Chapter 116

However, to entrust the Imperial Family’s ‘important guest’ to a greenhorn knight whose face had never been seen in public…

“It is certain that the Duke should receive it.”

“Is the Emperor crazy?”

Cassian laughed out loud and shook his head. When it came to the Emperor, he couldn’t even refuse.

“I’ll find out about the guest.”

“I don’t need it.”

“Yes?”

“Did you find the man?”

Cassian put the letter from the Emperor in the corner of his desk. He then asked, recalling the portrait stolen from the Duke’s study not too long ago. What was important to him now was not the escort matter…

‘…They haven’t found her yet.’

Cassian, who was glaring at Rand, had a sudden thought and picked up the Emperor’s letter again.

He wondered if the ‘she’ who had brought him into the Duchy and used to see him very occasionally was the same person as the ‘guest’ who came to the Imperial Palace. Even though the two weren’t related at all, if his guess was right, it was pretty plausible.

“I already checked all the family heads seven hundred years ago, but the man doesn’t appear in the portrait.”

At those words, Cassian rubbed his chin, thinking that couldn’t be the case. Apparently, the ring the man was wearing was the seal of Duchy Esteban.

“Still, there is one strange thing. There was a time when the Magic Tower received a lot of support.”

“Magic Tower?”

“Yes. Just when the Head passed away, they received a large sum of money, and it is continuous after that. What’s even more strange is that among the materials given as support, magic tools are only part of them, and all of them are cash.”

…Cash to the magic tower?

He remembered the Duke who came to visit him when he was seven years old. It was the Duke who invited him to come in as an adopted son, but Cassian was convinced that it was not his will.

That was always a question for Cassian, who had joined the Duchy with his mother, had a good education, and could have anything he wanted. The Duke already had an heir, so he had no reason to adopt Cassian.

However, the Duke raised him with great respect, as if he was very important. While there was no affection, the other things were overflowing.

“Thinking about it, even the Imperial Family brings in many supplies from the Magic Tower.”

He seemed to have forced the connection a little, but he thought it might be a signal.

“…It’s almost a monopoly.”

“It’s strange that the Empire is the only place the Magic Tower communicates with. It might really be her.”

Was it the first time when he was twelve? The day the Duchess tried to kill him to protect his son’s succession, the assassins who were trying to take his life disappeared without a trace after just blinking his eyes a couple of times.

Since then, every single time, someone appeared and protected him.

At first, he thought it was the Duke, but when he realized that someone would stay by his side while he was sleeping or even hold his hand from time to time… He realized it wasn’t.

“I don’t know if it really is…”

What changed from a certain someone to her was the day he collapsed after drinking poison.

At dawn, when no one came to visit, he lay there wondering if he was going to die like this. There was a woman who fed him an antidote and stayed by his side for a long time. Her cool palms caressed his forehead, and she closed his eyes as if reassuring him to grow up in peace.

He didn’t know who she was as he was gasping for breath with a high fever and then fell asleep. Nonetheless, she remained by his side until he came to his senses. Then, when she was about to leave, he quickly grabbed her collar to raise his body.

He was so curious…. Cassian wanted to see her face and hear her voice. However, by the time he got up and opened his eyes, she was already gone.

From that day on, the Duchess no longer sought Cassian’s life. She didn’t even come looking for him anymore.

It was from then as if it was the reason for his life, he waited for the day he would meet that person.

After that, he hadn’t been able to meet her for a year, and then he lay down sick in a horseback accident. He wondered if he would come to visit him when he was sick. Although he thought that she would come to him in case of danger, she really came to see him at dawn that day.

“All this time… why didn’t you come?”

He asked such an idiotic question, barely holding on to his consciousness, drifting away from the drug. Cassian didn’t even know her face, so she held on to her collar and spoke as if begging her to say something, or at least to tell him her name.

She just disappeared and never reappeared… After that, he didn’t know how much he regretted the words she said.

“…It’s already been three years.”

Was the important guest the Emperor spoke of really her? He let out a long sigh, opened a drawer, took out a portrait, and placed it on the desk.

The man in the portrait was surprisingly similar to him. It was even possible to say that they could be considered the same person. There was only a difference in the fact that he looked older than him now in an outfit that he couldn’t tell from what time it was.

“Shall we try a test?”

If she was the important guest to come to the Imperial Palace, and he didn’t know about it and missed his chance, he might really not be able to bear it.

He wondered if she was trying to meet him, and whether the man in the portrait had anything to do with her. If he had tried, he would have known if she had anything to do with the Magic Tower.

“A test?”

Cassian nodded his head.

He wanted to know… Why did she bring her into the Duchy? Why did she let him enjoy more luxurious things than the Duke’s own child?

After he hired Rand, his first order was to find out why. What he found was that portrait.

He wondered if it was probably the portrait the Duke was holding when the Duke came to visit him before talking about the adoption story. At that time, the Duke kept alternating between what he was holding in his hand and his face.

“…Damn it.”

So, she might have been looking for him because the man in that portrait resembled him. Thinking so made him sick and upset.

It was funny… He thought even if he got lucky and even if he said thank you, this kind of feeling would not be enough.

Of course, even if he hadn’t entered the Duchy, he wouldn’t have had much trouble living though it was nothing compared to the things he had enjoyed so far. Perhaps, it wasn’t enough for the Imperial Family to envy.

“Find a house somewhere moderately shabby on the outskirts of the Capital.”

“What else are you thinking?”

“It’s two days later that I have to go to the Imperial Palace. Prepare so I can go right in tomorrow night.”

Rand pulled his hair with a frowning face.

“Please… please don’t do anything that you cannot take responsibility for.”

“…Responsibility?”

Cassian licked his lips and laughed.

‘Right, responsibility.’

She was involved in his life, so she had to take responsibility. It didn’t matter which way it was, but it was unbearable if she left me alone like this.

* * *

Tak, tak.

Elysia’s face, as she tapped the table with her fingers, wasn’t very happy. Meanwhile, the Emperor’s face, watching her, was gradually turning white.

“Did you say two days later?”

Elysia looked at the Emperor and asked.

“Yes.”

Elysia took a deep breath with the nervousness of having to face Cassian, trying to calm herself down.

“Nyaong.”

Der, who was on her lap, hit the table once with its paws, and it cracked. The Emperor looked at her with shaky eyes, and his face turned blue enough that it would not be strange if he collapsed soon.

“Der, stay still.”

It had been a long time since it had gone out, so maybe it got excited. Elysia held Der tightly and said to the Emperor.

“Please, charge it to the magic tower.”

“No. What I get now is enough.”

The Emperor glanced at her and licked his lips.

He must be curious. Now that the reason to support was gone, what would happen in the future? The Magic Tower was looking after the Imperial Family and Duchy Esteban.

After Elysia became a full-fledged vampire, she left the Duchy and headed for the Magic Tower. All portraits depicting Cassian in the Empire were destroyed, and all his records were also incinerated… from then until now.

She gave just one portrait of Cassian to the imperial family and the Duchy, secretly from generation to generation, if someone had a similar appearance to Cassian, they should contact the Magic Tower and give him protection, and they would get a lot in return.

“Is there anything you want?”

Much time had passed, but there had yet to be significant progress.

Elysia wondered if they would be inventing something like gunpowder that existed in her world before, but they didn’t. Rather, their dependence on magic was growing day by day. In such a situation, the Magic Tower’s support, which cut off exchanges with the outside world, was quite remarkable.

The Magic Tower stopped communicating when her son, Cardel, became the Master of the Tower.

However, that was unknown to the outside world.