* * *
Once it became possible to purify monster corpses at a low cost, with both the Imperial Family and the Magic Tower officially certifying the method, the Verdin Marquisate became the subject of intense attention among the noble houses.
Everyone closely followed the news coming from the territory, and word of Walter’s recent incident spread in an instant.
The news also reached House Luke in the central region of the empire―
“Wh-what did you say?!”
“Apparently, someone staged a hostage crisis targeting Young Master Evan of Verdin.”
“No, not that part!”
Ever since her visit to Verdin, Ainsera had remained in constant correspondence with Evan.
The news had naturally come as a great shock to her as well.
However, the part that surprised her differed somewhat from what most people would have expected.
“What? Then what are you asking about…?”
“Did you say one of the hostages was definitely someone named ‘Flüde’?!”
“Ah… yes, that is correct.”
Jess had served as Ainsera’s escort during her visit to Verdin and had since become her dedicated Escort Knight.
He was slightly bewildered by the young lady’s unexpected reaction.
“He is a commoner who ran a small weapon shop with his father, a blacksmith named Glen…. Do you happen to know him?”
“Ah… n-no, I do not.”
Ainsera realized that she had reacted too strongly without meaning to.
She tried to calm herself, but her thoughts were in utter disarray.
‘Blue-and-red Odd Eyes and the name Flüde. No matter how I look at it, he is the Crazy Merchant, is he not?’
Looking back over her previous lives, the Crazy Merchant had begun making a name for himself five years from now, when disaster erupted from the Behamag Mountains.
Nothing was known about how he had lived or what he had done before then.
‘I never dreamed that he had been running a weapon shop with his father in Verdin….’
That made the revelation all the more shocking.
‘Did Evan truly know that man would become a merchant magnate in the future?’
It was far too coincidental to dismiss as mere chance.
At present, Flüde possessed nothing that would make him stand out in the slightest.
‘And a noble heir risked his own life for a commoner even while being threatened by a knight of battalion-commander rank?’
It was the sort of tale one would expect to find only in the biography of a great hero.
Yet it had truly happened, and Evan’s popularity among the residents of the Verdin Marquisate was currently soaring into the heavens.
‘This… must mean he acted with knowledge of the future.’
In that case, was he a Regressor like her after all?
It was still too early to draw that conclusion.
She had no way of knowing how he had obtained knowledge of the future.
Moreover, the true mystery lay elsewhere.
‘How did he locate Flüde at this point in time?’
The Crazy Merchant who established the monster-corpse industry would eventually extend his influence throughout the entire empire.
Throughout her five regressions, Ainsera had desperately tried to locate him before he began making a name for himself….
Yet no matter how hard she searched, it was information she had never managed to uncover.
‘More importantly, why did he choose the Crazy Merchant of all people…?’
The Flüde she knew was not someone who could be controlled.
What use was there in securing a talented individual in advance if he refused to obey, could not be trusted, and would not listen to a word anyone said?
‘Ugh, honestly! Just what is that boy thinking?’
No matter how much she considered it, she could not find an answer.
In that case, she had no choice but to ask him directly.
“Jess.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“I am going to write a letter. Send it to Verdin for me.”
The instant he heard those words, his expression stiffened.
“You are sending another letter… to Young Master Evan?”
“Yes. I heard something serious happened, so I want to ask how he is doing. There are also a few things I am curious about.”
“Ah… yes…….”
Jess wanted to dissuade her somehow.
Every time she sent a letter, he was the one forced to endure Duke Luke’s fearsome scrutiny.
The excessively doting duke never reprimanded his daughter directly, afraid that she might come to dislike him.
Instead, he tormented Jess, her dedicated guard.
That did not mean Ainsera listened to him either.
‘Haa, why must I be trapped between them…….’
He was like a shrimp whose back was broken in a battle between whales.
* * *
A few days later.
Haver came to my study while making a strangely suggestive chuckle.
“Heh heh heh! Young Master Evan~ You have a letter!”
“…Is it from Ainsera?”
“Yes!”
Haver answered in a booming voice.
I did not like the foolish grin plastered across his face.
I frowned and scolded him.
“Why is the Knight Commander delivering my letters?”
“Wahahaha! That is because I am both the Knight Commander and Young Master Evan’s dedicated Escort Knight!”
“Is it even possible for one person to hold both of those positions?”
“WOOOAAAH! Now that you mention it, you are right! Perhaps spending so much time with you caused some of your genius to rub off on me!”
“Uh… I do not think that is what happened….”
In any case, Haver always became strangely excited whenever a letter arrived from Ainsera.
He appeared to believe that the correspondence contained tender declarations of shy affection exchanged between an innocent young boy and girl….
The reality could not have been further from his imagination.
Most of our letters concerned political, diplomatic, economic, and military issues.
‘I wonder what she has written about today?’
That was why corresponding with Ainsera was quite interesting and enjoyable.
It was certainly far preferable to childish games of make-believe.
The only tiresome part was the pointless expectations and misunderstandings of those around us.
RIP―
I tore open the envelope, removed the letter, and began reading.
This letter, however, felt somewhat different from all the ones she had sent before.
‘She wants to know in as much detail as possible how I discovered Flüde…?’
She showed an extraordinary interest in him.
Yet rather than focusing on ‘what kind of person’ he was, her attention was directed toward ‘how I had found him.’
‘No matter how I consider it, this is strange.’
She had also expressed concern about Flüde’s personality.
According to her, there were all manner of lunatics and madmen among the common people, so I ought to be cautious in case the man I had chosen as my business partner possessed such a disposition.
‘The nuance almost makes it sound as though….’
She was certain that Flüde had precisely that sort of personality.
Furthermore, there were supposedly many lunatics and madmen among commoners?
That part also appeared to be nothing more than a hastily invented excuse.
‘Ainsera warmly greeted and conversed with commoners in the marketplace and ate street food without the slightest hesitation. Would she truly make such a class-biased remark?’
There were certainly nobles who viewed commoners as though they were insects.
However, she was absolutely not one of them.
‘Could she… possess knowledge of the future?’
She was showing excessive interest in Flüde, who should originally have become famous as the ‘Crazy Merchant,’ and was even concerned about his personality.
During our previous meeting, she had pressed me about how I discovered the effects of Clove and had even begun suspecting my true identity.
‘Heh heh. She truly is an interesting woman.’
There was unquestionably something special about Ainsera.
I did not yet know what it was, but I could uncover it little by little.
‘As for my reply… I should tell her only an appropriate amount.’
SCRITCH, SCRITCH―
The quill, its nib soaked in pitch-black ink, moved diligently across the paper.
In the letters Ainsera and I exchanged, even a single poorly chosen word could reveal a great deal of information or cause an unnecessary misunderstanding.
I therefore had no choice but to write with even greater care―
“Oh! Lady Ainsera should know how much thought and heartfelt devotion Young Master Evan is pouring into his reply!”
“…Be quiet, Haver. It is nothing like that.”
“Heh heh heh! Understood!”
Despite his enormous build, Haver was making a ridiculous fuss beside me.
A short while later.
Haver carefully collected the freshly written letter and rushed out to have it delivered at once.
* * *
A vast empire situated in the southeastern region of the continent of Arvania.
The Imperial Capital of Asron was a massive city called ‘Ascarone,’ located at the very center of the empire’s territory.
At the heart of Ascarone stood the Imperial Palace.
“F*ck this!”
CRASH―
A loud sound of something shattering rang out from the First Imperial Consort’s Palace, one of the many buildings within the inner palace.
The enraged First Prince Kirzen had seized a vase from beside the window and hurled it away, unable to contain his fury.
“E-eek?! Your Highness… please have mercy!”
The man who had come to deliver the news hurriedly threw himself flat on the floor.
Standing before him was a red-haired boy.
The First Prince was infamous for his hot temper and vicious disposition.
“You! Say it again! What did you just say?”
“Th-that… Lady Ainsera appears to have feelings for the Third Young Master of House Verdin…….”
Kirzen felt as though his insides had been turned upside down.
This time, he kicked the table beside him.
“Do not give me that bullshit! F*ck, how does that make any sense?! Was that bastard not a lowborn illegitimate child who lived as a commoner until recently?!”
BOOM!!!
The expensive hardwood table shattered completely.
Astonishingly, the First Prince’s kick had been imbued with Aura.
Although he was only twelve years old, he possessed an innate talent for martial arts.
“AAAGH! Y-Your Highness…!”
Tremble, tremble….
He had a vile temper, yet he was also powerful?
Thanks to that combination, his subordinates had to remain constantly anxious and tremble in fear.
They never knew when their vicious young master might fly into another rage.
“Y-your servant merely repeated the rumors that have been circulating! Ever since the young lady accompanied her father to Verdin, she and the Third Young Master have continued exchanging letters….”
“AAAAAH! Silence! That cannot be true!”
CRASH!
First Prince Kirzen roared again and smashed the nearby furnishings.
Flames of rage burned within his bright yellow eyes.
“Ainsera… My Ainsera could never have fallen for some country bumpkin from the frontier!”
BANG―
The enormous door was flung open so violently that it seemed ready to break.
Breathing heavily with anger, Kirzen stormed out of his study.
Still seething, he headed toward the chambers of his mother, the First Imperial Consort, ‘Helen Asron.’
* * *
“Mother! It is your son, Kirzen!”
His voice was filled with unmistakable anger.
The First Imperial Consort Helen could immediately tell from her son’s voice alone that he was in an exceedingly foul mood.
That was not necessarily because she was his mother.
Her son simply displayed every emotion he felt for the entire world to see.
“Hmm… You may enter.”
CLICK.
The First Prince entered the room almost before she finished granting permission.
A beautiful red-haired woman who closely resembled her son greeted her unexpected visitor with a gentle smile.
She then deliberately observed the proper formalities.
“First Prince, may the glory of the empire always accompany you.”
“Ah! M-may the Goddess’s beauty and nobility always accompany you… I, Kirzen, greet Mother.”
The agitated boy calmed somewhat as he followed the proper etiquette.
Greeting him formally before all else.
It was the First Imperial Consort’s own method of handling her hot-tempered and irascible son.
“Yes, Kirzen. What brings you to your mother?”
“Th-that is…….”
Now that he had to explain himself, Kirzen found himself wondering how he should phrase it.
However, speaking indirectly did not suit his nature. In the end, he cut straight to the point.
“Mother, what happened with the marriage proposal sent to House Luke?”
“It was sent, but they have yet to reply.”
“Why have they not replied? Surely… House Luke is not planning to reject it?”
“…What?”
He appeared strangely impatient.
The First Imperial Consort wondered why her son was acting this way, but the answer soon became clear as the conversation continued.
“Well… Duke Luke went on an official trip to a remote country territory called Verdin a few weeks ago, and he took Ainsera with him.”
Kirzen could never feel satisfied unless everything he desired became his.
There was one girl with whom such a boy had fallen in love at first sight―
‘Ainsera’ of House Luke.
He always ordered his subordinates to investigate how she had been doing, and now he told his mother everything he had just learned.
“Hohoho! First Prince, you are worrying over nothing.”
Lady Ainsera and Verdin’s illegitimate child.
The First Imperial Consort had found the very idea laughable from the moment she heard it.
House Verdin might currently be rising in prominence, but its status was still insufficient for a union with House Luke.
“Lady Ainsera will ultimately be joined with the First Prince.”
“R-really? Then why did they not answer the marriage proposal immediately?”
“They must also be given time to consider it.”
“B-but… while we wait, other bastards might continue pestering Ainsera…!”
The First Imperial Consort tried to soothe him with gentle words, but Kirzen continued to look anxious.
“Whew… Very well. In that case, I shall speak to Duke Luke once more in the near future.”
“Wow! Truly?”
“Hohoho. Of course. Everything will work out, so Your Highness need not worry.”
As it happened, a grand conference attended by every lord in the empire would soon be held at the Imperial Palace.
Only then did Kirzen’s expression relax.
Seemingly reassured, he returned to his chambers.
The instant he left, however, the First Imperial Consort’s expression changed completely, and her displeasure showed without the slightest concealment.
CLENCH.
“Hah! Could Luke truly be considering an alliance with Verdin…?”
She immediately sent a letter to House Luke.