Chapter 268 – The Story of an Acquaintance
There is a saying that it is different and different.
This means that even the same content can be perceived differently by the listener depending on how it is expressed.
In a similar vein, no matter how famous a topic is that no one knows about throughout the empire, the feeling of an open secret and an open fact is distinctly different.
“Lea, did you hear about that?”
“Yeah. It’s not like that, but it’s noisy everywhere you go these days. There’s no way you don’t know.”
“Haa… It’s so cool. I guess it really stimulated the emotions of a girl. I’m so envious of the princess today.”
The palace of light where the imperial princess resides.
Even in normal times, the place is lively with the ladies-in-waiting, but today it is especially noisy.
Marianne, the lady-in-waiting in charge of jewelry, is also talkative by nature.
Leia, the maid in charge of food materials, her older sister, right next to the lady-in-waiting.
Aria, the maid in charge of wine, always listens to her stories with sleepy eyes.
Like orioles singing in chorus in the forest, they are talking about only one story.
The moods of the higher up naturally affect the lower ones.
When something bad happens to a noble person, the girls also get depressed, and conversely, when something good happens, the girls get excited too.
Then why are they so excited right now?
“Hey… What are you all talking about…?”
“What, Emma. You don’t even read the paper?”
Marianne, who was looking at Emma, the maid in charge of the costume, with a frustrated expression, opened her mouth with a strange smile.
“Looks like Sir Wolfgang will finally propose to the princess!”
“…What?”
At those words, Emma’s eyes widened at once, and the other ladies-in-waiting also added a few words while making a fuss.
“No, wait. Did you mean that?”
“Then what does that mean? I openly declare my support in front of countless nobles and say, ‘I will protect my woman.’ I heard you even said that? Kyaa…! It’s romantic! Needless to say!”
“Haa, really… I heard that a person who is so powerful is so kind to his woman. The world is unfair as expected.”
“Mmmm. I must say there’s a reason there are so many women around…”
“Somehow, I think I’d like a reliable man like that big dog. It feels like my tastes are being altered…”
Meanwhile, the ladies-in-waiting are in full swing talking.
In the thick shadows under the pillars of the palace. There was a girl who secretly chewed her lips until they bleed.
“Seriously, you are talking about your brother in your own way.”
—Goooh…
Bloodstone-red eyes sparkled with a dangerous light. A sharp-edged dagger was pulled out from the gap of the garter belt at the end of the thigh of her maid’s uniform, and Hasene quietly caressed the sword wave.
“Should I just slaughter all of them… Without saying a word?”
Hasene, who had been burning the hatred of the lost woman for a long time with her burning eyes, let out a sigh of relief and lowered her head.
Before long, her slender body began to tremble.
“Brother…”
Thick teardrops rolled down from the corners of the girl’s eyes. She is a forbidden love that is not recognized by anyone, but her heart that has been raised since her childhood has always been sincere.
It was because, instead of winning her love, I felt sorry and sad about my situation, having become the strongest competitor’s footstool.
Hassene couldn’t even resent Alicia for holding her leash.
In the first place, the fact that she was still able to save her life was thanks to Alicia’s benevolence.
‘I promise. Someday I will make your wish come true. So please pay the price for your sins.’
I don’t know what or how it’s going to be done, but since she’s accepted such a long-awaited promise, from her point of view, she has no choice but to cooperate with Alicia.
Having overcome her sorrow, Hasene hid her body even more secretly in her shadow.
It was because her ears pricked up at the bizarre chatter that began to flow between her ladies-in-waiting.
“Ah, that’s right! The bed that Sir Wolfgang used a few months ago… When I checked it, it was completely ruined.”
“Ouch! The bed is broken? That sturdy thing?”
“Ouch…! Hey, no dirty talk!”
Usually, men have vague fantasies about women, but even when women are together, obscenities come and go. Rather, there is a more shady corner than that of men.
Everyone knows what it means but pretends not to know and covers the corners of their mouths and giggles. Among them, the one with a reddened face and waving hands is more likely to be the purest.
“No. Emma? Just talking about the broken bed. What the hell is that erotic?”
“He’s completely possessed by a lewd demon. Do you really have to take him to the temple?”
But to Hasene, none of that mattered.
“So, what about the broken bed?”
“What should I do? The furniture is under your control. You can roughly order the maids to deal with it properly.”
“Haha. Is it me again? I really should change my field of responsibility.”
Her sense of hearing becomes extremely sensitive, comparable to that of the elves, and her face, like a raging fire, unravels in a daze as if she is dreaming. There was even saliva in her mouth.
“Brother’s… Chi, the bed…! Full of body odor…!”
– Soggy…
How can I get my hands on the bed Wolfgang was using?
That was all she was interested in.
* * *
“Huh!”
Wolfgang, who finished his training in the practice room and washed himself, lay flat on the bed.
When I glanced out the window as I was lying down, I saw a pleasant landscape with no crowds. The corners of her mouth curl up in satisfaction on her scar-scarred face.
It looked like a lion with a full stomach confirming that there was nothing wrong in its territory.
“Let’s see…”
Eventually, despite being alone in the room, he looked around for nothing, and soon opened a book in the bedside drawer.
[Noir-18]
The title embossed in gold leaf on the outside of the hard cover finished in black gryphon leather showed off its presence, and underneath it, the silhouette of a woman covering her mouth with her index finger raised was embroidered with silver thread.
At first glance, something that seems to contain very secret contents.
After confirming the significant sign, Wolfgang carelessly rubbed the tip of his nose.
“I’m kind of embarrassed.”
Although Wolfgang enjoyed reading in his free time, it was the first time he had read a sensual book in earnest. He couldn’t help but feel ashamed.
Feeling as if I have returned to being a teenage boy.
The reason why he did not keep the book he bought at a fairly high price in the library and put it in the bedside drawer wasn’t far off either.
What would the servants and maids in the mansion think if they found out that their master reads books like this? Since it is not a house where you live alone, you need to be somewhat careful. He was definitely in a position to care about his body pain.
“How far did you read at Agnes’s house…”
—Palak palak
In the quiet room, only the sound of bookshelves being turned can be heard. Wolfgang’s gaze, which was quickly skimming through what he had already read, soon reached the beginning of the short story about the forbidden love between master and pupil.
– – –
Looking back, it was a truly free life.
A lumbering long sword given to the last princess of a ruined country to end her own life.
Instead of aiming it at the nape of the neck, it was aimed at the enemy.
However, it’s been so long that I can’t remember what I swung the sword for.
The people to be protected were scattered, so it wasn’t for the sake of the people.
No traces of the old fortress of the Korean people were left, so it was not for patriotism.
I just swung my sword, and one day, when I suddenly came to my senses, there were no enemies in front of me anymore.
The only thing engraved under the bloodshed is the title of invincible.
After realizing its ephemerality, he lost the purpose of wielding the sword.
The enemies have already turned to white bones and perished in the dust.
No one in the world remembers who I was.
From then on, the sword hacked itself mercilessly.
The worst thing is that I can’t even see the way up anymore.
On the verge of losing all motivation and returning to a handful of dirt.
Suddenly, I felt that this life was really good.
So, in his later years, he took disciples.
It was because I wanted to leave a trace of my existence in the world.
A cute boy who always followed Master and Master.
That child was different from this body, which did not age against the providence of the world.
The child grew up quickly, day by day.
In no time, the child became a boy, and the boy became his man.
And her man had to go to war.
No matter how many years passed, that was the case.
The time has come for the mischievous house play to come to an end.
But, why was that?
Before returning to the soil. I thought it was a momentary change of mood.
When he sent his disciple to the battlefield, his heart felt tight every day.
His tight chest soon melted away.
My tear ducts, which must have been dry for a long time, were painfully painful.
I couldn’t calmly think that death is enough for a person.
Once again, the weight of life that had been lost in these hands felt terribly heavy.
It was strange.
The more he got sick, the more he felt alive day by day.
Something filled the empty heart.
“Master.”
And finally.
The moment to greet the disciple returning from the battlefield.
The master could no longer regard the student as a disciple.
– – –
“No, wait.”
Wolfgang, blinking his eyes, suddenly felt a strong sense of deja vu.
It’s a story that I’m sure I’ve heard somewhere.
Isn’t this too similar to the relationship with someone he knows well. The specific texture is a little different, but it simply goes beyond the similar level.
“Madame Noir… Is she an acquaintance of Master’s? No, she’s not the kind of person who would tell anyone about her story…”
Wolfgang muttered to himself as if suspicious.
-Hoot!
The familiar cry of a white eagle owl banging on the window rang in his ears.
