Chapter 112
The dawn shift might extend until morning. There was no choice since the guard knight who was supposed to relieve them had been assigned extra duty.
Returning to the quarters thinking to catch a brief rest, Adi drew their dagger at the strange sense of unfamiliarity in their room. Someone else had clearly been in this space. But they couldn’t tell where they were, or for what purpose. Not even how they had entered.
Their hand tightened on the dagger. The other person was accustomed to darkness, but Adi wasn’t, putting them at a disadvantage. Then came a rustling sound from the side. Just as they were about to strike down with their dagger, someone said, “No need to be cautious.”
A familiar voice.
“I’m not here to harm you.”
A voice they had occasionally heard while at the house. Though they had never seen what the person looked like. They only knew someone was by the Count’s side.
“Adrina Grimaldi.”
If they were a servant, there was no need for courtesy. The social status was different. Especially since they had used the surname ‘Grimaldi.’
“Count His Excellency seeks you.”
“…How did you get in here?”
“There was an opening today. Usually there isn’t one.”
The manpower had been diverted elsewhere due to today’s dinner. While it was fortunate there usually weren’t gaps, it wasn’t good that vulnerabilities appeared when people gathered elsewhere. This should be reported to Bert.
“Will you come with me?”
“If I refuse?”
“Then I’ll have to take you by force.”
“The Count is in His Highness the Crown Prince’s palace now, so I can’t go there.”
“There’s a secret passage for entering and exiting.”
“…”
This they hadn’t considered. Though it was said every mansion and palace had secret passages, while their existence was an open secret, outsiders couldn’t know where they were actually located or how to access them. Only the royal family and their closest confidants knew, and even royalty only knew about passages in their own palaces, not others’.
“It’s a passage made for escape if something happens. No one will detect us if we go that way.”
“Is it alright for me to use that path?”
“House Grimaldi is allowed to know.”
“Why?”
“Because if anything happens, we would be the ones to help His Highness the Crown Prince escape.”
Did Grimaldi hold such an important position at court? Then why couldn’t Spencer set foot in Ionad for several years? It was contradictory. When Adi asked “Why is that?” the man answered.
“Because Count His Excellency cherishes His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“…”
“He took on that role since His Highness was young. That’s why His Highness moved to restore the Count’s rights.”
Was that really true? They seemed to be seriously misunderstanding something. If they had known Claude’s proposal in Palesa, they wouldn’t think that way. But there was no need to tell them that.
“He cherished His Highness, did he?”
Adi said mockingly. So while not caring how they and Adrian lived there, he gave a sword to the king’s son and even learned about escape routes to take him away if something happened.
“Yes, he valued him greatly.”
The man spoke in a proud tone.
“It’s an honor.”
To hell with honor, may it all come crashing down.
❖ ❖ ❖
While Palesa’s secret passages were inside walls, Ionad Palace, being more recently built, seemed to have various types of entrances and exits. The man moved toward the forest near the palace. Adi followed behind.
The situation still felt suspicious. Wondering if they had made a mistake, if they might end up dead, Adi kept their grip on their dagger. Soon they saw a well and their face fell. Vines grew on the seemingly dried-up, unused well. The man indicated there was a handle inside among the plants. The plants appeared to be camouflage.
Inside the well was a hole that reached to waist height. The man said there was only one path after entering. Though questioning this, Adi went inside. They also wondered why they had come back here. If they had just ignored it…
“…”
If they had ignored it, how would they have been delivered to the Count?
Though they had lived their whole life in Grimaldi, there was more they didn’t know than did. Even the name of this man who had brought them here.
Past the hole was a space where one could stand upright. The walls were made of stone all around. The width allowing two people to stand side by side and the single path without branches showed this had only one purpose. A true escape route where one could just keep going straight without getting lost.
What was the Crown Prince thinking when he revealed this place? Or was it the king who revealed it? If so, why? What did they trust? As these thoughts ran through their mind, they reached the end where a huge door appeared. When Adi opened it, it connected to a corridor.
Spencer Grimaldi stood in front of the corridor. Only the area around his hand holding a small candlestick was lit. But since their eyes had adjusted to the darkness, his form wasn’t hard to make out.
“Spencer.”
Spencer Grimaldi raised his eyebrows. With an expression that seemed to wonder how long they would keep calling his name, Spencer said “Follow me.” Though thinking it would be better to get straight to the point, Adi followed behind Spencer. Rather than thinking they should refuse, it seemed their habit of obeying him took over.
“I heard there’s a dinner at His Grace the Duke’s residence today.”
How did he know about that?
“Pasalis McCauliffe arranged it, they say. All the nobles who came with him are exiles.”
“Have you planted spies on our side?”
At Adi’s question, Spencer stopped walking and turned around.
“Strange words. What do you mean, ‘our side’? How could you belong to Woodpecker?”
“…”
“You’re a Grimaldi.”
Best to ignore nonsense.
“And all the knights in Ionad owe me debts.”
The information seemed to have leaked from the guard knights. Not good. Come to think of it, Bert had also considered relationships when selecting knights for the dinner. Why? If he knew information was leaking from there, why not bring more people from the house instead of choosing Ionad knights?
When Adi stood facing Spencer without saying anything, Spencer exhaled deeply and said.
“Adrina.”
“…”
“Kill McCauliffe.”
“…What?”
“You don’t need to question my orders.”
“I don’t need to follow your orders either.”
“McCauliffe is harmful to Dalkatir.”
“And?”
At Adi’s question, Spencer looked lost for words. As if he couldn’t understand the question.
“…When acting for the royal family, what do you mean ‘and’?”
Adi felt the same. Though many nobles claimed loyalty and acted for the royal family, this was excessive. And Adi had seen something similar before.
“I used to think I resembled you.”
There were behaviors of Spencer Grimaldi’s that sometimes emerged unconsciously. Despite living together for such a short time, despite having more time apart than together, they would get chills at seeing themselves mirror him.
“But seeing today, perhaps Lev resembles you.”
Adi said.
“Isn’t this closer to overstepping bounds than loyalty to the royal family?”
Spencer understood that immediately. It was similar to what he had recently mentioned to Lev. What should one call this emotion? It was close to shame. Though knowing it was his mistake, the moment he admitted it he felt he would be disrespected, yet not admitting it would make him ashamed of himself.
Even in the dark space, Spencer Grimaldi’s face could be seen turning red and pale. Adi knew this expression well. Violence always followed at times like this. Spencer raised his hand. But Adi stepped back and avoided it.
“…”
“You…”
Spencer Grimaldi was strange.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t see or hear anything today.”
He clearly wasn’t in his right mind. Adi couldn’t understand what this man wanted. For the royal family? For Dalkatir? No, he just acted for his own satisfaction. He merely made excuses about acting for something.
“I’ll be going.”
Adi said while moving away from him. Spencer quickened his steps. Just as he was about to grab Adi’s wrist.
“Stop.”
The voice echoed through the corridor. Claude stood at the end of the corridor. Though summer’s heat hadn’t faded, he was wrapped in thin cloth as if cold, staring at this scene from afar. Walking briskly toward the two, Claude looked down at Adi while asking the Count.
“Why is the Count’s daughter here? No one should be able to enter this place.”
His gaze remained fixed on Adi.
“Did you use that passage?”
