The Great Wish - Chapter 7.7

Vol.1 Chapter 7 Part 7 

The two of them came out of the teahouse. The eyes that had been watching them suddenly became alert. Whenever the distance between the twins and Kuhn reached a certain point, they quickly backed further away and hid in a blind spot. 

The closer they got to the luxury stores, the fewer people there were. There was a carriage waiting on a quiet street. The men who were guarding the carriage approached Kuhn when they spotted him. 

The brothers stuck close to the wall and slowly poked their heads out. 

"Is that person a citizen of the Empire?" 

"She may not be." 

"They're too far away." 

Russ grumbled. They were too far away, so their faces were blurry. They needed to see what the woman looked like in order to guess her origin. They couldn't see anything from this distance. 

Kuhn's companion, who had been wearing a robe this entire time, entered the carriage. Kuhn exchanged a few words with the guards before handing them the baggage he had been holding. 

Kuhn watched the carriage leave. When the carriage disappeared, he finally turned around. As soon as he turned, his eyes landed on the exact spot where the twins were hiding. 

After a few moments passed by, the twins reluctantly revealed themselves. Tsk, Kuhn clicked his tongue softly and walked towards them. 

"You've worked hard." 

Kuhn greeted Martin first. Martin silently lowered his head. This was their reunion after 2 years. 

"You should have gone back to the residence to rest. Why did you march to the beat of this punk's drum and come here?" 

"Did you know we were following you?" 

Russ sheepishly asked. 

"Two men the size of mountains were following me. How could I not notice? But there were other men following us as well." 

"Yes, there were three of them. We've caught them." 

Martin replied. The brothers weren't surprised that Kuhn had already known. 

"What kind of guys are they?" 

"We're not sure. I lightly tapped them, but they wouldn't open their mouths." 

"Martin's 'lightly' didn't actually mean that at all. Martin's form of torture was very effective because he had a knack for cruel tactics. 

'Lightly' tapping them would usually result in a man pouring tears, snot, and even urine as they told Martin everything they knew in exchange for their lives. If these men were able to withstand stage 1 of Martin's torture, it meant that these men weren't ordinary. 

"I'll go at them full swing and get everything out before I report the results to you." 

"No, I want to see them now. I don't know where these men came from, and this isn't something that should be taken lightly." 

"Yes, sir." 

Russ stuck close to Kuhn's side and asked him a question. 

"The person who was with you... Who was that?" 

"If I told you, would you know?" 

"When we were leaving the residence, you didn't have any appointments." 

"Something suddenly came up." 

"That was a woman, right?" 

Kuhn glanced at Russ for a moment before turning his eyes back forward. 

"She's a very important person. Even Dian isn't able to disregard her." 

"What the... So it had to do with something like that?" 

Russ mumbled in disappointment. Martin chuckled as he listened to their conversation. 

'What a simpleton.' 

Russ hadn't noticed how Kuhn had sneakily changed the subject. 

'Was it really a date?' 

Martin was even more sure of this after hearing their conversation. 

'Were the men in front of the carriage her guards?' 

It wasn't common for a noblewoman to have six guards escorting her. 

'Is she a lady with a higher position...?' 

Only Kuhn and Martin were walking back to their residence. Russ left them along the way because he had to go and pick up the goods he had bought from the marketplace. 

Kuhn's expression looked grave. He had roughly guessed the identities of the captured men. They had no choice but to draw blood during this process. Two of the three men couldn't take it anymore and died. 

'Who knew that the ducal house of Rimone had men like them? This is a serious mistake.' 

The men were from the House of Rimone. They had received instructions from the Red King and claimed to be in the middle of guarding the Princess. 

If what they said was true, they were the true secret guards. When they saw that the Princess had unexpectedly left behind her guards and began walking around with a stranger, they were probably very startled. 

'Secret guards that she didn't even know about...' 

The Princess probably didn't know about them. Men who weren't knights escorting the Imperial family? Even the royal families of small kingdoms never kept men who wielded swords in the shadows. 

Furthermore, they were currently inside the Empire. The Empire respected its knights. There was no way she would have approved of this. 

And it was not in the norm for the person being guarded to not know the identity of their guards. Why did the Red King secretly stick people on her daughter? It was understandable if the Princess was the type of person who frequently made outings, making the Red King worry for her safety. However, that wasn't the case. Kuhn decided to put off his suspicions for the time being. 

'Then they probably stuck those men around Dian as well. Why didn't I notice this before?' 

Thankfully, it seemed that they weren't always around Dian. They hadn't run into a problem with them yet. 

Kuhn was still lost in thought when Martin glanced at him. 

"Are we going to be hearing some good news soon?" 

"..." 

"If you'd like me to pretend like I don't know anything..." 

"Pretend you don't know. Or I'm going to have to pick a wedding date tomorrow." 

Kuhn took in a deep breath as Martin snickered. 

"It sounds like you're quite serious." 

Kuhn chuckled silently. 

'I'm the only one who's serious about it.' 

She was surrounded by a tall, ice wall. He had no idea where to start in approaching her. It would be easy to just give up since the probability was low and he couldn't see his goal in sight. The fate of the whole clan was at stake, and the plan was already in progress. Approaching her would be insane. 

In the worst-case scenario, he'd gain nothing. However, he couldn't back off now. If he lost her, he'd regret it for the rest of his life. It was an ominous feeling he couldn't ignore. 

"Ah, Kuhn. I will stop by the store before heading back home." 

"Even if you go there, Levan won't be there." 

Levan was the successor to Mason, the general manager of the Raad store. Levan was Martin's closest friend. 

"I thought he was in the capital." 

"He is here, but he's in the middle of doing something else. That's why Mason is outraged. Whenever the two of them face each other, things get tense." 

"What?" 

Levan was well-known within the clan. He was seen as a promising leader of the next generation within the clan as well as a genius. He was the only disciple of fussy Mason. Martin couldn't figure out what Levan had done to anger Mason. 

"He took an administrative exam out of the blue and took an administrative office. He should be leaving his office in the evening, so you'll see him later." 

"Whaaat??" 

* * * 

After her evening meal, cake was served for dessert. For some odd reason, this perfectly shaped and colored cake looked unfamiliar to her. She took a piece with her fork and put it into her mouth. The dried fruit and the cream were adequately sweet. It melted in her mouth. The texture and flavor were impeccable. 

?It's sweet, just as I expected.? 

The face of the grinning man who had just kissed her popped into her mind. Sienna flinched and dropped her fork. The fork clanged against the plate. 

"Your Majesty, should I send for another dessert?" 

A lady-in-waiting quickly approached Sienna and glanced at her expression. 

"No. I don't feel like eating this, so just take it away." 

Sienna calmly issued her command. Nobody noticed that the Princess's ears had slightly turned red. Once she sent everyone out and was left all alone, she let out a deep sigh. Her heart was racing. 

"Kuhn..." 

She softly called his name. 

He was a man of dubious character. He was the Iron King's man. Nothing good would come out of getting close to him. It would be easy enough to cut all ties with him. If Sienna told him she wouldn't see him anymore, that would be the end of it. 

However, Sienna was already looking forward to meeting him in four days. 

'He's... different.' 

He didn't look at Sienna with awe. He looked her in the eye like an equal. When she was with him, she didn't have to include 'Princess' in front of her name. 

Although Sienna had never felt burdened by her noble status, it felt strange and uplifting to be herself, not just a princess. 

Sienna pressed her palm against her chest. Whenever she was with him or was thinking about him, she often felt strange. What was this? This was a feeling she had never experienced before. She would have liked for someone to teach her, but she didn't know who to ask. 

"Your Majesty, Countess Pope is requesting your audience." 

A lady-in-waiting knocked on the door as she called. 

"Let her in." 

"Your Majesty, I apologize for coming at such a late time." 

"It's fine. What is the matter?" 

"As we discussed last time, I've selected a few people for you to take a look at." 

Beth handed Sienna a bulky envelope. 

"There are three people I'd recommend. However, there's a person with quite a unique background, so I've added him in there as well. While I don't think he's someone you need to keep an eye on..." 

"He doesn't sound like someone who meets your standards, so why did you include his resume?" 

"I wasn't sure about the criteria Your Majesty would be using to pick someone for this post, so I just included people with a variety of specialties. I'm only worried that my recommendations will make you feel uncomfortable, Your Majesty." 

"I understand. Thank you for your hard work." 

After Beth left, Sienna opened the envelope and took out the fourth bundle of documents. Beth's behavior actually drew Sienna's interest to this applicant. The name at the top of the document caught her eye. 

"Levan Kali...?" 

Sienna repeated this name a few times. It sounded familiar. What family was he from? As she pondered over this, she came to a sudden realization. 

?Sir Kali.? 

That was what the twin brothers had been called in her dream. 

Sienna quickly raked her eyes over the documents. The more she read, the stranger her expression became. She finally understood what the countess had meant by 'unique background'. 

'Perfect score on the national exam?' 

There were two ways of obtaining a post in the empire's administrative government. By special appointment or through a national exam. Even if one wasn't of noble birth, they could still obtain a position through a national exam. Levan was the first person in history to pass the exam with a perfect score. 

'And he's not even a citizen of the Empire...?' 

He was also the first foreigner to pass the national exam. While not being a citizen of the Empire alone would have disqualified him, Levan filed a lawsuit on the grounds that there was no relevant law stipulating the eligibility of an exam applicant. Because of this loophole, they had no choice but to accept Levan as an applicant. 

'He's quite talented.' 

To think that he filed a lawsuit against the Empire. This meant that his status was unclear. He wasn't someone she could trust. 

If Sienna had told the countess that she was searching for an assistant, the countess would never have included this man as a possible candidate. He wouldn't have even been considered. 

"Kali... perfect score on the national exam.' 

However, his name kept popping up into her head, and his background was interesting. The national exam was incredibly difficult. Even Sienna wouldn't be able to obtain a perfect score. 

'I better call for him and see what kind of person he is.' 

It didn't seem like he was the same man she saw in her dream. However, there was a chance that he was in the same family. 

-End of Book 1-