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Chapter 100
“You were quite shocked, weren’t you? Sorry. I won’t be coming to your house late at night from now on. I swear. I could even swear to God.”
I repeatedly apologized to the back of Sir Julio’s head as he rode ahead on his horse.
He didn’t look back for a while. Judging by how his hunched shoulders rose and fell several times, he seemed to be fuming in frustration.
Well, it’s a natural reaction. After all, his two superiors had been found together on the guesthouse bed. If it had been just me alone, maybe he wouldn’t have reacted so strongly, but seeing me tangled up with David must have been quite a shock.
“Ugh. Getting old and seeing all sorts of things… The old man shouldn’t have been so eager to clean the guesthouse from early morning.”
He muttered to himself loud enough for me to hear.
Ugh, this is so embarrassing. I think the mental damage he suffered might have to be compensated financially.
“I said I’m sorry. As compensation for witnessing such a sight, I’ll give you a more generous monthly salary this month.”
Ahem.
Sir Julio cleared his throat loudly. Listening to him, it was an unspoken hint that I should offer an amount.
“1,000 Reble.”
“My wife’s returning to her homeland, and my side feels cold—I’d probably freeze to death. Rather than enduring loneliness every night, I should just retire—.”
I intentionally started with a low amount, but as expected, that wouldn’t work.
“2,000 Reble.”
“If you’re over sixty, you should just enjoy your grandchildren—.”
“Make it 5,000 Reble. I’ll cover it from my budget.”
David answered from behind.
Right now, David and I are riding Sir Julio’s second horse toward the lord’s castle. For Sir Julio, it’s his commute to work; for David and me, it’s our way home.
“Hey, David. That’s way too much. Didn’t we just raise his monthly salary by ten thousand recently?”
I whispered into David’s ear. We had already given him a huge raise for overnight lodging, and raising it by 5,000 more would put him on par with Treasurer Moreno.
But it was already too late. Sir Julio slowed his horse to match our pace, smiling warmly.
“Your Highness, since last night, many lords from other regions have requested to visit Blansk to see you. I can give you the list so you can select who to send invitations to.”
Sir Julio immediately switched to work mode, acting all nonchalant.
Haha. David seems to manage him even better than I can. I’m glad I assigned him as my aide.
The lords of Dvorka probably want to see David because of the iron ore purchase contract. I expect quite a few people will soon be coming and going through the lord’s castle. It will give me a sense of the Duke’s negotiation skills.
As soon as we arrived at the lord’s castle and dismounted, Katarina approached, looking pale as if she had seen a ghost.
“…Lady Alisa, why are you coming with His Highness?”
“Ah, I got caught.”
I answered nonchalantly and held the Duke’s arm as we got off the horse. As soon as my feet touched the ground, a sharp pain ran up my tailbone.
“Ugh.”
When I groaned, clutching the lower part of my back, the Duke lifted me up again, holding me in a princess-carry position.
“Are you alright? I think you should rest today. Let’s go to your bedroom.”
The Duke spoke with concern. I shook my head. With harvest season approaching, I had a mountain of pending work.
Katarina looked between us, sweat dripping from her forehead, and shook her head.
“I’m sorry, but you need to go to the study now. Someone is waiting for you, Lady Alisa.”
“Who?”
“Vera.”
“…David, let’s go to the study together.”
If Vera came personally, she likely had important information. I decided it would be better to attend this report with David.
Vera handed a thick stack of documents in front of me. Skimming the first pages, it was an analysis of the substances in the drugs received from the Crown Prince. The report I had been waiting for had finally arrived.
“I got this from the physician as you instructed. It’s a drug made by mixing powdered hallucinogenic mushrooms with the juice of Angsok berries.”
“The method of preparation isn’t too complicated. What does it do?”
“If ingested, the person can’t think independently for a while. If someone nearby gives strong orders, the person will carry them out without any emotion or willpower.”
“…He actually made something like this.”
The Crown Prince had been obsessed with psychotropic drugs for half his life. I assumed he might use them on himself, which was self-destructive enough, but I hadn’t expected him to plan on feeding them to the colonial residents.
He pathologically hates resistance. Unable to control his desire to dominate the Dvorkans, he resorted to such means.
“Yes, that’s why he even named it the Obedience Drug.”
“…Obedience Drug.”
Even the name sounds suspicious.
I glanced at David. His long eyelashes cast shadows over his violet eyes. His jaw muscles bulged as he clenched his teeth, seemingly shocked and enraged upon realizing the substance he had been given when captured.
I reached under the table to stroke David’s hand. The veins on his clenched fist stood out prominently.
“Vera, where were the research facility and cultivation site for this drug?”
“The research facility was near the Yorka Palace. Cultivation is still only in pots inside the facility. The experiments aren’t finished yet, and since only a few drops mixed into food or water produce effects, they haven’t expanded cultivation outdoors.”
“So it hasn’t been planted outside yet.”
“Yes, there is information that the northern Brim Forest in Yorka is being considered as a potential cultivation site.”
Brim Forest?
That’s the forest filled with memories of Princess Melania… He wants to use it to grow drugs? I can’t allow that.
“Near the palace, huh? The research facility was surprisingly close. Perhaps the Crown Prince wanted to check it often himself.”
“That seems likely. We considered the possibility of destroying the research facility, but it seems difficult. The facility is located underground in the governor’s arsenal behind the palace.”
If it’s in the arsenal, lots of Lasantium bombs are stored there. If one exploded, it would destroy not only the facility but also the Yorka Palace and surrounding buildings, causing thousands of casualties. Destruction is tempting, but we cannot risk lives.
“Explosion is too dangerous, so we’ll rule it out. What about business operations?”
“During a recent banquet at Yorka Palace, the Crown Prince secretly called lords into private spaces to conduct business. He told them to prepare the drugs before the railway construction begins.”
Listening to this raised a question.
“The drug is meant to be fed to Dvorkan laborers on the railway project. But how will they make people eat it? If people refuse, that’s it, and force-feeding has limits.”
“Apparently, the goal is just selling the drug for now.”
Vera’s information didn’t yet include concrete methods.
At that moment, David, who had been silently listening, spoke.
“…It’s not impossible. If you eliminate other options.”
“Other options? What do you mean?”
“For example, by implementing a food rationing system. Confiscate all food on the market, and if the lord enforces exclusive distribution, the people will have no choice but to eat what’s given.”
In a situation of hunger, they would have to consume even drug-laced food.
“Vera, can you find out if the Yorka Governor intends to implement food rationing?”
“Understood. I’ll report next. It concerns Dvorkan garrison personnel.”
Hmm?
Something pressed against the tip of my shoe.
What? It seemed to be Vera across from me. She glanced at David with the corner of her eye, then stared at the door.
She’s signaling to send David out before this report.
Why send David out for military personnel matters? I raised an eyebrow. There didn’t seem to be a reason. Just speak.
“…Viscount Esteban Serenos and Captain Robin Montano have been assigned to the Yorka garrison headquarters.”
Vera glanced at David again as she spoke.
“Really? I thought he wasn’t interested in promotion since working as a military doctor on a remote island.”
“Viscount Serenos wouldn’t leave his heir in the periphery. To hand over the Minister of Military Affairs position, he had to return somehow.”
“Assignments?”
“The Viscount was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and became the head of the garrison hospital, and Captain Montano is his aide. Their official posting is next week. That’s all.”
“…If they report, they’ll come to greet me soon. Good work. You may leave.”
Serenos and Montano were military school classmates. They both served in the Blansk garrison during the war five years ago. Due to background differences, the Viscount is already a field officer, while Montano is still a junior officer.
They persuaded nobles in the Privy Council to declare an early end to the war, working hard to prevent the invasion of Padon Island.
It’s been years since the war, yet they still pair up.
If they come, I need to ask why they volunteered for Yorka service at this point. Given the Viscount’s intelligence, he may have anticipated the Crown Prince’s moves before I did.
After Vera left, Treasurer Moreno and agricultural and commercial administrators lined up at the study door, each carrying stacks of documents.
Haha, my workload exploded this morning. Looks like I’ll endure the aftereffects of last night while seated today.
“David, I’ll handle pending work first. You have your schedule too, right? We’ll see each other tonight.”
I kissed his cheek briefly as a farewell.
“Again tonight? Can… you endure it?”
What is this man saying? I said we’d meet tonight, but not that we’d… do it again.
David came closer, stroking my waist. A soft touch along the lower spine sent an indescribable shiver through me.
“Ugh.”
I groaned unconsciously again.
“…This won’t do. How about resting for today?”
The Duke worried about my condition.
Ahem. A cough came through the slightly open door. The staff outside must have overheard our conversation and felt uncomfortable. Haha. They can’t stand seeing me rest.
“It’s not that bad. I’ll finish as quickly as possible. See you later.”
I buttoned up my collar as much as possible to hide the red mark on my neck and sent David off.
Leaving the extremely busy Alisa, David returned to his personal study. He had a class on sovereign studies scheduled.
The teacher hadn’t arrived yet. Only Sir Julio was humming cheerfully, delighted at the thought of his generous monthly salary.
“Congratulations, Your Highness.”
He bowed slightly.
“Why are you congratulating me all of a sudden?”
“Wasn’t it last night?”
“What?”
“The… thing—”
“You said you were a colonel in the garrison, right?”
Before Sir Julio could babble nonsense, David cut him off with a counterquestion, feeling an unpleasant curiosity.
“Yes, I commanded the Blansk garrison until retirement. Why do you ask suddenly?”
“Do you know Viscount Esteban Serenos and Captain Robin Montano?”
After hearing they had been assigned to Yorka, Alisa’s expression changed. She seemed lost in thought, as if recalling memories, and also intrigued. David found her reaction irritating, like a hangnail.
“…How do you know them?”
Sir Julio opened his mouth wide.
“Them?”
“They were officers under my command. They were just newly commissioned second lieutenants back then.”
David hesitated. It wasn’t yet time to reveal that they were assigned nearby in Yorka. It would be official next week, but we needed to be careful since the information came from the ducal secret organization.
“I just want to know their relationship with Alisa.”
“Viscount Serenos was your previous fiancé. But he was like a stranger to you, so no worries. As for Captain Montano… hmm…”
Sir Julio stroked his mustache and rolled his eyes.
The title of “previous fiancé” alone made David furrow his brows. No matter what relationship Alisa had with that man, the fact she had once promised marriage twisted his insides.
But who is Captain Montano, that Sir Julio hesitates to answer?
“Captain Montano?”
“Do you want the honest answer?”
“Yes.”
“You should probably be more wary of Montano than your former fiancé. To my knowledge, since Montano, there hasn’t been any man Alisa showed interest in. Well, there was one… that’s Your Highness.”
David ignored Sir Julio’s last remark, lost in thought.
So, Montano was the last man Alisa had shown interest in before David.
“What kind of interest was it?”
“…She called him to her bedroom. Haha, he was quite pretty, more so than most girls. But that was five years ago, and nothing significant happened in the bedroom as far as I know.”
Alisa Lasantia… So your taste was for handsome men.
David’s eyes darkened chillingly.
The more he thought about it, the more absurd it seemed. How could a man called to the bedroom by Alisa walk away unscathed?
