TPOP 49

Chapter 49

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"There, there. Don't be intimidated. I just have a few questions, and I want you to answer them honestly, without lying."

"Yes... Your Highness."

"How did you get from the hunting lodge to here, and did my brother release you straight away?"

A strange hunch made Diana nervous.

"Yes. I asked if I could go to see my friend, who lives outside the capital, and he said not often, but once in a while would be fine, so he sent me off in a carriage. I'll make sure there's no interruption in my reporting in the future."

"Yes.... He was generous enough to put you in his carriage and send you out of town; and is he at the cottage now?"

"When I set out from the cottage, I believe His Highness... went back to the palace."

The question was not to be answered in a straightforward manner. Felix had asked her to bring him information that might help him. Diana recalled the conversation she'd overheard in her sleep between Felix and his knight.

"I have heard that preparations for the emperor’s banquet are in full swing, and that he may be moving into the main palace soon."

"To the main palace?"

Eisen’s voice rose in pitch. It would be surprising for the Crown Prince to move into the main palace, but he realized it would be symbolic, the return of the Crown Prince after thirteen years of absence.

"He’s entering the political arena in earnest. The palace is not to be given away easily. The moment the Crown Prince gets his hands on the imperial family’s internal affairs, even real power will be lost in an instant.”

"Of course, damn it, he’s been acting like he doesn’t care about the throne all this time!"

"That sneaky Duke Christen must have put the wind in his sails. I'll have to deal with the old man first...."

There was a lull in the conversation. Diana took advantage of the silence to speak again.

"I don't know the exact date of the Crown Prince's move to the main palace yet, but if you give me more time, I'll get the date. I've been in the presence of Duke Christen a few times when he's made his presence known, so I should be able to get the date and time easily enough."

This would give her time to return to Felix, get the date from him, and pass it on to Prince Eisen. Diana’s heart raced as she waited for Eisen's response.

"Really? I mean, you can do it...."

Eisen's words were strangely stretched. Diana strained her ears to hear him move.

Every human movement was imbued with sound, however subtle. A step, a hand gesture, a movement of hair, the rubbing of clothing. These tiny sounds were easily changed by mood swings.

The sound of shoes shuffling left and right. The Prince was circling in place, lost in thought.

A finger, perhaps an index finger, tapping somewhere on his body. The steady noise stopped abruptly. Eisen made a decision.

‘Please, please, trust me.’

Diana pressed her head even closer to the floor as she listened to the footsteps approaching. Eisen's feet stopped directly in front of her head.

"We need to find out if he's just playing with you for a while, or if he really cares about you."

"How... do you... check?"

"If it's the former, then all you have to do is put in the time and effort to become his perfect woman, but if it's the latter, then I need to check one more thing: has my faithful mole gone rogue-."

Diana’s breath caught in her throat. Thank goodness she was face-down on the floor. Diana bit her lip to keep her composure.

Did he know? When did he know...?

Eisen changed the subject gently.

"I'm not saying you have, of course, but we should still check on you periodically."

"Not me, Your Highness. I'm...."

"Well, if I can give you anything, the Crown Prince can do the same, so I'm going to check it out. Oh, don't tremble. If there's nothing untrue in what you've told me, I won't send you back to Hilde."

Hilde. The name Diana dreaded the most was spoken, and her complexion turned white.

"There is one who has been looking for you desperately. It's been a long time since you’ve seen each other, so perhaps you should catch up."

The door, which had been firmly closed since Diana had entered, opened with a creaking sound. A strange gait, like one foot dragging the other. Diana knew who it belonged to. Even after seven years, she couldn't forget him. His oily face, his bejeweled attire, his disgusting stench of alcohol and tobacco. She could see his face as clearly as if it were yesterday.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

The unpleasant smell of poisonous herbs pervaded the air. Not the kind Felix burned, not the medicinal tea Eisen drank. Dangerous, filthy, highly addictive, brain-melting drugs. There was only one class of people who smelled like this.

The pimps at Hilde's brothel.

A shiver ran down Diana’s spine. Of the less than a dozen pimps in the brothel, the one who owned her was....

"Come closer and check it out. See if this is what you're looking for."

Antoin. A man in his thirties with that name.

Eisen grabbed Diana’s hair and jerked her back. Antoin’s sticky gaze rested on her pale face as it was forced to expose.

Antoin laughed with his mouth wide open.

"I've been searching for the runaway wench for seven years, and to see her again like this is beyond grace."

"And the slave ownership certificate, do you have it?"

"Of course."

Antoin pulled a piece of paper folded in half from his pocket. The two sheets of paper contained a neatly organized list of details that proved Diana was Karman's slave, specifying which auction she had been sold at, for how much, and to whom. At the bottom of each document was the seal of the Imperial Commander-in-Chief and the trade seal of the slave market where the auction took place.

They were unquestionably the originals. The man at the prince's side took it from him and stuffed it into an envelope.

"This, Your Highness."

Diana craned in the direction of the Prince. No, no, no.

"This is the wench, haha, she ran off and bit off the arm of a valuable guest, and it took six of my courtesans a week to appease him...."

Despicable voice. A voice that sounded even hoarser than it had seven years ago.

It was indeed Hilde's pimp. Diana’s head went white.

"Your Highness, I made a mistake, I did...."

"Don't worry, Diana, you're still worth something, even if you did tell the Crown Prince all about your contract with me."

Eisen stroked Diana's tear-stained cheek.

"I have been kind enough to write you a contract, but even if you have come to repay me with a sword. There is still hope for you."

This was the woman who was present the day Chef Harper died, and yet she was still alive, and had traveled here on her own feet to report to him.

And was this because of her loyalty to him? Of course not. A slave's loyalty was worth no more than a penny. A slave was a slave, a whore, who would kneel and sell her body to anyone who threatened her life. So he didn't need to listen to the empty words she was spouting. 

It was not the information she brought that mattered, but the effect her presence had on the Crown Prince.

"I will give you five days. If my brother finds you in that time, I will take your word for it and send you back to him. I will also arrange for passage to Dortes. But if no one finds you-."

The woman's lashes flickered rapidly. Eisen raised the corner of his mouth sardonically.

"I'll send you back to the brothel where you belong, for daring to lie to me, without the need for blood on my hands."

The only woman the Crown Prince of this country had ever taken and thrown to the wretches. It did not concern Eisen who the woman was reviled by; her very existence would be a scandal to Felix.

"I wonder if he'll come find you when he learns you're from Hilde. It'll be fun whether he does or doesn't, Diana, because I've always wanted to smash his noble stronghold...."

Eisen’s eyes gleamed with madness.

"In exactly the way he despises, haha! I can't wait to see the look on his face. Here, lock this maid in the dungeon!"

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