The Two-Timing Revelation
Beth carefully folded the paper with the measurements noted on it and hailed a hired carriage.
Only after reaching the tearoom did it occur to her that Lina and Ivetta might have already left.
It had been nearly four hours since she had excused herself from the tearoom, claiming she had an urgent matter to handle.
Yet the carriage they had taken out that day remained exactly where it had been, parked near the tearoom.
Hearing the sound of Beth’s returning carriage, Lina and Ivetta stepped out from the tearoom.
“Did your urgent business go well?”
Even though Beth had vanished without warning and left them waiting for hours, Lina’s voice remained gentle.
Beth felt her eyes sting for no reason and ran straight into Lina’s arms.
“Lina.”
Beth rubbed her cheek against Lina’s shoulder like a child throwing a tantrum.
“Did things not work out?”
Lina patted her back, telling her that if there was anything she could help with, she would do it in a heartbeat—just say the word.
The kinder Lina was, the angrier Beth became.
Where’s the assassination guild with the best success rate these days?
Although they had not known each other long, Beth genuinely liked Lina.
Any man who would hurt someone like her did not deserve the air he breathed.
Before storming off to find an assassination guild, Beth called out to Lina with grim determination, intending to tell her exactly what a terrible person Everett Rohas was.
“Lina! I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
Lina, completely unaware of what Beth was about to reveal, asked with a smile.
Just as Beth opened her mouth to share the facts she had uncovered that day—
The signer is forbidden from disclosing any information that may cause harm to the Emperor.
Violation detected. Speech forcibly suppressed.
“Urgh—ugh!”
No sound would emerge.
Furious, Beth shouted in frustration.
“What is this!”
She knew exactly what it was.
The Oath of Mana had activated.
Yet in this moment she could not understand why the Oath of Mana—which prevented anyone from saying anything that might harm the emperor—was sealing her mouth.
After several more failed attempts to scream “Everett Rohas, you bastard!” Beth chose a tactical retreat.
Her throat ached from forcing the words out, so she cleared it a few times and let out a heavy sigh.
“If it’s work-related, you don’t have to tell me,” Lina said. She had been watching with worried eyes each time Beth’s speech was forcibly blocked.
“It’s… not work-related?”
Thinking it over again, something felt off.
Beth tilted her head.
The conditions of the Oath of Mana taken by all Blue Hawk members were identical.
Do not do anything that might harm the emperor.
Beth could not see how exposing the fact that Lina’s lover was boldly two-timing between the crown princess and Lina had anything to do with the emperor.
Could it be because of that?
Everett Rohas and the crown princess were scheduled to enter a national marriage.
If Beth revealed the two-timing, it would disrupt the marriage—and that disruption might be considered harmful to the emperor, triggering the oath.
Ah, there’s no time for this.
Kyle, the one who had cast the Oath of Mana, would have sensed immediately that Beth had tried to violate it.
On top of that, Beth had even used Kyle’s name today while digging into Everett Rohas’s background.
She had to tell Lina the truth before an enraged Kyle came to haul her away.
Now that she understood the cause, it was time to find a loophole.
And Beth already knew one.
The condition “do not do anything that might harm the emperor” left room for subjective interpretation.
Listen, Beth. Everett Rohas is a scumbag. If someone like him marries the crown princess, it will cause problems later, right? Preventing that would be helping His Majesty, wouldn’t it?
She repeated the thought like a mantra, practically brainwashing herself.
Then Beth opened her mouth again.
“That goddamn, no-good, rotten bastard Everett Rohas is two-timing with the Crown Princess!”
The words finally burst out.
Most of the first part had been curses, so Lina flinched in surprise.
She grew even more shocked as the rest sank in.
Beth handed over the paper she had been clutching the entire time.
Even if Kyle appeared now, it was fine.
She had delivered every last word.
What had Beth just said?
Ed is two-timing?
Had I heard correctly? Was I dreaming? My mind was pure chaos.
Seeing my completely shattered expression, Beth spoke with caution.
“I checked everything just now. Her Highness the Crown Princess is secretly preparing for a wedding. The first set of measurements is for the formal attire of the man who will become her consort. The second set is from when Everett Rohas was fitted for his uniform last spring. They match almost perfectly.”
Having finished, Beth bit her lower lip as though she were the one more upset.
She fell silent, giving me time to process the revelation.
Then the father of Her Highness’s child is… Ed?
Although I held the paper Beth had given me, the numbers refused to focus.
Only after several deep breaths could I finally read them.
Just as Beth had said, the measurements on both sheets were nearly identical.
Everett was far taller than average and had an excellent build.
There was no possibility it could be someone else.
It felt as if the ground had dropped out beneath my feet.
In that instant, every vague discomfort I had felt before clicked into place.
Like sliding the final piece into a puzzle.
The sudden appearances in a hood. The royal guard colleague who had somehow gotten the business-trip schedule wrong.
Connie’s words looped endlessly in my head like a broken recording device.
“Isn’t he two-timing you?”
“The trip was supposed to be five days, but he told his girlfriend six and used the extra time for another woman. You know how it goes.”
I thought it was nonsense at the time.
I had believed he wasn’t that kind of man.
I had convinced myself those loving eyes could not be faked.
Yet the evidence stood right in front of me.
All the unease I had ignored came rushing back like a storm.
Now that I thought about it, the period when Everett said we could not meet for a while overlapped almost exactly with when the crown princess had become pregnant.
And the way he said it was fine to meet at Ivetta’s detached palace…
Both the crown princess and Ivetta resided in the detached palace, but their quarters were deliberately placed far apart to protect their privacy.
Before today, Ivetta and the crown princess had shared no connection whatsoever.
He was playing me for a fool?
The tips of my fingers and the corners of my mouth trembled violently.
My entire body went icy, as though plunged into freezing water, then flared with heat, as though I had swallowed lava.
I regretted not having learned a wider array of curses.
My current feelings were too awful to be captured by any vocabulary I possessed.
I did not even want to attempt describing them with clumsy words.
A chill that had no place in midsummer settled over us.
Ivetta asked carefully.
“Lina, are you all right?”
Kind Ivetta, offering comfort even though she knew I was anything but all right.
“I’m… fine.”
I lied in a voice that made it perfectly clear I was not.
Realizing I had no desire to speak, Ivetta closed her mouth with a dejected look.
Both Beth and Ivetta were watching only me, reading my mood.
But I had no energy left to worry about anyone else.
Cold one moment, burning the next—my heart, instead of being tempered, simply crumbled.
I’ll allow that he might have wanted to become crown prince consort.
Even so, he should have ended things with me first.
If he had, I might have cried for a few days and felt empty for a long while, but I would not have felt this level of betrayal.
It was the worst black mark in my entire romantic history.
All the more painful because he was the only person I had ever given my whole heart.
When I turned out to be more devastated than expected, Beth seemed to feel guilty and mumbled timidly.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. The later I learned the truth, the more it would have hurt.”
I had liked Everett.
More than I could say.
So much that I had begun to believe this was the love I had only ever read about in romance novels—the kind I had never experienced myself.
Hesitating at my words, Beth offered another suggestion.
“I know several assassination guilds. I can file a request for you.”
“You can’t do that, Beth.”
The refusal left my mouth out of habit, even though my soul felt hollow.
“Then how about the mercenary guild? Having him beaten up should be acceptable, right?”
Ivetta joined Beth’s compromise.
“I’ll heal him, so request it as many times as you like!”
A tiny laugh escaped me at their sincere attempts to comfort me.
“I’ll handle it myself.”
I gritted my teeth.