But those words only made him more confused.
How far he should bend at the waist,
what tone he should use to answer,
how low he ought to lower himself before me right now.
I intended to use that confusion.
&
“Why did you do it?”
Trevio blinked once.
“Pardon? What did I...”
“Why did you try to start a territorial war against the Lin family?”
At that moment, his expression trembled ever so slightly.
It was truly for only an instant.
A change so brief that someone who knew nothing would have missed it.
But I saw it clearly.
“Isn’t that matter already over? We were simply sharing the mountain range, so...”
“Sharing the mountain range.”
I cut him off as I repeated his words.
“Then Viscount Halsen, who used the water of the Asterus Mountains as a pretext to wage a territorial war against us, paid one thousand gold because he caused damage with an unjust cause.”
Trevio’s Adam’s apple bobbed visibly.
“Which means this could also be considered a sufficiently unjust cause. Even if there was no actual damage, wouldn’t we be able to demand compensation for mental distress?”
Compensation for mental distress.
In truth, it was still a concept that had yet to be properly established and would only take shape later,
but Trevio was in no position to argue that now.
I added very calmly.
“At minimum, it would be around three hundred gold.”
“N-no...”
Only then did a panicked sound burst from Trevio’s mouth.
Three hundred gold.
It was not an amount that could ever be brushed aside lightly.
On top of that, Trevio’s finances were not exactly generous lately, thanks to the businesses he had recklessly expanded.
And that I had been the starting point of those reckless ventures
did not particularly need to be said.
Because the Signal family was doing well.
He had been jealous.
Trevio opened and closed his mouth with a flustered expression,
but he couldn’t continue properly.
I did not give him time to think.
“I have been given a special order to investigate whether any of those who caused territorial wars had unjust pretexts.”
As I said that, I lightly touched the royal token with my fingertip.
“You know the kingdom has been in turmoil recently because of territorial wars, don’t you? This is something Prince Baron personally ordered. He told me to confirm those who created chaos myself.”
He had no choice but to believe it.
It was difficult to doubt.
The Signal family’s recent growth,
and the royal token now placed before me.
Just by looking at those two things, it was more than possible to misunderstand that “the royal family is backing Signal.”
In fact, that misunderstanding was better for me now.
As expected, Trevio swallowed dryly.
By now, almost all of the displeasure that had remained in his eyes was gone.
Instead,
tension and fear were filling them.
“As I said, I...”
Bang!
Instead, I slammed the desk.
“Hup!”
Trevio’s shoulders jerked in fright.
In a state where panic and tension were tangled together,
my action had come at a completely unexpected moment.
He had no choice but to be startled instinctively.
I stared straight at him
and said coldly.
“That’s not true.”
A single short sentence.
But it contained enough meaning.
I tapped the royal token once more.
The royal family is behind me.
Do you think there’s anything the royal family doesn’t know?
Even without saying it aloud,
that pressure must have been conveyed as it was.
Trevio naturally shifted his gaze to the royal token again, then swallowed.
He squeezed his eyes shut,
and from the expression on his face when he barely opened them again, I was certain.
As expected, there was something.
The habit of biting his lip,
his trembling fingertips,
the interval at which he swallowed his breath.
It was fear.
At times like this, you must not wait.
The moment you give a person time to think,
they create a sentence to escape with.
“Viscount Halsen.”
When I brought up an unexpected name,
Trevio’s eyes widened at once.
That was not confusion.
It was shock.
I said nothing more.
In truth, most of what I had now was conjecture.
That was why this was the best point to stop.
I had shaken him enough.
I had given him just enough information to misunderstand.
Now what I needed was neither more shaking
nor more words, but silence.
This silence would bring me results.
I glared at him without saying a word,
and did not withdraw my sharp gaze.
The office grew quiet.
The wind slipping in through the gap in the window stirred the curtains ever so slightly,
and from somewhere, the sound of a clock’s second hand ticked, tocked, in a steady rhythm.
That brief silence drove Trevio further into a corner on its own.
His hand began tapping his knee, then gradually grew faster.
And finally,
he opened his mouth.
“I could also...”
His voice was dry.
“die like Viscount Halsen.”
Got him.
“Is that why you can’t speak?”
“...”
There was no answer.
But that silence was enough.
As though I already knew everything, I slowly nodded.
“Now that we’ve come here, they must have realized our movements.”
“T-then!”
Trevio was startled and finally shot up from his seat.
“Doesn’t that mean I’m going to die after all! Whether I talk or not!”
I sat still and looked up at him.
Without saying a word,
I simply watched him.
Trevio flinched, then breathed heavily,
gradually calming his excitement.
Only then did I open my mouth.
“That is why.”
“...”
“If they move, we gain justification.”
“Justification...?”
“If Count Trevio dies.”
I spoke in a clear voice.
“We gain the justification to strike them.”
Trevio’s expression began to loosen little by little.
Amid his confusion, understanding had begun to catch up.
“What we’re doing now is, if anything, meant to keep you alive, Count. To make it so they cannot touch you recklessly.”
“Ah...!”
“The fact that I moved also means that those who have not yet made contact may become even more desperate.”
Only then did a light of relief spread across Trevio’s face.
Relief.
Those two syllables break people far too easily.
Especially someone who has felt an enormous fear of death.
The moment they feel they have been saved, they have no choice but to open their mouth.
After that, it was easy.
Trevio poured out words without stopping.
I did not interrupt him,
and merely listened in silence.
After hearing the news that Viscount Halsen had died,
he likely had not slept comfortably for a single day.
His body, grown even more sluggishly swollen, his greasy face,
and the hollow shadows beneath his sleep-deprived eyes were saying as much.
***
When I met Angelina again after she had looked around the Bedberiu territory,
the sun had already tilted somewhat.
She had come along in the first place because, since we were going together anyway, we might as well return together too.
“Did the talk go well?”
“Yes. Fortunately, he signed the contract.”
“That’s a relief.”
Angelina smiled brightly.
Of course, I did not tell her that this had been an investigation to dig into the Old Dynasty.
“Did you enjoy looking around?”
“Yes. But...”
She briefly rolled her gaze as though recalling the surroundings, then spoke honestly.
“Compared to the Brennan territory, it’s really lacking. I suppose one could say the roughness of the blacksmithing district has its own charm, but since the Brennan territory brings that out well enough too, it’s overwhelming in every aspect.”
“Is that so?”
Angelina nodded.
“The Brennan territory may be small, but there’s a lot to see. Strangely, your eyes keep going to things, and honestly, its sophistication is enough to compare with any territory.”
“It makes me feel good to hear you praise it... but wasn’t it strange because the form was a little unfamiliar?”
“It was unfamiliar.”
She adjusted her glasses and added,
“It was unfamiliar because it was new, not because it was strange. Who on earth designed it? I’d like to invite them to our territory too.”
With a very satisfied smile, I headed to the carriage with her.
The carriage soon departed,
and the sound of the wheels continued at a steady pace.
Angelina looked out the window for a while, taking one last look at the territory,
and during that time, I sank briefly into thought.
The name Old Dynasty had not directly come from Trevio’s mouth.
I could probably guess that the Old Dynasty had hidden itself thoroughly.
But it was enough.
There was enough to infer that it was the Old Dynasty.
But suddenly, a question occurred to me.
Why had Prince Baron told me to investigate this?
I was the one who had chosen to do it,
but if I hadn’t, someone else would probably have moved.
Was it really simply because he wanted “confirmation”?
At first, I thought so.
There was no evidence,
but there was certainty.
And to fill the gap between the two, he had moved someone like me.
However.
Could the traces that came out of Trevio truly create justification?
I didn’t think so.
They were too weak.
There were too many loopholes.
If we pushed the issue incorrectly, it was just the right level to be counterattacked.
In truth, it was closer to a trap of a justification.
Or perhaps he intended to gather each of these pieces one by one and set them off later.
But was that really Prince Baron’s style?
No, enough.
There was no way I could read his thoughts.
So for now, I only had to move as he told me to, and within that, do what I needed to do.
And yet, suddenly,
it felt as if an indescribable weight had settled onto my shoulders.
Right now, I was
walking into the very midst of the endless politics of the nobles.
And beyond that,
toward the threshold of the true world that only the royal family looked into—clearly, if only little by little.
Everything was still hazy.
And yet, the weight contained within that hazy world
already felt suffocating.
***
I returned to the Brennan territory.
I organized the contents of my investigation and passed them on.
The name Old Dynasty never appeared in the end,
but the method of action, the traces,
and the patterns left behind were enough.
I folded the paper on which I had written a brief summary and hid it outside the mansion entrance,
between the wall and a tree.
Then, as a mark, I tied a small ribbon to the end of a branch.
The next day.
When I went out to check,
the ribbon had disappeared without a trace.
“That was fast.”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Lately, I keep feeling it.
That my past self had truly lived comfortably.
“How on earth did Eileen endure being at the center of all that?”
Pressure.
I had not even seen its full form yet.
Only the outline of the shadow had barely begun to show,
and yet even that alone made it feel as though my shoulders were being crushed.
What would it be like to stand directly at the center?
I couldn’t even imagine it.
I felt like I understood a little why nobles died young.
But it was strange.
When I thought about it carefully,
the me who had been Eileen’s husband in my previous life should, in truth, have been in a place even deeper than I was now.
And yet, back then, I had never felt this sort of pressure.
Of course, there had been other kinds of suffocation and pain,
but not like this.
If.
If I were to assume that she truly wanted to protect me.
No.
If I had been Eileen then,
and Eileen had been me.
How would I have protected her?
...
Perhaps.
I might have made the same choice she did.
Knock, knock.
“Lord Rayon, are you in your room?”
My thoughts were cut off by the sound of knocking.
When I opened the door, Angelina was standing there.
She pushed up her round glasses with her fingertips and was smiling as usual,
but there was a strong trace of regret on her face.
“I have to go now.”
Seeing that bitter expression made me feel needlessly sorry.
“You helped me so much, but you’re leaving when it hasn’t even been a few days since we met. I’m sorry it feels like I couldn’t even properly host you.”
Angelina immediately waved her hand.
“No, not at all. Just seeing you made me happy, Lord Rayon, and on top of that, you even showed me a mystery in person. It was truly a great gift to me.”
Seeing the genuinely happy smile she wore,
it seemed I had indeed done well to show her directly rather than merely tell her.
“Ah, right. Lady Angelina.”
“Yes?”
“If you really get the chance, try writing a mystery book. I’m sure you’ll write something wonderful. And be sure to include my story from today too.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Angelina’s eyes brightened at once.
Truly, as if a light had been switched on.
“Actually.”
She shyly adjusted her glasses and continued.
“As soon as I heard that you had met an ent, Lord Rayon, I thought of it.”
“Yes?”
“That I should try writing a mystery book. But then my thoughts changed again.”
She clasped both hands tightly.
“I started wanting to... go exploring myself.”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
That book would later become an incredible bestseller.
And that single book had changed countless people’s lives.
After all, it was that book that had created the new path known as adventurers.
But.
To think she would explore it herself.
The thought crossed my mind that I might have pointlessly brought her future forward,
and shaken it even more violently.
But Angelina already wore the face of someone who had found her answer.
“Thank you.”
She spoke clearly.
“Thanks to you, Lord Rayon, I’ve found a new goal.”
At that moment,
the look in Angelina’s eyes as she gazed at me changed a little.
Her eyes were still shining.
She still couldn’t hide her joy whenever she looked at me.
And yet, that dangerous, boiling feeling from before had disappeared.
“Lord Rayon.”
Angelina called my name, drew in a deep breath, and then spoke as if making a decision.
“I like you a lot, Lord Rayon.”
“Uh... pardon?”
At the sudden bombshell, my mind went completely blank.
Angelina lightly touched her glasses and continued.
“You were the first person who ever listened to me so well. We could talk so easily, too. But at some point, just seeing your face made my heart flutter, and I kept wanting to see you, and wanting to be with you... That was how it felt. I’m terribly obsessive when it comes to books... and I realized I was starting to feel the same way about you, Lord Rayon.”
Then she let out a small laugh.
“Ah, now that I’m saying it, I feel like my thoughts are about to change again.”
Her expression turned a little bitter.
“But when you told me you had seen Ent, and then the moment you took me there... it felt as if I’d been struck by lightning.”
“...”
“Ah, so this is what I’m supposed to do.”
She spoke with certainty.
“Because the heart that beat then was just a little louder than the heart that beat for you, Lord Rayon.”
Her reaction felt unfamiliar,
and it was bewildering as well.
But it wasn’t as if I had been completely unaware.
Perhaps I
had simply been pretending not to know.
Out of fear that my heart might truly waver.
I smiled quietly.
“I’ll be cheering for you.”
“Thank you.”
Angelina answered like that and climbed into the carriage.
Before I knew it, my father, who had been busy,
and my mother, who happened to be on the estate, had also come out to see her off.
The carriage began to move slowly,
and Angelina waved until the very end from beyond the window.
I watched her until her figure grew distant.
“She told me that once she begins writing her book, she won’t have much time for a while.”
“...”
At my father’s quiet words, I understood.
Even if it hadn’t been Ent, she had intended to write a book.
And perhaps,
she had come here to put her feelings in order one last time.
Angelina Pimale.
She truly was an incredible person.