HIGOS CH 12

Dreyan, who had Cassia in his arms, did not seem to notice the bewildered looks around him at all. To make matters worse, he even buried his face against the nape of Cassia’s neck and rubbed his cheek against her.

Jester snapped and grabbed Dreyan by the forearm.

“Viscount!”

Dreyan, abruptly spun around by Jester’s strength, tilted his head in confusion.

“…What?”

Was he seriously asking because he didn’t know?

Jester was rendered speechless by Dreyan’s utterly calm reaction.

Just as the atmosphere threatened to turn ugly, Cassia quickly stepped in and defused the situation.

“It seems the Viscount got a little carried away because it’s been so long since you two last met. Before I came to Greze, you were busy with all sorts of things, including inheriting your title, so we didn’t even get to say a proper goodbye. Still, Viscount, there are many eyes watching us, and I’m no longer the daughter of a count. I’m the rightful lady of Greze now, so please show me a little courtesy.”

At Cassia’s firm but not unfriendly words, Dreyan smiled pleasantly and bowed his head.

“It seems I have been discourteous, Baroness. Ah, I apologize to the Baron as well. I must have become carried away by the joy of seeing an old friend.”

Dreyan cleanly admitted his mistake.

Cassia had openly defended him, and Dreyan had even apologized himself.

Jester wanted nothing more than to grab him by the collar and shake him senseless, demanding whether simply saying sorry was enough after hugging another man’s wife and rubbing his face against her.

But if he became any angrier, he would look like a petty husband.

Cassia’s pointed gaze seemed to be saying exactly that.

In the end, Jester could only let out a baffled breath of disbelief and keep his mouth shut.

Dreyan was escorted to the room Paul had prepared for him.

Cassia accompanied him.

The two sat facing each other across the table in the room and quietly stared at one another.

The silence continued for nearly ten minutes as they simply looked at each other’s faces.

For Cassia, it was because seeing a friend she had not met in well over ten years felt strangely new.

For Dreyan, it was because his heart felt unbearably heavy.

Dreyan was the first to break the tedious silence.

“Ah, seriously…”

“I-Ian?”

Cassia was startled.

Dreyan suddenly covered his eyes with one large hand and tilted his head back, his voice trembling as though he were about to cry.

“This is driving me crazy…”

After remaining like that for quite some time, Dreyan lowered his hand and looked at Cassia again.

His eyes were moist and terribly red, as though he really had cried.

Cassia stared at him in confusion.

“Why are you crying?”

“Wouldn’t you cry if you were me? Is that really a territory I saw on the way here? Forget about how tiny it is for a moment—how are you supposed to make a living here?”

“It is still winter… Once we plant things, raise livestock, and cultivate the land, we’ll manage…”

Cassia avoided Dreyan’s gaze as though embarrassed and let her voice trail off.

Dreyan was not the sort of person who would miss such a reaction.

The fact that Cassia clearly knew just how pitiful Greze was, yet still had to live there, only made him angrier.

“They call him a war hero, and this is how he’s treated? I knew it was a rural territory, but I never imagined it would be this much of a slum.”

“A slum? The people here are working hard and living simple, honest lives in their own way. Could you not speak of them like that? Anyone listening would think they survived by begging.”

Cassia sniffed indignantly.

Dreyan’s words had hurt her.

She thought this every time: the one who was a terrible person was Jester, not the kind and gentle servants or the poor but hardworking people of the territory.

Hearing someone dismiss them simply because their home was poor and unimpressive, without even knowing anything about them, immediately made her bristle.

“I’m sorry. I got too worked up thinking about you having to struggle in a place like this.”

Dreyan immediately apologized with a remorseful expression.

He had always been like this.

Even when they had argued while playing as children, when he made an accidental mistake, or whenever Cassia seemed upset for some reason, he would immediately apologize or try to comfort her.

He never allowed a disagreement between them to drag on for long.

Cassia liked that about Dreyan.

This time, too, she simply said, “All right,” accepted his apology, and let go of her anger.

“I don’t want to get worked up, but I can’t help it. What did you ever do to deserve this? Isn’t His Majesty the Emperor being a little too much? If he’s a war hero, shouldn’t he be treated accordingly? How can he sell off someone else’s daughter just to maintain his own dignity?”

“I think so, too.”

In her previous life, Cassia had never even thought of blaming the Emperor.

She had simply believed that since it was the command of someone so immensely important, she had no choice but to accept it.

But after returning to the past, she freely blamed the Emperor whenever she pleased.

And now that Dreyan had singled him out and cursed him, Cassia eagerly nodded in agreement.

“He really does seem like such a selfish person.”

Dreyan stared at Cassia in surprise as she muttered with her lips pursed, then sighed.

Knowing her original personality, she should have stopped him rather than agreeing with him when he criticized the Emperor.

She must have been having a truly miserable time living here.

“How is the Baron? Is he a decent man?”

Don’t even get me started.

A curse nearly slipped from Cassia’s lips, but she desperately swallowed it back.

“Let’s talk about something else.”

Dreyan was not the sort of person who could fail to notice the way Cassia’s expression fell.

It seemed that not only was the territory pitiful—the Baron she had married was a problem as well.

Well, he’s a commoner by birth who spent his life on battlefields. I suppose I should be grateful if he doesn’t simply throw his fists around. Damn it.

Dreyan clenched his fists tightly.

“I don’t have a very good impression of the Baron either. He knew perfectly well who the Count of Luverno was and what kind of woman you were, yet he casually took you as his wife without a second thought. If he were a decent man, shouldn’t he at least have spoken to His Majesty and said that such an excessive reward wasn’t necessary?”

Exactly.

Cassia thought the same thing as she sighed inwardly.

Jester had not married her because he intended to cherish her like some precious treasure.

Nor had he done it because he wanted to take advantage of her family’s influence.

And it wasn’t as though he had known beforehand that his wife would work herself half to death managing his territory for him.

So why had Jester agreed to this marriage?

She did not even have to think very hard about the answer.

Hadn’t she spent ten exhausting years dealing with Jester’s personality in her previous life?

He must simply have had no thoughts about it whatsoever.

The Emperor says I should marry the daughter of such-and-such a count?

Sure. Well, if he says so, then I guess I have to.

He seemed to be a thoroughly tiresome man whose only real interest was money.

Oh, and let’s not forget his adorable childhood friend.

Cassia’s expression hardened ominously.

“Right. Sia, I brought you a present.”

Seeing Cassia’s increasingly twisted expression, Dreyan gave her a sympathetic smile before opening one of the bags he had brought with him.

He took something out.

It was a glass orb resting atop a wide-mouthed glass bottle.

Cassia had no idea what purpose it served, but judging by the fact that the orb itself emitted a soft pink glow, it seemed to be some sort of lamp.

The glass orb was connected to a thumb-sized stone inside the bottle by a thin metal wire.

“This is something incredible. I haven’t shown it to anyone yet. I brought it specifically for you.”

“What is it?”

“You know my father was passionate about the magical engineering industry, right? Well, the results of his efforts have finally begun to shine in my generation.”

“Ah.”

Cassia gasped.

The magical engineering industry led by Habelrn and supported by Luverno.

There was no way she could forget it.

As Cassia recalled what had happened in her previous life, another surge of anger rose within her, and she let out a long sigh as she struggled to suppress it.

That damn magical engineering industry. They gave those worthless chunks of rock the fancy name of mana stones and made such an enormous fuss over them.

They said that magic had existed in ancient times.

However, as the years passed, mages capable of wielding mana gradually disappeared, and magic naturally declined before eventually becoming extinct.

According to legend, ancient mages who lamented this had processed raw stones and embedded them with condensed traces of their own magical power so that the origins of magic could be passed down to future generations.

Those stones were called mana stones.

Compared to Luverno, Habelrn was an unimpressive territory.

But it was quite famous for one reason alone: vast quantities of mana stones were buried there.

It was likely an area where groups of ancient mages had once settled.

In any case, no matter how many mana stones they possessed, they were completely useless because not a single mage remained who could use them.

In this world, magic was already regarded as nothing more than an ancient legend. Science had emerged, and engineering was gradually developing, so mana stones were nothing more than unusual rocks.

The one who refused to give up on finding a use for them was the former Viscount Habelrn.

He gathered scholars of ancient magic and engineers and poured enormous amounts of support into their research.

As a result, a new industry called “magical engineering” was born, combining the energy released by mana stones with mechanical engineering.

When the field of magical engineering was first introduced, everyone went wild trying to invest in it.

The quick-witted Count of Luverno immediately poured a huge amount of money into it and acquired the largest share in the magical engineering industry.

An energy source contained inside a mere stone that could actually be harnessed?

Everyone agreed that it was bound to become an enormous success.

Unfortunately, magical engineering only attracted attention during its early stages, when small magical engineering devices were first being developed.

They were able to use mana stones containing simple forms of condensed magic, but the truly valuable mana stones containing complicated formulas remained useless.

It eventually went completely bankrupt. Stupid Dreyan! Idiotic Father!

Anyone might wonder why Cassia was getting so angry remembering someone else’s failed business when she already had plenty of problems of her own.

If you were going to go bankrupt, you should have done it alone! Why did you have to make all of us suffer, too?!

When magical engineering first began attracting attention, all sorts of hyenas started circling Habelrn territory.

Those seeking to plunder its mana stones ranged from foreign bandits who had infiltrated the country to nobles from within the Empire itself.

Cassia’s father, the Count of Luverno, had invested a great deal of money in the magical engineering industry and needed to protect Habelrn until the industry was successfully established.

As a result, he had been plagued by the constant need to defend the territory from repeated invasions.

Then a particularly large territorial conflict broke out.

With the situation becoming desperate, the Count contacted his daughter Cassia, whom he normally had little reason to contact, and asked her to send reinforcements.

Cassia hesitated.

But somehow, Jester had learned about the situation and contacted Habelrn first, offering to join the battle with his troops.

He headed for Habelrn without looking back and, just as he always did, swept the enemy away before returning.

Jester had probably gone without hesitation because he expected his father-in-law to reward him handsomely for his help.

Cassia had also hoped that whatever compensation her husband received from the territorial conflict would greatly help the struggling finances of Greze.

However, Luverno had already spent an enormous amount of money defending itself against the repeated invasions.

The Count of Luverno expressed his regret, saying that he simply wasn’t in a position to put on a grand display of generosity for the son-in-law who had come to help him.

Still, there had to be some limit.

The reward he gave Jester before sending him home had been utterly absurd.

“They say this is the most valuable mana stone in Habelrn. Once the magical engineering industry is properly established, its value is expected to skyrocket.”

After enduring all that hardship and finally returning home, Jester had presented Cassia with a stone roughly the size of his fist.

No—not a stone.

A mana stone.

It was a high-grade mana stone containing a complicated magical formula that could not even be put to practical use at the time.

Cassia had taken it while desperately pretending to remain calm.

Needless to say, she had promptly collapsed unconscious from shock.

After spending an entire week sick in bed, Cassia finally recovered enough to write to her father, the Count of Luverno.

<Father, are you joking?

There has to be a limit to treating my husband like a fool. What is this?

If you really consider me your daughter and feel sorry for me, then at least show us the minimum amount of courtesy.

I don’t even know how I can face my husband.>

The Count had surely received his daughter’s letter, which had been filled with fury from the very first line.

But he simply pretended not to notice and casually ignored it.

Cassia truly had been unable to face Jester.

Jester might very well have wanted to turn the Count’s face into a bloody mess when he received that useless chunk of rock as payment for all his hard work.

He must have endured it through sheer superhuman self-control.

After all, on the surface, the man was his wife’s father and his own father-in-law.

Cassia, who was already exhausted from constantly worrying about Jester’s reaction, had no choice but to sink even deeper into embarrassment.

Knock, knock.

“My lady, it’s Paul. Dinner is ready. The master said he would like you to come downstairs as soon as possible.”

For some reason, Paul’s voice sounded unusually anxious through the door.

Cassia finally snapped out of her furious recollections.