Redemption of the Blue Rose Princess - Chapter 9.5
Chapter 9-5
The next day, Riddhe resumed his work to contact the other members of the Privy Council, and as usual, Albert followed him.
Albert expected to be heavily questioned by Riddhe on the way, but what happened was the opposite, Riddhe was unusually quiet.
They had grown up together, Albert knew exactly why he was losing his usual energy.
Al, do you know? My father is amazing! He’s the best!
Back when he was little, he used to brag about his father a lot. Even as he got older and less sympathetic with other people, he was still proud of his father.
But the same father he was proud of was conspiring with another country.
As if that wasn’t enough, he was completely obedient to them too.
After completing their business at the first house, Albert changed their plans and stopped the carriage at the banks of the Elam River. Just as he was about to leave the driver seat and knock on the carriage door, it was suddenly opened and a pale-looking Riddhe appeared from within the carriage.
“Hey, Al. This doesn’t look like Lord Burns’ estate to me.”
“We still have time before our appointment starts. I remember back when you were little, whenever we visit the royal capital, you would visit the river on your own. You said that you love the view here, didn’t you?”
“…That’s an old story.”
Albert thought that his master was going to complain, but, to his surprise, he dragged his body outside the carriage sluggishly. The young servant noticed dark circles under his young master’s eyes.
It was the first time that his young master was in this state. He looked so fragile that the wind might blow him over. Just as the young servant was worrying about this, Ridge opened his mouth.
“I wonder when did father first meet that man?”
That was a rhetorical question, Albert knew that much, but after a moment of hesitation, he answered that question anyway.
“I found out about it right before I arrived at the royal capital, so I don’t know what happened before that. However, I think the servants back at our estate had some idea that the master was secretly conspiring something.”
“Is that so?”
Albert nodded at Riddhe, who was surprised by his answer.
In fact, even Albert didn’t know the details of the matter. All he knew was that Lloyd ordered him to keep Riddhe away from the visitor.
But, he guessed a little bit of what was going on anyway because the servants kept gossiping about their master meeting someone from Ealdar.
However, Albert was trained as a servant of the Sutherland family by his father. He was taught to always know his place, don’t try to get involved in anything too deeply. His order was to keep Riddhe away from the man, so he did nothing more than that.
The only thing he was sure about was that Lloyd didn’t want Riddhe to know about his plot.
The reason might be what Lloyd had previously stated, Riddhe couldn’t keep a secret even if his life depended on it, but Albert had a different thought about it.
“…Well, I suppose it wouldn’t matter, huh?”
Riddhe laughed mockingly at himself… No, he tried to, but he felt so weak that he couldn’t even manage to do it.
“Even if I had known about this earlier, I still wouldn’t be able to convince my father… It’s useless…”
That’s not true. Albert almost blurted those words, but he swallowed them back.
This was his speculation, but, the reason why Lloyd tried to hide his plot from Riddhe was because he didn’t want his resolution to be shaken. It was hard to tell what was going on in Lloyd’s mind because he never explicitly showed his emotion, but as a father, he was happy that his son respected him so deeply.
Just like Riddhe was afraid to disappoint his father by losing to Clovis.
Lloyd was also afraid that Riddhe would lost his respect toward him because he strayed off the right path.
Albert knew of this, but at the same time, he knew that he was a mere servant, it was not his place to interfere with this matter, so he reluctantly kept his silence. However, he couldn’t help but think that if only Riddhe found out about this earlier, things might had gone differently.
“Let’s get going, looking at this river made me think about strange things.”
“…If you say so…”
Albert was about to open the carriage door for Riddhe.
That was when it happened.
“Lord Riddhe…?”
A clear voice called out Riddhe’s name. The voice sounded vaguely familiar to Albert, so he turned his gaze toward the source of the voice.
The last time he had seen her, she had been wearing a thick hood, but there was no mistake, this person in front of her was the same person he had met before.
She was none other than the Princess of Heilland, Alicia Chester.
TL: Iyo