It was a dazzlingly radiant smile.
That smile, always from afar, always directed at others,
was now aimed straight at me.
&
No. Why here, of all places?
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
“Aileen.”
“Oh my, you remember me?”
“I suppose I do. What a relief.”
At my words, Aileen looked strangely satisfied.
Her eyes seemed to say she had expected as much.
“Have you been well?”
“Mm. I’ve been a little busy.”
“So you didn’t think of me?”
It was hard to grasp the intent behind those words right away, but I nodded for the time being.
“Yes. Well... that’s right? Ah.”
Only after the words left my mouth did I realize I had answered wrong.
“No. I did think of you.”
Though not the you standing here now.
“Oh, did you? That makes me happy.”
“Doesn’t everyone?”
“Why?”
Aileen’s expression was subtly infuriating.
It was the face of someone asking despite already knowing.
“Because you’re so beautiful.”
“Really?”
Was she doing this on purpose?
Of course, I couldn’t read what was inside her.
I could only guess from the small clues revealed in her expression and eyes.
“Yes. Really.”
This time, I said it sincerely, without hesitation.
At that moment, for the briefest instant,
her pupils seemed to waver ever so slightly.
“How strange.”
Aileen laughed softly.
“I’ve heard those words many times before... but strangely, hearing them from you, Mr. Rayon, makes them sound pleasant for the first time.”
Her voice.
Her expression.
Her eyes.
My heart dropped with a thud.
I knew that was a calculated act.
Even so, my body reacted.
Her beauty was far too lethal.
I hurriedly turned my gaze away.
“But what brings you here?”
“I’d rather ask you that.”
Aileen smiled with her eyes.
“To think you came back to the capital after a month, and that you’re here of all places. As for me, I have a mansion here. I came to look around.”
“Ah, I came to apply for two patent items.”
“Two? May I ask what they are?”
If she set her mind to it, she could find out soon enough anyway.
There was no reason to hide it.
“One is armor, and the other is rice—no, a method for cultivating rice plants.”
“Rice cultivation?”
This time, Aileen seemed genuinely surprised.
And no wonder.
Rice was not merely a crop.
If it could be produced stably, it was a resource capable of shaking the very power structure of the kingdom.
“Well, I’m only trying it out. But the test has to be possible under certain conditions. I intend to submit the method exactly as we practiced it in our territory.”
“And that is why everyone failed.”
Aileen’s voice sank calmly.
“Because they mistook something that succeeded once in their own territory by sheer luck for a proper method. In fact, even that success could not be maintained.”
I smiled faintly.
Her gaze sharpened for an instant.
“You look confident.”
As expected, she was quick on the uptake.
“In my own way. Though I wouldn’t call it certainty.”
Aileen fell into thought for a moment, then smiled again.
“If it is not rude of me, may we discuss this matter a little more seriously?”
Her family, too, had been researching methods of rice cultivation.
That was precisely why she should have looked down on it all the more.
Even though this was a situation where she ought to have dismissed it as a field no mere noble from the borderlands had any business entering,
she did not intend to let even the smallest possibility slip by.
She had always been like that.
A small gap.
A small chance.
A small possibility.
A person who never let even one such thing escape her.
And yet, at times, she was someone who would boldly discard the small things for the sake of efficiency.
What if I sold her the rice cultivation method?
The Velmardian family could raise its influence within the kingdom in one stroke.
And if we became connected to that family?
The Rin family would not dare pick a fight with us.
It could become a shield even greater than a patent.
However.
“I’m sorry.”
I said it clearly.
“I intend to proceed with this as a patent.”
Aileen’s smile faded ever so slightly.
“This will be a far better opportunity than a patent. I will make certain you never regret it.”
“I know.”
I did not avoid her gaze.
“I know that it will bring greater profit, and it is not that I do not trust you, Lady Aileen.”
“Then why?”
“In exchange.”
I spoke slowly.
“We would end up moving only within the Velmardian family. Our range of choices would disappear.”
And lastly, I added,
“I... would be swayed by you, my lady.”
Aileen’s eyes widened.
“You thought that far.”
She took a moment to steady her breath, then spoke calmly.
“You viewed it objectively. To be honest, I’m surprised. From your standpoint, Mr. Rayon, I can see how you would judge it that way.”
After a brief pause, she opened her mouth again.
“But even so, it is difficult for me to give up. I promise you. I will make sure such a thing does not happen.”
Those words sounded sincere.
That made them all the more dangerous.
I bit down hard on my lip.
An ill-fated bond.
She and I were an ill-fated bond.
No, to be precise, she was ill fate for me.
I must not become deeply entangled with her.
For now, I had escaped the shackle called marriage, but the moment I joined hands with her, another shackle would be placed upon me.
And.
There was one major reason.
Because.
She.
Would one day rise in rebellion.
If I handed the cultivation technique over to her like this, Velmardian would seize both grain and military logistics at once.
Rice was not merely food.
It was easy to store, maintained the morale of soldiers,
and was a foundational resource that made prolonged warfare possible.
In the end, I would be helping a rebellion.
But after she had gone so far, if I refused?
She was a woman with strong pride, quick calculation,
and once she made up her mind, she did not back down.
A person who would even carry out a rebellion
would have no reason to hesitate over erasing one existence like mine.
An accidental death.
A bandit attack.
A carriage overturning.
In the capital, one person disappearing was not such a rare occurrence.
Right now, she and I had no relationship whatsoever.
Damn it.
This was not a matter of choice.
Whichever side I chose, I would be standing on someone’s blade.
A dilemma.
An ill-fated bond.
Truly, an inescapable ill fate.
This time as well, in the end,
she was making things unbearably difficult for me.
Terrifying bitch.
***
The next day.
“Phew...”
I was struggling desperately to survive, yet my life was in immediate danger.
What power did I have in this situation?
In the end, yesterday, I had no choice but to return to the inn after leaving things at, “Let us discuss this further.”
Ha.
A sigh sank deep into my chest.
Why did I have to get caught by her, of all people?
Ugh.
The board had already been set.
In the end, I would probably end up handing over this technology.
Once Aileen had her teeth in me, there was no way out.
Of course, the profit would be great.
Very great.
Then, since the situation had come to this, I had to use that profit as a stepping stone and plan my next move.
Or else.
I could simply join hands with Aileen, become a rebel, and see it through to the end.
This was driving me insane.
The truth was, I did not know how that future ended.
Whether it succeeded or failed.
Because I died before then.
There was only one thing I remembered.
That it had certainly been a crisis back then, too.
In the end, my wish to live peacefully had already collapsed.
Then I had to survive.
“What’s the worst that can happen? Dying again?”
I muttered softly.
“At the very least... I have to make a way for my family to live.”
My resolve settled into that.
A short while later, I headed back to the patent office with Redek.
“Redek, don’t be nervous. Just do what you need to do.”
“Phew, phew... I’ll do my best.”
The tips of his fingers were trembling faintly.
But it was fine.
The moment he showed them the armor he had made himself and revealed the manufacturing process and material composition,
their expressions were sure to change.
After watching Redek go inside, this time it was my fingertips that trembled faintly.
I was not fine.
I let out another sigh and headed to the place where I was to meet Aileen.
The café we had gone to last time.
A place filled with the rich scent of high-grade tea leaves, with carpets so thick they swallowed even the sound of footsteps.
And farther inside.
A room completely cut off from the outside.
Right now, I was sitting across from her in that room.
Aileen, still wearing a relaxed smile, held out a document.
“Very well. First, this is the amount my side is offering.”
She continued in an utterly composed manner.
“We will own the patent, and the direction of its use will be designed to favor our family.”
A calm tone.
But each sentence sounded less like a contract
and more like a declaration of domination.
She tapped the final clause with her finger.
“In exchange, the Signal family will be allowed to cultivate rice without any separate restrictions. No taxes, no distribution limits. It is a complete exception clause.”
She smiled.
“What do you think?”
“...”
It was extraordinary.
No, extraordinary was not enough.
This was preferential treatment.
And at a level not easily permitted in noble society, at that.
But at the same time,
this proposal carried another meaning, one that was very clear.
There were no conditions without a price.
Complete freedom in rice cultivation.
That meant I was to hand over, without hiding anything, the core structure and principles of the cultivation technique,
as well as its future possibilities for expansion.
And if I deceived her in even a single aspect,
or if there was even a trace of falsehood mixed in,
the responsibility that followed would likely be beyond imagination.
The warning was not written anywhere in the document,
but it was certainly contained within it.
“I have another condition.”
Aileen’s eyes moved ever so slightly.
“What is it?”
Even after she had laid out preferential treatment to this extent, I added another condition.
Even so, she did not erase her smile.
Impressive.
Ordinarily, someone would have been unable to hide their displeasure.
“Not to the Signal family.”
I looked straight at her and said,
“Please make it a donation solely to me, Rayon, as an individual.”
“...”
This time, it was unmistakable.
For a very brief moment, confusion crossed Aileen’s face.
Her gaze halted for an instant.
She would not understand.
“May I ask the reason?”
“Just because.”
I moved my shoulders lightly.
“I feel like that would be better.”
I could not explain.
That you might become a rebel someday.
That the sparks must not spread to the entire family.
That, for that reason, this matter had to end with me alone.
Aileen looked at me for a while, then slowly smiled.
“Hmm, you did not seem like that sort of person.”
She narrowed her eyes meaningfully.
“But very well.”
Looks like she misunderstood.
Since I had no intention of clearing up that misunderstanding,
I lightly shrugged.
“We will confirm that it truly is a reliable method, then proceed with all procedures.”
“Of course.”
I nodded.
“Then will you come to our territory?”
“No.”
Her smile deepened slightly.
“We will go to our territory.”
My eyes widened sharply in an instant.
The Velmardian family’s territory.
Ah.
That is... somewhere I really do not want to go.
Whether Aileen had read my thoughts or was pretending not to, she merely smiled as though amused.
***
Aileen was in a good mood.
To be precise, she was intrigued.
For a noble young lady to invite someone to her own territory was by no means a light matter.
All the more so when she was a direct descendant of the Velmardian family.
Aileen Velmardian.
This was the first time she had ever called a man to her territory first.
She was smiling on the outside,
but she did not miss the clear look of difficulty that flashed through Rayon’s eyes.
He could feel burdened.
That was how she interpreted it.
She could understand that much.
However.
The way he received her “first” in such a manner subtly pricked at her pride.
Moreover, considering the transaction that would follow,
she needed to apply at least a little pressure.
“Let us ride in the carriage together.”
Taking into account the possibility that he might refuse, she added,
“Traveling this road by my carriage is faster.”
In the end, he had no choice but to board.
***
Inside the carriage.
Aileen was silent.
Not speaking.
It was one of the methods she often used.
The one who invited the other did not speak first.
Even when a question came, she answered only briefly.
Then silence again.
She would look out the window with a cold face,
and when their eyes occasionally met, she would give a small smile.
This imbalance.
People were quickly shaken by it.
Why is she not saying anything?
What is she thinking?
Did I make some mistake?
Their thoughts tangled,
they began to doubt themselves,
and in the end, they collapsed.
It had always been that way.
Silence was the surest pressure.
Yes.
That was how it should have been.
But.
“...”
The man before her was different.
He was not flustered,
nor was he anxious.
No.
If anything, he looked comfortable.
He opened the window to let in the breeze
and leisurely looked out at the scenery.
He even smiled lightly along whenever their eyes met.
Why?
Was this silence not burdensome to him?
No.
Was he enjoying it?
Aileen’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
Her calculations, which had never once missed the mark until now, did not add up.
This was the first person on whom this method did not work.
She changed patterns at once.
This time, she crossed her legs, propped up her chin,
and stared at him openly.
And yet he was not shaken at all.
She could not understand it.
Because of that, she herself became confused instead.
But.
Strangely enough, it was enjoyable.
Predictable people were boring,
but this man was different.
And so this situation was far too entertaining.