Chapter 177 (1/2)

A small candle, a few letters, a bunch of reports, some paper apparently reserved for the emperor’s secret order, and a writing utensil were on the corner table attached to the bed. Although he said that he would wrap up his work ‘slowly’, it looked like he would get down to work from now on.

“I was going to go to sleep after writing replies. I have to send them by this weekend at the latest…” He quickly made excuses, conscious of her sharp gaze.

He walked quickly to his bed, then turned around and looked at her.

“Make yourself at home. If you want to drink something warm, I’ll tell Curtis to prepare it for you.”

It seemed like he was about to let her use his bed. While looking at him blankly, she flopped down on the bed.

“Marinanne?” He frowned slightly. She sat in front of the bed table, where he had been sitting until he left the room.

“I’m not going to go to sleep until you fall asleep.”

“… ”

“I told you I’m here to monitor you. If you’re so worried, just finish writing replies and lie down there. Then I’ll sleep next to you quietly. ”

“… ”

He protested in silence, but she gently tapped the empty seat next to her.

There was another crash of thunder while they were silent. He could see her grasping the bed sheet casually under the light of a hazy candle.

He helplessly sat next to her. He pulled her hand when she was about to return to her room and hung the loose end of his sleeve over her empty hand. She looked at him with a perplexed expression.

“You can crumple it as much as you wish.”

She realized something at that. In no time, she smiled happily and grasped it.

“Good. If you don’t finish it quickly, you will see your bed sheet turning into unironed linen.”

“Let me try my best to stop it happening.” He replied tenderly.

His low and soft voice hovered in her ears for a long time.

He turned his attention to the documents on the table. He read the secret letters quickly. She brought extra pen and paper to him to write something while he was absorbed in his work. She wrote the names of Ober’s informants and assassins in the palace that she had remembered and made some patterns by drawing flowers on geometric patterns.

In the meantime, the thunder crashed intermittently. When it crashed, she firmly grasped his sleeve. Although the rain and the storm were still strong, she didn’t feel scared about the thunder like before because she had someone she could rely on at hand.

Thinking it was a marvelous thing, she opened some folded notes for him to repay his help. While looking at the paper spread open, she broke a long silence and asked, “By the way, all these secret messages were sent by your spies, right?”

“Correct.”

“But the alphabets are new to me. They are not Faisal nor Sorman, nor Shina…”

On a small piece of paper were letters she saw for the first time in her life.

Although there was a difference in the style of writing, they seemed to have a certain unified system in themselves.

“Are they something like a coded message?”

He nodded lightly, diligently moving the pen, and said, “Yes, that’s right. This is the code that my spies often use. ”

“Wow… ”

She wrapped her arms around his with sparkling eyes. His muscles felt tight, as always.

“Did you make the coded characters?”

“About half of them. I slightly changed the ancient Silan characters that only the immediate royal family members of Lennox used. I taught my spies to use it. As there was none who knew about it, I was less worried about a leak.”

There was something very slight nostalgia in his voice. She looked at him with a loney expression.

Just as he taught new coded words to his spies everywhere, there was obviously someone who taught him the secret characters of the old imperial family. Perhaps that person did not know. Did he ever imagine that the ancient letters that he had revealed to his one and only son would be used later as the language of the spies who protected him instead of recording the history of the shining empire? Did he ever imagine that every time his son used the ancient characters, he would be lost in grief while recalling the days when he learned the old stories and the secret characters?

“Can you teach me, too?” She intentionally asked with a bright voice.

He looked back at her slowly.

“As it’s a rare language, I won’t tell anybody. After I learn it from you, let me use it only for you. In a sense, I’m your informant, right? I think I am already fully qualified to learn it. No?”