Chapter 136
He had proposed eliminating the fake.
And in the process, getting rid of the Second Prince too.
At the time, she had dismissed whatever the Third Prince was rambling about, but now she had a pressing reason to take his hand.
As they say, necessity is the mother of invention—indeed, even when problems arise, she always finds solutions.
If she could just remove the fake according to the Third Prince’s plan before the words that idiot had blurted out came back to her like a boomerang…
“…ane, Jane, I’m sorry.”
At that moment, as her thoughts were abruptly cut off by a tear-choked, slurred voice, Jane’s face contorted violently.
She was sick of those apologies, and she was thoroughly disgusted with Hans, who would obviously do the exact same thing the next time the situation arose, despite speaking this way.
Anyway, she had finished using him for her purposes.
Jane’s eyes gleamed coldly like snake scales as she recalled the mechanical device sleeping in her secret place.
To think that this man, who would have to be dealt with anyway, had caused such a major incident.
Hans was someone with whom she had spent quite a lot of time—the second most in Jane’s life, to be precise—while pretending to be affectionate and calling him family, but her decision to dispose of him was remarkably swift and chillingly heartless.
“J-Jane.”
“Be quiet and shut that mouth.”
Jane looked Hans up and down as if viewing an animal about to be slaughtered.
If she hadn’t lured him away on that day when winter rain was falling, that piece of trash would have rotted and died in the pit he had dug for himself.
Since I saved a man who was going to die anyway, it’s also my right to kill him when he’s no longer useful.
Hans instinctively sensed the meaning behind Jane’s gaze, but trapped in the framework he had created for himself—that of being her only family—he desperately denied his instincts.
She’s angry. Jane is acting this way because she’s so angry right now.
So I should beg forgiveness. If I apologize enough to satisfy Jane, she’ll forgive me as she always has.
“Jane, Jane, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I was wrong. I was fooled by the claim that you would be in danger. I’m an idiot. I’m…”
Hans was crying his eyes out, making himself as small as possible despite his large frame as he clung to Jane’s feet, but his pleas didn’t reach her.
She was thoroughly ignoring Hans while contemplating how to dispose of him.
Since it was obviously impossible for her to handle Hans with physical force, she would need to eliminate him through someone else…
No, that’s not it. There’s a good way to deal with this annoying, useless—no, worse than useless, this burden—while also striking a blow against the fake.
If the mechanical device has already been discovered, then she needs to quickly eliminate the fake using it, but doing so herself would be too risky.
But if it were merely a suspicion that “she might be related to the fake’s death,” the Third Prince could bury it once he becomes Crown Prince.
Only then did Jane look down at Hans, who was soiling the hem of her skirt, and smile a well-crafted, subtle smile.
“If you’re that sorry, there’s something you can do for me.”
She never asked Hans for his opinion on whether he would do this task, not even at the end.
Thanks to Max’s desperate struggle, Riina and Einar eventually set out into the streets alone.
‘If you want to take me with you, you’ll have to drag me!’
Though Einar, at Riina’s signal, had grabbed Max by the scruff of his neck and dragged him out the door…
“That fellow, he really wasn’t a merchant after all.”
Einar muttered, opening and closing his empty hand.
“According to him, he is a merchant now.”
“Now?”
“Yes. Now.”
After exchanging these meaningful words, the two looked at each other and suddenly burst into laughter as if they had planned it.
“He doesn’t seem like someone worth having such a serious conversation about.”
“Indeed. While Max is certainly suspicious, it’s not worth discussing to this extent.”
They had just kicked away his offer of a deal, which was both secretive and explicit.
Besides, to the two of them—possessors of absolute luck and misfortune—whatever Max’s true identity turned out to be wouldn’t be particularly surprising.
“Come to think of it, what kind of deal did he mention?”
“He said if I had something I wanted from him, I should present the price.”
“Just hearing that makes it sound like an extremely reasonable deal.”
“But you heard him. Even if he disappears, the deal remains. It’s definitely not an ordinary deal. However…”
Riina hesitated for a moment, and Einar waited silently.
If she didn’t want to talk about it, he didn’t want to force it out of her, and if she did want to talk, he wanted to listen anytime.
“Max made a deal with my father.”
“The Duke of Bolshevik with Max?”
It was a completely unexpected revelation.
“Yes. It seems my father wanted to adjust the price, but because the deal was already completed, that wasn’t possible.”
“That… well, it surprises me in many ways. That Max would be reasonable and the Duke of Bolshevik would be unreasonable.”
As Einar tilted his head to one side, Riina also tilted her head in the same direction.
He suddenly opened his mouth as if something had occurred to him.
“What the Duke wanted from Max… Didn’t that fellow say he had some kind of ability?”
“He can’t use any magic that freely manipulates everything, but he can turn back ti—”
Before Riina could finish speaking, both of them simultaneously turned their heads toward the Bolshevik mansion.
Einar couldn’t bring himself to speak, and no words escaped from Riina’s half-opened lips either.
They couldn’t even imagine what the price for turning back time might be.
And if the reason the Duke of Bolshevik—her father—turned back time was…
“I’ll never be able to face the Duke again.”
Einar carefully grasped Riina’s slender shoulders, which had begun to tremble slightly, and pulled her into his embrace.
As his chest grew damp, he stroked her back and whispered:
“Thanks to him, I’ve gained the opportunity to be with you.”
Einar extended his hand to Riina, who kept trying to touch her slightly reddened, swollen eyes as if embarrassed.
“I think you won’t touch them if you’re holding my hand. Please pay attention to the hand holding mine.”
As he took her smaller, softer hand and soon interlaced their fingers, Riina answered, her eyes reddening for a different reason:
“W-when you put it that way, how could I not pay attention?”
Looking at her, Einar swallowed a sigh.
He truly would never be able to face the Duke again.
Recalling how the Duke had checked him at Sierre’s palace, he realized that he, who had never experienced defeat even once, would only ever lose to Bolshevik for the rest of his life.
The two of them moved forward unhurriedly, holding hands.
Although they were investigating the suspicious foreign groups and the epidemic, there wasn’t much need for grand actions.
Thanks to putting Max to work, they already held most of the necessary information, and with what Lione and those dispatched from the imperial palace had dug up, there was no need to be anxious and fret about what the suspicious groups might do.
Therefore, even the order Einar had received from the Emperor was closer to a confirmation task.
‘Examine the place those insolent fellows who are messing with the empire have made their base, and find out which country they’re associated with.’
‘Don’t you already know that?’
Seeing Einar’s indifferent response, a vein popped up on the Emperor’s forehead.
‘You disrespectful rascal, when I command something, at least pretend to do it! Besides, the one who starts something should finish it. Are you planning to quit in the middle again because of your capriciousness?’
Einar, who had been letting the Emperor’s words go in one ear and out the other, flinched at the part about “the person who starts something should finish it.”
It was what Riina had said to him.
‘What’s with that expression?’
As the Emperor frowned deeply, Einar answered with a beaming face:
‘That’s right. Since I started it, I should finish it.’
The Emperor stared at Einar, who suddenly showed enthusiasm, as if looking at an extremely strange fellow, and abruptly asked:
‘You, have you no intention of becoming Crown Prince?’
‘None.’
At the answer that came without even a second of consideration, the Emperor openly clicked his tongue with an expression that seemed to say, “As expected.”
‘If you’re troubled about the Crown Prince issue.’
‘Do you think you’re in a position to give such advice to me? Presumptuous fellow.’
The Emperor glared at Einar, but he received that gaze quite lightly and replied:
‘Look at the youngest. His health is no longer an issue. You already knew how intelligent that child is. Ah, you must have already heard that he’s regained his health?’
The Emperor simply waved his hand dismissively without a specific answer.
Having briefly drifted through the past, he couldn’t help but smile at the soft sensation tickling his finger joints.
“Einar?”
At her gaze, which seemed to ask why he was suddenly smiling, Einar shook his head.
“No, it’s just that if I tell you this, I feel like you might leave me behind, so it’s difficult to answer.”
“Then don’t say it.”
At Riina’s resolute response, which Einar found adorable and lovable as well, the smile that spread across his lips showed no sign of fading.
Not having eaten her perceptiveness in soup, Riina couldn’t help but notice his demeanor, and as she swallowed the unfamiliar, ticklish sensation as if she had consumed a lot of down feathers, she deliberately changed the subject.
