Chapter 47

Chapter 47

“Of course he’s excited. How often do you see a child that young who isn’t afraid of Heath?”

From a distance, the little girl’s head looked about the same size as Heath’s fist. From her perspective, he must have seemed like some enormous boulder.

“Exactly. You need that kind of courage to learn the sword.”

How could such a tiny young lady look at Heath and not feel the slightest bit afraid? What an extraordinary family.

“…I think we’ll have to come up with a system of hand signals.”

“What?”

“We can’t let a noble young lady go around getting dirt all over her hands forever.”

Muttering that he ought to at least earn his keep somehow, Bin seemed to have already retreated into his own world, his eyes losing focus.

Michelle had no idea that the system of hand signals they came up with would one day become so sophisticated that the Information Guild itself would adopt it.

—

Irenea was busy with her work, Leonard was occupied with training the knights, and Charlotte was training with the mercenaries. Time passed, and before they knew it, the wedding was finally just one day away.

Irenea and Leonard, along with the members of the Blair Marquisate and the Elpiers County household, held a simple rehearsal for the wedding.

Meanwhile, the servants checked and rechecked everything: the garden where the ceremony and reception would be held, the banquet hall, the annex that would be opened for guests to rest in, and all the furniture and tableware needed for the wedding.

The entire estate was in a frenzy, with everyone rushing about, when Irenea received ‘that news’ that afternoon.

“The engagement with the Viscount Schultz family was ultimately called off? What happened to the twenty million larks?”

“We’re still looking into the exact circumstances, but we suspect they struck some sort of under-the-table deal with the Duke.”

“An under-the-table deal…”

Irenea had a hunch that this ‘deal’ was precisely why they had demanded such an exorbitant sum in compensation for a dog’s life in the first place.

‘What could they possibly have wanted from my uncle badly enough to corner him like that…?’

The answer came to her at once.

‘A train attack.’

There was a reason Irenea was so certain.

It was something that had actually happened in the past.

Back then, just as now, the Empress was deeply invested in the railway project. She had made no secret of her determination to lay railway lines throughout the Empire, and whenever any nobles tried to obstruct her, she dug up every bit of dirt she could find until they were forced to hold their tongues.

If someone were to carry out a terrorist attack by blowing up the railway or ambushing a train, they would incur the wrath of the Emperor, who would pursue them relentlessly.

That was why Duke William hadn’t resorted to methods like bombs or armed assaults.

Instead, he used an alchemist’s potion.

His plan was to release poisonous gas inside a train and poison its passengers, then launch a public campaign claiming that the coal burned to power the steam engine was the source of the problem.

But there was one complication.

The alchemist’s poison, which had been designed to resemble coal gas poisoning as closely as possible, had another effect.

It attracted and lured ancient beasts.

Had the train been headed somewhere else, that side effect might never have come to light.

But in the past, the site of the very first railway happened to be the Marquisate of Waindal, in the southwestern part of the Empire.

As a result, the ancient beasts roaming the Great Forest all rushed toward the train that had arrived at the Waindal estate.

They tore down walls and houses, trampled the rice paddies and fields that people had worked so hard to cultivate, and claimed countless lives.

Convinced that the incident was an act of terrorism, Marquis Waindal borrowed the Emperss’s knights and set out to hunt down the culprits himself, declaring that he would personally find the bastards who had dared to damage Her Majesty’s train.

Duke William managed to cut off the loose ends and escape, but several years later, during the investigation into the attempted assassination of the First Princess, it came to light that he had orchestrated the attack.

The one who secured crucial evidence and played a major role in exposing the truth was none other than Leonard, who had earned fame as the ‘Golden Lion of Weinberg.’

All of this would happen approximately two years from now, counting by the calendar year. That was why she had assumed that the Guardians, including Kichi, would only make their appearance around then…

In any case, that wasn’t what mattered right now.

‘Duke William doesn’t want railways spreading throughout the Empire and increasing the Emperss’s influence.’

That was why he must have regarded Irenea, who had persuaded the southern nobles to take the first steps toward railway construction, as a thorn in his side.

And since she was also one of the Empress’s most reliable sources of funding, he would surely want to get rid of her while he still had the chance.

Once she had followed that line of thought, Irenea began to see what Duke William was planning.

“So he’s going to poison me right on the train.”

What a sensational story it would be if the Marchioness of Blair died from coal smoke poisoning.

He would probably launch a public campaign about the tragedy of the train, lamenting how the Emperss’s ambition had claimed the life of a young Marchioness.

If that happened, the consequences would extend far beyond her own safety. Coal exports would also be affected, potentially escalating into a serious international conflict between Illum and the Empire.

This was a critical matter, and Irenea had to stop the plot before it could come to pass.

“Have you found the alchemist Duke William contacted?”

“We’re still searching, but we haven’t found any significant leads outside the estate.”

“Outside the estate?”

The Shadow caught the implication in Irenea’s choice of words and nodded.

“We’ve found indications that there may be an alchemist inside the Duke’s estate, but we haven’t been able to obtain conclusive proof.”

“What kind of indications?”

“You know that Duke William is fond of dogs, don’t you?”

“I know he was particularly attached to one of the dogs he kept, but I didn’t know he was a dog lover.”

The Shadow nodded.

“He’s quite well-known in the slums. Apparently, if you bring a stray dog to the Duke’s estate, they’ll give you a silver coin as a reward.”

“A silver coin?”

The Shadow nodded, then added that this had given him an excuse to approach the Duke’s estate.

“Once, I deliberately brought in a sick dog I’d found, but they took it without asking any questions. I’d say they’ve taken in at least fifty dogs by now.”

“Fifty? That many?”

“Yes. But from what we’ve gathered, there are fewer than twenty dogs tied up in the backyard of the estate.”

The Shadow lowered his voice, careful not to be overheard.

“According to one of our men who went there recently… he smelled burning dog fur.”

“Dog fur?”

“Fur, and other things.”

The Shadow offered no further explanation, merely shrugging. Irenea seemed to understand what he meant and simply nodded.

In other words, the alchemist had most likely been using the stray dogs as test subjects.

“…If the alchemist is inside the Duke’s estate, it’ll be difficult to take her into custody, won’t it?”

“The estate’s security is extremely tight. All we managed was to catch a glimpse of the silhouette of someone we suspect is the alchemist, from a distance. I believe it’s a woman.”

Irenea fell into thought at the Shadow’s explanation that capturing the alchemist would be difficult unless they could search Duke William’s estate under the authority of the Imperial Family.

‘We managed to capture Duke William in the past, but failed to catch the alchemist who helped him.’

There was only one reason they had let the alchemist escape.

No one knew she was a mage.

To make matters worse, the magical artifact she possessed was a teleportation device. It was one of only two such artifacts in the Empire; the other was owned by the Imperial Family, making it an exceedingly rare item.

‘That artifact originally belonged to Duke William.’

Had the alchemist received it from Duke William, or had she stolen it? Did she still have it now?

“Then can you find out what kind of potion the alchemist has been making?”

“We’ll do our best.”

The Shadow gave that answer, but his voice lacked conviction.

After all, the alchemist was the very thing the Duke was keeping so carefully hidden, and her research notes were the very thing the alchemist was keeping hidden.

Finding those notes might prove even more difficult than taking the alchemist into custody.

‘If that avenue proves difficult, I can approach the problem from another direction.’

Now that she knew Duke William was plotting something, she could avoid danger simply by keeping an eye on Viscount Calio.

And the Second Prince as well.

‘He followed Duke William around like he was his own uncle, only to be used and discarded by him. It’ll probably happen the same way this time.’

Irenea suddenly remembered the letter the Empress had sent her. He had said that the Second Prince was deeply remorseful and that he had given him a chance to apologize, so she should make up with him.

‘Remorseful, my foot.’

If the Second Prince truly regretted what he had done, the person he ought to apologize to wasn’t Irenea, but Leonard.

But would he really apologize to Leonard, the illegitimate son and former mercenary he had always looked down on?

‘Absolutely not.’

The Empress’s seemed to have no suspicions whatsoever, but the Second Prince was probably plotting something behind her back again.

‘For now, I suppose I should be wary of whatever wedding gift the Second Prince gives me…’

Since things had come to this, she hoped he would give her something truly surprising.

Something like a poison made by an alchemist, for instance.

—

“Starting tomorrow, you’ll be a married man, Count!”

It was late at night. Despite the wedding being just one day away, Leonard had been unable to put off some paperwork and was finally making his way back to his bedroom after finishing it.

Edward, who had risen early in the morning just like Leonard, kept yawning from exhaustion.

Even so, the corners of his mouth kept twitching upward. The sight was so amusing that Leonard finally couldn’t help asking.

“I’m the one getting married. What’s got you grinning so much?”

“To be perfectly honest, Count, I’m delighted that you’ll finally be the rightful owner of that five-hundred-million-lark dowry.”

Edward still had the ten-million-lark check Leonard had given him to find new lodgings.

To be precise, he was so afraid of losing it or having it stolen that he’d put it in a bank vault.

The reason he hadn’t deposited it into his account was simple.

He didn’t know when Leonard might ask for it back.

“That ten million larks was a bonus for doing a good job, right? You’re not going to ask me to return it, are you?”

“Why would I give you that? You agreed to work for free. Now that you mention it, this is perfect. Hand it over. You haven’t even found a place to stay yet.”

“Come on, Count!”

Leonard gave a snort of laughter as Edward whined about how he couldn’t believe the Count would treat him this way after everything they’d been through.

Thanks to him, the tension Leonard hadn’t even realized he was carrying finally eased.

He kicked Edward in the backside and told him to go get some sleep.

“I’ll cry at your wedding tomorrow! I’ll cry like I’ve got some tragic backstory!”

“Go ahead. It’ll ruin your chances of getting married, not mine.”

A look of utter shock spread across Edward’s face, as though he’d just made an astonishing discovery.

Leonard chuckled to himself that there was never a dull moment with Edward around, then parted ways with him.