A Question

When Ferda and Waldrova left the banquet hall, it regained its liveliness.

It took them a while to start laughing and talking again, but soon everyone was discussing Waldrova.

“I never thought I’d see a dragon—something one might not see even once in a lifetime—today…….”

“She wasn’t as frightening as I expected.”

“I thought I’d be tense the moment I saw her, since they called her an evil dragon…….”

“I was terribly tense. I thought my heart was going to stop.”

Red hair and a build close to that of an ordinary woman.

Yet the two pairs of horns clearly proclaimed that she was different from them.

The sight overwhelmed them with the realization that they had truly seen a dragon, something they might never see even after a lifetime.

They had thought the social hall, which was supposed to be filled with laughter and relaxation, would grow stiff.

Until they saw that.

“Her dancing was incredibly clumsy.”

“I know. The Regent was the same.”

The sight of the two of them showing the worst possible coordination as they stepped on each other’s feet remained vivid in their memories.

They might have thought it a blemish that an immortal should never have shown, but Olivia did not see it that way.

‘I left them with a question.’

That one clumsy dance had instead cast doubt on the notorious reputation she had built.

Were they really supposed to believe that a dragon capable of making such human mistakes was more evil than Godwin?

‘There’s no way she calculated this…….’

Everything had happened impulsively.

Olivia had sensed it from the moment Waldrova suddenly appeared.

That the immortal was jealous of a mere mortal like herself.

Olivia had felt the envy directed at her by young ladies countless times.

But Waldrova’s jealousy felt entirely different.

‘Admiration.’

As if a young country girl wanted to become a princess from a fairy tale.

Waldrova’s heart held an admiration for Olivia, a desire to become like her.

It was an utterly pure intention.

-I like them. Pure people.

Ferda’s words suddenly came to mind.

Was that what he meant by purity?

A foolish woman who had forced herself to come out merely because she was jealous of a human princess, then forced herself to dance despite being unable to dance properly.

A purity so overwhelming that she could not believe the entire situation had been calculated by design.

‘I was wrong.’

She had suspected, because of his smile, that he was a cheap man no different from all the others.

Worse, she had tried to bring about the destruction of both Ferda and herself.

Like a devout believer who lost her faith and became a vicious heretic.

“Hmm…….”

Olivia could not lower the fan covering her mouth.

Now that her judgment had been wrong, she had to clean up the mess she had made of the present.

As a result, Ferda might be safe, but Olivia was still in trouble.

By accepting his invitation to dance, she had effectively announced that she had feelings for him.

Olivia set her mind to work.

‘……All right.’

She devised a scenario in an instant.

That scenario needed someone manageable and easy to throw away.

A stupid man who knew his place.

The sort of man whose actions would never come back to haunt her.

As she searched for one, a man caught her eye.

“P-Princess?”

Olivia stepped out of the Golden Rose’s flower garden.

She crossed the banquet hall toward the place she had been looking at.

The man was a knight wearing a vest, and he was the most unusual among the knights.

And not in a good way.

His clothes were stylish, but the rustic air emanating from him could not possibly be concealed.

“Sir Knight?”

“Y-Yes!?”

“Your name.”

“My name?”

“Introduce yourself. I already know who you are, but tell me.”

The man introduced himself in a trembling voice.

“I-I’m Malcolm of Pitchhill.”

Malcolm’s complexion turned pale as though he had choked.

“D-Did I do s-something wrong to Your Highness……?”

“You haven’t done anything wrong. I came to ask whether you could dance with me.”

“D-D-D-Dance?! You mean with me?”

His fussing caused people to start turning their attention toward them.

“It seems the Princess asked him to dance?”

“What’s going on?”

“The Princess is going to dance with that knight…….”

The young ladies and young noblemen watched the scene with disbelieving expressions.

They had expected him to panic and fumble, but the reality exceeded their imaginations.

Olivia covered her mouth with her fan and spoke to him.

“You’re a knight, aren’t you?”

“Y-Yes, I am.”

“As a knight, there is something you must do.”

“Something I must do…….”

He was still flustered, but at least he seemed capable of understanding her.

Olivia continued speaking.

“My conversation with the Regent has become complicated. So now someone needs to serve as the object of everyone’s abuse. You need to do that.”

“S-Serve as the object of abuse……? Me?”

“For the Regent’s sake. If you’re a knight, you can do at least that much, can’t you?”

Olivia pleaded with him with a pitiful look.

Malcolm’s attitude changed markedly at the words “for the Regent’s sake.”

“M-Malcolm of Pitchhill! Of course I’ll do anything for the Regent, but…… I’m not very good at dancing. Is that all right?”

If anything, this was an ideal situation.

“That’s fine. Just move as I tell you.”

“O-Oh, y-yes, I understand!”

“Then escort me.”

Malcolm escorted Olivia.

The moment she took his hand, everyone began to murmur.

“Good heavens…….”

“Lady Olivia is dancing…….”

The spectators were so busy talking that they even forgot the dance they had been doing.

The idol adored by every man had broken her own rule.

Even so, they had all vaguely known that someday she, too, would hold another man’s hand and dance.

But what shocked them most was that her partner was someone they could not comprehend.

“Why on earth is she dancing with that man……?”

“I could dance dozens of times better than he can…….”

Everyone’s attention focused on Olivia and Malcolm, and no one could look away.

Everything proceeded according to Olivia’s calculations.

‘He really is a worse dancer than the Regent.’

Like the awkward man who had never had any dealings with women, Malcolm danced terribly.

He was always half a beat behind or ahead.

Olivia forced herself to move again and again, managing to shape it into something that at least resembled a dance.

‘The Regent was like this too.’

A memory of that day suddenly surfaced in her mind.

Remembering how he had looked then, Olivia suddenly felt happy.

She removed her mask and laughed merrily.

In any case, this moment would be no more than a dreamscape, something unreal no matter what she did.

They would wander on, never knowing whose smile it was.

The answer to the question of who Princess Olivia would have her first dance with became Malcolm, a knight of Waldrova Castle.

Thus, the scandal between Ferda and Olivia would simply fade away.

Malcolm, however, received a barrage of threatening letters from unknown senders. But that was another story.

* * *

Meanwhile, Waldrova Castle was abuzz with the Beginning-of-Spring Festival.

As befitted a castle built for a dragon, its spacious interior contained countless blind spots.

Such places were found with uncanny skill, and men and women whispered words of love there.

-Ah, you mustn’t do this. This girl already has someone…….

-Forget that old fogey. Just for now.

-If we do this, I’ll be committing a sin. I won’t be able to face Lord Alte anymore.

-I’ll bear your sin. So please entrust yourself to me.

-Ah, Marquis!

It was a shameless conversation between two people in a place where no one could hear them.

They acted that way because they never imagined anyone would dare eavesdrop on them.

“Sin, my ass. Their heads are going to roll.”

Zed Swallow.

Surrounded by several crystal balls, he was cracking peanuts.

They were communication crystal balls installed at the trysting places Penelope and Zed had selected.

Every conversation held there reached Zed’s ears and was recorded.

“I thought it would be fun, but I’m getting bored already.”

The repertoire of those enjoying their trysts was similar.

It consisted only of mismatched interests or disparities between families, and the bravado of men and women desperate to sleep together at least once.

To Zed, all of this was merely a farce.

Not just an ordinary farce, but a third-rate play.

They were the sort of cheap lines from a tawdry farce that village wives would chew over when they gathered in the morning to watch for a while and beat their laundry with paddles.

Watching these scenes of self-justification as a third party made nausea rise within Zed.

At the same time, he watched their pathetic behavior and muttered,

“I’m still better than those people.”

“You’re exactly the same as them, so what kind of bullshit are you spouting?”

“Keh!”

A familiar voice that should not have been there came from behind him.

When he turned around, a dark-skinned woman was standing there, and Zed reflexively called her name.

“Findtith…….”

Smack!

“Ow! Why?”

“I warned you not to use that name. If you used it anyway, wasn’t that a signal asking me to hit you?”

“But it has such a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? It shows how well it reveals the relationship between you and me, just the two of us.”

“Seeing you act so slickly, it’s clear you haven’t reflected at all. Shall I keep hitting you until you come to your senses?”

“Anywhere but the face.”

Her hateful behavior seemed almost deliberately teasing, and it took the wind out of his sails instead.

Garnet sat down beside him.

She showed no sign of surprise and calmly settled into place, which convinced Zed.

“So it was you?”

“What was?”

“When our Regent suddenly told me to catch people having trysts, I wondered whose idea it was. You told him to do it, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Good grief, if you have the status of a Grand Duke, there are better things to do than make me create this kind of trashy leverage. Why did you make me do this?”

“Because nothing provides balance as well as taking someone’s child hostage. If you want to extend your political lifespan, you need things like this.”

“Good grief, what a hardship this is because of you. Normally, I’d be having fun with other women, but instead you make me do something like this…….”

He stared at her coldly as she poured out her complaints and uttered two syllables.

“Sour?”

“Oh, of course not. Haha. Isn’t this why desk work is nice? You just sit back and suck up all the easy benefits.”

When Garnet made a menacing face, Zed backed down.

“What about your contractor? Is he working somewhere else?”

“He’ll be inside the banquet hall.”

“Is he eavesdropping on other people’s conversations like you?”

“His role is a little different. By now, he’s probably chatting with the young ladies as part of something called the ‘Zed Swallow Victims’ Association.”

Garnet cocked her head.

“What does he do with that?”

“He said he was going to make a ‘garden’ after getting drunk.”

She did not ask what the word meant.

Garnet already knew that Penelope was Sitri’s daughter.

The word ‘garden’ was undoubtedly filthy slang.

“But what did he do to make a victims’ association?”

“Nothing much. I just left them in the banquet hall.”

Smack!

“Ow! Why!?”

“I hit you on behalf of every woman in Cerdes. Got a problem?”

“No. Next time, though, please say something before you hit me, Representative.”

Thoroughly adopting the attitude of a subordinate, Zed returned his attention to his work.

Then one of the crystal balls connected to the garden lit up.

“Holy shit.”

“Hmm?”

“It looks like the Regent and that Grand Duchess who never showed her face have appeared at the trysting place.”

The Grand Duchess was the red dragon, Waldrova.

As befitted the head of an intelligence organization, Garnet’s eyes gleamed.

“Don’t turn it off. Let’s record it and listen.”

“Of course. What kind of stupid, useless sucker would miss a situation this good?”

The two of them leaned close to the crystal ball.

The conversation they were having came through with startling clarity.

Waldrova’s sniffles and Ferda’s helpless conversation reached them without any filter.

“Just as expected.”

“What is?”

“The red dragon has very low self-esteem.”

Zed was startled when he heard that.

“I wish you’d say that in front of our Regent.”

“Probably not. Based on the personality I’ve figured out, he’d like that information.”

“Anyway, don’t even think of calling my name before your head gets cut off.”

Zed made a mischievous show of backing away.

Garnet sighed as though he were being childish.

“You idiot. Do you think I’d sell this information to anyone?”

“So you wouldn’t?”

“Are you crazy?”

Garnet spoke with a serious expression.

“If I released that information, every dragon would be hell-bent on wiping out Black Bandana.”

“Why?”

“Because I’d be selling the means and methods to bring disaster upon the continent.”

“Huh? Isn’t it just something to mock her about?”

“Think of her as a woman with low self-esteem, not a dragon. Think of her as being like a human. If someone were beaten down and cornered until they finally snapped, what do you think would happen?”

Zed had met many women, so he could vividly picture it from her words alone.

“……That would be a disaster in itself.”

If her self-esteem were shattered and she snapped, nothing would remain to restrain her.

And there was no one who could stop the red dragon.

She had inflicted half the damage Godwin had caused over several years in a matter of hours, and she had stopped only because Silver Wind’s death brought her to her senses.

Zed did not forget to praise her judgment.

“As expected of our Black Bandana leader. I’ve always thought your analytical skills were outstanding, and I was right.”

“I’m an information broker. When information comes in, processing it is my job.”

Garnet answered as though it were obvious.

“Speaking of which.”

Garnet tossed a quiet question into the conversation he had thought was over.

“Would you consider working with me?”

“W-What kind of joke are you trying to make……?”

Zed gave a short laugh at Garnet’s proposal.

But when he saw her eyes, he realized something.

It was an offer without a single trace of a joke.

“You want me to give up my knighthood and go with you?”

“I can pay you as much as you want. I could even make you a true noble instead of merely giving you a knighthood.”

“Everyone there is dead set on killing me. How could I possibly go?”

“I can shut them up. They’ve annoyed me ever since they started making such a fuss, so it should be easy.”

Zed subtly indicated his refusal, but Garnet’s eyes remained unwavering.

She looked as though she did not want to let him go.

“We’d do it like we did when we were with the Swallows. You and me. As a duo.”

Garnet slipped a finger around Zed’s hand.

“You’re the only person I can entrust my life to. And you, too, would only be able to entrust your life to me.”

The mercenary band, the Swallows.

Like Garnet, Zed still remembered those days vividly.

“I do miss those days. But I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ve already sworn an oath as a knight.”

“Since when did you start believing in things like that?”

“I didn’t.”

Zed laughed as though he found himself absurd.

“But they say a position makes the man. Turns out it’s true.”

Zed had always wanted nothing more than a stepping stone toward becoming a noble.

He had met plenty of nobles and thought he could act like one without difficulty.

But after becoming a knight, he felt a sense of duty he had never felt when he had gone around playing the rake.

Zed did not want to take that duty lightly.

Seeing Zed like that, Garnet grew serious.

“Get a grip, Zed Swallow.”

Garnet thought.

This man did not properly understand the human being called Ferda.

“I’m only telling you this because it’s you. That man is far too dangerous to have at your side.”