19. An Old Dream
Lesban Deon Rusein finished the meeting in the hideout located in the underworld and turned his steps toward the palace. Yet at an odd feeling, he turned back.
A maid with her golden hair tied high was entering the weapons shop.
With a round forehead, sharp nose, slightly flushed cheeks, and a lively face.
Lesban's fingertips twitched involuntarily.
Even without getting close, the scent from that time came back vividly.
The shape of the white neckline and the clear, bright blue eyes.
She was her.
"......"
Deadly poison and thorned.
Yet it made one unable to look away.
The woman who was the owner of his old dream born from a past connection.
“Crown Prince Lesban Deon Rusein.”
His subordinate Panick, standing behind, asked with curious eyes as Lesban stopped.
"Do you have business?"
“Go in first. I have someone I need to meet.”
Following Lesban's command, he stepped back.
Lesban's gaze was directed toward the weapons shop where the maid had entered.
The corners of his lips twisted slightly.
***
“Lover?”
Lesban unconsciously frowned between his eyebrows.
The maid continued speaking with coolly shining blue eyes.
“Yes. I entrusted the production because I wanted to give a gift to that person.”
“Have you come to buy a sword too, Sir Knight?”
Lesban's eyebrows twitched at the maid's awkwardly smiling face.
He hadn't thought of it as a greeting, but he wanted to be a bit mischievous at such a reaction.
An impulse to narrow his fine eyebrows a bit more.
Like a normal boy.
“No, I just stopped because I saw you.”
At Lesban's words, Esika's pupils shook slightly.
A long silence lingered between them.
When a cool breeze blew, Lesban's black hair swayed.
Esika could not guess what thoughts were in his golden eyes.
After a moment, Lesban opened his mouth again with a frown.
“If it doesn't inconvenience you, I would like to drink some tea for a moment.”
“......Yes?”
Esika asked with a somewhat bewildered light in her eyes.
Lesban's dense eyes reflected Esika's face.
His smile stirred unease.
“Giving a sword as a gift to a lover. It sounds like an interesting story.”
***
“You already knew that I am not a maid.”
Esika had entered the teahouse half against her will, following Lesban.
“Why did you tell such a cute lie? Klaus... ... Duchess.”
He asked while slightly bringing his face closer.
It was the price of a mistake for not thinking properly due to being flustered.
In the martial world, it was common for masters to give swords to disciples, families to family, and lovers who are martial artists to each other.
However, giving a sword in this place meant 'hostility' or 'severance of relationship'.
But giving a sword to a lover... How absurd.
And... ... The Crown Prince knew Esika's true identity.
I don't know how he figured it out.
“......I have personal reasons. Crown Prince Lesban Deon Rusein.”
Because she had done countless infiltrations and hidings, acting was not difficult at all, but...
There was no need to act to someone who already knew her true identity.
And knowing his identity, she would hide it.
At Esika's words, Lesban's lips lifted at the ends.
“Even in the maid outfit you're wearing?”
His golden eyes went to the frill near Esika's collarbone.
It was a blatant and possibly rude gaze, but no one would think that the noble Crown Prince Lesban Deon Rusein would have other thoughts.
Esika, too, did not try to hide what had already been revealed.
“Yes.”
“The Klaus family situation seems more complicated than it looks. The Duchess wearing a maid's clothes.”
He slowly lifted the teacup and drank from it.
Watching his Adam's apple, Esika thought.
“Today is unlucky.”
There are days when luck doesn't go your way.
“Then.”
Lesban's lips moved.
“Loosening your hair and entering the lake at night was also due to those circumstances?”
At his words, Esika's eyebrows twitched.
As expected, Lesban remembered the events of that day.
And the situation was already one that couldn't be brushed off with lies.
“......It seems Your Highness is quite interested in the Klaus Duchy.”
Experts mostly have good intuition.
Originally, those without good intuition couldn't reach that level of martial prowess.
And the Lesban Deon Rusein in front of her could be called the empire's top expert.
At Esika's calm words, Lesban's eyes shone with a languid aura.
“All things in the empire belong to the Emperor. The Klaus Duchy is no different. Your husband Kalian Klaus is... ...”
While casually appreciating Esika's eyebrows twitching at the name 'Kalian', Lesban continued in a low voice.
“A loyal Duke of the Empire. So it's only natural to have interest.”
No, he's just a hindrance to the imperial throne. Lesban leads the capital transfer and will completely exclude Klaus from the main political scene in the future.
“Would you not request information about Klaus from me?”
At Esika's calm question, Lesban showed a faint smile.
After a while, Lesban opened his mouth.
“My news network is not so sloppy as to steal information through a woman. I just... ...”
In Lesban's golden eyes, Esika sitting in front of him without being intimidated was reflected.
Thinking about the awkward acting from the last time they collided, it was amusing.
She must have tried hard to act as a maid.
“You were just curious.”
At Lesban's words, Esika's eyes flickered for a moment.
However, she shrugged without much agitation.
“You seem to be busy with official duties these days. Having curiosity toward the wife of a minor minister.”
A defensive attitude not to think of finding out. It sounds a bit rude.
“I am originally crooked. To those who act as if there's nothing to gain, I want to get something more. No matter who it is.”
Esika guessed that Lesban couldn't find out her real identity but had already seen through her personality quite a bit.
“Especially with this gaze, I can't help but be interested.”
So, it's difficult to deceive further, and mixing words would be disadvantageous.
“If you wish, I can introduce you to a woman to talk to. It would be more enjoyable to talk to a woman with complicated circumstances.”
Lesban's lips moved again.
“Well, it has a taste for talking.”
His bored gaze toward the window turned to Esika.
Lesban's low voice flowed into her ear.
“It's a grateful answer, but I decline. You're enough.”
A fierce light flickered for a moment in his golden eyes.
For a moment, Esika felt a chill run down her spine.
If Lesban was just a passing acquaintance...?
It would be best to leave this place as soon as possible.
“......I think I should go back now since it's late.”
“Right. It can't be helped.”
It was dizzying to talk to a master whose thoughts couldn't be read after a long time.
Fortunately, Lesban easily agreed to her words.
The bell hanging on the door rang once, and the two left in turn.
But Esika, like a monkey falling from a tree, also made a mistake.
On the stairs leaving the teahouse, she misstepped, and Lesban reached out and grabbed her arm to support her.
The scene of Lesban's face with the setting sun behind him and his slightly flickering golden eyes remained quite vividly in Esika's mind.
***
It was only when evening fell that Esika could finally arrive at the Duke's residence.
Because there were many maids in the Klaus Duchy and many were fired due to the grandmother's whims and new ones came in, she could reach the newly moved room without suspicion.
“It's been a tough day.”
With a sigh of relief, she was about to close the door when Esika's hand stopped.
And she slowly turned her body.
“........”
Kalian was leaning against the wall next to the door.
As if waiting.
Kalian, with furrowed eyebrows, approached her quickly and grabbed her wrist.
At the strong grip, Esika narrowed her eyebrows between them, but Kalian's purple eyes were boiling.
“Where did you go and come back this late at night?”
A rough voice leaked from his lips.
“............ Let go.”
Esika frowned, but Kalian ignored it and raised his voice.
“Speak first, where did you go! And who did you meet while disguised as a maid!”
It was the level where his shouting hurt the ears.
“Who did I meet? What do you mean?”
“Now I understand why your attitude changed. Coming out secretly and entering late at night like this.”
Anger flickered in Kalian's cool eyes.
“Is there someone you're meeting?”
Anger probably came from suspicion.
“............ You're suspecting adultery.”
Kalian did not deny it.
Esika was at the point of laughing at Kalian's appearance.
A person who didn't care about anything suddenly acting like this.
“Once when going out.”
“.............”
“Or once when coming in late to me.”
Esika said to him with cold eyes.
“Have you ever told me where you went or who you met?”
At Esika's words, Kalian's purple eyes flickered greatly.
Kalian's face was one that truly did not expect her to counterattack like this.
And at that sight, Esika felt even more disgusted.
Although it was a story before recovering memories as a soul, when Kalian didn't return for three days, Esika had waited for him without eating.
When she nagged at the returned Kalian, Kalian got angry saying he had to get permission to go to his friend's wedding, and she, flustered, apologized to ease his mood.
But he got angry just because she was a few hours late.
“Moreover, does the Duke have the right to suspect adultery from me?”
Yuri Anesis, Kalian had given her an Allet ring.
And given a warning to ignore Esika.
But from Kalian's mouth, which had paused for a moment, a locked voice soon leaked out.
“......You and I are different.”