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Chapter 51
Karin was a remarkably resilient person, so in just a few days she returned to her usual energetic self.
Organizing her thoughts was simple as well.
If he wouldn’t stay by her side until the end, then she could simply find another man to love.
There was no rule saying she absolutely had to date anyone.
If she couldn’t find a man she liked, then she could just live alone.
Come to think of it, a life of spending money freely and living however she pleased didn’t sound bad at all.
It was a little bittersweet that after all that effort she still hadn’t won Arken’s heart, but people’s feelings didn’t always go the way one wanted.
The things she had experienced would become valuable lessons.
Her heart hurt a little, but she was fine.
Really.
“You don’t die just because you can’t love someone. Love isn’t everything in life, is it?”
As Karin muttered to herself, her eyes suddenly met the statue of the Saintess sitting on the table.
The statue wore a benevolent smile and spread its arms wide, as though asking,
“Isn’t love actually everything in life?”
Well, you can think whatever you want.
Karin puffed out her cheeks at the statue.
If someone asked why she kept a Saintess statue despite not believing in the Saintess, it was because she had received it as a reward for helping Marta before.
It was a replica modeled after a golden statue.
Come to think of it, the Saintess Memorial Day was only a few days away.
Being Esmeril—a nation that lived and breathed the Saintess—there was naturally a story attached to it.
According to legend, before ancient Esmeril was founded, during a chaotic age of war, the Saintess appeared riding a dragon.
She gathered followers around her and established a settlement where Esmeril’s current capital now stood.
As more people followed her, the Saintess’s responsibilities grew.
She led the people with exceptional leadership, cared for the sick, and even served as a supreme judge who distinguished right from wrong.
Thus, Esmeril seemed to enjoy an age of peace and prosperity.
But nothing lasted forever.
The Saintess originally belonged to the heavens and could not remain on earth indefinitely.
When the time came for her to return to the skies, the people wept, saying they could not live without her.
Pitying them, the Saintess promised that every year, on a specific date, she would watch over Esmeril and deliver a divine oracle.
The day she promised to deliver that oracle became Saintess Memorial Day.
Ancient records claimed that people had witnessed the oracle firsthand, and there were even books dedicated to interpreting it.
Still, whether one believed it or not was another matter.
After all, the last appearance of that oracle had been five hundred years ago.
“Miss, everything’s ready.”
At that moment, a maid entered through the door, instantly sweeping away Karin’s idle thoughts.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and come out.”
She was the new maid hired after Marie returned to her hometown.
Her tone was somewhat cold, but Karin assumed she was naturally like Marta and didn’t pay much attention to it.
As she stepped into the hallway and descended the stairs, she noticed the other maids passing by flinching whenever they saw her.
Are they still afraid of me?
Come to think of it, ever since possessing this body, she had never really chatted with any of the maids except Marie.
The other maids in the mansion still seemed to view her as the terrifying Karin of old.
Not that she needed to win their approval.
They could think whatever they wanted.
Without paying them any mind, Karin continued downstairs.
Today was the day of the council meeting.
The very meeting that would decide whether the prince of Iritta would be allowed into Esmeril.
And Karin had completed all the preparations necessary to make the meeting a success.
Five minutes before the meeting began.
The conference room was filled with heavy silence.
As always, the King lounged limply in the chair at the center of the table while nobles packed the seats around him.
Then a cheerful voice shattered the silence.
“Could you move aside for a moment? Yes, yes. Thank you. A little more to the side. Great.”
A woman with red curly hair flowing down to her waist was dragging a portable presentation panel into the room.
It looked like something one would use at the Academy.
A white cloth covered the panel, making it impossible to see what was written on it.
“Why is the Young Lady here…?”
“She must have come in Duke Tricia’s place.”
“And what exactly is that thing she’s carrying?”
Karin carefully placed the portable panel in a corner of the conference room.
Then she found an empty seat and sat down.
She could hear people whispering, but ignored them.
A moment later, someone tapped the table.
Looking over, she found Duke Lucas gesturing toward her.
He was probably curious about the panel.
Karin simply raised and lowered her eyebrows in response.
How impatient.
He would find out soon enough.
“Now then, let us begin today’s meeting.”
Once the appointed time arrived, the moderator struck the table with a stack of documents to gather everyone’s attention.
“The current agenda concerns monsters appearing in the northern region. Smokes have been repeatedly sighted in the north…”
The meeting progressed at a painfully slow pace.
Whatever happened to the other issues was none of her concern.
Karin listened with one ear and let it leave through the other.
Watching Duke Lucas actively participate made her feel a little guilty.
Every so often, he would glance at her.
His cold red eyes seemed to ask,
“If you’re not going to participate, why did you even come?”
“…Next agenda item. We have received an official request from Iritta. They seek permission for the Third Prince to enter our country. Apparently he wishes to travel here.”
At last.
The moment had arrived.
“Why even discuss it? Just approve it.”
“Indeed. Let’s move on.”
As expected, the nobles were ready to pass over the issue without a second thought.
Possibly the most important matter on today’s agenda.
“Wait a moment!”
At Karin’s shout, every eye turned toward her.
“No matter how friendly Iritta may be, we shouldn’t allow foreign royalty in so casually. Especially not under the current circumstances.”
Everyone looked confused at her sudden interruption.
Now that she had started, she needed to explain what she meant by the current circumstances.
Of course, everyone would probably call it nonsense.
Karin glanced down at the thick binder she had brought.
Well, she just had to persuade them somehow.
However, an unexpected obstacle emerged.
The nobles, who had remained quiet until now, suddenly began finding fault with her.
“You’ve stayed silent all this time, so why now…?”
That was true enough that she couldn’t argue.
“A social gathering for women and a council meeting are entirely different matters…”
So women who attended social gatherings weren’t allowed to attend meetings?
The intention behind the remark was painfully obvious.
Karin memorized the face of the noble who had spoken.
“And why exactly has the Young Lady come to this meeting…?”
She had been about to explain that.
Karin stood up, dragging her chair loudly in hopes of silencing the room.
But the nobles had no intention of shutting up.
“This isn’t something for the Young Lady to interfere with.”
“If you’ve come in Duke Tricia’s place, you should sit quietly.”
One after another, the nobles voiced their complaints.
It was as if they were finally venting all the resentment they had built up toward Karin.
She hadn’t expected this level of opposition.
The situation was becoming rather troublesome.
She hadn’t wanted to do this in front of the King.
But it couldn’t be helped.
Just as Karin was about to raise her voice and demand silence—
“I invited her.”
A low voice cut through the noise.
Everyone turned to look.
It was Duke Lucas.
“You invited her?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“Ahem. No, none.”
The nobles instantly fell silent.
No one wanted to confront Duke Lucas directly.
Moreover, the entry of a foreign prince had nothing to do with their personal interests.
There was no reason to take unnecessary risks.
Once the room quieted, Karin gave Duke Lucas a small nod of thanks.
It was then that the King, who had been slouching lazily the entire time, finally showed interest in her.
“Continue what you were saying earlier.”
It seemed less like he was interested in her words and more interested in Karin herself.
But that was good enough.
Karin moved the portable panel where everyone could see it.
Then she removed the cloth.
The panel revealed a massive world map.
“First, I need to explain the international situation. Everyone knows that the Saraha Empire and the Radian Empire are practically desperate to go to war with each other, right?”
The western Saraha Empire.
The eastern Radian Empire.
In the world of Clueless… [omitted], they were two superpowers of nearly equal strength.
If either nation fell, the other would dominate the continent.
As a result, both constantly searched for opportunities to swallow the other whole.
“Look at this strait between the two empires. Nearly all of Radian’s imports and exports pass through this route. It’s an extremely important maritime trade corridor.”
Karin pointed at the narrow stretch of blue water between the islands.
“If war broke out between Saraha and Radian, and Saraha seized control of this strait, Radian’s supply lines would suffer greatly. Naturally, the war would shift in Saraha’s favor.”
Even as she spoke, she felt incredibly proud.
She sounded like an expert.
Clueless… [omitted] was a romance novel, not a war novel.
So how did she know all this?
Because the author had spent the final chapter rambling endlessly about international politics and the war between Saraha and Radian.
She had found it boring, but forced herself to read through it out of loyalty.
Who knew it would become useful like this?
It really paid to live diligently.
The King studied the map with interest before looking back at her.
“So what exactly are you trying to say?”
“The island nation that controls that strait is Iritta. That’s why Saraha has spent years trying to turn Iritta into a colony. In fact, they’ve already made it a semi-colony.”
“What nonsense!”
“Ridiculous!”
“I was in Iritta recently. I’ve never heard anything about it becoming a Sarahan colony.”
The nobles immediately erupted with objections.
As expected.
Karin seized the opportunity and raised her thick binder.
“I have information showing that large quantities of resources are transported from Iritta to Saraha every month. The administrators of Iritta have also been completely replaced with pro-Saraha officials. Even their administrative system has been reorganized according to Saraha’s preferences. This information comes from a highly reliable intelligence network, so you may trust it.”
Seeing the thickness of the binder, the nobles exchanged glances and gradually fell silent.
“If anyone wishes to review the documents, feel free to ask me later.”
Karin set the binder down again.
She had only held it briefly, yet her arm already felt numb.
“If Iritta is sending a prince at a time like this, whatever their intentions may be, it certainly can’t benefit Esmeril.”
“Utter nonsense. Even if we generously assume Iritta has become a Sarahan semi-colony, what difference does one person coming to Esmeril make?”
“Exactly. It’s not as though one man can fight all of Esmeril…”
“I’ve been saying this from the beginning. It’s absurd and not worth considering.”
Ignoring the endlessly babbling nobles, Karin suddenly asked,
“Saraha is the only nation on the continent that permits research into dark magic, correct?”
“Correct.”
Duke Lucas answered immediately, as if he had been waiting for the question.
“A highly skilled dark mage can reportedly fight a hundred soldiers alone. A royal guest would be free to move throughout the palace, making it easy to gather information—or use dark magic.”
She could have revealed outright that the Prince of Iritta was actually Saraha’s Crown Prince.
However, doing so required too many connections she couldn’t prove, and it carried a significant risk of backfiring.
So she settled for implying that the Prince of Iritta might be a dark mage.
“Are you suggesting the Prince of Iritta is a Sarahan spy?”
The King asked in a slow voice.
As expected of a king.
He grasped the point immediately.
“Yes.”
“Ridiculous!”
“Quiet for a moment.”
The noble who had become a broken record finally shut up when the King frowned.
The King seemed deep in thought.
The anxious nobles around him were outside Karin’s concern.
The only thing that mattered was whether she had convinced the King.
Although the King of Esmeril was currently indecisive and weak, he had once been a passionate ruler.
When he first ascended the throne, he had purged corrupt nobles and spearheaded sweeping reforms.
The nobles knew this well.
If the King truly made up his mind, none of them dared oppose him.
No one wanted to tug on the whiskers of a sleeping lion.
“You attended a meeting you normally avoid just to tell us this?”
“Yes. Once I learned about it, I felt I absolutely had to tell everyone. Especially Your Majesty.”
Karin recited the answer she had prepared beforehand.
She felt just a little guilty toward Duke Lucas.
He had probably believed she was attending because she had finally become interested in state affairs.
“I see.”
The King slowly stroked his beard.
“An interesting theory. As someone said, it’s completely absurd. But it was very entertaining.”
Ah.
Completely absurd?
Why had nothing been going her way lately…
Without realizing it, Karin’s shoulders slumped.
But one should always listen until the very end.
“There was mention earlier that Smokes have been appearing frequently in the northern region.”
Turning toward the nobles, the King suddenly changed the subject.
“Esmeril is already occupied dealing with the Smokes. We have no room to concern ourselves with other matters. Therefore, the Third Prince’s entry request is denied. That is Esmeril’s official position.”
Huh?
Then does that mean—
I succeeded?
She had even borrowed every book related to ancient ruins from the library just in case.
Looks like she could return them now.
Yes!
Karin clenched her fist and raised it triumphantly.
Then she noticed everyone staring blankly at her celebration and quickly lowered it in embarrassment.
“But Your Majesty—!”
“If the Young Lady’s words turn out to be true, will you take responsibility?”
The King asked sharply.
The noble who had spoken immediately turned pale and shrank back into his seat.
“Even if it sounds absurd, that doesn’t mean the possibility is zero. Through long experience, I’ve learned that even the smallest possibility must never be ignored. Therefore, I will hear no further objections.”
Several nobles looked dissatisfied, but none dared speak.
“Now then, let us move on to the next agenda.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the King lost all traces of charisma and slumped back into his chair.
The remainder of the meeting passed without incident.
Karin spent the time absentmindedly picking at a hangnail.
When the meeting finally ended, she hurried out of the conference room before anyone could ask,
“Let’s take a look at that binder of yours.”
