Chapter 159: Decision
After cleaning up, we moved to Heilon Mansion. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
I stared down at Carli, who was kneeling on the floor. It was a posture used by knights to ask for forgiveness or to show submission.
“I will tell you everything.”
Paul had claimed that Carli belonged to the empress, but I didn’t feel disgust toward her. Instead, I was at a loss about what to do.
“Please, tell me…”
I looked at Sigren, who was not far from me. I felt an urge to question him, too. What was it that he didn’t want to tell me? But he avoided making eye contact, adding to my confusion. Although the rumors about the fight were rampant, we had never truly had a significant confrontation.
Only Abel appeared relaxed. He sat leisurely, arrogantly nodding his head. “Okay, tell us everything, songstress.”
Carli raised her head and looked up at me for a moment with a feeble expression. I had no idea what she was thinking.
“To earn trust,” Carli said as she stood up slowly. “I guess we should start by showing our true selves.”
The thin, veil-like garments began to fall one by one at Carli’s feet.
My eyes widened in shock. There were two men here?! What kind of culture was it to remove clothes just to show sincerity and build trust?! I anxiously wondered whether I should cover Abel’s eyes or Sigren’s. It was truly a pity that I had only two hands. Suddenly, it was Sigren who covered my eyes. Why on earth was he doing that?
I heard Abel’s annoyed voice in my ear. “How dare you show your dirty self in front of my daughter!”
A calm voice replied, “Calm down. I just took off my top.”
Ah, Abel. Dirty?! Even amidst this chaos, I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. Regardless of what anyone thought, Carli was a pretty woman!
“Sigren, put your hands down.”
“….”
The silence clearly indicated that he didn’t want to. I slapped his hands away and looked ahead. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“Uh….” I was at a loss for words. The sight in front of me gave me an instant headache. “Ca… Carli… you’re a man?”
To be so stunningly pretty while being a man was impressive. I never thought I’d write a character like this. Of course, any parts I hadn’t set up must have been automatically filled in, so he must be one of those.
Wait, this wasn’t the point to focus on.
I turned my head to look at Sigren.
“Sigren!”
Sigren averted his gaze, aware of his own guilt.
“YOU! What are you doing with your mouth? Is it just for decoration?!” I hit him on the shoulder.
Sigren looked bewildered but didn’t dare to hold my flailing hand.
Abel clapped, adding fuel to the fire. “Hit him more, more.”
Normally, I was quite vehement toward Sigren, but this time I couldn’t help but express my anger. “How could you?! How could you not say anything?!”
Even so, I still couldn’t guess the relationship between Carli and Sigren. In my defense, how could I know the relationship between a man dressed as a woman and a prince?
“Carli, are you a spy sent by the empress?”
“Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that I was sent by the empress to Prince Sigren, and no because I was a double agent; I spied on her for Prince Sigren,” Carli said apologetically. “I’m on the side of His Highness the Prince.”
“So… the empress sent you to Sigren, but you were on his side from the beginning?” Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“Yes, my lady.”
“You… put your outerwear back on for now.” Sigren took off his coat and threw it to Carli.
Carli obediently put the coat on.
“Then, what is the relationship between you and Carli?”
Sigren hesitantly answered, “Cousin.”
“A cousin?”
I recalled the information about Sigren’s deceased mother, Carlia. To be honest, she didn’t have much weight in the story and was only mentioned as having died in the past. There was no further story about her. This was yet another instance where the empty spaces in the narrative filled themselves in this world. Ah, I should have gotten used to this kind of situation that was beyond my comprehension. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“Carli is my mother’s sister’s son,” Sigren explained.
Carli cautiously added to Sigren’s words, “And my mother named me after her sister.”
My mind quickly connected the two names: Carlia, Carli. So they were really related?
“So, Carli is Sigren’s maternal cousin and also a double spy?”
“You’re right, my lady.”
“Then why has Sigren been hiding this from me!? Oh, Duke, you didn’t know that, did you?”
Abel seemed quite pleased with the situation, enjoying my interrogation of Sigren.
“There’s a saying that no credit is given for raising a child. Ha, he didn’t tell me either.”
Haha. My foster father was really good at fanning the flames.
Although, in this kind of situation, it was very helpful.
“Then, what did you say to me last time?”
Sigren and Carli averted their eyes at the same time.
Ah! These two really!
“You said that you couldn’t turn away because he was in the same situation as your mother!” Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
My lover responded in a submissive manner, “That… it was true. If Carli found himself in a situation where he had to sleep with the emperor…”
Carli murmured gloomily, “I would have died because my gender would be discovered.”
Oh, right. Of course, it was.
I see. It seemed that the empress didn’t know Carli was a man. Well, I also thought he was just a pretty songstress.
I scratched my head. “Ah, my head hurts.”
It was hard to accept this sudden turn of events.
Abel intervened. “How dare you trouble my dear daughter! You two are worse than those dirty gravel stones.”
I had never liked Abel’s sharp remarks more than I did today.
“Fiona, my dear, should this father drive them all out?”
Did he just suggest I break up with Sigren? “Duke, even if Sigren didn’t tell you, I know you must be aware of this situation to some extent, right?” Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“I’m not sure…”
Damn, this was frustrating.
Everyone was so mean!
I was drowning in my anger. Now, this was probably the moment I reacted most strongly toward Sigren in my life. I threatened him. “Don’t even come near me for a while. I don’t want to see you at all!”
Confronted with my anger, Sigren backed away like a puppy scolded by its owner. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
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