Chapter 39: Flower boy
"Phew..."
I couldn’t believe that this tedious conversation in the imperial palace had finally come to an end.
In total, I spent about two hours here — two endless, exhausting hours during which Emperor Serdic de Stone interrogated me. His steely eyes, reflecting the candlelight, never left me for a second. He seemed to weigh each of my answers on invisible scales, catching the slightest hint of insincerity.
I tried to maintain impeccable grace — a steady voice, calm posture, and a slight smile that hid all my nervousness. At one point, I almost lost feeling in my hands, clenching them too tightly on my knees under the folds of my dress.
Finally, relying solely on my acting skills, I managed to convince the emperor that I was indeed an ordinary lady with no questionable connections to criminals.
And although I wasn’t entirely sure that the emperor believed me completely, it didn’t matter much. The main thing was that I managed to get out of this whole situation.
The main result of this meeting was that I promised the emperor to help investigate the kidnapping of his daughter and the revival of a criminal organization known as the Order of the Shadow. Although I hadn’t yet thought through all the details of this plan, at least I had achieved the main thing — Serdic de Stone had taken the bait.
Now the only question was how to continue to lead him by the nose for as long as possible, while gaining as many advantages for myself as I could during that time.
This meant that my life in the near future would definitely not be easy. But, on the other hand, I had already come to terms with that from the moment I found myself in this world.
"My lady, you have returned."
When I left the palace, I met Serpens again, who had been waiting for me at the main gate all this time. He held out his hand to help me into the carriage.
But instead of giving him a clear answer to his greeting, I just muttered:
"Let’s go."
As if sensing some dissatisfaction on my face, the man did not argue and remained silent until we finally left the territory of the imperial city.
"Madam, how did your conversation with the emperor go?"
Well, since I had to tell him the details of what had happened anyway, I just sighed and began my story. As a result, Serpens was ultimately in genuine admiration.
"I see..." he muttered. "As expected of you, Lady Weinstein. As your father’s true daughter, you are also wise and perceptive enough to outwit the emperor of this empire!"
I furrowed my brow.
"Isn’t that too much praise for a common liar like me?..."
Well, anyway.
"Now that I’m involved in investigating this case, the most important thing is not to get caught," I said reluctantly.
"Don’t worry, madam," he assured me. "We will do everything possible to ensure that you ultimately emerge victorious from this situation, and that not only the emperor, but the entire empire becomes nothing more than puppets in your hands..."
I interrupted him mid-sentence, as if guessing what he was about to say next.
"Not another word about a coup d’état."
"Tsk."
Although the man said nothing aloud, I was sure that at that moment he definitely made a displeased grimace.
After we finished discussing what had happened at the palace, I leaned back in my seat and continued to watch the scenery outside the window.
In fact, after such a tiring start to the day, I was now looking forward to returning to the estate. Especially since I had already promised Ruby that I would spend time with her after we got back. Since I was constantly swamped with work, it annoyed me that I couldn’t devote enough time to my niece.
At this rate, I might not even notice her growing up without my involvement!
No, that won’t do. After all, my main task was to take care of Rubielle so that she wouldn’t grow up and repeat the tragic fate of her character from the original game. And to do that, I definitely needed to spend more time with her to properly take care of her upbringing.
Now, thinking about it, I even considered putting all my other responsibilities on hold for a while and devoting myself entirely to Ruby’s upbringing. I think I could free up more time if I delegated some of my current responsibilities to Edison and Serpens.
But just as I was seriously considering this...
Suddenly, as if the world around me had frozen, I saw a sparkling window that had unexpectedly appeared right in front of me.
System notification: Story quest "Flower Boy." You have participated!
"What? Wait, what the hell...?"
At that moment, when I was completely baffled by what was happening, my mouth opened on its own, and I uttered the following words:
"Serpens, stop here."
"What? But why?"
The confusion in the man’s voice must have been mine. After all, I wanted to know the answer to that question too!
"Don’t ask questions. Just do as I ask," I said, and the words came out of my mouth again without my consent.
Although Serpens was clearly puzzled by my sudden order to stop the carriage right in the center of the city, he did not object and obediently stopped.
"All right..."
After the carriage stopped, I immediately got out.
"I need to be away for a little while. I’ll be back soon."
"As you wish, ma’am. I’ll wait for you here."
After my body suddenly stopped obeying my will, and I couldn’t do anything about it, I immediately guessed that the notorious story quest was to blame. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me for the second time.
Weren’t these story quests happening too often? And besides, what was this "Flower Boy" all about?
The last story quest I unwittingly took part in was called "Girl in Distress." As a result, I had to contact the main character and even become her so-called benefactor. Needless to say, story quests in this game definitely didn’t bring me anything good. So I was already full of the worst expectations. What could happen to me this time?
In the end, my feet took me to a place I least expected. It was an area called the "entertainment district," where I had been not so long ago. Why on earth did the game bring me here? I was increasingly unhappy with what was happening.
But, on the other hand, I should have guessed this from the very beginning.
Of course, why else would I be here?
Once I was in this dubious place, my feet continued to carry me forward until I found myself at the doorstep of one establishment. One glance was enough to understand everything.
I took a step inside. At that moment, I heard loud voices coming from a room on the first floor.
"You dirty boy! How dare you steal from one of our customers?!"
A scene was unfolding on the first floor of the Blue Lagoon brothel. A burly man, who looked like a typical rich fat guy, was shouting and swearing loudly, in a real rage. Next to him stood another man and several prostitutes.
The one at the center of it all was kneeling in front of this man.
A boy with silver hair.
I just sighed when I realized that my difficult fate had already been predetermined by all this.
So Lionel Ferder is the "Flower Boy"?
"You ungrateful brat! How dare you do something like this?!"
No matter how you look at it, one of the main character’s love interests was now clearly in a humiliating position.
Besides, I witnessed this scene completely by accident, after the game unexpectedly brought me here.
But, of course, who else in this game could be called the "Flower Boy" other than Lionel Ferder? So, in the end, I shouldn’t have been too surprised.
Lionel Ferder, who would later become the main character’s mentor and a respected figure at court, was now nothing more than the illegitimate son of a prostitute. He had nothing but old, worn-out clothes. But even so, this boy’s appearance was truly irresistible.
No wonder this character would later be called "the flower of the empire," whom no girl could resist. Well, anyway...
None of that mattered now. After I recently ran into little Lionel by chance, I certainly wasn’t going to get involved with him. Why would I?
But now... I really had no idea what kind of trap this game had led me into.
At that moment, I heard the man’s loud curses again.
"Answer me! Where is the precious pink jade of our client that you stole?"
After receiving another beating, the boy just bowed his head without protest.
"I don’t know... I really didn’t take anything..."
"Of course! Keep telling me fairy tales! Weren’t you the last one to enter that room, and then our client’s treasure disappeared?"
"Sir, I was just cleaning that room... I really didn’t take anything..."
"Oh, you! Are you still lying?!"
Watching this scene, in which the boy tried in vain to justify himself to the brothel owner, I frowned involuntarily.