TPOP 122

Chapter 122

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“He has black hair and a pockmark. Since the Commander said he’s small, he’s likely a young boy. He’ll be wearing a brown coat. Find him!”

Diana leaned against the wall, catching her breath. The sound of soldiers scrambling and the vibrations from beyond the stone wall reached her clearly.

Just as she was about to leave the royal palace entirely, the pursuit began. She urgently summoned the spirits in her mind, but strangely, they were silent. The spirits that had been guiding her just moments ago had vanished without a trace. 

Diana hurriedly took off the layered coats and rearranged them. She put on the light-colored coat so it was visible on the outside, gathered water in her palm, and rubbed it on her cheeks. The rough layer of mud smoothed out slightly.

But once she was caught, this shoddy disguise would be exposed in an instant. Diana frantically searched for the spirits.

‘Are you all still in the audience chamber? Has something happened?’

Unfortunately, now was not the time to worry about the spirits’ safety. Her own safety was the immediate concern. It was clear the Commander had no intention of letting Diana escape like this.

It felt as though an invisible hand was closing in on the back of her neck. Diana clenched her teeth and reached out into the air. First, the fire!

Whoosh! The droplets gathered in her palm scattered into the air. The lanterns, hit by the deluge, went out instantly.

As pitch-black darkness engulfed the surroundings, the soldiers began to panic.

“What’s going on? Who put out the lights?!”

Finding her way in the dark was second nature to Diana. She chose to close her eyes instead. She shut herself off from the familiar darkness, maximizing her other senses to feel her way forward.

This isn’t reality—it’s a dream. In a dream, anything is possible. As she steeled her resolve, the trembling subsided, and her steps grew firmer.

The senses she had honed over seven years returned with astonishing speed. The slightest currents of air, the direction of the wind blowing from outside in, the temperature of the stone walls she felt with her hands, the presence of her pursuers scattering in all directions…

Water pooled wherever Diana stepped, and the moment she lifted her foot, the moisture evaporated. Diana moved toward the exit as if she had become one with the darkness. The staircase leading to the underground storeroom in the kitchen—where she had entered—came into view.

The moment her foot caught on the edge of the step, Diana opened her eyes and ran up the stairs with all her might. There, ahead of her, was the horse she had ridden in on. She might be able to escape before the commotion inside reached the city walls!

But Diana couldn’t step outside. Soldiers had already set up a perimeter there. She hesitated and backed down the stairs. Through the half-open door, she could hear the knights exchanging words.

“A guy from Kairam? Where did he get his pass?”

“According to the gatekeeper, he had a pass from Lord Senz. Since he’s from the tavern in Kairam that Lord Senz frequents, they let him in without much suspicion… I sent someone to Kairam a moment ago. It would be best to confirm his identity with Lord Senz himself.”

Her head spun. Just when she thought things were going well… Diana couldn’t contain her frustration and bit her lip hard.

That man in the audience chamber. If it weren’t for him, she would have found the entrance to the Spring long ago!

‘Should I hide in the kitchen storeroom? Is there even a place to hide…?’

But then, the sound of footsteps began approaching from behind as well. The path forward was blocked, and the path back was also blocked. It was the moment Diana’s plans, now trapped with no way forward or back, were engulfed in despair.

A clear voice rang out from the top of the stairs.

“Brother!”

Brother? Diana’s eyes went blank for a moment. This voice—it was definitely familiar, belonging to someone she knew well, but…

It was someone who shouldn’t be here. Diana managed to call out to him with difficulty.

“Li…an?”

“There you are, brother Let!”

Elliot, shouting in a voice a notch higher than usual, poked his head through the doorway. Spotting Diana pressed comically against the wall, the young crown prince waved happily.

“How did you….”

She almost called out to him in a scream. Diana covered her mouth with her hand.

Her voice finally broke through only after she’d swallowed her scream.

“Lian, what are you doing here? I told you to stay with Uncle Walter…!”

“Well, I couldn’t just leave you alone, could I?”

Unlike Diana, who was on the verge of fainting, Elliot remained calm. Before long, the upper part of the staircase fell silent. Feeling dazed, Diana climbed the remaining stairs and looked around.

Elliot hadn’t come alone. A knight from the Command Headquarters, who had been guzzling alcohol at Kairam’s tavern, stood with his hands behind his back, sizing her up. Senz Rossi. He was the owner of the pass currently tucked into Diana’s back pocket.

Diana was dumbfounded. Since it took two hours by carriage to reach Kairam, it would have taken four hours for the Mepen Command to send a messenger to summon him. The fact that Lord Senz had arrived so quickly meant he must have set out for Mepen before the message even reached him.

Elliot pointed at Lord Senz and flashed a bright smile.

“This knight was kind enough to hire me. Do you remember? We saw Mepen’s wanted poster together in the square in Kairam.”

“Ah, that… Huh?”

“The person who posted that wanted poster was none other than this knight. I happened to meet him while serving drinks, so I asked him right away. He was kind enough to agree the moment he saw me.”

Looking again, Elliott had wiped away half of the mud he’d smeared on his face, just like Diana. As Elliott went on and on praising himself, Lord Senz cleared his throat.

Elliott spoke loudly, as if to make sure the knights surrounding Diana could hear him.

“And he’s letting me live in the royal castle with my brother! That’s why my brother got his pass first and came to the castle, right? Isn’t that so?”

“Ah, y-yes…”

“Unfortunately, Lord Senz seems to have forgotten that he entrusted my brother with a crucial mission. It must be because he’s had a bit too much to drink.”

Diana barely managed to compose herself and gave a stiff nod. She thought she had a rough idea of what was going on.

Elliot, worried about Diana, had essentially come up with a plausible excuse to cover for her in case she was discovered in the royal castle. She didn’t know how he’d managed to sweet-talk Lord Senz, but it was a brilliant plan.

Then again, with the mud washed off, half of Elliot’s naturally charming appearance was revealed, so it probably wasn’t difficult for him to approach a man of that inclination….

“Brother Let? Why do you look like that? I’m fine. I can handle this.”

Queen Ianna, just what path am I pushing your precious youngest son down…. She’d managed to create an immediate escape route, but the sense of frustration was indescribable. 

Amidst all this, Senz Rossi spoke with an air of superiority. 

“Just because you took a pass from me doesn’t mean I gave you permission to roam the royal palace as you please. I’ll have to give you a stern scolding. Or would you like to take the scolding in your brother’s place, Lian?”

“No, my lord!”

Diana frantically pulled Elliot behind her. The sinister glint in Lord Senz’s narrow eyes sent a chill down her spine.

“Th… thank you. I’ll work hard.”

“Yes, yes. You must not have slept all night, so rest in the morning and come back in the afternoon.”

“Yes, my lord.”

No sooner had she answered than knights from the command headquarters swarmed toward them. Diana stood ramrod straight and held her breath. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would leap out of her throat.

Lord Senz smacked his lips and beckoned to her and Elliot.

“Come with me first. I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.”

***

Diana and Elliott were assigned to the servants’ quarters in the basement of the royal palace.

It seemed that the claim that Senz Rossi was one of the highest-ranking nobles in the Dortes Colony was no exaggeration. The soldiers flinched and looked around nervously at the mere sight of him gesturing irritably. Thanks to that, they were able to reach their quarters safely.

However, the danger was not entirely over yet.

‘No matter how powerful Senz Rossi’s background may be, he can’t possibly defy the Commander’s orders. We could be arrested at any moment, so we need to be prepared.’

On the morning Diana woke up with that uneasy premonition, Rossi received an order from the Commander. It was an order to send the black-haired young man, one of the servants he had recently taken on, to the Commander’s office.