Chapter 113
At those thunderous words, Jessica leaped to her feet and shouted.
“No! Why do I have to leave? I haven’t done anything wrong!”
“At least if your face isn’t around, Lady Peris might let go of her anger.”
The situation was worse than it had been eight years ago.
Back then, the Peris family had wanted to handle it quietly, so they could wrap up the business at a reasonable level, but now it was different.
“Once the trial starts, it’s only a matter of time before the rumors spread. Don’t you realize that would be the end for you and our family?”
Jessica trembled with rage at her father, who seemed more worried about the business than his daughter.
She felt wronged. She hated Cesare for deceiving her, and she was furious at the Peris family for throwing a lawsuit at her as if they’d been waiting for it.
“Why do I have to go? I’m Princess Nanael’s close attendant maid. Even if you’re my father, you can’t force me!”
“Princess Nanael probably wants to kick you out by now, don’t you think?”
Jessica’s mouth clamped shut at Count Miranda’s cutting remark.
“Well, I don’t particularly feel that way.”
“Gasp, Y-Your Highness!”
Count Miranda recognized Nanael and caught his breath.
“W-What brings you here…”
Nanael glanced at the groveling Count Miranda and spoke to Jessica.
“How long are you going to keep sniveling?”
“……”
“In times like this, you need to act boldly. Unless you want to embarrass me too.”
At Nanael’s scolding, Jessica wiped her tears and stood up.
“J-Just wait a moment! I’ll get ready right away!”
In truth, unlike Count Miranda’s concerns, Nanael didn’t care one way or the other.
If anything, she’d burst into laughter upon reading the morning paper.
From the palace all the way here, her solar plexus ached from holding back the giggles.
Of course, beneath that laughter simmered a subtle irritation.
‘What an infuriating woman. I never thought she’d strike back at Cesare like this.’
Honestly, even when heading to the Ainluk estate yesterday, she’d judged Rodellia as finished.
Who could have guessed she’d been plotting such a sly scheme with her lover.
No wonder Alferen had followed along so obediently.
Moreover, this incident seemed to have dealt a major blow to the Empress.
Hearing belatedly that Jasmine had paid her a visit left Nanael with a stinging sensation at the back of her head.
‘Cesare was furious to the tips of his hair.’
Having failed to soothe him, the Empress was now haranguing poor Nanael instead.
For someone who had to endure her neurosis, the situation was amusing yet maddening.
Leaving the flustered Count Miranda behind, Nanael returned to the carriage, her gaze cold.
‘I’ll have to discard her at the right time.’
She hadn’t come for Jessica’s sake, really.
Dismissing her right now would bring more losses than gains.
Given how things had turned out, the best move was to redirect the attention currently focused on Cesare toward Jessica.
‘The Peris dukedom conspired to make this happen. To restore our image, we need someone to pin it on, don’t we?’
Her mother, whose cunning reached the heavens when it came to her son’s affairs, intended to use the Miranda family.
In case Jessica got scared and decided to return to the estate, Nanael had come prepared to wave the contract in her face.
“Greedy ones are always easy to handle.”
As Nanael hummed a tune, Jessica, having finished preparing, climbed into the carriage.
“Thank you, Your Highness. Even after all that, you’re not casting me out but taking me in.”
Receiving that gaze of utmost loyalty, Nanael smiled.
“Didn’t I tell you? As long as you’re by my side, no one can touch you carelessly.”
At her kind response, color bloomed on Jessica’s face.
“I’ll do really well, I promise.”
Nanael, annoyed at seeing Jessica on the verge of tears again, handed her a handkerchief.
“Mother wants to see you, so stop that sniffling.”
* * *
These days, wherever you went, Cesare and the courtesan’s love story kept coming up.
Cesare, who had abandoned the courtesan and fled after being caught on the spot, was repeatedly branded as a cowardly and pathetic man.
Having suffered a major blow to his image, Cesare steadfastly played ignorant.
Normally, he would have mobilized the Empress’s connections to suppress the rumors.
‘But since we have even more evidence, they can’t act recklessly.’
He needed to suffer as much as I had from the rumors.
Meanwhile, Jessica shamelessly continued her duties as Nanael’s close attendant maid.
I’d thought she’d be terrified after fleeing in disgrace that day and run back to the estate.
But rumor had it she’d officially exchanged engagement vows with Cesare.
‘She really has no shame.’
To actually promise marriage to a man who’d fooled around with a courtesan.
Honestly, the Empress’s intent in arranging the engagement for Jessica was obvious.
It must be to quell the unnecessary scandals surrounding Cesare.
‘Well, let them self-destruct on their own. I’ve done all I need to now.’
Father would handle the aftermath splendidly.
No one in high society was unaware that the Peris family had sued the Miranda family.
Since there was no longer a need to handle things quietly for my sake, Father’s methods would show no mercy.
It was while I was waiting for the enemy’s corpse to float down the river.
I discovered that the mini house where the Fairy Bloom should have been was empty.
Sierra had insisted on not throwing it away, so I’d left it be, but actually, there was another purpose.
I asked casually, as if it were no big deal.
“Did you finally dispose of this?”
And then Sierra’s response followed.
“No! Sir Pierre took it, saying he wanted to check it out. He has an advanced tamer certification, you know.”
I flashed a triumphant smile at it having been passed to the expected person.
‘He finally took the bait.’
In the original story, Pierre wandered as a peddler, seeking out magical flora and fauna.
It was because using curses required magical plants and animals as mediums.
‘The Ice Dragon was one of them too.’
I recalled the Ice Dragon’s corpse I’d seen in the Magic Tower.
Six years ago, the Emperor had demanded the Ice Dragon’s body, but Alferen refused to hand over that much.
It was under the pretext that an investigation was needed due to the suspicious accident.
Thanks to that, the undissected corpse looked not dead but asleep.
– It was cruelly exploited.
Ordel frowned in disgust as he examined the Ice Dragon.
Then, beckoning me closer, he had me place my hand on the dragon heart.
In that moment, I could feel the Ice Dragon’s final moments.
A pitiful dragon turned into a monster by an unwelcome intruder who shattered its peaceful slumber.
The one who had done such a vile thing to the dragon guarding its lair instead of returning to another realm was undoubtedly Pierre.
And the reason the Ice Dragon hadn’t resisted at all…
‘There was an egg. Pierre must have it.’
Hatching a dragon egg required an enormous amount of mana and a summoner’s power.
Even for Pierre, hatching a dragon egg would be impossible.
After reading all of the Ice Dragon’s memories, a curse array appeared on the shattered dragon heart.
‘This alone won’t be enough to prove the Empress is behind it, right?’
‘Probably not. The curse still seems active on the caster, so we could use it against them.’
Bringing the dragon heart now would only catch Pierre and end there.
We decided to set a more proper trap, and one of them was the Fairy Bloom with its door closed.
– A Fairy Bloom whose door has been opened once could hatch the egg even without a summoner.
‘What if we hand over the Fairy Bloom carelessly and the Ice Dragon’s egg hatches?’
– We can raid the base before that. The coordinates of the first door are connected to me.
The place where the Empress and Pierre secretly performed curses.
We had set the Fairy Bloom as a trap to discover that location.
Since the Magia members didn’t know Pierre was the mastermind, it was easy to avoid suspicion.
Of course, once Pierre learned the Fairy Bloom’s door had opened, he might target me.
‘But my boyfriend is the Tower Master—what could go wrong? Even if something does, we can make it right!’
I wasn’t particularly worried. To survive in this world anyway, I had no choice but to keep moving diligently, right?
