Chapter 41
“The King of Itherin is filing a complaint! Everyone’s panicking, not knowing what to do.”
Alastair tiredly lifted his gaze.
“Itherin again. Why do they seem so desperate to make trouble for me these days?”
“Has something else happened?”
He answered Merlin in a way that implied you already know.
“Riley Hart.”
“Ah… That was a mistake by the staff in charge of room assignments.”
“If I had known, I should’ve assigned someone more experienced to the task.”
“There’s no such person left in the palace. The last one already resigned.”
Alastair’s expression darkened. A heavy sense of guilt settled over him.
“So, I really am a lousy ruler. Every time I hear you talk, Merlin, I feel like I’m staring at the worst parts of myself.”
“They say self-reflection is important. Even just realizing it is admirable.”
Alastair gave him a side-eye, not exactly fond but not angry either.
“If you cross the line, I’ll cross your life line too.”
“Oh, ha… ha ha ha. My neck is very precious.”
Merlin subtly wrapped a protective aura around his neck and glanced toward the noisy area nearby.
“The King of Itherin seems unhappy that he hasn’t met you in the palace yet.”
“Well, he’s my grandfather. Of course he’d say that. Probably feels like his grandson is shutting him out.”
The King of Itherin currently visiting the Empire was indeed his grandfather.
“I guess he’d find this place strange. After all, his daughter died suddenly here under mysterious circumstances. And now his grandson is hiding away like someone who’s been hurt… He must dislike it even more.”
His late mother had been very fond of her warmhearted father. She had once told young Alastair that she was happy to have met good people in this world.
She had also once made the strange comment that she’d reincarnated well—but Alastair had dismissed it as just another one of her usual odd remarks.
“She was a lively and elegant woman.”
“The King must have been deeply shocked by her sudden death.”
Merlin’s eyebrows drooped in sympathy.
“He even said that because of that, he can’t trust the Empire’s ways or its people.”
A man unable to forget his family’s tragedy, forced to relive the pain everywhere he went in the Empire—how dreadful!
Merlin’s heart ached for the shrewd old king, and he silently apologized to him in his mind.
Until his ruler spoke again.
“Merlin, that’s just Grandfather making a move. He’s using distrust of the Empire’s politics as a weapon to push this year’s negotiations in his favor.”
“…What?”
“It’s a tactic only he can pull off across the continent. Since I am his grandson, it won’t cost him much to play it.”
Merlin stared, still processing the words.
“A… are you serious…?”
“Think about it—every time a high-ranking elder says something like that, everyone scrambles to please them. They’ll try to meet his every demand. For Itherin, it’s a golden chance to take the upper hand in talks.”
The tender emotion in Merlin’s heart was blown away in an instant.
“But this is about the daughter he loved! Isn’t that going too far?”
“It was my mother—that very same daughter—who taught him this style of negotiation. She could be completely ruthless when the situation called for it.”
Alastair gave a sly smile.
“And Grandfather isn’t the only one who learned from her. I learned it too. This year, the grandson plans to beat the grandfather at his own game.”
Seeing the wicked glint in his ruler’s eyes, Merlin looked far off into the distance.
So this is what politics is like…
I’m so glad I wasn’t born into royalty.
He felt embarrassed for having been moved by the so-called “family bond” earlier. Clicking his tongue lightly, Merlin shook his head.
This meeting was not going to be easy.
A long battle was coming.
“Press officer Miss Foy! You need to cover the diplomatic meeting!”
The Foreign Minister, adjusting his monocle with a strict expression, called me over.
I grabbed my notebook and fountain pen and hurried after him. It was time for the scheduled meeting between the kingdom diplomats.
“They say things like this will keep happening all month. Only we, who have to deal with emergencies, will be run ragged.”
I entered the meeting well-prepared, with what I thought was a solid plan for coverage.
Or so I thought—until it happened.
“ᥖᥚᥚᥘᥨᥧᥧᥬᥭ?”
An unfamiliar language I had never heard before poured from a diplomat’s mouth.
I’m doomed.
I’d completely forgotten that the talks would be in a foreign language.
The Magic Tower had been saying for years they’d develop a language decoder, but of course, they hadn’t. The language barrier was still alive and well.
Idiot! What an idiot!
While I sat there fidgeting, unable to make sense of a word—
“Looks like you’re in trouble.”
Riley Hart approached with a smile in his eyes. I immediately went on guard.
“What are you doing here?”
“One of the three countries in this meeting is Itherin, you know.”
“That’s true… Still, you’re the chief aide. You slack off so much, I assumed you wouldn’t bother showing your face.”
He chuckled under his breath.
“Want me to help?”
“Mr. Hart, are you good at foreign languages?”
“Call me Riley. That’s my nickname.”
“I said—are you good at foreign languages, Mr. Hart?”
“Well, I’m decent enough.”
With a smug air, he opened his ears and nodded like he understood everything, summarizing it for me.
“They’re discussing ways to deal with sea monsters that often appear along the southern coast. It’s a big issue for the three nations that share the shoreline. Right now, the Sachel Kingdom’s diplomat is speaking.”
He moved easily between the languages of Sachel, Remel, Itherin, and Greenmeldy, interpreting in first-person style.
Maybe because they recognized me as part of the Empire’s side, someone from Itherin approached me.
“Is the Empire paying attention to the issues of the southern kingdoms?”
Riley was about to translate, but someone else spoke first.
“Of course. The southern kingdoms and Greenmeldy are allies.”
It was a voice I knew—but with Itherin’s graceful, refined accent, it sounded different from usual.
“A crisis for one kingdom is a crisis for the whole continent. We promise to continue supplying resources as we have.”
Standing behind me, the man’s fresh, warm scent reached me.
Mr. Smith…
He was fluently answering in the foreign language for me.
Riley Hart, now pushed to the back, gave him an intrigued look.
Mr. Smith, clearly proud that he didn’t need an interpreter, carried on in calm, native-level speech.
“And you are?”
“I’m John Smith, chief aide to His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Ah, so you’re the capable aide I’ve heard so much about. I’ve often seen your seal on diplomatic documents.”
Soon, other journalists and diplomats from different kingdoms came over to him. With the Emperor absent, they were trying to see what they could get out of him.
“Looks like I’m out of a job here.”
Riley shrugged and stepped back without protest. I watched as Mr. Smith handled multiple languages with the ease of someone highly trained.
I could only answer foreign questions awkwardly—yet here he was, speaking flawlessly.
Just what kind of upbringing had he had?
Suddenly, I felt an urge to uncover all of his secrets.
Later in the afternoon, as the art gallery glowed red under the sunset, Alastair encountered an uninvited guest.
“Hey there.”
Leaning against a front pillar was Riley Hart.
“I heard you showing off your Itherin earlier. But you made two grammar mistakes.”
Alastair shot back.
“Surprising. Didn’t think a slacker like you could focus enough to notice that.”
Riley smiled as if it was nothing.
“Heirs of ruling families are expected to have foreign language skills. If I want to point out my dear cousin’s mistakes, I need to pay attention, don’t I?”
He teased Alastair with a bright grin.
“A cousin who claimed to be on strike, actually working as a chief aide—now that’s unexpected.”
“Right back at you. Hearing that my playboy cousin was acting as chief aide made me laugh too.”
John Smith—Emperor of Greenmeldy.
Riley Hart—Second Prince of Itherin.
Their gazes clashed, sharp and unyielding.
“So… why have you come to the Empire?”
