Don't Keep a Dog in the Garden - Chapter 11

Cassia glanced at Whisker, who had frozen in place, and let out a breath that sounded like a dry chuckle.

Back when marriage talks had gone back and forth between the Marquis Orlendo’s eldest son and Cassia, the one who had ordered Whisker to drive House Orlendo to the brink of annihilation was none other than the Emperor.

And was it only House Orlendo?

The man who had severed the wrists of every noble house that ever reached out a hand toward House Diorent was now talking about marriage. It was beyond laughable; it was outrageous.

“I have no intention of marrying, Your Majesty.”

“You may have no intention, but there will be many men who want to marry a grand duchess. There is even one right beside you, isn’t there?”

Giiern’s ashen eyes moved brazenly between Cassia and Whisker.

Whisker was still rigid, as if he had stopped breathing, and Cassia answered flatly, trying not to look at him.

“I’m not interested in that, either.”

“No. No. This is not something you can pretend not to notice, Grand Duchess. For your sake, they would stop at nothing.”

She hadn’t slept properly for two days.

The Second Prince and the Crown Prince were dead, and after being dragged into both incidents against her will, the Emperor’s order to find the culprit was still in effect.

Maybe that was why it was harder than usual to be patient.

Cassia looked at the Emperor, annoyance plain on her face.

“What are you trying to say?”

“I mean that if someone does something foolish for your sake, you too will have to bear responsibility. So you must watch carefully, so that nothing happens that you can’t take responsibility for.”

As he answered Cassia, the Emperor’s eyes were fixed on Whisker’s golden hair.

Whisker slowly raised his head. The gaze of a dog looking at its master was ominous, and the Emperor’s intentions in trying to discard the dog were unjust.

Whoever killed the Prince and the Crown Prince, the Emperor meant to boil the hunting dog alive at the end of this hunt.

And he wanted Cassia thrown into that cauldron with him.

On top of that, until the water boiled enough, he wanted the hunting dog to stay docile.

Giiern, who had forcibly shoved Whisker’s leash into Cassia’s hand, smiled lazily and continued, “A man in love often does foolish things, you know.”

For the past three years, he had been sick to death of Whisker’s nonsense about having fallen in love with the Grand Duchess.

While the hunting dog still had use, it was inconvenient and unsettling nonsense, but now that he had decided to throw him away, there was no better card to play.

In this moment, the Emperor wanted the one who killed his two sons to be his hunting dog. And he truly wanted the reason to be affection for a new master.

The Emperor’s wish would become the truth.

It didn’t matter what kind of lie it was.

Whisker stared at the Emperor’s vile smile, drunk on his own schemes, and let out a short laugh.

With Whisker shaking with laughter, shoulders bobbing as he chuckled, Giiern’s face cooled by the second.

In front of the furious Emperor, the one Whisker lifted his head to look at was Cassia.

His eyes were like chunks of red ice. Not just his eyes, but his whole being looked as if it might melt away at any moment.

Cassia tightened her fist. She almost reached out without thinking.

Reach out, to where?

There was nowhere her hand had any right to touch.

Was it the accumulated exhaustion?

Talking with someone who wasn’t in his right mind made her want to forget what she was.

Cassia drew a slow breath and straightened her knees, rising to her feet.

Before Whisker, who was moving his lips as if about to say something that was sure to be improper, she spoke to the Emperor.

“I will find the one who assassinated the Second Prince and His Highness the Crown Prince, together with Duke Mastiff. Other than that, there is nothing I must take responsibility for, and nothing I can’t take responsibility for.”

“Grand Duchess, listen to what I’m saying-”

“If so. May I take my leave?”

Grand Duchess Diorent cut the Emperor off. For the first time, after kneeling and bowing her body low before him the whole while.

The motion of lowering her head as she asked to withdraw was elegant and courteous, but once again, she raised her head without the Emperor’s permission.

“Duke, stop.”

She spoke to Whisker, who was still kneeling and looking up at her.

When Whisker rose, as if enchanted, Cassia turned as she was and walked toward the door.

Before the Emperor, unable to stop the two of them, could do more than half rise from his throne and gape, the thick doors of the audience chamber closed.

With the Emperor’s audience chamber behind her, Cassia walked down the corridor, then stopped. Whisker’s hand had seized her left wrist.

“Whisker, let go of this.”

“Ah. This is bad. When Your Grace does this, it just makes me want more.”

Cassia spoke coldly, brow furrowed, but Whisker was grinning so widely his eyes nearly disappeared.

He looked happier than she’d ever seen him.

He also looked like the craziest man alive.

Cassia shook her hand, but Whisker kept hold of her wrist and stepped closer.

“Let go, Whisker.”

“I can’t. I don’t want to anymore.”

“If you don’t let go right now, I’ll kill you.”

Cassia meant it. Whisker knew that.

And yet Whisker kept smiling, his very mouth distorted with it.

“Before I offer my neck, may I touch your lips, Your Grace?”

His red eyes lingered on Cassia’s red lips.

If he could touch those lips, even if she told him to take the Emperor’s head this very moment, he would gladly do it.

That impure, blind yearning was sincere, but what came back was a hard fist.

Whisker took the punch squarely to the cheek. He lost his grip on Cassia’s wrist and stumbled.

A smile was still vivid on the side of his face that had turned, but he clutched his cheek and put on an exaggerated show of pain.

“Ow, ow. Not even a slap, but a fist. You’re too cruel, Your Grace.”

“Duke, do you really want to die?”

Whisker flinched as he met Cassia’s blazing eyes.

He hadn’t expected to hesitate before answering this question.

He also hadn’t expected his heart to pound this hard at her angry gaze.

It felt as if blood were racing through every vein in his body, but Whisker bowed politely and replied, “No, Your Grace. I won’t do that again.”

Cassia stared down at Whisker with her brow deeply knitted.

His attitude was unusually solemn, but she didn’t unclench her fist as she warned him in a low voice, “You have to keep that lie, no matter what.”

Then, without looking back, she walked out of the imperial palace.

Whisker slowly lifted his head and watched Cassia’s back. He muttered in an awkward tone, “Ah, she caught me lying.”

Despite his words, a refreshed smile hung on his lips, and Whisker hurried after Cassia.

When he rounded the corner of the long corridor, he saw Cassia’s back as she faced a tall man.

A prince who had been farthest from the Emperor’s gaze, thanks to the pitch-black eyes he’d been born with, as if the sun had never touched them.

But now, he was Jachim, the Third Prince, the one who had come closest to the throne.

The Emperor’s unease toward House Diorent was nearly pathological, but each of his sons treated Cassia differently.

The Crown Prince won his father’s favor by mimicking the Emperor’s loathing, and the late Second Prince had sought to form ties with Cassia.

He meant to ride the will of the people, who longed for the Golden Dawn, and set his sights on his brother’s seat.

And Jachim was vaguely courteous.

He kept a distance, neither making an enemy of her nor taking her hand, and yet he offered concern that seemed almost sincere.

“I heard you suffered hardships again last night, Grand Duchess. Allow me to apologize in place of the guards for their discourtesy.”

“If Your Highness wasn’t involved, then you have nothing to apologize for.”

Cassia rejected Jachim’s goodwill with a sharp gaze.

With the deaths of the Second Prince and the Crown Prince, he was one of those who benefited the most, and along with the Emperor, one of the prime suspects.

Among the imperial family, he was also the hardest to read.

Just as Jachim tried to soften Cassia’s wariness with a smile that drew gasps from the palace maids, Whisker cut in.

“It’s been a while, Your Highness the Third Prince.”

Whisker slipped naturally between Jachim and Cassia and greeted him with a bright smile.

The corner of Jachim’s mouth twisted slightly, but he put on a convincing show of warmth.

“It’s been a while, Bureau Chief. I hear you’ve been through a great deal as well.”

“For me, it’s familiar work, but it pains me that someone so precious has become entangled in something so wretched.”

Whisker glanced back at Cassia, hidden behind him, and his smile bloomed even brighter.