“Stop dallying. Go in.”
“B-But why not ask a servant to go in instead...?”
“Do it!” Friede ordered.
“U-Understood...” Cedre grimaced as he pushed the door open and stepped in. The door closed behind him, but neither Sylvia nor Friede dared touch it. After a few minutes, Cedre returned. “Doesn’t look like there’s anything dangerous in here, Your Highness.”
“Good. Let’s go in, Sylvie.”
“O-Okay...”
Friede and Sylvia entered the main room. No one had cleaned it since Elizabeth’s departure, so a layer of dust had settled over every piece of furniture, but the room was otherwise tidy. On a desk lay some documents and ancient tomes that Elizabeth had likely been in the middle of deciphering. Countless more papers were neatly arranged on shelves.
“There weren’t any traps in the adjoining room either,” Cedre said.
“Good,” Friede replied.
In the adjoining room, they found some magic items that Elizabeth had been studying and ancient records she’d pulled from the archives, as well as dresses and jewelry.
“Ha ha ha! With so many treasures lying around, I certainly won’t want for money for a while,” Friede said. As he looked around, he noticed that Sylvia was staring at a small box full of jewels, mesmerized. “You can pick out anything you’d like, Sylvie.”
“Huh? But isn’t everything here the property of either Lady Elizabeth or the kingdom?”
“Everything she owned should belong to me. I deserve at least that much in compensation for everything she’s done. As for the kingdom’s assets, they naturally belong to the future king, don’t they?”
“Well...” While Sylvia was uneducated, she still understood Friede’s current situation. Bulat calling back Adel could only mean one of two things: He’d already given up on his son, or he was considering doing so. If that happened, her position as Friede’s fiancée would put her in danger too. When Sylvia reached that conclusion, she suddenly felt as though her brain were fogging up. “Huh? Didn’t I plan to talk to Her Highness...?” she whispered, confused.
“What’s wrong, Sylvie?”
“N-Nothing, my prince. I’m overjoyed and was having a hard time deciding which one I liked best.”
“If you’re hesitating, just take them all.”
In his elation over how things had gone his way, Friede hadn’t noticed that Cedre, who’d entered the room first, had tucked a small box inside his pocket.
After he exited Elizabeth’s former room, Friede called for Anna. He was eager to get rid of Cedre and ordered her to find him an office and show him around. Cedre grinned and put an arm around Anna’s waist as the poor girl trembled in fear.
“I look forward to you showing me around, heh heh,” he said with a wicked cackle as the two walked off.
Cedre followed Anna to his new office in the palace, his arm practically glued to her waist. As soon as they entered the room, he locked the door and took out a soundproofing magic item, activating it.
Anna, who’d been flushed and shivering the entire time, suddenly calmed down and bowed respectfully. “You’ve worked hard today, Lord Cedre,” she said.
“It certainly was hard work. I wish I could have had a quiet day instead,” he replied with a sigh before sitting down on the sofa. His every move was elegant, a striking contrast to his heavyset frame. “Any guards on the lookout?”
“We passed three on our way here,” Anna responded. She scanned the area for hints of anyone’s presence. “There’s someone right outside the door and another spying from below the window.”
“Do you reckon they’re Her Highness’s people?”
“It’s likely. They started watching us as soon as the prince made me your personal maid.”
“What of this room?”
“I believe it is safe,” Anna said. She started skillfully brewing tea.
While he waited, Cedre took out a small box.
“Is that the...?” Anna trailed off.
“It is,” Cedre confirmed. “I’m thankful the prince is such a simpleton. A little nudge in the right direction was all it took for him to let me enter first. It made retrieving this surprisingly easy. I would have had a much harder time fooling Her Highness. Anyway, you know who to send this to, Anna. Make sure to use the secret route.”
“Yes, Lord Cedre.”
“All right, my work here is done, then.”
“Not quite. You’re to remain by the prince’s side and relay every piece of information you obtain.”
“We have others in the palace. Aren’t their reports enough?”
“Those are the orders, Lord Cedre.”
Cedre heaved a sigh. “And here I wanted to take it easy in my domain...”
“There’s nothing I can do about that. You’ve decided to serve her. You must complete the tasks given to you.”
“Maybe I should betray her, then,” Cedre said. “I’m not interested in sinking with that simpleton prince...but I imagine the princess could be a sound choice.”
Cedre had scarcely finished uttering those words when he saw Anna’s hand move. The next second, three thin knives flew at him so fast that they were practically invisible. Cedre stopped them all before they could hit him.
“Hey, that’s dangerous,” Cedre grumbled.
“You dared to suggest you’d betray her in front of me. There is no room for you to change your mind. You will continue to put your life on the line to serve her.”
“My father’s a fanatic, but you’re not any better.”
“I appreciate your praise.”
“The fact that you genuinely thought I was praising you scares me even more.”
Cedre knew Anna’s devotion to their master bordered on zealotry, and his father was just like her. People mocked Thomas for being a turncoat, but the truth was that he hopped from one faction to the next to gather information and manipulate the nobles.
Cedre was loyal to his master too, but he wasn’t blindly devoted to her the way his father and Anna were. His loyalty was born out of self-interest.
“Oh well. I suppose I’ll count myself happy as long as I receive an appropriate reward for a job well done,” he said.
Thankfully, their master knew how to properly compensate others for their efforts, and Cedre decided that wagging his tail for her a while longer was worth it.