YWPWYLFDM 34

Chapter 34

The night they had planned for had finally come.

As always, Lora had locked Eila in her room, and Eila, trapped inside, slipped out of the building through the secret passage as she had done countless times before.

It had already been quite a while since she had taken up residence in this fortress, and she had sneaked out many times, so she was fully accustomed to the routine. Finding Byron’s room was effortless for her.

Although the weather had grown quite chilly and the windows were closed, she could clearly see inside through the gap created when he had thrown a glass and broken it.

Peeking through the shattered window, Eila couldn’t help but frown.

“Ugh… why does the smell of alcohol hit so strongly…”

The scent of alcohol was so overwhelming that anyone would think he had poured entire buckets of it into the room. Shards of broken bottles were scattered across the floor.

The person who had turned the room into such a mess lay face down on the bed, completely still.

With this much alcohol, he should have fallen asleep by now, but just in case, Eila tossed a small stone into the room.

Clink. The small stone hit the floor, yet Byron, soaked in alcohol and asleep, showed no sign of waking. He seemed to be in a deep sleep.

Eila gently slid the window open and cautiously entered the room. The pungent smell of alcohol, which had already wafted through the small gap, became even stronger as she stepped inside. It stung her eyes.

Staying here too long, she thought, would make her feel drunk from the smell alone.

“I need to investigate quickly and get out.”

Shaking her head in displeasure, she scanned the room. But there was no note or letter in sight anywhere.

Was she going to have to leave empty-handed? That would be frustrating.

Pouting, she decided to search the room thoroughly once more.

“Wait… this…”

Near the fireplace, Eila discovered partially burned scraps of paper among the ashes of the extinguished fire.

The scraps looked crumpled and torn, as if they had been roughly handled before being set on fire. From what she could see, the contents were illegible, but if there were other pieces, she might be able to make sense of them.

Glancing once more at Byron sleeping on the bed, she picked up a poker and began sifting through the ashes.

After a while, she managed to recover two charred pieces of paper. It seemed the rest had burned completely.

The room was dim, and the text was small, making it difficult to read. Knowing it would take time, Eila decided to take the scraps back to her own room.

Her room was equally dark, but at least she had a small lamp, making the task much easier. Even if it took a long time, it was a safe place where no one could catch her.

Besides, if the letter had been burned, Byron wouldn’t know she had taken the scraps.

She even picked up the stone she had tossed into the room before, and quietly exited through the window.

Back in her room via the secret passage, Eila hurried to change into her pajamas and sat on her bed, holding the scraps up to the lamp.

“The Duchess… has done it.”

Could this be a letter with news of Ophelia? Unfortunately, the most important part—the part about what exactly had been done—was obscured by soot.

It was news of her beloved mother, but the details were unclear, leaving her anxious and frustrated.

Had something happened to her mother, like last time? Or even if not, was she in some kind of danger?

With a mix of anxiety and hope, Eila rubbed the soot with her fingers, wishing for any hidden words to appear.

But it was only the soot on her fingertips that had turned black. She frowned.

“No… it’s okay. There’s still one piece left.”

Hopefully, she could find a clear clue from the remaining fragment.

Eila held the small piece in both hands, shining the lamp’s light on it, and slowly read the visible words, letter by letter.

“The Duke was very pleased…”

That was all. Once again, there was no significant content.

Even though she knew there was likely nothing else, she flipped the paper over to check the back, but found nothing more.

It was a bit disheartening, but Eila’s face, pale from worry, brightened once more.

“If Father was pleased, then it can’t be bad.”

Whatever had angered Byron so much, it seemed at least her parents had good news. That was enough.

If thinking about it brought some guilt, as long as those two were happy, that was all that mattered.

She carefully stored the charred scraps in a box, as if the crumpled, torn, and burned paper were a precious treasure.

Lying on her bed, she pulled the blanket up to her neck, shivering slightly. Perhaps it was the approaching winter, or perhaps it was the chill in her heart. The air felt cold.

After that day, Eila pretended to behave properly while keeping an eye on Byron.

It was because last time, when Byron had heard about Ophelia collapsing, he had come to her room unexpectedly in the middle of the night.

This time, however, was different. He didn’t barricade himself in the room in an unstable state, nor did he show up suddenly.

If she finished her assigned training quickly, she could still enjoy occasional sweet free time.

The only difference was that he sometimes shot her a cold glance. But whenever she noticed and looked at him, he smiled warmly, leaving her unsure.

Watching Byron elegantly eat bite-sized pieces of meat, she thought:

“…Well, if nothing else is different, I guess it’s okay to move around at night.”

With winter approaching, she was eager to gather as much information as possible before the snow fell.

Driven by urgency, she moved faster. She searched Byron’s room each night and began exploring the entire fortress as if it were her own room, gathering information wherever she could.

Thanks to her efforts, she discovered some useful facts: some of Byron’s allies were foreign nobles, not from the empire. She even learned the name of one of them.

Count Senospon of the neighboring kingdom of Inselkopf, in the southwest of the empire, was providing funds for Byron’s rebellion.

Whether Byron had made a deal with Count Senospon or not, the count, being no fool, would not support a foreign insurrection for free. This was clear evidence of Byron’s dealings with a foreign country.

Eila, who had been stuck gathering nothing, felt elated at this crucial information. Her excitement made her oblivious to the fatigue accumulating from lack of sleep.

One day, exhausted from her daily routine, she thought:

“…Why do I feel so heavy? Maybe I’ll just sleep tonight.”

The days were shorter, and with sunrise delayed, she had been searching the fortress until dawn, her eyes drooping with fatigue.

Her body ached and her condition was poor, but she wasn’t allowed to oversleep or skip training.

Stretching and yawning, she forced herself to get up and head to the training ground. That day, she showed Cloud slight improvement from yesterday.

Though still hiding most of her true skill, her abilities at age thirteen were extraordinary.

After satisfying Cloud, she was allowed a short period of free time and, as usual, went for a walk around the fortress.

Though the scenery was ordinary, it was an unexpectedly helpful time for her—an opportunity to relax completely, however briefly.

Accompanied by a distant knight, she stopped suddenly at a rustling in the nearby bushes.

The sound was small, unlikely from a large wild animal. Being deep in a sparsely populated mountain, the chance of it being a person was slim, but she couldn’t be sure.

She signaled the knight to stay silent and focused on the direction of the sound.

Something popped out of the bushes—a small black shape. At first, she couldn’t tell what it was, but she soon noticed its long ears and tiny round tail.

“…A rabbit?”

It was a black rabbit. The rabbit’s gentle eyes surveyed its surroundings while twitching its nose. Eila couldn’t take her eyes off it.

After cautiously exploring a bit, the rabbit seemed to consider the area safe and began hopping around and nibbling on grass.

Watching its little front teeth chew the leaves, she couldn’t help but find it incredibly cute.

Eila hesitated. She was living a life of hardship to exact revenge on the mortal enemy who had ruined her life, walking a narrow path where one wrong step could mean falling into an endless abyss.

Yet… could she allow herself to be distracted by a rabbit?

“But… it’s so cute.”

She quietly chuckled and smiled with her eyes, watching the rabbit without noticing time passing.

The knight following her debated whether to signal that it was time to return, but seeing the young girl so delighted, he simply watched.

By the time Eila returned to the fortress, the sun had completely set behind the western mountains.