Chapter 12. Why was she so surprised?
****
Kalos' eyes narrowed a little more, focusing on the approaching opponent.
The woman finally appeared.
"Your Majesty. What a coincidence...."
Kalos spun around before he could even hear the woman's voice. He glared at his escorts and strode briskly to the door.
"Your Majesty."
The woman's urgent voice, which was immediately stopped by the knights, grated on his ears. It wasn’t her.
Everyone here knew this was no coincidence.
The woman's flowing blonde hair was the first thing he noticed. He turned away in an instant. All the time he had spent waiting was wasted.
The satisfaction that had been slowly creeping up on him was gone, replaced by displeasure. He shook his head, wondering how something could offend him without showing itself.
Stepping outside, Kalos almost welcomed the chill air that stung his bones.
****
The maid, Tanya, slipped through the back door of the main palace and into the galley to see Lila, whom she had recently befriended. This place was a secret treasure trove of information. She was just getting to know Lila, who was two years older than her, when someone entered the room and suddenly the room went quiet.
Oh, that Young Lady.
She recognized her from the last time she saw her. It was the same person who introduced herself as the second daughter of the Duke of Havilt.
"His Majesty's soup is too watery. No matter how old you are, you should have something soft to chew, not something you can just drink. Change it immediately, starting tomorrow."
She kept saying something else, but Tanya focused more on Lila's whispers.
"She's attentive in a good way, but she's a little too demanding for our liking."
As Lila reminded Tanya that the Lady was so hands-on with her affairs, she grumbled a bit about how tired they would be when she became Empress. Thanks to her, she learned more about her.
Tanya immediately ran to tell the Princess what she had heard.
Trisha stroked Tanya's head as she always did. Thanks to Tanya, she understood what was going on.
The young lady was the next empress, and that was why she could be involved in the affairs of the palace.
"There you go. Let's go to the study."
One more person to worry about. The Wolf King was at the top of the list, but Trisha’s heart was not light as she made her way to the study.
***
"Hmph. Is that the Princess of Izef? She's quite the beauty."
Prince Rute, who had finally come to the palace to satisfy his curiosity, whistled low in admiration. As rumored, she was indeed a dazzling beauty, and he couldn't take his eyes off her.
At one end of the palace's first floor, the pretty maiden was talking to someone.
Two men noticed his presence and greeted him politely. Rute’s eyes were only on one of them.
"Not her, sire."
The knight next to him replied in a way that Rute didn't understand. Rute’s eyes widened and he clenched his jaw.
"No? That's not the blonde girl? Then how much prettier is Princess of Izef?"
Ugh. He couldn’t help wondering.
"You'll see if you go to the study now."
Ah. Although he liked the straightforwardness of the knight. The study....
"Forget it. Not going there."
Rute spun on his heel and stalked out of the Star Palace. Not the study. It was haunted by his late father's ghost. He would see the Princess another time.
Rute’s expression furrowed slightly as Princess of Izef’s face grew more curious.
***
Catherine read the letter from her maid in Tasar and set it down with a thud on her desk.
It was a report of safe arrival and uneventful travels. That was all she needed. All that was needed was for Trisha to be returned unharmed and undetected.
Catherine walked slowly to the window of the king's office. The garden, with its beautiful flowers and trees, pleased her as always. It was a soothing sight to behold.
Catherine gazed at it for a while, finding it soothing, but then she frowned. In the distance, someone was walking by.
A dwarf, walking with a limp, a cane in one hand.
It was Prince Aaron. The one she needed to get rid of the most.
A flame of rage quickly covered her eyes. If she could have killed with her eyes, she would have killed a hundred times over.
He should have died then.
As much as it pained her to think of it, Frederic was entirely right.
'The queen has only just fallen, and if Prince Aaron were to die now, the blame would fall on you. You must choose your timing well, lest the people revolt.'
The king's loyalist, Frederic the Templar, who had only a seat at the table, claimed to be 'loyal to the living absolute' and now served Queen Catherine with the utmost devotion. Nothing bad came of listening to him. It was all good.
How fortunate she was to have Frederic by her side.
Barely calming her racing thoughts, Catherine quickly turned away from the unsightly figure.
Suffer until you die. You too, Aaron, and Trisha.
****
Trisha, who should be suffering, wasn't suffering that much. She'd been polishing the books in the study again today, trying not to think about it. It was a routine she'd gotten used to.
"This place is worse than I thought it would be."
She overheard one of the maids talking to the others as she stepped out for a moment.
"They say it happened yesterday in the main palace. They cut off the wrists of the guilty."
It was a terrible thing indeed. Everyone was shaking and screaming.
"What kind of sin did he commit to deserve that...."
The maid's voice was still shaking with fear as she asked for details.
"I was so surprised when I heard it, too. What kind of sin did he commit...."
Everyone held their breath and focused on the maid's words.
"Lying."
No one reacted, just looks of disbelief.
"In this country, if you tell a lie that harms the country, they'll cut anything off, even your tongue, and in the worst cases, they'll behead you."
Hearing this, Trisha felt a shiver run down her spine.
"They say the Wolf King hates lying."
The other maids grew noisy when they heard that.
Wasn’t it a bit much for a lie, let alone another capital crime?
They were northern barbarians.
Where would you live if you were afraid?
Everyone said one thing after another and expressed their frustration. Everyone seemed to agree that it was too much. But Trisha disagreed.
There were levels of lying. Some lies were life-and-death. Like hers now.
When her lie was found out, she couldn’t even imagine.
Trisha’s gaze lingered on her slender wrist, then closed her eyes in horror.
"Everyone leave this place as quickly as possible."
Trisha’s gaze jerked quickly toward the door at the sudden sound of a strange man's voice.
Hmmph.
Uncharacteristically, Trisha looked away, startled and angry. Unfortunately, her eyes locked with Kalos, who was standing behind the knights.
What a bad time to bump into him.
She heard something and reacted strangely.
She hurried out of the study with the other maids. As she passed by Kalos standing in the doorway, she tried not to make eye contact with him. Luckily, she was able to make her way outside effortlessly.
Once outside, she could finally breathe properly.
She wondered why he was here now. Didn’t he know that they were supposed to be cleaning up at this time of day? He must not have realized that he came in like that. At any rate, she decided, it was a good thing she could get back to the palace quickly.
Moving outside the door, she joined the other escorts in front of the closed door. The king had often visited the study recently, but never at this early hour.
Wishing to be left alone, Kalos dismissed the knights and settled into his seat, opening the book he'd been longing to read. But then, to his surprise, he saw the woman.
He remembered the woman's startled expression.
Why? She was clearly surprised. He didn’t think she would be that surprised to bump into him in the library at this time of night. Why was she surprised? When she was so confident, so sure of what she said all the time?
It's subtly getting on his nerves. He didn't like the way she was staring at him, or the way she was so surprised.
This couldn’t be easy.
He returned his gaze to the book he'd come here to read. This was the best place for peace of mind, after all.
The book turned, slower than the other times.
Raising his head again, his gaze slowly settled on the far shelf.
Yes, the shabby figure cleaning it was so fitting, it was a pity Queen Catherine couldn't see it. She would probably collapse in a puddle of crab foam seeing her daughter cleaning.
Yes. This was normal.
With a satisfied glance, he looked around the study again. It was quite large, and even though he knew it was spacious, it seemed larger than usual. It would take quite a while to clean this place.
Kalos pushed the thought out of his mind and returned his attention to the book he was reading.
Slowly, very slowly, the dust floated down to the floor, suspended in the shafts of light that filtered through the narrow, long window with its thick curtains drawn. The silence and stillness were as dull and slow as the dust.
Kalos's eyes barely moved.
It was only after more time had passed than before that his hand finally turned to the next page.
***
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