Chapter 34. Letter From the Forest Man

Translator: AdCaelum

Editor: meli

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Rewinding back time…

Ford watched Asher and Theodore disappear among the crowd of passersby before promptly heading back to his eatery. His mouth broke into a smile, pleased that the third prince reacted just as he had hoped. However, when he reached the eatery and opened the door, he sighed upon seeing a scowling Hugo glaring at him.

“Don’t look at me like that, Hugo. I know it’s hard to believe, but Prince Asher really isn’t lying. I would’ve sensed something.”

“But it’s impossible!”

“You made us cooperate in this stunt… but it turned out it was a big waste of our time.”

“But I at least made sure to give you guys a safety net in case he went crazy again.”

“I finally got my place set up. Don’t make me abandon it so quickly.”

There was a wagon parked at the back of the eatery with enough provisions for all those who cooperated with Hugo to flee. If they were going to act that way toward Asher, they needed to have that level of resolve—to never step foot in the country again.

“In the first place,” Ford said, “we didn’t hear anything about Prince Noah showing up there. Aren’t you always hovering over him?”

“You can’t blame me for that! I didn’t know he got that close to that guy. Dammit!”

“And as soon as you came in, you went ahead and disappeared, telling us to stall while you took Prince Noah to another room.”

“I didn’t want Noah to hear…”

“We don’t want to hear your excuses,” said Lillian, clinging to Ford’s arm.

“What about you, you stupid woman?! Who told you that you could go off on your own?!”

“What?! My performance was realistic. Although, I wasn’t acting. Everything I said was all I’ve been wanting to say to the third prince.”

“Lillian, Hugo is right though,” Ford said. “You didn’t mention anything about saying those things during our meetings. I thought my heart would stop…”

“Oh, you~!” Lillian flirted with Ford before turning serious. “I… I just had to say it when I saw him…”

The clinging Lillian brought her body closer to Ford, and Ford’s face melted in bliss at how lovely his mate was. Everyone present cringed at the two and commented.

“Well, we got to learn that the rumors are true thanks to her.”

“I agree. I really couldn’t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes and heard with my own ears… an apology coming out of his mouth.”

“Yeah, but I’ve still got my doubts…”

“Though if he was still as evil as before, we’d have all been sentenced to death for saying all that to him.”

Several of them shuddered as they imagined the demonic Asher. They cast resentful eyes at Lillian, but when she noticed them, she snorted.

“What? If we’re talking about that third prince from back then, he’d barely need an excuse to lock us all up in prison.” She turned to Hugo. “Isn’t that why our little loser prepared all of this in case we needed to flee the country?”

“Who do you think I am?” he snapped.

“A royal prince. And a loser.”

“Y-you bi—”

“Oh, have I displeased Your Highness? I wonder if I’ll be accused of disrespecting the crown. Oh, right, your precious Prince Noah roughly screamed the same thing at me.”

“Lillian, we all know that Hugo is like those brats around these parts, but he’s still a prince at the end of the day. Although we do end up speaking this casually with him, and he’s no better with that sharp tongue of his,” Ford said to calm Lillian down.

“Hey!” Hugo shouted with a scowl before he turned away in shame.

“Sorry, Hugo.”

“But I really don’t know what’s going on in Noah’s head…”

The young Noah had yet to fully grasp what would happen to those arrested, but Hugo didn’t expect his youngest brother to scream like that. This had to be Asher’s fault again. The crease in Hugo’s brow deepened and he sighed, resigning himself to a long talk with Noah later.

“I guess Prince Asher really didn’t have anything to do with the beastfolk bandits. I mean, I heard that he was gravely injured during it. A bit counterproductive if he was involved, no?” Ford mumbled and put his hand on Hugo’s shoulder.

He was referring to the attack by the beastfolk bandits on the carriage carrying Jeffrey back from the orphanage. Word of the incident spread like wildfire, and many beastfolk were panic-stricken. Discrimination against beastfolk was prohibited in Dias, making it the only country where beastfolk could live in peace. Having said that, the world still held deep-seated discrimination against beastfolk. And then, there were the beastfolk bandits—beastfolk unaffiliated with any country who go around stealing and killing.

However, even they hadn’t laid a hand on Dias… until now.

“And they had to attack Queen Jeffrey’s carriage of all things. Even if they aren’t our compatriots, they’ve given us beastfolk a bad name…”

“Pretty much everyone looked melancholic when they heard about it.”

“We thought we’d lose even Dias as a place we beastfolk could call home…”

Hugo burst into laughter at their comments and sat down on a nearby chair.

“Idiots. Your reputation’s not gonna be ruined by their crimes just because you’re also beastfolk.”

Hugo’s response caused smiles to ripple through the group. However, while it was fortunate that there were no casualties among the royal family, what would have happened if there was? No one, not even Hugo, knew the answer.

Purposely avoiding that topic, Ford brought the conversation back around. “Anyway, if the third prince wasn’t involved, then who exactly leaked the info to the beastfolk bandits?”

Since the attack, Ford and others from the crown prince’s faction had been gathering information in secret. When Jeffrey’s carriage was attacked, suspicion immediately fell onto the queen’s faction. However, Asher was also in that carriage. The queen would never put Asher’s life in danger. Then came all the unbelievable rumors about Asher afterward. Assuming some connection, Ford was given this task by Hugo.

“He isn’t fully cleared of all suspicion yet. In the first place, do you really think it was just luck that allowed him to jump from the carriage and safely escape the bandits?” Hugo questioned.

“He was with Black Knight Theodore, right? It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility.”

“I still don’t think he’s innocent. How else could top secret knowledge that Mother was visiting the orphanage get leaked?”

“Calm down, Hugo. Think about it. Asher was also in the carriage that day. Do you think anyone in the queen’s faction would do anything to the carriage carrying their precious prince?”

“Ford! Weren’t you the one who first suggested that it was done on purpose?!”

“Well…”

Ford had indeed proposed the idea. However, after observing Asher, he felt his impression get completely overturned as he didn’t pick up a single hint of deceit from the prince. Nor did he think that Asher would ever put Jeffrey or the young Noah in harm’s way.

Just then, everyone heard the eatery’s back door open.

“Did the third prince leave?” A beastfolk with black hood covering their boar face appeared. “Ford, sorry for the suddenness. It’s from the Forest Man.”

“The Forest Man?”

Ford took the presented letter and promptly read through its contents. The Forest Man was a member of the crown prince’s faction and performed secret reconnaissance outside the kingdom’s borders. A furrow formed between Ford’s brow and he handed the letter over to Hugo. “Read it,” he grimly said.

A smile broke on Hugo’s face.

“See? I told you he got something to do with it.” The letter identified a place the beastfolk bandits were recently seen coming and going from, and that place just so happened to belong to someone close to Asher—Marquess Clarke.

“We didn’t know where in Dias the beastfolk bandits were hiding, but if it’s in Marquess Clarke’s territory… then they’re really working with the queen’s faction. His sudden change also has to be part of some plan.”

“No, I doubt that.” Lillian gracefully stepped away from Ford, snatched the letter from Hugo, and waved it. “He’s a completely different person, nothing like how he was in the past. I served by his side for a long time before being kicked out of the castle, so I can tell.”

“What do you mean?”

“Previously, the prince was always irritated and threw tantrums like a child. I doubt he could have kept the act up and lowered his head in apology after getting berated that much. Prince Hugo, I’m sure that deep down you too feel that way.”

Hugo opened his mouth to say something to Lillian, but no words came out. It was just as she said; Asher was a completely different person after he recovered from his fall off the horse. Hugo couldn’t hide the shock from his face when he saw Asher’s behavior in the eatery. He never could have imagined Asher lowering his head to apologize. That was how impossible of an idea it had been.

Lillian, now bored, put the letter back in the silent Hugo’s hand. “The more you try to trip up the third prince, the less he makes sense, eh, Prince Hugo?”

“While we’ve spotted the beastfolk bandits hanging around Marquess Clarke’s territory, it isn’t proof that he’s involved with the attack… Although it’s still possible it’s another noble from the queen’s faction,” Ford muttered, and at that moment, Hugo crushed the letter in his hand.

“Good work, everyone,” he announced. “I’m going back to the castle to report to Sam.”

“Oh, okay. Say hi to Prince Samuel for us~.”

“This bitch!” Hugo snapped at Lillian. “What’s with that tone?!”

“Oh hoh? Your Highness uses such unbelievably unrefined language, wouldn’t you say? Are you truly Prince Samuel’s younger brother?”

“Grrrr! Ford! Keep your woman in check!”

With a smile on his face, Ford raised both hands in resignation. He really was throwing up his hands.

“I’ve never met such a cocky woman before! For someone who claims that Asher is a different person, you sure tore deeply into him.”

“Well of course I did.” Looking up at the prince from below, Lillian smiled. “I still have the whipping scars on my back from the third prince. Whether he lost his mind from the impact or he really had a change of heart, none of that matters to me. Nor do I care. After all, I refuse to forgive the unforgivable. That and the useless royal family.”

Hugo clicked his tongue at Lillian’s statements, walked to the exit, and grumbled, “Tch, if Sam hadn’t asked me, I’d never ask a woman like you to help.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth. If Prince Samuel hadn’t been involved, I wouldn’t bother to do this.”

Hugo took one look back and glared at Lillian before leaving the eatery without another word. The rest of the people present talked a bit more about the future before dispersing. The only ones left in the eatery were Ford and Lillian.

In this silent space, Ford slowly drew close to Lillian and said, “Why did you lie about that?”

“Lie about what?” she inquired.

“The scars on your back.” Ford gently embraced Lillian from behind. “Not a single scratch remains on your back now.”

“Yes, that’s all thanks to my mate’s tireless and diligent care. But if I mentioned the scars, he’ll think I still hold a heavy grudge, right?” Lillian giggled, turned her face, and rubbed her cheek against Ford behind her.

“My mate is such a liar. Oh, but I guess I also lied.”

“About what?”

“I disclosed to Prince Asher that you were my mate when I explained beastfolk mates to him… But I lied that you had no idea about that.”

“Why make such a pointless lie?”

Ford smiled at the giggling Lillian and explained, “If Prince Asher learned that you now live a life of tender love and affection with me after you were expelled from the castle, he might feel less guilty.”

“Hmm, guilty, huh?”

“I don’t know what caused the prince to change, but I can tell he’s suffering a lot under that guilt. Serves him right.”

“I guess, but why did you have to tell him that I’m your mate?”

Ford narrowed his eyes, his smile widening. “Even if I needed to lie, I cannot say that you’re not mine.”

Lillian kissed Ford’s cheek in response and smiled. The two silently basked in each other’s warmth while also enjoying the bright sounds of people outside the eatery.

Our 12th grade vocabulary is enhanced by coffee. We would be elated by any philanthropic endeavors.

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