Ch. 46 I Just Need To Catch Them (2)
Elena’s predictions proved correct. Despite a long search by knights, Tilda was nowhere to be found.
After Elena finished a simple breakfast, Kuhn appeared her room.
“What have you called me for?”
Kuhn’s sudden appearances were no longer surprising to Elena. She calmly sat at her desk as she spoke to him.
“Do you know what happened last night?”
She didn’t feel the need to give any further elaboration. Kuhn replied gravely, with no sign of surprise.
“Yes.”
There were great implications in that brief reply. Although she already knew that Kuhn had exceptional abilities, he likely had many eyes hidden away from her, and those eyes were probably under the command Carlisle. She suddenly recalled something the crown prince had said previously.
— Rather than surveillance, think of it as protection since we last parted.
No matter how much she thought about it, the term “surveillance” seemed more appropriate, but Elena decided to pass it over. After all, the position of the Crown Prince drew the attention of many, and she could expect this to a greater degree if she became empress later on. It wasn’t a very pleasant notion, but she was prepared to handle it. Despite that, she could escape their surveillance if she wanted to, and perhaps Carlisle already knew that after seeing her swordsmanship abilities
“Then does the Crown Prince know about last night?”
“Yes. He likely received the report immediately.”
“It seems to me that my every move has been tracked.”
“…I will not comment.”
Kuhn avoided giving an exact answer, but anyone could see where the flow of conversation was headed. Elena was quiet for a moment. She anticipated that her movements were being reporting to Carlisle, but she didn’t realize it would include incidents in her personal life, such as the incident from last night. Of course, her life as a daughter of a count was so simple there was nothing scandalizing for him to know, and she wondered if he really cared about her that much.
At the same time, her curiosity about his last words grew.
— If you’re so curious, then I’ll tell you. You don’t seem to remember it, but we met a long time ago.
As Carlisle intended, his words had never left Elena’s head for a single moment. She was irritated with herself for falling for his words, but she couldn’t help but wonder when she and Carlisle met. If she saw him again, perhaps she would be able to get an answer. Elena wanted to meet with him again as soon as possible.
“I’d like to make an appointment to see His Highness–
Before she could finish speaking, Kuhn whipped out a small slip of paper and held out to her. Elena looked surprised, then cautiously took it. It was a ticket to a famous opera. She gave Kuhn a questioning look, and he explained it to her in a businesslike tone.
“The General said to deliver this.”
“Deliver…?”
Elena looked again at the opera ticket. Then the date and time of the performance was this evening. Although she intended to meet him anyway, this was much sooner than Elena expected, like someone was waiting for her to arrive at the capital. Elena had a moment of stunned bewilderment, then Kuhn spoke to her once more.
“He says he’ll send a carriage to pick you up at eight o’clock this evening.”