Chapter 11

“Thank you for making time for me, Your Highness.”

“That is my line.”

Pavel was exceedingly kind. Contrary to my expectations, he was showing me a most gracious attitude.

Why, though? He was not the sort of man to extend kindness to others simply because he was in a good mood.

“Are you relieved now that the engagement is broken?”

At the direct question, I felt my breath catch. I stopped mid-sip and met his eyes. His green eyes felt eerily chilling, like a snake’s.

Each of his words was a snare to me. One wrong step, and all my plans could crumble in an instant.

If I said I felt relieved after causing harm to Gizelle, that would be like baring my throat cleanly before him.

“I am fully aware of my fault, Your Highness.”

“So you are not relieved?”

What answer did Pavel want from me? I could not be late in answering, nor could I answer wrongly.

“I…”

“What do you plan to do from now on?”

Pavel’s interest was poison to me. He questioned me again, like a man determined to pry something out of me.

“I plan to leave for recuperation, Your Highness.”

“Recuperation. A fine pretext.”

He was right. Recuperation was merely a fine-sounding word; in truth, it was flight.

Recuperation or flight, all I wanted was to leave Erdona, so it hardly mattered.

“Thank you for your concern, Your Highness.”

“Have you heard nothing from Redic Bangeger’s side?”

I sensed instinctively that this question was what he had truly wanted to say all along.

Why bring up that name now, of all things?

The broken engagement was already a settled fact. Whatever that scoundrel did afterward was none of my concern. Surely Pavel knew that as well.

“I have heard nothing.”

“Ah, I see.”

Only then did Pavel nod as though he understood.

‘News from Bangeger?’

My head filled with question marks. Yet Pavel did not explain plainly and simply drank his tea in leisure.

“If you’re so curious, why not ask? Instead of making that sullen face.”

“……”

Pavel truly had a ghostlike ability to read people’s minds. Having met him several times in succession, I could tell all the more clearly. I could take what he had just said to mean I should ask.

“Then may I ask why you thought there would be news from Bangeger?”

“You will know soon enough.”

“……”

I was a fool to expect a kind explanation from him. He dangled the bait as though teasing me, then hid it away in an instant. All that remained was me, bewildered.

“It is a shame you are leaving for recuperation.”

“Pardon?”

I asked back before I could stop myself. I realized belatedly how startled I must have looked, but it was already too late. Pavel raised one eyebrow.

“You don’t understand why I would find it a shame?”

Of course I don’t!

I would have liked to shout that, if only he were anyone other than Pavel. But he was Imperial Grandson Pavel. In the end, I shook my head like a child who knew nothing.

“It is not that, Your Highness.”

“You answer well.”

“……”

It seemed the safest path was to answer only the questions asked. I belatedly shut my mouth.

“To hear others talk, they’d think I was about to devour you whole.”

There was displeasure in his leisurely tone. I swallowed hard.

“Tell me. Why are you afraid of me?”

“I am not afraid…”

“You are lying.”

His voice was colder than before. There was no leisure left for drinking tea now. He drove me into a corner like a rabbit released in a forest.

My mind raced. What could I say to make him withdraw his interest from me? I had to give the right answer.

“As Your Highness knows, I am to break off my engagement due to an unsavory matter. I fear that my scandal might affect Your Highness as well.”

“So it is not that you fear me, but that you worry for me, and that is why?”

“…Yes.”

I could not tell whether it was the right answer. As always, Pavel’s expression was impossible to read.

“I am glad if that is all. There is no chance you will affect my reputation, so rest easy.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Next time, it would be good to see Gizelle as well.”

“…Of course.”

It would be best not to see him at all, but for now, simply escaping this seat was enough. When I answered, he smiled in that leisurely way again.

That face truly frightened me.

* * *

Gizelle had always hated Saya. Saya had appeared out of nowhere and, through sheer luck, gained everything.

Gizelle was always planning how to drive Saya out. But Nolmen, as though fully aware of all her plans, would glint his eyes sharply.

“Bear my words firmly in mind, always.”

“I don’t understand.”

Gizelle had always been the obedient daughter who followed Nolmen’s instructions. When she gave a different answer for the first time, Nolmen Erdona stared at her persistently.

But that day, Gizelle did not back down either.

“Tell me why I must do this.”

She had wanted to ask that for a long time.

Her father was the imperial prophet. He never acted without reason.

Nolmen, seeming to ponder for a moment, drank his tea and then opened his mouth.

“When have I ever done anything to harm you?”

His eyes were sharp. Gizelle could not ask further.

Gizelle had a longstanding dream. It was to become the imperial mage.

All mages had to be registered with the imperial court. That was possible because mages were such a rare existence.

But among mages, the imperial mage was different. He was the sole officially recognized mage of the emperor.

Emperor Sirilka, who protected this nation of Vichern, periodically selected an imperial mage. At present, that position was empty.

Gizelle believed she could claim that position.

She had heard countless praises of being an excellent mage as she grew up.

“So from now on, do not question my words any further.”

“…Yes, Father.”

In the end, Gizelle gained no answer at all. But she no longer tried to argue. If arguing only earned her father’s disappointed gaze, she should not defy him further. She had received the assurance that everything was for her sake, and she comforted herself that it was enough.

Mages were objects of reverence. Ordinary people feared their incomprehensible powers.

But mages registered with the imperial court had to use magic solely for the imperial court. The court assessed and classified the usefulness of mages.

From the time Gizelle showed aptitude as a mage, there was only one thing she had to do. Rather than live a life so constrained, she would simply become the imperial mage.

That was her one and only dream, and the reason for her existence.

Three days after that, Nolmen Erdona fell into a coma. For a prophet, it was a foreordained event.

After Nolmen Erdona fell into his coma, his intentions could never again be known. But Gizelle considered that his intentions no longer mattered in the face of the predetermined future.

That was why she had never once strayed from the path Nolmen had prepared. She had never felt anxiety or restlessness. Such things were for people who did not know the future.

But now, Gizelle was beside herself with curiosity about what Pavel and Saya were discussing in the garden. Why had he suddenly taken an interest in Saya?

Because she had harmed Erdona? Because he was worried that the family he had invested in would become a laughingstock, and so wanted to speak with Saya?

Whatever it was, Pavel taking an interest in Saya was a bad sign. She could not simply stand by and let that wretch Saya luck into Pavel’s attention once again.

* * *

Redic Bangeger was already dead drunk even though it was only midday. He might think he was not yet drunk, but to anyone else he was nothing more or less than a common drunkard.

“You must pay your tab today, Baron.”

“Out of my way! I said I’d pay next time. Can’t you understand what I’m saying?”

“……”

The tavern owner could not bring himself to speak harshly to Baron Redic Bangeger and shut his mouth. But the owner’s menacing air looked as though he might slap Redic’s cheek soon, noble or not.

Not a single person in the tavern felt sorry for Redic Bangeger. If the owner struck the baron, they would think he had good reason.

Redic was a notorious scoundrel even among commoners. It was nothing new for a noble lord to torment commoners, but Redic Bangeger was beyond imagination.

Whatever else might be said, refusing to take in the illegitimate children he had fathered was the worst of it.

The gazes fixed on Redic Bangeger as he staggered out of the tavern were cold. He did not even notice that the tavern’s atmosphere had sunk entirely because of him.

“…Hey, what’s this. Out of my way.”

The man who had just stepped into the tavern paid no mind to Redic Bangeger’s drunken fuss.

‘At this rate, something terrible will happen.’

Those who knew the baron’s foul temper clicked their tongues. But they could not help either. For all that the baron was usually drunk, his memory was eerily sharp. He would remember the faces of those who helped and seek them out one by one.

It was a pity, but today’s sacrifice seemed to be that man.

“I said get out of my way!”

“Redic Bangeger, did you just tell me to get out of my way?”