Could you handle it—
The reason Ofilienne could speak such brazen words to Nikolai, one of Porca's most powerful figures, was simple: she knew exactly where she stood.
First, she and Matyos were direct heirs of the prestigious Moretti family.
One of the two would become the next Family Head. That weight was not light.
If Magistrate Nikolai were to carelessly lay a hand on the siblings without knowing what he was dealing with, Moretti would not stay quiet.
But the greatest reason was the Empire.
The current Emperor had long been waiting for a pretext to bring Porca under his dominion.
And right at this moment — what would happen if the incident of "a republic's magistrate forcibly interrogating an imperial citizen who was the victim" were to break out?
It would be chaos.
The Emperor, who had been watching for any opportunity to intervene in Porca, would never let this slip by.
He would have intervened without fail — and perhaps, even at this very moment, preparations were already underway beneath the surface.
In other words, the instant Nikolai clumsily touched Matyos, the Emperor himself would be dragged into it.
Ofilienne had grasped that fact precisely.
And so she stood against Nikolai without yielding a single inch.
'…That cunning snake. Is she truly nineteen years old?'
Magistrate Nikolai clicked his tongue and studied Ofilienne.
Those colorless eyes watched her — still, yet relentlessly.
These were not the eyes of a nineteen-year-old brat.
They were the eyes of a sly fox.
'I'll have to fall back for now.'
Nikolai decided to cleanly wash his hands of this.
He had provoked Matyos to see if there was anything worth picking at.
He'd given it a prod, but this was nothing short of a hornet's nest. One wrong move and he'd be the one getting stung.
Retreating was the wise choice.
"My, my — do forgive me. Moretti siblings. I hope you'll understand there was no ill intent. It seems young Matyos is not up for it today, so let us meet another time. Do get some rest."
Nikolai fixed his gaze squarely on Matyos, who was hiding against his sister's side like a coward.
'I don't know about that one, but the younger sibling looks weak. Should be easy enough to string along.'
He even had the face of someone easily fooled.
How much could he squeeze out of the Moretti house, he wondered.
Magistrate Nikolai indulged in that pleasant fantasy, swept his feathered hat off in a bow, and left the hospital room.
"What a wretched man."
The moment Nikolai disappeared, Ofilienne opened her mouth as though she'd been waiting for it.
"He's the type who pokes around looking for something to pick off. Not a magistrate — a hyena."
"What do we do?"
"What do you mean, what do we do? Just ignore him. A man like that wouldn't dare touch us. He's too much of a coward to even try."
Ofilienne gently brushed her hand across her brother's worried face.
"Remember this, Mati. We are the illustrious Moretti. There is no one here you need to fear. You are someone of standing."
Saying so, Ofilienne rose from her seat and draped a cloak thick with white fur over her shoulders.
"I'll see you at school."
She left.
Alone now, Matyos stared quietly into the empty air, then tilted his head back to look at the ceiling.
I had thought of myself as the weak one.
A child of a prestigious family, yes — but an adopted child with diluted blood, a spare with no real power.
But watching my sister today, I realized something.
'Nobility is nobility, after all.'
I found myself naturally understanding my own position anew.
My sister was the Crown Prince's fiancée. My father, the Empire's greatest mage.
There was no need to worry about a mere magistrate.
* * *
My feet carried me on their own to Yuri's hospital room. It was right next door.
Unlike me, Yuri was physically unharmed.
She'd been poisoned with a paralytic toxin, but had no serious injuries.
She sat on the bed, blanket wrapped around her body, reading a picture book.
I caught a glimpse of the cover — Three Bear Brothers. I used to love that one as a kid.
Of course, now that I was seventeen, picture books were a distant memory.
Though I still picked one up occasionally when the mood struck.
Anyway.
"Yuri."
Yuri turned her head toward me with quiet composure.
She left the picture book open and set it on her lap.
"I was going to come find you, but there was someone there, so I didn't."
"That was my sister."
"Your sister?"
"Yeah, my sister."
"Your female sibling?"
"…My female sibling."
"I don't have any siblings."
"Is that so."
"I don't have parents either."
"……"
Where on earth was this conversation going?
Not a flicker of expression crossed Yuri's face.
It felt like talking to an emotionless doll.
'…Can't be helped, I suppose.'
When I thought about how she'd grown up, it wasn't something I couldn't understand.
"I'm sorry."
Yuri gave a small nod.
"You got hurt because of me. Those people — the assassins — they were after me."
"I figured as much."
"You're not angry?"
"Why would I be angry at you? It's those bastards' fault."
Yuri was the victim.
I wasn't the kind of person with rotten enough character to be angry at her.
"But — why did you save me?"
"What, was I supposed to leave you there and run?"
"Yeah. I would have."
Hey.
You just say that like it's nothing?
I let out a short, helpless laugh.
"I'm not as rotten as you, so I don't abandon people and run."
"Anyway. Glad to see you look fine."
"Matyos is kind."
"Anyway. You look fine, so I'm heading out."
"…Hey, aren't you curious?"
Just before I stepped out of Yuri's room, she called out quietly.
"About why all this happened?"
"Not particularly, so I'll be going."
"I'll explain at school later."
"I said it's fine."
"I'll send you a message. Let's meet there."
I said it's fine, you little—
In the end, we made plans to meet.
* * *
I returned to the academy.
Under the pretext of recovery, I took some time to rest.
The professors understood my situation and marked my absences as medical leave.
And just as expected.
The Empire moved.
— Imperial Noble Attacked in Porca's Thorn Forest
— What Is Behind Porca's Inadequate Administration and Security?
— What Was Porca Academy Doing?
The imperial press latched onto the incident in unison.
Emphasizing that I was the clear victim, they shone a concentrated spotlight on the incompetence of the academy and Porca.
The argument was: what kind of world-class educational institution allows a student to be openly attacked and gravely wounded?
The academy tried to contain the damage, but the flames of the press did not die easily.
Once ignited, the outrage stirred the emotions of proud imperial citizens.
And the Emperor of the Empire, under the pretext of "reluctantly heeding the will of the people,"
announced his intention to dispatch imperial troops to Porca.
The scale was one division — approximately ten thousand regular imperial soldiers.
The Porca Assembly immediately pushed back.
Those who had held their identity as a neutral state sacred would never accept imperial troops.
But when the imperial army advanced and encamped at Porca's outskirts, the situation shifted rapidly.
Amid all this, the nations of the world began to stir as well.
Major powers including the Kingdom of Sharlan and the Kingdom of Hispanya pressed the Empire,
and at last, even the Pope of the Holy See stepped forward to publicly condemn the Empire.
Porca was a neutral state at the heart of the continent.
The moment it fell into the Empire's hands, the balance of power would collapse.
Diplomatic tensions soared in an instant.
But it did not last long.
Once the Pope intervened, the Emperor ultimately withdrew the forces he had marched toward Porca.
And then he issued a declaration: "Should such an incident occur once more, the Empire stands ready to intervene at any time."
'The Great Emperor is the Great Emperor, I suppose.'
I thought back to Emperor Friedrich the Great, whom I had met long ago.
The memory of seeing him for the first time as he inspected his knights — his face had frightened me so badly I burst into tears.
What he said to me then was still vivid.
'Stop your crying. Am I your mother?'
Looking back now, it wasn't pity. It was contempt.
He loved the strong and looked down on the weak.
The Emperor who had unified a fractured empire and reclaimed an imperial throne usurped for centuries.
It was no accident that he was compared to the founding emperor.
'This is just WWE, isn't it.'
At a glance, it might look like the Empire had tucked its tail between its legs.
But the Empire had accomplished what it set out to accomplish.
The Great Emperor probably never expected to succeed in one go to begin with.
This incident was nothing more than a buildup for the next move.
The next time trouble erupted, the Empire had now secured the justification to intervene without hesitation.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Shu."
A tiny fairy came fluttering over to me as I lay bundled in my blanket.
"So? This is the room I live in — think you can manage?"
"It's not a matter of good or bad. It's just incredibly strange. When I came here before, it was nothing but an empty clearing. Now there's such a fine building standing here."
Shu flitted about from place to place.
Having emerged from the forest for the first time in fifteen hundred years, everything must look wondrous to her eyes.
"What's this?"
"A lantern. It's like a torch that never goes out."
"And this?"
"That's called a fountain pen."
"Can I try writing with it?"
"Go ahead."
Shu strained and heaved at the fountain pen, which was nearly the size of her entire body.
"…Hff, hff. It's too heavy."
She'd been trying to write something on the paper, but it was too much for her and she let it drop.
"Hmm… what's this? It looks strange."
This time Shu picked up the pistol and turned it over in her tiny hands.
"That's called a gun."
"A gun?"
"Mm… think of it as a superior version of a bow."
"Is it stronger than magic?"
"Stronger than low-tier magic, at least. The advantage is that anyone can use it."
"Ooh."
Shu examined the pistol with fascinated eyes. After spending a good while darting around, captivated by the wonders of modern civilization, she settled lightly on my shoulder.
"But Matyos — why is your star so small?"
"…You can see that?"
"I see it whether I want to or not. Your star isn't even one whole star."
"Then help me out. I want to grow my star, but I have absolutely no idea how."
"Gladly — you're the most interesting human I've met in a long time."
Shu flew up in front of my face and pressed her tiny finger against my nose.