#47. It’s Bigger Than I Expected.
In the afternoon, as the sun tilted westward and shadows lengthened, Olivia, having skipped lunch due to lack of appetite, busily moved her hands more than ever. How long had the sound of her pen scratching across paper continued? — tss, zzzt. The prolonged sound of tearing echoed as the edge of a document soaked in black ink ripped apart. Then, through her pale lips, a gloomy voice slipped out.
“Do you just do whatever you want?”
Underneath her eyes, dark shadows were deeply etched as Olivia muttered grimly. Feeling annoyed, she rubbed the black shadows beneath her eyes down to her chin and let out a long, weary sigh.
“Because I want to do it this way.”
At the faint whisper ringing clearly in her ears, Olivia’s shoulders shook as if she might convulse, then she sighed deeply again.
“Yeah, it’s not like anything serious will happen just because we touch foreheads. If anything, it’s a good chance to get used to not losing my mind whenever that annoyingly proud face gets close.”
Though she had successfully rationalized with a somewhat plausible excuse, Olivia’s gaze unconsciously traced the empty space where he used to sit. How long had it been since he had taken that seat? Thinking of their meeting anew, she shook her head sharply.
It wasn’t that long. Still, Cryer’s absence felt bigger than expected.
“It really is bigger than I thought.”
Those words slipped out through parted lips, deepening the furrow in Olivia’s brow. Was this really how it should be? Of all people, Cryer’s existence was supposed to mean more to her than anyone else’s in this world — yet she rubbed at her own hollow chest, as empty as the vacant seat, tilting her head in confusion. Unable to bear the strange sense of loss she couldn’t explain, Olivia suddenly stood up. — knock knock.
“Your Highness, the investigator is here…”
Before the servant’s words finished, the empty office responded.
“Let them in.”
The door opened, and a man of average build entered Olivia’s office. Passing by, one might think he was just a familiar face — like the uncle next door. The man knelt before Olivia.
“To see the Little Sun of the Empire…”
“Enough of that. What did the investigation find?”
Olivia cut off the investigator’s greeting and sank deeply into her chair again. Thankfully, there was something to do before she impulsively went searching for Cryer. Or… was that really something to be thankful for? Thinking that way felt like misfortune itself. He wasn’t here. Cryer wasn’t by her side. That was all. So? So what? She should have brushed it off. No, she shouldn’t have cared in the first place… But just as she thought she was fortunate something else came up, Olivia was unaware that the investigator’s voice, who was methodically reporting his findings, was growing quieter. A veteran of the royal intelligence, he had already noticed from the start that the princess’s mind was elsewhere. Yet, not daring to wave his hand or touch her person in front of Her Highness, he did his best to fulfill his duty.
“…There appears to be no special grudges involved.”
When he finished speaking, an awkward silence filled the princess’s office. After a long pause, convinced the silence would never end, the investigator carefully spoke again.
“Your Highness? Princess?”
When he raised his voice slightly louder and firmer than before, Olivia finally refocused.
“Yes?”
“Oh, right.”
Olivia waved her hand dismissively, and the investigator immediately bowed.
“I apologize.”
“No, you only did your duty. The report?”
Olivia gestured, and the investigator politely handed over a stack of documents. Because Olivia only half-listened to the report, she took quite some time skimming the papers.
“So, the deceased servant had no known grudges, no debts, and no dirty past that might involve others?”
“Yes. Since they worked in the palace, if any of those had existed, they wouldn’t have been allowed in. Nothing suspicious happened even during their tenure.”
Even without hearing the rest, Olivia understood. If there had been any such issue, they wouldn’t have set foot in the palace again.
“Hmm.”
Olivia glanced down at the documents, tilting her head. Someone had attacked the servant with the intent to kill. And servants in the palace were normally expected to maintain far greater composure than ordinary people. To explode with that much emotion, there must be a serious reason. But the investigation said otherwise. That made Olivia feel uneasy. She knew it might be paranoia or obsessive thinking, but she could never simply brush it off with “maybe it’s nothing.” No matter if the investigation concluded it was nothing, that would only be hindsight. She refused to dismiss the unsettling feeling. The attack that made her heart race so much on that moonlit night — it wasn’t by an assassin, nor was it aimed at the princess herself, but it was still a disturbing incident. She didn’t want to ignore it. Of course, she didn’t trust her intuition much, but with an ancient god intent on wiping out all humans in the continent and “purifying” them, and her mission to stop that war, it was better to double, or even triple-check the stepping stones.
“Dig a little deeper.”
Though it seemed all leads had been exhausted, the investigator bowed deeply at Olivia’s command. After he left the office, Olivia carefully re-examined the documents.
“Hmmm… Not many servants had dealings with the woman who caused the commotion.”
Probably, among them was the servant who Olivia had borrowed clothes from. Unlike other clothes, the ribbon was quite distinctive… Come to think of it, she hadn’t ordered to find that clothes’ owner. No need to — since they were servants of the princess’s palace, calling the servant with the unique ribbon would be easy. But Olivia hadn’t called her yet. Gathering all possible information first, then questioning her might yield better, more truthful answers. The woman who attacked her had shouted with a voice full of hatred. Surely, there must be grudges the palace investigators missed. So summoning the owner of the clothes Olivia wore that night would have to wait. As Olivia was scratching through the papers, she suddenly stopped.
“Oh?”
A familiar name — “Taren” — caught her eye. It was someone only distantly related as an acquaintance of the victim’s acquaintance, but still, someone from the Taren family appeared in the report.
“Since I also requested an investigation related to the stones, perhaps I should meet them first.”
Having made up her mind, Olivia wasted no time and summoned Ambrose Taren. Not long after, she received an unexpected reply.
“The young lady Taren is in the Norden Kingdom?”
“Yes. She expressed deep regret for not being able to respond to Taren family’s summons and sent these.”
The tightly rolled parchments were neatly tied, but Olivia didn’t bother to open them. Instead, she frowned deeply in thought. The Taren family would not refuse Olivia’s order. Without her, the only heir of the Tarens would have disappeared or died. Besides, Ambrose had said they wanted to ‘help’ Olivia and Cryer. So it must be true that Ambrose had gone to the Norden Kingdom.
“Why?”
Though she had asked them to investigate the stones, was there any reason for the Taren heir to go to Norden Kingdom? Tilting her head, Olivia murmured.
“If it’s the Norden Kingdom, Isaac is there, right? I wonder if those two met…”
At the heart of the Norden Kingdom’s royal palace.
The old palace filled with history and tradition had long been demolished, and a new building was rising on the vacant lot.
“Hey! Stop blocking here!”
“Ah, wait! Wait! Don’t remove that support or it’ll collapse!”
Near an entrance leading to the underground—something that didn’t exist before—workers bustled about. To a stranger, it didn’t look like an entrance at all. Shouts echoed loudly amid rolling timber and stones. Though the scene was chaotic with dust and noise, the workers wore bright faces. That was because completion was near. Among the running workers, Isaac’s face looked dark in contrast. Though he had reduced his sleep to observe the building’s progress — not with his neck, but his eyes strained dry.
“What the hell is that?”
Isaac squinted his sharp eyes and muttered. Stones brought from outside the palace were being moved without much secrecy. Yet no one seemed to know what was going on inside the palace — truly ‘magical.’ In any case, stones that required several men to move were stacked layer by layer to form a building.
“This is… blatantly an altar. Or just looks like one, maybe used for something else? No matter how you look at it, it looks like an altar. If it’s not an altar, it would be a building that can’t be used for anything else.”
That was why Isaac was confused. Though it moved clumsily, whether by magic or other means, very few people knew what was happening. They kept it secret even using magic — so why was the building obviously an altar? Even a passing monkey would see that the altar being completed before his eyes was for a ‘completely different god,’ not one commonly worshipped in the continent. At first, Isaac had observed secretly, but it was impossible to gather information, so he disguised himself and blended with the workers. Luckily, perhaps because of magic, he couldn’t distinguish their faces well, so it was easy to mingle among them.
“What are you spacing out for? Grab that side quickly!”
“Oh, yes.”
Isaac, who was moving neatly cut stones, opened his mouth in a tone as casual as asking about the weather.
“It’s almost finished. What’s the purpose of this? It doesn’t seem like an ordinary palace.”
