Walter bowed his head deeply and apologized.
He didn't straighten his back for a long time, as if he was going to do it until I told him it was okay.
Even though I knew that, I couldn't help but drop my jaw.
Considering that he would have hurt Kishian's heart by playing a recording of my voice.
"..."
Even in silence, Walter kept his head down.
I glared at the top of his head and let out a deep sigh.
"Keep your head up."
In the eyes of Walter, I could no longer find any resentment or suspicion toward me.
I stared into his eyes and opened my mouth.
"I... Personally, I don't like you. It wasn't very smooth from the first meeting."
"I'm sorry."
"But it's a bit tolerable to think that they were all motivated by loyalty to the Kishian."
The reason Walter was cruel to me and wary of me was to protect the Kishian.
He didn't hurt me directly like the handmaiden, and now that he's apologizing properly, I think I can put up with the rudeness.
His sins will be forgotten.
However, he did not forget to leave a message of request.
"I hope you will continue to support me well. I'm the one who survived alone from the imperial palace with no one on my side and came all the way here. I don't want you to suffer alone anymore."
Albrecht, who had come after the Kishian, would of course be dead by now.
The wine he drank with Kishian would have no effect if left alone, but if he took the powder I gave him under the guise of being an 'antidote', the two ingredients would mix in his body and turn into poison.
However, it was not all over yet.
My father was tenacious.
Maybe he wouldn't give up and aim for Kishian again.
So I hoped that a loyal one would stay by his side in case of danger.
"I'll keep that in mind."
It was a simple answer without beautiful rhetoric, but there was a firm will in it.
I could be sure. Walter would not betray Kishian under any circumstances.
"Are you going to continue to be my escort? Or another knight?"
"I will continue to escort you. Of course, if Your Highness allows it."
"Keep it up for you, and it's tiring to be introduced to new people."
"I see."
I felt like one of the worries that weighed heavily on my heart had disappeared.
Albrecht was gone, and Walter acknowledged me, so all the troubles were solved.
I was going to focus on the imperial family's movements tomorrow.
Albrecht would have died by now, and my father would have realized that I had betrayed him.
Now that I'm given such a strong warning, I hope he gives up the assassination... He might have a nonsenses again.
I had to be prepared to block any attack in any way.
As I thought about it, I glanced at Walter.
I thought he would finish talking and go back soon, but for some reason, he kept standing there.
"Is there anything left to say?"
"There is one thing I would like to ask you."
When I looked at him again, he hardened his expression a little, as if he was nervous.
Then he asked a question that he had never thought of.
"Are you leaving?"
"What?"
When I asked him back in confusion, Walther hesitated a little.
"When you were talking to the spy, didn't you say these words to him? Do what you were told to do, and don't forget that I agreed to prepare a way to escape from here."
Yes, I remembered saying that to Albrecht.
In exchange for helping him assassinate, he agreed to get help from me to escape.
Help to escape from the Grand Duke's residence.
I was a little embarrassed because I didn't expect Walter to ask me about it, but I calmly explained.
"I said this to catch Albrecht off guard. He is not a man who can trust good intentions without a price. If I had told him that I was helping to assassinate the Grand Duke for nothing, he would have doubted me. So I just acted like I desperately wanted to escape from this place."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, nothing was sincere in the conversation that day, so you don't need to take it seriously."
Despite the explanation, Walter's expression was not easily resolved.
It took a while for his tightly closed lips to open.
"I know I'm not in a position to ask for it, but I still ask you. Don't leave."
"..."
"I know it well because I watched from the sidelines how he fell when you left him once. If you leave again, it will be no different. Or maybe even more than before."
At that point, I raised my hand to interrupt Walter.
"I know what you're trying to say. I have already decided to put down roots here. It won't be the same as before."
I could fully understand why he was asking me to bow my head so politely.
Kishian was not a flexible person, even if he was rigid.
It doesn't bend easily, but it's so upright that it eventually breaks.
Walter seemed to know that if I was betrayed again, he would be broken.
"I will believe you, Your Highness's words. And... As a token of gratitude, I will fulfill one of your requests without any conditions."
"Request? What do you mean?"
"Speak up when you need my help. Whatever it is, I'll help you. It is an apology and a sense of gratitude."
"Request... Well, I see. I don't think there's any need to refuse."
"Let's go back."
With that, Walter disappeared from my office.
The words he left behind were deeply engraved in my mind and did not disappear easily.
***
Late afternoon.
At what should have been a peaceful and lively time, there was a bloody aura in the imperial palace.
In the emperor's office, the chief of the imperial chamberlain and some guards were trying to calm him down.
However, despite their efforts, the Emperor's anger did not subside.
"That's... How dare ...betrayal!"
His anger was ignited when Albrecht's body was found. Albrecht died.
The cause was believed to be poisoning.
When the Emperor heard that his body had been found covered in blood that he had vomited, he knew something was wrong.
The monster that should have died did not die, but his beloved servant died.
It seems that something happened to the Grand Duke's residence, but since the place where he died was the imperial palace, he couldn't complain to the Grand Duke.
While he was wandering in anger and confusion that he had no way to spew out, a letter from Elona arrived.
And at the end of the letter, it was written:
[ I hope you have received my gift. It is a gift that I have carefully prepared to remind you not to make wrong choices anymore. ]
The Emperor immediately recognized those two sentences.
The gift that Elona was referring to meant Albrecht's death.
Elona killed Albrecht.
She had warned him not to play any more nonsense, and that Albrecht's death had left him a warning.
"How dare that damn thing..."
Anger erupted as if it was going to explode.
At the same time, he wondered.
From a young age, Elona was desperate to win her father's love.
How desperate she was to get even a grain of affection from Letie.
Therefore, the Emperor himself was relieved that Elona had prepared for this event.
But he couldn't believe that Elona, her daughter who had beggarly begged for affection to be even a little pretty, had dared to betray him.
'Something is wrong. Elona: It is not a vessel that can betray me. The Grand Duke... Did the monster intervene in the middle and make a move?'
He could hardly accept the fact that the person he had used like a tool had thrust a knife into him.
At that moment, the door of the office swung open, and a familiar face appeared.
"Father! What's going on?!"
Letie, who had been asked by the courtiers to calm the Emperor, rushed to check the situation.
Seeing the messy office, Letie froze for a moment and couldn't say anything.
In recent years, the Emperor's seizures have become more frequent, but this time they were severe.
All the objects were broken, and on the floor, some palace workers who had been subjected to the Emperor's violence were lying on the ground, bleeding.
The Emperor saw Letie and ordered his soldiers.
"I'm going to talk to the Princess, so go out, everyone."
When the situation showed signs of calming down, the soldiers were relieved and disappeared with all the injured palace men.
When they were alone, the Emperor calmed down his anger and told her in a calm voice.
"Albrecht was poisoned. And maybe... It may be Elona who killed him."
"Are you saying that the servant is dead? Is that also in my sister's hands...? But why..."
"I don't know. Maybe she have a sympathy for that damn monster, or maybe it's all his doing. The reason I sent Albrecht in the first place was to stop the monster from breathing."
After hearing that, Letie was able to grasp the situation.
Her eyes, which had been fluttering with bewilderment, gradually subsided.
"Then it must have been my sister who killed him."
"...Why are you so sure?"
"I think it was done to protect the Grand Duke."
Looking directly into the Emperor's eyes, which wavered as if he had heard nonsense, Letie told him.
What she felt when he visited the Grand Duke's residence.
"My sister... It seemed like she already had feelings for the Grand Duke."
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