“What a beautiful night it is today, Duke Elliot Haven. The moonlight, bright and splendid like my nephew’s handsome face, illuminates the whole world. If you look up at the sky with the naked eye, you might go blind.”

“Elliot Francis Haven greets Princess Ella. …Please stop with the distasteful jokes, Your Highness.”

“I’m sorry. My heart is so elated that I keep making silly jokes. I apologize, elder brother Louis. Elder sister Meredith. You’ll understand, won’t you?”

“…Alright, Ella. Don’t mind us and have a pleasant conversation with Duke Haven.”

Prince Louis said in a timid voice. Princess Consort Meredith awkwardly smiled and spoke.

“You look so happy, Ella. It doesn’t seem like the time for the princess to be laughing so joyfully.”

“Oh my. Then what should I do in this situation, elder sister? Should I cry, be sad, or angry?”

“You don’t need to go that far, but you should exercise some restraint, Ella. After all, your engagement was broken off, wasn’t it? In a way, it’s like a broken engagement, and if a lady who’s had her engagement broken off is so cheerful, don’t you think people around might find it strange? Those who don’t know the circumstances might think the princess has gone mad.”

Princess Ella listened to the princess consort’s softly sarcastic words and laughed with a deflating sound before saying:

“My, is it considered a broken engagement even when it’s broken off before it’s established? And is there a law that says a lady who’s had her engagement broken can’t laugh happily?”

“Of course, a lady who’s had her engagement broken doesn’t need to go around with a long face forever. But if I were the princess, I don’t think I could be so joyful as if I owned the world. …After all, you lost your fiancé to none other than your maid. Aren’t you worried that the surrounding princes and princes might whisper and look down on you, wondering how lacking in charm you must be to have your fiancé stolen by your own maid?”

“Why would I worry about such things? Perhaps you think I won’t be able to marry because of this incident? To be honest, I don’t mind if I never marry. I have no intention of entering into a political marriage with someone I don’t even like to gain some position or power, like some people. That’s a bit, petty, isn’t it?”

At those words, the princess consort asked in a voice trembling with anger:

“…Petty, you say?”

“Yes. What I want, I must obtain solely through my own power. And if I really want to get married, I can just accomplish a great feat like today and irritate you a bit, elder sister. Then you’ll go find another splendid foreign prince and bring him before me, won’t you? …A man who will nicely strip me of my right to succeed the throne.”

The gentle smile that had been on Princess Ella’s face had disappeared by now. She looked at the princess consort sitting before her with a cold gaze and continued speaking.

“From now on, it would be better if you stopped trying to do anything to me with such shallow tactics. There’s a limit to how much I can tolerate even from family. Do you understand, elder sister?”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

The princess consort answered in a mumbling voice, gritting her teeth in frustration. Elliot observed the princess consort’s behavior. If it had been her usual self, she would have flown into a rage, grabbed her husband’s hand, and gone to the emperor, but it was somehow strange to see her suppressing her anger and staying put. It didn’t feel right.

At that moment, Prince Louis, who had been fidgeting and observing the situation caught between his younger sister and wife, spoke up.

“Now, now. Meredith, Ella. Let’s both stop there and leisurely drink some tea, shall we? Hmm? There’s no need to exchange words that make us flush in a place like this where we’re sharing good tea obtained thanks to Ella’s achievements. Don’t you agree, Princess Consort?”

“…You’re right. I was short-sighted, dear.”

The princess consort responded with an awkward smile.

Just then, servants and maids approached their table carrying a teapot with steam rising from it, beautiful teacups, Rita fruit cut into bite-sized pieces, and a three-tiered tray laden with various sweet cookies and cakes.

Prince Louis took a sip of the tea poured by a maid and exclaimed in admiration.

“Mm, the aroma is excellent!”

“Is that so? I should try some too.”

Princess Consort Meredith also picked up the teacup placed in front of her. Then, as the princess was about to grasp her teacup, Elliot stopped her. He then whispered in her ear in a barely audible voice.

“Just in case, wouldn’t it be better to discard the tea in that cup and have a fresh pour?”

“Come now, surely my elder brother wouldn’t do anything to the tea we’re all drinking together.”

The princess said this as she drank the tea placed before her. Setting down the teacup gracefully, she smiled and said:

“Mm, it’s a very delicious tea. Duke Haven, you should hurry and try it too.”

At the princess’s urging, Elliot finally drank his share of the tea. The tea had cooled to a pleasant drinking temperature, and the aroma was excellent. Elliot held the tea in his mouth for a moment, emitting his aura in a way that others wouldn’t notice. It was to check if there was any malicious substance like a deadly poison in the tea.

Fortunately, he didn’t detect anything unusual. Elliot withdrew his aura. And he took another sip of the bitter tea with its deep fragrance wafting up.

Unbeknownst to him, Princess Consort Meredith was quietly raising the corners of her mouth while glancing at him with a strange look.

* * *

In a separate building within Duke Yusten’s mansion.

I finished bathing and prepared for bed early. Left alone in the bedroom, I sat at the dressing table and opened the letters one by one. The first letter was from an informant I had sent to Anworth Castle. He reported that ‘compared to last month, the number of merchant ships entering and leaving the port has increased, and the duke’s navy being trained by Viscount Miles is also continuing its training smoothly’. I smiled with satisfaction. Without hesitation, I tore it into small pieces and picked up the next letter.

It was a short letter from a spy I had planted in the information guild.

He is living in seclusion in an old hut he built there. There are no signs of recent contact with Duke Yusten or Lady Danae Rubina Yusten. He seems to still be engrossed in forbidden experiments.]

“…Hmm.”

I put down the letter with a sigh.

At the same time, I recalled the time when Duke Yusten had drawn Sorcerer Emlyn to his side.

One year ago from now.

Duke Yusten ordered me to ‘find and recruit a white mage of 8th class or higher who uses healing or elemental magic and is at odds with the magic tower’.

Following his orders, I used all my information networks to find a mage who met those conditions, and that person was ‘Sorcerer Emlyn’. He, who looked like an 18-year-old boy despite being over 700 years old due to being a mixed-race, said this when he heard my request to work for the duke:

‘If you can get me the seed of Clepiad, I will gladly help the duke.’

I was quite perplexed when I heard that request.

Clepiad was a plant with a legend that it bloomed from the tears shed by Asteia, the queen of gods, as she mourned the death of her lover. There was a folk belief that if you split its seed in half and drink the liquid inside, you could cure anyone dying from any curse or serious illness.

The woman in the legend who first used that seed was said to have revived her parents who were dying from a curse that was rotting their flesh, but it was said that one Clepiad seed could save only one life.

The problem was that this plant only grew in the ‘Virgin’s Forest’, a sacred land in the treacherous Aikan Snow Mountains in the northern part of the empire. Not only that. The seed only bore fruit once every thousand years, and only a woman could pick it.

With the high and steep terrain, snow piled up to waist height, and monsters that were stronger than in other regions due to being fully imbued with the magic of the sacred land, it was impossible for any woman to enter to obtain the seed.

Decisively, even if one arrived there after great hardship, there was no guarantee that one could obtain the seed.

I confided this fact to Duke Yusten and discussed it with him. However, it was impossible for the duke to find a solution that I couldn’t find. He and I fell into deep contemplation.

At that time, it was Danae who solved this dilemma.

Among the belongings left to her by her maternal uncle, Duke Lambert, who had died of illness at the time, there was a Clepiad seed.

When she heard the situation, she initially didn’t want to give up the seed, but when Duke Yusten threatened to throw her out of the mansion, she had no choice but to hand it over.

To console her as she sulked with upset feelings, I gave all the credit to her. I had her meet Sorcerer Emlyn with that seed.

Without knowing these behind-the-scenes circumstances, Emlyn came to like Danae who had given up such a precious seed to him.

Although it was later revealed that the seed was fake, Emlyn remained grateful to Danae. He would say that her selfish and somewhat impulsive personality was honest and unaffected, and he always called Danae an ‘interesting young lady’ and granted whatever she asked.

‘In contrast, he always called me an uninteresting young lady. That person.’

I smiled bitterly as I recalled his appearance from the past. Finishing my reminiscence, I rested my chin on my hand and fell into thought.

‘We can’t recruit him with money or power. If he were the type to be tempted by such things, he would have already become the imperial court magician or returned to the magic tower. …In the end, the only way to gain his favor is to obtain a real ‘Clepiad seed’ for him.’

No matter how much I thought about it, that was the only solution.

I let out a quiet sigh. I had boasted to the princess and the duke that I would somehow recruit Emlyn to our side, but at this rate, I might not be able to keep my word.