Noevian’s office was surprisingly similar to Count Acacia’s office. It had a bleak and desolate atmosphere. The only difference was that it was a little bigger and had a few gloomy paintings hanging there for decoration. I had lived in this mansion for two years, but I had never been in this office since he first showed me around. The mansion was very big, and in the early days of my marriage, I was too busy going back and forth between my office and my bedroom to familiarize myself with the Grand Duchess’s work. In the first place, since he didn’t stay at the mansion that much, there was no need to come to this office.
“What on earth are you thinking?”
There were words written that I couldn’t understand at all.
I put everything back where it was except for the envelope and went down to the first floor to greet Noevian. Noevian, who had been coming in with a distorted expression, made a serious face when he saw me.
“Prince Rhodnes was at the main gate.”
“Yes, does it matter?”
I greeted him with the most beautiful smile I could muster and hugged him tightly. I saw the servants around me covering their mouths at my unabashed display of affection. Noevian, who had been frozen stiff, hugged me back.
“I love you, so what does it matter what anyone does at the front door?”
Noevian relaxed his expression as if he had received the most satisfactory answer he could hear from me, and as if he had never frowned, he ordered Gaspard to prepare the bath water. Ignoring Gaspard who was looking at me with a displeased face, I patted my shoulder as if to encourage me and glared at Noevian’s back as he went up to the bedroom.
After briefly recalling my old memories, I locked the office door and approached the desk where all sorts of documents were piled up. Given his usually neat and tidy personality, it was a mess that didn’t suit him at all. I only looked around with my eyes, worried that I might accidentally touch it and leave traces of my presence. If it had been important documents, I don’t think they would have been left carelessly in this space where the butler came in every morning to clean.
Most of the desk drawers were locked. I lowered my posture and opened each drawer one by one to find the right key. There were documents written in all sorts of foreign languages, as well as minor titles he had earned through his achievements and documents related to the estate. It took a long time to organize the documents I had taken out, put them back, and lock the drawers again.
I got up every now and then to look outside. The knights of Rhodnes were still guarding the main gate. If that many people were holding out in front of the mansion, Noevian would have no choice but to go that way even if he tried to enter through the back gate. I tried to calm my pounding heart and opened the safe under the desk. Where I thought there would be gold bars like Count Acacia’s, there were only envelopes packed tightly. When I took out the topmost document among the envelopes of the same shape, material, and color, it had the word “West” written on it.
The next one. The next one. And the next one all had “West” written on them, which looked very suspicious. The Duke of Castagna’s territory. The battlefield where Rhodnes had rolled for years. Since that was the only image I had of the West, it was very strange that there were so many envelopes filled with documents in such a small safe. All the envelopes were sealed with wax, but the envelope that seemed to have been placed most recently was not waxed. I quickly opened the envelope and took out the documents.
“...!”
The concise sentences, despite their thickness, filled my eyes. The content was roughly as follows: [Send rebels to the West again.]
“...!”
The concise sentences, despite their thickness, filled my eyes. The content was roughly as follows: [Send rebels to the West again.]
My hands, soaked with tension, almost dropped the document for a moment. I concentrated all my energy not to crumple it. Anyone who saw the document that said to move troops from a certain region to the West could only see that the person who wrote it was 'deliberately' sending rebels.
My body, not my hands, trembled. At the same time, my mind went blank as if someone had taken all my thoughts away.
“What the heck… what does this mean?”
I recognized the content, but I couldn't understand why they were doing this. I stared at the wax-covered envelopes in the safe with a miserable heart, then took out the innermost envelope. The envelope that was obviously the oldest document was wax-covered, but I couldn't help but open it. Because I couldn't guarantee that perfect timing like today would come again. The moment I read the contents inside, I felt as if someone was grabbing my brain and kneading it. What the heck...
“What the heck… what does this mean?”
I recognized the content, but I couldn't understand why they were doing this. I stared at the wax-covered envelopes in the safe with a miserable heart, then took out the innermost envelope. The envelope that was obviously the oldest document was wax-covered, but I couldn't help but open it. Because I couldn't guarantee that perfect timing like today would come again. The moment I read the contents inside, I felt as if someone was grabbing my brain and kneading it. What the heck...
“What on earth are you thinking?”
There were words written that I couldn’t understand at all.
[Plant mana stones in the west to summon demons.]
[Concentrate the rebels in the west.]
The neat letters typed on an official document typewriter mercilessly messed up my head. Demons. Rebels. Send creepy things to the West. And the thing I couldn’t understand the most was the last thing written.
[...Tie the feet of Prince Rhodes and prevent him from setting foot in the capital.]
I held back my pain, but eventually, I ended up crumpling up the old document. The demons and rebels had prevented Rhodes, who had just become an adult, from setting foot in the capital. The dangerous things in Ronta that had turned him into a war ghost were not something that could not be avoided, but someone, no, Noevian, had sent them ‘on purpose.’ The truth had been hidden in his office, in his safe, so it should naturally belong to him.
“Why on earth are you doing this?”
In his office, where not a single portrait hung, I chewed and spat as if Noevian were standing before me.
“If you wanted me, you could have just been satisfied with me.”
I didn't have a single patriotic thought about why we were wasting our national power in such a wasteful way. However, my face suddenly distorted because I was so sorry for the time I had spent in Rhodnes.
“What on earth did Rhodnes do wrong that you’re acting like this? Did you hate him that much? That Rhodnes came to me?”
The voice of Noevian, who was crying that he had nothing of his own, felt truly pitiful, even though my heart was growing cold, and it turned my stomach inside out. My stomach rumbled and I felt nauseous.
“If you don’t have something of your own, can you take something that belongs to someone else?”
In this way. Who will compensate for the time you spent marrying me and foolishly giving your heart to me, while I was foolishly giving my heart to you, and the time you foolishly deceived me and sent Rhodnes to the battlefield?
“Why on earth are you doing this?”
In his office, where not a single portrait hung, I chewed and spat as if Noevian were standing before me.
“If you wanted me, you could have just been satisfied with me.”
I didn't have a single patriotic thought about why we were wasting our national power in such a wasteful way. However, my face suddenly distorted because I was so sorry for the time I had spent in Rhodnes.
“What on earth did Rhodnes do wrong that you’re acting like this? Did you hate him that much? That Rhodnes came to me?”
The voice of Noevian, who was crying that he had nothing of his own, felt truly pitiful, even though my heart was growing cold, and it turned my stomach inside out. My stomach rumbled and I felt nauseous.
“If you don’t have something of your own, can you take something that belongs to someone else?”
In this way. Who will compensate for the time you spent marrying me and foolishly giving your heart to me, while I was foolishly giving my heart to you, and the time you foolishly deceived me and sent Rhodnes to the battlefield?
I was holding the document in my hand again when I suddenly felt something on the back page. It was a note that someone had added. A note asking, “Where are the rebels?” Underneath that note, another note was scribbled as an answer. “There are no rebels.” “We’ll just make them and send them.”
I laughed for a long time. I had no more tears to shed. Instead of the heart-wrenching sobs, empty laughter filled the spacious office floor. The excuse for sending Rhodnes to the battlefield, the “Western rebels,” was Noevian’s doing. I remembered the newspaper articles that always reported the uproarious news of the West because of the rebels. The second Prince, Lord Rhodes, went to suppress the rebels, but was always blocked by unknown monsters, and ended up hunting more monsters than rebels. Those monsters would appear whenever they forgot, trample the villages in the west, and the soldiers who were called up to cut down all kinds of monsters would cut their necks until their arms were torn off.
I remembered Lord Rhodnes’s wounded body. Faint scars filled the gaps in his shirt that were suddenly open. They were marks the young Prince had earned while rolling around the battlefield.
My head, which had been blank from shock, became hot. It was a clear anger. I sat down hard at the desk in Noevian’s office as if someone had grabbed me and dragged me. The sound of my heart pounding loudly rang in my ears. I had torn off the wax-sealed documents, so if Noevian were to open this safe and look through it, even if it was inside, he would find out if I was unlucky. From the moment I reached out to the greater truth, it was already irreversible.
Unlike my heart that was about to burst and my head that was burning, I continued to laugh so nonsensically that anyone would think I was crazy. Was this the truth that Blie had been talking about? Did she already know?
If so, it would have been nice if she had told me what to do now. I took out Doris’s letter that I had kept in my arms with my cold hands and looked down at it. I read it over and over again and soon picked up a piece of stationery that was piled up on Noevian’s desk. It was high-quality stationery with the Trovica family emblem clearly engraved on it. The stationery itself symbolized Noevian Trovica. I could clearly feel the blood vessels bursting in my eyes. With eyes that were probably bloodshot, I picked up Noevian’s quill pen without hesitation and wrote a reply to Doris.
[I would be upset if you doubt my loyalty to Your Highness. Even if he is your beloved Grand Duke, I am ready to leave him behind at any time if only Your Highness, who recognized my abilities, would trust me.]
Although I wrote quickly, my handwriting was very neat. I read over what I wrote as if I was engraving it in my heart, and then I soon picked up a second piece of paper and continued writing.
[Noevian Trovica is annoying, right?]
It was only one sentence written by hand, but my breathing became ragged as if I had run. After catching my breath, I stared at the damned document in front of me and gripped my quill again.
[I found something very interesting, and I wonder if it will be of any help.]
Wasn’t this enough of a reason for the Crown Prince to abandon Noevian Trovica, or rather, to abandon her?
An envelope of documents that could no longer be in his safe was in front of me. It was decisive evidence that Noevian Trovica, the Emperor’s strategist and the leader of the Crown Prince’s faction, had been continuously sending rebels and monsters to the West. I held it as if it were a treasure.
At that moment. Suddenly, the noise outside the window grew louder. I walked slowly and looked outside, which had become dark before I knew it. The lights at the front door came on brightly, and I could hear the sound of another scuffle. A huge carriage with Trovica’s flag flying came into view, and I saw Noevian getting out of it and walking toward Rhodnes. It was time to leave this office for now.
I lifted the hem of my dress, tightly tucked in the envelopes, and went to the stationery on the desk to add a few words.
[I’m afraid you might not understand me suddenly doing this while I love him, but I didn’t plan to do this from the beginning.]
Yes, my head is getting hot like this, my heart feels like it’s going to burst, and I feel like I’m going crazy if I don’t talk to myself, all because of Noevian Trovica. He made me like this.
[Until I found out that he had betrayed my love and was having an affair.]
That face that only cried when Adrienne's ghost demanded the truth, and then seemed relieved as if all of her sins had been forgiven when she told him to live happily with Blie.
I put everything back where it was except for the envelope and went down to the first floor to greet Noevian. Noevian, who had been coming in with a distorted expression, made a serious face when he saw me.
“Prince Rhodnes was at the main gate.”
“Yes, does it matter?”
I greeted him with the most beautiful smile I could muster and hugged him tightly. I saw the servants around me covering their mouths at my unabashed display of affection. Noevian, who had been frozen stiff, hugged me back.
“I love you, so what does it matter what anyone does at the front door?”
Noevian relaxed his expression as if he had received the most satisfactory answer he could hear from me, and as if he had never frowned, he ordered Gaspard to prepare the bath water. Ignoring Gaspard who was looking at me with a displeased face, I patted my shoulder as if to encourage me and glared at Noevian’s back as he went up to the bedroom.
Above his disappearing back, the sentences I had added to the reply I was going to send to Doris came to mind like an illusion.
[I want to get revenge on him, Your Highness. I don’t mind the position of Grand Duchess.]
[If only I could bring down the man who trampled my love.]
Blie Acacia, who dreamed of the position of Grand Duchess blinded by love. Blie Acacia, who was betrayed by love and had nothing in sight. No matter what Doris thinks of me and uses me for, the result will be the same. Noevian Trovica, you will fall down most miserably and miserably.
“Jonah, please deliver this letter directly to Countess Irene of Siscometin, and ask her to deliver it to Her Highness the Crown Princess.”
Of course, it is not Blie Acacia who creates the result, but I, Adrienne Piretta, have no need to repay Doris for her help. I am just using her.
“Jonah, please deliver this letter directly to Countess Irene of Siscometin, and ask her to deliver it to Her Highness the Crown Princess.”
Of course, it is not Blie Acacia who creates the result, but I, Adrienne Piretta, have no need to repay Doris for her help. I am just using her.
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