***
Imperial Conference Room
By the emperor’s command, a council of nobles was convened.
The summons was simple.
“Silberg has moved.”
That single, brief sentence brought every noble in the capital together.
Some, unable to contain their impatience, had even paid dearly to travel in from their territories.
And so, in the grand conference hall where only the necessary personnel usually gathered, nearly all the nobles assembled.
“Is everyone here?”
At the center of them all was the emperor.
Reina Roswell.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
A young emperor who had only just turned twenty this year.
Yet with her outstanding sense for governance, martial prowess, and harsh iron-fisted rule, she was even called a tyrant.
Her brilliant golden hair flowing, she looked down over the assembly with blue eyes.
But there was a clear trace of unease somewhere in her gaze.
The nobles were the same.
“As I informed you all earlier… Silberg has moved.”
At the emperor’s words, even the sound of breathing ceased in the conference room.
As if reflecting the nobles’ tension,
only the occasional sound of someone swallowing echoed.
Then,
one aged noble opened his mouth.
“By any chance… do you know what their objective is?”
“…I do not.”
It was the question they had most wanted answered, and the answer to it.
But no one was shaken.
“Well… that is Silberg, after all.”
The nobles nodded all at once.
Seeing them, and confirming that they had no information either, the emperor leaned back against her chair and said,
“As you all know, Silberg is no ordinary house.”
“…”
“Whenever they move, something major has always happened. From the moment the empire was founded, whenever a crisis arose, they moved, and through strange stratagems, they produced results.”
“…”
“For that reason, they ought by rights to be at least the Grand Duke Silberg… Yet they are also loyal retainers who volunteered to remain a viscount family, saying that a powerful noble house would threaten the emperor’s authority.”
If one heard only this much, there would be no problem.
But the real issue began now.
“However, every noble present here should know this. They do not possess human emotions.”
“…That is true.”
The nobles nodded repeatedly at the emperor’s words.
“They are cruel and merciless in the way they handle matters. They command private soldiers stronger than the imperial regular army, and with their innate intellect, they can execute schemes that will kill dozens… no, tens of thousands, without hesitation. That is… Silberg.”
“…Yes.”
The nobles recalled several historical examples recorded in the past,
as well as the things they themselves had experienced, and bit their lips.
And the emperor was no different.
“Ten years ago… when I, too, was nearly abducted and murdered, I received help from Silberg. I still remember the nightmare of that day. The burning mansion. The children screaming for someone to save them.”
“…”
“I have told you countless times what the Silberg who saved me said to me in front of that mansion, where people’s screams rang out… so by now, you must all know as well.”
“…I heard he said, ‘Do you want to die too?’”
For a moment, her trauma surfaced, and the emperor grimaced.
But she continued speaking.
“That is right. He looked at me, a princess, as though I were a bug, and smiled. He made it clear to me that, to them, someone like me was an existence they could kill at any time.”
“…”
“And at that moment, I realized it. That was the final chance they had given me, who had not entered the competition to become the next emperor.”
“Your Majesty…”
The nobles showed concern as the emperor’s voice grew louder.
However, no one stopped her.
It was that famous of an incident.
And afterward, it became the catalyst for the current emperor to begin acting in earnest.
Moreover, in the underworld, there had even been rumors that the kidnapping itself had been a scheme by Silberg to bring down the incompetent crown prince and push the princess into the succession race.
That was why the emperor had no choice but to react sensitively to the name Silberg.
They knew that as well.
“And the person who saved me then was the current head of the family. Leon Silberg, who at the time was only twelve years old.”
The problem was that the very person who had planted that trauma in the emperor was now moving.
“Silberg does not move without meaning.”
“…That is correct.”
“Attendance at a party? Whatever meaning lies within it, we must prepare. Even if they move with good intentions… whatever damage follows, whatever the outcome may be… in the end, we will be the ones who must bear it.”
“Yes… Your Majesty.”
After that, the nobles put their heads together and devoted themselves to establishing countermeasures.
With the emperor’s permission, it became a project mobilizing the full capabilities of the empire.
The intelligence organizations were to gather as much information as possible.
And in preparation for any emergency, the deployment of regular troops to the Count Lugner estate was decided.
In addition, in case Silberg’s objective was not the Count Lugner family but some other invited group, all nobles who had received invitations from the Count Lugner family decided to attend.
Those who had received “courtesy invitations,”
as well as those who had already expressed their intent to decline, were no exception.
“Well, if it is Silberg, they would have predicted even who would not attend…”
“They have likely predicted these movements of ours as well.”
“Even so, there is no helping it. If that is the case, then doing everything we can to reduce variables is the right answer.”
And for the first time in a long while, the emperor headed to the temple.
It was a place she had deliberately avoided for the sake of strengthening imperial authority, but now she did not care about such things.
Likewise, the temple’s relationship with her had soured due to her efforts to keep it in check,
but this time, they welcomed the emperor’s visit.
For they, too, had heard the news that Silberg had moved.
“Please… may the empire’s peace be preserved…”
And so the saintess and the emperor clasped hands and prayed.
Please, let Silberg’s movements this time be smaller than what they feared.
They sincerely wished for it.
***
On the road to the Count Lugner estate.
“It’s closer than I thought.”
“It is the neighboring territory, after all.”
“And faster than I thought.”
“Surely you were not thinking of walking there?”
“Come on~ Of course not.”
I was currently traveling in a carriage.
The one responding to me was my personal maid and bodyguard, Cecilia Way.
She was a woman I comfortably called Cecil.
Black hair and red eyes.
And even a rather nice figure.
If you didn’t know better, she felt more like a hidden heroine than a maid.
Well, there was no way something like that would exist in a romance fantasy, though.
“It seems we will arrive in two hours.”
Her slightly blunt manner was a flaw,
but in any case, I was alone in a carriage with a beautiful woman,
so I was in a good mood.
And those large breasts were pleasing to the eye too—
“Where are you looking?”
“…Nowhere.”
“?”
Anyway,
a romance fantasy was definitely a romance fantasy.
A carriage this comfortable and fast?
According to Cecil, it was because it had been made by a mage famous for carriage production,
Lamborghini.
When I only heard the mage’s name, I thought it would be fast and couldn’t give a damn about comfort, but it was far more comfortable than expected.
To me, who had been expecting a somewhat medieval-feeling journey, it was almost disappointing.
“At times like this, getting attacked by bandits or something is the unwritten rule…”
“I do not know what you mean by unwritten rule, but would there truly be anyone who would dare attack the Viscount Silberg family?”
“A monster could show up.”
“…Surely not. We are emitting this much presence… Ah, my apologies. You were joking, yet I answered too seriously.”
I wasn’t joking, though.
I quietly looked around.
Around the self-driving magic carriage, at most five or six knights followed on horseback.
With that number, I had worried that we might look easy to handle,
but the common sense here seemed a little different from what I had.
Well, if it was safe, that was good.
And so, while exchanging idle chatter with Cecil, we headed to the Count Lugner estate.
Though it was the neighboring territory, we ran about a hundred kilometers before arriving there, and the place was very different from what I had imagined.
“Is this the difference between a viscount and a count?”
Those were the words I muttered without realizing it after getting out of the carriage in front of the Count Lugner mansion.
“Welcome, Lord Viscount Silberg!”
“Welcome!!”
“Ah… yes.”
It was an extremely enthusiastic welcome.
From the mansion gate to the entrance, a red carpet had been laid out,
and knights lined up on both sides as though conducting a formal ceremony, bowing their heads to me.
At the bewildering sight, I had no choice but to search through my memories.
Because the main stage of the original work had been the North, Count Lugner, who was also in the South, had about as much presence as Leon, whom I had possessed.
However, I did remember one thing.
One of the reasons the protagonist’s party ended up coming all the way to Leon Silberg, who was merely a viscount.
It was because Count Lugner, despite being the effective ruler of the wealthy South, had not provided the protagonist’s party with money.
The reason had been that the North’s fundraising plan was unclear.
Because of that, among ordinary readers, Count Lugner had been called something along the lines of “the miser of the South,” and I had that same image of him.
“Ooh! Lord Viscount, it is a pleasure to see you. It has been a very long time. I am Theo Lugner.”
“Ah…! Count Lugner. Thank you for inviting me!”
“You have grown splendidly.”
The Count Lugner I met in person was completely different from the image I had known.
As soon as I entered, the count came running out to welcome me.
I was only a mere viscount,
yet seeing as he had personally come out to greet me, he seemed to have a good character.
“My title is lower, and I am younger as well, so please feel free to call me Leon.”
“No. How could I do that? I owe much to you, Lord Viscount, and I received many favors from the former family head as well. I could not possibly do so.”
“Still…”
“It puts my mind more at ease to speak respectfully.”
And then came the next piece of news.
“My lord, Marquis Pafel has arrived.”
“Ah, is that so? Then I must escort Lord Viscount Silberg, so please guide the marquis to the reception room.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Even after hearing that a marquis had arrived next, the count continued to escort me.
“Count, he is still a marquis…”
“It is fine. To me, Lord Viscount Silberg’s arrival is more important. Marquis Pafel will understand as well.”
The way he focused on the guest he was currently with, even though a more important guest had arrived, was very different from the miser I knew.
Given that he said the marquis would understand as well,
this must have been something ingrained in him even in ordinary times.
It really did seem that you had to experience a person firsthand to know them.
“There is still some time until the party begins, so please rest here for a while. Ah, I took special care in preparing the sweets, so do be sure to try them.”
“Yes. Thank you, Count.”
And in the room I was shown to, I was impressed once again.
Leaving aside the fact that it was a nice room, I fell in love with the sight of the high-class sweets and tea prepared there.
Was this really the Lugner I knew?
“These are mana cookies, difficult to obtain even in the capital.”
“Are they good?”
“They probably cost around one gold each.”
“Ooh!”
One gold here was roughly one million won.
In other words, Count Lugner had piled up cookies worth about one million won apiece and told me to eat them.
If you added all of these up, then wasn’t it around thirty million won’s worth?
Holy shit.
“They’re freaking delicious…!”
“They are not bad. It seems Lugner certainly has the basics down.”
“Cecil, you’re not wrong, but…”
I amend my opinion as of today.
Lugner.
From today onward, he is my bro.
A rich and kind bro!
“One moment. Someone is coming.”
— Knock, knock.
While I was spending time eating cookies and playing around with Cecil through trivial jokes, someone knocked on the door.
Cecil noticed it even before the knock.
I was feeling it anew, but her ears were sharp.
“Lord Viscount Silberg, the party is about to begin soon.”
“Ah~ yes. Understood!”
Just as I was starting to get a little bored,
news of the party arrived.
Several months after possessing this body.
At last, an opportunity to dispel my boredom had come.