#093

She walked over with heavy steps, casually referring to it as kissing. Seeing her slump down next to Cullen, he cautiously moved back. A hint of disappointment and bewilderment flashed beneath his expressionless face.

“You said you’d be at the temple, so why are you here, human?”

Kiyen asked in a voice that clearly showed his displeasure, still seeming annoyed with Ulli.

“Because there was nothing more to do there? Arne-nim is sticking to me like glue, so it’s boring. I didn’t want to come. I thought maybe there’d be something to do here since it’s even more of a mess.”

Ulli then clung to Cullen and whispered.

“Did you forget my advice?”

Although it was a quiet voice, Kiyen, of course, heard it.

“Don’t cling to me so unpleasantly and whisper when I can hear everything.”

Saying that, Kiyen asked Cullen.

“What advice?”

The advice she had heard was, strictly speaking, the truth of what she had seen, but it wasn’t a story that would sound good to Kiyen. Moreover, given that the topic of the Duchy of Jenix had just come up, he worried that Ulli’s words might hurt him. But Cullen had vowed not to lie to him.

“That it’s a disadvantage to be in a romantic relationship with a dragon?”

As he hesitated, she stepped in. Kiyen raised one eyebrow and said in a tone of disbelief.

“Humans and dragons cannot be lovers.”

Cullen fell silent at his blunt, firm words. He didn’t think much of it, as he wasn’t expecting it. He was satisfied just by Kiyen not avoiding him and by their touch. However, Ulli didn’t seem to be.

“See? You kill people so easily, but why are you so soft, even to the point of bursting, about this? Why do you like a dragon like that?”

“It is none of your concern, human.”

The argument continued with Cullen in between them. Kiyen, who clearly disliked Ulli, had an annoyed expression, unlike his usual self.

“It is my concern because he is my friend!”

“You are contracted partners, not friends.”

“That’s separate from being friends! We’re colleagues. And who are you to say whether we are friends or not? Then again, you have absolutely no eye for people, so you’re rejecting someone like this. How about it, Cullen? Want to date me?”

Nonsense continued. While it was absurd, it had been a while since he had heard his colleagues’ silly remarks, so Cullen let out a hollow laugh instead of stopping her. Kiyen reacted instead. At Ulli’s last remark, he closed his mouth and grabbed Cullen’s wrist. It was an unexpected action.

“Didn’t you say you liked me?”

His posture looked like he was sulking, and a smile flickered on Cullen’s lips. As Ulli was about to retort with a look of disbelief, the Duke’s arrival was announced from outside the reception room.

“Your Highness, my lord has sent word that he wishes to visit. He asks if he would be disturbing you.”

“Let him in.”

The chaotic atmosphere settled. Ulli frowned upon hearing the word “lord.”

“Does lord mean Duke Ruffellon?”

“Yes.”

Upon hearing the answer, Ulli stood up.

“Then I’ll be going. I have something to check at the lodging I used before, so come there.”

“You can stay here.”

“Except for people like you and Moet, I dislike nobles. And a Duke, at that….”

She mumbled the rest, her smile vanishing, and was about to leave the reception room. The moment she quickly approached the door and pulled the handle, the door opened from the opposite side. The Duke and Moet stood there, accompanied by knights.

Ulli stepped back, trying to pull her robe over her head. However, the Duke, who met her head-on, stopped first. He frowned, as if he had seen something strange. His voice, full of confusion, flowed out.

“Arina?”

His tone was one of disbelief. At the Duke’s call, Ulli stopped her hand, which was trying to pull the robe over her head, and stood straight, looking up at him. As the knights moved to intervene at her audacious act of staring directly at the Duke, Ulli spoke.

“You have mistaken me for someone else.”

As soon as the Duke heard Ulli’s voice, his eyes widened. With a look of certainty, he walked towards Ulli. She hesitated, but it seemed she realized that trying to leave the place haphazardly would complicate matters.

“Hearing your voice, I’m sure. Arina, you’re alive? No, that’s….”

The Duke looked down at Ulli with a face filled with confusion. Moet looked as if he didn’t know what was happening, and so did Cullen. Only Kiyen remained silent, like a bystander.

“You’re too young. Like when you were in the palace.”

As the Duke walked closer, Ulli stepped back. She returned to where Cullen was and looked down at him as he sat. The expression on her small face was complex. After looking at Cullen for a long time, she seemed to make a decision and turned her body.

Her guess might not be accurate, but the possibility was high. Cullen recalled their conversation in the cave. Ulli had said she learned about the royal family through her mother. At the time, it was unclear what kind of lady-in-waiting she was, but if she was a lady-in-waiting who served his mother, the Princess, closely…

“Arina is dead. She died of illness and froze to death on the roadside more than 10 years ago.”

She must have been a noble. That was something even Cullen had doubted, unsure of.

“I am Arina’s daughter.”

Ulli introduced herself in a quiet, childish voice filled with anger.

“Ulrika Linden, that is my name.”

Upon hearing the surname Linden, Moet let out a “Huh?” Cullen was equally surprised. He hadn’t even guessed that part. While she had clearly stated she wanted to kill Count Linden, he couldn’t have imagined she would be related by blood.

Here, only the Duke remained calm upon hearing the surname. However, he seemed confused by something else.

“Arina’s… daughter, you said?”

“Yes.”

“But that makes no sense. Count Linden has been dead for a long time. No one survived the Eastern incident…”

…would have.

The sentence didn’t finish properly. The Duke seemed shocked by the irrefutable evidence right before his eyes.

Cullen was equally baffled. The relationship between Count Linden and Ulli, or rather Ulrika, was confusing.

She silenced the room and, with a sigh, lowered the half-finished robe. Ulli, who had dropped her head back carelessly, clapped her hands with a loud “Clap!” in a decidedly un-noble manner, breaking the tension.

“I suppose an explanation is needed? I didn’t want to say it yet… but I was going to have to tell Cullen soon anyway.”

Regaining her composure, Ulli sat back down on the sofa. The knights, noting her impolite behavior, watched her again, but the Duke, not even noticing, hastily pulled over a sofa from the reception room. Ulli rested her elbows on the armrest of the sofa and shrugged.

“The story might be a bit long, so shall we have some tea?”

Her attitude was far too nonchalant for someone who had surprised everyone.

“The current Count Linden is not the legitimate heir. Originally, the Linden family’s title was Viscount, and they were nearly wiped out as they were allied with Duke Jenix, who plotted rebellion. However, Ulkaff Linden, the younger brother of Ulian Linden, confessed his brother’s crime and sought his own survival by cooperating with Duke Lenon. For providing not only evidence of Ulian Linden’s rebellion but also numerous secret letters from Eastern nobles, he was granted the title of Count.”

Seated, the Duke first cleared up Cullen’s confusion. Ulli listened to the Duke’s words, sipping her tea. Her expression was excessively serene. As if she had quietly suppressed her inner rage.

“Arina was a wise and beautiful woman, and she was a good companion and lady-in-waiting to the young Princess Kashyella. That is why I know her.”

So, what Ulli had said in the cave was true.

“However, even if she was the Princess’s lady-in-waiting, she could not escape the grave crime of treason. Arina and Ulian were purged then. As far as I know.”

The Duke now looked at Ulli, as if an explanation was needed. Ulli, who had been gazing at her teacup, opened her mouth.

“On the surface, yes, that’s right. They were supposed to die. But Ulkaff Linden, that despicable bastard, played a game with their lives.”

Ulli, setting down her teacup, laughed.

“He said if he was allowed to secretly take my mother as a concubine, he would spare my father. He said he would graciously allow both of them to secretly preserve their lives.”

Disgust washed over her. The Duke seemed to feel the same, his lips tightening as he swallowed an expletive.

“It happened before I was born, so I don’t know exactly what transpired. But my mother wanted to save my father no matter what. I was born in the basement of the Count’s mansion. My mother worked as a maid during the day, and at night…”

Ulli closed her mouth after speaking that far. The hand holding the teacup was visibly white-knuckled. No further explanation followed.

“I don’t know if there are others like me who survived. My father and mother, true Eastern nobles, are already gone.”

An uncomfortable silence fell. It was a horrific story, difficult to hear. The attitude she had shown in the cave stemmed from such deep pain.

“Well, that’s all. It’s not a very important story, so let’s talk about what we were going to discuss. It’s uncomfortable.”

Ulli removed her hand from the teacup and laughed as if sighing. This was the empathy Cullen had felt. If he had protected himself by erasing his emotions, Ulli covered her pain with laughter.

Everyone in her party here was a victim of power. While she didn’t know the specifics of Lasano’s situation, he too must have been caught up in unspeakable events. The scar she had seen earlier flickered in her vision. Cullen didn’t believe in fate, but he felt there was a reason for their meeting.

“…I am sorry, Miss Ulrika.”

The Duke spoke to her with sincerity. Calling her by her name alone, without the surname Linden. Hearing the address, Ulli bit her lip.

The Duke looked at her for a long moment before turning his gaze to Cullen.

“After Your Highness left, I hastily searched the rooms of Moet and my child. However, I could find nothing beyond what Your Highness already knows. Only that they had infiltrated the social circles of major nobles and poisoned them with Cadmium, and that my son foolishly abandoned himself. There are too few clues.”

The Duke said this and placed a parchment on the table.

“However, I have realized one thing. Hearing Miss Ulrika’s story just now, one point on the attendee list stands out.”

Indeed, nobles from nearby had been flocking to the Duke’s mansion since the day before yesterday.

“Where are they all?”

“Some were killed along with the knights, and some are in rooms assigned under the knights’ protection. A carriage will be dispatched from each territory to take them soon.”

“It would be best to hear their testimony before then.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The Duke nodded and pushed the parchment towards Cullen. He read the listed surnames, but Cullen couldn’t definitively guess anything.

“The invited guests, who are still unfamiliar names to Your Highness, are those who possess considerable military strength in the entire West. Other nobles were not invited.”