The Imperial Palace. When the Crown Prince and Kartina returned,
they could not forget the humiliation they had suffered at the hands of the Grand Duke of the North.
The Crown Prince rubbed his shoulder, struggling to contain his fury. Kartina was no different.
The pressure of the Grand Duke of the North.
And the Crown Prince, unable to resist even that. Pathetic. And then there was Daniela von Barth, looking insufferably triumphant.
Crunch —
She would have gladly shattered her own teeth.
At the academy, and now here too — always in the way.
That filthy wretch! That disgusting creature!
If she'd been expelled from the academy, she should have just died there and then!
Kartina hurled curses in the depths of her heart.
"Are you all right? My love?"
The Crown Prince approached with careful steps.
His long hair brushed against her cheek.
His hands, gently taking hold of her shoulders.
Kartina softly placed her own hand over his.
She smiled brightly at him — but her thoughts were anything but bright.
"Of course, Your Highness. Whenever I see you, everything becomes all right."
"Is that so? My love. Tell me what troubles you. So that I may help."
"It is nothing, Your Highness. Please do not worry."
It was time to perform.
The Crown Prince hovered around Kartina with an air of concern.
The maids stood with blindfolds over their eyes, seeing nothing.
It had been the Crown Prince's order — issued under Kartina's spell.
A peculiar command: that no unclean gaze be directed at his beautiful fiancée.
An endless procession of delicacies. Exquisite jewels.
Yet even amid all of this, the Crown Prince could not shake the feeling that Kartina was not truly smiling.
"Tell me what it is. My love."
"Can you truly do anything for me?"
"Of course! I am to be the Emperor who rules this empire. If I cannot even make the woman I love happy, then I have no right to rule at all."
The Crown Prince declared this with his chin raised high.
But those words were enough to make Kartina nearly snort with laughter.
She could not afford to mock him openly — that would send him into a frenzy — so she simply took his hand with a gentle touch.
"Do you intend to leave Daniela as she is?"
"That filthy wretch! One moment she was trying to ingratiate herself with me, and the next she's clinging to those northern bumpkins!"
The mere mention of the name ignited his rage.
The Crown Prince spewed every curse he knew, then swept the food piled on the table crashing to the floor.
The maids flinched at the thunderous clatter.
Kartina knew precisely how to stoke the Crown Prince's fury. A little scratching was all it took.
"What do you intend to do about it?"
"Not only did she insult you, she dared lay hands upon my noble person! I will never forgive this!"
"And what method do you plan to use?"
Kartina pressed him, but the Crown Prince had no answer.
He had no real plan.
He had suffered this outrage, yet the nobles had shown no reaction whatsoever.
They made a great show of outrage to his face, veins bulging in their necks — but behind his back, they were perfectly quiet.
House Barth, in particular, where the banquet had been held, had taken no follow-up action of any kind.
"I'll have that lowborn wretch and that filthy creature arrested at once!"
"On what grounds?"
"For the crime of insulting the Imperial House!"
"How? Will you send an army to the North? Or strip the Grand Duke of the North of his title?"
Kartina pressed relentlessly, but still he gave no answer.
If anything, his interest seemed to be waning by the moment.
The Crown Prince retreated to his seat.
Kartina had already felt it clearly enough.
That the Crown Prince had no capacity to withstand the Grand Duke of the North's offensive.
But she still wanted revenge. Desperately.
How dare a mere loser humiliate her. It was something Kartina could not endure.
"Then what if we did this, Your Highness?"
"What do you mean?"
"We place him in the palm of our hand. The Grand Duke's every move. Then we could find his weakness, could we not?"
"A splendid idea! As expected of my fiancée! Truly worthy of becoming Empress!"
"Empress — I am not yet..."
While the Crown Prince bounced about in excitement, Kartina quietly passed word to a maid she had already turned to her side.
Send someone useful from House de Bosch immediately.
Find a way to reach the highest place in the North, by whatever means necessary.
Soon, that attempt landed with perfect, perfect precision.
Word came that several slaves of House de Bosch, a handful of the Crown Prince's subordinates, and a few noble informants had managed to infiltrate Winter Castle.
And then the glad tidings: they had succeeded in becoming attendants to Daniela von Wintergard.
Kartina smiled.
That filthy wretch. I'll kill you without a soul knowing. Heh heh — that was the smile she wore.
"...Or so she must be thinking."
After the banquet, I was in the bath.
The Owls reported to me in secret.
Word that several women kept as slaves by Kartina de Bosch's family had been planted here.
They were in the process of building an intelligence network in the North, while prioritizing their ties to the Imperial House.
It seemed to be the means House de Bosch had chosen to minimize their own exposure.
For appearances, they seemed to intend to make it look as though the Imperial House had sent them.
"For now, keep watch. No — is it dangerous?"
"You yourself may be safe, my lord Grand Duke, but the Grand Duchess could be placed in considerable danger."
"I suppose so. Still, it's too useful a card to simply discard."
I considered it.
Should I turn them instead? That was not a bad option.
But it would mean accepting that Daniela would be in danger.
In any case, they would know well enough that they could not touch the Grand Duke's title.
And above all, Daniela would be the one they most wanted to see suffer.
"It may be possible to turn one of them, my lord Grand Duke."
"Which one?"
"She will be entering shortly, my lord."
The Owl drew close and gave me a rough outline of the person to be turned.
Perhaps he thought that much would be enough for the Grand Duke to handle on his own.
The story was rather interesting.
Working as a slave for House de Bosch.
Her mother gravely ill. Sold into service because she needed a great deal of money for treatment.
"How did you find all that out?"
"We already have many Owls embedded within the Imperial Palace, my lord."
"Thorough as ever. I'll keep that in mind. Let me try speaking with her. If things go sideways, then..."
There would be only one method left to choose.
I didn't particularly care for it, but there was no helping it.
I dressed and stepped outside.
After washing up properly, as I made my way toward the study, a maid fell into step beside me.
A face I hadn't seen before. The one the Owls had identified as a possible recruit.
"A new maid?"
"Y-yes, my lord Grand Duke."
"Well. It's been quite a day."
"Not at all, my lord."
Rather than heading toward the study, I turned in a different direction.
It seemed as though I was moving toward a space where people grew fewer and fewer.
A young girl. Even by southern standards, she was remarkably small.
And her face still carried the unmistakable softness of a child.
"You're still young. Why are you working as a maid?"
"W-well, my mother has been very ill, and I wanted to help with the money, so I..."
"Is that so? What kind of illness requires so much money?"
"It is an illness where the coughing will not stop. She coughs up blood from time to time, and they said treating it would cost a great deal."
The end of the corridor. There was no one left now.
Winter Castle was not large, but I knew well enough where one could be alone.
The Owls would be watching from somewhere, no doubt.
"That illness will likely be very difficult to cure. Whether in the Empire or in the North, there are almost no means to treat it."
"...My lord, what do you mean by that?"
Kairu. That was the little one's name.
They had sent her either because she looked like a child, or because they were confident they had a reliable means of holding her hostage.
"An illness with persistent coughing and coughing up blood — it would be either tuberculosis or lung cancer. One of the two. But you yourself are still all right, aren't you? Your mother has been suffering for a long time, so it's probably lung cancer."
"My lord Grand Duke, with respect, I have no idea what you are saying."
As if she didn't know. She was trembling head to toe.
She must have felt it — that I already knew. But to make it even clearer —
"That illness cannot be cured. If anything, wouldn't it be better to go to your mother's side?"
"...My lord Grand Duke. Even so, I think such speculation is rather..."
"I'll pay you twice what House de Bosch promised."
A simple offer. The work required would not be so great either.
It meant I intended to turn her instead.
Kairu's feet were shaking. Anxiety.
The certainty that she had been found out. And now — what was she supposed to do?
"And there is a threat as well. Depending on what you choose, I can give you enough money to take responsibility for your entire family. But if not — well, what do you think will happen?"
"My lord Grand Duke, I still do not understand what you are saying."
"Playing dumb, are you. Everyone connected to you — anyone who has so much as brushed sleeves with you — it doesn't matter who."
The most important thing was to give her no time to think.
After that, a few tests, and then making Kairu firmly one of ours — that was what mattered.
But before that, it was important to make clear what would happen if she betrayed me.
And I needed to let her know what she stood to gain by choosing me.
"I'll pay you twice the money, and if you wish to live in the North, I'll make certain that reward is honored. Once you decide, I'll bring your entire family here. Your mother may find the journey hard on her body, but she will be able to live in safety."
"C-can you truly promise that?"
"Of course. But you decide right now. If you betray me, your family — every last one of them — will be gone. The fact that I already know... well,"
You understand what that means, don't you?