Chapter 57
Chapter 57. A Braided Lie
At Gartan’s icy voice, Vinea stepped back, slowly releasing his hand.
“So, you knew about it too, Uncle…”
Gartan looked at Vinea’s face with a slight frown. What intention did she have, and what did she know to ask such a question?
Before Gartan could open his mouth, Vinea spoke first to Lineue, who was standing frozen behind him.
“Oh my, Lineue! This is no time to be standing around! You must hurry!”
“Yes? Yes, Your Majesty…”
Lineue, with a confused face, grabbed Vante’s wrist and hurriedly left the place. As Vinea gestured with her eyes for Lineue to go quickly, a deep wariness settled on Gartan’s face.
“They were suspicious characters. We should have detained and checked them.”
“They’re my people. We had to move quickly without the Emperor’s knowledge.”
“The Emperor…”
“I mean my husband, Emperor Tatar de Tessibania.”
Recalling the two people who had greeted him when he arrived in the empire, Vinea’s attitude in mentioning the current emperor’s name was excessively sharp.
“I thought you were on good terms.”
“Please don’t say that. Who is he? He’s the emperor of Tessibania, who has been at war with our Veshnu for so long. There are many listening ears within the imperial palace, so I had to be careful even in front of you, Uncle. It’s understandable that you might misunderstand, but that’s certainly not the case.”
“An explanation is needed.”
Gartan quickly regained his composure. As the urgency and tension of possibly having to end Vinea right here dissipated, reason began to assess the situation.
Being siblings who cared for each other deeply, if she knew that he had tried to kill Vante, she would never be able to face him and talk like this.
To gauge how much Vinea knew, Gartan broached the subject.
“Did you know that Vante had come to Tessibania?”
Vinea sighed and said,
“Yes. Actually, Vante came to see me two evenings ago.”
It was the day he had instigated the assassination. Gartan’s hand gripping the cane tightened. Vinea, who had lowered her gaze, glanced at his old habit with icy eyes.
“My maid found a suspicious person wandering near the Empress’s palace. Since Vante and I look so much alike, she recognized him immediately and brought him to me.”
As she spoke, Vinea eventually buried her face in her hands and her shoulders trembled slightly.
“When he said he had come recklessly because he wanted to see me, I should have protected him more thoroughly. I was foolish to think he would be safe inside the Empress’s palace…”
Having quickly grasped the situation, Gartan ran his right hand, which wasn’t holding the cane, over his dry face, now free of tension.
“You were protecting Vante? Was someone threatening that child?”
Vinea lowered her hands and shook her head. A shadow darker than the night sky settled on her gaunt face.
“I told you about the assassins coming after me. It’s obvious that Vante’s life would be in danger if they were to discover him. Since even the people inside the palace couldn’t be trusted, I was protecting Vante in an underground hideout connected to my room. It’s a place with multiple layers of protective magic as well.”
Hearing this, Gartan’s eyes sharpened.
A hideout. Even if not the emperor and empress, any high-ranking noble with various vested interests would have one in their residence. If it was also protected by magic from the few magicians in both empires, it explained how Vinea had survived until now, hiding there whenever assassins were sent.
“As you said, I knew Vante had mixed in with the delegation. Most of the nobles in the delegation saw that child. I gave him an artifact to conceal his appearance for protection, didn’t you see it?”
“He said he took it off briefly to wash after drinking and then lost it. Even though he’s intelligent, he makes mistakes sometimes. It must have been an important artifact for you, Uncle…”
A faint annoyance flashed across Gartan’s face. Who would have thought things would go wrong so ridiculously? It must have been valuable to a commoner’s eyes, so the servant sharing the room probably stole it.
Having drunk the drugged wine, he must have fallen asleep without properly checking. What happened next was predictable. The assassins had killed someone who matched the description of the artifact they had been given in advance.
“That’s not important at all. Vante’s safety is the most crucial. Have you been able to locate where he is now?”
Vinea shook her head with a devastated face. Her gaze, falling with worry for her only brother, cleverly concealed the lie.
“I had just sent non-royal personnel to search—the cloaked figure you just saw. In the current situation where the source of the assassins hasn’t been identified, I couldn’t trust anyone in the royal family, so I had no choice.”
“We must find Vante quickly, or it could be dangerous. We must find Vante before returning to Veshnu. Only then can we return safely. You must also realize that just his presence here could cause major problems?”
Gartan spoke to Vinea as if chiding her.
“Why on earth didn’t you tell me about this problem immediately?”
Vinea raised her lowered head and looked straight into Gartan’s eyes. The blue moonlight brushing Vinea’s face momentarily revealed the chilling gaze hidden in the darkness.
“I told you. I couldn’t trust anyone.”
As clouds covered the moon, the darkness of night once again shrouded Vinea’s fair face. As if the chilling gaze had been an illusion, blue eyes filled with worry for her brother turned towards Gartan.
“The Emperor acts quite affectionate towards me, but I don’t know what kind of knife he’s hiding inside. It’s common knowledge in the palace that the Emperor Emeritus hates me for being from Veshnu. Recently, my cheek…”
Vinea covered her cheek, chilled by the night wind, with a trembling hand. The implication of her action and words was clear.
“When I can’t even trust a maid bringing tea, I thought it was better than risking the information leaking out while trying to send word to you, Uncle. I was in the process of sending him to you, mixed in with the crowd of servants as the banquet was ending, but contact was lost. It’s my fault.”
Gartan covered his stiffened lips with his hand. In his eyes appeared guilt and anguish that seemed almost real.
“The sins of myself and our ancestors have been tormenting you, an innocent, all this time…”
“I can endure anything if it means maintaining the peace of the empire. But not Vante. He still needs the protection of our parents and you, Uncle.”
“Yes. I’ll also send people to search together.”
“No, Uncle. Please don’t do that.”
For whose benefit would you unleash your minions in the imperial palace?
What was needed now was not his unnecessary effort, but the time necessary for Vante to safely return to Veshnu, out of his uncle’s sight.
“The imperial security has been doubled due to the invitation of the Veshnu delegation. It will certainly draw attention. Moreover, this morning there was a report of signs of intrusion near the guest palace where the Veshnu delegation is staying.”
“…Intrusion? This is serious.”
It seemed that traces left in the process of trying to kidnap Vante had been noticed. Gartan’s expression hardened.
“That’s why it’s better for me to move. If it’s not because of the assassins but because he left on his own, there’s one place I suspect he might have gone. I’m not certain, but I rather hope this was the reason.”
“What is it?”
“Well…”
Vinea hesitated for a moment as if pondering, then spoke hesitantly.
“Recently, the Emperor has been calling me to his bedchamber more frequently. Perhaps he noticed that I was looking for the source of the assassins and wanted to allay suspicion, so he even merged our bedrooms.”
“Such a shameless and rude man…!”
“He often barges into the Empress’s palace unannounced, so I’ve had to house Vante outside the palace at times. He mentioned meeting a noble lady then, and he seemed to have taken an interest. Most of the Tessibanian nobles are attending today’s banquet, so I think he might have moved to meet that lady.”
“Do you know the name of that lady?”
Vinea nodded and answered.
“The daughter of Duke Castallo, Eurene Castallo.”
* * *
Lineue, having forgotten she was wearing high heels due to the banquet, practically ran out of that place.
With the sole thought that she couldn’t waste the time Her Majesty the Empress had bought them, she was leading a man two spans taller than herself by the wrist.
“Walk a little faster! You frustrating person!”
“F-frustrating…?”
“If you’re going to pull rank as the Crown Prince, forget about it now. This is Tessibania, not Veshnu, and you’re someone who shouldn’t be here right now!”
Lineue’s words and actions were quite disrespectful for addressing a foreign crown prince, but it wasn’t something Vante, well aware of his own mistake, could point out.
‘I never expected to encounter Uncle there…’
Even recalling it now sent chills down his spine. If his sister’s appearance had been even a little later, his life and that of this maid Lineue, who had come to find him, might have been in danger.
Vante let out a sigh of relief as he looked at the back of Lineue’s head as she led him by the wrist.
“What were you thinking, entering the imperial palace? Didn’t Her Majesty the Empress say she would send someone to escort you to Veshnu at dawn tomorrow?”
Lineue, who had stopped in place after looking around, sharply shot at him.
Vante avoided Lineue’s gaze and kept his mouth shut.
How could he explain? He knew better than anyone how childish and pathetic it was to risk danger by coming to the palace just to hear the name of the lady he had seen in the capital, so he had nothing to say even if he had ten mouths.
He had just wanted to meet that lady once, just once, as she was leaving in her carriage after the banquet ended. Enough to lie that there had been orders from his sister and ride in the carriage that the person his sister had sent as a messenger had come in, to enter the palace.
It was a foolish and complacent thought. Vante felt dizzy at the thought that he might have put his sister in danger as well.
“When you return to your lodgings this time, don’t take a single step outside your room. Grand Duke Aktavil is said to be quick-witted, so we don’t know how he might be following us.”
Vante nodded obediently.
“Your sister seems to trust you.”
At his words, Lineue smiled slightly and raised her chin.
“I am Her Majesty the Empress’s person. She also gave me some hints about Your Highness’s situation.”
“May I ask your name?”
“My name?”
Lineue, who had been looking up at Vante, thought for a moment before answering.
“Lineue Diament. I’m the eldest daughter of Marquis Diament.”
“I see. Ah, I’m…”
“You don’t think I wouldn’t know Your Highness’s name, do you? I’m the one in charge of monitoring Your Highness in the Tessibanian Empire.”
“Hmm.”
Vante smiled awkwardly. As the carriage she had called appeared in the distance, Lineue waved her hand towards it and said,
“I know it’s rude, but after seeing Your Highness’s behavior today, I can’t help but speak sharply. It’s the same with you wandering around the capital streets all day, saying Her Majesty told you to look around. Thanks to that, five knights had to struggle for a long time in that huge crowd for Your Highness.”
“I’m sorry. It was something I hadn’t considered.”
“So please forgive my rudeness today. We won’t be seeing each other again after this time anyway.”
“I didn’t think it was rude.”
“That’s good then.”
As Vante climbed into the carriage in front of them, Lineue smiled brightly at him with a face that seemed thoroughly relieved. Her eyes, which had been haughty towards him all the way here, softened, half-hiding her gentle ivory-colored eyes.
“Farewell, Your Highness. Please don’t come to the Tessibanian Empire ever again.”
It was a parting that would stick in his mind for a different reason than his memorable encounter with the lady with sky-blue hair.
