If Diana had not been there, he would have frowned with utter displeasure, but he could not show such a look in front of her, so he barely held himself back.
Liselotte had considered Diana an eyesore for a long time.
She nitpicked over anything, and once even shoved her down the stairs so blatantly that the already frail Diana hovered between life and death for weeks.
Perhaps because she had been screamed at — asked if she wanted to be executed immediately for attempted murder — she seemed to have stopped pushing her down the stairs after that.
Even so, the bullying continued.
‘So she wasn’t quiet after going to the North, after all.’
He thought the Grand Duke Keilos was handling most things.
He couldn’t understand why she had suddenly begun acting publicly like this.
In his memory, Liselotte had neither the talent nor the personality for such behavior.
Valen, still looking at the letter, asked without much thought:
“The North claims they received a message telling them not to come up in advance. What happened with that?”
Diana answered in a tearful voice:
“I-I don’t know. We never sent such a letter, never even saw one, but they’re insisting we did… How are we supposed to prove something doesn’t exist?”
“Sigh… Right. You’re not wrong. It seems Liselotte must be in need of money.”
Of course.
Valen gave up trying to understand his sister.
He had never been able to communicate with her properly, even in the past.
How could he exchange opinions with someone who sneered and told him to mind his own business whenever he tried to do anything?
Especially because he knew that when it came to anything involving Diana, Liselotte became more high-handed and unreasonable than anyone else, he had nothing left to say.
Diana fiddled with her teacup, blinking her large eyes before asking in a worried tone
“Do you think Princess Liselotte is having a hard time because of me?”
“What are you talking about? If she caused trouble, then she should handle the consequences herself.”
“Still, don’t scold her too much, Valen. I really did want to get closer to Princess Liselotte.”
Seeing Diana’s bittersweet smile, Valen let out another sigh.
What on earth was his sister doing to someone this kind-hearted?
It seemed necessary to mediate before relations between the North and East grew even worse.
So Valen sent her a letter for the first time.
The day after he heard it had been delivered to the North, a reply from Liselotte arrived for Valen.
[Imperial law, Article 2, Clause 4 on territorial independence in subjugations.
The Central region does not forcibly intervene in conflicts arising between territories regarding subjugations and recognizes their independent authority.]
That was all.
No explanation, no excuses, nothing except that short excerpt from Imperial law.
Meaning—
‘She’s telling me not to interfere.’
Valen crumpled his face in disgust and put the letter aside.
She used to scream her head off about not wanting to go to the North.
But now that it suits her, she claims she’s a Northerner and tells him not to meddle.
He remembered the handful of hair she had ripped out back then.
A dull ache seemed to return to the area around his scalp, and he pressed his forehead.
Diana’s tearful face came to mind.
Considering the kinds of things Liselotte normally did, there was simply no way he could avoid stepping in.
Besides, he had already seen the letter with his own eyes.
‘What on earth is she thinking, making such a mess?’
Hu, since he could not intervene legally, there was only one thing Valen could do.
“I will have to speak with the Grand Duke.”
He was certain Eren had no idea what was going on.
Even the letter requesting a conversation had been met with that kind of response, so Valen had no other options.
***
“Your Highness, Your Highness!”
Marsha came rushing into the room, out of breath, holding a letter.
Liselotte had even gone so far as to send a letter telling them not to interfere.
The letter in Marsha’s hand bore the large, unmistakable seal of the Perida Empire.
And it was not ordinary stationery but thick, formal paper.
That meant the letter was not addressed to Liselotte.
Marsha shouted in a trembling voice:
“Your Highness, a-an invitation has arrived from the Capital!”
“What?”
It was a banquet invitation.
A banquet, at a time like this?
For a moment, Liselotte wondered if the letter she had sent had somehow been altered.
She asked Marsha, who was anxiously fidgeting with her fingers:
“There’s still no reply from the East about canceling the damage recovery proposal, right?”
“No. I think you may need to wait a little longer.”
Until now, they had always sent immediate, blunt responses. Yet this time, nothing.
And if a letter had arrived from the Central region instead, that could very well be considered their answer.
“…Did she go and say whatever she pleased to Valen?”
In the original story, Eren rarely attended banquets.
As a child, he had skipped them because he lacked the foundation.
Once grown, he avoided them because of the whispers stirred up by his golden eyes.
Valen’s invitation was vicious for that very reason.
‘He sent it knowing that no one can refuse an invitation from the Imperial Family.’
After a brief moment of thought, Liselotte nodded and replied,
“I should inform His Highness the Grand Duke that he will need to attend a banquet sometime soon.”
“Y-you’re going?”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t as if she could just lie down and avoid it.
Besides, the date for the High Priest’s visit still hadn’t been set, so she couldn’t dodge this by pretending to be sick.
And the fact that Valen had sent an invitation like this meant he had no intention of having a conversation through letters.
In truth, Liselotte could somewhat understand his reaction.
‘In the original story too, and from her own memories, Liselotte really didn’t talk with her brother much.’
She only remembered the two of them saying what they wanted to say and nothing more.
Usually, Valen tried to stop her, and she ignored him.
Even so, she was the one who pushed Diana down the stairs.
In reality, Diana often suffered from minor illnesses and couldn’t get out of bed.
And Liselotte was the one who once caused her to fall into a coma.
‘She was lucky to survive. If she had gone straight to the stars, it would’ve been murder.’
Yet Diana decided to cover up the incident and move on.
And the only reason was because Liselotte was Valen’s younger sister.
In the original story, Valen learned the truth and blamed himself terribly for it.
Because of that, even the already strained relationship where they shouted at each other grew even more distant.
Liselotte scrunched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.
‘And I even gave them a chance by warning them that the magic stone mine exploded. They’re the ones at fault for demanding money right away.’
She checked her documents once more.
“There’s the letter Hedmilton sent, and something about Sir Masid too…”
With this much evidence, he wouldn’t be able to pull anything ridiculous, but she still felt vaguely dissatisfied.
‘It would be nice if someone familiar with the eastern region could tell me the current situation of House Gloria.’
There was no evidence as reliable as hearing about the current situation in the East directly from someone involved.
Liselotte was practically ignorant about anything that only circulated as rumor.
‘Because… I don’t have any friends!’
Even baseless rumors often held at least one gram of truth.
The closest thing she had to recent information about House Gloria was the story about the mercenary, who was the commander of their subjugation force, who had supposedly left with hired men.
The problem was that no one really knew his destination.
According to the rumors, he seemed to have already left the Gloria estate, and there was no way to know where he had gone.
‘I’m pretty sure the original story said his hometown was Lergo Village in the southern part of the East…’
Did he go back home?
Most mercenaries wandered without a fixed destination.
Since they had no clear place of residence, contacting them was difficult, and conversations usually had to be made through mutual acquaintances.
‘The problem is… would I even know anyone?’
Liselotte asked Marsha without much expectation.
“Is there anyone who might know about a mercenary from Lergo Village?”
“If it’s Lergo, that’s the East, right? It’s a very eventful region… Should I look into it first?”
“Yeah. Even circulating information is fine, so if anyone knows anything, tell them to report everything. I’ll compensate them properly.”
“Understood!”
Holding the invitation, Liselotte rose from her seat.
Marsha, who had been waiting quietly, asked again with slightly startled eyes,
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to personally inform His Highness that an invitation has arrived.”
