“Alright. Let’s do that. It’s not particularly difficult anyway.”

“Thank you, Emlin!”

At those words, I brightened up and grasped Emlin’s hand tightly. For some reason, he looked very surprised and opened his eyes wide. He stared intently at our joined hands, tilted his head, and muttered in a small voice.

“This presence is…”

“Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

I asked, tilting my head in confusion. He shook his head and gave a bitter smile.

“It’s nothing. …My, I must be getting old. There’s no way such a being could dwell in a human body without magic.”

Emlin muttered something incomprehensible and then let go of our joined hands. As he stood up, he turned to me and said,

“Well, I’ll take my leave now. I’ll contact you when I find the witch who did this.”

“Thank you, Emlin.”

“See you next time, interesting young lady.”

I responded to his farewell. He spoke in a playful voice and waved his hand at me. Then with a poof sound, he transformed back into a pigeon and flew out the open window.

I followed his retreating figure with my eyes as he disappeared into the distance.

“He used to call Danae an interesting young lady, and now it’s me?”

Magicians are truly difficult beings to understand. I muttered that while chuckling to myself.

* * *

The next day. An ominous rumor spread through the imperial capital.

It was said that the Emperor’s grandson, Duke Elliot Francis Haven, was dying of an unknown illness.

Upon hearing this news, the Emperor immediately sent his personal physician to the Duke’s residence, but even he could not determine what illness the Duke had contracted. The Emperor demanded to know what was going on, but the physician shook his head, saying there was no way to revive the Duke. Deeply distressed, the Emperor cancelled all his appointments and shut himself in his bedchamber in the main palace.

That rumor naturally reached Prince Louis’s palace as well.

Princess Consort Meredith, who happened to be having tea with her father Duke Klein, her younger brother Viscount Leonard, her close associate Duke Yusten, and his daughter Danae, burst into laughter when she heard the news.

“Princess Ella must be burning up inside hearing this news right now.”

“Indeed, Your Highness. I hear the Princess has also cancelled all her schedules and is in seclusion today.”

Duke Klein responded to her words with a grin. The Princess Consort spoke cheerfully.

“Ah, how I wish I could see with my own eyes that always arrogant face of hers contorted in misery! It’s a shame I can’t.”

“Hehe, you’ll be able to see it in person soon. At that brat Duke Haven’s funeral.”

This time, Duke Yusten chimed in with a sinister laugh. The Princess Consort cackled in agreement with his words. She turned to look at Danae sitting beside her with an affectionate gaze and said,

“This is all thanks to the clever scheme thought up by the lovely Danae Yusten. How can such a beautiful young lady be so wise as well? Duke Yusten must be very happy to have such a daughter.”

“Oh my, thank you for your praise, Your Highness. I will strive to live up to your expectations in the future as well.”

“My goodness, the Duke’s daughter even speaks so charmingly!”

Princess Consort Meredith exclaimed in great admiration at Danae’s words. She gently patted the back of Danae’s hand a few times as she shyly lowered her gaze, then turned to Duke Klein and said,

“When Duke Haven dies, one ducal position in this empire will become vacant. The Duke currently has no wife or children, and all his paternal relatives close enough to inherit the title have perished.”

“That is correct, Your Highness.”

“So I was thinking, Father. After the Duke’s funeral is over and we marry off Princess Ella to some suitable foreign prince to get rid of her, shall we ask His Majesty to bestow the ducal title on the Klein family?”

At those words, Duke Yusten’s fingertips trembled as he was drinking tea with a smile. He turned to the Princess Consort with an awkward expression and said,

“…Forgive my impertinence, Your Highness. But please do not forget that our family played the biggest role in this affair.”

The Princess Consort met his eyes and said,

“Of course, I am well aware. After our family becomes a ducal house, I naturally intended to make Yusten a ducal family as well. …After all, these two families are soon to become relatives, are they not?”

“Y-Yes, that’s right. Christine and Viscount Leonard are engaged after all.”

Duke Yusten added, stumbling over his words. Hearing this, the Princess Consort looked at Danae and Leonard in turn with a strange gaze and said,

“…Hmm? I wasn’t talking about those two.”

“Pardon? What do you mean by that?”

The Duke asked in confusion. The Princess Consort laughed briefly, then spoke with a serious expression as if nothing had happened.

“If we’re going to marry my brother Leonard to a lady of the Yusten family anyway, wouldn’t the Duke’s daughter be better than his niece? Once my foolish and beloved husband Prince Louis ascends to the position of Crown Prince, there will be no need to keep Christine Yusten by his side for wisdom, will there?”

“…Hmm.”

“Moreover, after going through this incident, I’ve come to realize that Danae Yusten here is just as wise and intelligent as Christine Yusten. Didn’t she recently even buy and send Fanax seeds to be planted in our family’s fallow fields? Unlike someone who leaves the capital at this crucial time to plant useless weeds, she came up with a very clever strategy!”

“…Now that you mention it, that’s true. As Your Highness says, there’s no reason to keep that girl around even after eliminating the Princess and that young Duke. The money spent on her dresses, jewels, and the informants she employs is not insignificant.”

The Duke muttered, nodding his head as if it made sense. Danae smiled subtly as she looked at her father. The Princess Consort turned her gaze to Leonard, who was silently drinking his tea, and said,

“Leonard, you think so too, don’t you?”

At those words, Leonard’s eyelashes trembled slightly. He silently looked down at his half-empty teacup and thought.

He loved Christine. He liked the intelligent and beautiful woman who could come up with solutions in any difficult situation without faltering. He cherished her for dedicating everything she had for him and the family. Those feelings were not a lie.

But he was reluctant to let go of Danae. Danae was just as beautiful as Christine. No, she was younger and more beautiful. Moreover, Danae’s father was currently the head of the Yusten family. If he became her husband, all the family’s wealth would become his. Unlike Christine, who would only bring a small dowry and a useless castle.

Decisively, he loved Danae as well.

So if he loved them both, it was right to choose Danae, who would be more advantageous when taken as a bride. Although he recently realized he still loved Christine when he felt jealous thinking she might be taken away by the Duke, those feelings would easily fade away once the Duke died, as if they had never existed.

Leonard organized his thoughts like that and slowly opened his mouth.

“…Yes, Sister. I think so too.”

“You see? Lady Danae Yusten, what do you think? Is my brother Leonard not good enough to be your match?”

The Princess Consort turned to Danae with a bright expression and spoke. Danae blushed her cheeks shyly and said,

“No. How could that be?”

There’s no way he could be lacking.

She would be taking away the person that annoying sister Christine cherished and loved the most.

Danae imagined Christine meeting a miserable end after having everything taken from her. Her sister who had all the pretty and nice things as the only daughter of the family head when they were young. Her sister who monopolized their father’s and others’ attention with trivial schemes after their uncle passed away. Her sister who stole the gazes of men around her even though she wasn’t prettier than herself. The sister who had always trampled on her pride like that would disappear. Her father, Duke Yusten, would now rely on her, and the men of the empire, including Viscount Leonard, would only show kindness to her. Just imagining it made her feel happy.

‘I just need to wait a few more days. Then everything I’ve imagined will become reality.’

In the end, they couldn’t find evidence of Christine’s betrayal, but well. That issue didn’t matter anymore.

Once this affair succeeds, she could just suggest getting rid of the useless sister Christine.

‘I hope that day comes soon.’

Danae thought that as she smiled prettily at Leonard.

* * *

Two days passed after my conversation with Emlin who came to visit me.

During that time, I continued to exchange letters with Duke Haven while monitoring the surrounding situation through news brought by my informants, waiting for a letter from Emlin who had finished his investigation.

Finally, the next day at dawn.

Emlin, transformed into an ivory-colored pigeon, visited my bedroom. When I opened the window, he cooed and circled once above my head before dropping a small piece of parchment. I immediately checked it. It contained the name of the ‘witch’ who had poisoned the Duke, along with details of whose plan and instigation led to this incident. I crumpled the parchment in one hand and sneered.

‘So when the two of them went out together secretly, they met with the Princess Consort and committed this act.’

It was quite a decent plan for something that came out of Danae’s head. Though in the end, it would all fail and they would meet a miserable fate.

After inwardly mocking her, I tore the parchment into small pieces and threw them into the fireplace. Then I stroked the back of Emlin, who was perched on my shoulder, and said,