“At most, it’s just your liquor that’s expensive, you wretch.”
Eric held the mouth of the bottle to the rim of the glass, neither pouring nor withdrawing, his hand unmoving. The lady glared up fiercely, haggling over the price.
“How about Countess Otto’s scandal?”
“…….”
“What of Count Nodium’s illegitimate child?”
As Eric merely smiled, the lady narrowed her eyes and pressed her index finger firmly against his cheek.
“Have I ever seen such an arrogant wretch.”
“I apologize. I already know those two stories.”
“Oh? Then… what of His Highness Crown Prince Jake Deccan?”
At that, purple liquid gurgled into her glass.
“You truly have no manners. Does this mean that only a story of His Highness the Crown Prince is worthy of the drink’s price? What good would it do a wretch like you to know news of His Highness?”
Eric pressed the glass into her hand himself and spoke softly.
“Do you truly believe the ladies who come to me give me information for my sake?”
“Then what?”
“Stories they wish to unburden somewhere. But stories that would bring ruin if carelessly revealed.”
“…….”
“I am an ear without a mouth, my lady. I hear, but I cannot speak. You say I put a price on information? What could someone like me possibly do with such information? I am paid for the value of listening.”
At the arrogant handsome man’s soft coaxing, the lady’s face gradually relaxed. Her round brown eyes curved into long crescents.
“Indeed. They say stories told to a priest may spread, but stories told to you never do.”
“Of course. What story would you like to tell? I shall listen.”
Holding the stem of her glass and turning it slowly, she finally opened her mouth after some time. A strange ecstasy permeated her face.
“At present, the Empress serves as regent in place of His Majesty, who is confined by illness. However, His Highness the Crown Prince does not welcome his mother’s regency.”
“Is not His Highness Crown Prince Jake Hetbi the Empress’s own biological son? Would it not be enough to help His Highness rule?”
The lady laughed as if telling him not to speak nonsense and drank deeply; Eric poured her another glass.
“He’s only sixteen. It is indeed the age of impetuous youth.”
The lady clicked her tongue lowly and shook her head.
“But there are limits, are there not?”
“That is true.”
“Such a temperament must be rare as well. Her Majesty cannot control her son at all. The maids he lays his hands on—Her Majesty has already cleaned up after more than ten of them. I handled one myself. Honestly, it wouldn’t be strange if a bastard turned up from anywhere at this point.”
“It seems his blood runs hot.”
“His blood, you say… Heh! Recently, he had a servant who was waiting on him severely punished for setting down cutlery noisily. Even Her Majesty the Empress’s mediation was meaningless.”
“…….”
“That was where the problem erupted.”
Eric’s eyes flashed from their depths.
“What problem?”
“His Highness was angry that the service displeased him, and he slammed the table wildly with his knife and fork. In doing so, he cut his hand deeply on the knife. Blood dripped down.”
Eric’s eyes narrowed.
“Does not His Highness the Crown Prince suffer from hemophilia?”
The lady’s eyes behind the mask curved into long crescents. Now was the time to receive a high price. She tilted her head and tapped the seat beside her.
Eric’s crimson eyes sank deeply. He smiled as he submerged into an endless sea.
As Eric sat beside her, the lady’s heart pounded violently. It was not only that he was sleekly handsome; the firm physique discernible beneath his loose tunic was extraordinary. The man called Eric was beautiful like a sleek moon, chilling like red blood, and powerful like a well-trained beast.
Running her fingertip over the back of his hand, she spoke in a suggestive tone.
“The bleeding stopped immediately. As if the disease had been washed away and healed. Or… as if he had never been afflicted with such a disease from the start.”
It was then that she tried to grasp the back of his hand a little more boldly.
Knock, knock.
When a sudden knock sounded, her eyes turned triangular. What angered her more was Eric’s reaction. He sprang up as if he had been waiting for the knock and hurried toward the door.
Beyond the door that clattered open stood Jesse, pale as death.
“I need a doctor.”
Eric’s heart pounded as if sinking.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
A sharp voice came from behind him.
“Wait a moment.”
Eric quietly closed the door and turned back. His face, tilted and bowed slightly, was heavily shadowed and dark, perhaps because of his sharp features.
With a cold face, the lady crossed her arms and muttered.
“Stories like this should be told where no one is…”
She trailed off and looked up at Eric vacantly. Though momentarily entranced by the sharp Adam’s apple revealed as he tilted his head back, her mouth went dry at the sensual, bobbing muscles of his throat.
But the moment Eric, who had downed a glass in an instant, leaned in to look at her, the lady felt a chill. Because the light smile that had covered his crimson eyes like thin ice had melted away.
“I’m sorry, but this ends here today.”
“Ends? Who decided that?”
“Did the other ladies not tell you? It is I who decides when it ends.”
“Are you saying I am the same as those worthless creatures?! How dare you say there is something more important than me—”
“It is a matter more important than my life.”
She lost herself in Eric’s smile. The man’s smile was endlessly splendid yet strangely sorrowful. Perhaps like a trumpet vine blooming languidly in deep twilight.
The lady wanted to hold him back even more.
“Your life is worth less to me than this ring. Sit down beside me this instant!! If word spreads that you left your seat without hearing me out, do you think you can last long in this business?!”
The lady flew into a rage, but Eric only smiled all the more.
“It is because I decide when it ends that my business lasts.”
“…….”
“Then please rest comfortably before you go.”
Eric turned away coolly. When he strode out the door, his face was etched with urgency. He called for a doctor and dressed in layers. And without resting for a moment, he began to run.
If asked what the most cruel thing in the world is, Eric would answer without hesitation: waiting. The legend about turning to stone from the weariness of waiting was wrong. Waiting is a subtle fire. A cruel fire that smolders slowly, so that even when fingertips and toes turn to scattered ashes, one can do nothing but endure.
From the moment he heard the news that Grace had been confined in an underground solitary cell, Eric had been in a furnace.
He passed through a chaotic warren of passages, urging on the doctor who couldn’t keep up. He passed through the gate of the ducal castle and followed people sent by the Duke into a secret passage. But to him, all external surroundings were nothing but fragments brushing past his unconsciousness.
The one person filling his head was always the same.
Shining blonde hair, green eyes sparkling with intellect, concealing her wounds behind a faint smile and advancing relentlessly like a rhinoceros’s horn….
“My lady!”
My master, my world, my everything.
Jesse ran ahead of him to Grace. The doctor also overtook him.
“Good heavens. The fever is terribly high.”
Eric had run faster than anyone, yet when it came to standing before Grace, he could not help but stop. People’s eyes inevitably swept over him. Eliza, too, stared at him fixedly with eyes full of wariness.
He was too vivid, too beautiful. That is why he could not stand at Grace’s side.
Eric pulled his hood low, concealing his dazzling features. Then he withdrew like a nameless soldier, like someone with no private connection to Grace, and took her in endlessly with only his eyes.
At that moment, Eliza pointed out in a cold voice, “I gave her fever reducer thirty minutes ago, but she vomited it all up, so it was pointless.”
The doctor hesitated for a moment, then set down the bottle he had picked up.
“Might I see what medicine it was?”
Eric watched as the doctor examined Grace and Jessie fed her the medicine. Fortunately, Grace swallowed it and did not vomit.
Before the Duchess, who seemed like a blizzard given human form, the doctor stammered out an explanation of Grace’s condition. Eliza listened with a cold expression and only opened her mouth after some time.
“You’ve worked hard. I shall prepare a room; you are to stay there until the child recovers. Arwen, guide them and see to things.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Then, as she calmly turned around, her gaze moved to Eric. Eric bowed his head courteously to her, and Eliza passed by him silently and went to the room with the chandelier. Since there had been no word for him to remain, it meant he was to leave.
“Follow me. You all, follow me too.”
When Lady Isaac herded the doctor Eric had brought and the waiting maids out of the room, only the sleeping Grace, Jesse, and Eric remained in the Duke’s room. Jesse, who was changing the wet cloth on Grace’s forehead, glanced at Eric standing stock-still and spoke in a murmur.
“The maids will return soon. Come closer and pay your respects before you go.”
Jessie placed a freshly dampened cloth on Grace’s forehead, then applied balm to her parched lips that looked ready to crack.
As a black shadow fell over the bed with the sense of a presence, Jesse quietly stepped back. It was a courtesy toward Eric Napier, who could only ever stand in the shade.
Eric stood stock-still, taking in the sleeping Grace with his eyes.