novelNo matter what you call a flower, its color never changes (6)
| ← Ch.100 | Ch.102 → |
Chapter 101: Chapter 101 No matter what you call a flower, its color never changes (6)
When the prince reached out to receive the sword, Lard withdrew it. The tip of the sword was now pointed at the prince in the blink of an eye.
Freightened, Isaac stepped back. The royal guards who stood at a distance flinched as if they were surprised.
"If the blade of your sword hurts her, ... I will not hesitate to draw my sword to protect her. Today I only hope you have taken my advice seriously. This is the last straw."
Lard gave him the piece of his mind without hesitation. Sensing his firm determination in his tone, the prince sighed and said, "Sir Schroder, I am more scared of you than anybody else who has threatened my life. I think you're the only one who points the sword at me recklessly."
The prince touched the back of his head, moaning sadly.
Lard quickly grabbed the other end of the sword and gave it to him. After checking his expression and carefully receiving the sword, the prince said as if he surrendered, "How can I make you my enemy? I'm not stupid enough to do that. Let me swear in honor of the Benyahan Empire. I won't try to approach her without your permission. Of course, I won't promote her as my shield. I can promise that."
At his reply, Lard narrowed his eyes as if to check out his sincerity. Isaac strained his eyes as if he wanted to express his sincerity.
"I trust you, " Lard said, nodding. The prince put the sword back into the sheath, feeling relieved.
"Lift your sword again. Our sparring is not over."
"Huh? You want to continue? I told you I won't!"
"Don't take your eyes off your opponent's sword!"
He thrust the sword swiftly, pretending not to appreciate his protest.
The prince freaked out and quickly lifted his sword, but he staggered as if Lard's attack was hard.
"Ugh!"
Isaac grimaced at the pain in his wrist and moaned. That day, the prince continued to moan in pain until he was completely exhausted.
By the time their sparring was over, Jean Jacques Simuan hurriedly visited Cheddar.
As soon as he appeared, the prince welcomed him as if he met his savior.
After greeting the crown prince politely, Jean, who didn't yet grasp the situation well, said to Lard urgently, "I have something to report to you urgently."
He put his sword in the sheath, noticing Jean's unusual expression.
"Your Majesty, I'm going to wrap it up here today. So, relax your muscles to avoid any knots. See you again tomorrow."
After giving him a scary goodbye, Lard walked out of the hall with Jean.
The prince, who was forced to have another sparring tomorrow morning, called him urgently, but Lard left without responding.
"What's up?"
Outside Cheddar Palace, he asked Jean, after confirming there was nobody around.
"While I was investigating the explosion incident, I accidentally detected some suspicious activities."
"... Are you talking about Duke Auguste Engre?"
"Not that... I'm not sure yet, but it looks like someone is looking for Wendy."
Lard suddenly stopped walking at his words.
"The Eldon Information Center was looking for a woman looking like Wendy. They were reluctant to reveal their client, but I'm sure the client is not Duke Engre, given the various circumstances. They would not have accepted his request if the client had been a powerful figure like Engre at this time."
Lard anticipated that someone might be chasing Wendy's whereabouts because of their scandal. In fact, they were digging into her background. The reason that her identity could not be revealed until now was because Lard strictly blocked it.
It would be a bit of a difficult fight if Duke Engre would directly try to find her identity, but Lard had been prepared for that, too. It was also part of his strategy to have somebody stay with her and leak out tips mixed with truth and lies.
But who the hell was looking for her other than Duke Engre?
"Let me visit the Eldon Information Center, " Lard said, stepping back.
"Are you going there in person? If you go there directly, you will draw their attention."
"In this situation, who is going to think my visit there strange? We have to find out who the client is even by searching the whole center, " said Lard with a gloomy voice.
Arriving at the Eldon Information Center, the two joined a knight with the 1st Imperial Knights waiting for them and entered the building, escorted by him.
Inside the room along the corridor was Zephyllin Sheilas, the director as well as the secret agent of the Eldon Information Center.
One knight who had been questioning him stood up and saluted Lard. His face grew dark as if he didn't get any good results. But Zephyllin was carefree and laid back. He bowed when his eyes met his the moment Lard stepped in as if he already recognized the captain of the 1st Imperial Knights.
"Do you recognize me?"
Feeling Lard was asking the obvious question, Zephyllin turned his mouth up.
"Aren't you Sir Schroder, Captain of the First Imperial Knights and Duke Schroder? If I don't recognize you, I have spent my life as a secret agent in vain."
"Good. Then, you know why I came here, " Lard said, sitting face to face with him.
Zephyllin shook his head as if he was on the spot and lifted the cup on the table to quench his thirst. There was nothing like fear in his attitude even when he was being questioned by an imperial knight.
"Of course. Unfortunately, I have nothing to tell you about that. I have already spoken to other knights several times, but our center here puts the top priority on protecting our client's identity. We can't identify our client for any reason."
"That's too bad. I thought there was room for consideration as far as the Eldon center was involved in this case."
"Involved in this case? What do you mean?"
Zephyllin's relaxed face stiffened for a moment.
"I'm talking about the recent explosion at the prince's palace. It's related to the woman you're looking for... There are several speculations about why you guys are trying to look for the woman. But the speculations are all about the impure things related to the imperial family, which will put you into trouble, " said Lard, leaning back on his chair.
Although he exaggerated by mentioning the imperial family, what he said was not totally false.
It was undeniable that the Eldon Information Center had the list of the participants in the eve party, which had been strictly sealed since the explosion incident. So, it would be negligence of duty if Lard didn't take the due measures. It was also clear that Wendy was deeply involved in the explosion incident, so Lard did not forge the truth.
"You guessed wrong. The client's request had nothing to do with such a complex task. The client just wanted to find an old friend or missing acquaintance."
Zephyllin denied, knitting his brows as if he heard nonsense. Although he denied it as if it was not a big deal. Obviously, he felt scared about the possible repercussions of the client's request.
He hastily pondered over the best solution, swallowing a dry saliva. He thought that he could run into big trouble if he made a mistake.
"Anybody could make excuses like yours. And I'm also suspicious that a big shot like you would have accepted such a trifling request. Let me make it clear to you once again. We can make various speculations about this case, but I don't think this case will be wrapped up as speculation on our end."
"Are you threatening me now? I'm not a man who would be blackmailed into revealing the client's identity. The reason that the Eldon center has been able to grow so far is because we have maintained our clients' trust. I have never done anything illegal, so I have no reason to respond to your threat."
"You are using the word trust recklessly. How can you describe your secret investigation of others as trust? I can find out whether your remarkable growth is illegal or not when we investigate your activities. Sir Simuan, arrest all the staff of the Eldon center for investigation and find out their illegal activities."
Lard stood up quickly. Zephyllin was stunned to hear his order and stood up at the same time. His peace of mind was broken and he broke out into a sweat.
He couldn't let the Eldon center collapse by protecting just one client's identity.
If the knights began to investigate his staff, he could not guarantee the confidentiality of his other clients. Of course, he was worried about those clients who had something fishy.
"Sir Schroder! Give me a moment, please."
Ignoring him, Lard turned around and left the room. Zephyllin shouted hurriedly when Lard left the room as if to show him that he missed the chance.
"Sir Schroder! I'll tell you what you want, so please give me a second!"
When Zephyllin finally said what he wanted to hear, Lard stopped and looked at him.
As Lard's expressionless face looked horrible like a beast before a prey, Zephyllin wiped sweat from his forehead.
| ← Ch. 100 | Ch. 102 → |