34. Side story 05
“Your Majesty, I have committed a sin worthy of death.”
Lawrence, who had been summoned to the palace, had a thoughtful look on his face and was shedding tears. Damien asked Weiss, who was standing next to him, with a dry expression.
“What did they say when they brought you here that made you so scared?”
“I just wanted you to make sure to say goodbye to your family properly. We won’t be in contact with each other for a while.”
It was only natural that Weiss's voice was a little sharp, because he couldn't possibly understand what Damien was about to do.
“Lawrence.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, the King, Your Majesty. I hope you have been well...”
Damien cut off Lawrence's stammering words and got to the point.
“I called you because I need your help.”
Weiss chewed his lip as he watched Damien calmly reciting his plan and Lawrence Taylor's face, which had been thoughtful, gradually becoming more serious before finally pledging his loyalty. Lawrence bowed his head with a determined expression, promising to do his best in his mission, then bowed until his head touched the ground and left.
“It’s dangerous.”
After Lawrence left the office, Weiss decided to speak honestly and opened his mouth. Seeing with his own eyes the obviously sloppy person made his trust hit rock bottom. However, Damien, who had already made up his mind, was not even shaken.
“It’s exactly ten days, including the time spent commuting. I hope you think of it as a tour.”
If it was truly an official visit, Weiss had no reason to be concerned. The problem was that he was planning to infiltrate the dangerous principality under false pretenses, taking the shabby Laurence Taylor with him as his entourage.
"Your Majesty."
Damien cut him off as if he had read his mind.
“If you disobey an order, I can put you in solitary confinement in the royal prison for at least a month. Let’s both skip the bothersome work.”
Of course, a month in solitary confinement wasn't a big deal for Weiss. He furrowed his brows carefully and lowered his voice.
“It would be dangerous if it got into Carter’s ears.”
“Guineves is a remote, rural village far from the capital.”
“Even people in the countryside read newspapers. Have you forgotten that it wasn’t long ago that Your Majesty’s face was printed in large letters on a door?”
“I know very well that the real thing is better than a photograph or a portrait.”
Weiss couldn't laugh like usual at Damien's lame joke while looking through the piled-up documents.
“Do you really have to go like that without an army?”
“Why don’t you put an ad in the paper that the King of Swanton is coming, so John can see it?”
Damien blurted out as he signed the papers. He knew what Weiss expected and worried about Damien. If the King of Carter knew of Damien's whereabouts while he was alone, he could have bet that he would kill Damien right away. If he was looking after Johan as rumored, it was the perfect opportunity to make Johan a puppet King and take over the entire country.
“Your Majesty, please continue as you were doing.”
"What are you talking about?"
Damien asked him dryly. Weiss hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
“I’ll just be crazy. I’ll bring Her Majesty the Queen, and then Your Majesty, you can do whatever you want.”
“Are you saying you’re going to kidnap her?”
As Damien added in a feminine tone, Weiss suppressed his guilt and gave a short affirmation. Damien raised his head with a businesslike expression and dropped his pen on the desk.
“If I had intended to do that, I would have done it the very moment I found out about Chloe’s whereabouts.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“I will make her choose me. To come back to me on her own.”
Damien's confidence, which he spoke as if it were a given, sometimes made his opponents feel awkward. Weiss, who was trying to choose what to say, eventually couldn't find a way to say it in a roundabout way and opened his mouth honestly.
“If Her Majesty the Queen refuses.”
When Damien first said that Chloe was alive and not dead, Weiss was the only one who listened to him without any objection. He knew that no matter how crazy Damien was, his judgment could never be extinguished.
Ordered to find Chloe's sister's whereabouts and investigate the gypsy man who ran away with her, Weiss's findings were shocking, but Damien wasn't all that surprised to learn that he was the heir to the Duchy.
“I thought you were just some reckless, ignorant noble, but your confidence wasn’t unfounded.”
That was all there was to it. Damien shook his head at Weiss's words that if the duchy were to hide her, it would be difficult to get her back.
Damien expected Chloe to avoid reaching out to her sister's husband as much as possible, and he was certain that she would have distanced herself from him even more after it became public knowledge that Alice was not in good standing in the Duchy.
Her wife is not a stupid woman.
Damien's face, muttering as if talking to himself, was shining with a strange excitement.
Under his orders, Weiss searched through all the hospitals, schools, dress shops, and music rooms spread across the duchy, looking for a woman who resembled the Queen. It was not easy to find a beautiful young woman with a limp who spoke like Swanton and had a dignified demeanor, but Weiss accomplished the difficult task in a year.
The reason Weiss hesitated to report to Damien was that Chloe seemed peaceful as she began her life in a new country. At least, she looked much better than when Weiss last saw her (the day Chloe collapsed from a fever).
“What did you just say to me, Weiss?”
“I asked what would happen if Her Majesty the Queen refused.”
Weiss repeated the same thing again, knowing that his question would offend Damien. Anyone other than Weiss would know that she would not return easily after faking her death and running away. Damien's expression was just as Weiss had expected. He thought for a moment as if he had been asked a question he had not expected at all, and then finally opened his mouth.
“The King of Swanton will change once again.”
“Your Majesty, what is that...”
“If she rejects me, I will return the last gift she gave me.”
A deep furrow formed between Weiss’s eyebrows. It was because he vaguely realized what Damien meant. Damien was now telling the story of the woman who had given him death and left him.
“Because I’m a person who knows how to give and take.”
“...”
“That’s only fair to Chloe, too.”
Looking into Damien's brightly smiling eyes, Weiss couldn't help but swallow dry saliva. Even though it was a life-threatening courtship, it felt more frightening than romantic. Because when everything went wrong, he could guess just how splendidly Damien would be able to give the only person he loved in his life a 'real' death.
“Your Majesty, I have committed a sin worthy of death.”
Lawrence, who had been summoned to the palace, had a thoughtful look on his face and was shedding tears. Damien asked Weiss, who was standing next to him, with a dry expression.
“What did they say when they brought you here that made you so scared?”
“I just wanted you to make sure to say goodbye to your family properly. We won’t be in contact with each other for a while.”
It was only natural that Weiss's voice was a little sharp, because he couldn't possibly understand what Damien was about to do.
“Lawrence.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, the King, Your Majesty. I hope you have been well...”
Damien cut off Lawrence's stammering words and got to the point.
“I called you because I need your help.”
Weiss chewed his lip as he watched Damien calmly reciting his plan and Lawrence Taylor's face, which had been thoughtful, gradually becoming more serious before finally pledging his loyalty. Lawrence bowed his head with a determined expression, promising to do his best in his mission, then bowed until his head touched the ground and left.
“It’s dangerous.”
After Lawrence left the office, Weiss decided to speak honestly and opened his mouth. Seeing with his own eyes the obviously sloppy person made his trust hit rock bottom. However, Damien, who had already made up his mind, was not even shaken.
“It’s exactly ten days, including the time spent commuting. I hope you think of it as a tour.”
If it was truly an official visit, Weiss had no reason to be concerned. The problem was that he was planning to infiltrate the dangerous principality under false pretenses, taking the shabby Laurence Taylor with him as his entourage.
"Your Majesty."
Damien cut him off as if he had read his mind.
“If you disobey an order, I can put you in solitary confinement in the royal prison for at least a month. Let’s both skip the bothersome work.”
Of course, a month in solitary confinement wasn't a big deal for Weiss. He furrowed his brows carefully and lowered his voice.
“It would be dangerous if it got into Carter’s ears.”
“Guineves is a remote, rural village far from the capital.”
“Even people in the countryside read newspapers. Have you forgotten that it wasn’t long ago that Your Majesty’s face was printed in large letters on a door?”
“I know very well that the real thing is better than a photograph or a portrait.”
Weiss couldn't laugh like usual at Damien's lame joke while looking through the piled-up documents.
“Do you really have to go like that without an army?”
“Why don’t you put an ad in the paper that the King of Swanton is coming, so John can see it?”
Damien blurted out as he signed the papers. He knew what Weiss expected and worried about Damien. If the King of Carter knew of Damien's whereabouts while he was alone, he could have bet that he would kill Damien right away. If he was looking after Johan as rumored, it was the perfect opportunity to make Johan a puppet King and take over the entire country.
“Your Majesty, please continue as you were doing.”
"What are you talking about?"
Damien asked him dryly. Weiss hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
“I’ll just be crazy. I’ll bring Her Majesty the Queen, and then Your Majesty, you can do whatever you want.”
“Are you saying you’re going to kidnap her?”
As Damien added in a feminine tone, Weiss suppressed his guilt and gave a short affirmation. Damien raised his head with a businesslike expression and dropped his pen on the desk.
“If I had intended to do that, I would have done it the very moment I found out about Chloe’s whereabouts.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“I will make her choose me. To come back to me on her own.”
Damien's confidence, which he spoke as if it were a given, sometimes made his opponents feel awkward. Weiss, who was trying to choose what to say, eventually couldn't find a way to say it in a roundabout way and opened his mouth honestly.
“If Her Majesty the Queen refuses.”
When Damien first said that Chloe was alive and not dead, Weiss was the only one who listened to him without any objection. He knew that no matter how crazy Damien was, his judgment could never be extinguished.
Ordered to find Chloe's sister's whereabouts and investigate the gypsy man who ran away with her, Weiss's findings were shocking, but Damien wasn't all that surprised to learn that he was the heir to the Duchy.
“I thought you were just some reckless, ignorant noble, but your confidence wasn’t unfounded.”
That was all there was to it. Damien shook his head at Weiss's words that if the duchy were to hide her, it would be difficult to get her back.
Damien expected Chloe to avoid reaching out to her sister's husband as much as possible, and he was certain that she would have distanced herself from him even more after it became public knowledge that Alice was not in good standing in the Duchy.
Her wife is not a stupid woman.
Damien's face, muttering as if talking to himself, was shining with a strange excitement.
Under his orders, Weiss searched through all the hospitals, schools, dress shops, and music rooms spread across the duchy, looking for a woman who resembled the Queen. It was not easy to find a beautiful young woman with a limp who spoke like Swanton and had a dignified demeanor, but Weiss accomplished the difficult task in a year.
The reason Weiss hesitated to report to Damien was that Chloe seemed peaceful as she began her life in a new country. At least, she looked much better than when Weiss last saw her (the day Chloe collapsed from a fever).
“What did you just say to me, Weiss?”
“I asked what would happen if Her Majesty the Queen refused.”
Weiss repeated the same thing again, knowing that his question would offend Damien. Anyone other than Weiss would know that she would not return easily after faking her death and running away. Damien's expression was just as Weiss had expected. He thought for a moment as if he had been asked a question he had not expected at all, and then finally opened his mouth.
“The King of Swanton will change once again.”
“Your Majesty, what is that...”
“If she rejects me, I will return the last gift she gave me.”
A deep furrow formed between Weiss’s eyebrows. It was because he vaguely realized what Damien meant. Damien was now telling the story of the woman who had given him death and left him.
“Because I’m a person who knows how to give and take.”
“...”
“That’s only fair to Chloe, too.”
Looking into Damien's brightly smiling eyes, Weiss couldn't help but swallow dry saliva. Even though it was a life-threatening courtship, it felt more frightening than romantic. Because when everything went wrong, he could guess just how splendidly Damien would be able to give the only person he loved in his life a 'real' death.
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