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Chapter 14
After finishing the meal, Cassia stepped out into the castle gardens with Drayian.
“Forgive me.”
“…”
“Ciaaa.”
“…”
“You’re so mean. We’ve been friends for years, but you’re taking the side of a man you’ve only known for a month just because he’s your husband?”
“This isn’t about taking sides, Ian.”
Still walking ahead with a composed expression, Cassia frowned and suddenly turned to face Drayian, who had been trailing after her. In truth, Drayian had never intended to argue childishly over whose side she was on. He had only been trying to get the attention of the woman who wouldn’t even look at him because she seemed upset.
“It’s about your image. What do you think people will think if they hear you talking like that?”
“Whatever they think. But seriously, can you really live eating food like that? I couldn’t get used to it at all.”
“I’m no longer the Count’s daughter of Ruberno. From now on, I have to live here as the Baroness. Are you telling me I should complain about the food like a spoiled child?”
“…Cia.”
“I’m worried about you too. You’ve already inherited your territory. You’re a proper lord now, responsible for all the people living there. How can you still act like a child? Honestly, this is exactly why I was so worried about leaving you behind when I came to Greze. Really…”
“You’ve become the only adult among us, Cia.”
“What?”
Drayian murmured absentmindedly as he stared at her.
It was true. Cassia really did seem like a completely different person after only a month in Greze. She had once been a gentle, soft-hearted noble lady, but now she seemed more like an experienced noblewoman who had weathered countless hardships and spent years managing a territory.
“You remind me of my mother.”
Cassia winced at his absentminded remark.
Come to think of it, although Drayian had become a proper lord, he was still young. Besides, he had always been rather childish by nature.
As for herself… although only a month had passed, she had actually traveled back ten years. Inside, she was already a grown woman. Naturally, she would end up saying things like this.
Right. I’d better tone it down.
After raising Rael and Lucy, lecturing people had become second nature to her. Swallowing the words that almost slipped out, Cassia deliberately changed the subject.
“By the way, how long are you planning to stay? You shouldn’t leave your territory unattended for too long.”
“About two weeks.”
“What? That long?”
Seeing her surprise, Drayian narrowed his eyes.
“You don’t want me here?”
“It’s not that. I’m just worried.”
“I made sure everything was in order before I left. Stop treating me like a child. Besides… I really wanted to see you too, so I thought I’d take the opportunity…”
He reached into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out a sheet of parchment folded twice. When he unfolded it, strange symbols covered the page—neither illustrations nor ordinary writing.
It was clearly not the Imperial language.
Cassia recognized it immediately.
Ancient language.
Nowadays, only a handful of scholars researching ancient civilizations could barely decipher it. However, among the noble families of Havelrn and Ruberno, where many ancient ruins had been unearthed, dictionaries and manuscripts written in the ancient language had been passed down through generations. It was said that some of their ancestors had devoted themselves to studying it.
Of course, the study of ancient civilizations had never been particularly profitable, so the present-day nobles of Havelrn and Ruberno were almost completely ignorant of the ancient language.
“I was hoping my dear Cia could help me with this.”
“So you had an ulterior motive.”
“That’s a little hurtful.”
Smiling good-naturedly, Drayian placed the parchment into Cassia’s hands.
He was right.
She wasn’t fluent enough to speak like one of the ancients, but she could decipher the language to some extent. As a child, she had spent countless hours reading the books in her father’s library.
“These are inscriptions carved onto magic stones. They seem to describe what type of magic is sealed inside them, but everything’s written metaphorically. It’s been giving me a headache trying to interpret them.”
“Didn’t you hire scholars? Why not ask them?”
“The low-grade magic stones are fine because their spell formulas are relatively simple. But I don’t want to reveal the types of magic sealed inside high-grade stones. We’re working together, but I can’t trust everyone.”
“That’s true.”
Nodding, Cassia slowly began reading the ancient script.
“To the one… lost in darkness and despair… the divine light… shall be bestowed?”
“Remember the low-grade magic stone I gave you as a present? That’s the inscription carved on it.”
“Oh! So it contained a light-producing spell. ‘To the one lost in darkness and despair, divine light shall be bestowed.'”
“Exactly. But here’s the frustrating part. The inscriptions on low-grade stones are relatively easy to interpret. The high-grade ones… not at all. Honestly, I don’t even know what these mean.”
“Hmm… Let’s see. ‘To the pitiful soul… stained by regret… and remorse… the opportunity for repentance shall be granted. The God of Opportunity… shall demand an appropriate price… and you shall begin anew… the stage of repentance…’ What is this supposed to mean?”
“I wish I knew…”
“Even if I can translate it, I have no idea what kind of magic it’s referring to.”
“But if we can decipher the spell formulas and identify what kind of magic they contain, it’ll be a huge breakthrough. High-grade magic stones don’t just contain ordinary spells. They can hold magic that changes the weather, commands spirits…”
Cassia frowned thoughtfully.
So that’s why the magic engineering industry collapsed.
The truly powerful high-grade magic stones were so difficult to understand that no one could even determine how to use them. They might contain incredible magic, but as things stood, they were little more than meaningless riddles.
And yet… they had given one of these high-grade magic stones to Jester as compensation for participating in the territorial war.
Remembering the past again, anger made Cassia tremble.
They had tightened their belts to the last notch just to scrape together enough money to assemble an army.
And after all that, her husband had returned holding out nothing more than a useless rock as their reward.
Greze had never possessed the funds to permanently maintain and train knights or mercenaries. Embarrassing as it was, the castle’s permanent military force consisted of only about five mercenaries whom Jester had befriended during his days with a mercenary company and later brought back with him.
Whenever military support was needed, they had to hire troops temporarily from the capital or neighboring territories.
But when they marched to repel the invading forces attacking Havelrn and Ruberno, Jester had overextended himself. Perhaps because he was helping his father-in-law, he had hired far more soldiers than Greze could comfortably afford.
At the very least, they should have recovered those expenses through their reward.
“Ian.”
“Yes, Cia?”
“This magic engineering industry… do you really think it’ll succeed?”
“Of course! Everyone’s rushing to invest in it right now!”
No, it’ll fail.
Even if she told him that, he clearly wouldn’t believe her. His expression alone made it obvious how passionately he believed in the future of magic engineering.
Fine. Maybe I can’t stop the industry’s collapse, but this time I can at least stop Jester from going off to war just to come back with another worthless stone.
If she threatened him by saying, If you insist on joining that campaign, you’re asking to see me die, perhaps Jester would finally reconsider.
In her previous life, she had never interfered with anything Jester chose to do. Naturally, she had never once told him not to go to war.
That had been his responsibility, after all.
Besides, if he didn’t earn money that way, they would have had no way to survive.
There’s no reason to stop a war that actually earns money. But there’s every reason to stop one when I already know he’ll be betrayed in the end.
This time, she resolved that she would absolutely prevent Jester from joining that campaign.
Late that night, sitting alone in her bedroom, Cassia found herself lost in thought.
Drayian had announced that he intended to remain in Greze much longer than expected.
Once they finished hosting him, their planned inspection of the territory would be significantly delayed. In her previous life, they had begun touring the territory only four days after she arrived in Greze. Compared to then, this was a considerable postponement.
The mention of the inspection reminded her of Lady Margaret.
Lady Margaret had five children to care for, a sick husband, and a small inn to run. Her income was barely enough to survive, so she had taken on sewing work as a side job. She worked herself so relentlessly that she eventually coughed up blood before dying from exhaustion.
She was simply too kind.
Whenever poor travelers appeared, she often let them stay without charging for lodging.
It was frustrating, but kindness was simply part of her nature. Cassia couldn’t bring herself to tell her to become cold-hearted.
She doesn’t have much time left. I need to convince her to stop working so hard and take care of herself.
Growing increasingly anxious, Cassia hurried to her feet.
Even though it was already late at night, she couldn’t bear to wait another moment. She intended to find Jester immediately and ask him to begin inspecting the territory as early as tomorrow.
Still dressed in her nightclothes with only a coat thrown over them, she opened her bedroom door.
The moment it swung open, she nearly screamed.
“Good… heavens. You startled me.”
Her heart nearly stopped.
Jester was standing directly outside her door.
Seeing her clutching her chest in surprise, Jester became even more flustered.
“I-I’m sorry. Did I frighten you?”
“…A little.”
“I’m truly sorry. I never meant to startle you.”
“It’s alright.”
“But where are you going at this hour?”
Jester had asked out of genuine concern.
Unfortunately, Cassia immediately suspected he had misunderstood something again, and irritation welled up inside her.
“I was on my way to see you, Baron.”
“Me? Why?”
Jester had been standing outside her room, endlessly debating what he should say if she came out.
The instant he heard that she had actually been coming to see him, his spirits soared.
But the hope blooming inside him quickly withered.
“I wanted to discuss the inspection of the territory. If you’re willing, I’d like us to leave tomorrow.”
“…Ah. Why the sudden rush? We can wait until after we’ve properly hosted Viscount Havelrn.”
“Let’s not talk out here. Please come inside.”
Stepping aside, Cassia gestured toward her room.
“Ahem… Excuse me.”
Jester awkwardly stepped forward.
Bang!
“Ah!”
Whether from nervousness or simple clumsiness, he slammed his shoulder directly into the doorframe.
The loud crash startled Cassia.
An instant later, a small decorative picture frame hanging on the nearby wall shook loose and came plummeting toward the floor.
“Gasp!”
It would have landed squarely on Cassia’s head—
—but Jester’s hand shot out with lightning speed and caught it in midair.
It wasn’t large enough to cause a serious injury, but it certainly would have left an embarrassing lump on her forehead.
Still clutching her racing heart, Cassia looked up into Jester’s face.
He looked even more frightened than she did.
“A-Are you alright? That was close.”
“Yes. Because of you.”
“…Sorry.”
“It’s alright. Losing control of your strength isn’t exactly a new habit of yours.”
Have I ever actually lost control of my strength in front of Cassia before?
Jester thought about it for a moment.
When she invited him to sit, he quietly rehung the picture frame before awkwardly making his way toward a chair.
His arms and legs moved so stiffly that it almost looked as though they belonged to different people.
Watching him silently, Cassia sat down across from him.
“Viscount Havelrn says he’ll be staying much longer than expected. I have no idea why he’s leaving his territory unattended for so long after just inheriting it, but he’s so stubborn that I couldn’t stop him.”
“…He doesn’t want to leave you.”
Jester muttered sourly.
Ignoring the comment completely, Cassia continued.
“I’m worried our schedule will be delayed too much, so I’d like us to inspect the territory tomorrow. Is that alright?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Thank you.”
Relieved, Cassia nodded.
Silence settled over the room.
After sneaking several glances at his wife, who seemed to have nothing more to say, Jester finally frowned slightly.
“Was… that really the only reason you came looking for me?”
“Yes. But why were you looking for me, Baron?”
Her expression clearly said, Now that we’re finished, I’d really like you to leave.
She had probably wanted to tell him to go the moment their business was over, but had hesitated out of politeness.
The thought left Jester feeling strangely unsettled.
His reply came out more sullenly than he intended.
“We’re husband and wife. Do we need a reason to see each other?”
Cassia stared blankly at him.
In her previous life, Jester had never sought her out except on the nights they shared a bed.
Hearing those words come from that same indifferent husband felt almost unbelievable.
“Of course not… but it’s almost midnight…”
Then—
“Oh.”
Realization dawned on her.
“So… you came here for… that, didn’t you?”
