Chapter 105
So Riina was unable to meet the Duke, half by her own choice and half by circumstance.
After all, two princes had come to see her, and she couldn’t just leave them unattended.
“Einar?”
She called to him with various questions in her tone, but Einar simply smiled and carefully set down Sierre, who had been nestled in his arms.
The child, who had found himself seated on the sofa before he knew it, had eyes that wavered more severely than a small boat in a storm, suggesting the youngest prince also had no idea what was happening.
Riina first paid her respects to Sierre.
“Eternal glory to the Empire…”
“No, no. That’s enough.”
The grand and unnecessarily long greeting disappeared as soon as it began, with Sierre waving his hand.
Though he wanted to say something more, since he too had no idea what was going on, Sierre merely moved his lips.
Einar patted Sierre’s small head somewhat perfunctorily, but affectionately.
“I pay my respects to Your Highness.”
Though Sierre had tried to stop her, since she couldn’t neglect greeting him, Riina offered an abbreviated greeting and immediately shifted her gaze to Einar.
At her look demanding an explanation, he answered very casually:
“Let’s go out.”
At this, Sierre’s shoulders flinched, and the situation just before arriving at the Bolshevik estate washed over him like a wave.
‘Your Highness, the Second Prince is visit—’
Before his nanny, more flustered than last time, could finish speaking, the door flung open without a knock.
‘Sierre!’
The cool outside air pushed away the stagnant, humid air inside at once, and a refreshing breeze blew toward Sierre.
‘Brother.’
And the breeze became a storm, turning Sierre’s face this way and that, flipping his body over, and then nodding.
‘Good, you seem fine. Let’s go.’
‘What?’
He was truly like the wind, wasn’t he?
Suddenly barging in and whirling around chaotically.
Einar lightly flicked the nose of Sierre, who was just blinking with a blank face, and smiled.
‘An outing to the outside.’
At this, light entered Sierre’s eyes for the first time.
Even when Einar had suggested going out together, he hadn’t expected much.
He had assumed he wouldn’t be able to go anyway because of his illness.
But as one day, and then another day passed, Sierre realized this wasn’t the case.
He wanted to go out. Regardless of what might happen tomorrow, he wanted to see the outside world beyond his palace, even just once.
That’s why Sierre had begun secretly vomiting the medicine he took.
Fortunately, today was before he had taken his medicine, so he wasn’t weakened by vomiting and could move without much difficulty.
Perhaps because he had vomited out all the medicine for some time, his body had improved compared to before.
As Sierre was about to open his mouth, the nanny blocked him.
‘No, you must take your medicine before going.’
She was holding the medicine she brought personally every day.
Sierre stared at the nanny.
Previously, she had been desperate to hide, but since nothing particular was said when his brother visited last time, her anxiety about being discovered must have diluted.
Foolish.
Truly, utterly foolish.
That was directed at both the nanny and himself.
Though he needed to go outside, he was obediently accepting the medicine offered by the nanny…
Tap.
But Sierre didn’t take the medicine.
No, he couldn’t.
Because Einar had directly removed it.
‘On a day like today, the medicine should be postponed.’
As if telling a child to stop eating chocolate for today, he simply removed the medicine, and the nanny exclaimed:
‘This medicine is absolutely necessary! If he doesn’t take this medicine!’
‘If he doesn’t?’
Cutting off the nanny’s words before she could finish, Einar smiled, showing his teeth.
But the nanny who received his gaze momentarily turned pale, her chin trembling.
‘Since Sierre deeply cares for you, I’ll overlook your impertinence this once.’
The wind turned into an awl, whirling from all directions, and the nanny could only gape.
Einar, who had been looking down at the nanny—or more precisely, at the medicine—with eyes cold enough to freeze to the bone, swiftly picked up Sierre as if nothing had happened.
‘Well then, shall we go?’
And so, without knowing where they were going, without preparation, let alone proper attire, he had left the palace in a daze.
But unlike Sierre, Riina immediately asked:
“Go where?”
“I told you we should go out to clear our heads.”
“Is this a continuation of yesterday?”
Einar shook his head.
“Just a walk, a walk.”
“A walk to clear our heads…?”
“That’s right.”
Einar smiled brilliantly and ruffled Sierre’s hair.
“Today we have the youngest with us. For our youngest’s first outing, a simple walk would be just right.”
“Yes, Brother.”
Riina’s eyes narrowed as she saw the pale, thin cheeks of the child, whose eyes were like those of a startled rabbit, flush slightly.
She slowly looked once at the mountain of documents piled in the office, once at the child whose eyes had become moist, and finally once at Einar, who was smiling like the sun.
He had planned this.
Bringing even the youngest prince so she couldn’t refuse immediately, like last time.
Moreover, though the youngest prince was still in his bedclothes, having just come from bed, a faint smile unlike a child’s played on his sickly face.
How could anyone say “I’m too busy” to such a child?
Should this be called meticulous or shameless?
Perhaps both.
“Riina.”
Riina, completely ignoring the grinning Einar, approached Sierre.
“Your Highness, forgive my presumption, but if you go out in your current attire, you might catch a cold.”
“Ah, that’s… that’s right. I’m dressed like this.”
The flush that had risen on Sierre’s pale face quickly faded.
A familiar resignation appeared on the child’s face.
“Coming so suddenly and asking you to come along, I’m sor—”
“Pardon me, but you need to change your clothes.”
Riina cut Sierre off very firmly before he could finish speaking.
“Hmm?”
“I’ll prepare it right away.”
Riina pulled the bell rope before Sierre could open his mouth, and Sebastian, who appeared, calmly took Sierre and left the room.
Before leaving through the door, the child looked alternately at Einar and Riina and sniffed.
“The same scent of wind.”
As soon as the door closed, Riina asked Einar:
“What’s going on?”
“I told you, an outing to clear our heads…”
As the blue gaze stared directly at him, Einar finally raised both hands to his chest, signaling surrender, and added:
“That’s the first reason.”
“And the second?”
“There’s a problem with the youngest.”
“Since he’s naturally weak, there would obviously be problems, but you’re not talking about such obvious things.”
Riina glanced at the door where Sierre had disappeared and asked:
“What kind of problem? We don’t have much time, since both Sebastian and the servants are extremely efficient.”
At Riina’s words to get straight to the point, Einar answered directly:
“I think the medicine Sierre takes is poison.”
It was an extremely clear answer, but it wasn’t an answer at all, so Riina had to ask again:
“What?”
“I’m not completely certain yet. But I will be.”
Though it was almost like a Zen riddle, Riina understood perfectly.
Einar’s intuition had never been wrong.
“Medicine and poison are like geniuses and fools, separated by just a thin line. The same materials can be used as medicine or poison. The same goes for dosage.”
“Mmm. It’s true that Sierre takes a lot of medicine, but that doesn’t seem to be the main issue. What made me feel disgusted was one particular medicine his nanny brought.”
The medicine that Sierre had said he took without missing a day.
And it wasn’t handled by the physician assigned to Sierre from the palace, but by the nanny from beginning to end.
‘We’ve analyzed the composition, but no poison was mixed in at all.’
Since the physicians who had been in charge of Sierre had said this, it certainly wasn’t a commonly used poison.
“You mean the nanny.”
“Yes. That nanny. And by the way, do you happen to know what happened to Sierre before your regression?”
Without him saying it, Riina was already searching her memories about the youngest prince, and a layer of frost settled on her face.
“I can tell without you saying it.”
Winter spread across Einar’s face too.
Riina also knew about the youngest prince and his nanny.
A woman who had cherished and served the physically weak prince, who could die at any moment, from his first cry until now.
And a woman who closed her eyes along with the youngest prince on the day he died.
Since the prince was born weak from the beginning, no one was surprised by the death of the child who hadn’t had a chance to blossom.
Even Riina before her regression had merely thought, “I see,” and left it at that.
Except.
‘The nanny who served the prince followed him shortly after. But Young Miss, the strange thing is…’
Being human, Riina couldn’t remember everything from before her regression with perfect accuracy.
She vaguely recalled that there was something strange about the nanny’s death.
If she could just search her memory a little more, it might come back to her…
“Sierre has never been outside. So I promised him. That when I went out, I would take him with me.”
Riina returned to reality from her exploration of the past at the sound of Einar’s voice passing by.
“Einar.”
“Hmm, was this too transparent?”
“You’re trying to help the youngest prince, aren’t you?”
Riina, who had pierced to the core without beating around the bush, immediately added:
“But why are you dragging me into this?”
