Chapter : 04
As always, exactly at noon.
The Grand Duke and Egail came to visit her room.
It had been four days since the two of them moved into the room next door. During that time, they had visited every day at precisely this hour.
On the surface, their reason sounded quite plausible.
“Wouldn’t our daughter be lonely while she’s reflecting on herself!”
“If my sister’s alone, she’ll get bored. We can’t just leave her like that.”
Arisha wasn’t quite sure when she had ever said she was lonely.
From some point on, the two of them had been constantly coming and going from her room. Naturally, the three of them began eating together as well.
There was now a large dining table in Arisha’s room.
When Arisha said it would be inconvenient to eat together in the dining hall while she was under self-reflection, the Grand Duke had rushed to have the table brought in.
It was a good thing the room was spacious.
“Come on, sis. The food’s getting cold.”
“Yes, hurry over, dear. The servants’ necks will grow long waiting.”
In the end, Arisha stood up again today and joined them for the meal.
There were many new foods she had been trying since coming here. Among them, what caught Arisha’s interest the most was tea.
She often found herself admiring the rich flavors and aromas of the tea served after meals.
Watching Arisha eat dinner with satisfaction, the Grand Duke pushed more food toward her.
“Eat plenty.”
“Have some of this too, sis.”
As the formal meal began, the Grand Duke and Egail exchanged jokes and chatted endlessly. Thanks to that, the atmosphere gradually became lively.
Well, it wasn’t bad.
It had been a long time since she’d shared a meal with someone.
“Daughter, did you hear that an inspector from the Imperial Palace is coming?”
“Anna told me.”
Someone from the Imperial Palace was scheduled to arrive that afternoon.
Though things were calm now, the Empire had once suffered greatly from magical beasts.
It was only natural to check whether Arisha—who had rummaged through a sealed demon’s lair—had been contaminated by impure magic.
That was especially true considering the Arisha from the novel, who would have done anything to reclaim her lost magic power.
“The magic inspection is tomorrow, but the inspector will come around lunchtime today to discuss the schedule.”
“Oh dear, after a magic inspection, you feel awful and nauseous. I’m worried about my daughter—what should I do?”
“If it feels really disgusting, sis, you can flip the table.”
“Yes! That’s a great idea. This dad will take full responsibility.”
Judging by the way the Grand Duke spoke with sparkling eyes, he was clearly serious.
“……I’ll be fine.”
The topic soon shifted.
The Grand Duke spoke about upcoming exchanges with foreign royalty. Then he discussed concerns about managing the knight order, the capital’s economic situation, and preparations for an upcoming subjugation, consulting with Egail throughout.
As the conversation went on, both of their faces gradually turned pale.
Eventually, the Grand Duke buried his face into the table and muttered,
“Haah… I don’t want to work.”
An overwhelming workload was powerful enough to make even an Imperial Grand Duke want to run away.
“I wish someone who could do my job would just drop from the sky.”
“That really does sound like a dream.”
“Why! There could be someone out there! Someone stronger and more capable than this father, but with no conscience, hiding their abilities and loafing around in their room!”
“There’s no way.”
“Why not! If their parents are rich and powerful, they could just pretend to be incompetent and live lazily!”
At the oddly specific description, Arisha—who was eating cake—suddenly choked.
“……Cough.”
As if this were its moment, Bixiri instantly popped out.
[Master! Are you okay?! Was that guy who just sniped you, you?! ୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭]
[Bang—! Is there another one?]
[Hmph, none. Bixiri protects Master’s peace! ( ･`_･)7 Loyalty!]
Arisha lightly patted her chest to ease the discomfort.
“My daughter, are you all right? Hurry and drink some water.”
The Grand Duke said worriedly as he looked at his slender, fragile daughter.
“My daughter is so weak… it breaks my father’s heart.”
That supposedly frail hunter quietly wiped her lips, lowering her gaze and pretending to look delicate for no reason at all.
***
It had already been thirty minutes past the promised time for the inspector’s arrival.
Arisha frowned.
Beside her was a pile of knitting yarn she had asked Anna to bring.
She had planned to start knitting after the meeting, but no one from the Imperial Palace showed up.
Another thirty minutes passed before the inspector finally appeared.
With a deeply furrowed brow, he entered the reception room and immediately voiced his displeasure.
“Grand Duke’s Daughter, the attitude of your subordinates was utterly disgraceful. No one even came out to greet me at my arrival. Tsk.”
“You are the one who is late, are you not?”
“Ahahaha, indeed. I apologize. I sincerely beg your pardon for being late. I have no excuse—an urgent matter suddenly arose within my family.”
It was a ridiculous excuse.
It was unbelievable as a justification given by a mere noble to the eldest daughter of the Hart Grand Ducal House.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Inspector Lael.”
Lael was an influential noble who had recently been riding a wave of success, and he openly looked down on Arisha, whose reputation had fallen to the ground.
He looked quite young.
How old could he be—seventeen? Sixteen?
Even at a generous estimate, he was around Egail’s age. Arisha summed him up in two words.
Young, and arrogant.
“If my tardiness displeased you, please put your feelings at ease.”
Lael offered a smile that was more sly than apologetic. His rudeness steadily worsened Arisha’s mood.
“The magic inspection is nothing to worry about. There is absolutely no cause for concern for you, Grand Duke’s Daughter. It is merely a very simple and easy test.”
“…….”
“What time would be convenient for you tomorrow?”
“…….”
Lael, who had been talking nonstop on his own, finally sensed something was wrong. He realized that Arisha had not responded at all.
She was simply staring at him.
“……My lady?”
“I’m busy.”
“Ah, as expected of the Grand Duke’s Daughter. Then we’ll proceed accord—what?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected reply, he asked again in surprise.
“My schedule is completely full. Suddenly.”
“Grand Duke’s Daughter, why are you acting this way?”
Unable to hide his bewilderment, Lael questioned her.
“What could have suddenly come up—”
“Let’s see. What was on my schedule tomorrow?”
Arisha deliberately dragged out her words, pretending to think.
“Oh, I need to take a nap, then go for a walk. After that, I should read the new popular novels I brought in. If I have time, I’ll enjoy some refreshments in the garden as well.”
“Pardon? What exactly are you saying?”
“What? Do you have a problem with that?”
“N-no, of course not.”
When Arisha came on strongly, Lael—who had thought her easy to handle—hesitated.
Still, he had one trump card.
“However, as you know, the magic inspection scheduled for tomorrow will be attended by His Highness the Crown Prince, so acting so arbitrarily would be rather diffi—”
“That’s for you to deal with, isn’t it?”
Arisha cut off Lael’s attempt to invoke the Crown Prince in a cold voice.
“Well, th-that is…”
With the situation unfolding differently than he had expected, Lael was left speechless.
At that moment, Anna spoke as she brought out tea.
“P-please, have some tea while you talk.”
Flustered by Arisha’s attitude, Lael slightly bumped into Anna as she placed the teacup on the table.
“How dare you—do you know who you’re—!”
Cornered, he lashed out at Anna instead.
At that instant—
Magic extended toward Lael. It was such a subtle manipulation that no one in the room noticed.
The air in the room grew heavy as magic settled over Lael. Gravity doubled, crushing him downward.
“Ugh?!”
Lael collapsed onto his seat.
As the magic pressed down on his head, he was forced to bow before Arisha.
What—what is this?
“Why? Is it hard to move, Lael?”
“Th-that is…”
He tried to answer, but the words wouldn’t come out. It wasn’t just that he was at a loss for words.
His throat felt tightly constricted, suffocating and oppressive.
No matter how hard he tried to lift his head, it wouldn’t budge. Each attempt to resist only caused the crushing gravity to intensify.
C-could it be… magic?
That couldn’t be possible. Grand Duke’s Daughter Arisha was a magical cripple, someone without a single magic circuit.
“It seems difficult for you to speak.”
Lael barely managed to raise his head and felt a shiver run through his entire body.
Arisha’s golden eyes, looking down at him, were cold and emotionless—like blades of frost.
What… what is this…
Fear crept over him.
This situation itself was terrifying.
He had never once been defeated in his rise to success. Until now, the only negative gazes he had encountered fell into two categories.
Those who envied him, or those incompetent fools who tried to curry favor and climb the ladder.
Lael had always dismissed them as losers.
The Grand Duke’s Daughter was no different. He had regarded her as a loser as well—a magical cripple with a ruined social reputation—and looked down on her.
But her expression now was completely unlike anything he had seen before.
Emotionless. Disinterested. The face of someone so worn down that they felt nothing at all.
The face of someone mechanically repeating an act they had already done hundreds of times.
Lael’s face turned deathly pale.
Only then did clarity strike him. The one he had been rude to was none other than a direct descendant of the Hart Grand Ducal House.
Wham.
Once again, his head was forcibly driven down.
“I-I’m sorry, Grand Duke’s Daughter. I committed a grave discourtesy today.”
He could no longer speak or move.
All he could do was bow his head and pour all his strength into enduring the crushing magic pressing down on him.
A long silence followed.
Sensing the abrupt shift in atmosphere, Anna glanced at Arisha’s expression. But Arisha said nothing, merely sipping her tea.
Clink.
When Arisha set her teacup down, the magic pressing on Lael finally disappeared.
“Huff!”
He collapsed forward onto the table, gasping for air.
Arisha spoke calmly to the startled Anna.
“He says he’d like to stay bowed for a bit. Leave him be.”
“Y-yes…?”
Though confused, there was nothing more Anna could do. She hid her doubts and stepped back.
Taking the final sip of her tea, Arisha said,
“Do not be late tomorrow.”
Lael couldn’t properly answer, letting out only a metallic groan. His hand, hanging limply beneath the table, trembled violently.
