Chapter 38: Scars Beneath Perfect Walls.

Burned walls and broken glass windows were cleanly restored as if they had never been damaged.

Just like when the first Rut of the King’s Brother I experienced ended. The perfectly restored appearance, where not even a sense of heterogeneity could be felt, rather brought me a sense of incongruity.

“I don’t understand this.”

Even Ian brought me math problems and asked as if nothing had happened.

When I stared at him, Ian made an expression of not knowing the reason, saying “Why? Is there something on my face?”

“These math problems aren’t important to you.”

When I asked directly, Ian nodded obediently.

“That is true.”

It was an expected answer, but I couldn’t help feeling disheartened.

Even if I wasn’t a good teacher, my effort to teach children about knowledge was real.

The math problem book Ian brought was also compiled by me.

“Still, studying is quite fun.”

As I was about to close the book opened towards me, Ian put his finger in between and asked.

“Is it not allowed?”

The nonchalant expression seemed to be trying to hide disappointment.

The hand trying to close the book stopped.

When I looked straight at him, Ian avoided my eyes.

That appearance was exactly like a young fierce dog avoiding a person’s gaze after making a mistake.

Even though he has teeth and claws sufficient to harm a person, he doesn’t even think of wielding them.

“…There’s no reason not to.”

I couldn’t answer, ‘Since using a knife seems to be your main job, you don’t need to study math anymore.’

I couldn’t assert Ian’s words were sincere, but it was true that he had been quite diligent in studying and especially showed interest in math.

Not just this guy, but other children I taught as well.

There was a child who teared up when writing their name with their own hand for the first time.

I couldn’t dismiss all those appearances as deception and lies.

I had to admit that it wasn’t something I, who couldn’t remember that child’s name, could do.

“Look.”

Eventually, I had no choice but to reopen the page Ian had marked with his finger.

The guy listened to my voice explaining the problem as if he would prick up his ears.

****

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

As soon as Coachman Paul entered the dining hall, he almost jumped in front of the stove.

These days, he spent almost all day outside the mansion.

He was originally one of the busiest people after the King’s Brother’s Rut ended, but this time it was especially so.

Because the King’s Brother went out every day like never before.

“The scent of roses is strong. You must have been to a special place.”

I said, sitting next to him and handing him hot herbal tea.

Paul, warming his hands on the hot cup with a glad face, blinked his eyes.

An expression asking why I was saying such things to him.

It was indeed strange that I, a servant, didn’t know the King’s Brother’s schedule.

“No, what special place. I wandered around so much I don’t even know where I picked up what scent.”

Paul, who was bewildered, soon bowed his head as if burying his face completely in the cup, realizing something.

His voice was also mumbled.

It was clear he was trying to hide it from me.

“I see. You worked hard.”

When I obediently played along with his words and stood up, Paul sighed inadvertently.

Ignoring the reaction he showed, I left the dining hall and crossed over to the main building.

“You worked hard in this cold weather.”

“Right.”

Philip was already standing in front of the cabinet.

He was someone who could be counted on three fingers as the busiest person in this mansion along with Paul.

As always, his upright posture was unwavering today, but he couldn’t hide all of his tired complexion.

Going out as soon as the simple morning routine was finished and returning to the mansion only after sunset, it’s natural for the body to be weary.

Moreover, it wasn’t just today.

“I brought sandwiches.”

While loading things onto the wagon, the head chef brought a plate.

This was also something repeated every day recently.

“He should eat properly…”

Even for the head chef who had to serve sandwiches for the King’s Brother’s meal for several days, the worry must be deep.

The contents changing every day represented his agony.

The King’s Brother is a rational and generous employer, but from the chef’s perspective, it was something to be anxious about.

Fearing that words saying he can’t eat anymore might come out of the King’s Brother’s mouth.

If any other noble said that, it would be a natural sequence for the chef’s job to disappear.

When I dragged the wagon into the King’s Brother’s study and put down coffee and sandwiches in front of him, the King’s Brother drank the coffee first without even looking at the sandwich.

The cup became empty in an instant.

I served another cup consecutively.

Only then did the King’s Brother slowly savor the coffee aroma.

It seemed he endured without coffee all day.

“Did you change the beans?”

“Yes. I found beans with less sweetness and changed them. I thought the Duke would prefer the heavy smoky scent and body. Though they say roasting with medium roast enriches nutty flavor and acidity.”

“No, this is just right.”

The King’s Brother drank one more sip with a slightly relaxed face.

The pen held in his right hand also stopped for a moment.

It’s already been several days since he emptied the mansion during daylight hours.

In the evening, he wrote documents and various letters like that.

Although nominally an exclusive servant, I couldn’t accompany the King’s Brother on his outings.

While Butler Philip went out with the King’s Brother to assist him, I took over the butler’s work of organizing the mansion’s requirements and creating approval documents.

It wasn’t work I couldn’t do, but it was a division of labor where Philip’s and my roles were completely switched.

In fact, it was a very unreasonable measure.

The King’s Brother was hiding his destination from me.

“Are you going out tomorrow too?”

“Yes.”

“I will prepare clothes with better thermal insulation tomorrow.”

The King’s Brother’s hand trying to lift the coffee cup again paused.

Although he soon said “Yes” nonchalantly, he must have noticed.

That I now know where the destination of his continued outings is.

The King’s Brother didn’t need to inform me, a mere servant, of where he goes one by one.

However, when he went out rarely, it was natural for me, a servant, to attend to him, and even when I didn’t accompany the King’s Brother on his outings, knowing his destination wasn’t difficult at all.

But finding out the destination of this outing continuing for several days wasn’t easy.

At first, I thought it would be Count Umbra’s townhouse.

Visiting someone else’s mansion right after sunrise is very rude, but Count Umbra wasn’t in a position to question the King’s Brother’s manners.

I guessed the outing continuing until evening meant there was that much to do outside.

After the Rut ended, there was always overflowing work for the King’s Brother to do, and these days were an especially important period with a special event called war involved.

However, it was strange that the King’s Brother visited them directly instead of merchants or agents of other nobles coming to visit him.

Considering the enormous amount of letters the King’s Brother writes every day, my first hypothesis was completely off the mark.

Then does it mean he spends such a long time at Count Umbra’s townhouse?

The second hypothesis broke when the King’s Brother substituted meals with sandwiches for three consecutive days.

It wasn’t that he missed meal times going here and there, but it made no sense that he couldn’t have dinner on time while staying at Count Umbra’s mansion all along.

Just as much as Spes Umbra invading this mansion during the King’s Brother’s Rut.

Could Count Umbra really do such nonsensical things right in front of the King’s Brother again?

I answered no to myself.

Even if holding the justification of engagement, no, to realize the engagement, he couldn’t show such an attitude to the King’s Brother.

Moreover, Spes Umbra was completely subdued by the King’s Brother’s pheromones.

He couldn’t testify unfavorably to the King’s Brother either.

The King’s Brother held a firm justification against Count Umbra.

No matter that the King was positioned as Count Umbra’s backer.

Right, the King.

Everything was explained if the person the King’s Brother went to meet every day was the King.

Paul hugging the stove as if he waited outside all day when returning to the mansion, or Philip unable to completely hide subtle irritation as well as fatigue.

Talking about the scent of roses to Paul was a verification process regarding the last hypothesis.

Although I haven’t seen it myself, there were several famous places in the royal palace.

The most famous was the legacy of the first King, and the exact place where it was kept was confidential.

Only the fact that it exists was widely known.

The fact that an intricate and huge magic circle made of rubies exists somewhere in the royal palace.

The ruby giant stone decorating the King’s crown, called the ‘King’s Heart,’ was also the key to operating the first King’s legacy.

Although very little is known about the hidden magic circle, it was a famous fact that the ‘key’ went through several improvements.

Because it was also an object showing the King’s authority.

It became its current form during the time of William III, and the ‘key,’ a ruby of a whopping 170 carats, is embedded in the center of a splendid crown made of over 2,500 diamonds, 277 pearls, and 28 emeralds.

The reason the King’s political influence could be equal to the parliament even though this country is a constitutional monarchy was that the owner of the key capable of unfolding the barrier of the royal palace was the King.

No, because he was the owner of the key, the royal family could persist without bloody revolution in Henia alone even when revolutionary flags fluttered all over the Old Continent.

The key soon became the symbol of the royal family, and buildings or places decorated in red were created throughout the royal palace.

Among them, the most recently famous one was the Red Rose Garden.

The reason the outdoor rose garden is maintained even in midwinter was because of the thermal magic circle laid throughout the vast garden.

The rose garden where even snow and hail melt when they reach the height where roses bloom.

They say tea parties are held deliberately in bad weather to see that spectacle.

Once every winter, a column describing the scenery of that tea party would be published in the newspaper.

“Shall I prepare accessories with rubies?”

At my question, the King’s Brother smiled bitterly.

The Rose Garden was located in front of the Queen Consort’s palace.

It was created by the Queen Consort upon royal marriage.

In other words, it’s a kind of dowry made of rubies from Count Umbra’s red mine.

I could easily imagine the King’s Brother waiting all day outside the influence of the thermal magic circle.

It was a good place to treat him terribly while pretending to welcome him outwardly.

“If you use magic carelessly inside the royal palace and get caught, you will be detained in the tower immediately.”

It was a boring joke.

He said it knowing that the accessories I said I would prepare were not simple gems but engraved with thermal magic.

“Jay, this is something I must do.”

The King’s Brother spoke as if soothing me. But simultaneously, he was firm.

I recalled the King’s Brother blaming himself saying it was all because he was weak.

I couldn’t say no to him. But I couldn’t agree either.