Episode 38
Summer had arrived two months ago.
Heksilov had been thrown into chaos by summer’s sudden, unannounced arrival. The villa here in particular had been like that, and now, summer too was beginning to show its end.
She wore a dress noticeably thinner than before and a wide-brimmed hat. She didn’t forget to tie the ribbon firmly beneath her chin either. Lastly, she took her teacup and stepped outside.
The moment she left the villa’s shade, rays of light sculpted her shadow. It was the silhouette of a woman in a fluttering dress and a wide-brimmed hat.
Even though it was broad daylight, it wasn’t to the point of feeling terribly hot. That was largely because Heksilov was situated in the northernmost reaches, but the weather this summer had been unusually pleasant as well.
In a season to which the word “refreshing” was perfectly suited, she filled her mouth with a crisp fruit tea.
Last spring, after returning to Heksilov, she had been busy for a while tending to the estate. A capable butler had handled the affairs in her stead, but from now on, that responsibility would fall entirely to her.
On the day before her state wedding, she had obtained the Heksilov territory from Count Platini. From the count’s perspective, it was nothing he couldn’t part with. It was a worthless little territory where starving demonic beasts swarmed every winter. Since he had traded that measly land for the position of Empress, he had gained if anything—it was by no means a losing bargain.
Helen planned to cultivate Heksilov, now truly her own, into something beautiful. Somehow, before winter returned.
It was when droplets began to bead on the hand holding the teacup that she suddenly remembered something she had completely forgotten.
“Ah!”
It was such an important matter that Helen’s face turned deathly pale.
Today was the day that began the last week of July. The day the Empire’s noble Emperor was to visit Heksilov.
* Sibello
The newly acquired carriage came to a smooth halt.
When the carriage door opened, Helen leaned her upper body forward slightly, preparing to disembark. Even in a thin dress, it was too difficult to get down from the carriage in heels alone, so she waited for the coachman’s escort.
Soon, a familiar hand was offered before her.
“Weren’t you planning to spend today underground as well?”
Helen took the hand Liandor offered and carefully stepped down from the carriage.
“It’s the day that damned Emperor is visiting. I can’t exactly do that.”
“‘Damned.’ How vulgar.”
“It’s a vulgar word perfectly suited for a sacred personage.”
“Hardly.”
When she opened her white parasol, the sunlight beating down from above was blocked. The fact that venturing outside was inconvenient without a wide-brimmed hat or parasol proved that summer was still summer.
Helen asked Liandor, who was walking behind her.
“Did you mention that His Majesty is coming today?”
“The butler said so yesterday at lunch, at dinner, and again this morning.”
“Ah, I see. Look at the state of my mind.”
“Busy managing a plot of land no bigger than a fingernail—you can be forgiven for forgetting.”
Helen pressed her lips shut. Saying she had forgotten because she was busy was nothing more than an excuse. However, it was true that she was busy because Heksilov lacked talented personnel.
Severely so.
Heksilov had long been an abandoned territory. A land utterly useless to anyone, it had been nothing more than a settlement for people struggling to survive each day.
There was no way outstanding talent could be found in such a place.
As Helen let out a meaningless sigh, Liandor, reading her expression, offered a solution.
“Ask that damned His Majesty to at least send you some people.”
“‘Damned’! Anyway, I can’t do that because the territory is small. I’m already receiving financial support.”
Until now, though Heksilov had been worthless, as a territory of House Platini, it had survived on support from the house. But once this place became Helen’s property, Count Platini’s support had been cut off. As if to prove that Helen had outlived her usefulness.
Right around then, funds had arrived from the Imperial Family. Of course, it was nominally a subsidy for the training grounds to be used by the Imperial Knights established in Heksilov, but each time, a portion had been sent to the mansion. And a staggering sum at that, nearly equal to Heksilov’s entire budget from the previous year.
In the first month, she had sent it back, unable to accept such a large sum, but it had returned with a letter from Lucas. The message was that it was his personal funds and requested she not refuse.
She was grateful enough for that, but it seemed she would die before winter even arrived. And with her face buried in account ledgers, no less.
Just as she was contemplating whether she should really ask Lucas for help, Liandor stepped in front of her with a mischievous expression.
“If not that, how about me? I can do anything you ask.”
“You’d obviously be kidnapping people rather than recruiting them.”
“You don’t consider the possibility of me actually working?”
“Because I know you won’t.”
Perhaps if it were magical research.
From the day he returned to Heksilov, Liandor had practically lived in the underground laboratory. He hardly saw the light of day to the point that he didn’t even take one meal a day, making his skin seem not just pale but almost translucent.
She ought to tell him to refrain from going outside the mansion at night if possible. It would be troublesome if a child waking in the middle of the night saw him and screamed that he was a ghost before collapsing.
The Imperial Knights’ training ground had been built in Heksilov around the time when the profusely blooming flowers began to wither one by one.
The Imperial Knights had entered this place, where peace was unknown in winter, but in truth, they were little different from a demonic beast extermination unit.
The one who had taken the most active role in constructing the Imperial Knights’ training ground in Heksilov was not Lucas but Carlisle.
That Carlisle had led the demonic beast subjugation force last winter was nothing particularly special. However, since the decision to build the training grounds, Carlisle had not come to Heksilov even once. One would think the person who had spearheaded the project would have come to inspect it at least once.
Helen understood his actions. It was much like the pain in her ankle, whose meaning she could not quite fathom.
By now, he must have realized it too. That his eyes had turned to the worthless Helen Platini was only because she had somehow reminded him of Violet.
Helen pursed her lips and stepped inside the training grounds. Trailing her steps, her red hair danced gently.
She had arrived in time for the Emperor’s arrival, but far from preparing to greet him, training was in full swing.
“What in the world.”
“Right? Is it already over?”
Liandor stretched and surveyed the interior of the training grounds.
Whoever had helped, it was a remarkably well-built structure. Some damned person had insisted on adding artistry, nearly extending the construction by several months.
“Practicality is best, after all. What use is art in a place where blood flies….”
Then Liandor spotted someone, clicked his tongue, shook his head, and returned to Helen’s side. The young lady of Heksilov under her white parasol made a tearful face.
Liandor pressed his finger firmly against the center of Helen’s forehead. At that, Helen scrunched up her face fiercely and swatted his finger away.
“Honestly!”
“Who came in place of the damned Emperor?”
Helen rubbed her forehead as if an unpleasant mark had been left there, then turned her head in the direction Liandor indicated with his chin.
“Who in the world… Edwin?”
An all-too-familiar shadow fell upon the ground. Above it, Edwin, clad in full Knight Commander’s regalia, strode forward with his hand on his scabbard.
What business could someone who should be at the Imperial Palace have in Heksilov? She had heard that demonic beast subjugation had been entirely delegated to the Third Order.
Edwin stopped firmly before Helen, glanced at Liandor, and wore a look of displeasure. However, meeting Helen’s clear eyes, he let a smile touch his lips. When he smiled, a dimple formed on his left cheek.
“My lady.”
Helen could not wholeheartedly welcome Edwin, who greeted her with a bright expression. That was likely due to the awful Knight Commander’s uniform.
She recalled the anecdote of once seeing him in a regular knight’s uniform and mentioning that he looked like a Knight Commander. Particularly, the memory of him saying he would catch the rat hiding in the Imperial Palace tightened around her throat.
“Did you come with His Majesty today?”
“No. His Majesty was unable to come as he is hosting foreign envoys.”
Learning of Lucas’s absence, Helen deliberately pulled up the corners of her lips to hide her disappointment.
“His Majesty must have sent you, then.”
“I have been ordered to inspect whether the knights’ training is proceeding well. And….”
A moment of silence passed. Edwin, trailing off, shifted his gaze once more.
“I must check on your well-being, my lady.”
“My well-being? Why? I’m doing quite well.”
She was thoroughly enjoying the summer season. A life of eating, sleeping, playing, and working on repeat, but she was living more contentedly than ever before.
Helen shrugged as if she didn’t understand his words, following his line of sight. He was confronting Liandor with rather fierce eyes.
They should be strangers, but perhaps they had formed some connection without her knowledge. Of course, at a glance, it was clearly not a good relationship.
Helen nudged Liandor’s arm with her elbow and asked quietly.
“Do you know Edwin?”
“How would I? But he seems to know me. And you seem to know him too.”
“He was the knight who served Violet… no, Her Imperial Highness. Now he is the Knight Commander.”
“Ah. Did he figure you out too?”
Helen pressed her lips firmly together. The thought that she must never say she had almost been found out churned through her mind.