I Need You

Olivia, who had looked a little surprised, rested her chin on her hand and asked.

“What do you mean, something I’d regret?”

“Being drunk and not in one’s right mind doesn’t grant immunity for everything one says.”

Her dry eyes gazed deeply at Ferda.

Her gaze revealed nothing of her intentions.

Then she said,

“Let’s do this. Regent, please be my first.”

“……What did you say?”

She set down the bottle and rose from her seat.

With a dagger in hand, she staggered toward Ferda.

“That’s what the men say. They say playing with a whore doesn’t count as cheating. I’m going to become a whore with the noble golden blood of the Imperial family, rather than a princess anyway, so what does it matter?”

She spread her arms wide.

“Come here.”

Ferda knew what that look meant.

It was the look of eyes harboring poisonous thorns.

They were Olivia’s eyes from the time when Ferda had been a mad wizard.

Even if she had lured William in and put on this show merely to set foot on this land, the look in her eyes now was genuine.

She had lured the Crown Prince into her bedroom and killed him, while the Second Prince had rebelled alongside her and been executed.

Half the Empire had burned, yet it still stood.

The Emperor, Godfrey Arken, had only strengthened his imperial authority.

Ferda approached cautiously.

Like a man shaken by a flower.

Like someone who had cast aside his mask and appeared faithful to his desires.

When he had drawn close enough, Ferda moved swiftly.

His target was the dagger in Olivia’s hand.

But Olivia’s reaction speed was no less impressive.

She put strength into the hand holding the dagger and stopped Ferda’s surprise attack.

“Let go!”

Olivia shouted.

He could not back down.

Ferda pressed forward, and the struggle escalated.

“Let go! I said let go!”

Olivia screamed and thrashed about.

Ferda was struggling.

He cursed his own body for being unable to overcome a woman his own age.

Recalling the martial arts he had learned long ago, he tried to resolve the situation somehow.

But Olivia had also learned self-defense, and she was no easy opponent.

Their exchanges grew increasingly chaotic.

It was time to end a situation in which either one of them might draw blood.

Roll, roll.

Olivia’s dagger rolled across the floor and came to rest far away.

Ferda dropped Olivia onto the bed and pinned both her hands.

The sweat-soaked man and woman stared into each other’s faces.

“Kheh…… hehehe……”

Olivia sneered at Ferda’s disheveled appearance.

“You’re fucking weak. Aren’t you ashamed, being a man?”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Why? I guess you like it rough? I’m in favor too. That way I’ll look even more miserable—.”

“Shut your fucking mouth.”

Olivia was crushed beneath Ferda’s aura.

Ferda’s eyes blazed.

“Olivia Arken.”

It was pure anger, not lust.

“How long are you going to keep spouting such stupid nonsense?”

“What……?”

Olivia frowned.

Regardless, Ferda continued speaking.

“I know you made a contribution. If not for you, the others could never have accomplished what you did.”

Olivia was intelligent.

Ferda honestly respected that side of her.

The way she could smile at people she disliked and never hesitate to sacrifice for the greater good.

It was something Ferda could never do.

“Someone like you must have known.”

Only belatedly did he understand the meaning of the smile he had seen when he handed her his materials.

“You knew you wouldn’t receive recognition for your contribution this time.”

It had been a smile of certainty.

A smile filled with the certainty that this matter would never be resolved properly.

“Knowing that so well, you come to someone else’s territory, dare to seduce someone else’s knight, set foot in my domain, and now even threaten me to perish together?”

Though Ferda’s anger seemed to swallow her, Olivia was no easy opponent either.

Hearing Ferda’s words, Olivia frowned.

“Someone like you……”

She, too, was showing pure anger.

“What the hell do you know about me to run your mouth like that?”

She spat the anger she had kept buried in her chest toward Ferda’s face.

“Even if I expected it! Do you know how furious I get when I see you spouting that bullshit right to my face?!”

I know.

“Do you know what it feels like to have my reason denied by the power lust of those pieces of trash!?”

I know.

“You can say that so easily. Because you don’t care about me at all. Because you treat me as nothing more than an ordinary woman, just like the others. You’re probably only thinking about living happily with your fiancée.”

That’s right.

Ferda had no interest in Olivia.

It did not matter what she did.

Whether she became the new heir to the Arken Empire or a promiscuous woman.

All that mattered was that he lived well with Valdrova.

That was what he had thought.

But when he reflected on what he had done recently, that was not true.

If he had not wanted her to prosper, there would have been no need to lend her the tactical infantry.

There would have been no need to compile her contributions into records and hand them over.

And he could have used shadow magic to subdue her instead of doing it with his bare hands.

That is, if he truly did not care what happened to her.

“You still have a path before you.”

Ferda spoke in a calm voice.

Olivia’s voice fell calm as well.

“What path……?”

“You had something planned, didn’t you?”

The Saintess.

It was what Olivia had mentioned during the Grand Council.

“Rather than lamenting your fate after being frustrated by this half-baked plan, isn’t it time to push forward the plan you built over many years?”

Olivia’s expression was not particularly bright.

She must have thought about it as well.

Olivia avoided Ferda’s eyes.

“It’s impossible.”

Her voice was filled with anguish.

“Not a single saintess has appeared since the Dragon-Demon War. It’s already this difficult to reach the fourth awakening…… How could I possibly reach the fifth?”

Olivia was currently at the third awakening, the Third Circle.

In reality, the Third Circle was nearly the limit for most nuns.

Even those who withdrew deep into monasteries, severed ties with the world, and praised God found it difficult to surpass the Fourth Circle; that was how demanding true faith was.

For Olivia, it had to be even more difficult.

In a place filled with desire, she had to hide her true thoughts every time. How could she possibly focus on serving God?

“Find a way somehow.”

“That irresponsible pressure—.”

“If you are willing to become a saintess, I will help you somehow.”

To stand against the Empire, he needed forces.

There was no telling what would happen after the monster-subjugation battle or what sort of tricks they might pull.

The only person who could help him there was someone who had watched the heart of the Empire for a long time.

Olivia.

“I need you.”

Her vacant eyes found color and fixed themselves on Ferda.

Because she carried the bloodline of the Arken Empire.

Because she desired the downfall of that same Empire.

That was why Ferda told her,

“Follow your original plan. Become a saintess. If you are willing to act toward becoming a saintess, I will be on your side.”

Olivia stared blankly at Ferda alone.

And then,

“……Say.”

She said it again in a voice like a mosquito’s wingbeats.

“Say that again. What you said earlier.”

“That you’d become a saintess—.”

“Not that. Before it.”

“The original plan—.”

“Before that.”

“I need you.”

At those words, Olivia’s body flinched once more.

“Again.”

Olivia repeated her pointless demand.

“What are you planning to do?”

“You said it yourself. You need to make me a saintess, didn’t you?”

She spoke so clearly that she no longer seemed drunk at all.

“This is the moment.”

What the hell did that mean?

Ferda tried to object, but he could clearly feel it as well.

A vibration flowing from the hands pinning her down.

The vibration originated in her lower abdomen.

The Red Circle, the ring of faith that priests called it, began to move.

He did not know what emotion he had stirred, but there was no doubt that Ferda’s words had touched her Circle.

‘To become a saintess, she needs the Fifth Circle.’

Ferda had to make her a saintess.

If he rode this momentum, she would reach the Fourth Circle.

“You only have to whisper that to me. Just say that you need me…… Say only that.”

Ferda did as Olivia wished.

He did not add any sweet intonation he did not truly feel.

He merely repeated, mechanically, that he needed her.

Even so, the effect was sufficient.

Like a river swelling in an instant beneath the monsoon rains, it soon became a raging torrent that seemed capable of swallowing Olivia herself.

Olivia focused on her lower abdomen.

But she suffered because she was unskilled.

It was obvious that she had not properly circulated it for a long time.

“Concentrate slowly.”

Seeing that she looked as though she might die, Ferda decided to guide her.

“Imagine that there is another space inside your lower abdomen, and imagine that you have a hand there. Use that hand to shape it, as though you were molding something.”

“Ugh…… ngh……”

Ferda read the flow, while Olivia concentrated according to the guidance of his voice.

Just as she had patiently taught him an awkward dance, Ferda whispered the method into her ear without giving up on her.

After an hour, the form that had been moving erratically gradually solidified and compressed.

“Ah.”

Olivia let out a cry of wonder.

The swelling Red Circle took shape as a clean, perfect circle.

The catharsis that followed filled her vacant eyes.

“Ahh……”

What those eyes caught was a single man.

Gray hair and blue eyes.

Those entranced eyes gazed at Ferda with yearning.

“My……”

Olivia could not continue and simply closed her eyes.

He thought she had lost consciousness, but she had merely fallen asleep.

Ferda left Olivia there and went downstairs.

William was waiting there.

After stopping the bleeding, he had even cleaned Ferda’s dagger neatly and waited for him.

Since he was the one who had committed the deed, he had to see it through to the end.

“Carry the princess and follow me to the castle. You are still my man.”

“Yes……”

William quietly obeyed his command.

* * *

The next morning.

“I’m sorry, Regent. I showed you an ugly spectacle.”

She was not wearing the princess’s clothes, but one of the spare outfits kept inside the castle.

The smell of alcohol from her body had been erased with perfume, and she had thoroughly hidden the effects of her hangover behind a well-trained mask.

Ferda answered her apology.

“What happened?”

Olivia’s eyes widened when she heard that.

Then she let out a small laugh.

“Yes, nothing happened.”

“Yes.”

There had been no affair between a man and a woman that day.

That was beneficial to both of them.

“Did you report that I was here?”

“Yes.”

Ferda deliberately left out the fact that William had smuggled her away.

He explained that William had not noticed her absence and that they had only discovered it while investigating after the incident occurred.

Even a fatal mistake was less serious than a deliberate act.

Naturally, Alexander flew into a rage.

He demanded to know how they could possibly have failed to notice.

But when Ferda retorted that even the Imperial Palace’s mages had not known, so how could they have known, Alexander fell silent like a rat.

Then he merely said that he would come to receive her tomorrow morning.

“I explained that you hadn’t simply run away from home, but had come here to negotiate.”

Olivia tilted her head.

Was there really anything she could explain there?

“I explained that there was something you had been after, and that you had secretly entered this place to negotiate for it.”

“Something I was after?”

Ferda crooked a finger.

Luri opened the door, and the man waiting outside walked in.

“I am Hellus Fobidas, the Sage of Water.”

Olivia skillfully donned her mask of a smile and welcomed him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sage. I am Princess Olivia Arken.”

“You flatter me. You are truly as beautiful as the rumors say.”

Hellus’s eyes seemed to be suffering from indecision.

They vibrated madly back and forth between her chest and face.

Suddenly, Olivia’s vulgar rant came to mind.

She deftly concealed her disgust and smiled naturally.

Ferda gave him a look.

Stop wasting time and speak quickly.

“Regent Ferda told me that without Her Highness’s strategy, I too would have been doomed.”

“Not at all. My goal was to rescue the commoners, and I merely happened to reach the Sage’s home in the process.”

“A person ought to repay a kindness willingly. You said the Empire desired my wisdom, so I will lend you my power.”

Olivia looked surprised.

“Are you retracting your statement that you would not belong to anyone and agreeing to become the Empire’s wisdom?”

“That is correct. Judging by the current situation, I foresee a great crisis approaching not only the Empire but the entire continent of Serdes.”

Hellus placed a hand over his chest and said,

“At a time like this, should we not cooperate for the well-being of the Empire and the continent?”

“Oh my……”

With a moved expression, Olivia eagerly took Hellus’s hand.

“Thank you so much. On behalf of the Empire, I sincerely thank you for your decision, Sage.”

“Ha-ha-ha!! It is only natural, so there is no need to thank me!”

Though he seemed to think he was doing an excellent job of hiding his emotions, he clearly could not conceal how much they were swelling.

After receiving his promise to accompany them to the Empire, Hellus withdrew.

Olivia, who had been wearing a good-natured smile, quietly returned to her seat, sprayed perfume onto a handkerchief, and wiped her hand with it.

It was what one did after touching filth.

“That pig is a stand-in, isn’t he?”

As expected, her instincts were sharp.

“If I take in someone like that, people will say the princess brought in a pig. You really do intend to support me, don’t you?”

A slight note of reproach entered her voice toward Ferda as well.

But if he had meant to spite her, he would have used another method.

“He is indeed the Hellus Fobidas known to the world.”

“Really? He’s the real one?”

“Yes. He can offer wisdom befitting his reputation as a Sage.”

Olivia compared the Hellus she had seen with his reputation.

No matter how she looked at him, he seemed like a provincial notable devoted to his desires, with not a shred of wisdom in him.

“If you do not wish to take him, I will not stop you.”

“Hmm. I don’t know how to use that ability, but…… I suppose he will still be necessary.”

She had left home on a whim, but if there was a separate reason behind that reckless action, the situation was different.

The fact that she had recruited the Sage of Water could not be dismissed as easily as her contribution had been reduced to three percent.

“Thank you. Truly. For everything……”

Olivia expressed her gratitude that way.

The court mages arrived after unfolding a teleportation magic circle.

Their faces were deathly pale as they paid their respects, then they hurriedly took the princess and Hellus back with them.

Olivia waved toward Ferda until the very end.

And so, the princess’s commotion was brought to a temporary close.

* * *

Alexander Arken was holding a secret meeting with his closest aides.

One of the aides in charge of information cautiously delivered the news.

“It seems they intend to deal with this incident severely.”

One of the aides spoke in a trembling voice.

Even if he was the Crown Prince, he could wield nearly as much power as the Emperor while the Emperor remained secluded.

But nearly as much would not be enough.

“Has it…… been formed?”

“Yes.”

Because that level of power would not be enough to stop them.

“The Arken Emergency Countermeasures Headquarters will move now.”

The Emergency Countermeasures Headquarters.

They possessed such immense power that it would not be strange to call them the authority directly beneath the Emperor.

Even the Crown Prince himself could not dare to touch them carelessly.

“All this over a single legion disappearing……”

Alexander muttered as if he wanted them to hear him.

His closest aides swallowed their incredulous reactions.

It was sufficient cause for the Emergency Countermeasures Headquarters to move, and in truth, it was a situation in which it would not have been surprising for heads to roll.

But fortunately, that would not be necessary.

Someone else had already taken the blame.

“What about the ones who spread that plague?”

The plague referred to the generals who had suddenly fallen ill and been unable to deploy.

“There is no need to worry. We eliminated their families and their entire estates.”

By saddling them with every crime that had accumulated until now, they had been forced to die by being burned alive.

It was the worst possible end.

Normally, Alexander would have felt completely relieved, but not this time.

In any event, once the Emergency Countermeasures Headquarters had been formed, they would hold a hearing and decide Alexander’s punishment.

To avoid that, he had to pin the blame on someone.

Someone close by, and someone bearing the greatest responsibility.