His Highness’s eyes looked like they were burning. To the point where I could’ve believed he was actually using fire with magic.
“Don’t tell me you think I’m a spy for the king, too?”
It was a frightening expression. And not just his expression—his pheromones, which had been dominating the attendant and the butler, seemed to intensify along with His Highness’s emotions. Pain rose across their previously blank faces. Watching them twist their features—unable to make a sound, unable even to physically protest their suffering, only contorting in silence—was an unsettling sight.
But I knew His Highness’s power wouldn’t be directed at me.
Not long after, the expressions vanished from the attendant’s and the butler’s faces again. His Highness had withdrawn his power.
“No. I was thinking about how you figured out the truth.”
After calming himself down, His Highness let out a sigh, then held a bitter smile again.
“So I was the one who told you.”
“Yes.”
I nodded quickly. He’d given the order to throw me out right after he pointed at the man and called him Count Umbra’s rat. Meaning, he’d already revealed the man wasn’t just an ordinary attendant.
The emphasis wasn’t supposed to be on “spy,” but on “whose.” If the person who made His Highness think he needed to exclude me wasn’t Count Umbra, then who was left?
“I need coffee.”
To my employer, who muttered with a tired face, I answered as an attendant.
“If you want one, it would be your last cup today. Shall I bring it up?”
“…Forget it.”
His Highness refused in a voice full of lingering regret.
“You really are an insolent attendant.”
In that statement, the word that took the emphasis was “attendant.” It meant he was allowing me to remain in this room, so I stood at attention in front of my employer’s desk, the way I always did.
“Now that I look at it, leaving out the honorific for the king was intentional.”
“Yes.”
“Truly a crafty attendant.”
If His Highness and I kept our mouths shut, what happened in this room would never be known to anyone else. The servants were afraid of His Highness and tried not to even come near wherever he was. Even if the study door were slightly open, there would be no ears to listen. And of course, I was a meticulous attendant who made sure the door shut completely when we entered. Since this was where His Highness handled matters related to multiple businesses, security magic had been in place to begin with.
Daring to omit an honorific for the highest authority in the country was me plainly telling His Highness, in a place where secrecy was perfectly guaranteed, that I was on his side. His Highness could see straight through how transparent I was, but unlike when I’d directly flattered him by calling him kind, he didn’t grimace.
“Your real master is the king, isn’t he?”
The interrogation began abruptly. The man who had come claiming to be Count Umbra’s attendant moved only his lips, his face blank.
“Yes. I am His Majesty the King’s servant.”
“And you take work from Count Umbra?”
“Yes.”
“So the real truth you discovered will be reported only to the king?”
“Everything is exactly as Your Highness has said.”
“What was Count Umbra curious about, regarding me?”
“He ordered me to find out whether there was someone who spent rut with you.”
“And the king?”
“He gave the same order as Count Umbra, and in addition, he was very curious about the exact duration of your rut, every unusual phenomenon that occurred in the manor, and Your Highness’s state of health.”
“Our His Majesty never changes.”
His Highness smiled brightly. Bright enough that calling it flowerlike wouldn’t be an exaggeration. And that was how I could tell he was furious.
“The king gave you something beyond your station, didn’t he?”
At His Highness’s words, I felt mana ripple. The destination of that power was the king’s spy—more precisely, near his neck. It was strong enough that even I, who only knew mana breathing, could feel the aftershock despite not being the target.
“Yes. If not for this, Count Umbra would have discovered my identity long ago.”
The king’s spy lifted a hand to the back of his neck and began loosening the cravat that wrapped up to his jaw. I frowned. Not because I was startled by the sudden undressing, but because his silhouette looked strange. It was like he had a thick gold necklace under his clothes. Until just moments ago, I hadn’t sensed anything odd at all about his outfit. That I hadn’t noticed an accessory with that much bulk was irritating enough to bruise my pride.
When the king’s spy loosened the cravat and opened his collar, what appeared wasn’t an ordinary gold necklace, but a diamond necklace. And the main stone was so large it had to weigh over twenty carats. It was practically magic.
He removed the necklace and presented it to His Highness with perfect deference.
“It can block distortion caused by pheromones and detection magic, and at the same time, a perception-impairment spell is activated to conceal the wearer’s presence.”
The necklace was dazzlingly ornate. Rather than a perception-impairment spell, it looked like it ought to carry a bewitchment spell. Centered on a heavy diamond, melee diamonds of various colors—small diamonds roughly 0.9 mm to 2.7 mm in diameter, often used as accent stones around a main stone—traced an elaborate magic circle.
Even at a glance, it clearly wasn’t ordinary. His Highness had undone the magic on it in an instant.
“Interested in this necklace?”
His Highness’s question was directed at me.
“Yes.”
I answered without being able to take my eyes off it.
“Come closer and look.”
He handed me the necklace without hesitation.
The main diamond looked like a top-grade D color—not just in size, but in color as well, the closest to colorless. By eye alone, I couldn’t find any inclusions or external flaws. A definitive appraisal would only be possible after checking with a standard 10x loupe, but even this was already enough to meet the standard for diamonds sold by the most famous jewelers on Earth—the one Audrey Hepburn went to eat breakfast at.
Still, it didn’t match the top grade by modern 4C standards: cut, color, clarity, and carat weight. Cut is ultimately about how beautifully a stone reflects light, and the stones that earn the highest “Excellent” grade are usually in the brilliant-cut family.
By contrast, the main stone on this necklace had been polished in a table cut. It was my first time seeing it in person. On Earth, it was a method used a very long time ago—back in the seventeenth century, before the brilliant cut was born. While a brilliant cut has fifty-eight facets, the table cut, built on an eight-facet framework, is extremely simple and can’t draw out proper light reflection.
The accent stones were also cut very simply. But the setting that formed the magic-circle pattern overflowed with obsessive meticulousness. You couldn’t say the maker lacked skill.
The simple cuts felt like an unavoidable limitation of the era. Even the ruby in my port was cut far more intricately than this. Which meant this necklace was an antique made long ago.
In conclusion—
“It must be expensive.”
It was obscenely expensive. At that obvious conclusion, His Highness burst into loud laughter.
The king’s spy waited in an extremely deferential posture for His Highness to question him further, and the butler bowed his head deeply, his face drained pale.
In my head, inequalities floated up one after another.
‘Count Umbra < the king.’
If you ignored political clout and governance power and judged only by pheromonal influence, it would be the correct formula.
I looked down at the expensive necklace again. The king must have sent that spy believing His Highness wouldn’t even notice the magic on it.
So—
If you judged purely by individual capability, the formula inevitably became ‘the king < His Highness.’
“Jay, you’ll need something like this too, won’t you?”
“Huh?”
Even if I’d placed my bet on His Highness, I hadn’t expected a payout like this. It was too big to accept immediately, so I asked back, and His Highness snapped his fingers right in front of me.
“You’re going to need something like this too. Don’t get your hopes up. It won’t be as expensive as this necklace. In your case, you need something that detects pheromones and alerts you. It’ll be much lighter. The magic circle won’t need to be this complex either.”
It seemed His Highness thought I was completely bewitched by the overwhelming necklace. No—none of that was the point. He was saying he’d give me a magic item? And made of jewelry?
“You’re saying you’ll give me something like that?”
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying I’m going to drag you into danger. You’re quick-witted, so even if a guy like that gets into the house you handle it well, but it’s easier if you know in advance, isn’t it? I’m telling you to work harder.”
Maybe he interpreted my dumb expression some other way, because His Highness recited the kind of line that used to be popular in old dramas—the sort that went, “I just happened to pick it up.”
Now I could understand why characters like that were popular.
I knew my unusual constitution was what His Highness needed. I also knew that going forward, I could be even more helpful in his affairs. But I also knew that being treated according to your ability was a fairy-tale fantasy—something only an extremely rare few ever got to enjoy in reality.
“This is a treasure that should be in the royal vault. Even I am seeing the actual piece for the first time right now.”
His Highness looked down at the necklace again as he spoke. Greed rose in me again, and I spoke that greed out loud.
“I’d like to leave a drawing of the necklace.”
His Highness looked up at me with a smile. His blue eyes glittered with mischief. Just as I wondered if that was asking too much, His Highness lifted the national treasure of a necklace and handed it to me.