- Chapter 29
Ever since I officially became Khalid’s fiancée, the very father who had hounded me daily to go see him suddenly began to leave me be.
With my father’s pressure gone, I made no effort to seek out Khalid on my own.
Thanks to that, I’d been able to enjoy a rare stretch of calm and uneventful days.
“So, when exactly are you heading down to El La Mare?”
Karina asked as she sipped her tea, visiting me once again as I ate a late breakfast.
It must have been the third time since the engagement ceremony.
Lately, Karina had taken to visiting more frequently. Perhaps the incident at the salon had left a lasting impression.
At any rate, we were sitting in the drawing room, and she was comfortably settled on the pink velvet sofa across from me.
For the record, her teacup currently contained about ten spoonfuls of sugar.
“Probably next Tuesday. But you really do have a unique palate.”
The capital of the Bel Demar Empire, Bellisca, was located in the northern part of the continent, making its winters particularly long and harsh.
In contrast, my family’s domain, El La Mare, sat at the southernmost tip of the empire. With its distinct four seasons and vast coastlines, the weather there was considerably milder even during winter.
Each year, around the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, I would leave the capital to stay in El La Mare for a month or two.
“I’ve recently declared a ban on alcohol for myself.”
And what exactly does that have to do with tea that tastes like nothing but sugar?
My curiosity was piqued, but before I could ask, Karina changed the subject.
“Do you have a specific mode of travel planned? I’d really love it if you used our company’s warp gate.”
“Magical travel makes me nauseous… and I’m bringing quite a few guards this time.”
“Right, I heard monster sightings have become abnormally frequent lately.”
The topic was casually tossed into the conversation, but the empire had indeed been struggling with sudden appearances of monsters in recent months.
As if war with enemy nations wasn’t already enough, monsters had begun invading not just the mountains and seas, but even villages and towns where people lived.
I just hoped Renac was safe.
I wondered where he might be now.
“I’m planning to bring a few self-defense pistols as well—just in case.”
“Good idea. Better safe than sorry.”
Karina’s family, the Rezenin Trading Company, ran a massive guild network across the entire continent, not just the empire.
On top of that, some four or five years ago, they acquired a mana mine that produced magical stones.
In our continent, De Ishanna, mages were considered a threat to be eliminated on sight.
And yet, magic itself was still used in secret—such a contradiction.
“In any case, I’ll be traveling by one of our family’s trains this time. But I promise to try the Rezenin warp gate next time.”
“I’ll hold you to that. Since it’s a magical transport, public perception still isn’t exactly favorable.”
Karina extended her pinky finger toward me, as if to seal the promise.
The warp gate was a teleportation device developed by engineers who had painstakingly reverse-engineered what little remained of ancient magical tomes.
Each time it was used, a new magic circle had to be drawn, and it functioned by absorbing mana from mana stones.
Because of its complexity, the cost was astronomical. But the ability to travel great distances instantly was a game-changer no one could ignore.
If warp gates were ever commercialized, they’d become fierce rivals to inventions like the steam trains our Carnelutti family had launched in recent years.
“Is this your way of using me to promote warp gates?” I asked, lightly tapping the armrest of the velvet sofa.
Despite the change in crown prince, I had retained my title as royal fiancée, which meant I’d become something of a celebrity—my name had appeared on the front page of the morning papers nearly every day for the past week.
Karina smiled shamelessly, not even bothering to hide her intentions.
“Yes, I suppose it is. I figured I might as well benefit from our shared history in Barcalia. After all, the warp gate will only ever be used by the wealthy elite, right? You know how it is.”
“You’re saying that unlike our trains, which even commoners can ride if they can afford it, warp gates are for the privileged few?”
“Exactly! The nobles in this country may hate and envy you—but more than anything, they’re fascinated by you.”
Karina’s eyes sparkled with interest, clearly amused by her own insight.
In her excitement, she drained her cup of tea in one gulp.
Her delicate, pink porcelain teacup landed with a sharp clink on the table, more like a shot glass than anything dainty.
“But if this all seems like too much, feel free to decline. It’s just my father’s order anyway. Honestly, I don’t care that much. That old geezer’s so blinded by money…”
Karina pulled the teapot closer and refilled her cup.
I was so used to her rough mannerisms that I instinctively pushed the sugar jar toward her.
She didn’t thank me verbally—instead, she responded with a cheeky wink.
“So please don’t think I came here just to talk about warp gates.”
“I don’t. And to be honest, I see potential in the technology myself.”
In the distant past, mages had wielded power far beyond the average person, bringing down great nations and seizing authority for themselves.
They would stop at nothing to achieve their goals—spreading their bloodlines into non-mage families, or even kidnapping civilians for live experiments.
But in the end, they were still the minority, vastly outnumbered by ordinary people.
Tensions between mages and non-mages simmered for generations.
Then came a turning point: a deranged mage extended their reach to both the Bel Demar Imperial Family and the Lark Kingdom’s royal line.
In response, the two nations formed an alliance and launched an aggressive mage extermination campaign.
Overwhelmed by sheer numbers, the mages were wiped out, and the nations that reclaimed their sovereignty eventually turned their blades on each other.
Since then, the continent of De Ishanna had known no peace—endless wars flared under one excuse or another.
Some countries fought over ancient magical artifacts left behind, betraying even their closest allies for the promise of power.
They say people from 70 years ago couldn’t imagine a world without magic.
But honestly, I don’t think much has changed.
Thanks to my grandfather’s foresight, our family had capitalized on the shift, building a fortune through ventures like the steam train.
But in the last few years, artifacts like the Rezenin warp gate and Count Rubera’s image-recording devices had begun resurfacing, using magical stones as their power source.
Our family, too, had joined the trend—excavating mana stones buried deep beneath the sea in El La Mare.
To put it plainly: whether they admitted it or not, people missed the era when magic flowed freely.
After wiping out the mages, the world had endured decades of technological regression.
“Anyway, let’s wrap this up here. By the way, the countess—your mother—didn’t attend your engagement ceremony, did she?”
“She was strongly opposed even when I first got engaged to Izar twelve years ago.”
So of course she wouldn’t show up for my second engagement to the royal family.
I’d expected it, so it wasn’t something I took personally.
I pictured my mother at the docks, a man’s coat thrown over her shoulders, commanding the workers with her signature curly black hair whipping in the sea wind.
Thinking of her, I reached for the basket of cookies in the center of the table.
I broke one of the chocolate chip cookies in half.
Meanwhile, Karina was vigorously stirring her overly sweet tea with a silver teaspoon.
“Now that I think about it, I only saw the countess once—on the day we graduated from Barcalia.”
“She rarely leaves the estate. Even when she travels, she never goes beyond the southern region.”
“Forgive me for asking so directly… but is she ill?”
Karina set down her teaspoon and looked at me seriously.
Rumors had long circulated about the countess’s absence from the capital.
I knew those rumors well and had no reason to lie, so I answered honestly.
“No, nothing like that. It’s just… since Father refuses to go down to the estate, she’s been busy ruling that vast land by herself.”
“…So the rumors about the count and countess having a strained relationship are true, then?”
