amazement.

~~~~

It is said that an ordinary priest, who felt strange at Lyell waking up later than usual, went to his bedroom and found Lyell dead.

Lyell was in good health without any chronic disease, so he performed an autopsy, and the cause of death revealed as a result of the autopsy was poisoning.

Who dared to poison the High Priest through the fierce security of the Great Temple?

In an unprecedented situation, the Rosenberg Empire was turned upside down.

Wilhelm immediately organized an investigation team and ordered them to find the culprit, but the culprit was never caught.

“Actually, the day after the death of the High Priest, he was due to meet with Her Majesty the Empress.”

Meanwhile, a priest’s testimony during the investigation sparked a strange rumor.

“Is it the Empress who poisoned the High Priest?”

“It’s a reasonable guess. From Her Majesty’s point of view, she must have hated the High Priest who delivered a new oracle and jeopardized her position.”

“Hey, unless you’re an idiot, would the Empress do something so obvious to you? It’s absurd.”

Of course, there were many objections, but it was an undeniable fact that Anastasia was the leading suspect with a grudge against the High Priest for now.

And as soon as she heard the rumors, Anastasia attended the investigation team and clarified the allegations surrounding her.

“The reason she decided to meet with the High Priest that day was because the High Priest said that he had something to confess to.”

“If he was going to confess…”

“I don’t know what it is, but at the last Emperor’s birthday party, he told me that he had committed an indelible sin. And the day I was about to hear the details, the High Priest was murdered.”

Anastasia ended her statement in a meaningful voice, giving mostly truth.

“So maybe someone who doesn’t want the High Priest to tell me the truth has killed him.”

“Who the hell is that?”

“I do not know. I don’t know yet.”

After thinking for a moment, Anastasia muttered.

“If only the High Priest could commit a crime against me…”

“As expected?”

“… No. I shouldn’t have told you that.”

Anastasia hurriedly finished her words, pretending to be cautious.

“Anyway, if the investigation is over, can I get up?”

“Of course, Your Majesty. Thank you for your cooperation in the investigation.”

“You’re welcome.”

Anastasia came out of the investigation room with a calm expression on her face. However, when she was about to return to the Empress’ Palace, Anastasia eventually narrowed her brow.

“Lady Hazel.”

It was Avelin. She bowed her head in front of Anastasia with her respectful demeanor.

“Greetings to the noble hostess of Rosenberg. May God’s blessings and peace be with you.”

“Are you here for the investigation?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Avelin nodded her head casually.

“Because I was the last person the High Priest met on the day he died. I used to go to see him often, but I didn’t know that such a terrible thing would happen.”

“It’s terrible.”

Anastasia briefly responded and glanced at Avelin.

She had a gloomy expression, and she could feel her willingness to be sincere in today’s investigation.

‘Did they say that when she first heard of the death of the High Priest, she was so shocked that she even fainted?’

So the expression in front of her was quite believable. Unless she was the villain who conspired with the High Priest to manipulate the oracle.

In terms of alibi, Avelin was also a strong suspect. That’s why she was being investigated like this.

But few people thought she was the culprit.

Rather, there were far more people who suspected that the one who was jealous of Lyell among the priests of the Great Temple had killed him.

The relationship between Avelin and Lyell continued to be good, and as Avelin said, it was because it was yesterday that she went to the temple to meet Lyell.

Above all, Avelin had no motive to kill Lyell. 

However… 

‘What if Avelin was the first to put her hand on the High Priest knowing that he was going to tell me the whole truth?’

All puzzles fit together tightly. The problem was that this fact could not be made public right away.

‘I better move cautiously until I find evidence.’

Anastasia stared at Avelin.

“The Lady must have been very shocked. You seemed to have a pretty close relationship with the High Priest.”

“Sure. He was always kind to me. I followed him like he was my biological father.”

“Okay. So, what did you talk about the last time you met the High Priest?”

“… Yes?”

“Don’t get me wrong. The High Priest said he had something important to say to me.”

Anastasia continued, watching Avelin’s expression quietly.

“If your relationship is that close, I was curious to see if there’s anything he did to the lady as well.”

“… No, Your Majesty.”

At that moment, Anastasia noticed that one corner of Avelin’s lips hardened slightly.

It was just an instant, but it was a clear change. Anastasia looked at Avelin with her curious eyes.

“…”

“He couldn’t have told me an important story that was only to be told to Your Majesty the Empress, right?”

“That’s… Is that so.”

Anastasia, who mumbled quietly, then nodded her head with an expression like it couldn’t be helped.

“I understand, Lady Hazel. I hope the investigation goes well.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. Goodbye.”

Avelin waited with her knees bent until Anastasia completely disappeared.

And when the sound of her footsteps completely disappeared, Avelin’s expression, revealed as she straightened her back, was full of laughter.

‘Even if you doubt me, you must be frustrated because you only have suspicions.’

Now that Lyell was dead, she was the only one who knew the truth.

‘It was good that I made a decision quickly. Now I can sleep with my legs outstretched.’

Avelin recalled the last time she had met Lyell, and pulled the corners of her lips with all her might at her rising excitement.