Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 65

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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It’s a café run by the Heir of the Dark Guild.
Chapter 65
***
Clione slipped into the waiting room, having stepped away from the party for a brief rest.
A sofa long enough to accommodate a full-grown man lay in the center, with space to spare.
She settled onto it, stretched her body, and turned to her secretary with a question.
“Who is this woman Bidler brought today?”
“Her name and family are unknown. No one seems to have any information about her.”
“Did he drag some wallflower from somewhere?”
As always, she’d assumed Bidler would attend alone, but he’d brought a partner, and now everything was complicated.
To push forward with marriage to the princess, he needed to be free of engagement—yet somehow he’d moved first. It was strange.
“Find out everything you can. Her family, relations, age, upbringing. All of it.”
“Yes. Though… there’s already talk that there might be a love triangle between the Second Prince’s partner and the princess.”
“Then deny it, of course! Spread the rumor that only the marriage to the princess is real.”
“Understood.”
Having delegated the matter of Rosia to her secretary, Clione only then noticed Leonard was absent from the waiting room.
“Where did Leonard go?”
“He said he was restless and went for a walk.”
“Fine. You leave too.”
Clione dismissed her secretary and clapped her hands softly.
A knight emerged from behind the curtain, impeccably dressed.
“Welcome. Did I keep you waiting long?”
“If it means seeing you, I could wait forever.”
The knight knelt before the sofa and removed Clione’s shoes.
She reclined on the sofa and lifted her feet. The hem of her dress slipped upward, revealing bare legs.
The knight naturally took hold of her legs and began massaging them, pressing firmly.
“Congratulations. This is the day you’ve been looking forward to for so long.”
“It is. Though it came later than I’d hoped. Still, I can rest easy now.”
A satisfied smile played at Clione’s lips as she received the massage.
“The princess of Roa is quite beautiful. What do you think?”
“To me, you are the most beautiful.”
“Ho ho, flattery does suit you. Still, I’m concerned that Bidler doesn’t seem interested in the princess.”
“If we create opportunities and make them intertwine repeatedly, affection may grow. And even if they dislike each other, the Emperor’s command will settle it.”
“True. Once I convince His Majesty, Bidler’s opinion hardly matters.”
“It will work out.”
The knight’s hands, which had been working their way up from her feet, reached above her knees.
“Oh, and the medicine I’ve been taking is running low. Go to the Scandas Swamp and bring back more.”
“I’ll depart tomorrow.”
“Good. Mmm, yes, that spot feels wonderful. So refreshing.”
Clione kept her eyes gently closed, savoring the massage.
After a long while, the knight finished by pressing his lips to the top of her foot.
“Shall I continue?”
“Enough. Tell me—did you return home recently? How is Father looking these days?”
“He seemed unchanged. Recently, he appeared to be planning something new with Erickson.”
“What? With my brother?”
At the mention of Erickson, Clione’s voice sharpened, and her suddenly wide eyes glinted with contempt.
“Yes. I overheard them discussing it in the study.”
“That’s strange. Father has completely ignored him ever since that incident ten years ago….”
“Much time has passed, after all.”
Displeased by something, Clione began roughly picking at her nails.
“Place a trusted contact at the main house. Have them watch my brother and report anything odd immediately.”
“I’ll see to it.”
The spy had once been caught by Bidler and caused Clione trouble—Sailing’s operative.
In truth, he was connected not to Clione but to Blake, the head of the Strophane Family.
She knew her father was in contact with Sailing within Verdian Territory, plotting something.
But Blake was the one person Clione truly feared.
She’d asked nothing and let it slide, but now her brother was involved too. The feeling didn’t sit right.
“I hope they don’t stir up any unnecessary trouble.”
The thought that she’d need to rein in both her father and brother again brought a headache creeping in.
Just then, Leonard’s voice echoed from the corridor.
Clione quickly slipped on her shoes and straightened her posture while the knight withdrew into the shadows.
“Mother!”
Leonard burst through the door and threw his arms around Clione.
“I’ve told you not to run in the palace.”
“Can I keep a cat, please?”
“A cat?”
“Yes! A silver cat! I saw it in the garden and want to keep it.”
As Clione stroked Leonard’s hair, her eyes gleamed with an icy light.
“Bring it to me.”
“Really? You’re saying yes?”
The moment Leonard dashed out excitedly, Clione called for her secretary and issued an order.
“Set mousetraps throughout the palace. Large ones—big enough to catch a cat.”
“But… the Crown Prince wants to keep a cat….”
“My son only needs to be attached to me. Nothing else.”
Speaking coldly, Clione strode toward the party, her bearing showing not a hint of her forty years.
Her exceptional beauty and carefully maintained, full figure would have been believable even on a woman in her twenties, evident beneath the dress.
***
About a day after departing the Imperial Palace, I arrived at Alein Mountain.
“I’ll walk from here. Thank you.”
I sent the carriage back at the point where the path broke off and climbed the mountain path alone.
When I first came, I’d wandered trying to find my way, struggling through brush and bramble.
But so many people had been coming and going that an actual path to the shop had formed.
The moment the familiar cabin came into view, all the fatigue I’d been putting off crashed down on me, and I stretched.
“Ah, I’m exhausted.”
I’d tried to sleep in the carriage, but the discomfort of the journey had left my body worn.
Thinking I should lie down immediately, I opened the door when a furry bundle shot up.
“Meow!”
I caught the cat securely in my arms and buried my face in its fur, nuzzling it.
Then something stirred beside the fireplace.
“You came back early.”
“Were you here the whole time?”
I watched Cayden, rolled up in a blanket and yawning, with familiar indifference, and changed into slippers.
“If you’re going to do that, why not just live here?”
“Should I? Should we combine our lives?”
“…Never mind. There’s no getting through to you.”
Looking at Cayden, who had no capacity to be hurt by sarcasm, I suddenly wondered if this was how the Crown Prince felt when looking at me.
After a quick wash, I emerged to find Cayden handing me steaming chamomile tea.
“Come here and drink this. I’ll dry your hair for you.”
Normally I would have refused, but exhausted as I was, I trudged over and sat on the sofa.
While I sipped my tea, Cayden settled close behind me and began pressing a towel against my hair.
“How was the party?”
“It wasn’t bad.”
“Did anyone give you trouble?”
The Crown Prince crossed my mind for a moment, but that hardly counted as trouble.
“No.”
“That’s a relief. I was worried.”
Cayden paused as he dried my hair, stopping at my ear.
“I’ll take this off.”
He removed the earring that still dangled there and set it on the nightstand.
Cayden’s breath brushed against my ear repeatedly as he pressed the towel to my hair, tickling me.
His chest touched my back, and his cool hand kept skimming my neck, and somehow I found myself overcome with an odd sensation.
‘Maybe I should do it myself.’
Thinking he was too close, I reached to take the towel when the cat leaped up and bit my hair.
“Ow!”
“Meow!”
In the commotion, Cayden dropped the towel.
I thought it was just as well and stood up from the sofa abruptly.
“Why? Your hair isn’t fully dry yet.”
“This is enough. I’m going to sleep.”
Cayden acquiesced without protest.
“…Understood. Sleep well. I’ll get the shop ready to open.”
“Thanks. You get some rest too.”
I pulled my drowsy body into the bedroom and drew the curtains.
Lying in bed with my eyes closed, just before sleep took me, I thought:
Taking Cayden on as my assistant had been the best choice I’d made all year.
***
Bidler, who’d spent the night sleepless, brushed back his tousled hair and drank the water sitting on his nightstand.
“Why is my heart doing this? Am I getting sick? I can’t sleep at all.”
His heart had been pounding and racing all night, robbing him of any rest.
Thinking it must be from having too much on his mind lately, he decided to visit the imperial physician for a prescription.
The Crown Prince’s enthronement ceremony two days ago had been a major turning point in Bidler’s life.
To bring down the current Empress, Clione, he might have to make enemies of the Crown Prince and his family, the Strophane house, and even the Emperor himself.
Yet today he’d made the resolve to wage war if necessary.
“I need to put Ade into serious action.”
Until now, he’d been building the framework by establishing Ade as a fledgling guild.
It was for a moment like this. Now was the time to spread his wings wide.
And yet.
“Why do I keep thinking of Rosia’s face?”
At this crucial moment, Rosia’s face kept appearing in his mind.
Bidler himself didn’t understand how he’d become entangled with Rosia, acting emotionally toward her.
His rejection of the Empress’s proposal for marriage to the princess had certainly been rational.
But whether his proposal to Rosia was rational—honestly, he was confused.
Suddenly, Bidler recalled the moment he’d encountered Rosia emerging from Ang’s Shop in a dress.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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