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Chapter 9
By using this marriage, he had extracted every benefit he could.
The Count of Damon’s family had also gained a respectable trading house.
“So what are you planning to do?”
Chase smiled faintly.
“My mother left behind certain things for times like this, did she not?”
She was dead, but what Rosaline had taught Chase remained intact. He remembered every bit of it clearly.
“Do not worry, Father. I will take care of it.”
Count Damon nodded.
“I’m counting on you. What should we do with Melison?”
“Let him play a little longer. There will be a day when he is needed for something important.”
Once the prince was over fifteen, his sister, Empress Rosaline, was preparing for a new campaign.
The chessboard had been laid out. It was time for the pieces to find their places.
The eldest daughter of the Damon family, Rosaline, was spending time with the prince.
Rosaline affectionately stroked Prince Silas’s cheek.
“Prince Silas, did you study hard today too?”
“Yes, Mother.”
Silas answered obediently and nodded.
“But Mother…”
“Yes?”
“I’m already an adult now. Cheek-stroking is something you do to children. So……”
“Oh, you.”
Rosaline pinched Silas’s cheek firmly.
“Our adorable Silas, do you not realize that saying things like that makes you seem even more childish?”
Silas pouted.
“Mother treats me like a child too much.”
Rosaline smiled brightly.
“I want our prince to stay a child forever.”
“Why? I want to grow up quickly.”
“Once the prince grows up, you will have many things to do. You will make more friends than now, too. And that is not all. Prince Silas will one day have someone he likes.”
“Ah……”
Silas shook his head vigorously.
No matter how he thought about it, that did not sound possible.
“There are so many things in this world worth experiencing, far more than the prince thinks. And when you meet them, this mother will no longer be visible at all.”
“That could never happen.”
Silas looked up at Empress Rosaline with bright, clear eyes. Rosaline tapped his soft white cheek and said,
“Still, that is fine. Whatever choice the prince makes, I will always be by your side.”
Rosaline kissed Silas on the forehead.
“Now, go on. The prince has his next schedule, doesn’t he?”
“Hm… but, Mother.”
“Yes?”
“Can I go see my brother this weekend?”
“That is……”
“I want to see him, Mother. Didn’t you say you would support whatever choice I make?”
Rosaline’s eyes warmed as she looked at her son, who had just carefully repeated his own words.
“That is true, but… not this week, Prince. This weekend is the day your grandfather comes to the imperial palace. Would you ignore your grandfather just to go see your brother?”
Silas shook his head.
“Then what about next week?”
“Next week, the Crown Prince has an engagement, Silas. Your brother will be attending a diplomatic event next weekend.”
“Then the week after that!”
Silas’s eyes sparkled.
Rosaline said with a helpless expression,
“All right. If your schedule and the Crown Prince’s schedule match then, do as you please.”
“Yay!”
Rosaline patted Silas on the shoulder, meaning it was time for him to return. Silas left Rosaline’s room with a bright face.
Rosaline’s expression changed strangely as she watched the spot where Silas disappeared.
“My beloved Silas.”
A tender whisper settled low in the room.
“Since there has been a request for soundproof magic to be cast on Stadion, Mage Ibraim is to comply.”
Ibraim, the mage dispatched from the Magic Tower, crumpled the order sheet in his hand.
As Ibraim clicked his tongue with a disgusted expression, the apprentice mage who had come with him to the Stadion ducal estate, which had been at the center of controversy both in the past and now, spoke.
“Those carriages are loading food supplies, hay, and feed into Stadion right now.”
“I heard the Duke of Stadion lives alone. What kind of need would there be for dozens of carriages?”
“I’ve heard they’ve been collecting animals lately.”
“Collecting? Rich people really do all kinds of bizarre things.”
Ibraim spat the words out coldly.
By nature, Ibraim did not like people. Among people, he especially disliked nobles.
Nobles committed all manner of odd acts and harmed others without feeling shame or remorse. They considered everything they enjoyed to be only natural.
Ibraim could not tolerate that.
Coming from the streets, he had seen many people wronged by nobles, and that was why he despised them.
Among them, he hated Agatha of Stadion the most.
According to rumor, Agatha had a special talent for tormenting others with the power and authority she possessed.
“M-Master Ibraim! What if someone hears you?”
The apprentice mage stamped his feet anxiously.
Ibraim was famous even within the Magic Tower as an eccentric. He never held his tongue, and there were no shortage of colleagues who clashed with him.
At least the gods had granted Ibraim a face that won people’s favor, and for that the apprentice was deeply grateful.
Golden hair with a sacred sheen, green eyes like carved forest leaves, a smooth voice like honey, and a strikingly beautiful face that was nothing like the venomous words he spoke.
Thanks to that, despite his personality, he still had plenty of people around him.
Gods really are unfair.
Ibraim muttered, completely unaware of what the apprentice was thinking.
“So this whole mansion needs soundproof magic cast on it?”
At Ibraim’s words, the apprentice mage nodded.
“Yes, the entire estate. Payment has already been completed.”
“What a ridiculous waste of money. Do they really have that much money to burn?”
“Well…”
The apprentice mage swallowed the rest of his sentence.
No matter what he said, it did not seem like it would reach Ibraim’s ears.
“Then why is it so noisy?”
Ibraim frowned and raised his head.
Beyond the wall, strange sounds were coming from inside.
“Quack quack!”
“Grrk! Arrrr, woof woof!”
“Guuuhhh!”
Those kinds of noises.
“Truly an odd bunch.”
“Myaaaooow.”
At the very small meow, Ibraim narrowed his eyes and looked up over the wall.
A cat with a white body and mottled markings was looking at him with pretty yellow eyes.
Then the cat rubbed its face as though washing it with its front paw and tilted its head.
“……”
“Myaaaoow.”
After finishing its face wash, the cat sat down in a loaf-like position and began nodding off.
Then someone’s voice came from inside.
“Oh dear, Jelly! Come down here. You need to eat your jure!”
“Myaaow!”
The cat, which had been dozing, suddenly opened its eyes and leapt down into Stadion.
Ibraim swallowed and asked the apprentice mage,
“…Does the duke keep cats too?”
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that every abandoned animal in the capital has come here. I’m sure it’s not just cats.”
Ibraim’s pupils wavered.
Jelly, was it? Jelly.
Hah. That name really suits a creature like that…
It was a fittingly appropriate name for those pink paw pads.
The mage had come and gone, and the soundproofing magic had been cast solidly.
I had told the servants to go outside and check whether they could still hear the animals, and they said they could hear nothing at all.
Worth every coin.
And to maintain this paradise, there were things that absolutely had to be watched carefully.
“First, absolutely no entry for anyone who bullies our babies.”
“Yes!”
“Second, any abandoned animals should be brought here gently the moment they’re found. Not dragged here—brought here.”
“Yes, Your Grace!”
They were already suffering from being abandoned. How miserable would it be to be handled roughly on top of that?
I wanted those who had already been hurt to never be hurt again.
“Third, if anything is uncomfortable, speak up at any time.”
The servants nodded so hard it looked like their necks might snap off.
I had no intention of sacrificing the servants’ well-being just to take care of the animals.
“If you need anything, come to me anytime too.”
“Yes!”
And finally, the most important thing of all.
The blacklist.
People who must never be allowed in here!
There was only one way to keep Nael from coming here.
“Ah! And absolutely, absolutely do not allow a puppy named Hisha to enter here. Understand?”
