Malcolm looked very surprised at his sudden appearance, as Calian said,
“I can’t rest like this,”
Somehow it felt like he was copying Franz’s normal attitude and felt somewhat unpleasant, but this attitude would be effective in chasing away unwanted guests.
“Your highness, it’s not that…”
Malcolm bowed his head anxiously.
Pretending not to hear him, Calian instead turned to Yan, as if to criticise him,
“You. I told you to make a proper excuse and get them to leave, but you can’t even do that one thing.”
“My apologies, your highness,”
As Yan, who caught on to Calian’s act and quickly apologised, Calian slammed the door of his room shut hard.
He could hear Malcom stepping back with an apology first, and then a moment later, Yan came back inside.
“Other than the butler, was there anything suspicious or anyone else who approached?”
“The butler was the only one who approached. Other than that here was a somewhat suspicious prince who leaves and enters his room through the window,”
As though he had been waiting for the question, Yan answered with thorns in his voice. He must have been sulking about how shocked Calian had left him when he’d jumped out of the window.
As Yan moved to pick up the robes Calian had kicked behind the door, Calian patted him on the shoulder in apology.
“You returned earlier than I thought,”
“Well, that’s how it turned out. But why were you so angry earlier? You’re not like that back at the palace,”
“No one crosses the line that much as the royal palace,” Yan answered,
“At first, I said exactly how your highness had explained, that you went out for a walk since you weren’t in a good mood. But that butler was really rude. He kept asking where you went, when you left, how long you would be gone for, and when you were coming back – that’s when you popped out, your highness,”
Once you become suspicious of one thing, you start questioning everything else as well. Maybe that was why, when Calian heard Yan’s explanation, he felt it was strange.
“They kept asking when I would be coming back?”
“Yes, it seems they were more concerned about when you would be returning. Since the Count wanted to apologise for his rudeness at the dinner,”
“If they were trying to dig up dirt, then it’s understandable to ask when I’d left and where – but why were they concerned about when I was coming back? To the point that they would ask you multiple times?”
Calian didn’t say anything else, he simply nodded with his eyes narrowed. After having finished speaking, Yan, out of concern as Calian had been soaked in the rain, said,
“I’ll prepare a bath for you,”
“Okay, thank you,”
Soon after, Calian sat down at the table and tapped the surface out of habit. Although he wouldn’t have heard the sound, Alan, who was still connected through the ring, waited for Calian to speak.
Calian spent a long moment in his thoughts, before leaning back against his chair and calling for Alan.
Alan answered immediately,
There was only one reason why the Count would pretend to be drunk and avoid speaking to him so Calian continued,
From the way he had greeted Calian, with honey dripping from his every word, saying how honoured he was to serve him – wouldn’t he have been planning his early retreat from the dinner table since then?
In any case, it wasn’t a problem that could be overlooked. If Blue Warbler was right, he made money by selling Kyris’ information to spies and is using that money to build his relationship with Tensil.
After thinking that far, Calian spoke to Alan again,
At those words, Alan immediately asked,
At Alan’s question, Calian immediately asked for help,
And as always, even if he had plans, Alan was someone who would cancel everything if Calian needed something, so Alan answered as expected,
Who was going to postpone a meeting with whom? And for who? Calian, with a faintly worried look said,
Alan laughed, and Calian shook his head as he said,
He was talking about Latrans’ manor in Kyrisis.
Since there were no other family members other than Hale in this castle, the rest of his family must be staying in Kyrisis. Calian was asking Alan to see if he could find any evidence at his home there.
At those words, Alan spoke as though he was having a lot of fun with this,
If Alan was seen to be investigating something in the Capital, then Count Latran’s side would have no choice but to also move.
To Alan, who had understood his intentions perfectly, Calian replied,
When Calian told Alan what he should write in the letter, Alan laughed very loudly.
****
That night was truly long.
Close to midnight, after his conversation with Alan, Calian put off taking his path for a while and went to look for the man they had imprisoned.
It was only then that he learned the man’s name.
“Norten. Norten Ramirez,”
Norten looked far more comfortable than he had that afternoon. Even though he now had one arm, he seemed to have accepted that his arm could not be saved and had quickly undergone amputation.
Calian couldn’t know if the quick acceptance was because he worked as a guard in a mine, where serious injuries occur every day or because he had become a death row prisoner.
Either way, Norten was now looking at Calian with an expression of ‘What now?’ since he had already told him everything he knew last time.
He suddenly became anxious, looking up at Calian’s expressionless face and asked,
“Did something happen to my wife?”
Up until just a while ago, he had spoken clearly, but because of his anxieties about his wife, he spoke informally.
Calian shook his head.
Those who would have threatened Norten had already lost their heads. Blue Warbler probably didn’t care about Norten’s wife from the very beginning – she probably didn’t even know where Norten’s house was. Since his wife was someone unrelated to Blue Warbler.
“You don’t have to worry about that,”
“Then, for what reason…?”
Calian, while looking straight at Norten, said,
“If it stays like this, then you will be executed in a few days,”
The first time they saw each other, Calian ruined his shoulder. The second time, he cut off his arm and now Calian was saying he would die soon. So there was no way Norten could stay calm.
Just as he was about to burst out in anger, Calian intercepted,
“Help me,”
Norten frowned as Calian continued to speak, his expressionless face.
“If you do that, you’ll be able to get treatment,”
It was similar to what Calian had said to him earlier, except this time, he didn’t mean it in the sense of he would heal Norten, but rather, he would remove the label of ‘death row prisoner’ from him.
Norten didn’t immediately understand and looked at his missing arm. Calian, without any signs of frustration, said again,
“Since I took your arm in exchange for attacking me, I’m saying I’ll release you. I can take measures to make sure you can live comfortably and provide a suitable house and land for farming too,”
“What on earth is the work – for you to be so generous?”
“Since it can get dangerous,”
Norten replied with a laugh,
“Give me your orders. What should I do?”
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