How the Villainous Consort Avoids His Death Ending - Chapter 62.1
After agonizing for a long time, I finally grabbed Tristan with a dazed expression and poured out my troubles. Tristan, who had been silently listening to my lament, nodded with a heavy expression.
However, both Tristan and I knew it well. We did not have the funds to move the heart of a high noble residing in this splendid city, Ashurana.
Ultimately, everything was a vicious cycle.
In my despondency, I walked along the coastline, at times staring blankly at the waves at the pier. Several more futile days passed in this manner.
It was a day when the wind touching my cheek felt unusually sharp. An odd tension seemed to permeate the gait of people coming and going on the streets. Thinking it might just be my mood, I tried to gather my thoughts as I strolled along the coastline as usual, but a sense of unease grew the closer I got to the sea.
As soon as I reached the coastal area, the sight of soldiers from the Sarr Empire, clad in silver armor, lined up, caught my eye at a glance.
Their cold, impassive faces and their silent, stationary stance exuded an intimidating pressure. On the decks of several moored ships, I could see officials. Scattered officials here and there were persistently questioning sailors, taking notes on papers in their hands.
The atmosphere was one of obsessively searching for something, or trying to flush someone out. We hadn’t done anything conspicuous, surely they weren’t looking for us? I tried to force myself to think it was nothing, but a groundless anxiety rose, and my chest gradually tightened.
‘…It would be better to just spend today quietly at the lodgings.’
I thought being with Tristan would at least ease my mind. I hurriedly changed course and returned to the lodgings.
However, before I could even open the entrance door, someone loitering near the guest rooms hurriedly ran towards me. The face looked familiar, and upon closer inspection, it was a sailor assigned as an emergency contact from the fleet. His face was drained of color and deathly pale, his fingertips trembling as he ran over, a sight that did not seem ordinary.
“Your Highness, Grand Consort Your Highness!”
I flinched in surprise and stopped to look at the sailor. The sailor immediately rushed up to me and, without even catching his breath, panted out his words.
“It’s serious, the atmosphere at the port is not normal. Since morning, officials and soldiers have been swarming in for an investigation. They even came to our fleet. It seems… something, something is about to happen.”
“I just came from looking around myself. What are they searching for? Did you get any hint of what kind of investigation it is?”
“That’s the problem, Your Highness…”
He looked around warily and then whispered urgently in a low voice.
“Rumors are swirling that the Imperial family is about to issue an order to expel outsiders. Right now, soldiers and officials are going around the city checking the numbers and activities of outsiders, but rumors keep spreading that expulsion will become a reality soon.”
For a moment, my breath caught in my throat. I didn’t know exactly what was happening, but it was undoubtedly an unfavorable situation for us as foreigners.
The sailor continued in a voice tinged with anxiety, growing softer.
“The officials questioned specifically which port our fleet departed from, when we entered port, and what kind of goods were loaded on the ships.”
“And then? What else did they say?”
“And then… They specifically mentioned Your Highness and His Grace the Grand Duke as well. We had nothing to hide, so we told them the truth. When we said we came from the Rubyere Empire, they seemed startled. After that, there wasn’t any more talk…”
“…I see. You’ve worked hard.”
If they investigated to that extent, our information likely reached the ears of high officials. While outsiders from minor frontier states near the Sarr Empire were common, people from the distant Rubyere Empire would be particularly unfamiliar here, so they might start paying special attention to us.
It was one thing after another, adding insult to injury. Feeling a headache coming on, I rubbed my forehead.
For the next few days, Ashurana remained shrouded in a gloomy and peculiar atmosphere. Compared to the bustling vitality when we first arrived, it was hard to find now. Not just the port area, but the entire city became eerily quiet, as if dead.
I was anxiously awaiting new news. The reason for the strange silence that had persisted for a long time was finally revealed.
“The Imperial fleet has gone missing, Your Highness.”
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