ICTFF - Chapter 102




One in a million odds (6)

That evening.

Kalit and I, the two most idle people in Eldern Castle, played chess in the drawing room.

As the game, which had been progressing slowly, was almost over. Vivian, who had been running an errand for Hugh, came into the living room.

"Mr. Hugh has accepted the young lady's offer. He says he will prepare for Ellie and leave together tomorrow."

"Whew, that's good. Thanks for your hard work, Vivian."

"No problem. Then I'll wait outside."

"It's time to go to sleep now. Just rest for today."

"Thank you, Miss."

As Vivian stepped away. Kalit, who had been listening silently, clenched his jaw.

"If it's Hugh. That painter?"

"That's right."

"Are you trying to draw a picture of the future again?"

"Yes."

"Shall I guess the theme of the future painting that Hugh will draw?"

"Yes, guess."

"Great Rift."

The Great Rift will open at the border between the Grand Duchy of Romena and the Empire.

The closest area to that place is EIdern.

So, to bring the spectacle of the Great Rift to the future, it was advantageous to have an artist who knew Eldern well do the work.

"Correct answer."

"I guessed right but there's nothing?"

I shrugged my shoulders and made the next move.

"I will move the có bishop to 13."

"Hmm, I'll pretend not to hear..."

Kalit raised his eyebrows as he moved the white bishop. The black King was now surrounded by white bishops and the white King.

"What? It's checkmate."

"Shall I give you a consolation prize for guessing the correct answer?"

"It's tempting, but I'll decline."

He smiled lazily as he neatly admitted defeat.

"You beat me for the first time. Congratulations."

"Instead of just congratulating me with words, how about giving me what I want as a gift?"

"Oh, is there anything you want from me? Tell me. I'll give you anything."

"Tell me about the flower-shaped scar."

"..."

Kalit's face sank heavily.

"I thought you told me to erase that whole issue from my mind." 

"Please tell me the reason."

"Millenia..."

"It's a very important matter to me. Maybe more important than my life. If you're saying this because I'm not pretty..."

"You're the only person I've ever opened my heart to. There's no way I wouldn't trust you."

"Then you're saying that this is a problem that I shouldn't know about."

What is that?

'Is this a secret only allowed to the royal family?'

In that case, the flower-shaped scar that Kalit was talking about and the one on Ian's back had nothing to do with each other.

Kalit sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair. After thinking for a moment, he unbuttoned two buttons of his shirt.

I froze at the unexpected action.

Kalit grabbed my stiff hand and pulled it into his shirt.

"Just touch it yourself."

"Wh, what, uh, just a moment. Your Highness..."

I could feel the firm, bulging deltoid muscle. I was so surprised that I was about to pull my arm away when something foreign brushed my fingertips.

"Uh?"

My eyes shot open. I pushed the hand I was trying to pull out deeper and felt Kalit's shoulder.

"This..."

It's a flower.

There was a flower-shaped scar in the exact same location as the boy.

Kalit's secret voice seeped into my ears as I lost my mind.

"That's all I can tell you. You figure out the rest."

***

I returned to the bedroom and just stood there blankly for a while. Nadia stopped tidying up the bedding and asked.

"You have to sleep if you want to leave early tomorrow."

"Uh..."

Unable to resist Nadia's urging I lay down on the bed. Soon darkness fell on the bedroom.

My plan when I first set out from the capital was to find a benefactor before I returned. I had decided to narrow down the candidates to at least one.

As planned, the three candidates seemed to have narrowed down to just one, Kalit, but then it increased to three again.

'Yes, let's say that's possible up to that point.'

Ian, who shamelessly lied about not knowing about the flower-shaped scar, has a scar on his back that magically disappears and reappears.

Rahon said that he received treatment for his back from the little girl who had been insisting on living with him.

Of course, I'm not sure that's me, but he has a flower tattoo anyway. Now even Kalit has a flower-shaped scar.

I was just staring blankly, but I woke up abruptly because I felt like my stomach was going to explode.

"No, does it make sense that all three of them have flower-shaped scars?" 

What are the odds of this happening? It's probably less than one in a million, right?

"What's this."

I couldn't find a benefactor with a flower-shaped scar anymore, because all three were the same. If this happens, there will be no progress in finding the benefactor whether when I left the capital or not.

“Ah.”

I lay back down on the bed, almost collapsing. I felt a little resentful towards my benefactor.

***

I had a hard time sleeping all night, so my head felt dizzy.

After taking a bath, led by Nadia's hand, I stared out the window with a blank expression.

Outside, employees were busy preparing to leave.

The luggage was loaded onto a top-quality maple wagon.

Behind them, a mobile prison carrying assassins and the ringleaders of the wind gang was parked at an appropriate distance.

Knights were waiting around him in an escort formation, numbering a hundred in number.

It seemed that Duke Eldern had greatly increased the number of guards, as he had two guardians and a criminal to escort.

When I turned my gaze, I saw Ian talking to Beorn. The emotions that had kept me up all night came flooding back to me.

'Liar.'

When I asked about the flower-shaped scar, he naturally denied it. How can he be so shameless and good at lying?

I squinted my eyes and looked down at Ian.

Just then, a gust of wind swept through Ian's black hair.

He shook his head and patted Beorn on the shoulder. Then he mounted his white horse and surveyed the formation of knights.

The pure white uniform matched his broad shoulders like a painting. Somehow, my irritated heart was relieved.

'... It's a tattoo, not a scar, so it might not be a lie.'

There are no scars that disappear and reappear on their own.

Well, then, what about tattoos? The people of the empire didn't particularly like tattoos.

This is because it is perceived as a lowly act to tattoo an indelible image on one's body.

Of course, there were some people with tattoos, but most of them were commoners who did hard work, such as mercenaries or soldiers.

It was very rare among the nobility.

So if Ian, the heir to the Duke family, got a tattoo, there must be a reason.

'So you hid it?'

However, I don't know how he got a tattoo that is only visible in special circumstances.

'So you hid it?'

It certainly wouldn't be an ordinary technique, but wouldn't it have been difficult to do in a place like the Empire where tattooing wasn't as developed?

Suddenly, the knights saluted somewhere.

It was Kalit. He appeared with a black horse, gestured to the knights, and approached Ian.

Soon, Rahon, riding a brown horse, joined Ian and Kalit. The wind swirled around the three of them.

Nadia, who was looking outside with her chin resting on the windowsill next to me, let out an exclamation.

"Wow, that's the power of a complete body."

"Huh?"

"There are three men gathered in one place who make you happy just by looking at them. That makes your happiness tenfold."

"Isn't it three times as many as three people?"

"That's the power of perfection, Miss."

"Oh."

As Nadia said, the synergy was amazing when three people who were great on their own came together.

'It feels like a different world where they are standing.'

It was a new experience.

I can't believe I'm getting this close to men I never even had a chance to talk to in my past life.

Above all, I felt strange thinking that there was a benefactor among them.

At that moment, the three people who had been seriously conversing turned their heads. It was exactly in the direction of my bedroom.

Just before my eyes met with the three men, Nadia quickly pushed down on my shoulder.

"Ugh!"

I collapsed on the floor without any room to do anything.

Nadia waved her hand out the window and spoke in a sly voice.

"I think someone is coming up. Get ready."

"Yes."

As I hurried to sit down in the rocking chair in front of the fireplace, Nadia sank down at my feet, holding her knitting basket.

While I was acting like that, someone knocked on the bedroom door.

"Huh? You came up this quickly?"

As Nadia was about to stand up in confusion, the door opened without warning.

"Young Lady!"

"Tails?"

Tails strode in with a frightening momentum. Then he stopped in front of me and thrust out a long wooden box.

"What is this?"

"You have to tell me so I can understand."

"This wooden box, Isn't that the one Yeong Lady brought into my room?"

"Oh, that. Is there a problem? Was there something other than a sword inside or something...."

"That sword is the problem!"

Tails opened the wooden box with a scream.


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