Cheshire covered for him by saying that resembling the late Grand Duke Shurs was merely because he took after his father, and executed Grand Duke Shurs for treason after he uttered irreverent words. The Emperor confiscated Grand Duke Shurs’ territories and wealth and gave them to the insulted Empress.
People’s gossip didn’t last long. Anyone who insulted the Empress had to ascend the execution platform and have their head severed, so those who valued their lives pretended not to know whose child the Crown Prince was.
And the Empress, who didn’t live much longer, bequeathed that land and wealth to Cheshire.
Now, after nearly 30 years had passed, most people didn’t even know about that incident, but even so, it wasn’t some tremendous secret.
“Do you feel wronged? Do you wonder why father set that guy as Crown Prince, leaving aside me, the true eldest son? Do you think that if you were the Crown Prince, you would be at my feet, something like that?”
Cheshire looked at Eric and let out a sigh as if it wasn’t even worth speaking about.
“Aside from bloodline, do you even have anything to boast about? If you weren’t a prince? What talent do you have at all? Do you have anything better than me?”
Cheshire looked pitifully at Eric, who was trembling while clutching the sword at his waist in humiliation.
“If you weren’t my younger brother, I would have cut you down more than a dozen times. There’s no way I would have let a guy like you ruin state affairs.”
It was just a small amount of money, and it was merely a miscalculation? Even if excuses were made for him, they were all the same kind of nonsense. He was the kind of guy who kept such a worthless person as his closest confidant.
“You should be more grateful for how mercifully I’ve lived toward you.”
“Mercy? Mercy, you say?”
Eric, grumbling in a voice boiling with anger inside, drew his sword and charged at Cheshire.
―Thud!
Cheshire, who had been watching from the moment he gripped the sword, stepped back and kicked him. Thump! He tumbled, crashing into the bookshelf.
Clang! Cheshire’s guard knights, who were always pathetically slow, finally stepped forward. Eric, who probably hadn’t intended to really stab, didn’t even look at the guard knights grabbing his shoulders as he spoke.
“Even after cutting off my hands and feet, pulling out my tongue, and sealing my mouth, you’ll still call it mercy? You’ll say you helped me so I wouldn’t spout nonsense, so I wouldn’t do stupid things!”
Of course. The people around him were mostly delusional traitors dreaming of rebellion or con artists.
Cheshire had always been waiting for the right time to hand over this position to Eric. His mother had passed away, and there was no particular reason to protect her honor. He wasn’t lacking in possessions, so there was no need to live disguising what wasn’t his as his own.
When the appropriate time came, he planned to advise the Emperor to pass the throne to Eric. Even his father, despite everything, probably wouldn’t want to bequeath it to anyone but his own son.
The reason Cheshire hadn’t married or had children even as he grew into an adult was because he disliked complications.
If Eric had matured a bit more, he would have handed over the position long ago and left for the Western lands. So when Eric married and had a child, Cheshire had quite some expectations, but nothing changed about Eric. The tiny territory he held was constantly plagued by rebellions or unrest. Eric was always reckless and twisted by inferiority complex. No, rather, it seemed to worsen as he aged.
“Still whining about losing a few incompetent friends, how truly pathetic.”
At Cheshire’s dry gaze, Eric screamed in rage.
“I’m pathetic? Only incompetent people around me? Then who is beside you, brother? Even if hundreds or thousands bow their heads to you, do you have subordinates who give you trust? Is there anyone you can call a friend to open your heart to?”
Cheshire thought his question itself was inappropriate. He was the Crown Prince. Everyone except the Emperor was beneath his feet, so how could having a friend even be conceivable? If he stepped down from the Crown Prince position, maybe, but scrutinizing his subjects with sharp eyes was the duty of a lord.
“All show on the outside, but rotten black inside. Among those around you, is there even one who stays because they like you? Those women who flock like moths to the brilliant exterior and indulge?”
With his face stained with tears, Eric sneered at Cheshire.
“Even those women, there’s no one among them who expects a future from you, is there?”
“…―.”
Normally, he would have brushed it off as nonsense, but at the end of his words, a pale face suddenly came to mind.
I have no personal feelings. ―Remembering the black eyes that had said it calmly, his dry chest fluttered slightly. At the irritating sensation, Cheshire slightly furrowed his brow.
Eric spoke like a curse.
“Just wait and see. If God is fair, a day will come when you too shed bloody tears because of that arrogance of yours.”
§ § § § §
She still wasn’t feeling well.
Sahara let out a small sigh as she packed her sword.
She was already regretting it, but that day’s events had indeed been shortsighted. She hadn’t anticipated any lingering aftereffects. Everyone did it as part of daily life, and even without emotion, she thought it would be fine for a short while.
If she had known it would hurt, she wouldn’t have touched it.
Whenever something shiny caught her eye, her hand reached out involuntarily—foolishness always came at a price. She should have been more suspicious and cautious especially when it sparkled so particularly, but the lesson had been quite expensive.
“…You’re late today.”
Buzz said with a small yawn. Sahara glanced at him briefly, then looked back toward the bushes ahead and the area beyond.
“Maybe they noticed we’re tracking them? Since Ragnar kept catching the pigeons several times, they might take a break or change their method.”
“Be quiet.”
“There’s no one around.”
Buzz, who had spoken as if it were excessive, closed his mouth at Sahara’s gaze. Sahara quietly stared into the darkness.
“Is your body feeling a bit better?”
Buzz hesitated before asking. She had told him to be quiet, but he kept talking, so he must have something he wanted to say. Sahara nodded slightly.
“Why?”
“Just…, you probably won’t care much, but things have been a bit noisy around lately. More eye-catching than this side.”
“?”
When she looked at him quizzically, Buzz scratched his cheek.
“I heard rumors that the Commander and His Highness the Crown Prince have fallen out. Since the Commander is at the Western annex.”
“? We weren’t close to begin with.”
What was there to fall out about? Sahara answered indifferently. Buzz thought it was cool of someone who had been bedridden like that, but he nodded.
“Anyway, there’s a lot of talk. Everywhere you go, it’s about the Commander. So, there are a ton of eyes on the Western annex these days. Of course, not like this, but mostly people snooping around more openly.”
Sahara nodded. As expected, collecting information like this in the capital probably wasn’t common. Interest in her would fade with time.
“You won’t mingle in high society at all?”
“…I can’t mingle.”
“You have no intention of doing so, right?”
“Should I?”
Her parents weren’t around, and the world wouldn’t easily accept a rural knight who had been a commoner until recently, despite receiving the title of countess. There was no way Sahara, who didn’t even know proper etiquette, could blend in easily.
“The Commander is someone who thinks it’s enough to help His Majesty the Emperor, so you probably don’t have ambitions to climb to high positions, but as you heard, the capital is full of factional struggles. No matter how much you declare you have no ambitions, they won’t believe you.”
In a situation without a shield, even the Emperor’s favor could be poison.
“To survive, high society might be essential.”
She had thought it would be nice if the Crown Prince backed her, but from the looks of it, that seemed wrong. He wouldn’t sabotage her, but because of the attention he had given her, the stares closing in had become sharper thorns.
“Still, it’s not time to brush them off yet, it seems like they’re probing. These past few days, a lot of gifts and invitations have come. I put them in your room, but you haven’t checked them, right?”
“Most of them are from people I don’t know.”
She didn’t have many acquaintances in the capital to begin with. Buzz also nodded awkwardly.
“Attend a few parties to make some connections. Even if you skip the daily evening imperial parties, the weekend ones are large-scale, so they said you should definitely attend.”
An imperial chamberlain had come and nagged Buzz to make sure Sahara attended as much as possible. Excluding the first day and the last week, they weren’t mandatory, but since they were parties ostensibly to celebrate the victory, it would look bad if Sahara ignored them too much.
“If I have to, I will.”
Filling a seat wasn’t a difficult task. Dressing up and just sitting there, even if awkward, wasn’t something she couldn’t do.
“It might be good to call someone to teach you etiquette. I’ll look for someone to help.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. The gifts—”
Buzz, about to ask if he should return them, closed his mouth at Sahara’s gesture. Wondering what it was, a pigeon flew in from the east, where it was dimly brightening. Sahara pulled up the mask she had lowered to cover her face and pressed the hood down deeply. The moment the pigeon took off with a seed in its beak, she pursued it.
Yesterday, she had lost it while chasing. Chasing a flying bird from the ground wasn’t easy. It might be different in an open field like the steppes, but the city had buildings and people everywhere. Catching a flying bird wouldn’t be hard, but finding its destination meant she could only run diligently without other options.
Thud, thud.
Sahara vaulted over several walls and dashed across rooftops. The sun was rising, but thick fog made it good weather for hiding her body.
The place where she had failed yesterday was in front of a large mansion. She had wasted time climbing the high wall, and by then the bird was gone. Today, she had checked all the alleys in the vicinity. If she kept chasing for a few more days, she might memorize the entire capital map.
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