Who Stole The Empress

Cassion’s face turned red with shock.

“Huh…? What is this?”

Cassion gritted his teeth, unable to hide his displeasure.

He couldn’t believe they dared to block him.There was a faint hint of anger in his voice.

Satin sighed and soothed him, his voice softer and more persuasive than before.

“There’s still soot in the air. You can still smell the smoke. It will have a bad effect on Master Cassion, who has bad lungs. I’ve cleaned the outside, but the inside isn’t as nice looking.”

Cassion looked down at Satin in doubt.

“It doesn’t even smell like burning, you’re lying…….”

“This is what Master Tamon had ordered. I was ordered not to let anyone inside the East annex.”

When Tamon’s name was mentioned, Cassion, who was about to question Satin further, frowned and went silent.

He paced around with a nervous look on his face.

Whenever he came to the mansion in the capital, he always stayed in this east annex. The view of the ocean from the main room on the third floor was particularly spectacular.

Having lived mostly inland, he loved a room with a view of the sea.

Tamon also always took care of Cassion’s needs. Tamon would give him any room he wanted. Cassion thought it was natural.

He didn’t think there would be anything in the past, present, or future that would prevent Tamon from doing the same for him.(Cassion)

Cassion frowned and looked around, he couldn’t believe there was a fire.

He didn’t see any soot, let alone broken parts, but still, they said it was fire.

“When did the fire start?”

“It happened last week. It was the day Master Tamon left, so he decided to block it in a hurry and restore it slowly. I ask for your understanding.”

Satin replied politely, bowing his head deeply in coercion.

“‘Please, I beg you. Let’s go to the west annex. I filled the west garden this year with Master Cassion’s favorite Ahamoni flowers. It’s spectacular as well.”

Satin has been with the Krasis family for a long time as a butler.

Of course, it was Tamon to whom he owed his allegiance, but he had also often taken care of Cassion since he was a child.

Cassion stared at Satin’s head and had no choice but to look away.

“Oh, well.”

He could make a fuss, but he didn’t need to be so hung up on the east annex.

And if what Satin said was true, it was nothing good for Cassion to stay there, because as Satin said, he didn’t have very good lungs. Fortunately, he hadn’t had any pain for two years now, but there was nothing wrong with being careful.

It was miserable to lie in a sickbed. He had enough of lying down when he was a child.

“Okay. Then take me to the west annex, Satin.”

“Thank you for your understanding. This way, please, Master Cassion. Thank you for coming all this way. Did you have a good time on this trip?”

Satin smiled and tried to get Cassion in a good mood.

Satin hurried over to guide him, but the knights guarding the East annex didn’t falter.

Cassion, who was walking behind Satin, turned around and stared at the motionless knights.

After staring at them for a while, he smiled brightly.

“You put up knights to prevent people from entering the annex just because of the fire? Aren’t they my brother’s elite knights?”

Cassion was young and ignorant of politics, but that didn’t mean he was stupid.

He approached them again, staring at the knights.

“Step aside. I won’t stay here, but I have to see what’s inside. Did you lie? I need to see if it’s not.”

“Master Cassion! Ah! Why? You’re looking a little pale, you should come in and get some rest.”

“You’d better listen when I’m still being nice. I thought I told you to get out of the way.”

But no matter how many horrible Cassion looked or said, no one retreated.

Cassion was more than a little perplexed, and on the other hand, he was angry. 

He had never seen anything like this before. No one in his life has ever blocked him.

Not even his brother, the Devil of War, had ever established any authority over Cassion.

He was, and he deserved to be treated as such. 

“My brother….would never have instructed you to stop me. Out of my way, Satin. I don’t believe a word you’re saying.”

This was the Krasis family townhouse. The mansion in the capital.

Cassion was also a member of the Krasis family and was one of the owners. He, too, had a right to this mansion, a right that Tamon had guaranteed him.

‘That’s not true, because my brother would never block me.‘

So now there was something strange about the situation. 

“Master Cassion….”

“This mansion belongs to my brother, but it also belongs to me. Listen to your master!”

Sighing, Satin’s earlier irritated expression disappeared and he put on a determined face.

“Strictly speaking, my master is Tamon Krasis. Likewise, the master of this mansion is the stern Tamon Krasis. I am following my master’s orders.”

It was a hard, cold voice that Cassion had never heard before. Satin quietly took out a letter from his pocket and unfolded it.

“I have a message from Master Tamon to tell you that there may be something you do not understand.”

Cassion frowned as he took the paper Satin.

The words written in the paper were brief.

[Close the east annex and not let anyone in. Until I come back, no one else is allowed.]

The word “no one,” written with such force, referred to Cassion. He knew it right away.

He gritted his teeth silently.

“. …… Why on earth?”

His eyes crumbled as he stared at the east annex. Whenever he came to the capital, it was this east annex that he mainly used. It was a fact that had never changed over the past twenty years.

“……Get out of my way!”

“If you don’t obey me, I will use force to subdue you.”

Despite Cassion’s shouting, Satin was calm. Cassion was confused.

‘This can’t be happening. My brother wouldn’t do this…’

His head tangled in a jumble.

Cassion clenched his teeth as he tried to yell again. Then, after glaring at Satin, who didn’t flinch like a stone, he kicked him in the shin.

“‘I’m not going in! I’m not going! I’m really going to the west annex!” 

Cassion turned back with a huff.

Somewhere in the east annex, Roselyn was watching Cassion.

*** 

“…How old is he?”

“He just turned 20.”

Asrell said, smiling gently .

Roselyn stared at the back of the distant black hair.

Cassion was tall and large. The brothers looked alike.

At first glance, all were similar from the energy, moods, the style of their clothes, and even the way they walk. Was this how Tamon looked when he was younger?

No.

They might look alike on the outside, but Roselyn could tell they were different. His attitude toward people, the pitch of his voice, the faint look in his eyes when he was trying to get what he wanted, were all completely different.

Tamon was very good at delving into people’s minds and getting what he wanted out of them.

He could appear menacing or smile gently, depending on the situation, but he never showed any emotional turmoil.

Even when Tamon was younger, he must have been as supple and spontaneous as a young snake.

He wasn’t a shrewd person who became skilled in a year or two. More than half of it was innate, Roselyn could have sworn.

In contrast, Cassion Krasis was more hostile.

He looked furious and didn’t hide it. He wasn’t good at dealing with it.

“He may look like that, but he’s really not that bad.”

“What?”

“Master Cassion.”

Asrell, who was making Roselyn’s bed, quietly opened her mouth, and Roselyn looked back at Asrell.

“He was born with a weak body. To give you an idea of how weak he was, all the doctors in the kingdom said he couldn’t make it past the age of ten.”

It was something that Roselyn also knew.

Because she was well aware of the story of Tamon’s brother, who had gone to the countryside because of his bad health.

“My grandfather’s grandfather came into the Krasis family as a gardener, and ever since then my family stayed with the Krasis. Now, my parents are still guarding the Krasis headquarters on the northeast border. But they are not gardeners, they’re chefs.”

Asrell was originally born in Krasis territory, spent all of her childhood in her parents’ home, and came up to the capital and worked for Tamon.

She hinted that she remembered the Krasis more clearly than she remembered her work.

“When Master Cassion went through several near-death crises, his mother started looking for fortune tellers instead of doctors. She didn’t believe in the temple either. She gave them huge amounts of money many times, but Master Cassion never got better.

The fortune teller she found said to separate the two brothers.”

So they stayed in Belbourn, the most rugged region of Amor.

“The Lady of the house (*Cassion’s  mother) left to the countryside immediately. The Count stopped her, but no one could stop her strong will.”

“She was desperate, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, that’s right. Because …… she had already lost her first son to the same disease.”