[Hurry, this way.]
And it’s not like I can turn back now anyway!
“Can you really calm the snowstorm?”
Camilla asked in as low a voice as she could.
[Isla is enraged because of Mars’s death. She believes I was the one who killed him.]
That much was something Camilla already roughly knew from the other Spirit Kings.
That was why the Gracia Empire, where Empress Mariana’s bloodline succeeded the throne, had been frozen solid like this.
“You didn’t kill him?”
At her blunt question, Empress Mariana’s eyes trembled slightly.
[...I did kill him.]
So she had killed him. Then what exactly did she expect Camilla to do about it now?
[There is a truth she does not know. If that truth is conveyed to her, her anger may subside.]
“Then you should have told her yourself.”
What on earth had she been doing all this time, for her to make a fuss about it now after all those years?
[Isla refuses to speak with me.]
Well, that figures.
The fact that Isla was still expressing such fury even after so many years had passed made it obvious. If the person at the root of it all appeared before her, Isla would have caused an even bigger uproar instead of talking.
[This way.]
In the end, Camilla quietly followed behind her.
“Here?”
A little while later, after stepping into an underground space beneath the main palace, Camilla kept coughing over and over.
It seemed like no human feet had come this way at all; with every step she took, an enormous amount of dust billowed up.
“Why does a palace even have a place like this... cough!”
[When the dead remain in one place for too long, that place gradually gets forgotten by the living.]
In other words, this was where Empress Mariana had been staying all this time.
[Clear this away.]
What she pointed at was an old rocking chair. When Camilla moved it aside and then pulled away the carpet underneath, a small door appeared.
When she opened that door and went down, an even smaller space revealed itself. It was crammed full of all sorts of things.
[They are things that hold my memories with Mars.]
Her touch, as she ran her hand over the items on the shelves, was extremely careful and filled with longing. Then she pointed toward one section of the bookcase.
[That one.]
Camilla pulled out the book she indicated.
[It is my diary, which contains the entire truth. Make sure you deliver it to Isla.]
A diary? Just what could she have written in here...
[Please, I’m counting on you.]
Huh?
As Camilla briefly examined the diary, her eyes went round. Empress Mariana’s body was gradually growing faint.
No way, is she ascending just like this? Seriously, what is she even trusting me with here? What if I just don’t deliver it!
For someone who had endured in this place for so long, she vanished in an instant.
Her expression, as she disappeared, was as light as someone who had finally shrugged off a burden she had carried for ages.
“Wow, she really left...”
What is this? Why does it feel like I’ve just been blindsided?
Feeling a queasy sensation rising from the tips of her toes, Camilla fixed a narrow glare on the diary in her hand. Should I just chuck it right here?
“Sigh.”
In the end, deciding she might as well at least read it, Camilla carefully tucked the diary into her coat and slipped out of the underground space.
But then, in the very next moment, she let out another long sigh.
Excuse me.
You were supposed to see me safely back to my room and then disappear!
On the way here, she had simply followed behind Empress Mariana the whole time, so she had no memory whatsoever of where the soldiers were posted or which deserted shortcuts she had taken.
How exactly am I supposed to get back alone!
Should I just stick to the original plan and brazen it out?
With that in mind, she had intentionally dressed as extravagantly as she could.
[Are you really going dressed like that?]
Yes.
[You’re going on a stealth operation and you’re wearing red?]
I need an excuse if I get caught. If I sneak around dressed like a thief and get caught, that’s when I’m really in trouble, isn’t it?
Of course, the best thing would be not to get caught, but even if she did, she planned to make some excuse about having gotten lost or just looking around.
Right. She would just go out and say she got lo—!
Step.
Eek!
It was the moment she was about to take a step forward, resolved to go and turn herself in to the soldiers. The sound of marching boots came faintly from far away, and her body froze on the spot.
Her head insisted she go and turn herself in, but her body instinctively recoiled in fear.
Whish!
“...!”
At that moment, someone covered her mouth and yanked her sharply into a corner.
“Shh!”
A familiar voice sounded by her ear. It was Crown Prince Edsen.
Step, step.
A moment later, the soldiers’ footsteps hurriedly receded into the distance. Only then did Camilla let out a short sigh of relief and step back from him.
“What are you doing here?”
“That’s what I should be asking you, isn’t it?”
Edsen looked at her with an odd expression.
Just a little while ago, from the detached palace, he had seen a red shape—Camilla—slipping quietly off somewhere as he gazed out the window.
He’d wondered where she could be going in this weather, couldn’t contain his curiosity, and followed. When he saw that the place she was headed for was the main palace, he couldn’t help but be puzzled.
“I had no idea you had a knack for sneaking in.”
She had moved so quickly, as if she were very familiar with the layout of the main palace, that he had ended up losing track of her.
Only after she vanished and he spent quite some time wandering the area did he finally discover her, frozen in place at the approach of the soldiers.
“Sneaking in? I was only—”
“Only what?”
“...!”
Just then, a low voice sounded from behind them.
Camilla quickly turned around, and her face fell. The one standing there, looking at them with cold eyes, was Duke Escra himself.
“What exactly are you doing here at this time of night?”
“We were...”
As Crown Prince Edsen stepped forward to speak for her, Camilla hurriedly grabbed him.
“I came to see you, Duke.”
“Me?”
“Yes, but the palace is so large that I ended up getting lost.”
The flustered look from earlier had vanished completely. With a calm smile at the corners of her mouth, she went on.
“His Highness the Crown Prince Edsen must have seen me coming here alone and followed because he was worried.”
“And why did you have to see me now, of all times?”
“I’d like to make a deal with you.”
“...A deal?”
“It will not be a bad deal for you either, Duke.”
Under Duke Escra’s gaze, which weighed her as if trying to determine whether she was speaking the truth or lying, Camilla merely smiled brightly.
Watching from the side, Crown Prince Edsen slowly shook his head. He genuinely wondered if this was the same woman who had been shrinking back at the sound of the soldiers’ footsteps just moments ago.
Of course it is. Do you know how deep my acting experience runs?
To be honest, her heart had dropped to her feet the moment Duke Escra appeared. But she hadn’t let that show on the surface.
Do you know how hard I’ve scrambled so far just to stay alive? I am not going to die here, accused of being a thief in some hallway like this.
“A deal, you say.”
As Duke Escra showed no sign of backing down, Camilla pressed him even harder.
“But are we going to keep standing here talking like this?”
She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.
It was truly, disgustingly cold. Even indoors, her thick outer coat didn’t do much good.
“Follow me.”
After silently watching all of this for a while, Duke Escra turned and started walking first.
At that sight, Camilla let out a short sigh inwardly. In any case, they had gotten past one hurdle. She quickly followed behind him.
*****
“Do you also have a deal to make with her, Your Highness?”
Duke Escra was the first to speak to Crown Prince Edsen, who had insisted on following him all the way to his office.
“I am merely observing, in case a citizen of our empire suffers any disadvantage.”
He brazened it out, twisting the question of why he’d come along.
“So, what is this deal you want to make with me?”
“Duke, shouldn’t you at least let him have some tea first before you start talking?”
Count Alton, who apparently had still not been able to leave work, cut in on the duke’s words as he set down a tray of tea.
Perhaps finding Camilla’s pale face pitiful, he handed her a cup first.
“Please drink, Miss Camilla.”
“Thank you.”
Unlike that cold-blooded man over there, his subordinate Count Alton was nothing but kind.
When I go back to the Fable Empire, I’m never going to forget this kindness!
“Phew.”
As the hot tea went down her throat, a long breath escaped her on its own. The warmth that spread from the fingertips holding the teacup felt truly wonderful.
But she couldn’t just sit there enjoying tea. Duke Escra’s stare, waiting for her to begin speaking, was so menacing...
“The goods supplied to the Gracia Empire are mostly all winter-related, right?”
At Camilla’s words, the gazes of the three men in the room became identical. It was the look of men asking why she was stating the obvious.
“Just three years.”
“Three years?”
“I won’t ask for more than that. For that period, I want all goods needed for the other seasons to be traded only with our House Sorpel.”
A strange silence fell over the room. The three men’s expressions became identical again. They all stared at her with incredulous eyes.
“The other seasons?”
“Yes.”
“Seasons other than winter?”
“That’s right.”
Watching Duke Escra keep asking the same question, Camilla nodded vigorously.
“For example, something like this. Lightweight summer fabrics that let the air through, awnings «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» or umbrellas that block the sun, clothing of moderate thickness you can wear in spring and autumn... things like that.”
The more she spoke, the more peculiar the expressions of the three men became.
“Miss Camilla, I’m sorry, but our Gracia Empire...”
“I know. It’s a place where snow falls all year round.”
“Then what exactly are you talking about right now?”
“If you don’t need them, you simply don’t buy them. But if you do find you need them, you only deal with our House Sorpel.”
“Hmm... Miss Camilla, this is...”
Seeing that they still didn’t understand, Camilla added another line.
“In exchange for an exclusive contract with our house, I will offer one benefit as well.”
“A benefit?”
“For the Mana Stones we just contracted for, I will give you an additional three percent discount on top of the price we originally agreed on.”
Duke Escra’s eyes flew wide. She was saying she would lower the price of Mana Stones in exchange for accepting this absurd condition?
The surprise lasted only a moment before a fresh wave of puzzlement came over him.
“I truly have no idea what you’re thinking.”
What do you mean, what? It’s a kind of gamble.
Camilla lightly tapped the spot over her chest where Empress Mariana’s diary was safely hidden.
If this really did make the Spirit King of Winter, Isla, let go of her anger as if it had all been a lie—
Spring would come. Other seasons would arrive even in the Gracia Empire.
And then what would happen? In a place that only had winter supplies prepared, what would they need immediately?
You can’t exactly go around wearing winter clothes in the middle of high summer, can you?
