Episode 97. Court whispers (2)
The lady-in-waiting looked as if she would burst into tears at any moment, and her hands trembled. Wiping her wet eyes with the hem of her tunic, she closed her mouth again.
“…”
what?
Is it because of loyalty? Her attitude is a bit delicate for that… Upon investigation, her family is clean without any problems, and she herself isn’t bold enough to plot something…
I thought about it for a while and finally said it.
“Looks like you have nothing to answer. go back.”
“···yes?”
“What else are you going to hear from someone you don’t know? go back I am sorry to have kept the daughter of a noble family for so long. People might misunderstand.”
When I opened the door myself, the lady-in-waiting with a bewildered expression jumped up and looked around, then bowed to me and hurriedly left.
I watched the fluttering hem of the tunic, then turned my head and asked the attendants hiding in a corner of the room for their opinions. Those who approached from beyond the veil whisper to me.
“Loyalty is great. However, this may not be the case with Jeoyi’s entire family. It is also a family that has long established its position as a royalist.”
“If I was worried about my family, I wouldn’t go after my master and tell him anything.”
“I don’t think it would be bad to indirectly pressure her to confess through her family.”
“Last time…don’t try it for now. I don’t want to overdo it.”
I don’t want to carry the political burden with uncertain things.
First of all, I ordered a more detailed surveillance around the lady-in-waiting and the princess.
And, from the next day, Creusa stopped going out.
Her ladies-in-waiting walked swiftly through the corridors, gathering among themselves and not dispersing.
When someone approached, he did not let go of his suspicious eyes, and he always asked where he was going.
sh*t. Things got a little more complicated than I thought.
He had piled up the correspondence that Creusa had sent outside, and collected some trivial testimonies, so he thought it would be possible to press it right away, but somehow there was no progress.
The attendants whom Priam had assigned to work hard ran around more fervently and busierly chattered about this and that, but to no avail.
I thought about meeting Creusa in person, but the people around me were so wary that it seemed useless.
Creusara…
what image was it?
One of the moderately quiet, moderately ordinary princesses of the Trojan royal family.
Even if you were to describe something, nothing came to mind except for the word ‘Princess’.
Priam has dozens of children, and among them, only about a dozen have spoken to him, but unfortunately, Creusa was not even included among those 15.
It was as if I didn’t really know anything except that I was a younger sister who was two or three or four years older than me.
However, when I listened to other people’s stories, there was no special story. I don’t see any reason to deviate from anything.
Gradually, I began to suspect that all of this was someone’s fabrication, or that Priam, who was anxious and impatient, was suspicious, but that didn’t explain the correspondence I had in my hands and Creusa’s response.
I fell straight into the bog, leaving only the strange feeling that something important might come out if I dig into it.
By the time I wondered if I should at least interrogate Creusa after blatantly catching Creusa…
“Paris.”
“Something?”
“It is said that Mr. Creusa’s ladies-in-waiting are going to and from the forest these days.”
Another clue came.
“···forest?”
***
“It was late at night. I turned on the lantern for fear of being caught and couldn’t follow, so I wandered here and there, but it was probably this way. At that time, the moon was hanging from the tip of that branch.”
“If you guide me the right way, I will pay my wages on time, so just find the way. If you find the way, I can give you all the iron coins that are currently worn around your waist.”
“thank you. . . this way.”
The hunter, who had been hired to follow her, said that she pursued the princess’ maid as she secretly pursues a deer or other fearful and suspicious beast of the field.
Whether or not that was a lie, the road that the lady-in-waiting went through at dawn was also not a road that was frequented by people. From time to time in the bush, a grasshopper jumped up with a cry, and the dew made my thighs wet.
After wandering a few times, we came into a dark and deep forest.
“Here the maid stopped. Then, holding on to a branch, I stood snooping for a long time…”
“Are you standing there?”
“It just went back.”
“···what?”
When I asked back in confusion, the hunter led me and parked me in front of a tree, claiming that it was the place where the lady-in-waiting had been standing.
“But the lady-in-waiting you told me about at the time, and everyone else, just stood around here and left.”
No matter how you think about it, it’s strange…
I tilted my head and looked around near the tree where the ladies-in-waiting were said to have been hanging around. Then, as the ladies-in-waiting did, they held onto branches and shook them.
– Tok.
Soon, a green leaf gently falls to the ground. It’s a pretty scenery, but…
“What is this?”
If something is written on the leaves, the baby is different.
“Something like writing.”
The other attendants who followed me tilted their heads as they expressed their opinions.
Text still unreadable. I didn’t know why, so I just held on to the leaves, and suddenly the wind snatched the leaves from my hands. As I try to catch the leaves rustling away with the wind, a voice passes by my ear.
[Then you can’t use it.]
“···what.”
When I look back, the wind gathers in the shape of a transparent woman and then disperses.
In the meantime, the leaves gradually moved away toward a place where they could not be found again.
What is it really?
The mermaids made a fuss like that, but are they fairies this time? Besides, it’s not Jo Gwang-jo, he carves letters on leaves?
“…First, let’s break the news to the king.”
I don’t know what it is, but the situation seems to be seriously screwed up.
Mermaids are just wandering bandits with fins, so even so, fairies are different. It can be seen as a kind of local maintenance concept. Staying in the area, exercising dominion.
The princess commits treason with the help of a fairy…?
I refrained from feeling dizzy and asked the hunter standing around.
“Will the ladies-in-waiting come here tomorrow morning?”
“Perhaps. Every day they came to visit me, whispering something, staring blankly at the tree, and touching the leaves.”
“Then let’s start preparing tonight. As soon as the moon rises, I will chase after you.”
If there is no evidence…
The answer is a field raid.
***
As soon as I returned to the mansion, I put on my outdoor cloak and came out again.
Even when I asked Ino about the news of the fairies around her, all she said was that she hadn’t properly contacted her since she had just arrived in Troia. There was nothing more I could do by sitting at home.
In the end, just wait.
As we wait for the sun to set at the outer edge of the city, soon a woman wearing a dark cloak hurries out of the city.
She has a basket on her side, so if a stranger sees her, she’ll just want to go hunting for mushrooms.
“The maid has moved.”
“good.”
we moved on our own
Fortunately, it was an old moon day, so the light was not bright.
One of the things I learned over the years of living as a shepherd in the ancient world was that moonlight was quite useful in places where there were no light sources such as flashlights or signboards.
In a situation where the handmaid could not enjoy its usefulness, she did not notice the existence of the secret pursuers.
He hurried his steps while looking around sparsely, but his hasty gait and impatient mind seemed to have further narrowed his previously limited field of vision.
We tracked her undetected until we reached the woods.
And… the lady-in-waiting reached out toward the tree we saw last time.
At the same time, a breeze blew, and soon the fairies appeared one by one in the wind, took the maid’s outstretched hand, and took her somewhere.
I looked around for a while.
A couple of attendants, a hunter I brought as a guide, and me.
Can four adult men swarm together in a dark forest and remain undetected? Fooling the eyes of fairies in their realm?
I don’t think so.
After defeating the servants and hunters, I pursued the maid alone.
He wore a bracelet with a hidden blade on his left arm, and put his right arm on the hilt.
The sound of the branches hitting each other in the wind overshadowed the sound of my footsteps and the rustling of my clothes. Even though I was following at a fairly high speed, the lady-in-waiting was led by the fairies without noticing.
Then I stopped walking.
There was a clearing in the middle of the forest.
All over the round hill were scattered weeds and shrubs, but the densely grown pine and fir trees had stopped spreading their branches at the edge of the clearing.
The sky is open and the stars are dotted with stars.
[If you wait here for a while, the child will come.]
A green scent spreads through the voices of the fairies.
[Is it true that the princess is also coming this night?]
“···yes. I’m sure Creusa-nim said she could come too. No, he said he would definitely come. They are guests from far away.”
To the fairies’ question, the maid answered with a silent nod.
The fairies clapped their hands happily at the lady-in-waiting’s answer, twirled lightly, or giggled.
I’ve often seen fairies having fun like that… On what occasion did they react like that?
Before thinking about anything, the fairies run all over the place throwing things and singing.
What was it for… I thought about it, and all of a sudden, the tips of the leaves of the conifers began to glow white.
like a jewel. Like the lights on the Christmas tree.
[Because I’ve poured out all the dewdrops I’ve collected over the past few days. Your princess can’t imagine something like this, right?]
The lady-in-waiting looked around, unable to keep her mouth shut, and I couldn’t help but admire.
Of course, in this day and age, incandescent light bulbs do not exist yet. In order for Edison to be born, about 120 generations will have to pass, at least in human history.
As such, artificial light sources other than torches and lanterns are unfamiliar to people today. It’s been almost 20 years since I haven’t seen the LED bulbs scattered everywhere during the Christmas season.
However, the scene unfolding around me now reminded me of a department store in the 21st century New Year season.
No, it was even more beautiful than that. The soft and beautiful lights like fireflies were like distant starlight, and it seemed that the constellations that came down to the ground were scattered among the trees.
Not long after I thought of fireflies, the fairies started releasing fireflies as well. Warm dots between light green and yellow flickered through the night.
“Is this really the right place?”
A voice is heard in such a dazzling light.
His voice trembled as if he was a little nervous, and it was difficult to hear whether he was wearing a mask, but he could guess what he was saying.
[that’s right. The princess will come here.]
“Uh, how long should I wait…”
Gender maybe male? I don’t know if he was conscious of his surroundings and spoke quietly, or maybe he had a quiet personality, but he showed signs of nervousness and his voice was low.
[The lady-in-waiting just brought the basket, so you just have to take it.]
Come to think of it, the lady-in-waiting came with a basket on her side as she passed through the forest.
I still don’t know what’s inside.
When the man hesitates, the fairies push him off his back and force him to walk toward the maid.
[Why are you so insecure? You will succeed. You just need to snatch the princess at the decisive moment.]
[You’ve been planning for months with us! When you make a plan, do you think about things by yourself?]
“That, hey, I saw what my father was doing…”
[…don’t talk about your father when the princess comes.]
[It’s terrible. What to do with this?]
[I heard from the neighborhood that Priam’s second son was so skillful…]
At the last word, the man strides towards the lady-in-waiting and tries to hand over the basket.
I don’t know what’s inside, but it must be something important. If you secure that, you will be able to resolve the situation or secure evidence.
I moved my right hand that had been placed on the hilt. The sword body is pulled out halfway and bounces off the colorful lights around it.
Just as he was about to straighten his bent knees and come out of the bushes.
[Then I can’t use it!]
I hear the same voice I heard from the tree last time.
“Damn it, I got caught…”
When I look back, three or four fairies block my mouth and force me to sit down.
Forced to turn his head, the man took over the basket and pulled back the cloth covering it.
“May I try spraying on it beforehand?”
[Well, because I have to prepare.]
[Do it once. If you do too much, you lose.]
The man carefully puts his hand into the basket, squeezes the contents into a handful, and scatters them everywhere.
-Salangsalang.
···Sarangsalang?
petal?
“Everything, prepared for you…”
[Don’t be afraid!]
[Don’t stutter!]
The man took off his mask and fanned himself as if trying to cool off the heat rising from all directions.
“I-I-I’m working hard too!!”
ah.
Somehow, something felt in the voice, something… it was familiar.
Aeneas, whose blush reached up to his ears, was holding his face among the fluttering petals.