Chapter 53
“Hardly as much as you. Is His Majesty the King all right?”
“He's improved a great deal. Still, I don't think he'll be able to stay in Hixen for long.”
“You can come here anytime. Of course, His Majesty's health comes first.”
Reinhard glanced in the direction from which Maxim had come.
A woman with a noticeably tall silhouette stood with her back to them. Reinhard sensed instinctively that she was a soldier.
“Maxim. There's a beautiful lady waiting for you.”
“That's Miss Vin Eburk, of the House of Count Eburk. She's an old friend of mine. Would you like an introduction?”
Ah, so that's her. The eldest daughter of the historic House of Count Eburk, who voluntarily enlisted in the army.
A virtuous prince and a sturdy female officer. Considering Prince Maxim's tendency to associate only with his own kind, it was certainly a fresh combination.
“Not today, perhaps another time. But isn't Miss Vin Eburk the fiancée of Duke Lanslo Edenbahir? Or his former fiancée, to be precise.”
“You knew about that?”
“How could I not know what's happening with my only maternal cousin? Speaking of him, Her Majesty the Queen mentioned that Lanslo has renounced his claim to the throne of Montevio.”
Reinhard carefully observed Maxim's reaction.
When you thought about it, Maxim and Lanslo's relationship was likely closer than his own with either Maxim or Lanslo. How tiresome it must be for close childhood friends to be political rivals.
Sure enough, a faint bitterness flickered across Maxim's pale face and then vanished.
“It seems his relationship with the Grand Dame, the elder of Edenbahir, is not exactly smooth. For him to renounce the throne, when he had the strongest claim after me… I didn't expect that either.”
“Well, it's not that surprising. Isn't the throne something to be taken and retaken? Who knows, he might be hiding a sharper sword under his cloak.”
Maxim's expression slowly cooled. It was a look of displeasure.
‘Does he feel the bonds of friendship more strongly than the threat of a political rival?’
Such a dangerous thought.
Reinhard laughed lightly, as if joking, and gave Maxim a gentle poke in the stomach.
“It was just a warning, so don't look so serious.”
“Reinhard. You'll say anything to your cousin. You should be careful; the walls have ears in the Royal Castle of Montevio.”
“I'll take that advice to heart. Now, you should go. You can't keep a fine lady waiting any longer, can you?”
The two parted, planning to meet again the next day.
Before she turned away, Vin Eburk's gaze swept over Reinhard for a brief moment. It was a look devoid of any goodwill, shooting out like a warning before vanishing.
For Reinhard, who had inherited his father's handsome looks, she was the first foreign woman to show him such blatant hostility.
‘Considering her status, she must be at least a major… Yes, she would know the situation in Hesperine in detail.’
But as someone Maxim kept close, she probably wouldn't speak ill of him in the prince's presence.
Leaving the Royal Castle, Reinhard got into a car that was waiting for him. He had someone to meet today. He was a little late for the appointment, but there was no need to hurry, as the other party was always the one at a disadvantage.
Thud.
The door closed, and the attendant in the driver's seat asked him.
“Where shall I take you, sir?”
“To the Griffe Hotel.”
“It's not that far from the Royal Castle. Why don't you use your own two perfectly good legs and walk?”
It was an unbelievably impudent remark to make to a member of the royal family.
Reinhard stared at the driver's seat with cold eyes. The back of the head of the man in the attendant's uniform looked somehow familiar.
The same silver hair, the same build, the same voice… The only differences were slightly tanned skin and a long tear in his left earlobe.
Realizing the attendant's identity, Reinhard let out a short, dry laugh.
“Hey, Viscount Sigmund Fior. Are you now volunteering to be my attendant even in the Kingdom of Montevio? Hmm?”
Sigmund Fior.
The adopted son of the former Viscount Fior and a notorious rake in the Hesperine Kingdom.
By his forbidden name, Sigmund Hesperine.
And if one were to dig into his lost roots, the twin of Reinhardt Hesperine, heir to the throne of the Hesperine Kingdom, and an unrecorded prince.
And now, he was Reinhard's closest confidant, his faithful dog, and his assassin.
Turning to face him defiantly, Sigmund offered a charming smile and spouted magnificent nonsense.
“A son of a bitch at home is a son of a bitch everywhere.”
From Reinhard's perspective, it was enough to make him sigh.
“I believe I told you not to stay in Hixen if possible.”
“Even a loyal son of a bitch disobeys an order now and then. A good master should be able to understand that much, don't you think?”
“Remember, Sigmund, of all the dogs I keep, you're the most insolent.”
“Of course I have to be special. We're twins split from a single soul, brother.”
Reinhard clicked his tongue inwardly. He knew that scolding him further would only lead to more backtalk.
However, he had no intention of pretending not to notice that the car's route had changed.
“This isn't the right way. Didn't I specifically tell you to go to the Griffe Hotel?”
“We can take our time with that business, can't we? Veronica Edenbahir is the desperate one, so why don't we finish our own errand first?”
The person he was to meet at the Griffe Hotel was the Grand Dame of the Ducal House of Edenbachir, Veronica Edenbahir.
That ambitious woman had likely been anticipating a meeting with him ever since Vincent Völőni went missing. After all, the ‘great enterprise’ she had waited for so long was right before her eyes.
Usually, even if Sigmund talked back to Reinhard's orders, he carried them out flawlessly.
There was only one instance when his brother would disobey his command.
‘When it involved their dead mother.’
Reinhard had a very good idea of where he had turned the car.
“Meeting with Count Malisgo is the one thing we can afford to be slow about.”
“But you promised me, brother. That as soon as we arrived in Hixen, you would meet him and get Mother's memento back.”
A memento. From Reinhard's perspective, the word was absurd.
“It's just a single postcard, Sigmund. A postcard sent and received over ten years ago, so faded it's lost its color. Do you really think I need to go in person to retrieve something that could be sent by mail?”
“Don't try to change the subject now. A promise is a promise, isn't it? If you think it's unfair, consider it payment for my torn earlobe.”
How ridiculous.
‘I was just planning to get it through Count Malisgo's cousin, Madam Veronica.’
He didn't like the fact that he had to waste time for a single old postcard left by their mother. Especially since it was a postcard left not for her own sons, but for a foreign man.
Even though they were twins, Reinhard simply could not understand Sigmund's obsession with their dead mother.
‘She was the one who threw him in the trash. How can he love a woman like that with all his might?’
Ah, my poor, damned brother.
They say Mother cast you out of the Royal Castle the moment you were born, calling you unclean. From your perspective, she's no better than human scum. And yet you're going to reverently collect a trivial postcard as if it were a sacred memento.
‘Tsk.’
Whenever their mother was mentioned, Reinhard usually gave in.
The reason was simple. Pity.
It was because he felt sorry for Sigmund, who was so strongly attached to a mother's love he had never received and never would, even in death.
“So, how was she?”
“Who?”
“The lady who chewed off my left ear.”
Reinhard's eyes narrowed slightly.
Until now, Sigmund had dedicated his entire being to eliminating Reinhard's political enemies.
That Sigmund was his right-hand man and his twin was a fact known to every noble in Hesperine.
After their mother's death, Reinhard had found Sigmund, who had been abandoned in a gutter and was living among beggars, and had him added to the Fior family registry.
Years ago, everyone denied Sigmund's existence, but not anymore.
Reinhard's enemies feared the kill list Sigmund possessed, and Sigmund was a man ready to plunge a knife into an enemy's heart for Reinhard at any moment.
His brother, a skilled assassin, had never once failed a mission.
Except for one person: Anita Völőni.
“Calling a married woman a 'lady'. You have a twisted mind.”
“It's a fake marriage, isn't it? So she is a lady.”
“She's a beauty. So much so that I can fully understand why you came back having offered up your ear for her face.”
Reinhard slowly recalled the face of the Duchess of Edenbahir, whom he had met that morning.
The first thing that came to mind was how she had frozen solid the moment their eyes met, unable to say a word.
“She looked so pitiful, completely frozen at the sight of my face. It made me want to punch you in yours. It's ridiculous, even thinking about it again. Of all the people, why did you have to show your face to her? Have you finally gone mad, Sigmund? Or should I ask if the madman has gone even madder?”
0 Comments