Chapter 70
Warm, friendly voices could be heard from inside the room. When Spencer Grimaldi stood at the door, the servant knocked. As the inside grew quiet, the servant announced Count Grimaldi’s arrival and opened the door. The door closed quietly behind the Count as he entered.
“Count.”
Luigi greeted Count Grimaldi with a bright face. The Count’s gaze moved to the table. Unlike Claude’s room, the reception room was bright and cheerful, with teacups instead of wine bottles. And across from them sat Lady Connolly.
“Thanks to you, I ended up coming here. Konya was nice, but still not quite like home.”
Speaking thus, Luigi gestured for him to sit. The Count sat with Luigi on his left and faced Lady Connolly directly. A servant placed a warm teacup in front of the Count and poured tea.
“Seems you were right about Claude being an addict.”
Luigi said with an amused laugh.
“If that spreads, the nobles supporting Claude will turn away.”
Many nobles already knew this fact. They simply didn’t speak of it because Claude’s position wouldn’t crumble from just that.
“How was Türingen?” the Count asked.
“Appropriately dry, appropriately nice. The artworks were beautiful, and the people were a bit stupid.”
Luigi spoke as if reminiscing. Then, shaking his head as if dissatisfied, he even clicked his tongue.
“They demand unreasonable changes. That country won’t last long either.”
After saying this, Luigi stood up. His gaze turned toward the door. Perhaps a servant had called him from outside, as he raised his hand apologetically saying, “Wait a moment,” adjusted his clothes, and went out.
When the door closed, the Count set down his teacup. He spoke first.
“I thought you were helping Duke Woodpecker.”
Lady Connolly looked at the Count, raising only her eyes without lifting her head, and said,
“Why should I?”
“Isn’t he your nephew?”
“How is he my nephew? He’s a witch’s child.”
Lady Connolly said. Answering that Luigi was her only nephew, and she was merely temporarily aligned with the Duke due to shared interests, she started to lift her teacup but stopped and raised her head.
“And you, Count—are you alright with your son being with the Duke? That wasn’t your plan, was it?”
“…No, that wasn’t the plan. If I had prevented Gaillard from attaching himself to Woodpecker in the first place, would I have needed to insert my son?”
The Count glared at Lady Connolly as he spoke.
“You should have destroyed the seed back then, my lady.”
“Shouldn’t you say that to your friend rather than me?”
“Lord Kenneth Marx and I have long been estranged.”
At the Count’s words, Lady Connolly closed her mouth. It wasn’t that they had become estranged—the Count had abandoned Kenneth Marx. He spoke such a well-known fact so cleverly.
Silence filled the room again. The lady said nothing. The Count likewise remained silent. They merely stared at each other as if sizing one another up. After a long silence, the Count lifted his teacup, tilted it, then immediately set it down.
“His Grace is quite late.”
The Count said. He then called to his knight, “Lev.”
“Yes.”
“Go check if anything has happened to His Grace.”
“Yes, understood.”
As Lev spoke and moved, he grabbed the door handle. As he turned and pushed it, a scream escaped through the gap. At the high, piercing sound, Lady Connolly’s body jerked. Lev pushed the door open and ran out.
When Lev arrived, he found the Marquis collapsed with a sword through his heart. Someone shouted “Your Grace!” The Count and Lady Connolly came out.
Lady Connolly screamed at the sight of Luigi collapsed on the floor with a sword through his body. Seeing the Count arrive, Lev shouted as he chased after the man who had stabbed the Marquis and fled.
“Adrian!”
❖ ❖ ❖
“So that’s why you’re returning early?”
“Yes, after spring passes, we must prepare for summer and autumn. We must think about tax collection, and this year there are other high nobles and royalty besides me, so I thought to withdraw first.”
It was a plausible excuse. In the end, it meant he wanted to return to his territory quickly because there were too many people he didn’t want to see. The King had no intention of stopping Yuls. Though it was faster than expected, since Yuls Woodpecker had gotten what he wanted, it was admirable that he hadn’t disappeared already.
“Very well, in that case…”
Just before the King could give permission, the chamberlain burst in urgently. Even the chamberlain, who maintained proper etiquette no matter how urgent the matter, had never entered like this before, so both Yuls and the King stared at him blankly.
The chamberlain approached the throne, bowed briefly, then quickly ascended. He looked at Yuls once, covered his mouth with his hand, and conveyed a message to the King.
The King’s expression instantly hardened. Then, after quietly looking at Yuls, he gave a hollow laugh.
“Julius.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Your guard knight has killed Luigi.”
“Pardon?”
Yuls questioned. Killed Luigi—none of his guard knights would do such a thing. With a disbelieving face, Yuls asked, “You mean Bert?”
“Adrian Grimaldi.”
“…”
Yuls was speechless. That one was even more unbelievable. Did Adi even know Luigi’s face to begin with? The King smirked and lowered his head. Then came the sound of him trying to suppress his laughter.
“You said you were leaving today.”
He looked at Yuls with watery eyes.
“Did you anticipate this?”
He had always had good intuition. Perhaps that too was the witch’s blood at work? It had almost happened this time as well. But the Count had been faster.
“Let him in.”
At the King’s words, the chamberlain moved. He opened the audience chamber doors again. Spencer Grimaldi stood outside. Spencer slowly walked to the middle of the chamber and stood behind Yuls.
“Your Majesty.”
The King spoke to Spencer with a meaningful expression.
“Luigi is dead.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The Duke looked at the Count.
“Since my child committed this act…”
Was this mysterious unease because of this?
“I will take responsibility and bring them in.”
“And what will you do after bringing them in?”
The King asked.
“It’s not as if dead Luigi will come back to life.”
“I will offer my child’s head to Your Majesty.”
The King knows. How obsessed Spencer Grimaldi is with his bloodline. Yet for him to offer up a head like this…
The King smiled. He knows how Grimaldi moves.
“Very well.”
Because he too had experienced it in the past.
“Do as you wish, Count.”
The Count always follows the same pattern.
“But since he killed a royal, we must display the head at Palesa Palace.”
Spencer Grimaldi bowed.
The King knows. That the head he’ll send won’t be his son’s.
The King hasn’t seen Adrian Grimaldi’s face recently, so he doesn’t know what they look like. Even if a severed head is displayed on the outer wall, no one will recognize it.
Who would stare so intently at such a corpse, and a decaying head looks very different from when alive. If it looks even slightly similar, people will think it’s the person.
“However, Count, you shouldn’t think this will end here.”
It’s all a staged play.
“I will keep that in mind.”
The Count wrote the script, and everyone dances to his tune.
The Count left smiling, the King wore a stern face. And Yuls Woodpecker…
“You may go too.”
Had turned pale. The King knew there was some relationship between Yuls and Adi Grimaldi but didn’t know exactly what it was. Seeing that face, they must be quite important to him.
“You need to return to your territory.”
But if the Count moves like this, Adrian Grimaldi’s identity will disappear. The King wondered how the young Duke would move. He had his expectations.
“I shall take my leave, Your Majesty.”
Yuls gave his farewell and came out. Gavin was waiting outside. With a hardened expression, Yuls asked.
“Did Adi return today?”
“…Haven’t seen them since morning.”
“Is Ivan still watching Adi?”
“No, he had removed surveillance, but…”
At Gavin’s answer, Yuls’s face crumpled.
“If it’s urgent, it won’t be difficult to find them.”
At Gavin’s continued words, Yuls replied, “Yes.”
“We need to find them right now.”
❖ ❖ ❖
When Adi opened their eyes, it was an unfamiliar space. Just darkness. A small space without windows. It was clearly some side room. When they felt along the wall and opened the door, a bright corridor appeared.
The structure was familiar, but the marble floors, curtains, and decorations were different. As Adi moved, wondering which way to go, someone rushed past, pushing them.
As Adi stepped back a couple of steps from the sudden impact and tried to follow the man, they saw Lev Jid not far away. In that moment, remembering it was Lev who had struck their nape earlier, Adi ran.
“Adrian!”
Whatever this was, it was clearly a trap. They had to escape. That was all they could think of. But was it the wrong choice? The more Adi ran, the more people chased after them.
Just as they thought they couldn’t be caught like this, someone grabbed their arm and led them. As they were about to push away, they saw Ivan’s face. Ivan put his finger to his lips in a gesture to be quiet.
Adi closed their mouth. Ivan moved silently. Without making any sound, the two carefully entered a passage through a picture frame large enough for several people. Even the sound of closing the frame was quiet.
Adi followed Ivan. It was an unfamiliar path, impossible to know where or how it went. Light occasionally came in. Ivan checked outside through holes in the walls before continuing to move. Soon they opened and exited through a large door.
It seemed to be another picture frame.
Following Ivan out, Adi looked at the long shadow cast before them.
“You’ve come.”
“Your Grace.”
It was Duke Woodpecker. The passage Ivan had led them through was connected to the Duke’s bedroom.
“What’s going on?”
“We have a problem, Adi.”
Yuls said. Adi looked up with an uncomprehending face.
