Chapter 25
After lunch, while sparring with Siegmund until late afternoon, a visitor arrived — more precisely, a messenger seeking Siegmund.
Siegmund received a few books from him and handed them to Arnulf. They were several basic swordsmanship manuals.
“Why are you giving me these…?”
Arnulf looked curiously at the books in his hands.
Of course, he hadn’t shown his full skill during today’s match — he had deliberately held back to avoid raising Siegmund’s suspicions.
The only areas where Arnulf truly fell behind were brute strength and stamina. That, admittedly, was humiliating enough.
“I thought these might be useful when you start teaching,” Siegmund explained.
“Oh.”
Arnulf glanced again at the neatly stacked books. They would indeed be helpful when explaining theory.
“Thank you.”
Siegmund smiled faintly as Arnulf took the books, saying he would make good use of them. When he had earlier mentioned “helping,” he had already sent instructions to have these books delivered. It was a relief that Arnulf didn’t refuse them.
“Well then, I’ll be going. See you tomorrow.”
Arnulf, who had just told Finn to take the books to the library, turned toward Siegmund. The sky outside was already tinged red.
At this hour, it wouldn’t be strange to stay for dinner — but after a moment’s hesitation, Arnulf decided against it. He didn’t want Siegmund to misunderstand.
Siegmund smiled more deeply and turned away. He could sense Arnulf’s hesitation behind him but didn’t look back to confirm it.
Still wearing that slight smile, Siegmund was about to step past the front gate when he saw a man staggering toward him. The man seemed to be heading straight his way.
Siegmund stopped and waited. The man hadn’t noticed him yet — likely because he was drunk, his awareness dulled even though it wasn’t yet evening.
But Siegmund had already recognized him.
“Siben Acht.”
The same man Siegmund had received a report on just yesterday — Joseph’s so-called “friend,” the one who had been spending Joseph’s money as if it were his own.
That morning, Siegmund’s subordinate had brought a new update — the reason Siegmund had visited Arnulf before lunch instead of later in the day.
“Siben Acht seems to have used Joseph’s money for gambling and pleasure.”
That part hadn’t particularly interested Siegmund. But what came next did.
“Recently, he’s shown suspicious behavior.”
“Suspicious?”
“Yes. He’s been using Joseph’s name and funds to attend meetings and mingle with nobles.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“He’s been invoking Joseph’s name to meet aristocrats — one of whom is Baron Freang.”
Baron Freang again.
The same man who had met Joseph the day before the incident.
And now Siben Acht was connected to him too.
“Go on.”
“You should take a look at this.”
The subordinate produced some documents from his coat. Siegmund quickly skimmed through them — and his brows twitched.
Siben Acht’s movements were undeniably suspicious. Everyone he had met recently belonged to Queen Luise’s faction.
A completely unexpected connection.
At that very moment—
“Huh?”
Siben, who had been staring at the ground as he walked, raised his head at the shadow falling across him and blinked stupidly when he recognized Siegmund.
Seeing the hazy confusion flicker into surprise in the man’s drunken eyes, Siegmund passed him coldly, pretending not to notice — as if he were just a passerby, not someone leaving Joseph’s mansion.
Siben stared after Siegmund’s retreating back with a puzzled look.
“What’s he doing here…?”
His gaze naturally drifted toward Joseph’s house.
“No way… could he be here to see Joseph?”
Impossible. Not unless he’d come to interrogate him about something.
“Must be a coincidence.”
Siben knew better than anyone how bad things were between the two. Convinced it couldn’t be anything else, he turned toward the mansion gate and pounded on it.
“Hey! Open up!”
After a moment, heavy footsteps sounded — and Finn appeared.
Upon seeing who it was, Finn’s face hardened. This was never a welcome guest.
“Where’s Joseph?”
Siben didn’t care about Finn’s hostility; he craned his neck to peer past him, as though expecting to spot Arnulf inside. Then, rudely brushing Finn’s shoulder aside, he barged in.
“Siben, sir!”
Finn went pale and hurried after him, but Siben sauntered down the hall. The mansion wasn’t particularly large, yet eerily empty.
It made sense — once, it had been bustling with servants, but Joseph’s wasteful spending had made paying them impossible. Gradually, they’d all left.
Now only Finn, who had followed him from the duchy, and a cook who came solely to prepare meals remained.
Siben, of course, didn’t care that his own greed had helped cause that.
“Where’s Joseph?” he demanded irritably as he walked through the dim corridor.
Finn hesitated, tempted to lie — but ended up answering truthfully.
“He’s in the dining room.”
Siben immediately changed direction. He didn’t need to ask where the dining room was; he’d been in and out of this place enough times.
By the time he arrived, Arnulf had just finished eating and was about to call for Finn.
“Hey, Joseph! Eating alone’s boring. Mind if I join?”
Siben spoke shamelessly, dragging a chair over and plopping into it.
Arnulf glanced at him once, then looked toward Finn.
“Finn, bring some food. Something simple.”
“Simple? Don’t be stingy. Hey, servant! Bring a proper meal!”
Siben barked over his shoulder. Finn ignored him and left. Arnulf didn’t need to say it — there was no chance Finn would actually prepare a full meal.
The cook had already gone home anyway, since Arnulf had nearly finished dinner. Not that Finn planned to mention that.
“What brings you here?” Arnulf asked flatly.
“Hey, you can’t just leave like that! Do you know how embarrassed I was?”
Arnulf looked at him, puzzled.
“You disappeared in the middle of the baron’s gathering!”
“So?”
“So?! After you and that Sir Siegmund both vanished, Baron Freang tore into me! Said not to show my face again until your business was sorted out. You’d better go apologize.”
“Apologize?”
For what? Arnulf couldn’t think of any reason he should feel sorry toward the baron.
“Yeah. You were the one who said to invite Sir Siegmund, remember? I finally managed to get him there, and then you just walked out! The baron said it made him look bad.”
Arnulf thought back to the event.
Indeed — when only the three of them had remained, Baron Freang had said something similar, mentioning that he’d invited Siegmund out of consideration for Arnulf.
Arnulf frowned slightly. He still couldn’t figure out the man’s motives that night, and had left feeling uneasy.
“What do you mean, ‘condition’?” he asked.
Siben leaned in with a mischievous grin, bringing his mouth close to Arnulf’s ear as if to whisper something secret.
“Your reward. Payment for what you did.”
As expected, that’s what he said.
Payment for what you did.
A loaded phrase, if there ever was one.
Arnulf stared silently as Siben leaned back.
Siben, of course, didn’t know who really inhabited this body. So he must have assumed Arnulf would understand his meaning.
That ambiguous smirk on Siben’s lips said as much.
The problem was, Arnulf had no idea what he was referring to.
How could he draw him out and find out what “Joseph” had done — and what this “reward” was for?
No approach came to mind.
“This sort of thing… Siegmund was always better at it.”
Arnulf had always relied on Siegmund for strategy and planning, while he himself focused on physical matters. Naturally, that thought came to him now.
Then he realized with a faintly bitter smile just how much he’d depended on Siegmund all this time.
“What’s with that face? It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” Siben grumbled, misreading his reaction.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect it to work out, but it did — so lucky you. Anyway, the baron said to meet again tonight. You’d better go.”
So — Joseph had done something, received some sort of compensation for it, and Baron Freang was involved. It likely also tied back to Siegmund somehow.
It didn’t seem like the baron was merely trying to link Joseph and Siegmund socially.
Behind Baron Freang stood none other than Queen Luise herself.
If this truly concerned Siegmund, Arnulf couldn’t ignore it.
I shouldn’t care…
He’d resolved to live a new life. To do that, he should stay out of such affairs entirely.
Yet the image of Siegmund’s complicated gaze kept surfacing in his mind — and he couldn’t quite shake it away.
“…Fine. I’ll go.”
In the end, Arnulf gave that answer.
