Sophia and Erdene's eyes widened at the same time.
The two looked at each other without saying who would go first and exchanged secret smiles that the Marchioness didn't notice.
Erdene said,
"I'm glad that you said that first. Come to the Queen's Palace next time. Let's have tea together."
The Marchioness nodded. Erdene turned around and smiled, leaving the mother and daughter whispering.
She thought that if she told Arkan about this, he would definitely be surprised.
Arkan's reaction was not as Erdene had expected.
He had been indifferent when he had heard the story about the Marchioness's troubles, but when he reached the end of the story, he was so surprised that he almost fell out of bed.
"Is that true?"
The wick of the lamp burst into flames, making a crackling sound. Erdene shrugged, stretching her legs out on the sheet.
“That’s right. Surprising, huh?”
Arkan said.
“How surprising? If it were you, I wouldn’t have believed it. My goodness, Marchioness Fiddler.”
He nodded, staring up at the ceiling as if talking to himself.
“People can change that way.”
“Yes. I’ve beaten people to change forcibly many times, but this is the first time I’ve been surprised.”
Arkan turned his head and narrowed his eyes.
He didn’t say anything, but Erdene snorted and pinched the tip of his nose, twisting it slightly.
“Ouch.”
Arkan frowned and sniffed, and Erdene laughed in amusement and ruffled his hair.
“By the way, what about that Prince who sneaked over from Kensilom? What happened to him?”
“Oh, that guy.”
Arkan leaned toward Erdene and let out a short sigh. He remembered the faint headache and the buzzing noise at the back of his head that had persisted for hours since he had met Damon.
He had experienced countless headaches while sitting on the throne, but Damon’s was a new and unfamiliar problem that he had never experienced before.
Arkan said,
“Nothing has happened yet. I told him to go and rest because he seemed about to collapse. They said he hadn’t woken up yet and was still sleeping.”
“Isn’t he dead?”
“Don’t say anything horrible. Even if he dies, I’ll bring him back to life.”
Prince Kensilom, who had come to Vetor without the King or the officials knowing, died in his sleep? Whatever the cause of death, it was over the moment that happened.
Arkan shook his head, thinking that it would be better to check if Damon had suffered a heart attack in his sleep.
“Why did you come here?”
Erdene asked, and Arkan hugged her body tighter.
The sweet scent of lilac or acacia, or whatever, and the smell of trees came at the same time.
Thinking that it suited Erdene very well, Arkan gently stroked her upper arm.
“He said he wanted to drive out his father.”
“The King of Kensilom?”
“Yes. And he has different views from his father.”
After a moment of silence, Erdene stroked Arkan’s hair and said,
“So he came to ask us to intervene in a family feud.”
“That’s right. The Princess of the Duchy is like that too, and I don’t know why people do this. Anyway, Prince Damon... Hmm, I heard that the Queen Mother supports him. She is King Grax’s stepmother. I knew they weren’t on good terms, but she seems to cherish her grandson, right?”
“Then there’s no need to ask for your help, right?”
“If it’s a fight for the throne, well... Yes. There’s not much I can do for him. I think Prince Damon wants a clear cause and support. He wants me to speak for him among the allies. He wants me to say to them that the Kensilom he leads is different from the Kensilom under Greggs.”
How petty. Erdene thought. If he was going to oust his father and take the throne, shouldn’t he have his own cause?
‘Well, it’s a complicated situation.’
Lost in thought, she put her lips on Arkan’s nape. Their clothes came closer, and Arkan, who had been lying face down on her, sat up. The two of them smiled at the familiar scent when there was a knock on the door.
For a moment, he thought he had misheard and tried to continue with what he was doing, but the moment Arkan put his lips on Erdene’s collarbone, a faster, more urgent, and more precise tapping sound followed.
“...This is a joke, right?”
Arkan said as if he was amazed, and Erdene snickered.
“I don’t think so. Wake up.”
Arkan pouted his lips and rolled to the side, grumbling.
Erdene pulled the hem of her disheveled gown tightly to straighten her hair and opened the bedroom door.
She thought it would be Anne or Sabnake, but it wasn’t.
“Plat? What brought you here?”
Arkan, who had been lying on the bed with his arms and legs stretched out, suddenly got up at her words.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Something very important has come up. Your Majesty..."
Plat fidgeted with an uneasy expression for some reason. For a moment, the same thought flashed through Erdene and Arkan’s minds.
It was a light-hearted conversation about Prince Damon that we had just joked about earlier. What if he suddenly died...
“What happened to Prince Damon?”
Plat looked puzzled at Erdene’s question as if he didn’t know what she meant.
“His Highness Prince Damon? No, he’s not.”
“Come in.”
Plat cautiously entered the bedroom, but stopped in the doorway and bowed.
Arkan, who had already finished putting on his clothes, was standing up, frowning.
“What’s going on, Plat?”
He tried to be calm, but his voice couldn’t help but shake a little.
It wasn’t an unusual reaction, considering the unexpected problems that had been popping up everywhere.
Plat said,
“Your Majesty, Vice-Captain Rusmov and Vice-Captain Bowles have returned. They want to see you urgently.”
Arkhan’s expression hardened.
Erdene didn’t know their names—Luke and Bowles —so she looked back at Arkan as if she didn’t know what he meant.
“Vice-captains? Who are they?”
“They were the ones who put me in contact with the smugglers in Kensilom. I sent three of them, but two of them went to Kensilom without reporting to me to find out more about the smugglers... and they came back, I hear.”
Surprisingly, they didn’t die. Erdene muttered to herself.
It was a fleeting thought... and then it occurred to her that maybe this would lead to several things going well at once.
“I’ll meet them too.”
“You?”
Erdene raised an eyebrow as if it were only natural.
“I started this. I need to know exactly how it’s going. And the Prince of Kensilom is here right now. Maybe we can use this to get Kensilom into our hands.”
“What do you mean, get Kensilom into our hands?”
“In a political sense.”
It was a half-hearted statement, but since Erdene wasn’t wrong, Arkan obediently agreed.
Rusmov—Luke—and Bowles —were eating bread with tired faces, barely wearing dirty clothes.
Their eyes widened as they saw Erdene enter after Arkan.
Bowles was the first to jump up, and Rusmov fell to the gates of the underworld for a moment because of the bread stuck in his throat, but fortunately managed to survive after shedding a bucket of tears.
“Cough! Ugh... I, I greet Your Majesty and Your Majesty the Queen.”
Arkan sighed and waved his hand to tell them to sit down. Rusmov and Bowles , who were sitting, looked around and coughed.
Arkan said,
“I have heard very well about your reckless behavior.”
Rusmov shook his head, thinking of an excuse. Now was not the time or place to wag his tongue.
Bowles said in a serious voice,
“I apologize for the inconvenience, Your Majesty. But I couldn’t miss this golden opportunity to follow the group trying to throw Vetor into confusion.”
“Still, you guys, do you have multiple lives? What the...!”
“Well done.”
Erdene said, lightly placing a hand on Arkan’s shoulder as he fumed.
Although it was praise, Rusmov and Bowles pursed their lips, more tense than when Arkan was angry.
Erdene said as Arkan folded his arms and leaned back.
“It was a good decision to quickly make and act on the decision not to miss this golden opportunity, but you know that your single-handed actions could have caused a huge problem between Vetor and Kensilom, right?”
Bowles nodded with a serious expression.
Rusmov was biting his lips, keeping his dazzling babble deep inside his chest.
If news of his frivolous tongue-twiddling reached his superior, Belen...
‘No, there’s no need to go all the way to the captain. I’ll just be threshed like a sack of barley by Her Majesty the Queen.’
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The two looked at each other without saying who would go first and exchanged secret smiles that the Marchioness didn't notice.
Erdene said,
"I'm glad that you said that first. Come to the Queen's Palace next time. Let's have tea together."
The Marchioness nodded. Erdene turned around and smiled, leaving the mother and daughter whispering.
She thought that if she told Arkan about this, he would definitely be surprised.
***
Arkan's reaction was not as Erdene had expected.
He had been indifferent when he had heard the story about the Marchioness's troubles, but when he reached the end of the story, he was so surprised that he almost fell out of bed.
"Is that true?"
The wick of the lamp burst into flames, making a crackling sound. Erdene shrugged, stretching her legs out on the sheet.
“That’s right. Surprising, huh?”
Arkan said.
“How surprising? If it were you, I wouldn’t have believed it. My goodness, Marchioness Fiddler.”
He nodded, staring up at the ceiling as if talking to himself.
“People can change that way.”
“Yes. I’ve beaten people to change forcibly many times, but this is the first time I’ve been surprised.”
Arkan turned his head and narrowed his eyes.
He didn’t say anything, but Erdene snorted and pinched the tip of his nose, twisting it slightly.
“Ouch.”
Arkan frowned and sniffed, and Erdene laughed in amusement and ruffled his hair.
“By the way, what about that Prince who sneaked over from Kensilom? What happened to him?”
“Oh, that guy.”
Arkan leaned toward Erdene and let out a short sigh. He remembered the faint headache and the buzzing noise at the back of his head that had persisted for hours since he had met Damon.
He had experienced countless headaches while sitting on the throne, but Damon’s was a new and unfamiliar problem that he had never experienced before.
Arkan said,
“Nothing has happened yet. I told him to go and rest because he seemed about to collapse. They said he hadn’t woken up yet and was still sleeping.”
“Isn’t he dead?”
“Don’t say anything horrible. Even if he dies, I’ll bring him back to life.”
Prince Kensilom, who had come to Vetor without the King or the officials knowing, died in his sleep? Whatever the cause of death, it was over the moment that happened.
Arkan shook his head, thinking that it would be better to check if Damon had suffered a heart attack in his sleep.
“Why did you come here?”
Erdene asked, and Arkan hugged her body tighter.
The sweet scent of lilac or acacia, or whatever, and the smell of trees came at the same time.
Thinking that it suited Erdene very well, Arkan gently stroked her upper arm.
“He said he wanted to drive out his father.”
“The King of Kensilom?”
“Yes. And he has different views from his father.”
After a moment of silence, Erdene stroked Arkan’s hair and said,
“So he came to ask us to intervene in a family feud.”
“That’s right. The Princess of the Duchy is like that too, and I don’t know why people do this. Anyway, Prince Damon... Hmm, I heard that the Queen Mother supports him. She is King Grax’s stepmother. I knew they weren’t on good terms, but she seems to cherish her grandson, right?”
“Then there’s no need to ask for your help, right?”
“If it’s a fight for the throne, well... Yes. There’s not much I can do for him. I think Prince Damon wants a clear cause and support. He wants me to speak for him among the allies. He wants me to say to them that the Kensilom he leads is different from the Kensilom under Greggs.”
How petty. Erdene thought. If he was going to oust his father and take the throne, shouldn’t he have his own cause?
‘Well, it’s a complicated situation.’
Lost in thought, she put her lips on Arkan’s nape. Their clothes came closer, and Arkan, who had been lying face down on her, sat up. The two of them smiled at the familiar scent when there was a knock on the door.
For a moment, he thought he had misheard and tried to continue with what he was doing, but the moment Arkan put his lips on Erdene’s collarbone, a faster, more urgent, and more precise tapping sound followed.
“...This is a joke, right?”
Arkan said as if he was amazed, and Erdene snickered.
“I don’t think so. Wake up.”
Arkan pouted his lips and rolled to the side, grumbling.
Erdene pulled the hem of her disheveled gown tightly to straighten her hair and opened the bedroom door.
She thought it would be Anne or Sabnake, but it wasn’t.
“Plat? What brought you here?”
Arkan, who had been lying on the bed with his arms and legs stretched out, suddenly got up at her words.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Something very important has come up. Your Majesty..."
Plat fidgeted with an uneasy expression for some reason. For a moment, the same thought flashed through Erdene and Arkan’s minds.
It was a light-hearted conversation about Prince Damon that we had just joked about earlier. What if he suddenly died...
“What happened to Prince Damon?”
Plat looked puzzled at Erdene’s question as if he didn’t know what she meant.
“His Highness Prince Damon? No, he’s not.”
“Come in.”
Plat cautiously entered the bedroom, but stopped in the doorway and bowed.
Arkan, who had already finished putting on his clothes, was standing up, frowning.
“What’s going on, Plat?”
He tried to be calm, but his voice couldn’t help but shake a little.
It wasn’t an unusual reaction, considering the unexpected problems that had been popping up everywhere.
Plat said,
“Your Majesty, Vice-Captain Rusmov and Vice-Captain Bowles have returned. They want to see you urgently.”
Arkhan’s expression hardened.
Erdene didn’t know their names—Luke and Bowles —so she looked back at Arkan as if she didn’t know what he meant.
“Vice-captains? Who are they?”
“They were the ones who put me in contact with the smugglers in Kensilom. I sent three of them, but two of them went to Kensilom without reporting to me to find out more about the smugglers... and they came back, I hear.”
Surprisingly, they didn’t die. Erdene muttered to herself.
It was a fleeting thought... and then it occurred to her that maybe this would lead to several things going well at once.
“I’ll meet them too.”
“You?”
Erdene raised an eyebrow as if it were only natural.
“I started this. I need to know exactly how it’s going. And the Prince of Kensilom is here right now. Maybe we can use this to get Kensilom into our hands.”
“What do you mean, get Kensilom into our hands?”
“In a political sense.”
It was a half-hearted statement, but since Erdene wasn’t wrong, Arkan obediently agreed.
Rusmov—Luke—and Bowles —were eating bread with tired faces, barely wearing dirty clothes.
Their eyes widened as they saw Erdene enter after Arkan.
Bowles was the first to jump up, and Rusmov fell to the gates of the underworld for a moment because of the bread stuck in his throat, but fortunately managed to survive after shedding a bucket of tears.
“Cough! Ugh... I, I greet Your Majesty and Your Majesty the Queen.”
Arkan sighed and waved his hand to tell them to sit down. Rusmov and Bowles , who were sitting, looked around and coughed.
Arkan said,
“I have heard very well about your reckless behavior.”
Rusmov shook his head, thinking of an excuse. Now was not the time or place to wag his tongue.
Bowles said in a serious voice,
“I apologize for the inconvenience, Your Majesty. But I couldn’t miss this golden opportunity to follow the group trying to throw Vetor into confusion.”
“Still, you guys, do you have multiple lives? What the...!”
“Well done.”
Erdene said, lightly placing a hand on Arkan’s shoulder as he fumed.
Although it was praise, Rusmov and Bowles pursed their lips, more tense than when Arkan was angry.
Erdene said as Arkan folded his arms and leaned back.
“It was a good decision to quickly make and act on the decision not to miss this golden opportunity, but you know that your single-handed actions could have caused a huge problem between Vetor and Kensilom, right?”
Bowles nodded with a serious expression.
Rusmov was biting his lips, keeping his dazzling babble deep inside his chest.
If news of his frivolous tongue-twiddling reached his superior, Belen...
‘No, there’s no need to go all the way to the captain. I’ll just be threshed like a sack of barley by Her Majesty the Queen.’
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