No Looking Back
The next day.
While Herman made his way to the palace, she too set out with a handful of knights to visit the house she had lived in until only a few days before.
Thankfully, it’s still the same.
The small cabin, not far from the trading company, had been the modest nest where Riena had hidden from her family.
She cast a single glance around the tiny living room, mentally sorting through the things she needed to take.
That was when one of the knights who had accompanied her stepped closer.
“My lady, I’ve been keeping watch ever since you returned to the mansion, but there are no signs that anyone broke in or came looking.”
“……Is that so?”
She had expected the runaway bastard to show his face at least once.
The thought that he had truly left without so much as a backward glance left a strangely bitter taste in her mouth.
“Are you all right?”
“What’s there not to be all right about?”
It was a bond that had already turned its back on her. There was no need to cling to lingering regrets, and she had no desire to keep them anyway.
Riena handed the knights a few bags she had packed in advance, then stepped alone into the bedroom and personally gathered only the items on the vanity.
Among them was the ring Herman had given her himself. Confirming that the ring still rested safely inside its velvet case, she slipped it into the bag she had prepared.
That’s everything I need.
Another look around confirmed there was nothing else worth taking.
“We’ve loaded all the luggage you mentioned onto the carriage.”
“Thank you.”
“Is there anything else that needs to be brought?”
The knight waiting by the door asked. Riena glanced back at the room she had just left and shook her head.
“No. Not anymore.”
She had thrown everything away because she had wanted to leave lightly.
She had never imagined that choice would prove useful like this, but for the moment there was simply nothing left to pack.
“We should head back soo—”
Just as she was about to step out of the house, Riena paused.
“Is the trading company under investigation right now?”
“That’s what I understand.”
“……Then have all the people who worked there been arrested?”
“A few are still on the run, but most have been caught. I believe they’re currently being held temporarily by the capital’s security forces.”
“……”
“Shall I look into the details?”
“It’s fine…… No. Wait. Please do.”
They had been people she once worked alongside, after all.
Some of them had surely colluded with that bastard Josef, but there would also be those who were as wrongfully accused as she herself had been.
Moreover, among those detained there was every chance of finding witnesses who could prove her innocence, or people who knew something about Josef.
To confirm that, she would ultimately have to meet them herself.
“I’ll find out at once.”
Only after giving a brief nod of thanks did Riena turn away.
And until she climbed back into the carriage and it rolled into motion, she never once looked back at the place where she had last stayed.
Brilliant sunlight poured through the vast stained-glass windows and spilled across the corridor.
Herman walked the carpeted length toward his destination, acknowledging the greetings of nobles and attendants who passed him by.
“You have arrived, Your Grace.”
“His Majesty?”
“He is inside. However……”
The chamberlain who had come to receive him wore a faintly awkward expression. Herman’s gaze drifted naturally toward the door as he spoke.
“He already has a visitor.”
“……The Duke of Kratz is currently in private audience.”
“Private audience?”
A scoff slipped unbidden from Herman’s lips.
He had intended to deliver his business quickly and leave. Instead he was about to run into the one man he least wanted to see.
“If you would wait a moment in the adjoining reception room, I shall inform you the instant the audience concludes.”
Knowing full well how disastrous the relationship between the two houses was, the chamberlain offered the alternative with careful tact.
Unfortunately for him, the man he was dealing with was not the sort to accept such consideration quietly.
“I’ll wait here.”
“But……”
“Inform His Majesty that I have arrived.”
Then the man would have the sense to come out on his own.
Herman’s mouth curved into a crooked smile as he stepped back. The chamberlain, reading his expression, turned at once. Moments later he entered the study and emerged again, bowing low.
It was the signal that he had carried out the duke’s command.
Click—
The firmly shut door opened again after Herman had waited scarcely a few minutes.
“Duke.”
Having finished his business, a middle-aged man crossed the threshold of the study.
The Duke of Kratz—current head of the Aristocratic Faction and the man who stood in direct opposition to House Bertis—was the person Herman despised most in the entire kingdom.
For starters.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting.”
The sheer brazenness of walking out with that look on his face was already enough to set Herman’s teeth on edge.
“Had I known there was already a visitor, I would have come later.”
At those words the Duke of Kratz’s mouth twitched. Herman’s habit of dropping all formality never failed to grate on him.
Arrogant brat.
A green youth who acted as if equal rank gave him the right to run wild. The sight alone was enough to make his eyes sting with irritation.
“It was only a trifling matter anyway, so it makes no difference. I simply hadn’t expected you to call on His Majesty so early.”
“Is that so.”
Herman lowered his gaze a fraction. Beneath long lashes, his blue eyes flashed sharply for an instant.
“I rather thought it more natural that I should be the one meeting His Majesty at this hour.”
A “trifling matter,” yet he had requested a private audience first thing in the morning? Herman swallowed the urge to snort aloud.
Obviously a lie.
He regarded the duke in silence for a moment, then started forward. Just as he was about to brush past, the Duke of Kratz’s lips moved.
“I hear you’ve been having quite a time of it lately with the counterfeit banknotes.”
Herman, on the verge of entering the study, turned back. The duke stood at ease with his hands clasped behind him and continued.
“Among our own retainers are several who run major trading companies. They too have been tearing their hair out over the counterfeits of late.”
“What is it you want to say?”
Herman disliked roundabout speech; his brow furrowed.
“I mean to say that this affair concerns us all.”
“You’re demanding joint investigative authority.”
“Not a demand—a perfectly legitimate request.”
The Duke of Kratz’s mouth stretched into a loose smile.
“I’m merely offering advice, knowing how dangerous it is to monopolize the right of investigation.”
Herman’s eyes narrowed to thin slits.
Having delivered his parting shot, the Duke of Kratz turned without a shred of lingering attachment. Herman kept his gaze fixed on the retreating figure until it disappeared, then let out a sigh.
“He’s plotting something tiresome.”
As if it were anything of consequence.
“So you’ve come.”
King Robert scrubbed a weary hand over his face. Facing that slippery serpent first thing in the morning had drained him dry.
He had been sprawled in the study chair; only when Herman drew near the desk did he finally straighten his posture.
“I was delighted there was no morning council for once, yet heaven somehow knew I was about to be this exhausted.”
“He spoke to you about joint investigation rights?”
Herman, who was of an age with the king, dropped formality only in private. The certainty in his tone made Robert look startled.
“How did you know?”
“I ran into him just now.”
“Of all places to meet one’s nemesis—here, rather than on a bridge.”
“He even gave me a little warning.”
Robert let out a short, incredulous laugh. The man had shown no hesitation in pressing his own claims earlier, and this was no different.
“He makes his demands quite blatantly, doesn’t he. Anything else?”
“Nothing worth mentioning. Just hand over the investigative authority—that was the whole of it. Said he was sorry for keeping me waiting over such a trifling matter.”
“Trifling, my foot!”
If it had truly been that minor, he would have simply left a message with the chamberlain instead of holding the king for a full hour.
“Do you have any idea how exhausting it was listening to that nonsense for an entire hour? I couldn’t even throw him out properly because he’s a duke—damn it all……”
“If he’s bold enough to demand it outright from both you and me, he’ll stop at nothing to get his hands on that authority.”
“Of course he will. If they want to handle everything on their own terms, holding the investigative rights themselves is the most convenient way.”
Herman nodded in agreement.
“Don’t worry. The decision won’t be reversed.”
The moment investigative authority passed to the Duke of Kratz, they would not only turn a blind eye to the counterfeits—they would seize complete control of the market’s commercial rights as well.
“Still…… what brings you here so early?”
“The matter of the will.”
“Ah. Yes, that does need settling. The opposition from the retainers has been fierce.”
“That sort of opposition—”
Herman’s expression hardened for an instant.
“Once Riena becomes Duchess, they won’t be able to say a word.”