Chapter 130
Considering how obsessively he had acted around her before, it was odd, but every time their eyes met, his gaze would briefly deepen and darken, making it clear that he didn’t seem entirely comfortable despite his outward demeanor.
Whenever this happened, Roina, though fully aware of his gaze, chose to ignore it. She wasn’t exactly happy about the growing distance between them either.
However, given her uncertainty about whether her feelings were truly her own, it was clear that retracing her steps from the beginning was necessary.
She focused more on the upcoming New Year’s banquet. Meeting with Yoseph and Maili, she learned about the political situation in the Kailum Empire and the intricacies of high society, preparing for what was to come, and gaining some insight into the challenges she had not considered before, particularly regarding the Imperial Crown Prince.
Yoseph and Maili planned to hold the Imperial Crown Prince accountable for the Emperor’s imprisonment at the New Year’s banquet.
They had already gathered sufficient evidence and witnesses, and many influential nobles sympathetic to their cause had also rallied to their side.
This was all thanks to the Crown Prince’s reckless behavior recently. His actions, once carefully restrained, had become increasingly excessive after he lost Roina.
He had killed many people and undone the moderate policies he had implemented to maintain his image.
Nobles who had been skeptical of the Crown Prince’s true nature were now easily convinced, having either already been disappointed or become suspicious.
The suspicions regarding the Emperor’s imprisonment spread like wildfire, quickly uniting the anti-Crown Prince faction.
With little time left before the New Year’s banquet, Yoseph and Roina had arranged to meet secretly with an envoy from the Ryeo Kingdom.
Yoseph, as the representative of the anti-Crown Prince faction, and Roina, as the disciple of the Great Archmage.
They had entered the largest secret meeting room of the capital’s grandest merchant association to meet with them in secret.
This place, frequented by people from all walks of life for various reasons, ironically turned out to be the perfect place for discreet encounters.
“Convincing the Kingdom of Ryeo beyond the east was my biggest worry, but thanks to His Highness, the noble Crown Prince, sending the people of Castrello to the Al Ruhata labor camp, it became easy.”
At least, it seems he won’t be siding with the Crown Prince. Yoseph said this while placing his hand behind his head and shaking it. He looked completely drained after several days of exchanging letters back and forth.
But despite his fatigue, the results were beginning to show, and he smiled lazily, pleased. The accumulated exhaustion left him looking slightly disheveled, unlike his usual self.
“Castrello……”
Roina’s eyes clouded over. The memory of a knight who had once sacrificed himself for her surfaced. Under the Crown Prince’s command, he had been forced to violate her, yet he was someone who had truly admired her. Ethan.
She had already tried to inquire about his whereabouts through Yoseph, but no one knew what had become of that knight.
He had been a trophy in the Crown Prince’s achievement of successfully uniting the Kingdom of Castrello, but once his use as such had run its course, no one paid him any attention.
During that process, Roina had been surprised to learn that Ethan had been a prince of the fallen kingdom.
“Our Amasto successfully bypassed the Kailak Mountain Range, a trade route that no one had crossed before, to establish trade with Ryeo.
Through that, he even amassed a fortune that even the Imperial Family cannot easily touch. If it hadn’t been for the blood oath passed down through generations to serve the Emperor, he might have been destroyed by the Imperial Family long ago.”
It seems the Crown Prince still doesn’t quite realize that he is not the Emperor yet. Yoseph said this with a shrug. At 18 years old, soon to turn 19 after the New Year’s party, he still had the appearance of a boy, but despite that, he possessed a genius intellect and vast knowledge.
Despite his youth, there was a reason he had become the control tower for all of these plans. Simply put, no one else was more qualified.
Creeeak—
At that moment, the wall opposite where they had entered opened. Until then, it had seemed like just a solid wall, but following the grain of the wood, a natural gap appeared, revealing a door.
“Oh, it seems I’m late.”
A man with short black hair and a slender figure appeared from within. He wore a robe to avoid being noticed, but when he slightly pulled back his hood, the red eye makeup adorning the corners of his eyes created an intense impression.
In that moment, his violet eyes met Roina’s, and they briefly stared at each other, his gaze piercing and persistent, before he narrowed his eyes.
The man, who smiled like a serpent, revealed his red-tinted iris and grinned mischievously.
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