The fewer people who know a secret, the easier it is to keep it.
So, the fact that Perdes was pretending to be Chernosser was a top secret that no one knew about except Adele, Lord Aldor, and Leo.
Of course, Jack, Perdes' personal servant, did not know about this fact.
Most people, including Jack, thought that Perdes had left to find the culprit who had killed Chernosser.
So, Quaid, the culprit, was caught, but Perdes still couldn't come out in front of people.
Because her hair color was still blonde.
The effects of the magic potion lasted approximately three days to a week.
There was no antidote, so we had to just wait until the effect wore off.
Fortunately, after about half a day, my hair color returned to its original color.
Early in the morning, after a rather large commotion.
“Welcome, Perdes.”
Jack greeted Perdes, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, but he didn't even acknowledge the greeting and just collapsed on the bed.
Jack came up to him and asked worriedly.
“Where does it hurt?”
"No."
“Your voice doesn’t sound good.”
As Jack kept nagging him to tell him where it hurt, Perdes buried his face in the pillow and waved his hands around.
“It’s okay, don’t bother me, and do your business.”
"But..."
“I told you it was okay.”
When Perdes' voice became filled with annoyance, Jack shut his mouth and stepped back.
Perdes buried his face in the pillow and thought about the last conversation he had with Adele.
“I will give you freedom as I promised, so stop here, Lord Perdes.”
“Who the hell would let you do this?”
Even though Perdes was grumbling, he couldn't say anything to Adele because their contract had effectively ended on the day Perdes had his coming-of-age ceremony.
So even though Adele said to stop there, he had nothing to say, but he was still angry.
...I couldn’t understand why I was getting angry over something like this.
When his contract with Adele ended, he was able to gain the freedom he so desperately wanted.
Not only did he no longer have to do tedious work, but he also no longer had to watch the Emperor's face.
So, it would be better to just finish the contract and leave, but why doesn't he want to do that?
'I don't know.'
The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt.
Perdes groaned and buried his face deep in the pillow.
“I, Lord Perdes...”
Jack, who had come closer again, called out to him.
I told you not to bother me, so why are you calling me again?
As the annoyed Perdes looked up, Jack hiccupped and stepped back in surprise.
Meanwhile, he pointed to Perdes' pocket and said:
“Hiccup, the pouch, hiccup, it’s glowing red. Hiccup.”
"What?"
At those words, Perdes checked his pockets.
As Jack said, the pockets were glowing red.
To be exact, it was the magic communication ring that was shining in his pocket.
It was a communication ring that Jack used when reporting to the Emperor.
This is what he received when he had a heart-to-heart and honest conversation with Jack before.
From then on, whenever Jack reported to the Emperor, he always received a ring from Perdes and reported it in front of him.
It was extremely rare for the Emperor to contact Jack first, so it wasn't uncomfortable.
...But the Emperor contacted him first?
'I guess he contacted Jack since he hadn't heard from him.'
The man was said to be a member of the Anatome Guard, the Emperor's personal assassination squad.
Jack, who had stopped hiccups while Perdes thought about the man, asked cautiously.
“Can you not answer the calls?”
“...I have to accept it.”
Perdes didn't know what kind of reprimand Jack would receive if he didn't accept it, and he wanted to confirm whether his guess was correct.
After Perdes handed over the ring, Jack took a deep breath and answered the phone.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Jack bowed and groaned as if he were seeing the face of the Emperor.
From Jack's perspective, he knew that the Emperor was a very difficult and scary person, but he still didn't like it, so Perdes crossed his arms and looked at him with crooked eyes.
[Are you alone now?]
“Yes. I am alone now.”
[There is no lie in that, is there?]
Jack looked at Perdes in surprise at his tone of voice, which seemed to clearly see through his situation.
Perdes put his index finger to his lips and signaled for silence.
Jack followed Perdes' actions and nodded vigorously.
“Oh, of course!”
Why do you stutter like an idiot?
Perdes frowned.
[I see.]
He was worried that the Emperors might think it was strange, but fortunately, it just passed.
[You know about the Second Prince being attacked, right?]
“Yes, yes. I know.”
[I heard that he was seriously injured to the point of being unconscious...What is the 2nd Prince’s condition right now?]
“Uh, that’s...”
As Jack hesitated, not knowing what to say, Perdes came closer and whispered in his ear.
It would have been safer to write it down, but there was nothing he could do since Jack couldn't read.
“Tell him it was actually a trap.”
Trap? Jack looked at him in confusion at the words he didn't understand, but Perdes just nodded at him to do as he was told.
“Actually, it was a trap.”
[Trap?]
“Tell him that Lady Leopold set a trap to capture the knight who dared to assassinate the Second Prince.”
“Yo, Young Lady Leopold..."
Was it like that?
Jack was very surprised to hear the story for the first time, but he repeated Perdes' words to the Emperor like a parrot.
Perdes told the Emperor everything, including the capture of the knight in question.
Since he was going to tell everything anyway, this didn't matter.
"This is..."
The Emperor didn't say a word while Jack was telling his long story, but when his story reached a conclusion, he suddenly blurted out:
[Then the 4th Prince will be fine too.]
Why is my story suddenly coming up?
Jack and Perdes looked at the red, sparkling ring in confusion.
When Perdes, who soon came to his senses, tried to ask Jack what it meant, the Emperor unilaterally cut off the communication, saying that he would contact him again.
As the light from the ring faded, silence fell over the bedroom.
Jack asked, watching Perdes' expression.
“Shall I contact His Majesty the Emperor again?”
"...No."
He really wanted to do that, but he was afraid that if he contacted him for no reason, the Emperor might be suspected.
So, even if there are still questions, it would be right to end the report here.
After receiving the magic communication ring back from Jack, Perdes sat by his bedside and thought deeply about the conversation between Jack and the Emperor.
It wasn't really a conversation since Jack just reported unilaterally.
But just one word, that the 4th Prince would be fine, really resonated with him.
'Could it be that the Emperor ordered that man to kill me too?'
When he thought about it that way, he understood what Adele had casually said.
...The reason why Adele suddenly decided to end it.
She must have noticed this a long time ago and was worried about him, so she decided to stop there.
Yeah, that's definitely it.
As the question came to a close, Perdes' lips loosened.
Just a little while ago, whenever he thought of Adele, he would get really annoyed, but not anymore. He felt really good.
Jack tilted his head as Perdes, who had been raising his spines like a hedgehog just a moment ago, suddenly smiled with his lips loosened.
“You look happy now, Mr. Perdes.”
"Not really."
“Hey, you look really nice.”
Jack studied Perdes' expression carefully and then added.
“You look like a boy who just fell in love.”
"...What?"
Perdes, who was hit hard on the back of the head by the words thrown out, asked back in bewilderment.
“Does that mean I like Young Lady Leopold?”
"Yes?"
This time, Jack answered the question in confusion.
“That’s not what I meant, I just described it as something like that.”
“That’s it.”
“It’s different. And Mr. Perdes originally liked the young lady.”
“It’s true that I like Young Lady Leopold.”
There was no way he could hate the person who promised to take him out of the hellish palace and give him freedom.
They had a pretty good relationship.
“But I don’t love her. Young Lady Leopold and I are more like friends.”
Jack nodded in agreement.
“It is often said that a couple is the closest of friends.”
“That’s not it... Yes. Let’s stop talking.”
Jack had no idea what conversation was going on between Perdes and Adele, and he was completely convinced that they would get married.
No matter how much he denied it to him, it would only create more questions, so Perdes waved his hand.
“I’m tired and want to get some rest, so I’ll go out now.”
After Jack left, Perdes lay down on the bed.
He tried to forget everything for a while and rest, but even that wasn't easy.
It was because his head was too complicated.
There were many problems, including the knight and the emperor, but what filled Perdes' mind right now was the word love.
"Love..."
It felt strange to encounter a word that he had only seen in novels and that he thought had no connection to him in his entire life.
When he associated that word with Adele, he felt strange.
Perdes stared blankly at the ceiling and muttered the words floating around in his head.
“I love Lady Adele Leopold.”
When he simply said what he was thinking, it hit his heart with more weight.
He couldn't just deny it like before.
This was especially so because he continued to feel that something was strange.
Really, I like that woman...
Adele Leopold...
A hot lump rose from deep within his chest.
He didn't know what it was, but he felt like he couldn't take it out, so Perdes swallowed it forcefully and pulled the blanket over his head.
He wanted to run away from everything that was bothering him and fall asleep quickly.
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