Chapter 26
“Like some kind of drug beneficial to dark mages, perhaps.”
“!”
“Anyway, back then it wasn’t something that would help all of humanity. It would have been far more useful to the enemy—in other words, to the dark mages. That may be why it was deliberately sealed away.”
“That’s pretty interesting.”
Isaac, who had been grinning the whole time, slipped into the conversation.
“You’re saying if we develop it properly, it could end up helping us too, right?”
What a curious twist of fate. The recipe Saintess Eliza had so carefully hidden had made its way, after three hundred years, into the hands of me, a dark mage.
If Eliza were to find out, she might just jump out of her grave.
“Even if it turned out to be a drug beneficial to holy power, that would still be fine. We could just pretend the research takes a long time and drag things out—that alone would give us an advantage.”
After all, just being near holy power makes me sick to my stomach.
“So then… can I do the research?”
Yulia’s eyes sparkled brightly.
“Only experiments that aren’t dangerous. I’ll try to procure as many corpses as I can, so wait for now.”
“Wow! You’re the best, brother! I’m so happy~!”
Yulia leapt toward Edmond in excitement. If Isaac hadn’t caught her in time, her ribs might well have broken again.
Whether she realized it or not, Yulia just kept grinning ear to ear, delighted that she’d be able to practice alchemy again.
“By the way, Your Highness—how is it that you ended up riding in a separate carriage from Lady Walker?”
Berner asked as Tristan flipped through some documents. From Berner’s perspective, Tristan was not the sort to be considerate about a noblewoman’s reputation.
“She said if we rode together, it wouldn’t look good. I hadn’t thought of that beforehand—it was a failure on my part.”
“I see. I thought it would be fine since I was with you, so I didn’t give it much thought either.”
It was partly Berner’s fault for not giving Tristan prior warning. Two people riding alone would be one thing, but three getting out of the carriage together should have seemed harmless enough.
“So your doubts about Lady Walker are somewhat resolved then? If you still found her suspicious, you would have already ordered her family estate searched.”
Berner himself no longer felt reason to doubt Emily.
She had already proven at the Academy that she could read the remnants of dark magic. No one but her could detect the movements of magical beasts so precisely.
‘As for those missing assassin corpses… maybe the Holy See just collected them, not wanting to leave behind evidence.’
And besides, the Emily Berner had seen was genuinely kind. She smiled whenever she met someone’s eyes, and her voice was soft and gentle.
She gave off the impression of being soft-hearted. Yet she was brave enough to stand before a monster to protect her younger brother, despite her lack of strength.
“She’s quite a decent person, don’t you think?”
That was Berner’s conclusion. Human to human, she was likeable.
“Not sure.”
“Are you still going to say that? That whole line about how ‘everyone’s friend is no one’s friend,’ or whatever?”
Berner’s tone carried a hint of playfulness. Tristan, still not looking up from his papers, muttered bluntly:
“The carriage she came in today. It was new. Looked like it had only just been made.”
“…What?”
“There’s a tax on carriage purchases. Which means if I wanted, I could look up how many carriages each family has bought.”
Berner finally realized that the documents Tristan had been reviewing were records of which noble families had purchased carriages in the past five years.
“But there’s no record of the Walker family buying a new carriage recently.”
“What the….”
“So then, why would they secretly bring in a new carriage? Isn’t that curious?”
Tristan muttered softly.
Flip, flip.
As I sifted through paperwork, I couldn’t help but notice the burning sensation on the side of my face. Jamie hadn’t been working for a while now and was just staring openly at me.
It was getting too hard to ignore. I finally turned my head toward her.
“Is there something on my face?”
“I saw everything.”
“…What?”
“The carriage His Highness the Crown Prince came in today. That was the Walker family’s carriage, wasn’t it?”
“……”
The family crest had been removed, leaving it looking like any ordinary carriage. How on earth had she noticed?
“I just happened to notice. Probably no one else in the palace would recognize it, except me.”
But if Jamie knew, then everyone in the palace would soon know. At most 48 hours? Maybe even sooner.
‘What a nuisance.’
I sighed inwardly, but outwardly, I gave her a sheepish smile.
“His Highness said he had business with Duke Walker yesterday. It got late, so he just stayed overnight—that’s all.”
“Ehh~. But there are already rumors everywhere. They say you went with him to your younger brother’s parent-visitation day. Together, no less.”
That was true, but the way she said it….
Jamie glanced around, then leaned in to whisper in my ear.
“I heard after you two get married, you’re planning to adopt your youngest brother and raise him as your son.”
“What?”
“They say young Andrea Walker is soon to become Andrea Belonde. Isn’t that right?”
I had no idea where such nonsense could have come from.
“That’s not it at all. I just accompanied His Highness to the Academy because he happened to have business there too.”
“Emily. You don’t have to hide it from me. You know how tight-lipped I am.”
She mimed zipping her lips shut. Honestly, it was like leaving a fishmonger’s shop in charge of a cat.
“So when did it start? You two always seemed so distant when working together, so I never imagined. Oh—was it when you went on that business trip together? Or maybe when His Highness praised your work skills?”
I shook my head firmly each time, but Jamie’s eyes only widened.
“Earlier than that? Don’t tell me—since the very first day you joined here?!”
How was it coming to this?
“Wow. So you’re a strategist after all, Emily! I like it. Love is something you seize, after all.”
She winked knowingly. Unbelievable. No matter how much I explained, she clearly wasn’t going to listen.
‘I knew rumors would spread, but I didn’t expect absurd ones like this….’
Of course, given Tristan was the Crown Prince, it drew extra attention. But this was excessive.
‘If this rumor’s already gone around society, then… Natalie must have heard it too.’
The thought of being interrogated mercilessly by Natalie already gave me a headache.
“Anyway, I think it’d be better to prepare fine liquor rather than jewels as the gift for the Grand Duchy of Gehella.”
“Oh~. That does make sense. After all, it’s a cold and barren land.”
“Yes. And here… in the speech His Highness will give for his birthday, we should revise this section….”
Jamie was instantly absorbed in the work. For all her gossiping, she was still a competent scribe.
And Tristan’s birthday wasn’t far away. Though we’d been preparing diligently, we had to comb through everything again and again in the short time remaining.
‘Guess it’ll be late nights for a while.’
The Crown Prince’s office was already known as “the palace’s star,” since its lights never went out, even late into the night.
‘In a way, it works out. It means His Highness himself won’t be visiting the duke’s mansion for a while.’
If I wanted to quietly acquire more corpses, now was the perfect opportunity.
—Oh, my lord! And who am I, eh? The great Donald, king of the black market! Of course, even for me, being asked to procure freshly dead bodies is a bit of a tall order. But the word “give up” doesn’t exist in my vocabulary! So I ransacked the old ledgers my father left behind and, lo and behold….
“Keep it brief.”
—Yessir. How about procuring the corpses of executed criminals?
“Executed?”
—Indeed. As you know, in Belonde executions are carried out by hanging. The body is cremated afterward, but technically the corpse belongs to the family first. If no relatives come forward, there’s a grace period. After that, the body is cremated on a set date.
“I see.”
—So during that grace period, we just make the body disappear and leave behind the record that it was cremated. A perfect crime—no one the wiser!
From what Donald was saying, it did sound like a plausible plan. As long as they didn’t get caught.
“You’re planning to bribe the morgue’s caretaker?”
—Heh-heh-heh. No need. I’ve already planted one of my own men in there.
Donald added, “It’s important to know who died and how, after all.” Foolish as he seemed, he truly was a powerhouse of the underworld.
“Very well. So how many bodies can you get right away?”
—My lord! Is that even a question? Belonde is an empire that spans a quarter of the continent!
Donald’s voice rang with excitement.
—My answer is: as many as you want!
