Chapter 54
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
The Grand Council had ended, and the after-party was underway.
It felt even bleaker than before the conference.
Before the conference, everyone had relaxed while probing one another for information. Now, the various factions were showing their solidarity.
‘They’re like children.’
It was no different from taking sides after an argument.
The only difference was that they held swords capable of commanding countless people.
The Empire was no different.
As befitted a vast empire, there were thirty people of ducal rank or higher.
Rather than mingling as one great entity called the Empire, the factions within it were associating among themselves.
Alexander, who had shown boundless interest, spotted Ferda and approached him warmly.
“Did something happen?”
“I only exchanged a few words about the proposal.”
“Ah, yes. I never expected you to answer so ambitiously that you intended to conquer the Far Eastern territories. If you need anything, tell me anytime. I’ll gladly lend you my aid!”
“Thank you.”
That brought the conversation to an end, and Alexander went back to playing the leader among his own faction.
Jed, who was quick to read the aristocratic society, realized what Alexander’s attitude meant.
“Have you fallen out with the First Prince? You seemed to be on good terms before entering the Grand Council……”
“He’s ignoring me because he doesn’t think I’ll be of any use.”
Ferda left the faction without a trace of regret.
He had never wanted to mingle with them in the first place.
Soon, another man approached Ferda with a bow.
“I am Bernard Wayne, Chancellor of Escolleia. It is an honor to meet the consort of the Great Power.”
“It is an honor to meet the Chancellor of humanity’s repository of knowledge.”
He was the man who had raised the agenda of the emergence of demon worshippers.
Ferda frowned without meaning to.
“Is something troubling you? Your expression……”
“No……”
Bernard’s shiny bald head reflected the chandelier light.
“It’s just that your head is rather dazzling.”
“Ahem…… Let’s overlook that and say thank you for what you did today.”
“Thank me?”
“You remember how the agenda nearly got derailed when the Imperial prince stepped forward? Thanks to you taking the initiative, we were able to finish speaking.”
Ah, that matter.
“You needn’t concern yourself with it. I despise people who play politics with monsters. I like capable people.”
“It is not easy to treat people according to one’s convictions. That is why I believe I will get along well with Regent Valdrova.”
Chancellor Bernard gave an awkward smile.
It made him seem unpleasant, as though he were plotting something sinister.
But Bernard was a man who had been far removed from sinister schemes in the first place.
He was pointlessly diligent and overflowing with a sense of responsibility.
“Please, tell me.”
“I had intended to unveil my original technology in keeping with today’s announcement. But after seeing what happened today, I found myself unable to get into the right frame of mind.”
“Technology?”
“It is something I have devoted my life to researching: the mechanism of a monster-appearance prediction device.”
“A monster-appearance prediction device…… I feel as though I’ve heard of it somewhere.”
“How could you have? Escolleia is preparing it in secret.”
Although it had been developed in secret, Ferda, who knew information from the future, had heard of it before.
Then Ferda finally remembered who he had heard it from.
‘Thessalos Wolcer.’
He had said it himself.
A monster-appearance prediction device had nearly been created, but had ultimately disappeared.
If it had existed, it could have reduced the duration of this work by more than half.
Ferda had considered Thessalos’s obsession pathetic.
But now that he thought about it, the pathetic one was Ferda himself.
“Chancellor.”
“Yes.”
“When do you intend to show us this technology?”
“It will be unveiled soon. Do you know Halim? I have rented a hall there and intend to gather merchants from all over for an exhibition and presentation. Of course……”
The chancellor glanced around before slipping in a sly whisper.
“We’ll also unwind together and enjoy some entertainment.”
“Then I suppose I’ll have to stay alive until then.”
“Of course. If I died without enjoying what I could, do you think I’d be able to sleep peacefully? If you are available as well, Regent……”
“If you invite me, I will attend.”
“Ha-ha, you really are a man.”
The chancellor sent him a sly look filled with fellow feeling.
“Understood. I’ll have an invitation prepared for you. I should go greet the others, so I’ll take my leave.”
“Take care.”
His conversation with the Chancellor of Escolleia had been a great gain for Ferda.
An exhibition in Halim, with merchants gathered together.
The fact that a monster-appearance prediction device had originally been a real technology.
‘And the fact that I can put the chancellor in my debt.’
Ferda disliked politics, but if there was something he needed, he would obtain it by any means necessary.
That was why Ferda had attended the Grand Council.
“Jed, Arwen.”
“Yes?”
“Yes!”
The two gave the same answer, but with different tones.
“From now on, secretly watch the Chancellor of Escolleia.”
“You mean the bald man? What did he do to deserve that?”
“He has no tomorrow, so watch him closely to see whether he is up to anything foolish and whether there are any suspicious signs around him. This is our top priority.”
“Yes.”
Unlike Arwen, Jed did not answer immediately.
“I’ll do it if you tell me to, but why?”
“This knight certainly talks too much.”
“I became a knight through a shortcut. I hear the person I swore loyalty to won’t even hold an investiture banquet for me.”
“Stop complaining and do it. I’ll see to your payment.”
“Tch, understood.”
At the mention of payment, all of Jed’s dissatisfaction vanished.
He had probably voiced that complaint just to hear those words.
After sending the two away, Ferda surveyed his surroundings again.
As he was roughly figuring out how the factions were forming, Ferda spotted Olivia.
She was mingling with clergymen dressed in white priestly robes trimmed with gold.
‘Is she with the Odograsado Holy Kingdom?’
It was strange.
The Odograsado Holy Kingdom and the Arken Empire should have been mutually hostile, on the grounds that two suns could not coexist.
And yet a woman wearing a dress that exposed her cleavage so frankly was mingling with priests.
At that moment, perhaps conscious of his gaze, she met Ferda’s eyes.
She smiled with her eyes and beckoned him over carefully.
It was uncomfortable.
But if he had to associate with someone, Olivia was probably the least troublesome choice.
Thinking that, Ferda walked toward Olivia.
Olivia’s eyes, which had maintained intense eye contact with him, were bright as ever.
She wore the same radiant, flawless smile as always.
She placed a hand on Ferda’s shoulder.
“Allow me to introduce you.”
There were two men there.
An old man of slight build wearing a crown.
And a middle-aged man with scars on his face, his back held ramrod straight like a soldier’s.
“This is Regent Ferda Valdrova, who will become the husband of Valdrova of the Red Dragons. You have already met, haven’t you?”
“Ha-ha, I know him. It would have been impossible not to see him.”
The old man laughed heartily as he stroked his snow-white beard.
An arm emerged from beneath his sleeve.
It was so thin that the phrase ‘skin and bones’ seemed tailor-made for it.
Though he wore high-heeled shoes, he was a tiny old man considerably shorter than Olivia. He looked terribly fragile.
Even the clothes wrapped around him seemed heavy enough to make one worry that he might collapse beneath them.
Yet when one looked him in the face, his appearance told a different story.
Golden radiance seemed to pour from his two wide-open eyes.
Even Ferda, who had burned away every last handful of faith in his heart, could feel that a god dwelled within those eyes.
Ferda readily showed him the respect he deserved.
“I greet His Holiness Gregorio, Son of Miracles and Father of the Holy Kingdom.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Regent Ferda. I hear this was your first Grand Council.”
“That is correct.”
“For a first-timer, you certainly made a bold statement.”
“Yes. I imagine it was not to your liking.”
Gregorio shook his head.
“No. The thought you expressed is a question this old man has asked from time to time as well: could the evil dragon Valdrova, whom everyone despises, actually be the guardian of the East?”
“Is that so?”
“I came here to represent Lord Odograsado’s will. Therefore, I have a duty to be cautious in all matters. So I cannot support your opinion outright.”
He lightly patted Ferda’s forearm with a regretful sound.
“However, if you show us your determination to dispel that misunderstanding, then in the name of the golden scales, I will have no choice but to support you.”
The name of the golden scales.
It was the absolute oath sworn by the followers of Odograsado.
For the Holy Emperor to make such an oath meant that he sincerely intended to do so.
On the surface, at least.
But Ferda did not take his words at face value.
Even the Holy Emperor of this Holy Kingdom ultimately put his interests first.
“I am merely impressed that you think so highly of me.”
“Go forth and fulfill your will. If you trust the god in your heart and take a single step forward, He will surely answer you.”
When their greetings ended, Olivia, who had been watching the conversation, cut in.
“Then we will take our leave, Your Holiness. Please take good care of yourself.”
“May the golden blessing be upon the Empire’s flower.”
After exchanging the requisite formal farewells, Olivia naturally slipped her arm around Ferda’s.
She gave him no opportunity to refuse, without saying a word.
“Let us go.”
With a subtle gesture that made it seem as though Ferda were leading, she guided him away.
Once they had put some distance between themselves and the others, Olivia asked him a question.
“I heard what happened at the conference.”
Her gaze was displeased.
“Was that agenda something you came up with yourself, Lord Ferda?”
“Yes.”
“It was truly foolish.”
Despite the cold words, Olivia was smiling brightly.
It was impossible to tell what sort of conversation they were having from her face alone.
“It was something that had to be said.”
“It was not something to say at your debut in the Grand Council. It could only have backfired. That was a moment when the unsettled image of the Far Eastern territories could have been fixed in a negative light, you know?”
Her tone held a sharp blade wholly unlike a greenhouse flower.
“Are you criticizing me after speaking with the Holy Emperor of another country, despite being a princess?”
“Oh my? Please don’t compare you and me. I’ve always been this way. I’m like a butterfly.”
“A butterfly?”
Ferda asked, and Olivia smiled sweetly.
Olivia quietly released his arm and walked away.
No, she flew away, her dress fluttering.
“I flutter and fly here and there, circling around my surroundings. I seem close enough to catch, yet I cannot be caught, and I make people chase after me. I give myself enough weight not to seem frivolous, but I’m not so immovable as to become a wall. I stay light.”
She really was like a butterfly.
Her movements were nothing short of a tightrope acrobat’s performance.
Having done so, she lightly settled back down beside the hand Ferda was holding out.
“Still, it wasn’t entirely bad. Your declaration that you would conquer the demon lands did not leave only a bad impression.”
“Is that so?”
“Look at that old, frightened face. The fact that he remembers the face of you, a mere supporting actor in a play, so clearly is proof, isn’t it?”
Ferda had felt that as well.
“You have no allies now, but once you show them what you can do, they will bow their heads to you before long. If you show them even one percent of a chance of success, they certainly will.”
“Why are you so certain?”
“His Highness Grand Duke Valdrova possesses an authority unlike anyone else’s. The authority to expand his territory.”
There was only one place he could expand into: the Far Eastern territories. The demon lands.
A land no one else dared covet.
But if he told anyone that, they would laugh heartily as though it were a joke.
In reality, the Grand Duchy’s territory was shrinking rather than expanding.
“If you can purify that barren land and turn it into our land once more, it will become a second capital.”
“A second capital……”
“The Empire is currently saturated. Many young people abandon their orchards and fields and come to the capital in pursuit of success. We call it the Empire Dream.”
“There’s nothing wrong with having a dream.”
“That’s right. There’s nothing wrong with it. But in the Empire now, they are no different from discarded shoes. Do you know how many people enter the Empire and die?”
“Even if you put it that way, it is outside my concern.”
“In any case, if you prove the value of that land, the Far Eastern territories will be reborn as a new land of opportunity instead of a mere backwater. As the territory grows, so will the population, and your voice will carry farther.”
The East would grow.
At that, Ferda asked Olivia a question.
“Will the Empire simply stand by?”
Olivia answered.
“Of course not. They will check him as though it did not matter what happened to Valdrova.”
The Arken Empire would never give up the powerful influence it held in the capital.
Even if someone had to die.
“That is why you need to help me.”
Her tone grew weighty.
As though the next words were important, Ferda focused on them.
“What do you mean?”
“I am a butterfly, but at the same time, I am a jewel placed on an auction block. A jewel that will one day be sold to the Central Nobles.”
The title of princess that had elevated her was both a stepping stone and a shackle.
It was not a surprising story.
Nor was it a tragedy unique to Olivia, simply because she was a princess.
Most daughters of prestigious families that were strict about educating their children were in the same situation.
The better educated and more beautiful they were, the greater their chances of marrying into a family more prestigious than their own.
Men sought to rise in status by men’s methods, and women by women’s methods.
A princess was the emperor’s ultimate asset and trump card.
Hearing that, Ferda suddenly realized something.
Why Olivia maintained friendly relations with the Odograsado Holy Kingdom.
“I have to become a saintess.”
Olivia smiled deeply.
“If I become a saintess, I can free myself from the price tag attached to being a princess.”
“No one would want to claim a devout saintess and incur the wrath of the gods and their subjects.”
“That’s right.”
Olivia possessed everything from the seal of the oath and devoutness to the respect of those around her.
Yet her decisive deficiency was her status as a princess.
‘If she escaped the status of princess and became a saintess……’
Olivia would become a daughter rather than merely the emperor’s tool, and the balance of power would shift.
She would be more than a beautiful flower; she would be a savior capable of rescuing the weak.
The clergy would support her, and she would escape the fate of a jewel placed on an auction block.
She would form a stable base of support amid the unstable balance of power.
It sounded good, but Ferda already knew the truth.
‘Olivia cannot become a saintess.’
That was why she broke her oath and unleashed her charms.
She seduced her own blood relative into bed, became a temptress who brought the country to ruin, and ultimately took her own life.
Ferda remembered it vividly.
“Can you do it for me?”
An unspoken, hidden message came from her eyes.
For me.
Her delicate voice stirred his protective instincts.
Ferda looked straight into her eyes and spoke.
“Of course I will.”
But not for you,
“If you cooperate fully.”
For my fiancée.
This was nothing more than work according to a contract.
“Of course.”
Olivia, looking into Ferda’s eyes, was momentarily taken aback.
Her voice emerged with the faintest tremor.
Her face began to redden with embarrassment, but Ferda did not notice.
Ferda released her arm and said,
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Where are you going?”
“I have a feeling it’s about time I found the lost little one.”
“The lost little one?”
Ferda let go of Olivia’s hand and walked away.
The men who held Olivia’s hand had always been the same.
When their eyes met, she had to face the possessiveness dwelling within them, and when they could not let go, she had to be the one to release them.
But Ferda did not do that.
He walked away without looking back or showing any regret.
Though she was praised as the most beautiful woman in the Empire, she meant nothing to Ferda.
Instead, Olivia could not take her eyes off him until he disappeared.
‘An ally who isn’t swept away by emotion.’
Someone who did not fixate on useless things and could eliminate variables through rational judgment.
She had said that such a person was the greatest ally Olivia could have.
‘Even after saying that……’
Having him not look at her was not nearly as pleasant as she had expected.
A wave of disappointment washed over her, but she had no time to indulge in it.
The nobles began gathering around Olivia.
“I greet Her Highness Olivia, princess of the Arken Empire.”
“I am Ken, son of the Duke of Huss……”
No sooner had Ferda disappeared than flowers began gathering around the butterfly.
No, beasts carrying filthy money to buy her body.
Olivia smiled at them.
Like a rare jewel.