Chapter 74

The man opened his mouth once more.

“You’re not supposed to go like this.”

“What…”

“Don’t act like you don’t know. You took the jewelry and sold it to run away with that woman. Damn, I’m the idiot who I thought I wasn’t at first. I didn’t know you could screw me over like this.”

Tessa’s mind became complicated. He couldn’t understand what Hert meant. She sold jewelry? To be honest, she’d thought about it, but never actually did it. She swore she didn’t do it on her own. How could she have judged what he had given her?

“N, no, I never did…!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Then why are your ornaments listed as stolen goods? And how would you explain this situation? As expected, you meant to leave my side whenever you wanted to play with me.”

“It’s not… Ah!”

Hert grabbed Tessa’s shoulder with the other hand as she insisted that she had never done anything like that and suppressed her action. He continued his words. I haven’t finished yet. He gritted his teeth and looked at Tessa furiously.

“Because I’m nice, you think I’m easily fooled?”

“Her, I, I…”

“Is it nice to think that you would disappear this time and turn me into a dunce who knows nothing?”

The more he spoke, the more anger filled his chest. He couldn’t contain the anger that was rising. When he saw that little face feigning innocence, as if he still didn’t know anything, he was even more mad. Why do you look like that? Why do you keep pretending to be a victim?

Hert made a last gasp of breath and spoke to Tessa, who blinked as if in shock.

“Right, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Please, Her, listen to…”

“I’ll make sure you never run away again.”

Hert put Tessa aside like throwing her away. Tessa, who had almost collapsed on the floor of the carriage, reached out to stop Hert, but it was quicker for him to walk away from the carriage.

“Her—”

“Take her and lock her in.”

Bang! As the man’s wide back completely turned around, the carriage door finally closed. Tessa stared blankly into the air. She still has no idea what happened to her.

What is this?

“How the hell did this happen…”

At the end of his hallway he heard a chuckle, and Lange hurriedly hid behind the edge of the wall. Since then, his heart has been beating wildly. It must be because he ran into an unexpected difficulty.

He tried to breathe calmly, as close to the wall as possible. If he made any noise in this quiet space, it was easy to be detected.

‘Damn, I didn’t know Red Beard was a trafficker…!’

Lange walked up to the Lindehal estate with only the red beard picture, and was shocked to find out that the whole place was made up of human traffickers shortly after investigation. The Lindehal estate was created to systematically conduct human trafficking, and related information has been hidden.

Even the red beard picture that he received from the informant was practically a trap. If anyone digs into Lindehal’s estate, they’ll set a trap to make them easier to get rid of. They’ll get in trouble if things leak out here.

Unfortunately, Lange was only on the verge of being caught in the trap. Cold sweat ran down his forehead.

‘Calm down, Lange Geoffrey. You’ve gone through a lot of hurdles that almost killed you so far. You can get out of here this time as long as you stay alert.’

Lange glanced around the hallway. A man with a dark robe covering his face was just walking down the hallway. Lange waited for the person to pass by and put together the information he had obtained so far in his head.

The Lindehal estate was a relatively new territory, and it was not a place directly ruled by the lord, but a small place run by the local high-ranking lords by sending a manager. As a result, there was less influence from the royal capital and less monitoring of the flow of funds. And using that point, the entire territory was currently being used by human trafficking groups.

‘If you say that the high-ranking lords of this area…’

As Lange listed those names in his mind, he was swearing at himself unknowingly. It was because there was nothing in common between the lords. Some of them belonged to the forces of Marquis Borwen.

If so, wasn’t this an arbitrary act of the manager? But who the hell is a manager big enough to do such a thing? Human trafficking of this magnitude was easy to catch. Even the administrators who have been delegated most of the powers of the estate would find it difficult to work here without someone to look after them.

‘Above all, even a three-year-old child knows how serious human trafficking is in Mussieaux… How…’

Who is it? Who the hell is doing this? Lange swallowed a gulp. There was another goal to keep his hands and feet intact and get out of here alive. He had to go back in haste and report this to his superior—no, to Marquis Borwen.

‘Get out of here…’

Lange looked at the hallway again. The person walking down the hallway had crossed over to the other side, they were no longer visible. He headed out along the way he had come with a little sigh of relief. No, as he was headed for it.

“There was a rat hiding here?”

At the same time as an unfamiliar voice came from behind his back, Lange felt his vision blink in an instant.

Damn, I messed up…

The banquet held at the royal castle to welcome the envoys from Tehera was getting more and more exciting as time went on. But Jean struggled to capture her boredom and quietly watched Duke Callias’ behavior. So far, no unusual signs have been seen from the duke.

At that moment, the young king looked at Jean and spoke quietly.

“Hey…”

“Yes, you’ve endured a lot too. You can leave.”

Jean reacted bitterly to the king’s words without even looking at him. The corners of Rams’ eyes drooped for a moment. But he didn’t get up right away. Even though it would have been normal for him to get up and go back as soon as permission was granted. Noticing this, Jean turned her head toward the king.

“…Do you have anything to say?

“…What about Jean?”

“I’ll wait a little longer… Why?”

“That… Today is…”

“There’s something going on today?”

The young king’s face turned red little by little as Jean urged him to speak quickly. At this, the servant chief, who was sitting next to the king, came to Jean and whispered in her ear what the king wanted to say. Jean’s face was engulfed in annoyance for a moment.

“Your Majesty, are you counting it again?”

“…….”

“A little more. Wait.”

What is the point of consummating it. It’s just sleeping together in the same bed. Jean shook her head and looked at Duke Callias. Rams noticed that gaze and spoke with a slightly unfair tone.

“The, the queen sees un, unmarried men than her, her husband.”

“Don’t be jealous. Because it’s not going to last long. And I hate old men.”

“Really?!”

“So, I married Your Majesty.”

“That… That’s right…”

Seeing her husband’s cheeks blush, Jean snorted inside. He’s easy, too.

After a while, when the midnight bell rang, Jean was forced to get up. As her sister said, she won’t be tall if she sleeps late. It was a pity she couldn’t watch Duke Callias any more, but she had no choice but to do it.

“Then, then why the Duke…”

“Your Highness.”

“…Yes?”

“When did Duke Callias return to Mussieux?”

Jean looked back at Rams and asked.

“That’s… Two years ago…”

“It is a publicly known fact. Before that, he had secretly returned to Mussieux. Is it not?”

“Ah… Um, I can’t think of it well… It’s before I ascended the throne…”

“Then five years ago.”

“Maybe…”

Jean closed her mouth for a moment, then smirked.

Five years ago, it was right after the frail previous king had fallen. At that time, before Duke Callias inherited the duchy, it was known that he was living a life of debauchery in a foreign country. Then, when the previous king fell and the current king, Rams, took over the provisional rule, Duke Callias hurriedly returned to Mussieux from abroad.

“I see. That’s it for today. Let’s go.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Women don’t say two words with one mouthful.”

When Jean descended from the high throne beyond her feet with the help of a handmaid, Rams also descended to the floor with the assistance of the attendant. The young king and queen left the hall, being seen off by the people.

And Duke Callias, who was watching all this, lowered his gaze, waving the wine in the wine glass he was holding.

At that moment, someone quietly approached him and whispered. The man’s blue eyes gleamed with interest and flashed for a moment.

“Yes, that’s right…”

Shortly thereafter, Duke Callias was also absent, and the banquet slowly began to come to an end.

Contrary to the brightly shining royal castle, the large temple opposite it was engulfed in silence and darkness with minimal light remaining. There, a priest was running across the hallway towards somewhere.

After passing through a maze-like path, the priest who stood in front of a room knocked and entered the room.

“Your Eminence!”

With the priest’s call, the long-haired man who was sitting at the top raised his head. He smiled with a face that seemed to understand why the priest had come all the way here. The priest didn’t say anything, but he responded kindly.

“Yes, I understand. I’ll be there soon.”

The man who got up from his seat soon spoke to the woman who was standing in front of the window in a light tone.

“If you don’t hurry, you’ll lose the villain’s position, Lee.”

With that, Beatrice smirked.

“Let’s take a look around.”

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