Chapter 54: An Unexpected Matter (1)
Clatter.
The sound of dishes colliding was noisy, but it could not be compared to the clamor of the marketplace seeping through the window.
Amidst that noise, the Second Princess Velita silently gazed at the man sitting across from her.
On the other hand, the man paid no attention to the person before him and was instead engrossed in devouring the food in front of him, shoveling it into his mouth without pause.
“Mm, mmph! Mmm…!”
“……”
Silver hair and violet eyes.
With undeniable proof of being part of the Imperial family, the man suddenly rolled his eyes toward her as if noticing her gaze.
“…Hm?”
At that moment, he was biting into meat while holding a bone in both hands.
After chewing briefly, he gave the bone in his hand a slight flick.
“What?”
“No, it is nothing.”
The man, sitting at the border between plump and fat, swallowed the food in his mouth before asking again.
“Why don’t you eat something too? The food here isn’t bad at all.”
“No, I am fine.”
“Alright then.”
Velita never touched food or drink offered by others.
And this man knew that better than anyone else.
Since his words had only been for form’s sake, he didn’t mind and began devouring food again, almost combatively.
“……”
The noisy surroundings that ignored her presence.
The act of devouring food greedily.
In other words, satisfying one’s own desires without regard for others.
All of these were things Velita detested, but unexpectedly, she did not feel displeased right now.
It was because the man sitting before her was, among her many siblings, one of the few with whom she could actually communicate.
Conversations with someone who could understand were always pleasant, and such pleasure easily outweighed the irritation of the earlier behavior.
“Ahem.”
After some time had passed, the man—First Imperial Prince Duein—let out a dignified belch.
Just when it seemed his meal was finished, he sighed and once again reached for the dishes on the table.
When he picked up a large chicken leg, Velita finally let out a small sigh.
“Have you heard of arteriosclerosis, Brother?”
Duein glanced at Velita while gnawing on the chicken leg.
Though it was an undignified act, she still wore a gentle smile.
“They say eating fatty, high-calorie foods causes fat to clog the blood vessels. And then, problems occur all over the body.”
She spoke with a smile.
“If you like, shall I arrange a diet for you? With balanced meals, your health will improve in no time.”
He smacked his lips as he replied.
“When I die of that arterio-whatever, write it down and stick it in my coffin.”
“I am not saying that enjoying meat itself is wrong, Brother. But you tend to eat excessively. Why do you eat so much?”
“Why? Well….”
He set down the chicken leg, now nothing more than bare bone, and answered.
“Because it’s delicious?”
“It is not good for your health.”
“I know that even without you telling me.”
“At the very least, why not increase your outdoor activities a little like our younger brother does? Horseback riding, archery, and the like.”
“……”
At those words, Duein furrowed his brow as if he had lost his appetite.
Then he sighed and roughly wiped his hands and mouth with a napkin.
“So, you didn’t come looking for me today just because you needed someone to tease.”
“What do you mean by that, Brother?”
Duein waved his hand dismissively as if to say enough, then picked up his cup.
“You deliberately chose a place you dislike and went out of your way to do things you hate, yet you’re still sitting here patiently. On top of that, you even brought up Gernot’s name first.”
“……”
Velita simply smiled silently.
Duein looked at her with a touch of unease.
Confirming that she was now ready to speak, Velita quietly opened her mouth.
“What do you think of the demons’ visit this time?”
“What do I think?”
At her question, he shrugged.
“If it were up to me, I would have barred them from setting foot here at all. At the very least, I would have told only their envoys to come in secret.”
As he said that, Duein casually glanced out the window.
Even though the festival had not yet fully begun, there was a strange vitality flowing through the streets, and at its center were the demons who had come this time.
Watching the scene, he muttered with displeasure.
“At the very least, I wouldn’t have let them arrive in such a showy manner.”
“Why not?”
“Because no matter how you look at it, it’s nothing but shallow trickery.”
He continued in a calm tone.
“They came to us, presenting various things as tribute and bowing low. On top of that, they said they would follow the Empire’s laws and asked to be treated merely as a merchant group. And we swallowed their proposal whole.”
“And is that a problem?”
“That means we are officially acknowledging them as equals in diplomacy, as legitimate counterparts.”
Duein picked up a tomato as he spoke.
“At least on the surface, there had been no exchange whatsoever between us… the human alliance of the past… and the demons. That was the same for every country. Because of the great war in the past, we and they refused to acknowledge one another and tacitly forbade any interaction.”
“That was indeed the case. Especially since the Holy Sun Church kept watch with eyes blazing.”
Velita’s face was as serene as ever when she spoke the name of the Holy Sun Church.
But her voice was not.
There was emotion in it that she could not completely conceal, yet neither of them showed any reaction.
“Yes. But like this… even if they bowed low, the moment we accepted, it was no different than handing them a certificate of recognition. Now, not just us, but other nations will also begin exchanges with them.”
“Will that become a problem?”
“Of course it will. It will bring us more losses than gains. For example, take the Northern Empire above us, with whom we are in a cold war. We maintained the upper hand by blocking supplies. But if a new trade route opens, all of that will collapse.”
He bit roughly into the tomato with a crunch.
“On top of that, isn’t it suspicious that instead of paying conveniently with gold, silver, or magic stones, they went out of their way to suffer losses by exchanging into Imperial currency to pay tariffs and tolls? Even paying additional fees.”
“Mm, but isn’t that good for us?”
“In the long run, it benefits them far more. By bearing a small loss, they can now set up concrete budgets and plans. And do you think they’ll exchange just a few coins? Once they draft budgets and make plans, then create departments to manage them, this temporary exchange will naturally become a regular one. By then, even if we want to pull out, we won’t be able to.”
He wiped tomato juice running down his chin with the back of his hand and muttered with unease.
“Well, there are many other things, but… the important part is that they’ve broken their long seclusion and are starting to dig deeply into the Empire. There will be no shortage of matters to keep an eye on.”
Duein muttered with a deep sigh.
“Normally, the Chancellor would not have accepted, but the situation wasn’t good. Or should I say, they were sharp? They brought proposals that matched Father’s desires perfectly.”
Although the alliance was half-forced, the Emperor still disliked Garusol to the east and coveted their lands.
On top of that, he also had his eyes on the mineral-rich snowy mountains to the north, and even the archipelago beyond the sea where the Free City Alliance resided.
But if he acted, the demons could very well invade the now-emptied Empire, so the Emperor had no choice but to suppress his greed.
And in such circumstances, the demons bowed first.
How delighted the Emperor must have been—it was clear without even seeing it.
“Come to think of it, I heard our younger brother happened to be at the palace then.”
“Hmph….”
Duein snorted, as if he didn’t even want to acknowledge it.
The Second Imperial Prince, Gernot, was the highest in the line of succession among the princes, above the two sitting here.
Even in position alone, it was unlikely for their relationship to be good, but with Gernot being a hardliner who insisted on war, and Duein a moderate, the two were in positions that could never mix.
“So you didn’t come to me just to chat about this.”
Wiping the remaining tomato juice from his lips, he asked.
“Did you come to ask me to help with one of your little schemes?”
“Well, I did come to ask for help, but that’s not the reason I sought you out.”
“Then?”
“I want to borrow a person.”
“What?”
“I’m short on people to accompany me at an event happening in a few days.”
At her answer, Duein looked surprised.
“A person?”
“Yes.”
With a dubious expression, he quietly studied his sister.
What on earth was her intention? Setting that thought aside, he still asked in a dissatisfied voice.
“…Say it, then. Who do you need?”
“Well, I believe….”
Velita calmly recalled the face of a man in her mind, and the name of his house.
“Gwendil.”
Lian Gwendil.
The first person who had ever shown such a reaction toward her.
The words she had spoken a few days ago—that things might finally get interesting again—had not been empty.
That was why a smile naturally spread across her lips.
“If I’m not mistaken… Artiac Gwendil, was it?”
After all, if one wanted to eat the fruit, one had to peel away the skin first.
Something was wrong.
No matter how I thought about it, something was very wrong.
That was my conclusion.
“Alright, that’s enough for today’s class. Good work, everyone.”
At Professor Shagas’ declaration, sighs of relief sounded throughout the classroom.
I, too, let out a weary sigh, when Allen, sitting beside me, spoke up.
“I’m planning to head to the training hall now. What about you, Lian?”
Perhaps it was because we had spent time together these past few days and grown closer.
Allen now treated me quite casually.
Though, he still absolutely refused to give up formal speech.
“Well….”
I stole a glance at Cecilia, who still sat apart from me but was drawing closer, little by little, each day.
Her skills were improving at an unbelievable rate as the days went by.
If I hadn’t already known about her, I might have thought I had some talent for teaching others.
But strangely, aside from the three low-level spirits she had contracted at first, she hadn’t been able to form a single new contract.
No—that wasn’t quite right. More accurately, no spirit had answered her summons.
‘…Could it be that the aura of the high spirits still lingers?’
No matter how hard I searched my mind, no knowledge came to help with her current situation.
I had even asked Professor Windy May for advice, but she only replied that she was practically ignorant when it came to spirits.
In the end, in such a situation, the only solution was to keep trying.
Cecilia must have thought the same, for she had asked me for help long ago.
But these past few days, I couldn’t help but neglect training with her.
And the reason was none other than Allen, who sat beside me.
“I have a prior appointment, so I don’t think I can today.”
“Ah, I see.”
At my reply, he looked disappointed but nodded in understanding.
Saying he would go ahead, he rose from his seat.
Seeing him off, I whispered softly.
“You remember, right? Do just as I said earlier, and I’ll praise you to the skies, over and over.”
― Squeak!
At my words, the black spider lifted its front legs jauntily, as if telling me not to worry.
Then it leapt lightly onto Allen’s shoulder, landing like a feather.
Soon after, its body vanished as though dissolving into mist. But I betrayed no reaction, simply watching Allen’s back.
“……”
A few days ago, the reason I had gone around town with Allen wasn’t because of some childish rebellion against his half-brother.
No—it was for something far more important.
It was to prove Allen’s innocence.
‘Yes, it was around this time. A few days after the Dungeon Collapse Incident….’
In my previous life, Allen was accused of being the culprit behind the assault that happened around this period.
The reason was that his half-brother, Kyren, and the students who hung around with him had been attacked.
Because of that, Allen became the prime suspect. With no clear alibi and not a single witness to prove his innocence, he was ultimately convicted in court.
The rest was a famous story.
The prison island.
Dragged there to serve his sentence, Allen only barely managed to escape after several years.
…And that was not what I wanted.
‘The Amiel family blocked all detailed records and circumstances, so I couldn’t know more….’
But since it was such a notorious case, I remembered well enough how it had unfolded, and roughly when.
That was why, to secure alibis and witnesses, I had spent the last few days deliberately accompanying Allen only to crowded places.
So that when Kyren and his group were attacked, we could prove Allen had been elsewhere.
…And only after several days did I reach a short conclusion.
Something was wrong.
The reason was simple.
Even though enough time had passed, neither Kyren Amiel nor any of his group had been attacked.
“…This is troublesome.”
I sighed and muttered unconsciously.