Chapter 198

Chapter 198 – Weakness

Translator: Atlas / Editor: Regan

“Oh, my! Look at all the people. There weren’t so many before, were there?”

Annette looked at the assembly with wide eyes, as if there had been a sudden surge in membership to her book club. But she was actually in the prison under the Carnesis house. Eucaly was no longer its sole occupant. There were a number of faces that she was seeing for the first time.

“First, I caught the guy that was contacting her,” Raphael explained, pointing to a man who was tightly bound. “Then, I got the guy that he was reporting too, and kept doing the same thing until I found someone useful. Hamilton said this guy reports directly to the King. I just got him to confess.”

Raphael seemed quite pleased with his accomplishments, and looked as if he expected praise for it.

“How wonderful!” Annette exclaimed. “There’s nothing you can’t do! It’s so comforting to have you with me, Raphael.”

“…it’s nothing,” Raphael muttered. His eyes could look cold and mysterious as a deep lake, but Annette could see he was embarrassed as his ears turned red.

Raphael’s ears were very honest. She had to hide her face in his shoulder to hide her smile, and he hugged her gently.

“What did they say?” She asked, wrapped comfortably in his arms. “Did they know anything useful?”

“I only confirmed what we already knew,” Raphael said, irritated. Selgratis was cautious. His orders were distributed between his subordinates so that no one person knew too much information. Catching only one of his men would not reveal much.

“The only thing that is certain is that he intends for Lady Keers to be harmed on the day of the banquet, and you will be blamed for it,” he said, anxiety twisting his features. “That’s it.”

He was learning that love was not always sweet. Love was also fear. What if he lost the woman to whom he had given his heart? His eyes darkened, just imagining it. The thought of losing Annette was like sinking into a swamp.

Wouldn’t it be better to lock her up in a safe place where only he could see her? Then he wouldn’t have to be afraid.

She had taught him to love, and so she had taught him to be afraid.

“Raphael.” Annette must have sensed something of his unease. “Nothing will happen to me. I have taken every precaution.”

“The banquet is for me. The King will try to separate from you. If something happens, if I can’t get to you in time…”

His arms shook as he wrapped them around her, shocking her with the intensity of his emotion. Raphael never showed weakness. The beast had truly given her his heart, and he would be destroyed if she died.

“Don’t worry,” she comforted. “I really will be fine. If the King is planning to accuse me, then I will have to be alive, won’t I? Which means my life isn’t in danger.”

“You don’t know that.”

He hugged her tighter, and Annette wondered if she might die after all. The thought of Raphael standing before her gravestone made her want to cry. He would not cry. His face would only be empty again, and that thought broke her heart.

I must live a long time in this life. I will definitely not die, Annette told herself firmly. She had already changed the present so much just by catching Eucaly, and somehow it did not seem as fearful when she had already come back to life after death.

“Let’s go up to my room,” she said, taking Raphael’s hand. “I have someone I want you to meet.”

Raphael eyed her suspiciously, wondering what the hell else she might have up her sleeve.

* * *

“Pleased to meet you, Marquis,” said a man dressed in a maid’s uniform, lifting his skirt in a curtsy. It was a uniform in Raphael’s own colors, the colors of the Marquisate of Carnesis, and Raphael’s eye twitched at the sight of him.

He had many questions.

Why was a man wearing a maid’s uniform? Why was it one of the uniforms of Raphael’s maids? And wearing it so confidently, for that matter. Didn’t he have any shame, as a man?