It was quite some time after the lord’s funeral ended that they were able to leave Rohos Castle.

“Although Anika Rohos is the sole heir, there will be many trials and errors due to the sudden succession.”

Idren said he would help solidify her position. Ophelia watched as he categorized the new Rohos lord’s factions. Idren seemed to be giving advice to the new lord, reflecting on memories from the past.

So Ophelia thought about whether she had anything to tell him, but nothing came to mind. It was only natural since she didn’t care much about allying with lords in her previous life either.

She mainly associated with merchants from Netepel and Egelbamot, and nobles who were close to him. She also exchanged letters with Deos Rakmata who had settled in Tesendot.

She did have contact with the family of the long-deceased Queen Reden – her mother – who had taken her own life, but she wasn’t close with them.

Once royalty of a small island kingdom, they had trembled at the mention of Reden royalty ever since their princess was taken by King Dares of Reden. Especially after that princess bore two children for the Reden king and then hanged herself.

Anyway, the important thing was that she didn’t mingle well with people within Aglante.

Idren didn’t entrust her with internal affairs this time either.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you enough to give you tasks, but you don’t need to worry about internal affairs.”

He said so when the topic of internal affairs came up during their conversation in the guest room of Rohos Castle.

Ophelia thought Idren wasn’t wrong. It was better for her not to get too deeply involved in politics since she would be leaving in a few years.

But it didn’t make sense to agree to get along well and then let him work alone, so one night Ophelia told Idren something she could do fairly well.

“I’ve handled money quite a bit, though.”

The man sitting beside her on the bed, fiddling with her hair – he seemed to have taken a liking to it since starting one day – raised an eyebrow. Ophelia said to the man who didn’t seem to take her words seriously.

“I mostly spent, but I’d be good at earning too.”

And she hurriedly added before he could say anything.

“The two aren’t that different.”

Ophelia realized this fact while doing something similar to loan sharking with Mahanas in her previous life.

To make money, one had to change the flow of capital in their favor, and consumption was the easiest and surest way to change the flow of capital.

Idren stared down at her for a while before saying.

“Still, do what’s more enjoyable.”

His attitude was clearly that of someone who had just listened for the sake of it.

Ophelia thought it was absurd for him to say such a thing when he had seen the treasures she had brought from the Reden royal palace, but she closed her eyes wordlessly.

Spending money wasn’t a bad thing either. Moderate luxury was the best way to make acquaintances.

People with similar spending habits became stepping stones for circulating wealth. And those stepping stones laid down came in handy when needed.

Still, as if Idren had thought of something after hearing those words, he brought a boy the next day.

“M-My name is Dahel, Your Highness.”

The boy, who stuttered and couldn’t even lift his head properly, was a familiar face to Ophelia too. The child was indeed the financial advisor she had kept in her previous life.

“He said he’s seventeen this year. Originally, Taeran kept him as a servant…”

And Idren frowned. He didn’t seem to want to mention the strange private life of the Rohos lord.

“…Anyway, Anika Rohos has terminated his employment, so take him if you want.”

“Did you ask the boy?”

“He said he’d follow if you’re okay with it.”

So Ophelia decided to take the boy. She didn’t know if he would become her financial advisor like in her previous life, but there was no reason to leave him behind if he wanted to come.

That boy was probably riding in another carriage following hers. Ophelia thought as she looked out the carriage window.

They were finally scheduled to leave Rohos Castle today. Ophelia was waiting for Idren to get in the carriage. He said he would have a brief conversation with the new Rohos lord before coming.

Ophelia yawned softly as she looked out the window. She leaned against the carriage window.

“Then, see you in the capital in three months.”

Anika bowed to the young man who said so. The black-haired king smiled at the corners of his mouth as he watched her. A smile settled on the youth’s straight yet elegant face.

It could have looked refreshing, but Anika was not mistaken. The young king would be weighing her even at this moment.

She did not forget her father’s corpse that she had seen with her own eyes.

Upon arriving at Rohos Castle after receiving a letter, Anika heard the news that her father had died. They said he had met with an accident while hunting.

The king, who had gone hunting with her father, took her to the castle basement, saying she needed to identify the body.

In the basement, which felt cool due to the stone walls, Anika confirmed her father’s dead body.

The corpse placed on a dark red cloth was almost unbearable to look at. But strangely, there were no signs of injury to vital points.

The king, accompanied by only one knight, approached behind her. An overwhelmingly acrid smell wafted. Anika thought he must have deliberately chosen black clothes today.

The young man, a head taller than others, looked down at the corpse over her shoulder. It was as if he was looking down at her.

He spoke as if regretful.

“He encountered a beast in the forest… and ended up like this.”

But as far as she knew, there were no beasts that only touched hands and face.

Looking at the face of the corpse, which was clear with fear despite being so collapsed that it was confusing, Anika asked.

“Do you know why the beast entered the hunting ground?”

The man, who knew as well as or better than she did that there were no such beasts, answered gently. Well, don’t you know?

“Your father’s sins were not just one or two.”

“It seems the sins committed with his tongue and hands were especially notable.”

Anika replied, looking down at her father’s disheveled fingers.

At first, she thought her father’s hands were placed upside down.

Upon closer inspection, they weren’t.

The king did not answer her words. Without turning back, Anika felt as if she had seen him grinning.

Looking down at the dead, Anika wondered why the king had laid hands on her father like this. She couldn’t understand what had irritated him so much to do this.

As far as she knew, the young king had maintained a good relationship with her father. To the extent that her father went around boasting, backed by his prestige.

She thought the king knew and overlooked it.

But to crush him like this in a day.

It was beneficial for her, who had been waiting for an opportunity to bring down her father at any time, but she couldn’t swallow it all just because it was sweet. Anika couldn’t understand why the king had cut off his own branch.

The only thing certain was that he didn’t do all this for her benefit. The king was young but discerned well. He was definitely not someone who would be calculative towards a lord’s daughter whose face he had never properly seen.

Surely there must be something he would demand in return for this.

But that day, the king said nothing till the end. Anika couldn’t ask him what he wanted either. Since the messenger the king sent the night before only conveyed the message orally, she had nothing to use as evidence.

Before leaving the basement that day, the king called her to a stop and said.

“Anika, it may be hard to believe, but I saw the beast clearly.”

The eyes of the man saying this were glowing yellow. They were like the eyes of a beast hiding in the forest.

As her father had died, the lord’s position fell to her. Since the king had been at Rohos Castle the whole time, the neighboring lords who came for her father’s funeral couldn’t wag their tongues freely.

Rather, Anika was perplexed because of this. If they had openly expressed dissatisfaction, she would have cut off relations at that opportunity, but with the king backing her, issues didn’t surface.

She knew that this wasn’t genuine acceptance from those around her. Once the king returned to the capital, problems could erupt at any time.

The king, as if reading her mind, said.

“Don’t worry too much about your father’s friends. This may hurt to hear… but in the callous friendships of middle-aged men, a dead friend’s daughter is easily excluded.”

Knowing this fact, why are you holding out at Rohos Castle? Suppressing the dissatisfaction rising within her, Anika said.

“But one can’t abandon a friend without reason, can they?”

“Think about it, Anika. Didn’t you already try to abandon your father?”

And the king added. Friends meet like with like. Though his tone was light, Anika couldn’t take it lightly.

In fact, she had been collecting evidence of her father’s crimes to bring him down.

It was something she had been doing without anyone knowing, but not only did the king know this fact, he was telling her to gather evidence of the neighboring lords’ crimes and strike them down too.

The surprise at the king knowing her plan was brief, and one question arose.

No matter how meticulously she did anything, she couldn’t do it as well as the king taking direct action. Just looking at her father’s death showed that. What she had been planning for years, lying low, the king finished in a day.

If he wanted to punish the lords’ crimes, it would be much faster and more satisfactory for him to do it directly.

And soon Anika came to understand why the king had demanded this of her.

“If you gather the evidence of friendship well within three months, I’ll introduce you to someone worth making new friends with.”