Dear Eddert - Chapter 82
Chapter 82
Translator: effe
“Next time, I’ll start playing the hornpipe from 200 paces away.”
Unable to hide her embarrassment, Hyemi cleared her throat awkwardly, ahem, ahem. Cedric still maintained a displeased face as he sat on a slightly distant, elongated stone.
“I heard you were looking for me.”
The sight of him with his arms crossed and legs crossed seemed incredibly difficult to approach. Although Cedric was in a position where he couldn’t refuse her orders, Hyemi still felt tense when she saw him. After she cleared her throat slightly and gulped, she spoke.
“Yes. There’s something I wanted to….discuss.”
“What is it?”
“What does Cedric think Kaplan will do in the future?”
Walter, who was next to her, subtly frowned at her direct question.
“Why are you asking Cedric instead of me? If it’s about that, I can answer it too.”
Cedric chuckled at Walter. His tone was filled with a sharpness.
“I guess I’m more trustworthy than you, who pulls out a knife at a comrade?”
“That’s because you pointed the knife at Eden first.”
Cedric shrugged at Walter whose eyes were blazing like a beast.
“Even so, Eden asking me for an opinion means my judgment is more credible than yours, right?”
“Excuse me, I’m sorry to interrupt while you two are talking.”
Hyemi quietly interjected between them and spoke with a serious face.
“I’m just asking in order of age.”
Their misunderstanding had to be resolved. Especially seeing Walter, whose face turned red with wounded pride, it seemed even more necessary.
“I have a subtle conservative Confucian background, so respecting elders is ingrained in me.”
“….What is Eden muttering about now?”
Cedric raised his long eyebrows in a crooked line.
“It seems like she’s saying you’re the oldest among us.”
Walter boldly declared, puffing out his broad chest. When Hyemi firmly squeezed his rock-like thigh with her hand, Walter let out a groan almost like a sigh. His deep skin color changed subtly, and the heat seemed to rise even to his thick neck.
“Eden… later.”
Walter glanced at Hyemi with heated eyes and mumbled meaningfully. She lost her mind even more. What… what? She didn’t intend to grab his thighs with that meaning.
Cedric’s remark came to Hyemi’s rescue, saving her from embarrassment. He raised one eyebrow crookedly in disbelief.
“Did you call me here to watch you two act nonsense in front of me?”
“No! No, not at all. Please speak, Cedric.”
Cedric, with a hint of annoyance, finally spoke with a sharp voice.
“The assassins sent three years ago by Kaplan were twenty and, there were seventy-three assassins sent a week ago except for Ayla.”
“…Originally, it was a hundred, but I heard Ayla took care of twenty-seven on the way.”
When Ayla’s name was mentioned, Cedric’s gaze became even sharper.
“So, it was originally a hundred. No matter how big Kaplan is, sending a hundred at once is not a small number. After learning that you woke up, they intentionally came for you. But do you know who Kaplan is?”
“Yes. I heard the story through Walter.”
Hyemi asked him with a serious face.
“Could Kaplan launch a surprise attack in the early morning, instead of launching a frontal assault with Christian’s army, because this is Kaplan’s solo operation?”
Cedric answered cautiously.
“If you’re asking if the current Emperor is behind all this, I believe it’s possible, and at the same time, it may not be.”
“What do you mean?”
When Walter asked Cedric, he replied in a low voice.
“I’ve been thinking about it. The Klawe imperial family has tried to avoid power struggles between siblings due to the bloody history. But what if it is revealed that the First Princess did not die and is still alive? And if it turns out that the one who tried to assassinate her was the Queen Mother, Christian’s mother?”
“…Are you saying there might be a backlash from the nobles?”
Cedric nodded his head towards Walter.
“That’s right. No matter how much Christian demonstrates reign of terror to the nobles, the Empire has grown too much. People trying to take advantage of Eden’s existence will undoubtedly emerge. To prevent that, even if I were Christian, I would do my best to discreetly handle you.”
Hyemi gulped. As expected. Her judgment that Cedric was the brains was not wrong.
“So, what happens now that the assassins, who were sent with clear intentions, have all been wiped out?”
“Are you asking because you don’t know?”
“….Yes.”
Hyemi nodded with a serious look. Before Cedric could sigh and make empty talk, Walter spoke first.
“The wars between the families within the Klawe Empire are beyond the Emperor’s control, Eden.”
War.
The moment she heard the brief word, a tension built up in Hyemi’s temple.
“It’s not possible to rule out the possibility that Kaplan will incite war between the families. No…”
Cedric concluded with certainty.
“I firmly believe he will.”
Hyemi took a short breath.
“Then… if Kaplan starts a war, what will be our choice…?”
“That’s for you to decide.”
“Why me?”
“Because you are the heir to the throne of Klawe, who received the Archmage’s jewel. Sernotti moves for its Master.”
Cedric’s response was unwavering. At times like this, his expression as he pulled out the emperor card, resembled Walter’s. Hyemi somehow felt an urge to hit their foreheads one by one, but she held back the feeling and tossed the question.
“So, if I say let’s pack up and run away, would you do that?”