Chapter 55
Noah didn’t answer; he seemed to pass it off as if he hadn’t heard, but anyway he was a sharp man.
“I needed information.”
“Information?”
At Roje’s reply, Jonathan lifted his head and looked at her. He hesitated for a moment — maybe because he thought nothing she said would be believed anyway.
“Yes. Information about the original story’s main characters. I found those people there and left cats with them.”
Since she’d been too frank already and practically been called mad, Roje figured she might as well say it plainly. She expected even a man with an unreadable face to at least give a pitying smile or a sigh — but he did neither.
“So you said this place is inside a novel?”
“Yes.”
“And your name was Jae…?”
“Not Jae. Jae-hee. Anyway, yes.”
Jonathan looked at Roje with a fairly serious expression, then returned his gaze to the book.
“So the person who knows the future can’t turn into a cat, then.”
The faintly mocking tone stung, but Roje calmed quickly when she realized he wasn’t being malicious.
If she’d spoken more nicely… Even if his lineage had been good, with that temper it would have been hard for him to succeed without Noah.
“There wasn’t anything about beast-people in the original story.”
“This world is a novel — are you saying things not in the novel can still happen?”
“They can, if they’re unimportant.”
But no matter how she looked at it, the Count of Calipon seemed like an important character, which made that a worry. Roje hid the words that should follow and swallowed a silent sigh.
She had never expected Jonathan to take her at face value, but seeing him confused only made her think he’d believe her less.
While Roje averted her eyes to avoid speaking on an unfavorable subject, Jonathan — who had been studying the contents of the book intently — spoke again.
“This book talks about the importance of mind control.”
“Mind control?”
“In short, it says if you decide you must change, then you can change.”
“What a load of—”
“A load of what?”
“Nothing.”
If that were really true, who would bother reading a book so hard to get through?
Not every book was like that, but there were always books that tried to sound smart by using difficult words; their conclusion left you thinking, “what a load of nonsense!”
‘Do they really think mind control is that easy?’
Roje remembered how, in her previous life, she’d picked up self-help books hoping to improve her life, only to be filled with anger at similar nonsense. She bristled at the memory.
“You knew the distance between Ramsdam Market and the palace when you acted, didn’t you?”
“Huh…?”
Jonathan, who had been flipping through other books, kept his eyes fixed on the book and asked Roje a question that, on the surface, was a question but hit the nail on the head.
“Ugh!”
Roje finally realized there was a fair distance between the palace and Ramsdam Market. That was also why Noah — after finding Roje again — thought someone had deliberately abandoned her.
‘I didn’t even think about taking a carriage there and back.’
She really hadn’t. Ramsdam Market was an hour away at carriage speed. No matter how quick the cats were, they couldn’t run at a horse’s speed the entire way; it would take more than half a day just to carry news back.
As she fretted, Jonathan continued, eyes fixed on his book.
“Cats can, of course, communicate among themselves, can’t they?”
“Uh? Yes.”
“When humans receive letters from distant places, they go through intermediate stages. A tells B, B tells C, and finally C brings it.”
“I know that… ah?”
She did know. She’d come from a world with more advanced logistics than this one; of course she knew about relay systems. Roje shut her mouth and looked at Jonathan.
“Why not place cats at intervals to pass information in that way? If you tell His Majesty, it won’t be hard to have one or two cats at the knights’ garrisons in each town.”
Jonathan was trying to help Roje.
“Good idea!”
Learning the distance had her wondering where and when they should meet in the middle, so this was an excellent plan.
“I don’t want His Majesty the Emperor to be harmed for even a chance.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t want to die young either. My remaining family… they live relying only on me.”
Jonathan seemed not to fully believe her, but thought she had a reason for doing what she did. It was similar to how people avoid bad omens even if they don’t believe in superstitions — they’d rather steer clear than risk it. He must have felt uneasy enough to not dismiss it.
“I don’t want Noah to be harmed or for Jonathan to die either. I’ll stop it by any means. So, Jonathan—”
Whatever the reason, she welcomed his help. Roje grabbed Jonathan’s hand eagerly, eyes bright.
“There’s one part where I really need your help.”
Before moving on to drought measures and tax reform, the first project Noah pushed was canal construction.
Although the water to be drawn was drying up in places, rivers with deeper channels still held plenty of water. If canals were built properly, at least the villages nearby could be kept alive.
Noah had come today to inspect the canals in the Irun region, the domain of Count Hinte, near the capital.
At first, this canal project had brought Noah into many clashes with the nobles, but the response after completion had been unquestionably positive.
Even Count Hinte, who had complained he didn’t want to pay a single coin and had grudgingly had to contribute some construction costs, ran out to greet him.
“Your Majesty! To think you would come here in person — how can we express our gratitude?”
There was no need to boast about the project’s success. Moreover, the faces of the villagers preparing fields for spring looked better than anywhere else.
“Welcome, Your Majesty!”
“We welcome Your Majesty to our village!”
Noah entered the domain with Count Hinte, who greeted him at the village entrance. Riding slowly amid the paths between fields, villagers who’d heard Noah was coming ran out to see him.
Usually, noble-led crowds were forced smiles taught by tutors; this time, the crowd’s welcome felt natural.
“Emperor, we heard you were coming and my mother made this with me yesterday.”
Among the cluster of people, a shy little girl even handed him a handmade garland. Thanks to the canal work, both agricultural and household water had become abundant; but more than that, it seemed recent tax reforms Noah had enacted were the cause.
“Before, when crops failed, we bent our backs to raise taxes — now, thanks to you, life’s a lot easier, Your Majesty!”
Perhaps recalling the hard past of raising taxes made some people’s eyes go misty in front of Noah.
Were they happy? Yes, they were.
“Noam, don’t get too close — it’s dangerous.”
Some people still looked away at Noah’s gaze — mostly stooped elderly with graying hair — but among young women carrying children and young men with hoes, there were many who met Noah’s eyes fully. That made him happy.
He was glad there were people who weren’t afraid of him when they looked only at his eyes.
— I will be a good emperor.
He felt glad because he seemed to have kept his vow to be a good emperor, at least in place of the one he had lost, Shion.
— Noah…
Most of all, he was glad the world was becoming a place where Roje — who had eyes similar to his — could live. If things kept going like this, at least Roje would no longer be in danger of being killed for no reason. Of course, he wouldn’t let anyone even lay a finger on a single hair of Roje’s — he wouldn’t allow that.
“Everyone is welcoming His Majesty so much.”
Raymond Duke’s obvious flattery — meant to speak for Jonathan — didn’t make Noah frown. He felt a small pride in putting the empire’s people before the nobles.
Just as Noah felt a little satisfaction with what he had done, a woman among the crowd ground her teeth.
“Something’s wrong. It was the same at the palace. Why is everyone welcoming the emperor now?”
Among the cheering people was a woman who didn’t let her expression soften at all, even at a man wearing a robe like hers who said, “This is a good thing. Much better than killing and harming the empire’s people.”
“What do you mean ‘good’? If this continues, Shion might not regain his place.”
It was Aria.
