Side Story - Chapter 9

Ver found Prillance while looking around for suspicious groups, sending people to infiltrate and carry out investigation. The place where he often visited was one where the aristocrats were not often seen.

He sat on a bench in the corner, watching the passers-by carefully. In his eyes, a familiar figure stood out from afar.

One of the two people who just passed by the fountain was very familiar. Prillance, there she was. With another man. The man, who seemed to be an aristocrat, was wearing expensive clothes that even he could tell. He didn’t seem like a high-ranked noble, and was probably a lower aristocrat, since he couldn’t recognise him. But, he definitely had a lot of money.

Having made a sharp and simple assessment, he carefully looked at the two and followed them. It wasn’t hard to follow them. Prillance looked a little different from usual. She was constantly smiling while carrying the parasol. However, the smile she had on her face was not one filled with emotions.

The man was very interested in her, Ver could tell at once. He kept his eyes on the man while keeping a distance from them. Ver looked around as he followed her. There was no one who seemed to be her escort, but there may be a guard in the shadows. Probably hiding and following her. He was a little relieved.

And the feelings he felt afterwards were disappointment. She was not obliged to report to him, but as an escort, she should have informed him beforehand. Or, at least, tell him about his shortcoming in acting as an escort. Most of all, he wondered who was the escort who replaced him. Ver stopped following, turned around, and put on his hat. If she didn’t want it, then he didn’t deserve to be there. He slowly left.

Ver saw Ralph again that evening.

It was an old bar where he got information from Earl Alvin. Round tables were placed everywhere, and people were sitting around the table drinking. It was the cheapest place in the city, so many people came and went. He thought it would be difficult to remember who came in and out of here. It was clear that he would not have recognised him even if he had met him at this place.

Ver, who had ordered a glass of beer, took a light sip and didn’t talk. The bland beer had neither the cool after-effect of normal beer nor the rich taste of barley. There seemed to be a reason why the price was low. Perhaps he didn’t even know he had an overly luxurious taste. Other than that, there seemed to be quite a few people who came alone and enjoyed it, so he didn’t stand out. When he looked back carefully, he couldn’t find anything particularly strange. Most of the people enjoyed drinking normally.

As soon as he came in, he found a person heading straight inside, who quickly disappeared. There seemed to be a separate room inside.

“Are there any seats available inside?”

“There are seats available only for those who made reservations.”

Ver nodded his head. He had a feeling that man would be here.

“Next time I want to drink quietly, I’ll use that room.”

Ver got up from his seat, calculating .The clerk only snorted softly at his words. Seeing that he wore shabby clothes, and came to a cheap bar, the clerk seemed to think of him as a bluffing man. It wasn’t his first time meeting such people. And that room was a luxury only some could get.

It means only selected people get it.

The reaction was rather expected for Ver.

There was a man who went in as soon as Ver came out of the bar. He was hiding his identity with his changed clothes and hairstyle, but Ver recognized the man at once. It was because of the gloves that the man was wearing. White silk gloves. Men have time to change their clothes and hair, but gloves remain the same.

Maybe he didn’t have the time to change it. Or he didn’t mean to change it. He followed the man down carefully. No one cared about him coming back into the noisy and complicated bar. The man walked across the bar looking around at the people with leisurely steps. And he disappeared to the place where only reserved guests were given.

“I thought I left it, but here it is.” Ver pulled out a small coin from his pocket in front of the clerk and placed it on the counter. The clerk said yes, but he didn’t care about him, and Ver left again. He didn’t have time to pay attention to the fresh air like before.

“Find out who owns the bar.”

Ver immediately ordered Albert to arrive at the mansion. He’d met the man who was meeting Prillance there.

When he saw him during the day, he was definitely wearing very expensive clothes at a glance.It meant that he had money, but was not a high-level noble, so there was some place where he earned a load of money.

Perhaps the bar belonged to the man.

“I’ll take a look,” Albert moved quickly on seeing Ver’s disturbed face. It was said that there was often a gathering of lower aristocrats at the bar, including Baron Luke and Baron Orpin. Some people testified that the servants had come and gone several times.

And most of all, Prillance was meeting a dangerous man who frequented such a place. Ver strongly felt that all of it was not a coincidence.

“Once, there was a time when it was hard to deal with them all at once because there were so many of them.”
The next day Ralph and Prillance met again.

And today’s topic was his fighting story.

Ralph had lived thinking that he was not very talkative. However, when she showed interest in his travel stories and heroic stories, he was eagerly conversing.

Ralph said that in a fight, the assaulters were too lazy to get binds, so one of them stuck the knife he was wielding, in his hand, to keep him from moving.

He proudly took off his gloves and showed his hand. The wound had long back healed now, but the scar remained intact. A scar large enough to cover the entire palm of his hand spanned the back of his hand and palm.

“You must have been in a lot of pain.”

When Ralph saw her face, eyebrows furrowed, he put on his gloves again. He usually wore gloves to cover his scars. The reason he showed her in particular was to stimulate maternal love.

Originally, it was a wound caused by a woman who was trying to throw him off track by blocking him. She attacked him with the knife she had.

What had happened to her?

At the end, he only remembered her beautiful face turning into a face filled with despair.

It was a very thrilling memory.

“I think it would be a little better if the Lady could hold my hand once.” Prillance looked bewildered for a moment, but soon refused.

“I’m sorry,” he thought of her refusal as a self-made boundary, accustomed from the protection she’d got in the years. Still, quite a lot of caution had been lifted compared to yesterday.

“But… isn’t it dangerous to be on the lookout for other kingdoms?” She asked with a bit of a worried look.

“No, it’s not that dangerous.”

“But the Knights said they saw the soldiers of the Kingdom of Hanon come over.
I’ve heard that… If that’s true…”

Her worried question was because of that reason. Naturally, if what she heard was true, then the Grant family’s story would be exposed again.
As she was talking with a more worried look on her face, Ralph said,”Sometimes what you see isn’t everything.”

It sounded like her worries were nothing. But it was something significant.

What you see is not everything.

She remembered the words.

“Then do you happen to know the backstory?”

She wanted to get more information, so she mimicked the way common aristocrats in society looked for gossip. Ralph looked at her. He didn’t think that was the intention she wished to give off. But…

He held her chin and reached out to touch her brown hair. She quickly pulled her chin out, but his hand still managed to touch her hair.

“Your brown hair is very pretty.”

Even now, her heart was angry at herself. She denied that she was not, but she was mad over heels for Ver, thinking about him.

She had the thought of bringing back the information she got from him to Ver.

“…thank you.” She had a sweet smile on, but perhaps because of her uncomfortable feelings, there was a strange tension. The tension delayed her answer again.

Ralph liked Prillance’s light eyes, which grew slightly bigger.

“You’re welcome,” he said, kissing her hair lightly.