Chapter 06
Bridget, bouncing her shoulders with a hint of excitement, folded her fan, grabbed Taeri’s wrist, and dragged her straight into the carriage.
“All right, I’ll go with you. You just want me to show you around nearby, right?”
“You’re so rude again!”
Ansie scolded with a shocked expression, but Taeri’s attitude was more like so what if she is familiar?
“Princess, you’re going to the herbalist street. Make sure she gets there safely and back again.”
“Ugh, why go somewhere full of those old, stiff people?”
Bridget pouted, threatening she might refuse or even whisk Taeri off somewhere else, but Ansie’s stern gaze immediately shut her down.
The aunt, who had trained her niece well, held Taeri’s hands warmly.
“She’s just a bit immature, not a bad girl. We’ll make sure you get there safely, so take care.”
“I feel like I’m bothering so many people.”
“No, whatever the princess does is never a burden.”
With firm affection, Ansie hugged Taeri one last time before parting, telling her not to lose confidence or feel intimidated.
Taeri hesitated for a long moment before carefully returning the embrace.
They barely had room to shift sideways, and Bridget’s pointed shoe kept bumping against Taeri’s clothes from directly opposite her.
I’ll just move slightly, Taeri thought, shifting her hips when the shoe, moved by the carriage’s motion, suddenly stretched out and blocked her leg.
“You’ve grown beautifully, Princess. Your aura’s calmer, yet you feel stronger. Did you evolve somewhere and come back?”
Bridget leaned in, crossing her leg in front of Taeri’s and bringing her face close, grinning as if inspecting every detail of her face.
“This is… a bit overwhelming.”
Pushing her away worked, but the way she crossed her arms and snapped her fan in her palm wasn’t exactly gentle.
“Living long enough to see this, huh? Sitting across from each other in this cramped space. Back in the day, I’d barely stick to the last place among your maids. I’d watch you comb your hair thinking, ‘Would the princess even remember my name?’”
Taeri only faintly smiled in response. The past didn’t matter much now, and judging by their current outfits, that description seemed more suited to Bridget herself.
“But why go to herbalist street? Buying something? Just bored? Or… now that the master’s back, to call everyone under the flag and start some fireworks?”
Taeri stared at her expressionlessly, then returned a reply that would sting most:
“If you keep talking nonsense like that, I’ll tell your aunt everything.”
“What? That’s… unfair.”
The threat worked; Bridget pouted and smirked.
“Funny, really. You still think I’m the maid who waited on you? I’m now a local authority around here. Cross me, and it’s you who’ll lose.”
A local authority? Taeri hadn’t guessed she had that kind of influence.
Now that she looked at her extravagant dress, it made sense—it was completely unusual for a wizard.
Wizards usually take great pride in their identity and profession. They rarely hide it, and they wouldn’t remove their robes without reason.
But Bridget hadn’t shown any signs of being a wizard, and anyone could see she was dressed in a formal Valorani-style gown.
Such attire belonged in the New City, where Valorani nobles resided.
A wizard from Izaris wearing Valorani dress?
Not just an anomaly, almost a traitor. Her suspicious tea shop was in the New City too…
“You don’t live around here, do you?”
Taeri asked after several thoughts. Bridget readily confirmed.
“No. I live across the river in the New City. I eat well and live comfortably there.”
She pointed outside with the tip of her fan. Across the moderately wide river was an arched bridge bustling with people.
Crossing it led to the New City. The architecture was Valorani, and most of the inhabitants were citizens of the Valorani Empire. The embassy Claude mentioned yesterday was also there.
So what should Taeri make of her friend claiming to wear foreign clothes while acting as a local authority? She unconsciously furrowed her brow.
“I thought wizards don’t step foot in places like that.”
“What kind of grumpy old nonsense is that?”
Bridget tapped her slightly furrowed brow with her fan, making a comical face.
“If the world changes, people must too. The old city wasn’t properly rebuilt after it was destroyed. It’s filthy, inconvenient, and dangerous. Stubbornly staying there won’t restore its former glory.”
From the ruins, she argued her point openly. To escape Valorani control, one must adapt to their ways.
“I live in the enemy’s heart. That’s why I’m the smartest. I’ll be the queen of the social scene from there.”
So she wasn’t a traitor but a modernist type. Taeri internally corrected her previous misunderstanding and nodded.
“Hmm, I guess that makes some sense.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“To fight the enemy, you need to know the enemy. Raises your chances of winning.”
Bridget’s expression shifted oddly, as if she hadn’t expected such agreement. She gazed across the river and continued talking, offering unsolicited details.
“Have you been to the New City?”
“Yes. Ah, no. No, no. I haven’t been yet. Not yet.”
“Go. It’s a completely different world from here. Clean, prosperous, and fun. Valorani knights built bridges over the river and created new towns. Meanwhile, this place got left behind neatly.”
“So many Valorani nobles came from the capital?”
“Of course. Either migrating or touring. They want to enjoy our misfortune as entertainment. And by gathering, they gradually form power… basically trying to annex this land.”
The character Taeri thought was just a suspicious potion-seller turned out to have a sharp eye for politics.
Unexpected. Taeri asked again.
“Who came up with that?”
“The mastermind is Eoria.”
Eoria. The Valorani emperor, the ruling empress of the continent. Bridget said it casually.
“But in the end, someone else benefits. When things stabilize, the new ruler here will be him.”
“You mean Claude?”
“Yeah, that bastard.”
Bastard…?
Taeri felt her anger spike instantly, and unsurprisingly, Bridget immediately started tearing into Claude.
“Cunning little bastard! We only tolerate him because having the army’s protection, even temporarily, is better than nothing. Not because we like him!”
“So you won’t acknowledge his rule?”
“Rule? Rule? Don’t talk nonsense!”
According to Bridget, Claude and his knights only controlled the Black Forest’s defenses and maintained order.
They were more like border guards than lords, which she belittled as “mere knights” or “knightlings.”
“He pretends to be a holy knight with no interest in wealth.”
“That’s not true. If someone says they’re not interested in money, be cautious. They’re usually obsessed with it.”
“Good, Princess. You understand.”
Perhaps from accumulated frustration, Bridget grew more intense as they talked.
She vented personal grievances: how much capital nobles insulted her as a country bumpkin, how empty her tea shop was compared to the crowded wine bar across the street, and how miserable Claude was.
“My tea shop isn’t like that stupid wine bar. I hold gatherings, dinners, raise funds. It’s supposed to be a politically significant place of resistance. But damn it, business doesn’t go well because of those idiots!”
Seeing her fierce, sparkling eyes, Taeri understood why a former social queen had taken the path of a plague doctor.
Ah, so this character takes a dark turn if her grievances accumulate.
Taeri comforted her with “uh-huh, I see,” as Bridget lamented how unfair her situation was.
“My life plan is ruined. When monsters poured from the forest, the kids were told to run, but I didn’t. I stayed in the rear and supported people until the end! I wanted to show how good my healing potions were!”
“I see…”
So that’s why she sold the potions. Such a precious talent…
“Think of my accomplishments. When the chaos settled, I was flying high.”
“Congratulations.”
“If only it had ended well, but like a bolt from the blue, that damn army came here!”
“So that’s Claude.”
“Yeah, that bastard!”
Taeri wanted to ask why she kept saying “bastard,” but Bridget was venting about her tragically short reign, leaving no room to interrupt.
“I tried everything to get rid of him. Bribed, attempted assassination, even seduction! But nothing worked. That crazy guy. Told to never see women again, live alone forever.”
Her tone and expressions were fierce.
Was he really that impenetrable? Taeri wondered. But Bridget said he wasn’t even close to the level of an impenetrable wall.
“He just doesn’t talk. Completely ignores women.”
“Surely there must be a reason?”
“Reason? What reason? That guy is famous for treating women like invisible objects. In the capital, they call him the sexless man. He just isn’t interested in women!”
Sexless… what?
