니르바 공사 펠릭스 케이카는 상당히 친절한 사람이었다.

그는 샬레아에 적응은커녕, 하루가 멀다 하고 매일같이 황궁으로 불려가는 루를 진심으로 걱정하고 안쓰러워했다.

“페르세타가 칼레타를 증오하는 거야 하루이틀 일이 아니지만, 내가 페르세타 사람도 아니고.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t have any particular regret about 칼레타.”

You shouldn’t take those words too harshly. 니르바 is a country that lives centered on trade, so the diplomats will always be friendly to everyone.

루, who had come knowing this much background information, decided to simply thank Felix for his kindness and move on.

“Just, if it’s being talked about to this extent in the newspapers.”

펠릭스 slapped the newspaper on the tea table with his hand.

“The Emperor is really too much, I think.”

루 gave a faint smile and drank the warm tea.

“Today it’s ‘the 칼레타 공사 has returned pale and staggering,’ tomorrow it will be ‘the 칼레타 공사 fainted and was carried out of the Imperial Palace,’ that’s the extent it’ll be.”

“Surely not.”

“Oh, you still don’t know the fear of the media? In 칼레타, doesn’t the thirdrate media kill people? Here they kill several. Sometimes the pen is sharper and crueler than a sword.”

Indeed, to this extent, random speculations and talk could kill a person. 루 recalled the false rumors that people had casually spread after she lost her ability and nodded.

However, in 칼레타, there was nothing like thirdrate media. Yes. Maybe that was the problem from the start.

“That’s right.”

“In this neighborhood.”

펠릭스 pointed around with his finger.

“All the diplomats are betting how many days 칼레타 공사 will last.”

She looked at 펠릭스 squarely once again.

“Some have even sprung up saying she will pack up today, but I think 칼레타 공사 won’t ignore my appointment and pack, so I didn’t bet on that side.”

“How many days did you bet on?”

루 asked plainly.

“A week.”

“Now?”

“I’m a little shaken but still not thinking of changing it.”

“Change it. To about a fortnight.”

“Then I’ll be the one who bet that 칼레타 공사 will stay the longest.”

“That’s too much.”

“What’s too much is the Emperor. While the eastern nobles were recovering from the damage done by the monsters, he carefully grew the 임페리알레 and properly presented it.”

임페리알레? 루’s eyes widened slightly at the unfamiliar word. It had brushed past her mind earlier. Oh.

“You mean the knight order?”

“Yes. Sometimes when something flies in the sky, say ‘it’s the 임페리알레.'”

“It flies?”

“Yes. It flies. Thanks to that, it’s the target of all the nobles.”

The power must be tremendous. How did he grow it? Even here, without wizards, how can it fly? Are they using machines?

“Anyway, I’ll change it to a fortnight. I’ve promised.”

“Yes. There’s nothing I can do for 공사님 but I should at least make you win the bet.”

He was the first person to invite her after the Emperor, she could at least do that much for him.

“Oh, if it’s hard because of me, it’s difficult. Can you endure it? Stones will even fly at night.”

루 laughed. It was because 펠릭스’s expression was earnest, truly believing that she wouldn’t be able to endure.

“I’m not one who grew up finely.”

Her parents had gone missing at the barrier at sixteen, and she had been thrown into her first battle at seventeen. From then on, until she was forcibly retired, she had only fought like a demon.

“I can easily endure a fortnight.”

“Even if the Emperor calls you every day for those two weeks?”

“Even then.”

Even if he got bored playing and started to threaten, even if he began to torture the people in the 공사관 one by one in front of her, she could endure.

But somehow, 헤이든 didn’t seem like he would do that. His aim was more to make her sit down than to drive her away.

‘Though I don’t know how long that will last.’

“I endured three days, so I can endure three more days.”

루’s matteroffact response made 펠릭스 케이카 laugh as though he was at a loss for words.

“Ah, that’s amazing. I’m not mocking you, I’m sincerely moved.”
At that time, a screech, and a long cry of a bird rang out. Lou looked reflexively out the window. A white hawk that had been perched on the tree right in front of her circled the window once and then flew away. That hawk, it was surely with Hayden.

“Will you be attending the diplomat’s gathering?”

Lou looked back at Felix and nodded her head.

“Of course. Naturally.”

Envoy Kaleta must hold her head high even at the diplomat’s gathering. That’s the only way to slightly increase the chance of survival.

At least Carlos will think that she is doing her job properly. She must endure well so the opportunity to strike Hayden’s head with a teapot will come.