15.
It was the morning of the day Ri-Na and Edwin were scheduled to meet, two days after Connie and Ri-Na had visited the festival together.
Kail was furiously racking his brain as he welcomed Edwin, who had walked in through the café’s front door rather than the guild entrance.
‘What is this? Why is he here?’
He hadn’t received any word of this.
Kail approached Edwin, donned his practiced customer-service smile, and guided him to a seat.
“Welcome. The weather is fine today, so I’ll seat you by the window.”
He played the part of a gentle, obliging café owner, happy to see a regular patron.
Edwin, wearing his usual bored expression, sank slowly into the seat Kail offered. Kail stood beside the table, smiling. To any outsider, he looked like a server waiting for an order. Yet, beneath his calm facade, his heart was racing. He was certain he had completed all the tasks Edwin had assigned him, but a cold, sinking sensation took hold—the terror that he had missed something critical.
Despite his polished appearance, Kail was a man who handled his work with lethal precision. Even for him, a surprise visit from his superior was nerve-wracking enough to make him re-evaluate tasks he hadn’t even performed yet.
“Whiskey—no. Just bring me some water.”
In a listless tone, Edwin uttered the equivalent of: ‘Your place makes the best water.’ Under normal circumstances, Kail would have grumbled, but seeing the faint shadows under Edwin’s eyes, he simply brought a glass of water in silence.
Edwin, clearly parched, drained it in one go. Then, he slumped forward over the table. Sensing something amiss, Kail pulled up a chair and sat opposite him.
“Is something the matter?”
It was a rare moment of friend-to-friend candor.
Edwin replied vaguely, not shifting his slumped posture. “I didn’t sleep well.”
“Why?”
Edwin was the type of man who could sleep soundly in the middle of a battlefield. It was hard to reconcile that iron-clad constitution with someone who couldn’t sleep or eat.
“Did an assassin get in?” Kail whispered, keeping his voice low enough to avoid the other customers.
“No.”
Struck by the seriousness of Kail’s tone, Edwin adjusted his posture slightly and answered with a flick of his wrist. “Do my enemies have the capacity to send an assassin into the very heart of the Imperial Palace?”
He twisted his lips into a cold smile—he looked exactly like the Edwin everyone feared.
“Then why?”
When Kail asked, truly puzzled, Edwin finally re-examined the cause of his insomnia. He paused for a long while, searching for a specific answer.
“I think I dreamt of Miss Diaz. I must have lost sleep because I had a dream I don’t usually have.”
Edwin’s words trailed off—a rarity for him.
“Miss Diaz?”
It was a familiar name, but not one that should have come up in this context. Kail couldn’t fathom why Carolina Diaz’s name would surface now that the matter of Duke Camelot’s tax evasion had been settled. Perhaps sensing that Kail’s gaze was demanding an explanation, Edwin added, “Is it because we’re meeting today?”
But his tone lacked conviction.
‘No, just—since when?’ Kail thought. “You’ve arranged to meet Miss Diaz?”
For the sake of Edwin, who didn’t seem to have his own thoughts sorted, Kail took the questioning step by step.
“Yes. In a couple of hours.”
“If it is because the wrap-up of the previous matter was insufficient, shall I go meet her instead?”
Edwin fell right into the trap of the bait Kail had cast.
“It’s not because of that.”
Edwin pondered the reason for a moment, then added, as if he had finally found a suitable excuse. “I owe Miss Diaz a favor. I’m simply repaying it.”
The expression on Edwin’s face as he mentioned Carolina Diaz had softened in an unsettling way. Kail’s verdant eyes scanned Edwin’s face, careful not to let his own thoughts show.
“Then the purpose of your trip out of the palace today is to meet Miss Diaz, I presume.”
“That’s right.”
“And the appointment is in a couple of hours?”
“I must have mistaken the time.”
“Ah. I see.”
Kail put his whole heart into maintaining a blank expression to avoid offending his master. *Raising a child on the battlefield turns them into a hopeless romantic.* Kail clicked his tongue in secret. *Though romance doesn’t necessarily lead to marriage.*
And it wasn’t even certain if it would lead to romance at all. Since Edwin’s status was what it was, Kail planned to conduct an in-depth investigation into the Diaz and Count Renkels families, just in case.
Kail glanced at Edwin once more. Edwin was tapping his index finger on the table incessantly, growing visibly restless. If someone were to ask Edwin right now if he was excited about his meeting with Ri-Na, he would probably only then realize he was anxious. Such emotions are usually objectified the moment they are defined by language, so Kail kept his mouth shut to avoid stirring up trouble.
‘It could just end as a fleeting flutter.’
In truth, his own wishes leaned closer to that. The Imperial power was so solid there was no need to engage in a political marriage, yet a union of the Imperial family required a certain level of standing.
‘If only Miss Diaz were to inherit the Count Renkels title.’
Count Renkels was a centrist family of ancient lineage; it wouldn’t be a bad option. Kail weighed the Empress’s crown against Ri-Na before giving up. *It would be rude to speculate when I don’t even know if Miss Diaz has feelings for Edwin.*
While Kail was lost in thought, the tempo of Edwin’s tapping increased. Watching Edwin—who was physically present but clearly mentally drifting somewhere near Grizel Park—Kail shook his head. *I cannot say I’m rooting for you.*
“But are you going out like that?”
Edwin was in his black robes again today. With the hood pulled low, only his nose and lips were visible.
*All he has to appeal to a lady is his power, his wealth, and his face. Miss Diaz knows the Emperor as Everett Rohas. He isn’t in a position to show off his wealth or power, so shouldn’t he at least make use of that handsome face?*
Kail reached out and pulled back Edwin’s hood. *Much better.* With just that, the probability of Edwin’s romantic success seemed to rise significantly. Satisfied, and not wanting to see him rejected even if he couldn’t bring himself to cheer for him, Kail said, “You are meeting her to repay a debt, but it would be better to maintain some level of formality.”
He provided an excuse Edwin could accept.
“I see.” Edwin’s hand, which had been reaching up to pull the hood back over his face, stopped. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Under the soft lighting of the café, the exposed face of the man before him looked like any other young man starting his first love.
“Have you decided on a place to eat?” Kail ultimately decided to be a bit more meddlesome.
“Not really. I don’t know what kind of food Miss Diaz prefers.”
Since he had expected this, Kail managed to swallow a laugh. “Where did you arrange to meet Miss Diaz?”
“Somewhere around here.”
Having heard the answer, Kail sent a guild member to a nearby restaurant to secure a reservation. It was a quiet place with an atmosphere suitable for a date. Even after the guild member returned with news that the reservation was successful, there were still nearly two hours left until the meeting.
Edwin continued to kill time, not even realizing his own nervousness. It was a quiet day with not a single customer, but for Kail, it was exhausting. Unable to endure it any longer, he suggested, “Since you have some time, why don’t you stop by a nearby tailor? Since you’re going to a restaurant, it would be better to pay a little more attention to your appearance.”
*I still have no intention of helping him succeed, but if he walks into a restaurant wearing those pitch-black robes, Miss Diaz might be embarrassed.*
Kail constructed an elegant excuse. Since protecting a lady’s honor sounded plausible, he set off for a nearby tailor with Edwin in high spirits.
“They sell ready-made clothes, but the craftsmanship is decent. It won’t be bad.”
Upon entering the shop, Edwin immediately picked out a black suit hanging in the window.
“If you’re going to do that, you might as well wear the robes.” Kail returned the black garment to the rack. He signaled the tailor to bring out items that would suit Edwin, and the tailor, with eyes like a hawk, produced a heap of excellent pieces.
Kail chose an outfit that wasn’t black and requested alterations. By the time the sleeves and trouser cuffs were adjusted to fit, the appointment time was just around the corner. Kail performed a final check on Edwin’s appearance.
*I pray that Miss Diaz is the type who cares a lot about a man’s face.*
Kail offered a silent prayer that Edwin’s first love would not turn into a disaster.
“I must leave now.” Checking the time, Edwin’s gaze drifted toward the shop window.
“Have a good time.”
Kail saw him off. *Please, just don’t get rejected on the first try.*
The date, known only to Kail and unknown to the two parties involved, was about to begin.