Chapter 35: Live To Sienna Pt.35
Even knowing that Carl was already suspicious of her and would become more so, Sienna had no choice but to say this. In the past, Carl had been considerably hurt by that revelation.
Azrael was a servant for whom Carl cared very much. She could not ignore the sharp blade-like betrayal he had received from the man he had trusted so much while knowing that it was going to drive him through the ground.
“I know that Your Highness will only grow to hate me more by my saying this. Nevertheless, I beg of you, watch out for Azrael.”
“Why should I suspect Azrael while believing only your words, whose source is unknown?”
“There is no harm for you, Your Highness. You’ll know when you go back to the frontlines. If nothing happens by the time you get there, you can validate your doubts toward me and punish me, but if you think he seems strange, then you’ll have to settle the problem of the spy that Arya planted.”
“…”
Carl left her room through the window without telling Sienna that he would do so because he believed in Azrael. Watching him sadly from behind, Sienna sighed and muttered, looking at the window from which he had left, “I’ve told you before, windows are not for people to come in and out of.”
She had said it as a joke, but her face was stiff. She felt sorry to have delved into his mind with her own words, but she couldn’t help it. It would be better just to wring his heart out with words than for a sudden knife to do it.
After leaving the mansion where Sienna lived, Carl sighed heavily against the wall.
“I went there in vain…”
He had told Azrael that he had been able to return without dying because of her help. Since then, Azrael had told Carl repeatedly that Sienna was suspicious.
“Isn’t it too coincidental? Obviously, only you and I, and the Peer family knew that Your Highness had entered the capital. After coming face to face with that woman, Sienna, who recognized you on the streets, weren’t you attacked right away? Moreover, it was she who saved your life. Can a coincidence be so repeated?”
Thinking rationally, Azrael was right. She had too many things about her that were suspicious.
Still, Carl had had a feeling that she was not one of Arya’s people. He thought it was foolish to follow grains of salt when judging important things, but this time, he wanted to believe his own feelings.
“It’s not that I wish it weren’t so, but I’m hoping it’s not so.”
He had only met her a few times, but strangely, he felt the need to lean on her.
“Be careful of Azrael.”
Carl thought of what she had said and shook his head with a wistful expression.
“Be careful of Azrael. How could I ever doubt Azrael?!”
He was Carl, the person who couldn’t trust people easily. He was someone who’d return greater hostility to those who showed him hostility. He would contemplate the goodwill he received from others, thinking about what the real intentions behind them were. That kind of person had never suspected or questioned Azrael, the only one he had trusted and relied upon. Carl’s doubts toward Sienna, who asked him to suspect such a man, were bound to grow even more.
Azrael was the servant who had been by his side since his mother’s death. He had stood by Carl, who had had to fight on the battlefield from an early age. How could he doubt him after more than a decade living together and staying by each other’s side?
“But…”
In this situation, it was natural to believe in one’s own self, but at no moment it occurred to him that she had lied to him.
When Carl went to the frontlines, as Sienna had said, it would be clear who would be found to be a true friend and who would be a traitor. But she didn’t want him to go to that extent. Whether Azrael did harm to him or not, Carl had nothing to gain. No, rather, he would end up losing something very important.
“As I thought, I said some useless words for nothing.”
She had told Carl to be careful with Azrael, but not because she had had clear information. She had once felt strange when she had seen the long scar across his back when Carl had been asleep.
She knew the physiology of knights better than most because she had grown up in a special environment, one with more knights and soldiers than farmers. She had thought Azrael had stabbed him in the back. Many considered it the place to easily hurt someone since it was difficult to defend, but in fact, it was the most difficult place to get to normally. Sometimes, soldiers in battle would get their backs slashed, but that was not common. Knights had their backs hurt even more rarely.
The first thing one did when one learned to use the sword was not learn how to grip it, but learn how to turn their bodies in the direction of their opponents and learn to tell the trajectory of the sword across the air. Those who knew how to wield a sword would not do something so foolish as to show their backs to an enemy. That was why most people got injured across their arms, abdomen and sides.
She had not been able to comprehend how the prince could’ve have gotten the old scar across his back, not unless it had been made by someone he trusted enough to turn his back to…
She had been able to solve the mystery with some difficulty through her maid-in-waiting. Carl’s only and favorite servant had attacked him, causing him to suffer a major trauma.
There had been rumors that it had been because of sudden bout of insanity, and that Carl and he had fought over a woman. There had been many rumors, but nothing had been known with precision. That had been because Carl, the person involved in the case, had kept silent.
Sienna had heard the story and wondered why he had done such a thing when he had gained Carl’s faith. But, it had been easy to answer that question when she had found out that the timing of the betrayal had coincided with his wedding. If Arya had planted a spy at Carl’s side from the very beginning, she must have used him at the most opportune time.
If Carl had been in good health, the wedding with Sienna could not have been held. No matter how much Arya had wanted it, if the person in question had refused to marry her, she wouldn’t have been able to get married.
Sienna, who remembered that Carl would be attacked by his servant Azrael, wondered whether she should let him know.
She knew better than to tell him immediately because that would have incurred suspicion. But, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut knowing he was going to get hurt.
“But… if Azrael doesn’t attack Carl, he’ll suspect I tried to drive a wedge between the two. Even if Azrael attacks Carl, he’s going to ask me for the source of the information.”
Sienna sighed.
“I know I can’t win over Carl’s heart, but rather, I think I’ll be hated at this rate…”
She had long abandoned the desire to win his heart.
Knowing the future in the fight against Arya would certainly work out very well, but other than that, Sienna didn’t have many cards to play.
Arya had many things, including the support of high-ranking aristocrats, the imperial chieftain and the guards, and the huge financial power of the Southern Region. But, Sienna had to face her doubt while giving up on trying to get help from Carl.
Of course, she thought it was her job to do, but there was no way to hide her frustrations. In the hope of relieving such frustrations, she visited the temple of the Goddess of the Earth, but things were not easily resolved.
“Sigh…”
As Sienna breathed a deep sigh, Roy asked with a curious expression, “What are you worried about?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“You just sighed. If you’re worried, let it out. If you share your worries, the weight of them will be half as heavy,” Roy said with closed eyes.
Looking at him, Sienna smiled and said it was no big deal, so he turned to finish filling out the paperwork without hesitation.
Sienna found familiar names in the documents he filled out and asked him, “What are you doing?”
“I’m making a list of believers.”
“A list of believers?”
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