Chapter 92. Young Master Luo Nan, Upon Reading This Letter
"Alright, Serela—you sent Anya away early. There must be sothing you couldn't say in front of outsiders."
After Anya left, Luo Nan settled back onto the sofa and looked at the breathtakingly beautiful golden-haired Imperial Princess, his tone unhurried.
Hearing the word "outsiders" from Luo Nan's lips, Serela let slip a faint smile that was easy to miss.
"Mm…… wasn't it you who wanted to hear my read on things, Luo Nan?" Serela folded her arms across her chest, her expression perfectly at ease. "So things are better left unknown by Miss Anya—knowing would only add to her troubles."
"Go ahead then."
"Let's see what Miss Pati left behind first, then talk."
"Fair enough."
The two made their way to Pati's bedroom. Luo Nan glanced around at the simply furnished room, and a faint sense of nostalgia stirred within him.
He rembered…… as a child, when he and his little sister Qili used to play hide-and-seek, he always loved crawling under Pati's bed and lifting his face to look pitiful.
Pati always fell for it. Every ti Qili brought Aina along to look for him, she would be sent away by Pati on so pretext or another.
But in the end, his little trick was always found out by Qili. Even now, Luo Nan had never forgotten the way that tiny girl had looked at him with that 'you're trash' expression.
Quite at odds with her adorable face, wouldn't you say!
But now…… Pati had betrayed him, and his relationship with Qili was nearly shattered.
Hah.
Luo Nan let out an imperceptible sigh, set aside the old mories, and walked to Pati's bedside.
He swept a glance over the spotless, neatly made bed—and, for reasons he couldn't quite explain, instinctively crouched down.
"Luo Nan?"
Serela asked, mildly puzzled.
"Mm…… let
check under the bed first."
With that, Luo Nan crawled beneath the bed and craned his neck to look up at the space between the mattress layers above him.
A neatly sealed letter was tucked right there in plain sight.
No hidden chanism. No unexpected location.
Pati Beckett's letter was sitting in exactly the spot where he had loved to hide as a child.
Luo Nan said nothing. He pulled out the letter, rose to his feet, and held it up in front of Serela. "Found it. Serela, let's talk in my bedroom."
"Oh? Luo Nan, is this……a private invitation to your bedroom?" Serela smiled.
"My liege," Luo Nan said, sowhat exasperated, "my bedroom has the highest-grade Sound-Insulating Rune Array and Anti-Surveillance Matrix Rune."
"But of course. Lead the way."
Crack—
Luo Nan broke the letter's wax seal and drew out the writing paper, which still carried a faint trace of ink fragrance.
"Let
see……"
***
Young Master Luo Nan, upon reading this letter.
By the ti you read these words, I will surely be sowhere from which I can no longer light your night lamp. That I could not answer you to your face was not out of defiance—it is simply that so truths are too heavy, and belong only on silent paper.
You wish to know who orchestrated the conspiracy behind the scenes. The answer is not complicated—it is the Perez Family. The evidence is in the attachnt. They funded those "Nature" fanatics and sought to use crude ans to tarnish the dillion na.
They are foolish pieces on soone else's board, nothing more. What becos of them is entirely at your discretion.
What you wish to know more than this is my "why."
Please forgive —I cannot bring myself to call what I did "betrayal."
Everything I did was not for my own sake, but to repay a debt of blood long overdue.
From the day The Madam departed, the light in this manor was extinguished. There are shadows that no amount of ti can ever erase. My path may have been filled with sin, but from the very beginning, it had only ever one destination.
I must admit, Young Master—you have truly grown up.
I often think of that little Young Master who, during gas of hide-and-seek, always loved to crawl under my bed and gaze up at
with those eyes so like The Madam's, seeking "shelter."
The cleverness you had back then has since beco a blade sharp enough to cut through everything—even the mask I believed to be flawless was easily torn apart by you.
Seeing who you have beco today, I feel an imasurable relief. Perhaps…… I too may rest now.
This may be the last thing Pati can do for you.
Please, take good care of yourself.
Your eternal maidservant,
Pati·Beckett
***
The letter was short—only a few hundred words—and Luo Nan finished reading it in under a minute.
But once he had, a heaviness settled over his heart.
"Damn it…… it's that incident again."
He cursed, with very little elegance.
Even now he couldn't understand why Pati had chosen this path—a path that had nearly cost him his life.
"What's wrong? Luo Nan?"
Serela keenly noticed the shift in Luo Nan's expression. In all her mory of him, she had never seen Luo Nan wear this particular "terrible" expression before.
"Nothing……"
Luo Nan answered offhandedly, folding the letter back up and sliding it into its envelope. With a practiced motion he slipped it into his Sun, Moon, and Stars Pocket Watch—style Spatial Storage Magic Device, leaving only the sheet of evidence behind.
His movents were naturally observed by Serela.
The Imperial Princess did not ask the reason. Instead she said, "Luo Nan, is there any new key information?"
"Confird. The ones who funded the 'Nature' cultists to assassinate —it's the Perez Family."
He pushed the sheet of evidence toward Serela.
Luo Nan recalled, at Serela's Hocoming Banquet, the one who had openly provoked him from the very start—Lek Perez.
That person appeared to be the second son of the Perez Family.
Originally, Luo Nan had assud he was rely trying to show off in front of Serela, so he hadn't taken it seriously.
But now, looking back…… combined with the Listone Mine Shaft incident, it was entirely certain: it was the Perez Family who had wanted him dead.
On the surface, at least.
Reasonable enough—in his impression, the Perez Family was exactly the sort of nobility that ran in those circles.
"The Perez Family, as I suspected." Serela gave a slight nod.
"Oh? Serela, do you have other leads?"
The Imperial Princess glanced once at the handso young man before her. She had been about to say you're using the letter's contents to trade for my intelligence—but the mont she recalled his expression after reading that letter, Serela found she could not get the words out.
Inexplicably, she found herself speaking instead: "Using the Listone Mine Shaft that black Curse Skull you had
examine as my starting point, I looked into a large volu of Perez Family trade records. They've been…… rather excessive in what they've been doing."
"I see," Luo Nan nodded. "My liege, judging by your expression…… you intend to investigate them?"
At this mont, Serela's expression had also grown quite dark—the anguish of soone watching 'the nation being eaten hollow from within by parasites.'
Worthy of the na "Benevolent Imperial Princess."
"Naturally. Whether it is the matter of their attempting to assassinate you, or the cris they have committed that amount to nothing short of treason—both have already dragged their ancestors' honor entirely through the mud."
Serela's voice was ice-cold, like the dead of winter. "Since the honor has been dragged through the mud, naturally it must be cleaned up……"
Those exquisitely beautiful violet eyes narrowed slightly, and this ti, what flashed within them was not elegance or warmth—it was an endless, cutting chill.
"Hiss……"
Luo Nan felt a chill run down his spine, and couldn't help but feel a flicker of sympathy for the Perez Family.
'Even though you people were trying to kill —you're now in the sights of this "Benevolent Imperial Princess." All I can do is wish your whole family the best of luck.'
"Luo Nan, would you like to co along?"
"Hm?"
"Would you like to co with …… to deal with the Perez Family?" Serela extended her invitation.
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