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~Chapter 28~
Dahlia blinked in surprise, still processing what she’d just heard, so Annie spoke up first to clarify the situation.
“How could Her Highness the Princess have ended up there alone?”
The only princess in this vast empire, left to nearly drown on her own? It made no sense.
Oreon, returning to his calm secretary persona, offered a wry smile and explained,
“It was our fault for not attending to Her Highness properly. There’s some risk of bad rumors spreading, so for now, only a small handful of people know the details.”
“I understand.”
Dahlia nodded, seeing the reasoning. If word got out that the princess had fallen into the lake, the nobles would surely invent all sorts of stories.
“Is Her Highness all right?”
Dahlia asked carefully.
This time, the chief attendant answered first.
“Yes. All thanks to you, my lady.”
“Not at all. Anyone would have done the same in that situation.”
Her modest, composed response deepened the old man’s smile. He couldn’t hide his delight.
To risk danger and help someone in distress, then to display such humility… What a perfect candidate for empress!
Oreon, too, had heard she was afraid of water—yet she’d done such a thing without hesitation.
“If anything happens in the palace from now on, Lady Hurdarn, please let me know. I’ll do everything I can to assist you.”
“Oh, that’s all righ— Actually, yes. I’ll be counting on you,” Dahlia replied, changing her answer mid-sentence as she realized befriending the chief attendant might help her learn more about the emperor.
“Anything for Lady Hurdarn will always take first priority,” Oreon chimed in enthusiastically.
“Me too! Please ask me for anything, anytime!” Heart added brightly.
“Thank you, all of you.”
Dahlia smiled warmly. The more connections she made to the emperor’s close aides, the more she could learn.
Watching her with a fond expression, the chief attendant muttered to himself,
“Hohoho… His Majesty certainly has good taste.”
“Pardon?”
Dahlia looked up, uncertain if she’d heard right.
The old man quickly waved it off.
“Oh, nothing. Well then, I’ll take my leave.”
“My lady, I’ll stop by again shortly,” Oreon said with a wink, heading out with the chief attendant.
“…Why is he coming back again?”
Dahlia asked Annie, who only shook her head in confusion.
Not long after Dahlia finished her meal and dressed to leave, Oreon returned as promised.
“Would you two come with me?”
“May I come as well?”
Cole, standing a step behind the ladies, asked nervously.
“Of course!” Oreon replied cheerfully, then led them down a path not far from the main palace.
At the end of the path stood a small palace—its front yard a broad garden, with a tea table, dazzling walls made of crystal that sparkled in every color, and tall white marble columns carefully carved by master artisans.
It was beautiful, even at a glance.
“Shall we go inside?”
As they entered the main doors, a line of maids stood waiting. At the end of the row, Heart smiled sweetly as she caught Dahlia’s eye.
“Welcome, my lady.”
Dahlia and Annie exchanged puzzled glances.
“Secretary Oreon, why are we here?”
“No need to be so formal. Please, just call me Oreon. From today, you two will be staying here.”
Oreon grinned mischievously.
What kind of relationship does he think we have?
Dahlia awkwardly swallowed that retort and chose a different question.
“All right, Oreon… but why just us?”
“Well, your last lodging had quite a few men around, so I thought you might have been uncomfortable.”
“Not really,” Dahlia answered with a straight face.
Oreon cleared his throat and pressed on.
“Ahem. Anyway, His Majesty especially arranged for you both to stay here, as a token of appreciation for Lady Hurdarn’s brave deed. How do you like it? This is one of the most beautiful palaces in the imperial grounds.”
“Ah… yes,” Dahlia said, glancing around with only mild interest.
Oreon, reading her reaction, gave a knowing smile. The maids, on the other hand, started whispering among themselves.
After all, the entire palace was built from expensive crystal, making it the stuff of dreams among noblewomen—everyone wanted to catch a glimpse inside.
Doesn’t she realize how rare this is? the maids wondered. Is it true what they say about crystal being everywhere in the Kingdom of Poeverne?
“It must be easy to find crystal in Poeverne, right?” Oreon asked.
“Yes, it is,” Dahlia answered simply.
Having grown up surrounded by crystal walls in her palace, she hardly found it impressive—her own horse’s stable was made of crystal, after all.
The maids whispered even more.
So the rumors were true…
Meanwhile, Dahlia quietly called Oreon over.
“Oreon, could I ask something? Who was it that saved me? I’d like to thank them properly.”
“Ah… Well, that’s a little difficult to answer…”
Oreon scratched his neck, clearly troubled. It was obvious everything regarding the princess’s rescue was to be kept secret.
Dahlia nodded in understanding.
“Then could you please pass along my gratitude?”
“Of course.”
“Oh, and… did you happen to see a letter there? I just wondered…”
“A letter? Was there something like that? Is it important? I could go back and—”
“No, no! If you didn’t see it, it’s fine!”
Dahlia quickly stopped his fussing.
“All right. Is there anything else you need?”
Oreon gave her a friendly smile.
“No, I’m fine. Thank you.”
“Then I hope you’ll be comfortable here,” Oreon said, bowing like an actor before leaving.
Deep in the forest—
Clang, clang, clang!
A two-meter-tall iron cage rattled wildly as if about to burst.
KUAAAAAA!
From inside what looked like an empty cage, a beast’s roar echoed.
Roand, the captain, approached the nervous knights standing guard.
“Good work, everyone.”
The lieutenant at the cage bowed quickly.
“It’s thanks to you, Captain, that we managed to catch it. If we were meant to kill it instead, it wouldn’t have been this much trouble.”
The lieutenant sprayed holy water from a crystal vial into the cage.
KUAAAAAAK!
The cage had seemed empty, but as soon as the holy water touched, a monster’s form appeared—a leathery bat-like wing on one side, a body vaguely like a monkey’s, and a wide, slashed mouth lined with jagged fangs, above which three red eyes glared at Roand with pure malice.
But as soon as the holy water dried, the beast faded to invisibility again.
“It’s terrifying to see a monster in person,” the lieutenant muttered, grimacing at the apparently empty cage.
These creatures couldn’t be seen or caught unless hit with holy water or a weapon imbued with divine power. If someone hadn’t accidentally splashed one with holy water, no one would even know such monsters existed.
So far, they’d only appeared at the outskirts of the imperial capital, but no one knew how many there were, or where they’d come from.
Their invisible bodies let them fly freely, and just capturing this single one had taken over a month.
Ku ku ku ku… Ku ku ku ku…
The beast, which had been howling and battering its cage, suddenly changed its tune.
Sensing something wrong, Roand drew his sword and scanned the surroundings.
“Everyone, stay on guard!”
