Chapter 42
Chapter 42
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Suspicious Servants
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I moved my feet and stood up from my seat. The five minutes she had mentioned had already passed.
I walked around barefoot, but no pain came anymore.
“I thought it might be too much to wear heels in your current condition, so I brought these. They’re new.”
Robarta’s thoughtfulness didn’t end there. She had prepared flat shoes for me today.
They were a bit loose, but far better than heels.
With touched eyes, I thanked her and slipped them on.
“Now let’s head back.”
“...May this old woman say one thing?”
Darsi flinched. He turned to Robarta and nodded readily.
“About Marso’s health?”
“No. It’s about the Prince... Would you prefer to hear it alone?”
Darsi shook his head.
“If it’s something I can’t say in front of Marso, then never mind.”
Robarta looked at me and Darsi, lost in thought for a moment.
“Very well, then.”
She opened a drawer and placed something on Darsi’s hand.
“Prince, burning incense too heavily clouds the air.”
It was an incense burner that looked quite old.
“You tell me to quit, yet you hand me an incense burner?”
“...Quitting all at once is never easy, is it?”
Robarta chuckled softly.
A moment later, she placed my heels in a bag and handed it over. Darsi tucked the small incense burner into his bag.
“You like it.”
“I can’t just throw it away.”
A lie. I knew he would have tossed it right away if he didn’t.
Darsi supported me as we turned to leave the room. Then Robarta murmured.
“I’m glad to see you looking so healthy.”
Darsi halted and turned around. His eyes were wide with bewilderment—an unfamiliar sight. As he pressed his lips together, Robarta bowed her head apologetically.
“The longer one stays in the imperial palace, the more unspeakable things pile up. I’ve always been sorry.”
There was someone who remembered the days when he had been dragged around by Emperor Kies.
Though she lacked the courage to step forward for him or the sense of justice to protect him, Robarta remembered.
“This was the best I could do.”
Darsi said nothing, but Robarta’s voice was definitely trembling.
Their faces exchanged an indescribable emotion before slipping back into his usual leisurely mask.
Darsi let out a faint chuckle.
“I didn’t even expect that much.”
Darsi opened the door. Robarta said no more.
Once outside, Darsi looked at me and shrugged as if it were absurd.
“Funny. That she remembers me.”
“Did you ever show her your face?”
“No, but I visited a few times.”
Robarta must have been in the imperial palace for quite a while.
“Probably since my mother’s time.”
I was surprised by Darsi’s words as he rummaged through his memories. That was definitely a long time.
“She has all of Emperor Kies’s trust.”
For a mere commoner to become an imperial physician, the emperor’s confidence would certainly have been essential. It was reason enough to turn a blind eye to Darsi.
“Do you resent her?”
It was possible. He’d said he hadn’t expected anything, but bringing it up at all was a contradiction.
Robarta was a kind person. One of the few normals in the palace. That might be why Darsi had hoped for more from her.
“No. I never asked her for help to begin with.”
“And yet she figured out who you are.”
Robarta was a doctor. Whether he came masked or helmeted, she would know his build.
It would have been stranger if she couldn’t tell Emperor Kies and Darsi apart.
“You’ve finally come out.”
As the two of us started walking back, an uninvited voice rang out. It was Kaisen, who had still been sticking around.
I furrowed my brow.
“Why haven’t you gone...”
“I had something to ask Darsi-nim.”
Kaisen ignored me. He clearly seemed at a loss for how to treat me now, given my changed demeanor.
“I’m sorry, but couldn’t you use magic to find her?”
Even at Kaisen’s earnest plea, Darsi’s answer remained the same.
“Yeah.”
“Darsi-nim, please...”
Kaisen looked impatient. His rival and the object of his unrequited love had suddenly vanished—how could he not be?
He’d been desperate enough to signal me for help. But.
“No thanks.”
Of course, I refused cleanly.
“...You know how desperate I am. And I can’t even use others for it.”
“Then run around yourself.”
Darsi gave him a perfectly fitting response.
We began walking slowly, ignoring Kaisen’s request. We both felt the same reluctance to return to the ballroom, so our steps dragged.
The moment we reentered the small garden connected to Robarta’s residence, Darsi paused.
“...I thought this annex was empty right now.”
“The footsteps sound pretty urgent. And not just one or two.”
The two of them continued their cryptic conversation. What on earth had they heard?
“It might be the answer you’re looking for.”
“...Then hide with me, please.”
“Why should I? What reason does a prince have to hide?”
“You sense something suspicious too, don’t you? I followed your lead diligently during the operation.”
Kaisen looked a decade older because Darsi wouldn’t heed him. I felt no pity at all.
Well done, Darsi. You’re teaching him in real time just how agonizing it is to talk to someone who won’t listen.
Kaisen turned to me.
“...Won’t you stop him?”
“Why would I? It feels too good knowing he’s getting a taste of how I felt.”
He fell silent again at my words.
In the end, we hid behind the thick bushes around the annex and the fence made from them.
Crouching down made me feel like a character from a spy movie.
When would I ever get to experience something like this again?
To figure out where the presence they mentioned was coming from, I closed my eyes and listened carefully.
Soon enough, footsteps really approached. Peeking through slitted eyes, I saw servants coming from the path opposite us.
They stopped before the annex, catching their breath. This was clearly their destination.
But each one was clutching a wooden box.
The servant trailing behind the three in front tripped. With a short scream of “Ack!”, the box slipped from his arms.
The box rolled, its lid popping open, spilling the contents inside.
We doubted our eyes at the sight of the contents sparkling brilliantly on the grass.
“...Magic crystals?”
They weren’t something ordinary servants would carry around. Especially not to an annex that was supposed to be empty.
Kaisen, who had furrowed his brow, spoke first.
“They’re taking them to the scene of that earlier incident, I suppose.”
“No, you know there’s no need to pass through the garden when going from the storage to the main palace where the ball is.”
Darsi refuted it. Kaisen’s face grew grave.
“Black market dealings?”
“...Doesn’t seem like it.”
Darsi nodded toward the door.
“They’ve finally arrived!”
The marquis burst through the annex door and shouted as he approached the servants. He looked just as pale as before.
“He seems incredibly urgent.”
Ryan Streugen, following behind the marquis, was visible too.
They had come to the annex despite being so close to Robarta’s place. And they hadn’t called for her.
The guards or servants around were minimal at best. It meant their visit to the annex right now was meant to be a secret.
Everything was beyond suspicious. Even Kaisen, who adored Resuan, couldn’t tear his feet away easily.
Of course, Darsi showed no mercy.
“The person you’re looking for might be in there. Go on.”
“...Yes, I’ll go in now.”
Kaisen rose with a half-hearted attitude.
But before he could enter, the door opened again.
And there stood Resuan Epekle, looking perfectly fine.
“Resuan!”
Kaisen lit up at the sight of her and rushed over.
“What happened that you collapsed so suddenly? I was worried.”
“It must be from all the stress lately... I think I was overthinking things.”
Resuan looked startled by Kaisen’s abrupt appearance but answered kindly.
“I heard a lot of people were worried when I suddenly left. Shall we head back to the ballroom together?”
“Good idea.”
Kaisen, who could make bean paste even from red beans if Resuan suggested it, escorted her.
The marquis and Ryan emerged a bit later. It was suspicious that they hadn’t come out right away.
Had the two of them shared some sort of conversation?
‘Is there some connection between the magic crystals and Resuan’s health?’
Of course, as Kaisen said, the crystals could be evidence of smuggling. Magic crystals were exclusively traded by the two mining families and the imperial house, with only a tiny amount circulating.
With just one mine, he might have grown greedy for more.
But the marquis doted on Resuan. It was unlikely he’d suddenly request a deal right when she collapsed.
The marquis’s face had been ghostly pale as he entered with the crystals. Just like she hadn’t recovered yet.
It had been about ten minutes until Resuan came back out.
What had happened in that time?
Why hadn’t they called a doctor to begin with...
But why does this itch so much?
When I turned my head, I found Darsi gazing at me, chin propped on his hand. His eyes were slanted in boredom, but there was no urging.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
“She’s not worth your worry.”
“...Right.”
Darsi and I, who had been standing there blankly, finally started walking. It was a nagging ending, but nothing specific we could point to.
“Heading straight back?”
“I don’t feel like returning to the ball...”
Darsi stepped in front of me, his eyes gleaming playfully.
“How about we play hooky?”
“Go where?”
“There should still be time before the ball ends... Let’s go there.”
He matched my steps naturally and whispered.
“To my room.”