Chapter 9
As soon as the casual conversation resumed, the atmosphere quickly settled down.
Leonard, who had already regained his usual shameless composure, smiled faintly and spoke.
“Princess, what do you intend to make with the mana stone I gave you? If you’d like, I can recommend a decent mage.”
Ah, he’s talking about Deligno’s Tear. Come to think of it, I received such an overpowered item and never even thought about using it.
“That won’t be necessary. I happen to know quite a few people myself.”
I refused him outright and, in my mind, recalled the mages who had become my slaves… no, friends, while I was altering the original storyline.
Mages, by nature, tended to be like researchers—simply give them funding, and they were more than happy to comply.
I generously lent them money and, in return, asked for a very small and modest interest rate of around 300%, thus making them my friends.
“That mana stone is of a high grade, making it difficult to process. Moreover, since it has a dark attribute, there’s a certain level of risk involved.”
Prince Leonard continued, clearly not expecting my refusal.
“All the more reason I can’t entrust it to you, Your Highness. I have some reliable suck—… I mean, acquaintances who are mages, so it’s quite alright.”
“You even know a mage of the dark attribute?”
“By one means or another, yes.”
“There are very few mages in Syncaster. May I ask how you came to know them?”
“No. You may not.”
I couldn’t exactly say it was because I had been rewriting the original story.
I rejected him again, but feeling that I might have been a bit too rude, I added,
“They’re my… valued friends.”
“I see.”
“You’re not offended that I refused, are you?”
“Of course not.”
He totally looks offended.
Although he was smiling, the atmosphere had already sunk slightly.
Getting upset over being rejected twice? I added a note in my personal “handsome men dictionary” that Prince Leonard was directionally challenged, somewhat cute—but narrow-minded.
Still, as a princess, I couldn’t just let the mood grow dull.
Clap!
I clapped my hands brightly and smiled.
“Come to think of it, Your Highness, I’ve heard that you’re a sword prodigy famous in Blake. Is that true?”
“…It’s nothing remarkable.”
“But the rumors have spread all the way here to Syncaster! Doesn’t that make you truly impressive?”
“……”
At my words, he only kept sipping his tea. His gaze was fixed somewhere beyond my shoulder, into the bushes—clearly embarrassed.
“I’ve also heard you’re called a mage of flames. Being skilled in both swordsmanship and magic is amazing. Could you show me some magic?”
Since it was my second compliment, I expected him to grow even more embarrassed.
But unexpectedly, at my next words, Leonard’s face stiffened. As he set his teacup down on the table, the air turned cold again.
“I do not use magic just anywhere.”
“……”
Mages were usually arrogant beings, eager to show off their abilities whenever they had the chance.
So I thought if I provoked him a little, he’d proudly demonstrate his magic. What was that reaction?
Rather than feeling wronged, I was simply curious why he suddenly turned serious. Perhaps I had made a mistake.
Just as silence fell between us—
From afar, I saw a man approaching. He must have been the aide Leonard mentioned.
Like all men from Blake, he had a broad chest and a sculpted face—definitely worthy of being added to my handsome men dictionary.
“Your Highness, I have something urgent to report.”
“Eric. Can you not see that I am speaking with the Princess?”
“It’s fine, Your Highness. Your aide looks like he’s in a hurry.”
I had learned that one must never let a shadow fall over the faces of handsome men. Being a considerate person, I quietly rose from my seat.
Leonard immediately stood as well.
“Princess, I fear this may be discourteous.”
“Then later, perhaps with that Eric person, the three of us can—”
“Pardon?”
“Never mind.”
At Abigail’s piercing gaze from beside me, I snapped open my fan.
Right. As a princess, I should maintain some dignity at a birthday banquet.
“Then I shall see you later.”
In the middle of tea time, Prince Leonard and his aide Eric hurried away, and Abigail took his place.
With elegant refinement, Abigail began lecturing me repeatedly about fixing my habit of “devouring people’s faces.”
“But Abigail. Out of the twenty gentlemen I danced with yesterday, eighteen of them looked wronged.”
“Wronged? What on earth do you mean?”
“Well… they just looked like they were about to cry. The kind of face that makes me want to cry.”
“Then what about the remaining two?”
“They had smiling faces. The kind that makes me smile.”
In front of a horrified Abigail, I let out a deep sigh and lowered my head.
“Two out of twenty… That’s a 10% probability of finding a handsome man. At this rate, even if I travel the world, will I be able to find any?”
Just then—
Something caught my eye as I looked down.
“Oh my, that man named Eric must have dropped this earlier?”
As I smiled at the thought of having an excuse to meet him again, Abigail quickly widened her eyes and held out both hands.
“Please give it to me. I’ll have a servant return it to them.”
“Abigail, this looks like an important document. Wouldn’t it be better if I kept it safe and returned it myself? Look—it’s tied with high-quality string.”
The moment I brushed the string with my finger—
Crackle!
A sharp sound rang out. At the same time, a strong static shock ran through me, and I dropped the paper.
“W-What was that?”
A small red magic circle briefly appeared and disappeared over the rolled document.
“Princess… isn’t that magic?”
Abigail looked at me in alarm.
Fortunately, I had seen that magic circle before.
It was a defensive spell that prevented opening, along with a tracking spell that recorded who touched it.
Such magic was only placed on confidential documents.
Why was a man like Eric carrying something like that?
Since it seemed only Abigail and I had witnessed this, I quickly warned her.
“Abigail, don’t tell anyone about this. I think I need to inform my brother.”
I immediately headed for Erdan’s office.
However, Erdan was in the middle of a noble council meeting, and Aurora was busy receiving foreign dignitaries who wished to meet the Saintess.
After sending word for them to come see me when they were done, I returned to my study and stared intently at the document before deciding to break the magic.
Of course, I could roughly guess that this was an important document from Blake.
But first, it was the fault of the one who dropped it. Second, it dared to attack me and provoke my curiosity. And third, if it truly was something important, it would be better to read and record its contents than to keep it and meet a mysterious death…
Nodding to myself, convinced that my reasoning was flawless, I glared at the unopened document, then put on my magic crystal bracelet and contacted Slave No. 1.
“Sara, come to my study.”
In the original story, Sara was an exceptionally talented mage of the “dark” attribute.
When I was ten years old, she was a fifteen-year-old student attending the Elysium Magic Academy.
Additionally, she was highly skilled at deceiving and exploiting others.
I valued her personality even more than her magical ability and secretly provided her with full support.
Later, when Sara tried to swindle me, I hired dozens of lawyers and turned the tables on her, making her my slave… no, my friend.
As a result, Sara was obligated to grant 99.9% of my requests anytime, anywhere.
The remaining 0.1% applied only to things she was incapable of doing.
So far, such magic did not exist.
An hour later, a woman with roughly cut tangerine-colored bobbed hair suddenly appeared out of thin air in my study.
“Princess, you called for me?”
“Sara, why did it take you an entire hour? With teleportation, you should’ve arrived in under a minute.”
As I pouted and questioned her, Sara replied indifferently,
“I’ve been researching magic for ten days without washing. And you wouldn’t like it if I came in a filthy state, would you?”
