Don't Keep a Dog in the Garden - Chapter 6

His lips were pressed tight with pride, yet the eyes gazing at Cassia curved softly into half-moons.

Cassia first thought Whisker was sneering at her and felt offended, but then realized that his gaze was tender, as if looking at something cute and lovely.

It made her feel even worse.

When a clear line formed between Cassia’s brows, Whisker, barely suppressing his bursting laughter, spoke in a voice laced with mirth, “There is no such thing as an innocent person, Your Grace. At least not inside the palace.”

“Even if he is not innocent, punishing someone for a crime they didn’t commit is wrong.”

At Cassia’s answer, Whisker clenched his fist and swallowed dryly.

Ah, truly.

He coveted her.

He wanted her so much that his fingertips tingled.

He wanted to kneel right away and kiss the back of her hand, but she had said she’d kill him if he touched her.

He wouldn’t have minded dying by her hand, but not yet.

He still had things left to do.

Whisker’s red eyes swept over every place he longed to kiss.

Cassia’s hand, her cheek, her shoulder, her nape—until they fixed on her lips, and uncontained desire spilled from his gaze.

Cassia’s smooth forehead wrinkled even more deeply at her growing displeasure.

Among the ever-changing emotions in his eyes, not one of them was proper.

She couldn’t understand how a man’s eyes could become so deranged.

Thinking he might not even comprehend her words, she decided to end the conversation quickly.

“I will be present at the interrogation. I will go to the Inspection Bureau, so return first.”

Even at this order that was no different from casting him out, Whisker didn’t budge, only continued to look at Cassia.

“What if the real culprit is His Majesty the Emperor? What if His Majesty dug this pit, intending to ensnare Your Grace?”

Cassia, who had begun to turn away, stopped in her tracks.

It was a question she couldn’t answer. At least not aloud.

Whisker pressed her further, as if urging her reply.

“Since killing a member of the imperial family is punishable by death, then you would have to kill His Majesty, wouldn’t you?”

Cassia turned back to Whisker, whose provocation was utterly absurd, her eyes brimming with irritation.

She was becoming more and more convinced that the Emperor had loosed his hunting dog to test her.

“The Emperor can’t be punished under imperial law. Don’t let such blasphemous words pass your lips.”

The man who had been grinning foolishly as he spouted nonsense instantly changed his expression.

He was dangerous whether he smiled or not.

No, without the disguise of a smile, he was terrifying.

When she met Whisker’s empty eyes that contained nothing at all, Cassia felt chills as though she would be sucked right in.

Cassia instinctively tried to step back, but Whisker’s insolent voice pinned her in place.

“That’s right. By law, the Emperor can’t be killed. But you are different. Imperial law and imperial command can take your life, Cassia Diorent.”

Cassia unconsciously clenched her fist.

If she didn’t regain her composure, she felt she would regret this moment someday.

Whatever answer she gave, it was a trap.

If not a trap, then a gamble where her life was at stake.

Any move she made would be a losing hand, so the wisest choice was to step down from the board entirely.

Cassia steadied her breathing so Whisker wouldn’t notice, lifted her chin slightly, and looked at him.

Despite the more than a handspan difference in their heights, she held her gaze as if looking down on him, hoping to appear arrogant as she spoke.

“Duke Mastiff. Show proper respect.”

Whisker lifted only one corner of his mouth into a crooked smile.

It looked quite insolent, yet again, it was not a sneer.

He was in awe.

The vile and filthy hunting dog had toyed with the lives of the two most noble in the Empire, yet Cassia’s golden eyes were not tainted in the least.

Those eyes, like the untouchable sun, stirred even greater greed within him.

Whisker took a step closer to Cassia.

“I will be the one to kill him.”

“What?”

“So let me kiss the back of your hand.”

“What nonsense is this, Duke Mastiff?”

“Then your instep will do. Let me kiss it.”

In that time he took another step closer, until he was nearly touching Cassia.

If he only lowered his head, he could even steal her lips.

The shadow of the insolent dog spouting blasphemy fell over Cassia’s face, and for a moment she forgot her anger at his outrageous words and grit her teeth.

She struck Whisker’s face with the rose she was holding.

The rose petals burst apart and scattered across his white face, while the thorns left a red scratch along his cheek.

Drops of blood beaded along the crimson line, yet his eyes, redder than both the petals and the blood, remained fixed only on Cassia.

“Don’t cross the line, Duke. Next time, I will cut off your head.”

Her clear but chilling voice carried sincerity, yet Whisker did not seem particularly afraid of her warning.

Whisker slowly raised his hand and wiped the blood trickling down his cheek with his thumb. Then he brought it to his lips.

A sensual sound came from his lips as he licked the blood.

Whisker, staring at Cassia with unreadable eyes, smiled with blood-stained lips.

Then he stepped back, widening the distance, and let out a groan as he looked down at the petals scattered on the ground.

“Ah. The flower has been ruined.”

“Be glad it was only a flower.”

“Next time, I will steal something that cannot be ruined.”

“I don’t need it.”

“You are heartless. They say unrequited love is painful.”

When Whisker playfully pretended to sniffle, it became unbearable to watch him any longer.

Talking back to him would only make her more irritated, and if she was not careful, she might truly kill him. Thinking so, Cassia turned her back.

“Then I will wait in the interrogation chamber!”

Whisker’s voice rang out behind her, but Cassia did not look back.

That man, just what was he thinking?

***

As the hour grew late and the moon rose into the deep blue sky, Ellen, the loyal butler of the Grand Duke’s household, saw off his mistress with a stiff face as she boarded the carriage.

Having skipped breakfast and lunch, she had only picked at her dinner before leaving the mansion.

Whenever Cassia was summoned to the palace, Ellen was always uneasy, but this time, he was especially anxious.

Because he too felt that “the time” was drawing near.

There was another who clung desperately to reason while suffocated by unspoken fear.

Rinox Orlendo, once again forbidden to accompany her, gripped his sword and stared at the departing carriage.

Ellen, seeing the knight commander’s clenched jaw tight with fury, spoke gloomily.

“Commander, an order is an order.”

“I know, Butler,” Rinox growled his reply.

Cassia’s immovable command not to follow was bitter and cruel.

Both Rinox and Ellen let out a sigh at the same time.

Ellen vividly remembered the day Hamilton, the late Grand Duke Diorent, had returned a lifeless corpse.

Cassia’s father, who had lived his life under open threats of murder, lost his life when he went south on an imperial inspection ordered by the Emperor.

The Grand Duke met a lonely death in a shabby back alley, and the reason why he had gone out alone that night was never revealed.

That was six years ago, when Cassia was seventeen and only months away from her coming-of-age ceremony.

Rinox too had never once forgotten the humiliation of preserving his family only at the cost of his elder brother’s life.

It was expected that Marquis Orlendo, as the de facto leader of the Grand Duke faction, would be kept in check by the Emperor, but the trap that had ensnared the Marquis’s family was excessively petty and vile.

Joseph, Rinox’s brother, who had proposed marriage to Cassia, had to accept false charges and be executed, or else not only the Marquis but Rinox as well would not have survived.

They had resolved to protect at least Cassia, but her enemy was too powerful and despicable.

Ellen turned his gaze toward the palace and spoke quietly, yet firmly, “Be prepared to act at any time.”

Rinox nodded grimly.

There was no knowing how swiftly the spies planted in the palace would move.

If anything were to happen to Cassia, Ellen and the knights of the Grand Duke’s household were prepared to follow the last Golden Dawn.

And so, with some burdened by fear and others by determination, night descended.