Chapter 241
An illegitimate child and scattered clues
The High Priest’s eyes gleamed ominously as he read through the report.
…The child had only appeared once in that valley, and was wearing a hooded cloak, so they couldn’t be clearly identified. However, the woman holding the child seemed to be a former lady-in-waiting who had served in the imperial palace long ago…
The Imperial Prince’s reaction upon seeing the two of them was also anything but ordinary. Extremely affectionate…
For three years, there hadn’t been a single gap in the surveillance, so he had thought it all pointless. But as expected, no one is perfect. There had been a sliver of an opening.
But for that Imperial Prince to have an illegitimate child?
‘Hmph… Hard to believe, but…’
Riegel Betelgeuse was as composed and reserved as a priest. Since declaring his cousin’s disappearance as death, he had been indefinitely delaying marriage talks.
The Imperial Prince claimed he was ‘waiting for the right time, since the empire remains unstable,’ but in society, there were whispers questioning whether he was even fit to marry…
“Maybe behind that gentle face, he’s secretly living a debauched life.”
If it had happened after marriage, perhaps it could be overlooked. But to have an illegitimate child before marriage would be the perfect scandal to tarnish the next Emperor’s reputation.
Especially considering the current Emperor, despite criticisms of his personality, was still respected by commoners for never keeping a concubine.
‘First, I must give orders to continue trailing him.’
The High Priest quickly penned a reply, the setting sun at his back. He believed himself alone, unaware that a pair of red eyes watched silently from a tree overlooking his chamber.
Even in the deepening darkness, the eyes of a white dove gleamed faintly.
***
From the capital’s outer walls, trumpets blared once again from below, and the flags began to rise.
How many times had it been just today? Dafir quickened his pace, then glanced back.
‘This is absolute madness.’
With the full onset of summer, noble families had begun flooding into the capital from their estates. The Duke’s household had arrived earlier than most, thanks to the Emperor’s furious demand that they ‘show public support for the Imperial Prince’.
Yet Dafir was no more pleased than the others about coming to the capital.
Even after scouring every place imaginable, they had repeatedly failed to find the imperial descendant. How could the social season in the capital possibly feel festive?
However, today, Dafir’s steps as he returned to the manor were lighter than usual.
‘Maybe… this report…!’
He dared to hope it might finally mean something. Clutching the freshly received report in hand, Dafir’s voice was unusually spirited at the Duke’s door.
“Milord, I’ve brought today’s report.”
“…Come in.”
“Yes, sir…!”
But even his cheerful self flinched before crossing the threshold.
Though the Duke only looked at him indifferently, with a blank expression, it felt as if a blade were pressing against the back of his neck, chilling him to the core.
Some would describe that presence as ‘a fitting pressure for the man who quelled countless uprisings’.
But to Dafir, his master looked more like a withered, blackened tree. One weighed down by a mountain of ice, its branches on the verge of snapping.
Izar looked at the hesitant Dafir with faded eyes.
“The report?”
“Ah, yes!”
Hurriedly, Dafir pulled out the compiled contents of the newly received letters.
“’The Madam’s maid, Thea, remains unchanged. Since settling in the nearby city, her interactions have been consistent, and nothing seems out of the ordinary.”
For the past three years, Izar had kept watch over Freesia’s former attendants.
After freeing Thea from the constraints of feudal ties, she had not squandered the jewelry she received from Freesia. Instead, she and her family had opened a modest business in a small city and were managing it responsibly.
“And Van Dike?”
“Still no trace of him… But there is one strange matter.”
“What is it?”
“Recently, a house called ‘Procyon’, based in a nearby territory, has newly arrived in the capital. The lady of that house is said to be Sir Dike’s younger sister.”
At that, the shadow in Izar’s gaze seemed to lighten, if only slightly.
For a provincial family to participate in the capital’s high society required an enormous sum. And it wasn’t just the money. One also needed a degree of lineage, enough to show prior participation in capital society.
Without such credentials, a climb to the capital could end in disgrace… just like what happened to Freesia’s mother.
For a small, obscure family with little history to have now established such a foothold…
“They say a large sum of money was sent to House Procyon this year. Even if their last harvest had been exceptional, it’s still… excessive!”
“……”
“What shall we do, Milord?”
Dafir asked, barely able to contain his excitement.
Those golden eyes, which had seemed sunken beneath a still lake, gleamed for the first time in a while.
“What do you think?”
But what lit those eyes was not calm reason or logic, It was unmistakable killing intent.
“They’ll pay the price for deceiving me.”
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