28 — Explanations, Confessions

“Alright, so. First of all. We are at the edge of the city, just like you said. But I can’t tell you exactly where, for your own good,” Mr. Fisalis prefaced his explanation.

Released from Mr. Fisalis’ freakishly strong snake arms, I was shown to the sofa where the lady knight had been sitting and took a seat myself. Mr. Fisalis then sat down next to me, seemingly doing his best to leave absolutely no space between us. The knights told us they’d give us some privacy and all went into the next room. That was thoughtful of them.

“We use this house as a base of operations. Although this area is within the limits of the capital, we’re unlikely to be recognized because it’s far away from the city center. That’s why I’m able to come and go around here under the guise of a spendthrift merchant who has just purchased a villa. It hasn’t gotten out to the neighbors that I’m Duke Fisalis, but... That tradesman went and made you panic over nothing.”

I understood that it must have been a tricky subject for him to talk about, considering it involved his work, but he really chose a watered-down way to explain it to me.

“I wouldn’t say I was panicking...” On the contrary, I felt nothing at all. I couldn’t tell him that, of course, so I said nothing and stared back at him intently.

“I’m sorry that I made you worry over something so trivial. Oh, right. My word alone isn’t proof that the ‘mistress’ the tradesman saw me with was one of my colleagues, so... Rohtas!” he called, turning to face the door leading outside.

Huh? Did he just say ‘Rohtas’?

And what do you know? A ‘yes’ came from the other side of the door, just before said door opened to reveal none other than our amazing butler Rohtas!

He must have left the manor right after we did.

“Rohtas!” I shot up from the sofa in surprise, but Mr. Fisalis yanked me back down.

Rohtas smiled amicably when he saw us. Once he was sure the door was shut, Mr. Fisalis turned and told him, “Tell Viola what you found out.”

“As you wish,” Rohtas nodded and then, retrieving a letter from his breast pocket, began to read. “Upon my thorough investigation, I concluded that the locale and the young woman described by the tradesman directly corresponded to this building and one of your female knights, respectively.”

He went on to explain in detail what happened when and who saw what, but I didn’t pay much attention. I didn’t know if anyone was surprised, but I was thoroughly impressed that he’d managed to find out as much as he had in just that one afternoon.

“...So what do you say? We have witness testimony, too, if you’d like to hear that,” Mr. Fisalis said, after he’d listened quietly to what Rohtas had to say. Rohtas, meanwhile, took the time to put the letter back into his breast pocket.

So in other words, this whole scandal was nothing more than a disguise for Mr. Fisalis’ job.

“Hmm, Rohtas said the same thing you did... sooo, I believe you.” I wouldn’t trust anyone but Rohtas himself and his lawn maintenaince-cum-recon unit! They’re certainly worthy of my trust!

“Oh, thank god! I couldn’t focus on my work knowing that you distrusted me! I’m so relieved!” Finally, a smile broke out across Mr. Fisalis’ face.

The tense atmosphere that seemed to have followed me all that day melted away and I let myself sink back into the sofa with a sigh of relief. My doubts had been wiped away... and yet.

“That must be the understatement of the century. Is it really alright that you told me this secret now?” Isn’t all of his work stuff super top secret, I mean? Now I was getting nervous about the gravity of the information I’d been handed. Was he forced to reveal information about his job to me, a common civilian? Wouldn’t he get in trouble for that? Could they fire him for breaching his duty of confidentiality (or whatever you call it)!?

Mr. Fisalis, however, only smiled back calmly at me as alarms went off in my head.

“That’s why I brought you here under the cover of night, and why I’m taking us home that way, too. Not to mention, you don’t know how to get here or where here even is,” he explained.

Are you hinting at something here?

“Oh... I see.” Guess I’ll play along. It’s for my own good.

“I’ve always been allowed to talk about it to a certain extent with family. In terms of what transpired today, I’d probably explain it as: ‘had work at a hard-to-reach location on the edge of town. I’m sorry, but I had to pretend like I was meeting a mistress,’” he continued.

That makes sense.

He was wearing one of his refreshing smiles that said, “I for one think I did a great job explaining that” when I looked up at him.

“But, it’s only a select few family members you can tell, right?” I decided to pose the question that had been on my mind.

“Yes.”

“Then why is it me you’re telling?” I asked with an exasperated sigh. To my surprise, his face suddenly lit up.

“What are you saying? You’re my darling wife! Why wouldn’t I tell you?”

It seemed as if there was no hesitation whatsoever, on his part, to say those sweet words, but more importantly...

“...Aren’t I just your show wife, though?” No sooner had I asked him than he turned me around to face him, took both of my hands in his and looked me straight in the eye. His own dark brown eyes were filled with happiness, as if it had welled up from his smile, but also gleamed with a certain seriousness. The sudden change in him made my heart race.

“I’ve been hoping you would catch on to that for so, so long. I told you the day I broke it off with Callie. You’re what’s best for me. I want us to be a real couple, with no contract involved.”

His words fluttered around in my heart like birds or butterflies. I couldn’t hold his gaze. His hands felt so warm. For all the times he had held my hand, or hugged me, or positioned himself well inside my personal bubble up until then, my heart had never beat as hard as it was beating that moment.

Why is it racing so fast!?

“Oh, well, you see...” I somehow managed to squeak out.

“I understand if you’re still skeptical of me now that you know what I’ve been doing this whole time, so I’m going to do everything I can to reassure you. I want to clear up any and all confusion. I’m ready to do whatever it takes to get you to believe me,” he said resolutely.

“Even leak classified information?” I asked, somewhat unkindly, as I looked up into his beautiful brown eyes.

“Sure!”

“No, your duty of confidentiality should be your number-one priority!” I jabbed him for replying without even thinking about the consequences. He only snickered at my barb.

“Only telling people I trust is part of that duty, silly.”

“Oh, phew, you really surprised me.” Thank goodness he clarified what he meant.

“That was a close one, Commander! Good job convincing her!” someone said from the doorway leading into the next room. It was the lieutenant commander, Mr. Corydalis, modeling a butler uniform. I hadn’t noticed him before, so he must have been in the next room the entire time. The rest of the order came out from behind him. Judging by their smiling faces, they’ve all been listening to our conversation on the other side of the door!

“Let me guess—you all were eavesdropping?” Mr. Fisalis asked, turning an unblinking stare towards Mr. Corydalis.

“Why, whatever do you mean? We weren’t eavesdropping; we simply overheard you,” Mr. Corydalis replied, casually feigning ignorance as he stared at a point on the wall behind Mr. Fisalis.

“Oh well, I don’t really care if you heard, anyway,” Mr. Fisalis said, his expression returning to its usual composure.

You sure said a lot of mushy, sappy stuff, buddy! I don’t know about you, but it definitely made me blush! Have you no shame!?

—

The knights saw us off with warm smiles when we finally left for home.

“Sorry for making you stay out here so late, and all for my own sake. Do you want to take the carriage back? Or shall we get back on the hor—”

“The carriage, please!” I blurted out before he could finish. I’m still a little traumatized from the ride, I think. Besides, I can’t get enough of that gentle rocking motion the carriage makes!

Rohtas had driven the carriage over when he followed us here. He was also our coachman—a real multi-purpose butler! He was happy to drive us back home. Off once more into the night we went.

As it was quite late into the night and I was completely worn out from my very intense, first ever horseback ride, I was no match for the comforting sway of the carriage and dozed off. No sooner had I started quietly sawing logs in time with the swing of the carriage (not that a lady would ever admit to snoring!) than, true to character at this point, I smacked my head on the wall.

Ugh, not more déjà vu. I already promised myself I wouldn’t do this again.

Even still half-asleep, I moaned tearily at the pain in my cranium.

“Are you okay? It’s dangerous to sleep sitting up in a carriage. Here, lean on me,” Mr. Fisalis said, quickly moving from his seat across from me to sit next to me. He gently positioned my head to let me rest against his shoulder. Normally, I’d be bothered by how close he was to me, but at that moment, the sweet allure of sleep was stronger than my instinct to grumble.

“Thank you,” I said, deciding to let him coddle me. Sleep was my number-one priority.

As I dozed off again, but this time in the warmth of his arms, I asked him, “Why did you have to go this far just to show me what you do for work?”

“I wanted to do whatever I needed to in order to clear up the misunderstanding.” I could hear his dulcet voice reverberate through his shoulder. He took it upon himself to comb his fingers through my hair, which I graciously allowed, but only because it felt so nice.

“Even so, I don’t think you needed to rush it like this.”

“...Actually, I have to go away on a campaign in a short while.”

I couldn’t hide my small gasp of surprise at his words. A campaign, not a ‘business trip.’ There was a sense of foreboding tucked away in that term. I was yet again blindsided by a sudden turn of events. Needless to say, the clouds of sleep had dispersed from inside my head.

I sat up straighter from where I had been leaning under Mr. Fisalis’ arm and looked at him; his expression was unusually grim.

“A campaign? Not one of your regular business trips?”

“Yeah. This will be a campaign. And a long one, at that.”

“For... how long?”

“At the shortest, one month. Longest... I don’t know. That’s why I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving you with this misunderstanding between us. I wanted to leave without having to worry about what you thought of me, and it all ended up getting rushed.”

Is his work really that critical? I’ve never seen him look so grim. Is this campaign so risky that it warranted leaking information just to clear up a misunderstanding?

A moment of quiet fell over us. Why was it that the sound of my heart thumping was even louder than the click-clacking of the carriage wheels over the road?

Mr. Fisalis smiled at me, trying to console me as I sat in stunned silence.

“You don’t need to look so surprised. Trust me, I swear I’ll come home. Just promise you’ll be waiting on my return,” he told me, using a somber tone I hadn’t heard from him before.

There was little I could do but gaze back into his deep brown eyes.

To be continued