Chapter 26
My god
“So how did the investigation turn out?”
To state only the result—the culprit was indeed Rai’s servant, who had fled.
It was also true that he had tried to kill Envoy Rai using ice.
The reason was that although he, as a servant, was smarter than Rai and took on grueling work such as doing Rai’s school assignments for him, the one who actually attended school was Rai himself.
He resented the fact that Rai received all kinds of preferential treatment and benefits simply for being born into a good family.
“These were his final words. He said that watching friends foolishly suspect each other was quite amusing.”
“Final words…?”
“When we asked whether there was someone behind him, he bit down on a pouch of snake venom hidden in his mouth and… died.”
After finishing the account of the incident’s conclusion, Rai bowed his head deeply.
“To Her Majesty the Empress… I owe my life. How should I repay such a debt…?”
Seeing how half-dead his expression was as he delivered the news, it seemed he had trusted that servant in his own way.
I wasn’t curious about the private relationship between the servant and Rai.
No matter what Rai said now, I would only be hearing one side of the story anyway.
Even if he acted wronged in front of me, there was no way to know how he had truly treated his servant within his own household.
More importantly, there was something I wanted from him.
“Things like the water pouches you usually use. Would it be possible to pass some on to us as well? As you know, it’s quite hot here.”
“Would that alone be enough?”
I wanted to ask him to send over water-pack technicians from his country too, but—
This man was an envoy, a position akin to a modern-day diplomat. He wouldn’t easily leak technology that could benefit another nation.
“That will be sufficient.”
“Then… about how many pouches should we send?”
“Enough for me and my attendants to get through this summer coolly will do.”
I propped my chin on my index finger and curved my eyes into a gentle smile.
Rai looked momentarily dazed, then smiled even more brightly.
If smiling a little more could squeeze out a few extra cooling pouches, I was more than willing to do it.
.
.
.
At least, I’d obtained the coolant for the cooling device.
By the time the banquet was nearly over, both the envoy delegation and my sister returned to their respective countries.
My sister said she would send the deed as soon as the bank account was created.
Thanks to this banquet, both the coolant and the banking issue were resolved.
“Wheooook! Hurry, hurry!”
Ah, the story the paper cat wanted to eat had also been delivered properly.
I organized the events that had happened to the envoy delegation, added a thrilling mystery-like narrative and emotional beats, and delivered it all on paper. The cat chewed it enthusiastically.
Stuffing its mouth full of the story and munching away, the cat licked around its mouth with its tongue.
“Hm, it melted a bit, but the chilling sensation when eating it, along with the sweetness, was quite to my liking! Next time, bring it frozen solid! Wheok!”
It even left behind a surprisingly thorough tasting review.
The price for restoring Yakcha with magic had been repaid quickly, but—
There was still something about this case that felt unsettling.
In this world’s era, ice was a rare ingredient.
Moreover, ice that had been carefully rounded so it wouldn’t melt easily.
How could a mere servant obtain such ice?
“Well, maybe he just stole it…”
And the part where he committed suicide by biting a poison pouch when asked about a mastermind behind him felt especially suspicious.
But the dead tell no tales, and there was no way to dig further.
On the night the banquet ended, I set down my quill.
—
Late at night.
A servant wearing a shabby vest stepped outside the palace gates.
It was a time when passage was restricted, yet when the guards saw the servant, they parted as if enchanted.
Thanks to that, the servant—who had the appearance of a pretty boy—was able to leave the palace.
After running hurriedly and entering the forest, the servant removed the vest.
The youthful boyish appearance vanished, and under the moonlight stood a woman with long, flowing platinum-blond hair.
Perhaps because of the heat, the woman tilted her head from side to side before letting out a small chuckle.
“I thought I survived by luck.”
There was no subject to her muttered words.
Yet in her mind, she was picturing a woman with pale sky-blue hair.
The current Empress was someone who was originally meant to die in a single night.
But not only had she survived, she had even resolved the matter involving the envoys.
At this point, it could hardly be called mere luck.
“Is she someone who returned, like me? Or is it that…”
The platinum-blond woman gazed up at the moon hanging in the sky, her eyes filled with rapture.
“Were you watching everything?”
She murmured words of unclear meaning.
—
A few days after the banquet ended, the water pouches I had requested from Envoy Rai arrived at the Empress’s palace.
When I touched one, I felt a strange, solid sensation inside.
The source of that sensation was none other than a cooling stone.
This magic stone contained cold energy, and prolonged contact could damage the skin, so it was often used submerged in liquid for protection.
Ice itself was precious in this era, and Aisha—who had been working near the hearth until now—examined the cooling stone curiously.
“Um, Your Majesty. What is this cold thing used for? Is it for chilling desserts, perhaps?”
“You said it was hard to maintain cold air when making the cooling device, right? So I got this. The stone inside is called a cooling stone, and it’s perfect for maintaining cold. You can take it out and use it later.”
“Eeh? Th-then for me, you went and got something this, this precious…! Wooow…”
At first, Aisha looked stunned, but soon she began smiling broadly as she lifted the water pouch with both hands.
The way she held it like a sacred treasure, eyes sparkling, looked rather adorable.
“Oh, and if you keep touching the stone directly for too long, it can damage your skin, so don’t handle it constantly.”
“G-got it!”
“And I’ll be resting alone in the garden for a while, so you can go focus on your development work.”
“Yes, yes, of course…”
Aisha carefully wrapped the cooling stone in a cloth like a handkerchief.
Around the same time, a deed also arrived from my older sister, Princess Adania.
It was something like a bank account under the name of a distant collateral branch of the Rania royal family.
In her letter, Adania added that the account holder was supposedly a widow who had kept several lovers and died young.
However, since her death wasn’t widely known, the name could be used to create an account.
I also had other uses in mind for that identity.
“If necessary, it’d be perfect to use as a fake identity.”
Still—
If I were to compare it to cooking, my escape plan was only at the stage where the ingredients were prepared.
Although I had set up a dedicated workshop for Aisha using the Empress’s authority, the equipment and funding would still be insufficient.
“Aisha, I’ll support all the money and materials. You just focus on walking the path of development.”
Hiding such devious intentions, I sent Aisha off to the workshop with an image-management smile.
After she left, I looked around my wrist with a satisfied expression.
Apparently, the envoys—friends of Rai—had sent an additional gift: a sapphire bracelet, saying they had nearly misunderstood a friend.
I liked blue to begin with, and the craftsmanship was beautiful, so my gaze kept returning to it.
Of course, I had other schemes in mind.
“It looks expensive. Maybe I could sell it before escaping and use it as emergency funds?”
I felt a bit sorry toward the giver, but well—if the recipient made good use of it in some other way, didn’t that count?
As my thoughts grew increasingly unscrupulous the longer I stayed in the palace, someone suddenly grasped the arm wearing the sapphire bracelet.
“Ah— you startled me.”
Kallio smiled slyly, his eyes half-lidded.
I almost frowned reflexively, but smiled faintly instead, wary of onlookers.
“For what reason has Your Majesty come here?”
“Does a husband need a reason to come see his wife? I missed you.”
“It’s not because something around your neck feels bothersome, is it?”
“You seem to have a talent for provoking people.”
We exchanged sharp words while pretending to smile, as if this alone were a battlefield.
Still—could he let go of my arm already? Why was he holding it like that?
Before I could tell him to release it, he lifted my arm up to his eye level and pressed his lips against my wrist.
“To be this happy over a gift from another man.”
Already creeped out by the contact, the added words made my stomach churn.
Unable to throw up, I pulled my hand back toward myself.
“Why don’t you give me a gift first before speaking? That would be more stimulating for me.”
“Shall I? What color gemstone do you want?”
“I don’t care about the color. I like rare gemstones.”
Preferably the kind that would fetch the highest price.
As I grinned with that thought, Kallio let out a soft laugh and sat down across from me.
“I’ll look diligently. I’m scheduled to inspect another region in a few days anyway.”
An inspection meant the Emperor would be visiting another region.
In other words—
“Kallio will be away from the palace?”
At the unexpectedly welcome information, my eyes sparkled.
