Chapter 170
"What's this? They said it was just a formality, so why do you look so exhausted? Did that guy do some kind of interrogation under the guise of ideological verification?"
Nathaniel approached.
"Ah?"
Pastel's Pink Eyes widened. Both hands covered her mouth.
"Are you worrying about me?"
Does he perhaps like me?
Well, liking the Popular Person Pastel can't be helped!
It can't be helped!
Nathaniel looked dumbfounded.
"After what I've suffered because of you, do you think I'd be worried? I was just wondering if that guy ignored my reputation and did that."
Oing.
Did I do a misdeed to Nathaniel?
Remember, remember.
Think, think.
Nothing comes to mind!
In the first place, Nathaniel is a secret agent who infiltrated the Radical Faction under Ellie's orders. There's no way Pastel, Ellie's friend, would have committed a misdeed!
"If the joining process is over, then we're done for today, right? Let's go. Since we're here, I should play a round of poker before leaving. Card Counting, was it? I should give it a try. Now that I, Nathaniel of the noble House Friesli, know a winning technique, there's no way I'd lose, right?"
Nathaniel smacked his lips and rubbed his hands together.
Ah! Right, right!
Now that work is over, we can just play!
Pastel checked her winter dress. It was a neat and pretty outfit put together with Melissa's advice. She quickly brushed off the dirt on the hem of her skirt.
She had forgotten because she was so focused on work, but she had come here today for a date!
If work is over, naturally, they should go on a date!
She stealthily approached Nathaniel.
"Nathanie-l."
Nathaniel flinched and took a half-step back.
"What's with your voice?"
He looked as startled as if a Confinement and Kidnapping culprit was pretending to be friendly.
Having never done such a thing, Pastel felt incredibly wronged. Her cheeks puffed out on their own before she poked them with her fingers to let the air out with a *pfft*, and then she brought up her question.
"Do you happen to like dates?"
Nathaniel looked dumbfounded.
"Why would I hate them?"
"Ah! Really?! Really?!"
Her pink eyes sparkled.
"Wow! I like them too!"
Pastel raised both arms and hopped up and down.
It seemed they were a perfect match!
Weren't they a match made in heaven?!
Nathaniel frowned slightly.
"But it's been a while since my fiancée visited, so it's been a while since I've been on a date."
Oing.
Pastel froze in her hopping posture. Rolling her pink eyes, she repeated the word she had just heard.
Fiancée.
Gasp.
Her Pink Eyes trembled.
"Nathaniel, you have a fiancée?"
Whyy?!
"Of course I do. Look at my age."
Nathaniel looked dumbfounded.
"Normally, we should be married by now, not just engaged. It's just being delayed because she said she absolutely wouldn't do it until I quit gambling. Well, ahem."
The active Gambling Addict Nathaniel looked sheepish.
"Even so, I'm the Family Head of House Friesli, and breaking off the engagement now would be bad for both of us, so we're keeping it going. It'll work out somehow."
"Whyy?! Why an engagement?!"
Uwaah!
Despair!
Despair!
Pastel clutched her head. Her Pink Pigtails flapped around, smacking Nathaniel.
"Ack! What the?!"
This was the Wanjeonwanjeon legendary thing she had only heard of……!
0 Confessions, 1 Rejection!
Waaah!
My Pink-Pink Pink-Pink love life……!
There were supposed to be no romantic failures in Pastel's life, but she had just set a record.
Although she hadn't confessed, she had definitely been rejected, and Pastel felt sorrowful. Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Lord Demoon!"
Please punish this bad person who seduced an innocent girl while having a fiancée!
Pastel, who was about to shout that, realized something and paused.
Actually, no tears were coming out, and she didn't feel particularly sorrowful either.
"Oing."
Her pink eyes widened.
She felt less than she thought she would.
Come to think of it, it seemed obvious that Nathaniel, who was the Family Head and already an adult, would have a fiancée.
Pastel became flustered.
Uh-oh.
This was a feeling that could only come if it wasn't a romantic feeling in the first place.
If so, what Lord Demon said would be true.
The advice she received that the Popular Person Pastel would be confused because she herself couldn't even properly define her own feelings would become a reality.
This was a total Popular Person Disqualification.
Pastel felt like she was breaking into a slight cold sweat. She quickly tidied up her hair, which had been messed up from her clutching it.
The girl put on a serious expression.
"By any chance, what would you think if I said I liked you?"
"What?"
Nathaniel was about to swear but stopped himself.
"What kind of taste is that?"
Ngh.
"I guess so, right?"
"You guess so?! What kind of disrespect is that?!"
Nathaniel got worked up and hopped around.
But Pastel, who had no time to care about that, let out a faintly trembling breath. Her Pink Eyes stealthily checked the door leading to the Corridor where Lord Demon would be, then returned.
A moment later, after Nathaniel got worked up on his own and calmed down on his own, the girl asked in a trembling voice.
"Then, what do you think about admiring a Guardian who took care of me, by any chance? They are not related by blood."
The last part is important!
Star, star!
"What's been going on with you since earlier?"
Nathaniel frowned. Still, he pondered for a moment, seemingly willing to give an answer to the benefactor who saved his butler, Old Man.
"It must be a great person in power for you to admire them."
Was Lord Demon a great person in power?
"Not really. He's my Sword Master."
"Sword? You use a sword? No, in the first place, couldn't you just call a Knight? Why bother fighting with such a fragile body?"
Uh-oh.
Come to think of it, that was true.
These days, when she can move the Knights Order with a flick of her finger, is there really a need……?
Uh-oh.
"Then why am I admiring him?"
If she had to point it out, the seemingly impressive Archdemon title……?
But seeing Lord Demon wearing an apron and whipping cream every morning, honestly, I didn't feel like he was an Archdemon.
"Why are you asking me for the reason? There must be some reason."
Nathaniel looked dumbfounded.
Then, as if he remembered something, he grinned as if he had caught her weakness.
"Oh, don't tell me? I get it! That Governor-General, no, anyway, I didn't know you had such childish feelings?"
"Yes?"
"It's not admiration or anything like that!"
Nathaniel showed an adult's deduction.
"It's common for a Guardian you're close with to solidify into your romantic type! But if you're not even related by blood, isn't it only natural that your heart would go to them without even needing to find a substitute?"
The girl's mouth fell open.
Uwa?
Uwaah?
#
The sound of a typewriter rang out in the small room.
Every time a key was pressed, the typebars moved to stamp ink letters. With a mechanical sound, the lines changed, and black ink filled the white paper.
Redmond, who was being called Mr. Penguin by someone for no reason, continued writing the report to be handed over to the Empire.
The report, which directly reflected the efforts invested by the Empire, thoroughly analyzed and organized the United Kingdom's secrets.
―Congratulations on graduating as the Top Student. From now on, you must infiltrate the Deep Levels of the United Kingdom under the name Redmond. Approach Princess Ellishita pretending it's a coincidence, build a personal friendship, and become her confidant.
―Yes.
A calculated approach and prepared lies.
In the United Kingdom, which had such a pathetic Hierarchy that it only banned construction out of fear of sniping after high-rise buildings were built haphazardly around the Royal Palace, it was not difficult for a young Commoner boy to accidentally run into an even younger Princess.
Countless infiltration operations had failed in the past, but Redmond's approach, which ultimately pierced the fundamental weakness of the republican system, succeeded brilliantly.
The Republicanism system, buried in the absurd pride of its high-ranking officials who listen to competent Commoners, was fundamentally bound to be weak in espionage warfare.
"Is this the Power of Culture?"
As Governor-General Kraft said, if this were a Systemic War between the monarchy and the republic, it would be an example proving the superiority of the monarchy.
In the end, the republic, with its internal contradiction, would collapse, beginning with espionage warfare, and only the monarchy would survive.
The typewriter stamped a period.
The completed report was held in his hand.
It was a thorough analysis of how much of a military threat the railroads, which the United Kingdom was investing in with all its might, could pose to the Empire.
In front of the Governor-General, who kept subtly probing to see if he was from the Republican Faction, he pretended not to understand properly for the sake of Ideological Verification. However, the military explosiveness of linking education, media, and transportation was thoroughly analyzed.
Methods to forcibly block Railway Construction using treaties from the Great War era, without spending a single penny, and furthermore, ways to induce the bankruptcy of the United Kingdom, which had unreasonably invested its finances, were organized.
The report was set aside.
"Is this the Power of Culture?"
If so, this must be the superiority of the republic.
Redmond wrote a new report.
―Why do you not discriminate based on status? The Hierarchy has collapsed so much that you, the Princess, were almost subjected to Sniping. In any other country, they wouldn't have dared to do so out of fear of a Royal Family Member.
―Risk and return. In exchange, we obtained a Talent Pool that doesn't discriminate based on status. When the Empire was tied down by the population of Nobles and Merchant Families, we built schools. When many people became able to speak and express themselves, the evil custom of cannibalism was abandoned, and the Steam Engine pulsated.
The sound of the typewriter rang out.
"Is this the Power of Culture?"
Fabrication, reduction, exaggeration, bias.
Just as the reports on Governor-General Kraft had been fabricated all this time, so had the report been.
The United Kingdom's grand strategy is unrealistic.
The military value of the trains is limited.
The internal strife within the Council is such that it is difficult to project national power overseas.
When analyzed comprehensively, they are failing to resolve the Fundamental Contradiction of the republic, which is an inability to integrate national power.
It is considered that the only thing the United Kingdom can do is rely on the Empire's Republican Faction to cause confusion within the Empire, just as Governor-General Kraft advised.
The completed report was set aside.
A new report began to be written.
The Traitor of the Empire who was being worried about is expected to be from the Republican Faction.
Since the resources for the Surveillance of the Great Nobles cannot be reduced, it is considered that the Intelligence Resources intended to be additionally deployed to Sky Island and the United Kingdom should be redirected to the Republican Faction.
Redmond carefully fabricated Governor-General Kraft's advice.
He reduced the perceived danger of the United Kingdom and focused on the Republican Faction to foment internal division within the Empire.
By redirecting the Intelligence Resources meant for Sky Island and the United Kingdom to the Imperial Interior, he widened Governor-General Kraft's room to maneuver and maintained the state where Redmond himself monopolized the Overseas Intelligence Network.
Governor-General Kraft, I still don't know the reason why you must gain trust from the Emperor even at the cost of sacrificing the Republican Faction, but…….
I will bet my stakes on your ambition.
For this beloved nation.
―Equality, that wasn't the reason?
―Rights are valuable when you fight for them yourself, not when others grant them. This is just like the moment when buildings built with gold could aim at the life of a Princess. Look, the Trading Groups that have tasted power have started making ambitious investments in the Military Industry, which they used to ignore due to high investment risks. All of this will make us leap forward.
That smile was beautiful.
The boy decided to walk the path of a Double Agent without any persuasion, convincing, or threats.
As the Governor-General said, this was the Systemic War between the monarchy and the republic.
This would be an example proving the superiority of the republic.
I will make it so with my own hands.
The sound of the typewriter rang out.
The typebar stamped a period.