Chapter 258

The secret passage, which at first seemed like it would be easy to find, still hadn’t appeared even after pouring a considerable amount of money into it.

“Still nothing?” Abelus asked Nellusion every time he saw him these days. But looking at his gloating face, it was clear he was asking without any expectation from the start. He just wanted to see Nellusion looking embarrassed and apologizing.

Nellusion was patient. However, his patience was born from a combination of innate tenacity, a comfortable environment, and past experiences where enduring always brought great rewards.

Now, with no room to retreat and having invested everything he had, yet still not seeing any results, Nellusion gradually became impatient.

And finally, when the candidates for the area where the secret passage might be located were narrowed down to just two, he became uncharacteristically excited.

“Eight men in Team 1, seven in Team 2. The Grand Duke wouldn’t have built a secret passage I use on a main street. Investigate every inch of the area where the passage might be, assuming that even the people in that area might not know of its existence.”

The 15 men who received Nellusion’s orders were all he could mobilize with everything he currently possessed. Once they left to carry out their mission, Nellusion would be left with literally not even a servant to run errands.

If he were still Duke Elandria, it wouldn’t have been a problem. He could have asked for help from the lords under his command, and the financial problems would have eased a little when he collected taxes in the fall. Even though most of it would have been taken by the Imperial Family anyway, it was better than nothing.

However, all those advantages of the Dukedom now belonged to the ‘current’ Duke, Nellusion’s father. It was an unsettling factor that put Nellusion at a disadvantage in the father-son fight.

The Duchess, Nellusion’s mother, was actively fighting the Duke as she had assured her son she would. She exaggerated to the lords who had been indebted to the Wells family that the Duke had practically overthrown the Wells family, and she leaked the Duke’s weaknesses to his political rivals.

Who could benefit from this war of attrition? The Elandria family could no longer recover. Forever.

If Nellusion had any way to survive, it was only by succeeding in this endeavor. Knowing this situation well, his subordinates answered resolutely instead of presumptuously worrying about their master.

“Yes.”

“If you fail, there’s no need to return. If you don’t find the target at the mission location, search the area next to it, and if it’s not there, search the area next to that. If you can’t find anything, dig through the mountains to find it!”

It was an absurd demand. But the subordinates didn’t argue this time either. It would be pointless.

The subordinates left the mansion like a receding tide. Nellusion sat at his desk in his study and moved the pieces on the unfolded map. His hesitant gestures moved a few pieces back and forth, but they didn’t seem to work, so he put them back in their original positions.

‘I just need to find the passage.’

If he could surprise Maindulante, which would be empty after sending out the soldiers, he could recover a lot. If he burned down the terrible North, the opportunist Marquis Tipion would side with him, and then that monster Cledwyn would be surrounded from both sides.

Nellusion had no experience in conducting wars, but he knew that morale was important in the military. The reason why the Maindulante army was dragging so many troops from other territories with a small main force was because they kept winning. And it was because the speedless losers were intimidated by the light of that victory.

The soldiers who were forcibly dragged around by the enemy’s leader would quickly betray him if they saw the possibility of that leader’s defeat. Nellusion believed so.

In fact, the more he tried to find the location of the secret passage, the more he came to believe it. Imagining Cledwyn surrounded by numerous enemies and dying miserably was very enjoyable.

‘Then.’

Now he could bring Nerys. Nellusion’s eyes gleamed darkly. Really, if this one move works, everything will be fine. If he succeeds in finding the secret passage, everything will be alright.

Because he was thinking that way, Nellusion was greatly shocked when he learned that he had lost contact with all fifteen of his subordinates he had sent out a little later.

❖ ❖ ❖

Talfrin opened the door to the cabin and said.

“I’m back.”

“Ah, welcome back!”

This cabin in the forest, which had probably been dark and damp for a long time, was now quite bright and warm. The musty smell had also disappeared cleanly, and now it smelled of flowers that were picked every day.

The protagonist who brought about that change was the owner of the voice who had just greeted Talfrin. Dianne, who had turned the blanket into rags, smiled brightly at the door. Talfrin closed the door behind him and sighed.

“What are you doing?”

It was a tiresome tone, but Dianne replied cheerfully.

“I was sewing up the hole in the blanket.”

“‘Sewing’?”

“Okay, I was ‘trying’ to sew it.”

Dianne quickly admitted, making dimples. Talfrin sighed again at her cute smile.

He had become accustomed to these sighs while living with her. Anyway, she caused accidents more than ten million times a day.

“Give it to me. Why did you create a hole where there wasn’t one when you were trying to sew it?”

“I tried to tear off the thread because I sewed it wrong, and the fabric tore too. I guess the fabric was old.”

“It’s a newly made blanket, though.”

“But there was a hole, right?”

“That’s because you were making a fuss cooking a few days ago and sparks flew.”

It was an expression that shouldn’t be used to a noble lady, but neither Dianne nor Talfrin cared at all. This was because Dianne was more easygoing than Talfrin thought, and Talfrin was originally more sarcastic than Dianne thought.

“Oh, is that so?”

Holding the needle, Dianne burst into laughter. Talfrin frowned and approached her, snatching the needle away. He felt uncomfortable.

“Oh dear.”

Looking closely, it wasn’t just the blanket that had been newly made and met its fate that had become rags. Seeing Dianne’s fingers covered in blood, Talfrin gritted his teeth.

“Don’t ever hold a needle again.”

“Okay. I always watched Betty do it, so I thought I could do it too.”

“Things always look easy when others do them.”

He felt even more uncomfortable with his own grumbling. Talfrin strode to the corner of the cabin and took out medicine from the dresser. Then he returned to Dianne and applied the medicine to her fingers.

Dianne kept wiggling her hands and laughing, even though she wasn’t a child.

“It tickles.”

He knew very well that telling her to ‘stay still’ wouldn’t work. Talfrin simply grabbed her hands firmly. It could be considered rude, but Dianne just smiled.

A beautiful hand without any calluses was held in a hand full of calluses. Talfrin thought that only the place where that hand was was a little brighter than the surroundings. Was it because it was a white hand? No.

In fact, everywhere Dianne McKinnon existed was brighter than before. It was as if a small sun had come down to earth.

His stomach churned as if it would turn inside out. Talfrin quickly applied the medicine and let go of her hand. Then he gritted his teeth once. Not knowing his condition, Dianne said nonchalantly.

“We don’t need to buy a new one, right? I don’t mind sleeping with a torn blanket.”

“Whether you like it or not, that’s what’s going to happen.”

“Huh? Why?”

It had already been several weeks since Dianne and Talfrin had been hiding near the Imperial Capital.

This ridiculous situation, which was ‘temporary’ at first, gradually became familiar to both of them over time. Now, when Talfrin went out for a mission and came back, Dianne greeted him as if it were natural, and Talfrin naturally cleaned up the accidents that Dianne caused by getting her hands on all sorts of things because they looked interesting.

However, both of them knew from the beginning that this kind of life wouldn’t last long.

Therefore, Talfrin could speak without much effort—or so he thought.

“I just finished the mission of dealing with Nellusion Elandria’s subordinates. Her Highness says that Princess Camille will be making a full-fledged comeback starting from this point, so she wants us to withdraw as soon as possible.”

Dianne dropped the blanket she was holding.

❖ ❖ ❖

“So, my brother is smoothly ruining everything. Letting the Grand Duke get so close.”

Camille evaluated indifferently.

A servant, bound like livestock, was huddled and collapsed in the corner of the bedroom. He was a member of the Crown Prince’s Palace sent by Abelus to monitor the Princess, who was accused of attempting to assassinate the Emperor, but he had already revealed a weakness long ago and been captured by Silver Moon.

Previously, when the Emperor monitored Camille, she couldn’t act rashly. Silver Moon was better than the Emperor’s shadows, but that didn’t mean the Emperor’s shadows were blind. At that time, Camille still wanted to please the Emperor, so she was careful in front of the Emperor’s maids, even if it was frustrating.

But now she didn’t need to restrain herself. All patience had reached its limit.

That’s why she quietly silenced her father, so she wouldn’t have to endure any longer.

Besides, after starting the war, Abelus didn’t seem to check much whether the monitor he had assigned to Camille was actually reporting to him or whether an imposter was pretending to be him and reporting.

The Silver Moon youth, who had reported the outside situation in detail, replied with reverence.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Camille smiled, grinding her teeth.

“I’ll be able to go out soon. Yes, all the nobles have realized my brother’s foolishness… I just need to gather one more word.”

After the owner of the monitor became Abelus, she was getting information from all over the Empire as if she were doing outside activities.

In some ways, it was more comfortable than before. She could just receive reports all day without having to worry about anything else. In terms of chess, it was like having time to look at the overall situation of the board and think deeply without being busy worrying about the pawns attacking her.

And with that time, she calculated enough. The most appropriate time to go out, the pieces that could be discarded, and the pieces that must be obtained.

Then, another Silver Moon shadow whispered from outside the door.

“Your Highness, the Empress’s servant has come again.”

Since the forces of Maindulante had come close enough to be felt on the skin, the Empress had been constantly offering Camille to return to state affairs. Perhaps the nobles thought they could no longer expect anything from Abelus and were bothering the Empress.

The reason why they were so easily requesting Camille, who was accused of assassinating the Emperor, to return was because the Empress was a person who was weak to pressure. And it was also because Camille had balanced the nobles well for a long time, making her parents accustomed to peace.

‘So you’re saying I should become a shadow working for the Imperial Family again. You know very well that I can’t officially return anyway.’

She would return. But not yet. Camille scoffed and said.

“Tell her that as a sinner, I am too overwhelmed to dare to follow the Empress’s words.”

It was a word that had already been repeated several times. The outside became quiet. Camille lowered her eyes and drank her tea.

A little later, the same voice whispered again from outside the door.

“Your Highness, the Young Duke Elandria has sent a secret letter.”

The Silver Moon youth in the room thought that Camille would return the secret letter. After all, one of the people who caused Camille to be confined in the first place was Nellusion. Didn’t he pretend to be loyal in front of Camille and then help in a scheme to slander her behind her back?

But Camille wore a happy expression that would surprise anyone who had seen her in the past few days.

“Come in.”

The shadow came in and handed Camille an ivory-colored letter. Camille opened it, read it, and burst into laughter.

She burned the letter without any regret and stood up from her chair.

“Nellusion is apologizing to me and swearing allegiance, saying he only wants the Grand Duchess in his hands after destroying Maindulante. Now that he has nothing left, he must have thought of me.”

Camille didn’t trust Nellusion. Their differences of opinion regarding the Grand Duchess’s whereabouts could never be narrowed. He had just judged that she was better than Abelus as a rope to hold onto for a while.

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t join hands for a while.

Since what she had been waiting for had arrived, Camille instructed her subordinate with a refreshing feeling.

“I should go to the Empress tomorrow. Prepare clothes that make me look appropriately repentant. Enough for Her Majesty to pity her daughter.”

Since the last word had been gathered, there was no need to refuse any longer.