Episode 20
When my eyes met Rakein’s, bewilderment washed over me. Of all the times to run into him, it had to be when I was thinking of him.
Though I had only flinched in surprise and stepped back, I felt a faint, strange gleam flicker through the serious red eyes watching me.
“……?”
I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but I quickly turned my head to avoid his gaze.
My cheeks burned, heat rising up. I didn’t need to look to know my face had turned red.
‘Why is Sir Hekeuseu over there…….’
I was curious what business had brought him to the main house, but my first priority was hiding my flustered appearance. My steps following the maids quickened of their own accord.
I told myself that my heart, which had been beating normally just moments ago, had begun racing because I was surprised, and that the feeling of his gaze lingering on my back was simply my nerves being on edge.
I struggled to calm myself.
***
‘Could she possibly remember?’
Rakein, who had been gazing fixedly at Hereuna’s retreating figure, withdrew his gaze only after she disappeared from sight.
‘You surely wouldn’t remember. You were in so much pain.’
His footsteps, which had paused for a moment, began to move again. Shadows gathered beneath his lowered, thick black eyelashes as he fell into thought.
Once again, a small greed was rearing its head.
The hope that if she remembered that day, she might let down her guard against him, if only a little…….
Rakein’s slowly moving footsteps arrived at the drawing room and stopped before the door.
A low mutter escaped from between his lips.
“Pathetic.”
Hadn’t he decided to be satisfied with the fact that she was alive?
Hadn’t he resolved to watch over her quietly from the side so that she wouldn’t feel burdened?
Letting out a heavy sigh, he reached out to open the drawing room door and stepped inside. At that, a familiar voice flew into his ears.
“Welcome, Sir Hekeuseu.”
The moment he spotted Biateu Keuroijen sitting on the sofa and waiting for him together with the Countess, his heart chilled and sank despite having come prepared.
The woman who had thoroughly deceived him until the very end using the name of Keuroijen and driven her to her death.
Rakein felt the hand he had clenched into a fist trying to tighten on its own and barely managed to relax it.
They before his eyes were not yet criminals.
His eyes, which had darkened with fury, emptied themselves of that emotion in an instant, and the tension in his stiff neck drained away.
“I am late.”
Rakein slowly and politely bowed his head.
“It is all right. We have not been waiting very long. More importantly, come here and sit down, Sir Hekeuseu. Have a cup of tea.”
Wearing a gentle smile, Biateu gestured with her eyes toward the sofa opposite the one where she and the Countess were sitting. It was a line she deliberately threw out each time, even though she knew the polite man would refuse.
Normally, when calling for a household knight, one did not tell them to sit on the sofa. It was unheard of to seat a subordinate on the drawing room sofa meant for guests.
Yet the reason they offered it to Rakein was to make him aware that they were treating him specially.
As expected, the taciturn knight who followed protocol answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“My apologies, my lady. I am more comfortable standing.”
At his refusal, the smile playing at the corners of Biateu’s mouth deepened further.
There was no one who disliked a man possessed of skill and fame enough to be arrogant, yet who knew his place and conducted himself wisely.
She was no different.
“Really, Sir Hekeuseu, you haven’t changed at all. One would think you could sit down just once.”
As Biateu listened to her mother, the Countess, clicking her tongue in a low voice, she lifted her teacup and took a sip. The tea had cooled to a pleasant drinking temperature.
Beneath her lowered, thick eyelashes, a brief flicker of irritation crossed her deep green irises before vanishing.
‘I didn’t want to have to use him like this.’
Rakein Hekeuseu was meant to be her bodyguard knight from the very beginning. The one who would stand behind her bearing the alias of the Sword of Keuroijen and illuminate her glory.
It twisted her gut to hand over such a man, but for now, there was nothing she could do.
Because among the knights belonging to Keuroijen, there was no one as tight-lipped and cautious as Rakein Hekeuseu.
He was also a man who, given just cause, would carry out his duty without faltering in any situation.
That was why Biateu had chosen him as that child’s bodyguard knight.
She was confident she could create as many pretexts as needed to move him. And when she did so, there was one advantage that naturally followed.
People would think that she and her mother were giving that child proper treatment befitting a successor. They had assigned none other than the Sword of Keuroijen to her, after all.
Having thought that far, Biateu elegantly lowered the hand that had been holding the cup.
As the teacup silently descended onto its saucer, her lips, faintly stained with the red flower water, moved softly.
“Sir Hekeuseu.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Rakein answered in a voice difficult to read, as always. Meeting his gaze, Biateu opened her mouth.
“I asked you here because there is something I wish to request of you, Sir.”
“Please speak.”
“You must have heard at least once. That I have a half-sister.”
Though she spoke as if troubled, Biateu scrutinized him with a sharp gaze. She was wondering if he might show a reaction.
She remembered clearly the day Hereuna had said she wanted to go out and Rakein had suddenly requested leave.
If he reacted to the mention of a half-sister, that would be something to be suspicious of. Then her plans would have to be revised as well.
Fortunately, there was not the slightest change in Rakein’s expression or eyes as he replied indifferently.
“As you say, I have heard of it.”
Biateu’s gaze softened, and the small suspicion she had harbored in her chest melted away.
She broke into a bright smile and opened her mouth again.
“Then this should be quick. My mother and I intend to appoint you, Sir Hekeuseu, as my half-sister’s bodyguard knight.”
Biateu thought that surely this time he would be a little surprised.
Was he not the very one called the Sword of Keuroijen, not just any knight?
He must have assumed he would naturally become the guard of the rightful successor—her. And yet, to suddenly become the guard of a half-blood bastard.
‘If he seems even slightly offended, I’ll have to smooth things over.’
It wouldn’t be difficult to smooth things over. She would tell him it was only for two years. That after that, he would become her knight. That should suffice.
But she had no chance to say those words.
Rakein, famous for moving strictly by the book, had given a perfect answer as an employee.
“If that is the will of you both, I shall comply.”
Beneath his bowed head, his red eyes glinted coldly enough to sting, but neither Biateu nor the Countess knew.
***
The head maid and the maids who had guided me to Ruseunneu’s room quickly sorted through my luggage and withdrew.
Well, it was more accurate to say there was “nothing to sort through.”
In any case, only after they had all left the room could I leisurely look around the place that had become my new room.
“Wow…….”
Ruseunneu’s room, which I had only heard about in rumors, was far more luxurious than I had expected, and an exclamation escaped me on its own.
The bed, dressed in white-themed bedding, was at least three times larger than the one I had used, and a long mesh canopy hung from the ceiling, enveloping it.
On one side, there was an elegant table and chairs made of solid wood for drinking tea, and beneath the window, a luxurious leather sofa was placed.
What was more surprising was that the powder room was connected to the bedroom.
The maids could enter through the door in the hallway, while I could enter the powder room through the door connected to the bedroom.
There, just like in the bedroom, was a cord to summon servants. The head maid had told me before leaving that if I pulled the cord, maids would come to attend me at any time.
And just how large the wardrobe in the powder room was.
Seeing my few dresses hanging there, it felt like a few trees standing in a desolate wasteland.
Of course, the dressing table felt so empty that, not to mention a tree, there wasn’t even a stone upon it.
“Just from showing something to people, my treatment changes this much.”
I came out of the powder room, closed the door, and went to sit on the edge of the bed. The moment I felt the soft texture, strength drained from my whole body.
I flopped down and looked out the window to see that the sunset had already almost faded, and evening was approaching.
‘A lot happened today, after all.’
I had attended the memorial service and put on an act as though the Guardian Stone had manifested, exchanged a conversation of mutual deception with Biateu, and even moved rooms.
It felt natural to be tired.
“What should I do now?”
For now, I had succeeded in letting people know that I was the master of the Guardian Stone, just as planned.
Word would soon spread rapidly thanks to those who attended today’s memorial.
I now had two years left.
Within that period, I had to absorb the power of the Guardian Stone, which I had been unable to assimilate, and of course, build up allies who could help me.
“Easier said than done…….”
As worries about what to do flooded in, a sigh escaped first.
“Should I just sleep first?”
I was so tired that it felt like my brain had been bleached white. Like how your head goes blank when overload resolves itself, my mind was simply dazed. The temptation of sleep kept rushing in.
“No. What if I’m called starting tomorrow morning? I need to come up with a plan.”
I sat up and raised both hands, slapping my cheeks hard enough to make a sharp sound. Along with a stinging sensation, my mind returned somewhat.
“Let’s think. First, I know too little about the Guardian Stone. I need more information. But I can’t obtain that information here.”
Looking back on my memories from before my death, I hadn’t learned anything about the Guardian Stone during the two years I spent in this mansion. Just a few things overheard at banquets I rarely attended.
Even that information was common knowledge that anyone would know.
“First, I need to get out of this mansion. I have to get out from under that woman and the Countess’s eyes to be able to do anything.”
Everything here was under those two’s control.
It was impossible to do anything in such a place. I would immediately be suspected.
“Now then, where to run to…….”
A place where I could avoid those two’s eyes and obtain deeper information about the Guardian Stone. If there was such a place…….
“Ah!”
In that instant, a thought struck my mind like lightning, and an exclamation escaped my lips. It was almost like a sudden realization.
Yubelroseu Royal Academy.
That place was exactly where I could find every condition I desired.