Side Story 25. Anemone Smiled Brightly (1)
When the terrace door opened, a refreshing wind wafted in and blew away the unpleasant smell in the room.
"Mmm~ Isn't the weather very nice, ahjussi?" I smiled and asked.
Glont ahjussi looked awkward. "I don't think it's time to talk about the weather, Lady Anemone."
It was somehow funny to see Glont ahjussi's awkward face. The restless appearance made me laugh because it seemed far from the brave general from the rumors.
"First, I think it would be better to let go of the sword in your hand and take a bath," he said.
I looked at the bloodstained sword in my hand. It didn’t seem like I could use the dress I was wearing at all because of the blood that spewed out when I cut. It was a dress with a color that I liked quite a lot but was a waste now.
"That's true. I'm going to go wash up. I'm sorry, but could you call the butlers and clean up the trash?” I said.
Glont ahjussi looked at the corpse of the trash lying on the floor. "I understand. What do you plan to do? You killed a civil servant dispatched from the imperial family,” he asked.
I smiled. "It's okay. The Blood Emperor sent him to us to be killed anyway."
"What do you mean?"
Glont ahjussi excelled in strategy and tactics, but unfortunately, he was ignorant in politics and political intrigues.
"It's nothing. It's just the Blood Emperor testing our family."
"Are you talking about exams?" Glont ahjussi didn't understand and asked.
I nodded. "Submit to me. If so, I will guarantee your life and power. However, bark thoroughly if you are told to, and bite if you are asked to. With that meaning, he made that trash harass our family.”
If that civil servant returned alive, it meant surrender; and if he returned dead, it meant antagonism. In other words, when I killed that insolent person, my father had no choice but to rebel against the Blood Emperor. Asteria was an anti-emperor group. As the head of the noble faction, he would divide the political world.
"Even so, for Miss to kill him…”
I tapped on the worried Glont ahjussi's shoulder and told him not to worry. "My father has been close to the Blood Emperor for so long that he is just contemplating. Even though he knows that his friend is already a weak-minded man obsessed with ugly power."
Father, Heinz von Asteria, was just one who did not want to give up on his friend until the end. Even if the end was the destruction of himself and his family, he could not easily break off his affection. He really was different from the rumors. I can't believe a cold-hearted tiger of politics was obsessed with mere affection. Such that I had no choice but to break that affection.
For the family and my father.
I looked out the window again and said, "The weather is nice."
It was a great day to leave home.
Ah, should I wash this sticky blood off before I leave?
-o-
After taking a bath, I swept all the money I had in a bag that had space expansion magic and weight reduction magic.
"Well, they're all refined silver coins and gold coins. Platinum coins were currency originally used to deal with battle races, so I wouldn’t be able to use it even if I took it. Cenecova, can you bring some change from the safe?” said I.
My childhood friend and exclusive maid looked at me with eyes that were about to cry. "Miss! Please reconsider! How can you leave alone without an attendant?"
I smiled as I touched her cheek. "But there's nothing I can do about it. I killed a civil servant. Because of the nature of the Blood Emperor, he will try to kill me and set an example."
The reason I killed the insolent civil servant instead of my father was not just to break my father's affection. If Father killed a civil servant who was the emperor's lion, then he would lose his justification. That's why I killed that insolent person, to carry all the burden, instead of him.
Well, I also killed him out of anger because he was flirting with me and trying to touch my butt.
"Your Highness the Duke will protect you! So!”
"No!" I firmly cut off Cenecova's words.
As she said, my father would certainly do his best to protect me because he cared about me extremely after my mother died of an unknown curse at a young age. But it shouldn't be like that. I wouldn’t be able to live a very long life due to my mother's curse. My father and other family members should not be sacrificed for me.
"Relay this to my father. After I leave, have me wanted me for murder and protect our family."
My father would definitely do that for me. He was weak to affection, but he was not foolish enough to make the sacrifice of his daughter come to nothing.
"But Miss just has to hide in the castle after being wanted! There’s no need for Miss to risk danger by leaving!"
"No. The Blood Emperor is not that of an easy person. You have to make sure so there are no accidents later."
I collected all the clothes that I’d wear right now, valuables, and emergency money that’d be enough to live on for the rest of my life even if I didn’t use it frugally. Just in case, I wore men’s clothes and a hooded cape that could be used as a blanket from the closet.
"If you don't bring me the change, I have no choice but to take it myself."
"Mi-Miss!"
I left my friend behind whose tears and nose were running and exited the room.
"Are you leaving?"
Outside the room, my father stood tall.
"I asked the butlers to tell Father later, but it seems they told already.”
"Because they're my people. They will be yours in the future."
I felt emotional at the moment that my father said that.
Oh, poor Father.
He was a fool who thought of me, who had a time limit, as his successor. Seeing that gray hairs began to appear on the colorful sky-colored ones, it seemed that he had a hard time.
"That's true, too.”
"So what were you going to do when you left? If it were you, you would have told me to have you wanted, so you would have thought of a way to protect yourself from that, right?" he asked.
I smiled and nodded. "I found someone interesting in the newspaper. The biceps in the picture were to my taste."
"If it's the newspaper, do you mean that Crow?"
"Yes. I'm going to meet that person."
He sighed deeply.
"He is an unknown whose inner thoughts can’t be understood and goes around breaking the dam for no reason. I'll send some of my knights." He dissuaded.
I shook my head. "If many people move, there is a high risk of getting caught at the border in the future. And what do you mean you don't know what his inner thoughts are? He seems pretty cute.”
"Cute? Have you met him before?"
"No. I just inferred his age and personality from the background written in the newspaper. He seems like a person who doesn't seem to be logical, but I think he has a good heart."
The reason why the Crow in the newspaper broke the dam was probably for those who lost their villages to the dam. As evidence, even though the dam was broken the damage caused by the pouring water was not very great. If the path of the water hadn’t been deviated intentionally, the damage would not have been this minor.
"Do you even know where he is?" he asked.
I smiled slightly. "There's a place I can guess."
"…Your heart seems to be already set. Then, I will provide you with escorts at least until you meet the Crow," he said with his eyes closed as if he had given up.
I decided to accept my father's escort.
"Okay."
"And you'll need this."
He put on a smile with effort and handed me a small pouch.
Considering that it was quite heavy compared to the size of the pouch, it also seemed to have a space expansion and weight reduction magic. As expected, it was filled with numerous refined iron, bronze, and refined bronze coins. This much seemed to be more than I had taken.
"Thank you. Please stay healthy."
"Okay, you be healthy, too.”
He turned his head because he didn't want to show his weak side, and I bowed and said goodbye. Then I put on the bag and headed to the back door of Asterium Castle. As I did, the maids and butlers saw me off with moist eyes.
"Please make sure to come back, Miss!"
“We will be waiting for you, Lady Anemone!"
I smiled at them and said my last greeting.
"Everyone, please take care of my father."
Soon after reaching the back door, a carriage and a familiar man stood.
"Did Glont ahjussi come out to see me off?" I asked.
Glont ahjussi shook his head.
"Then, are you the escort?"
"Ohohoho! That's right. I'll follow Miss to the end since Miss saved me many years ago."
It was unexpected. He was the youngest general and the next head of the imperial army. Such a man saying that he would escort her to the end was no different from saying he would give up his career.
"I don't need it. It's actually my father who saved ahjussi, so please act for him. Since I'm not here, my father will need your help.”
Glont ahjussi was essential for the future I planned.
"It's okay if you just take me to my destination."
He looked sullen when he heard my answer. His sullen face looked a little cute. It was a waste. If only he didn’t have that perverted behavior and vocabulary, his muscular body and handsome face would have been to my taste. It was said that he was the most wanted groom in the empire, but due to his perverted behavior, he was far from my ideal type. Well, there was information that he had fallen for a red-haired enemy general and was courting her, so let’s just cheer him on.
"Okay, let's go. I think he’s starving by now."
I held back my laughter and got on the carriage.
Glont ahjussi tilted his head and climbed up the wagon, not understanding me.
Leaving my beloved house, the carriage departed. I had to be quite busy to carry out my future plans.
Shall I begin by starting a war first?
-o-
"Oh, I'm hungry!” Doomstone crouched next to the inn and shed tears.
When he ran away from home, he left with curiosity, but now he had no place to stay and was starving.
"Ugh!. How miserable. Should I go back? No, if I go back, I'll definitely have to do something like a chief."
His mind was weakened momentarily, but then he shook his head. Rather than living in a pile of documents, it was better to starve like a beggar.
Sighing sadly, he took a platinum coin out of his pocket.
"That's weird. I'm sure Talaria, that viper, said it was imperial currency, but why won't anyone accept it?”
Whenever he tried to pay with the platinum coin at any inn or restaurant, they became intimidated and hit their head on the ground. He thought, obviously, Talaria had swindled him.
He moved little by little to the corner so that he would not interfere with passersby. He regretted not having brought dragon scales, instead of these pieces of metal.
"I'm hungry..."
The last meal he ate outside the hometown’s forest was already three days ago. He had received an oatmeal porridge after granting the wishes of an old man who missed his village, which had been unfairly stolen by the lord of the border area. That was his last meal.
"Ah, it's raining."
To make matters worse, it began to rain.
Doomstone sniffled, unbefitting his large size, and looked up at the sky. Suddenly the sky, which was full of dark clouds, was covered by a purple cloth.
"Hello?"
Doomstone looked at the person who put an umbrella over him and greeted him. She was a girl with beautiful sky blue hair.
"Those are cool biceps. Do you want to have a meal with me?”
Looking at the girl winking lightly, Doomstone felt his heart beat faster.
"A meal?"
A meal? He could hear his heart pounding and echoing.
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