The Strategy Room's First Proposal Was a Bedroom

The strategy room's first proposal was a bedroom.

The court advisor pressed a handkerchief to his forehead and said, "Rumor travels faster than fact. If the two of you share a bedroom and are seen taking breakfast together in public, the annulment claims lose their force."

Lydia set the newspaper illustration on the table. It showed the exact position of the sealed box's lock. "I refuse the premise that a marriage's validity must be proven by a bedroom."

The advisor looked to Cassian, hoping the royal husband would talk her into it. Cassian did not meet that look.

"I'll separate the options," he said. "The same carriage. A shared schedule. The same room. The three carry different effects and different costs."

"The same room, I refuse," Lydia said at once.

"Noted."

"The same carriage and a shared schedule, I accept. But the seats inside the carriage face each other. The door opens on the side the guards control, and the curtains stay half closed."

The court advisor flipped through his papers, flustered. "That alone won't be enough to stop the gossip."

"If we make it a practice to open the bedroom to stop gossip, the next person will face the same demand."

Cassian added, "We will manage the reputation. We will not create evidence of coercion."

The advisor could say no more. Lydia knew the silence was not a victory but a cost. The rumors might not fade. Still, after her refusal to share a room, Cassian's manner did not change.

Elias closed the door after the advisor left. "The refusal on the room will be a fresh rumor by tonight."

"Accepting the room would become a new practice starting tomorrow morning," Lydia said.

"Which is the lesser harm?"

"Today, it's the side that doesn't set a precedent."

Cassian marked the route to the palace on the strategy room map. "The shared schedule is limited to three items. The royal archive reading room, the harbor ration report, and the return before evening. Any other request for joint appearances, we refuse."

"And the reason for refusing?" Elias asked.

Lydia answered. "The grain terms and the leak investigation. I won't hear it said that we lost the seat conditions while busy proving marital harmony."

Inside the carriage bound for the palace, there was a two step distance. Lydia and Cassian sat facing each other, while Sabine spread out the first edition of the newspaper and a copy of the entry register on the side seat. The curtains were half drawn. They blocked the view from outside, but they did not fully hide the shadows within.

"You won't raise the room question again?" Lydia asked.

"I already answered it."

"The political cost remains."

"Then it stays."

He answered briefly. Lydia did not decide whether the brevity was avoidance or consideration. Instead, she lowered her eyes to the investigation list.

"Who knows the location of the key."

Sabine pointed at the items. "Two maids assigned to the east wing, the captain of the guard, the record keeper in the clerk's office, Your Highness, my lady, and myself. And, since the fifth incident, the Royal Guard Commander who has access to the entry register."

"The newspaper illustration saw the box in the Grand Duke's residence," Cassian said.

"The article's wording saw the royal registry copy," Sabine answered. "The question is whether it's one person who saw both, or an editor who received each separately."

As the carriage turned a corner, Sabine looked out the window. "The black carriage behind us has taken the same road for the third time."

Cassian did not reach for his sword right away. "Distance."

"Two and a half carriage lengths. Neither closing in nor falling back."

Lydia watched the shadow of the wheels through the gap in the curtain. Catching the tail was not the first priority. If they caught him, what would remain might be only who was caught, not who had sent him.

"Leave it as it is until we reach the royal reading room," Lydia said. "Let him see where we're going."

Cassian nodded. It was agreement that accepted the discomfort.

Sabine used a small mirror in her hand to check the carriage behind them. "No crest. If it belonged to a noble house, the crest was hidden. If it were a merchant guild's carriage, it's too clean for that."

"Explain your reason for not catching him," Cassian said.

"If we catch him now, we only see the order he's carrying," Lydia answered. "If we let him follow, we see which door he stops in front of."

"And the risk."

"There is one. That's why the curtains are only half closed."

Cassian did not look out the window, but signaled the guards. One guard closed in to a distance that didn't block the view behind the carriage. So the protection would not look like surveillance, he too kept about two steps back.

At the outer reading table of the royal records office, Sabine unfolded the newspaper illustration and pointed to the water stain. "The direction of this stain matters. On the copy kept at the Grand Duke's residence, the water stain is at the lower left. On the newspaper illustration, it spread from the upper right."

Lydia looked at the copy of the registry. The mark on the wet contract copy ran from the upper right down under the fold line. It matched the trace left by the rain on that first dawn.

"It's the royal registry copy."

"Yes. But the location of the connecting door key is information about daily life in the Grand Duke's residence. The two channels have merged."

"The chance that one person saw both."

"It exists. But the royal registry and the residence's household ledger have different access permissions. A loose connection between two institutions is easier than one spy alone."

Cassian flipped through the reading request list. "There's a request under the Royal Guard Commander's name. It overlaps with someone who viewed the Grand Duke's residence entry register."

"I won't assume that person is the leak," Lydia said.

Sabine nodded. "Assuming would be convenient, but if we're wrong, the real channel closes."

The word channel lingered. Lydia did not seize on it and folded up the entry record. She had not come to search for a secret passage. For now, there was only a water stain and a set of access rights.

The reading room clerk stiffened defensively the moment he saw the Royal Guard Commander's name. "It was a legitimate reading."

"I didn't ask whether the reading was legitimate," Lydia said. "I'm asking whether a copy left the room after it."

"There's no record of a copy being taken out."

Sabine looked at the edge of the record board. "Then what about transcription?"

The clerk's mouth closed a beat too late. The royal reading room was strict about copies leaving the premises, but transcription time was folded into the visit itself. It would have been enough time for someone to copy out the upper right water stain.

"I'm requesting the record of transcription desk use," Lydia said.

"That requires the Royal Guard Commander's approval."

Cassian spoke briefly. "Write the request under my name. And record any refusal as well."

The clerk did not repeat that it had been legitimate again.

The underground archive of the Grand Duke's residence was cold even in daylight. Sealed boxes sat on the wall shelves, and a reading log board hung in front of each one. Elias went ahead, carrying a lantern.

"The record for the connecting door key is normal," he said. "But the sealed box in the next row is empty."

The empty sealed box had less dust settled on it. Only a round mark remained on the inner floor. Lydia read the inventory tag.

Cassian Roen's personal signature seal, old model, type 2.

"It isn't the marriage contract," Elias said.

Cassian's face hardened. "It's an old personal seal. The one used on the early North Gate orders."

"Does it still hold legal force?"

"If it hasn't been formally registered as void, some lower record offices might still accept it."

A cold draft from deeper in the archive stirred the lantern flame. Sabine looked at the wall, but Lydia did not tell her to search for a passage right away. The draft could be a clue, or it could just be an old drain.

"We reinspect every seal in the archive before midnight," Lydia said. "Leave the empty box as it is, and seal the entry register."

Elias flipped through the list. "Old model type 2 was on the list scheduled for disposal, but there's no completion stamp for it."

"Whose responsibility was the disposal?"

"It needs a signature from the North Gate Grand Duke's side together with confirmation from the royal archivist."

Cassian's jaw tightened. "Is there a record on my side that was left pending."

"Not confirmed yet."

Lydia did not press him for an excuse. What was needed now was not where the blame pointed, but the next order.

"Copy the entire disposal schedule. Tonight we need to confirm who could still draw up an order using the old style seal."

Sabine studied the dust around the empty box. "Whoever opened it wasn't in a hurry. The dust was pushed to only one side."

"The entry record shows no visit today," Elias said.

"Then it's either an unrecorded visit, or one that happened before the record was kept."

Cassian looked at the old ventilation shaft set along the wall. The cold draft came from there. He did not reach for it.

"We don't open it now," Lydia said. "It could be a secret passage, or it could just be an old vent. Either way, if we touch it, we mix up the traces."

"We post a guard," Cassian said.

"A visible guard and an invisible record, both." Lydia turned to Elias. "From now on, anyone who comes near the archive, write down not just their reason but the state of their shoe soles."

Elias closed his eyes for a moment. "So the archive's entry register becomes a shoe ledger."

"Just for today."

"'Just for today' usually lasts a while."

Sabine read the empty box's inventory tag again. "Whoever stole the old type 2 seal wasn't targeting the marriage contract. But the newspaper is shaking the marriage contract. Whether the two are the same hand, or two hands using each other, we still don't know."

"We don't tie them together as the same case," Lydia said. "But we put them on the same timeline."

Cassian gave the captain of the guard a brief order. "Preserve the archive's seals exactly as they are. Notify the royal archivist of the missing item under my name. Before the notice goes out, make sure no one alters the disposal schedule."

"You'll inform the royal court first about the theft of Your Highness's personal seal?" the captain of the guard asked.

"If we hide it, the first document made with that seal becomes real."

Lydia thought the decision was quick. And costly. Reporting the theft under Cassian's name meant someone could hold him accountable for the loss. Still, it was better than hiding it.

"Leave a copy of the notice with me as well," Lydia said.

"Of course."

That of course felt less strange than it once had. Lydia did not linger on the change. The cold underground draft laid the lantern flame low once more.

Just then, a bell rang. Once, twice, three times. The emergency bell of the capital's shipping lane beacon rang lower than the ordinary fire bell. When the fourth peal sounded, Lydia lifted her head.

Cassian listened to the interval between the bells and moved toward the door at once. "It isn't a fire."

"It's the central shipping lane network," Lydia answered.

Elias glanced back and forth between the empty box and the entry register. "We can't handle both right now."

"So we split it," Lydia said, handing the entry register to Sabine. "Seal the archive, and don't touch the leak investigation records. We need to see whether someone will try to use the moment we step out for the beacon."

Sabine nodded. "I'll stay behind."

"Don't stay alone."

"I'll keep Elias with me."

Elias started to protest but fell silent when he heard the bell again. If the seventh peal rang, the ships in the harbor would begin drifting on their own. Lydia knew that.

Cassian took one last look at the empty box. "It's my seal. I'll take the responsibility first."

"Taking responsibility first and deciding the cause first are not the same thing," Lydia said.

"I know."

When he answered that way, the captain of the guard's expression shifted slightly. Once, this would have ended with a single order. Today, the empty box and the beacon pulled them in two different directions.

"When we get back, we look at the disposal list first," Lydia said.

"When we get back," Cassian confirmed.

Sabine heard that confirmation and closed the entry register. "Should I write down the possibility that you might not come back?"

"I don't like that kind of joke," Elias said.

"It isn't a joke. Emptying the archive while the emergency bell rings is a good chance for someone."

Lydia looked at Sabine. "That's why we record the name of whoever stays too. So the one who stays behind isn't suspected."

Only then did Sabine bow her head. "I'll write my own name first."

Only after watching the name go down did Lydia turn toward the stairs. Saying they were recording it so as not to suspect the one who stayed sounded strange, but today, a strange procedure could protect a person.

Even if the procedure came late, it was better than having none at all.

Today, even a belated record was a shield. Small, but enough.

"It isn't just one beacon."

The fifth peal reached down into the underground. Over the empty box, the vibration of the midnight emergency bell settled.