Chapter 91

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 91

Chapter Title: Chapter 10. Lurking Shadows

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"…?"

Arpad and my mornings started early.

I had a lot on my plate, and Arpad didn't need much sleep.

Compared to nobles who rose late, we were quite diligent from dawn.

So, as the sun just peeked over the horizon during our early breakfast, I felt puzzled.

'What's going on? Why does this feel so awkward?'

Arpad was silently devouring the stack of steaks on his plate.

The mouth that usually spewed annoying remarks was too busy with meat.

To lighten the mood, I teased him.

"Something happen? You seem a bit down."

Arpad replied in a strangely listless tone.

"Had a weird dream."

"A dream? What kind?"

His expression grew even stranger at my question.

He hesitated, lips twitching.

It didn't suit his personality either way.

'What's with him?'

My doubts vanished at his question.

"What does it mean if someone I know shows up in a dream?"

"Someone you know?"

"Yeah. And... I hurt that person in the dream?"

I widened my eyes.

It was unexpected for him to feel this uneasy about harming someone in a dream.

Curiosity piqued, I asked.

"Who was it?"

Maybe it was his future lover?

This was my fourth life, but I'd never seen who Arpad loved.

Perhaps this time I'd find out.

A faint curiosity stirred an inexplicable emotion.

A nagging unease, like anxiety's residue.

"…Was it a woman by any chance?"

I surprised myself with the question.

Why ask that?

It made me sound like I cared about Arpad's love interest.

Surprisingly, Arpad nodded.

"Yeah. A woman."

"……."

Last night's uncharacteristic words from Arpad came to mind.

"Do you not trust me? Do I seem that unreliable?"

And now he'd dreamed of someone else in our shared bed?

A petty irritation bubbled up.

'If they appear in your dreams, doesn't that mean you're thinking about them a lot?'

Superstition held that dreams meant the opposite.

But I said something different.

"Sounds like you really hate that person. Even hurting them in your dreams."

"No."

Instant denial.

And with conviction. He repeated firmly.

"Absolutely not."

...If it's not, then it's not—why deny it so vehemently?

'But isn't excessive denial a sign of the opposite?'

The thought soured my mood further.

I poked at my eggs Benedict with my fork.

"Then you must really like that person. Enough to think of them in your dreams."

"…Is that so?"

Arpad's voice sounded oddly excited.

It grated on me.

I gripped the fork too hard, and the plump yolk atop the muffin burst with a pop.

The empress's palace was quiet despite the morning.

Normally, servants bustled noisily at this hour.

But with the lady under house arrest, and the head maid summoned by the crown princess yesterday, stripped of her platinum key...

The servants could only tiptoe, gauging her mood.

In the empress's bedroom.

Isabel had spent a sleepless night wide-eyed.

She recalled last night's intruder in the dark.

"Long time no see, Isabel. Or should I say, Your Imperial Majesty now?"

Tower Master Gaspar.

She'd heard he'd gone to a dragon's lair on another continent, but he'd returned.

The dragon's eclipse six days ago at the banquet.

Word must have reached him.

Gaspar whispered mockingly.

"Rumor has it the new crown princess was blessed by a dragon. Is it true?"

Typical dragon-obsessed wizard.

Isabel remembered Gaspar's fixation since before she entered the tower as a child.

'Of course. He wouldn't ignore the dragon's eclipse.'

Neither knew their paths diverged from the 'original story.'

Gaspar's return was earlier due to the eclipse.

In the original, by his return, Isabel had successfully sidelined Arpad for Ludwig.

Then she advised her daughter to approach Gaspar for help.

Impossible now, for various reasons.

Gaspar returned early from the eclipse, and Hilia had shaken her position.

Plus, Isabel now harbored slight suspicion toward her daughter.

"Mother knows how to control the imperial family's madness, right?"

Evangeline's eerie expression mentioning unknown knowledge.

Isabel masked her agitation and tempted Gaspar.

"Dragon blessings? All nonsense. Just a ploy for public opinion."

"Hmm. But there was a strong mana surge during the eclipse."

"Mana surge? Did a real dragon appear?"

"Who knows."

Gaspar smirked slyly.

Then he mocked her.

"No blessing, but the new crown princess seems capable. Pushing you to the back room."

"…Here to rub it in?"

"Seeing you break promises sours my mood."

"…It wasn't intentional. Just impossible."

"True. You promised the imperial child to me... Neither of us expected the emperor to never summon you."

"…!"

Isabel ground her teeth.

Securing his help outweighed the insult.

"Help me, Gaspar."

"Not appealing to sentiment now."

"…Of course not. I'm talking business."

"Can you pay what I want?"

The empress hesitated, then bit her lip resolutely and rose.

She opened the jeweled box on the table.

Inside was the tiara from the recent Artanus Hall banquet, her coronation piece.

Gaspar's eyes gleamed with greed.

Not at the tiara, but the red gem in the center.

"Oh? Giving that up? You said it was impossible before. Desperate, huh."

"Shut up. Take what I tell you, and you get the dragon heart in this tiara."

The gem was a fragment of Artanus's dragon heart.

Gaspar nodded eagerly.

A trivial task for such a prize.

Her face still stiff, the empress regained composure.

It was done. A great sacrifice, but worth 'that.'

'That child's power ultimately stems from Arpad.'

A crown princess without her prince was meaningless.

"…Your Highness?"

"……."

"Your Highness?"

"Ah! Sorry, Yulken."

I'd zoned out and missed Yulken calling me.

I'd been like this all morning.

Unable to focus on work.

Calling him here just to daydream...

Yulken was kind now, no initial prickliness.

"Then, to explain again. The information you requested..."

I tried to focus.

But my mind wandered; concentration failed.

Arpad's morning conversation replayed endlessly.

"…Was it a woman by any chance?"

"Yeah. A woman."

"Sounds like you really hate that person. Even hurting them in your dreams."

"No."

So what the hell is it?!

Who is this woman?

Who has him so obsessed?!

I wanted to grab his collar and shake him, yelling.

But I couldn't muster the nerve.

Ignoring it gnawed at me terribly!

Finally, desire won.

I cautiously asked Yulken mid-report.

"Um... Yulken. Do you know if Arpad has a girl he likes? Or a girlfriend...?"

Yulken's eyes widened in bewilderment.