Ober followed her and soon disappeared. Elias and his wife left, murmuring they were tired. Soon the corridors of the third floor were filled with silence.

The silence continued until the servants and maids at the mansion came to clean up.

Outside the half-open window there was a tree with abundant leaves. The early summer wind circulated through the garden. At that moment, a small bird with white feathers flew off and quickly disappeared through the bright sunlight.

The mansion was silent again. It was still a peaceful afternoon.

***

“The witnesses have disappeared,” said Curtis, bowing slightly to Eckart, while standing in the shadows between the bookshelves.

Instead of answering, Ecart wrote something on paper. Curtis anxiously waited for his answer. Using his very sensitive hearing, Curtis began to identify and classify all the sounds in the serene study, including the sound of the tip of the quill tapping against the neck of the ink pot, the sound of the quill being inserted straight into the pen holder, the sound of the teacup being held by its owner, the sound of him drinking the tea, the sound of a chair being pushed back gently, the sound of walking slowly and even his slow and deep sighs.

“I guess Ober will come to see me to report that the witnesses have gone missing,” Eckart said.

Curtis raised his eyes again and looked at him.

Eckart stood and looked out the window where the sunset was pouring in like a flood.

His cold eyes and vivid golden hair were dark as if he had been splashed with indigo.

“Choose the right candidates among the knights or moles to track down the missing witnesses.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“If you catch a suspect, don’t hurt or wound him. Bring him here alive.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Curtis left the study silently after politely showing courtesy to Eckart as he stood with his back to him. As he was immediately lost in other thoughts, Eckart didn’t hear Curtis leaving the study.

Standing before the desk with his back to it, Eckart reflected on what he had to do, action by action.

Since the witness disappeared, he could not hold a trial to convict Duke Hubble of a crime. Ober wouldn’t provide any further evidence because he achieved his goal. It was too early to use the residue of the anesthesia that Marianne brought. In other words, the cause of the crime was obvious, but there were no defendants, witnesses, or evidence left.

The accident in Roshan would be forgotten or fade away little by little without being resolved for the time being. As a result, it was difficult to hold the Hubble family accountable for the crime. And he couldn’t cancel the process of awarding the duke title to Elias, Duke Hubble’s only son. Perhaps, it was Ober’s strategy for Elias to replace the duke.

And Eckart was willing to be duped by Ober’s shallow trick. He even wished that on this occasion more nobles could fall under his influence.

The capital, Milan, was a hunting ground that attracted nobles seeking power more than anywhere else. It was a place where it was natural to hunt for power, intelligence, and allies instead of animals. The people who gathered there started looking for their favorite grounds and hunting. Some had a grassy plain where animals easily gathered, and others had to wait for their prey in a barren valley.

Eckart was a hunter who started from a disadvantageous ground. As a result, he was more skillful in dealing with traps and surprises than hunting lots of game.

Rather than catching each of the ten young wolves hiding in the open field, it was much more effective to drive them to their home ground and start a fire in front of their entrance to catch them all at once. He dug a trap and waited for the leading wolf that could drive the young ones into their den.

In that sense, Ober was the perfect man to take on the role of the leading wolf. He was a traitor with greater ambition than Duke Hubble, and he had much more fiery and daring temperament than the duke. He was careful enough to be cunning but arrogant enough to make mistakes.

‘Ober won’t keep Elias long. I guess more than half of Duke Hubble’s force will switch their loyalty from Duke Hubble to Ober. The overload of power will surely make him move..’

Eckart massaged his numb muscles, wrapping his left arm with his right hand. Perhaps because of the splints that were always around it, even light movements felt stiff. The fingers of his right hand were also paler and thinner than the left ones.

Eckart slowly bent his awkward wrists and arms as if they were not his. The knuckles of his finger joints shrunk then stretched out again.

In the meantime, he heard the sound of the door being opened and closed from far behind.

His long and deep thought distracted his sense of time. Eckhart thought it hadn’t been too long since he gave orders to Curtis, and that the noise was also a sign that Curtis was leaving the room.

‘I think I have to start using my right arm again. Let me ask Dr. Ostaschu when he comes in the evening..’

It was when he was toying with such idle thoughts when he sensed someone was coming up from behind him.

When he realized something was pulling his body, it was after something like hot energy was already attached to his body.

He instinctively stopped while trying to tear it away from his waist. Just before he twisted something that felt like a human arm, some familiar and sweet scent gently tickled his nose.

He dropped his gaze to his waist instead of running away from the heat wrapped around his body. What he held with his left hand was a thin, warm arm. A ring that he could never mistake as a sharp object was shining on her hand that gently rested around his waist.

Even the movement of her leaning her face on his wounded back was very careful.

“Your Majesty, what are you thinking about so hard?”

Eckart relaxed slowly. Even though her actions were rude and dangerous, it was funny that he never thought of having her kneel before him and rebuking her, the owner of that affectionate voice.

“Even if I came here without asking you first, I wished you looked back..”

He wanted to stay with her. On the one hand, he wanted her to warm up his body moderately, so he could lean on her a little bit more, but on the other hand, he felt the urge to pull his body away from her right away. In fact, he was feeling someone was hanging on his back for the first time in his life. It was unfamiliar and awkward, but not as terrible as he thought.

“It looked like you didn’t miss me at all”

“.. ”

“I missed you so much. Today, yesterday and the day before yesterday I wanted to see you.”

In fact, she overly played the baby to him, given that he didn’t know who came into his study from the beginning, but she didn’t care and hugged him more tightly. Then she pulled her neck straight and craned her head around his shoulder.

His green eyes, which were tinted red in the setting sun, met her blue eyes.

“I know.”

“Ugh?”

“I know you thought about me yesterday. Did you have Poibe run an errand like that? ”

That made Marianne’s facial expression look much brighter. She released her arms and quickly stood before him.

“As for my favor, did you really grant it?”

“Of course, because you requested it.”

After hearing a satisfactory answer from him, Marianne chuckled bashfully.

Her face, filled with happiness, turned sullen at the next moment.

“Then, when are you going to reply?”

“Reply?”

“Since I wrote you a letter, you should reply. Are you going to ignore my sincerity when you received my specially prepared gift? Oh my gosh, I didn’t know you were so bad..”

Eckart slowly blinked his eyes, looking a bit embarrassed. He noticed that she started to do some trick to tease him again, but he felt dizzy when he was faced with this kind of situation. Even the technique of speech and argument that he learned from Sir Simon were useless before her.

“I’ve also come here to brief you about very rare and valuable intelligence.”

“Precious intelligence?”

“Yes, very precious intelligence. Probably the only ones who know it right now are Ober, Mrs Chester, Elias and his wife, Phebe and me. Aren’t you curious?”

“Of course, I am..”

“Then, please answer me first.”

Marianne turned her hands upside down and presented them before Eckhart. She shook her hands up and down and urged him to reply.

Eckhart hesitated, reaching out and grabbing her left hand. He wrapped his fingertips around hers and turned his wrist to see the back of her hand. Because of the height difference, her hand moved from below his chest to near his chin.

With her sparkling eyes fixed on him, he kissed her hand like he did at the crescent garden.

It was a polite and elegant kiss. His hot breathing dissipated like a fantasy after sweeping over her engagement ring.

“.. Is this enough as my reply? “