Don't Keep a Dog in the Garden - Chapter 29

Whisker asked again, his voice lowered, “Did something happen in Elium?”

“Nothing of that sort, but the Crown Prince visited the Grand Ducal residence.”

At the agent’s answer, Whisker clicked his tongue.

What had that snake been whispering this time?

One thing he could guess was that the fact he’d uncovered here was something Jachim already knew.

And now, she would know it as well.

How much did she know?

Rising from the chair, Whisker waved a hand to dismiss the agent and stood by the window.

The summer sun was slowly sinking.

As the red glow of sunset dyed the fields of Verdi, a name he had long buried surfaced in his mind.

Vibrio Cornwall.

He was the Emperor’s hunting dog, and….

Whisker narrowed his eyes and looked at the sun collapsing onto the earth, scattering a blood-red light as if vomiting blood.

“The sun is beautiful even as it sets. Yet there are those who are ugly in every moment they breathe.”

He let out a short laugh, offering a listless remark as he looked at the beautiful sunset.

It was a sneer, but not directed at the sun.

For days on end, he sat in this spot, wasting time as he stared blankly at sunsets that seemed the same yet different.

Because there was something he needed to say when he returned.

How much could he say?

He had already lied, saying there was nothing he couldn’t tell her.

***

Even though they hurried, by the time Cassia’s party arrived at the Grand Duchy in Verdi, it was already deep into the night.

As they reached the Grand Ducal castle after traveling along dark roads, a group of people had gathered in front of the brightly lit gates.

Cassia opened the carriage window and leaned her head out.

Under the night sky, a man with golden hair that shone brightly waved both hands above his head.

“My lady~”

Rinox, who had been leading the party at the front, clicked his tongue and brought his horse to a stop.

Whisker rushed over, opened the carriage door, and even stepped inside, extending his hand toward Cassia.

“You’re only arriving now? Was your journey peaceful? I thought my neck would snap from waiting after hearing you were coming.”

“Then you should’ve come to Elium to pick me up.”

“If you’d told me in advance, I would have.”

Rinox dismounted and grumbled, and Whisker replied with a wide grin that made his cheeks sink in.

He looked no different from usual.

Was Jachim’s warning nothing more than a shallow ploy?

In any case, seeing Whisker safe, Cassia felt relieved.

“Rinox, you must be tired, but keep a close watch on the surroundings.”

“Leave it to me, Your Grace.”

Rinox and the knights of the House of Diorent bowed their heads to Cassia.

Unlike the Grand Ducal residence, which had been fortified over three generations, the Grand Ducal castle in the territory was large and had many entrances, making it difficult to guard.

Moreover, the presence of a thousand imperial troops here was an added risk, so Rinox was on edge.

He gave a slight bow to Whisker, who stood close at Cassia’s side, and spoke, “I’m counting on you, Duke.”

“Leave it to me,” Whisker replied confidently, raising his thumb.

His expression was rather irritating, but there were few as reliable as Whisker when it came to guarding her side.

Rinox made a displeased face, but bowed a little deeper before leading the knights away.

Cassia and Whisker held hands and entered the Grand Ducal castle side by side.

It had been six years since she last came here, not once since her father passed away.

Instead of using the lord’s chamber her father once occupied, Cassia chose to stay in the room she had used as a child.

Since she had spent most of her time in Elium, even her own room felt unfamiliar.

“It feels like I’m on a trip,” Cassia said, running her hand over a beige bedside table she wouldn’t use now.

Whisker twirled a strand of her hair around his finger and deeply inhaled her scent.

Filling his lungs with her scent, utterly satisfied, he replied, “A honeymoon?”

“No. That, we should do properly.”

“Properly?”

“Next time. When everything is over.”

“When everything is over.”

As Whisker repeated her words, the strand of black hair slipped from his fingertips.

He couldn’t hold on to it as he stared blankly into her golden eyes.

There was already a place they were meant to go when everything was over.

He couldn’t bring himself to say that they might never go on a honeymoon at all.

As he fell silent, Cassia spoke in his stead. “Did you find the one who killed my father?”

The faint, unfocused light in Whisker’s eyes instantly sharpened into a vivid red.

With his pupils tightening, his mind, filled with Cassia, was as complex and clear as that of a beast on the hunt.

He lowered his gaze and let it drift, then slowly shook his head.

It didn’t matter if he appeared miserable or pitiful.

Like a dog that failed its hunt, dejected, Whisker lied, “I couldn’t find them.”

Cassia didn’t notice his lie.

As if she hadn’t expected much to begin with, she simply nodded.

If it were something that could be uncovered this easily, the Emperor wouldn’t have sent Whisker here in the first place.

Cassia patted Whisker’s shoulder to comfort him, but his broad shoulders only sank further.

Why was she so naive at times like this?

Hadn’t the rumor that the Bureau Chief of the Fedemillon Empire built his reputation on schemes spread even within the Grand Ducal residence?

In truth, he had found it. He had found it long ago.

It was something he uncovered in just three days after arriving in the Grand Duchy.

At the time, the imperial army conducted a wide-ranging investigation, and the culprit’s trace had remained as collected evidence.

It was just that no one had recognized what it was.

Among the living, only Whisker could identify that evidence.

And it was now in his hands.

Even so, the reason he couldn’t reveal the truth was that the evidence he had finally obtained was useless.

And the reason it was useless was that Whisker himself had severed the link between that evidence and the culprits.

Watching Whisker grow more and more dejected, Cassia quickly finished preparing for bed.

There was much to talk about, but since it was late, she decided to let her gloomy-looking husband sleep first.

Dressed in nightwear, Cassia and Whisker lay down side by side.

Soon, Whisker turned onto his side and spoke while looking at Cassia’s profile.

“I heard the Crown Prince came by.”

“Why don’t you tell me now? Who exactly is your informant?”

“An informant? I simply have a few pigeon friends watching from afar.”

“Pigeons….”

She looked at him with a baffled expression at the sudden talk of birds, but Whisker only smiled sweetly.

It seemed it would be difficult to find out who among the pigeons Whisker had infiltrated into the Grand Ducal residence, so Cassia answered his question instead.

“He said there’s still something left to exchange between you. Do you still have something pending with His Highness the Crown Prince?”

“Who knows. I thought our accounts were settled.”

Whisker turned onto his side, propping his chin on his hand, and shrugged.

Cassia parted her lips, hesitated once, then spoke again, “He also said the one who ordered my father’s death was the Emperor, and the one who carried it out was the Duke of Cornwall.”

Whisker gave no reply.

Lowering her eyes, Cassia continued in a low, slow voice, “I don’t know what the Crown Prince is after, but it doesn’t sound entirely unbelievable. When the Emperor suddenly cast aside the Duke of Cornwall back then, everyone found it strange. He must’ve found the Duke of Cornwall, who held the Emperor’s dirty secret of ordering the Grand Duke’s assassination, to be a burden.”

“And that’s why he ordered me to ‘clean up.’”

Whisker, the very person who wiped out the House of Cornwall, answered flatly.

“Thanks to that, no evidence remained linking the Duke of Cornwall to the Emperor.”

So that incident was both the Emperor’s disgrace and Whisker’s disgrace.

Starting with that deal, he piled up countless stains to gain the Emperor’s trust.

The past six years Whisker lived as the Bureau Chief were his disgrace and, at the same time, the Emperor’s disgrace.

And thus, it became the justification tied to his life.

Whisker looked at the silent Cassia with growing unease, his lips parting.

After several moments of hesitation, what came out of his mouth was a cowardly question he could neither confess nor apologize for.

“Don’t you hate me for acting as the Emperor’s dog?”

Cassia turned her head and met Whisker’s eyes.