The Great Wish - Chapter 8.5

Chapter 8.5

‘It’s my future… but it seems so strange.’

Sienna thought as she leaned back on the sofa.

‘Even if one changes as they grow older…’

The emperor in her dream didn’t seem anything like her. Her words and her

actions were too emotional. The emperor felt so distant and unfamiliar to

Sienna.

‘What happens to me in the future?’

People didn’t change easily, so she must have gone through something

traumatic to make her that way.

‘So I didn’t get married?’

It was hard to believe that the emperor remained unmarried despite being in

her forties. The emperor needed to marry in order to leave behind an heir.

It was a duty that needed to be fulfilled.

Sienna never thought to reject her duty. Additionally, she had an overeager

mother who diligently thrust men into her periphery. Even if it was a bit

late, she’d still be engaged next year. Then, within two or three years,

she’d get married. At least, that’s what she thought.

‘It was probably an estranged marriage.’

But that would mean that something had happened to tear the marriage

apart.

‘Even though the dream wasn’t pleasant, I learned a lot.’

Through this dream, her weariness of Patricia solidified completely. There

must be a reason why her future self acted so cold to her mother.

In the future, her mother would dwell in the Founding Palace. The Founding

Palace was reserved for the heir and, as a rule, wasn’t supposed to be a

place where Patricia could live.

‘It probably means Mother has quite a large influence.’

To the point where it could break rules.

And that mysterious person… Some clues related to the Gong King were

revealed.

‘Even though the Iron King ended up with the throne, he lacked the

justification.’

And the ones leading the charge of opposition were probably Patricia and the

House of Rimone.

‘The Gong King was definitely a vassal of the Iron King. He put his man in a

position of power in order to dispel the attacks against him.’

This method was a double-edged sword. If the Gong King ever betrayed his

master, it would prove to be fatal. But that was just how much Dian trusted

this man. And this man had enough skill to keep his position after Dian’s

death.

‘Who could it be? Is it someone I know?’

While Sienna racked her brain, a lady-in-waiting stepped up and called

her.

“Your Highness, Sir Gilbert is requesting an audience.”

“Let him in.”

Sienna carefully observed the man who followed Gilbert inside.

“Your Highness, I’ve brought the one you mentioned to me.”

“Good work.”

Gilbert walked out and left the two of them alone. The man who stood behind

Gilbert stepped forward.

“Greetings to the Silver King. I am Levan Kali, a fourth-grade official

secretary.”

Sienna was disappointed as soon as she saw Levan. He was a man of small

stature. He didn’t look anything like the large knights in her dream.

“Secretary Kali. I’ve heard many things about you. You currently hold the

top score of all time in the national exam.”

“That is high praise, Your Highness.”

“Do you happen to have any brothers?”

“I’m an only child.”

“Do you have any knights in your family? I think I may have heard of the

name ‘Kali’ somewhere before.”

“If you are looking for someone specific, I’m afraid it isn’t me. My family

is quite ordinary, so I actually took that name as my own once I received my

government post.”

“…I see.”

So it wasn’t him.

“So you aren’t a citizen of the empire?”

Levan answered every question she threw at him. Why he came to the Empire,

when he came, where his parents came from…

“…I wasn’t very good when it came to manual labor, so I took the national

exam and obtained a government post. But I plan on leaving the Empire after

a few more years. I don’t plan on bringing any disorder to the Empire, so

there is no need to worry.”

Sienna glanced at Levan and spoke up.

“Did I ever ask?”

“I was worried I’d be taking too much of Your Highness’s precious time, so I

prepared this beforehand. If I’ve crossed the line, I apologize.”

In the past, she would have just let this go and passed him off as another

shrewd person. However, this man in front of her eyes kept overlapping with

the image of another man who had nothing to do with him.

Their attitudes were very similar. They were polite, but not excessively so.

They didn’t lose their nerves in front of the Empire’s Princess.

Sienna’s lips tilted up into a slight smile.

“I’m sure you’ve had many superiors ask you all sorts of questions just like

me.”

“…”

“It seems that you have grown tired of answering the same questions over and

over again. Aren’t I the one who is wasting your precious time and not the

other way around?”

Levan’s shoulder flinched as he kept his head lowered.

“That’s not true at all. How could I dare…”

Sienna suddenly had the urge to make a big leap. What would be the

difference between a man who was neither noble nor citizen of the Empire and

a man who had long held a high position and status?

* * *

Levan stopped walked and turned around. The enormous entrance to the Palace

was now far away.

‘I don’t know if I did the right thing. Although, I probably wouldn’t have

been able to refuse, anyway.’

He didn’t think much of it when he was called to meet the Princess out of

the blue. After he took the national exam and obtained a government post, he

was called here and there quite often. He thought the Princess was merely

curious about him like all the others. But to think that she would actually

offer him the position of her aide…

He rejected her offer at first. He was a foreigner and hadn’t been at his

post for very long. And it was all true. While he did take

this government post for personal reasons, he was planning on quitting

soon.

The Princess paid no attention to Levan’s refusal.

「Because you aren’t a citizen of the Empire, we can just have you work

for me temporarily. Work as my aide for just one year.」

He couldn’t reject her a second time. And, to be honest, being the

Princess’s aide wasn’t that bad. The work of a low-level administrative

officer was incredibly boring.

‘If I get to go in and out of the Palace, I’ll at least be able to see some

interesting sights.’

Levan didn’t really hold any high expectations for this post as the

Princess’s aide. He thought she probably wanted to keep him close to watch

over him and satisfy her curiosity.

‘The whims of those who sit on high don’t last very long anyway. Two months?

It’ll only last that long.’

It would be best to just humor the royalty and nobility for now. Hurting

their ego would only make things more troublesome for him. And Levan hated

dealing with troublesome things more than denting his pride.

* * *

It was well past noon. Two carriages without any distinctive features left

the Palace. Once they left the outer wall of the Palace, they stopped. In

one of the carriages, Sienna sat alone.

‘I already told Sir Gilbert, but I’m not so sure.”

Kuhn had told her that he’d meet her out in front of the Palace, but he didn’t

tell her a specific time or place. She believed he’d use any method to

contact her again, but she had received no other word from him.

‘How much longer do I have to wait?’

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, the carriage began to move once

again.

Sienna sat in an aloof position for a while. In the end, she couldn’t

contain her curiosity and peeked out the window from between the curtains.

Similar buildings of the same height passed by outside. They looked

different from the buildings in the Palace or the shopping district.

‘We’re going westward?’

The carriage continued to race along the road. After a long while, it

finally stopped. In a few moments, a knock sounded from outside. The door

opened after a short interval. She thought she’d see one of her guards, but

the person who leaned into the carriage was none other than Kuhn. When their

eyes met, he grinned at her. Despite Sienna’s lack of reaction, he didn’t

seem to care.

Sienna got out of the carriage and looked around. Identical two-story buildings

were clustered together on the street.

“This way.”

Kuhn led Sienna and her guards into one of the houses.

After Sienna entered the house, a gloomy tension hung in the air.

It was a sense of danger that the average person wouldn’t be able to

notice.

There were people that had followed Sienna and her guards from the moment

they had left the Palace. They were from the same group as the men who had

followed Sienna on her first outing.

They were men who had trained as assassins and were serving as unofficial

soldiers belonging to the House of Rimone. They needed to execute their

orders in absolute secrecy. They were the ones in charge of settling

important and dangerous missions, even if they had to use inhumane

measures.

Of the three men Russ and Martin had captured, only one survived. However,

this man seemed to be a low-ranking member of his organization and didn’t

seem to know any important details.

Kuhn believed that these men would follow the Princess during this outing as

well. And, as expected, these men followed the Princess to this house.

These men were the hidden strength of the House of Rimone, but Kuhn realized

that this strength could never be revealed to the public. The identities of

these men were probably top secret. If these men were caught, the ducal

house of Rimone would probably cut their losses and distance themselves from

this organization. Therefore, Kuhn couldn’t miss this opportunity to land a

blow on the House of Rimone.

The men didn’t realize that they had fallen into a trap. Unaware to them, nets were closing in on them from every direction. Like

this, a silent and cold war erupted.