There is No Key to His Cage - Chapter 20.1
Unable to face him, she rolled her eyes aimlessly.
She tried clearing her throat and swallowing, but the embarrassment wouldn’t subside.
“Ah, really?”
He curled up the corners of his mouth with a faint smile, like a cunning devil.
“Fine. I’m really going now.”
Elena barely managed to get up, pushing his arm away.
Seeing that he let her go without resistance, he must have gotten the answer he wanted.
“Sit down.”
As soon as she stood up, Decarus tapped the chair, telling her to sit.
But she had no intention of doing so and quickly moved her feet.
“Aiden.”
At the three syllables he uttered, her body seemed to freeze.
Elena turned only her head to look at him.
“What? What are you talking about? Aiden?”
“I looked into this person called Aiden.”
“Really…? Really? Is Aiden alive?”
As soon as she heard his name, her heart felt like it was beating madly.
Elena, her face flushed, quickly returned to the bench and sat down.
“Yes. He’s alive.”
“Ha… Where is he? Don’t tell me he was sold off like me….”
“No, it seems you don’t need to worry.”
Her expression changed moment by moment as if she was doing a one-man show.
Then, as if in a hurry, she stamped her feet and urged him.
“Tell me quickly. What happened to Aiden…!”
“I’ll let you know about that later.”
“Decarus!!!”
At his answer, Elena’s expression quickly hardened.
Her hands falling limply seemed to represent her feelings.
Avoiding her gaze and looking at the roses, Decarus was lost in thought for a moment.
Two days ago, at the Grand Duke’s residence.
The study was filled with a silent atmosphere.
Decarus, buried in documents on the desk, sighs and focuses on his work.
At that moment, a sound breaking the quiet atmosphere was heard.
“Isaac. What brings you here?”
Isaac Abren.
A figure who has built a long friendship as his confidant and comrade.
Especially, his martial arts skills were so excellent that they were recognized by the empire, and he was appointed as the Knight Commander by the Emperor’s special order.
However, because he had pledged eternal friendship and loyalty, he refused the Emperor’s recommendation, which became a topic of discussion to the extent that it was headlined the next day.
“I pay my respects to Your Grace the Grand Duke.”
“Drop the formalities.”
Isaac, who had been paying his respects meticulously, soon raised his head and playfully pretended to retch.
Then, sitting on the edge of the table, he pulled out a document.
“This guy called Aiden, who exactly is he?”
“Why. What did you find?”
At his still indifferent reaction, Isaac raised his eyebrows and threw the document containing personal information.
Tak-.
“Aiden. Identity unknown.”
“……”
“……”
“…Is that it?”
Feeling strange at the long silence, Decarus frowned and turned his head.
“Yeah, there’s really no information at all. I even mobilized secret informants, but there’s not a single piece of data.”
“……”
At that, he narrowed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.
“That can’t be. How is that possible….”
“No, it’s not possible. That’s why it’s more interesting.”
“What do you mean?”
As he furrowed his thick eyebrows, Isaac stretched the corners of his mouth as if he had caught a scoop.
“First admitted to an orphanage at age 9. According to the director, someone presumed to be a parent came and left him. But we can’t know the identity of that person either. It’s as if someone deliberately erased it.”
It didn’t make sense.
The duchy law mandates that everything should be recorded, and audits are conducted regularly.
Yet there’s no information at all….
“So my guess is… it might be the work of someone from the Imperial family. If it’s someone who can completely erase records like this….”
As soon as he finished speaking, Decarus looked at Isaac with wide eyes.
“The Imperial family…?”
At his seemingly very surprised reaction, Isaac wore a sly expression as if he had scored a point.
“Yeah. Be careful of this Aiden guy. The princess you cherish so much might be in danger.”
Decarus, who had been lost in thought with his head down, soon opened his mouth.
***
“Later… much later, when you come to love me, I’ll tell you then.”
“Love? Me? You?”
It was absurd.
She doesn’t love him.
She has no intention of loving him in the future either.
In her mind, there was only one thought: how to escape from this enormous mansion.
“Alright. I’ll be going then.”
He left hurriedly as if being chased by something.
“What the….”
It was a bit disappointing, but still, it was nice to hear Aiden’s name after so long.
It must be a good sign that things are progressing.
“I have nothing to do, should I go read a book?”
This mansion was so enormous that it even had a separate library.
The mansion consists of four buildings in total: the main building, the annex, the library, and the banquet hall.
“It’s not like it’s a university or something….”
If you turn left from the garden and walk straight ahead, you’ll come across an old wooden building, which is the library.
Jane told her that this building is about 500 years old, and because the ancestors loved books, they spend a large amount of money every year on maintenance and repairs.
Also, due to its wooden exterior, it costs more to maintain than the main building.
Creak-.
“Hello….”
The dark atmosphere was eerie, like an abandoned house.
As she looked around observing the interior, an unfamiliar voice was heard from afar.
“Welcome, young lady.”
“Ah, hello.”
Where her gaze fell, there was a man wearing a checkered baker’s hat and brown-rimmed glasses.
A pretty name, Benjamin, was written on his name tag.
“What brings you here? Perhaps to read a book…?”
His expression seemed to brighten considerably.
Well, of course, he would be pleased, with the talk of the town visiting the library.
“Yeah, well… Can you recommend something?”
“Yes! Um… Then how about studying some history of the Estel Empire today?”
He handed her a book as thick as a law book.
It was covered in dust as if no one had touched it for a long time.
“Well… alright. It doesn’t look particularly exciting, but I’ll give it a try. Thank you for the recommendation, Benjamin.”
She flashed a fresh smile, tucked the thick book under both arms and went up to the second floor.
“The second floor is indeed better.”
Following the spiral staircase all the way up, a space full of bookshelves without desks unfolded.
