Chapter 80
Joel was tasked with creating the new identity. Though he grumbled about whether it was appropriate to use a healing mage this way, Joel’s mouth fell open with each new request from Yuls and Bert. His face grew increasingly pale as entirely unexpected details emerged.
Creating Adrina’s identity required several steps. They couldn’t simply create Adrina Din from the start. It had to begin with Bert adopting a niece, but first they needed to create an identity suitable for adoption.
However, most Woodpecker territory residents were already registered, so they needed to establish someone who had come to Dalkatir from a completely unconnected country. Since people from small duchies often knew each other, it had to be a large country, and choosing was difficult due to racial characteristics varying by region.
Moreover, large central continent nations like Tubrosa and Bellipera had established systems that made it difficult. Finally, after much consideration, Joel began the process of creating a false identity from one of the countries where many people were fleeing due to war, then proceeding with Bert Din’s adoption. Midway through the work, he threw the documents into the air.
“Argh!”
Everyone looked at Joel. He felt betrayed. Adrian Grimaldi being a woman? Even worse, Bert, Gavin, and Ivan had known. Only he, Roy, and Billy had been in the dark.
Billy was dejected at the fact that he couldn’t even distinguish between men and women. He was disappointed in himself for not realizing she was a woman even after dressing her in women’s clothes, instead praising his own skill when she didn’t look masculine enough.
“Just when did you know?”
Joel asked. Gavin and Bert, who were working together on mapping Adi’s route to Dalkatir, looked at him.
“You should have told me if you knew!”
They hadn’t known for long either. Hadn’t they found out when they were asked to prepare a body to substitute for Adi?
“I’ve been going around saying suspicious things about their intimate relationship with His Grace!”
“Well, everyone thought that…”
“But there’s a difference between same-sex and opposite-sex relationships!”
“We didn’t know then either,”
Gavin said. Bert looked at Joel with an uncomprehending expression and said,
“Why are you making such a fuss about this when you’re from the neighboring country where same-sex relationships are common?”
“I may have been born there, but I was raised in Dalkatir’s cultural sphere!”
Joel, who emphasized how conservative he was, seemed to be overcome with dejection and sat down. Then, seeing the documents he had thrown scattered on the floor, he got up, gathered them hurriedly, and sat back down.
“Anyway, while I’m writing this up as Adrina Din…”
Joel said, lifting his pen.
“Then who is Adrian?”
“Adi’s twin sibling.”
“…Where are they?”
“In Adrina Grimaldi’s grave.”
So Adrian died and only Adrina lived, but since that would mean the Count’s house couldn’t be maintained or would pass to another line, they pretended Adrian was alive and made a grave for the living Adrina? With the son’s body in it?
“Just what did the Count do?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Roy said. Though Roy had been adapting well to Woodpecker, today he hadn’t gone out. Huddled among the Palesa delegation servants he’d grown familiar with over several months, Roy was deathly pale.
“Why is Roy acting like that here?”
“Seems he’s shocked that Adi is a woman.”
“Isn’t Bert shocked too?” Roy retorted.
“So that’s why! That’s why you always told them to get dressed after bathing!”
Come to think of it, that was true. Adi had never exposed their body, and whenever they came out after bathing, Bert would frown intensely.
“I’m already married!”
“…So you want to marry Adi?”
That won’t work, because of His Grace. Just as Bert was considering whether he should stop Roy, Roy recoiled in horror.
“Are you crazy? I have standards! Who in their right mind would marry a woman who threatens to crush men’s testicles if they displease her?”
Joel flinched at Roy’s words. Even Gavin hadn’t imagined that, stepping back.
“I was about to get mine crushed if I didn’t crush that bastard’s! Adi was Palesa’s dog. A dog… That title isn’t given to just anyone. They seem docile now, but do you know how bad Adi’s reputation was? The Palesa knights would be horrified to learn Adi was actually a woman.”
“This is strictly confidential, Roy.”
“Of course. Do you think I’m that disloyal?”
Separate from his shock, he would naturally keep what needed to be kept secret.
Roy tried to put himself in their shoes. How would a woman react if he had been wearing dresses and disguising himself as a woman for certain reasons, then told a friend who had gotten close to him, “Actually, I’m a man”? They would naturally be horrified. For maintaining relationships, it might have been better to keep it secret forever.
He knew that Adi must have told him this because they trusted him. Knowing and accepting were different things. Ah, how could that be a woman? How could Adi Grimaldi, who stood at the pinnacle of Palesa’s numerous bastards, be a woman…
The Adi Grimaldi he knew was quite different from the women he knew. They had managed well among men without being discovered. Roy asked,
“So what happens to Adi now? Will they stay in the knights’ quarters?”
“Of course, they’re a knight. Though they’ll need to receive their knighthood again.”
“Again? Ah, right. Since Adrian is considered dead.”
“Then His Grace will grant the title.”
Gavin said. After all, the knighthood received from the Crown Prince had been hung alongside the fake head.
“Yes,”
Bert answered.
“In some ways, this situation isn’t bad at all.”
❖ ❖ ❖
At the knock, Adi opened the door. A woman standing about a hand span shorter than them was there.
“Adrina Din?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Mary, the head maid in charge of the knights’ quarters. The head servant said you should move quarters, so I’m here to help.”
“…I only have this frame as luggage.”
“Then I’ll just show you the way.”
The maid stepped outside. Adi followed her. The new quarters weren’t far. Up one floor, located in a corner.
Opening the door, the maid said, “You’ll stay here.” The room with two windows was larger than expected and had its own attached bathroom.
“Please let me know if you need anything.”
Adi shook their head. The maid smiled and bowed in acknowledgment.
“Welcome to Woodpecker.”
“…Thank you.”
After receiving Adi’s greeting, the maid left. Adi looked around.
There was a large bed with pure white bedding in front of sky-blue curtains embroidered with flower patterns. A lamp sat on the bedside table, and by the wall window were a desk and comfortable chair. The closet was opposite the desk.
When opened, it was full of clothes. They must have known the measurements from fitting the knight’s uniform, but Adi hadn’t expected them to prepare women’s clothing too. Adi lifted the fabric of a flowing dress, then let it fall. They probably wouldn’t have occasion to wear this. Separate women’s undergarments had also been prepared.
Adi closed the closet door and went to the bathroom.
The bathroom wasn’t present in the room downstairs. It seemed to be a consideration.
Looking at themselves in the bathroom mirror, Adi removed their shirt and undid the leather armor. Breathing became easier as the pressure binding their chest was released. Then they tied back their hair that nearly touched their nape. It didn’t give a feminine impression.
Leaving the bathroom, Adi put the leather armor in the closet, removed their chemise, and put on the prepared undergarments. They couldn’t remember how many years it had been since wearing these. After putting the chemise back on over them, Adi sat on the bed and unfolded the frame they had brought beside the side table.
Then they looked outside.
The trees were different. Not just broadleaf trees, but palm trees too. The palm trees, which they had only seen in pictures before, seemed fascinating.
“Adrian.”
Adi called to him as they lifted the frame. Though it was a face they saw every day, somehow it felt blurry now. Adi’s hand caressed Adrian’s face.
“I sullied your name.”
Then they spoke the words they had been holding back.
“I’m sorry.”
Count Grimaldi had said it. That the head he claimed as his was hung on the outer wall of Palesa Palace. That wasn’t just an insult to Adrina—it was an insult to Adrian. It couldn’t be left like this.
“I’ll definitely restore your honor.”
By whatever means necessary.
❖ ❖ ❖
Adi Grimaldi’s whereabouts were unknown. They said there was no man resembling Adi among those who had left with the Duke. From the start, the number of people accompanying the Duke’s return matched the number reported, so travel passes had been issued without issue. Then where had Adrian Grimaldi gone?
Were they actually still in the palace? Or had they escaped separately? Had they slipped away through some gap? It was impossible to know. Unable to even see Adrian’s shadow, the Count was troubled. She herself simply wasn’t there.
Spencer Grimaldi frowned. The Grimaldi house couldn’t mix in blood from collateral lines. It was horrifying to think of mixing in blood from someone who might have come from who knows where.
“Lev.”
“Yes, Count.”
“Expand the search for Adi, even if you have to use the information guild or assassination guild.”
“Understood.”
Lev bowed as he answered. Spencer Grimaldi looked at Lev with displeasure before entering the reception room. Claude was inside. He looked around the reception room, muttering to himself about how Yuls managed to stay in such a bright place.
“Your Highness.”
“Count.”
Claude said, standing up.
“Luigi’s funeral will be held in Palesa. Lady Connolly said she would take care of it.”
“How unfortunate. He must have been a dear nephew.”
Claude looked at the Count with a sickened expression. Though he himself was quite terrible for a human, the Count seemed to have transcended human levels. Though they were working together now because their interests aligned, he needed to cut ties as soon as possible.
“I’ll see you in Ionad.”
Claude said as he walked out. The Count didn’t look back. He only looked at one head hanging high on the outer castle wall visible through the window.
Claude, who had come out into the corridor, was the same. As he walked down the corridor, his casually turned head caught sight of the outer wall. On it hung the head of the person who had been Adrian Grimaldi. More precisely, of the person the Count claimed was Adrian Grimaldi.
“So she’s a woman.”
Adrina Grimaldi was alive.
