CHAPTER 56…..
Everett was curious.
Even if he was somewhat known in the capital, he was still nothing more than a fortune-teller tucked away in a corner of the square.
Why is Kyle testing me?
Meeting his gaze head-on, Everett calmly replied.
“Your Excellency, I believe your question is mistaken.”
“Mistaken? I think it’s perfectly precise.”
“If you ask like that, I can’t answer.”
Kyle’s face stiffened.
“And why is that?”
“Because, Your Excellency already knows the answer.”
“I… already know the answer?”
“Yes. If you ask me to state the answer to a question that already has a fixed solution… then no matter what I say, it will be wrong, won’t it?”
“Ha!”
Kyle let out a short laugh.
Lady Charlotte, who had been watching from the side, struggled to understand the situation.
So… is Lord Naz saying His Excellency is right, or wrong?
Everett ignored Kyle’s reaction and continued speaking.
“Your Excellency already knows there is a problem with your current method.”
Kyle gave a small nod, urging him to go on.
“And… you have already found a new way, haven’t you?”
Kyle’s lips curled into a strange smile.
“Then let me ask you a question, Your Excellency.”
“Go ahead.”
“If the method I tell you is completely different from what you have in mind… will you still accept my advice?”
His red eyelashes trembled slightly.
“If you will, then I’ll give you my opinion. And also…”
Everett let out a low, sigh-like laugh.
“I don’t know why you’re testing me…”
Lady Charlotte, who had been silently listening, hastily waved her hand.
“No, Lord Naz. A test? That’s not it. Lord Kyle came because he truly wanted to know.”
She too had been unsettled by Kyle’s aggressive questioning.
“It was my mistake not to tell you beforehand that His Excellency is a distinguished guest.”
On the way to the tarot shop, Charlotte had begged Kyle repeatedly:
Please, don’t rush things. Don’t provoke Naz just to see what kind of person he is.
She kept repeating herself until Kyle, tired of hearing it, pretended to fall asleep.
“So please, Lord Naz, don’t be offended. That was never the intention.”
Charlotte grew anxious, afraid Everett might be angry.
At Kyle’s request, she had gotten close to Naz, but in truth she had come to like her.
Dealing with picky noble ladies and young mistresses always left Charlotte sleepless, but somehow, after talking with Naz, her chest felt lighter and she could finally sleep deeply.
She dreaded the thought that Naz might now tell her never to return.
Unlike the nervous Charlotte, Kyle’s eyes sparkled with interest as he looked at Everett.
“I like you.”
“Pardon? Lord Kyle, what did you just say?”
Without taking his eyes off Everett, Kyle spoke in a low voice.
“Lady, you may go. I have things to discuss privately with Lord Naz.”
Everett’s eyes widened as he quietly packed away the tarot cards.
He wants… to talk with me alone?
He raised his head and looked at Lady Charlotte pleadingly.
Please, please! Tell him you’ll stay with me.
But strangely enough, though she had just been scolding Kyle with her eyes, Charlotte rose without protest.
Her expression instantly shifted as she bowed politely toward Kyle.
“Yes, Your Excellency. As you wish.”
“Don’t wait outside, Lady. Take the carriage back first. I suspect…”
Kyle’s lips twisted deeper.
“…this may take some time.”
“As you command.”
Closing the shop door behind her, Charlotte looked at Everett with desperate eyes.
She could only hope that her relationship with Naz would remain unchanged after this.
Why does Kyle suddenly want to speak to me alone?
Seeing Charlotte’s unusual solemn expression—so unlike her usual cheerful self—Everett swallowed dryly.
Kyle fell silent, listening.
He heard the sound of heels descending the stairs, then the carriage departing.
Even after Charlotte left, he quietly drank his tea for a while.
What is he waiting to say?
Clink—.
Kyle set down his cup.
To Everett, the sound felt like a signal: now it begins.
He slowly lifted his head, gazing into her shadowed eyes beyond the mask.
“Why are you hiding your face and working as a fortune-teller, Everett?”
The moment his lips shaped her name, Everett bit down hard on hers.
Her red lips, visible beneath the black mask, betrayed the truth she wished to hide.
Kyle smiled faintly.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t recognize you just because of a mask? And besides…”
He toyed with the black spread cloth covering the table.
“This—this is my precious foot towel that I’ve wanted back for so long.”
“Ah…”
Everett let out an involuntary sigh.
She had never imagined Kyle would come, so of course she hadn’t thought to hide the cloth.
He recognized it in the dark?
Kyle lifted his head from the cloth.
“Why so silent? Where’s that confidence you had just moments ago?”
“Haa…”
There was no hiding anymore.
With a resigned sigh, Everett tapped the mask.
The mask that had covered half her face instantly transformed into a pin, revealing her true features.
For a fleeting moment, Kyle’s lips curved into a radiant smile before it vanished again.
“A magic mask, I see.”
Pulling out the pin, Everett asked,
“Lord Kyle, you said you had no interest in fortune-telling. Then why did you come to me?”
Leaning lazily back in his chair, Kyle replied,
“I told you. I wanted to know if I was doing well or not. And… I thought I might start taking an interest.”
His shameless answer made Everett roll her eyes.
Finding her expression endearing, Kyle stifled a laugh with a fake cough.
“If you came out of mere curiosity, then why test me?”
“Lady Charlotte already explained, didn’t she? It wasn’t a test, but…”
He trailed off, then drained the rest of his tea.
“In truth… it was, a little. But that’s not the whole reason, Everett.”
Everett quietly gazed at him.
Her eyes said: Now it’s your turn to speak.
A short silence fell, then Kyle opened his mouth with resolve.
“The Emperor hates me.”
His face grew darker than the dim light in the room.
“I can’t tell you everything now… but I’ve lived like a man with no interest in the world.”
Everett knew.
To the Emperor, Kyle was not just a nephew—he was a threat to the throne.
“Since childhood, I’ve wandered from place to place with Alfred. That’s why I have no faction to support me.”
His deep, cavernous voice sank even lower.
“To survive, the only choice I had was to gather information.”
“Information?”
“Yes. With no one to guide me, I had to find out myself. What the Emperor was thinking, how the nobles and the Empire were moving.”
Everett pressed her lips together and nodded.
Kyle had been cast out of the palace at only fourteen.
Alfred, who took him in, wasn’t a powerful central noble either—Kyle had been left standing alone in an open field.
“Now Alfred and I travel across the continent. The informants we planted send news quickly. And though still few, I have people of my own now.”
A faintly proud, yet shy smile touched his lips.
“Then… the reason you came to me is…”
“That’s right. They say no one in the capital knows as much as the fortune-teller Naz.”
“That’s mistaken. I don’t deal in information, I—”
“I know. You simply pass along what you hear from clients to those who need it.”
Kyle leaned forward, his eyes boring into hers.
“Everett—no, fortune-teller Naz. From now on, sell me your information.”
His gaze shifted instantly, sharp and serious.
Everett blinked in surprise.
“They say you don’t pass information to anyone in particular.”
“That’s true. I never gathered it for the sake of sharing.”
“Then why not start now? I’ll buy it. Everything you know—and everything you’ll come to know.”
Kyle’s sudden proposal left Everett bewildered.
She hadn’t opened the tarot shop to sell information.
At first, it was simply a way to survive in this world, and naturally information gathered around her.
“Such an abrupt offer… it’s a bit overwhelming.”
Everett spoke softly.
“From what you’ve said, you already have your own network. Why say this to me?”
Kyle’s eyes swept intently over her face, as if trying to read her thoughts.
“There’s something I want to know. But no matter how I search, I can’t find a way.”
“And you think… I might know that way?”
Kyle shrugged.
“Charlotte was confident, but honestly, I didn’t believe it until I came here. After hearing what you said, though, I’m sure.”
“My words…?”
