Chapter 29
“…Is that Idelin?”
Recalling how Idelin had circled around Carl in the form of a silver mass, Sian asked. Carl shook his head.
“Just a small trick. I’m creating light with magic.”
Sian responded with an “I see.”
“…But somehow, I have a bad feeling.”
Carl, who had raised the orb of light magic, scanned the now-illuminated office interior.
One wall was covered with curtains to prevent even a sliver of light from entering, and the opposite wall was occupied by a bookshelf full of books. On the remaining wall, there was another door, which Sian instinctively knew led to the Prince’s quarters where the treasure was hidden.
“Why?”
“It feels like the furniture arrangement has changed slightly.”
He didn’t seem certain. Carl furrowed his brow slightly and tilted his head.
“The furniture arrangement changed when the owner is absent?”
“Alfred did want to change the furniture arrangement… But it’s not a big change.”
Carl spoke casually. But Sian quickly noticed that he was trying to act nonchalant.
“Let’s go in and see.”
Carl took a deep breath, swallowing his uneasy premonition along with it, and moved forward again. Sian silently followed behind Carl as he headed towards the door she had anticipated led to the quarters.
Even if the furniture arrangement had changed, what big deal could it be?
Unlike the anxious Carl, that’s what Sian thought.
The door connected to the bedroom was also locked. But Carl opened it just as easily using magic.
Sian vaguely expected there to be a room with a bed right beyond the door, but beyond the door Carl opened was another corridor. However, it was much shorter and far more luxurious than the outer corridor.
Candleholders identical to those in the corridor were hung at regular intervals on both walls, unlit, and what appeared to be masterpiece paintings were neatly displayed.
“…This place was empty just over a decade ago, how did you collect all these luxury items? And on top of that, secret funds?”
“I received substantial support funds from His Majesty when I left the imperial palace, and for the rest, I did some business while systematically cultivating the roseberry fields. I am a prince after all, don’t you think I’d have at least that much business acumen?”
“Just because someone has a high status doesn’t mean they’re all smart and skilled, you know. Anyway, it’s impressive. I see you in a new light, Your Highness.”
The secret funds must be quite substantial too, Sian thought, while saying something else out loud.
“Oh, this is nothing.”
Carl, who was leading the way, turned his head to briefly meet Sian’s eyes and smiled contentedly. It was something she had noticed before, but this Prince seemed particularly weak to praise.
Well, that’s cute in its own way.
Sian cleared her throat, feeling oddly strange. As they walked, exchanging unremarkable conversation, the short corridor soon came to an end.
Unlike the office door, which had elaborate decorations of dragons and spirits carved even into the door frame, the bedroom door was rather modest. As expected, the locked door opened with a click as Carl touched it.
“…Damn it.”
Sian hadn’t even had a chance to see the bedroom that unfolded beyond Carl’s shoulder. Carl, who had quietly opened the door, muttered softly in front of Sian.
“…We’re screwed…”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
At Carl’s despairing curse, Sian craned her neck to look over his shoulder.
Following the light Carl was emitting from his hand, the enormous bed, sofa, tea table, bookshelf, and other luxurious furniture befitting a lord’s bedroom were revealed.
To Sian’s eyes, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly special, aside from the unfamiliar opulence.
“The furniture arrangement has definitely changed. That Alfred, doing as he pleases…”
Carl gritted his teeth, full of dismay. Sian tilted her head, looking at Carl’s side profile with his brows deeply furrowed.
“Is that such a big problem? If we just open the secret vault door…”
“It’s under that bed.”
Carl pointed at the bed with his fingertip. The silver orb of magic floating above his palm moved as if alive, illuminating the bed.
It was a massive bed, spacious enough for three or four adults to lie down comfortably. Large posts stood at each corner, and the bed’s canopy and sides were decorated with pretty fabric like curtains.
“The carpet under the bed, beneath that is the door to the secret vault.”
Only then did Sian understand why Carl had gritted his teeth at Alfred for arbitrarily changing the room’s layout.
The bed being beautiful, luxurious, and expensive-looking was a secondary issue. The most crucial problem was that the young lord’s bed looked extremely heavy, as ornate as it was.
“…Don’t tell me we have to move that…?”
For the prince who had probably never lifted anything heavier than a sword, and Sian, a woman who, despite her skills, had physical limitations, it seemed impossible for the two of them to lift and move it.
“Unfortunately, it seems we have to.”
Good heavens.
Sian put her hand to her forehead at Carl’s answer.
“Can’t you do something with magic?”
“I told you, it’s just a small trick. I don’t have the ability to move such a massive bed.”
Carl examined the bed with a troubled face. Sian’s expression darkened along with Carl’s.
So we have to move it by force after all…
“…Really, whose taste is this extravagant bed? It looks like we’re in for some hard labor.”
Although she knew perfectly well whose taste it was, Sian grumbled for Carl to hear. Carl cleared his throat with an embarrassed cough.
“Is taste the issue here? The problem is Alfred changing the layout without permission. Just wait until I return, I swear…”
“We can assign blame later, let’s lift it for now.”
Sian rolled up her sleeves. Carl let out a deep sigh and reluctantly moved towards the head of the bed.
“Can you lift it?”
Naturally, Sian ended up taking charge of the lower part of the bed. Carl voiced his concern to Sian, who was anxiously licking her lips at the imposing sight of the heavy-looking bed.
“We have to manage somehow. We can’t make noise, you know that, right?”
They were perfectly in sync. Carl nodded.
“We’ll lift on three. One, two…”
Three.
Sian used all her strength to grasp the underside of the bed and lift. The bed tilted, but at a one-sided angle.
Carl’s side of the bed rose slightly into the air, but the lower end that Sian was holding didn’t budge at all. Sian furrowed her brow, chewing on her sense of defeat.
“…Can I swear?”
At Sian’s angry words, Carl set down the bed he had barely lifted.
“It’s better if I do it alone. No need for you to waste your strength, Sister.”
“Is that possible?”
“I have to try. What other choice do we have?”
Carl spoke quite resolutely as he rolled up his sleeves.
In the light of the silver orb of magic floating above Carl’s head, his muscular arms were clearly visible. Being tall, his arms were long too. The stretched forearms looked so firm that Sian had to forcibly suppress her gaze from being drawn to them again.
…Come to think of it, I fell asleep on that arm.
Though she didn’t remember well due to being immediately pushed off and rolling away, the sensation of that muscular arm had indeed felt quite firm…
As she thought this, secretly curling the corners of her mouth, Sian suddenly caught herself.
What are you thinking at a time like this?
She barely shook off the irrelevant thoughts clinging to her mind with a small shake of her head, but she felt dejected. She couldn’t deny the ‘materialistic’ expression that had flowed into her mind, which saddened her.
Unaware of Sian’s situation, her face reddening at her materialistic thoughts, Carl lightly licked his lips with a tense expression. Then he lifted the bed with a heave.
Thanks to the thick carpet underneath, fortunately, there wasn’t a loud noise of the bed being dragged.
Men are men indeed. To move such a heavy bed alone.
Sian quietly watched with a surprised face as the bed that hadn’t budged when she tried to lift it was now being moved.
Carl carefully lifted the headboard part first, moving it to some extent, then approached Sian’s side to move the lower part.
After Carl went back and forth like this a few times, the bed that had seemed immovable had shifted quite a bit to one side.
“Wow…”
I’m falling for him again. Sian barely managed to stop herself from saying it out loud.
Carl’s hair, which had been moving back and forth moving the bed for quite some time, was plastered to his forehead. Though it wasn’t clearly visible due to the dim light, it was obvious how drenched in sweat he was.
Carl swept his large hand across his face, letting out a heavy sigh.
“We just need to move it enough to lift the carpet, right?”
When Sian asked, Carl nodded.
“If I remember correctly, it was around here… I think we need to move it just a bit more.”
After taking a short rest, Carl grasped the bed frame again.
—Screech.
The bed’s bottom, which had managed not to make a sound until now, scraped against the carpet, raising a terrible noise. It was unclear whether the startled gasp came from Sian or Carl first.
“Are you crazy?!”
“I’m in my right mind!”
Carl shouted, sounding wronged at Sian’s habitual outburst.
“This won’t do. We only need to move it a bit more, so you join in too, Sister.”
“Alright.”
The noise had already been made, so someone might come to investigate. Moreover, hadn’t one of the guards said he’d come looking if she didn’t return within 30 minutes?
Although it wouldn’t be easy to find the bedroom located deeper than the office, the situation would be different if there was noise. With a sense of urgency, Sian followed Carl and grasped the bed frame, exerting herself.
—Screeeeech… Thud!
The aftermath of losing composure was massive. Sian exerted superhuman strength and managed to lift the bed she couldn’t lift earlier, if only slightly. Then, in her haste to move it earnestly, it scraped loudly against the floor, and in the end, she dropped it with a thud.
A thunderous sound that no one could possibly ignore reverberated throughout the third floor. It was a sound with enough presence to not only pinpoint their location but potentially wake up everyone who was sleeping.
“Are you insane?!”
Carl snapped angrily.
“I’m in my right mind!”
Now understanding how Carl had felt earlier, Sian retorted just as directly.
“How much, how much more do we need to move it?”
Her heart was pounding. She even stuttered in her extreme panic.
