[...]
I know, I know. It knocks the wind out of you, doesn’t it? After holding on to that kind of resentment for so long, you can’t help wondering what you’ve been doing all this time, right?
Facing Isla, whose mouth was hanging open, Camilla nodded again and again.
[Mars.......]
“Yes.”
[The child......]
“Yes.”
Isla checked it over and over, then fell silent again.
Seeing that, Camilla pressed her own lips shut as well. She looked like she needed a moment to think.
Isla’s expression, which had been changing from one moment to the next, gradually relaxed.
Oh.
Somehow it felt like the gamble had paid off.
At the very least, the fact that Mars had not been betrayed by his lover seemed to have settled her anger to some degree.
[Idiot.]
There was no strength at all in Isla’s voice. Empty and hollow, she gazed blankly out over the frozen lake.
She looked terribly lonely like that.
So this must be the place.
The place where Mars had met his death.
Through all those long years, what had Isla been thinking as she lived on? Had she traced and retraced the image of her dead friend? Was that why she stayed here?
Clicking her tongue softly, Camilla rubbed the necklace hanging around her neck.
Eh, whatever.
It was a bit of a waste... no, a lot of a waste!
After hesitating for a moment, Camilla unclasped the necklace and held it tightly in both hands. At that, a faint light began to seep out of the black gem Arsian had given her.
「Isla.」
[...]
Isla’s dazed eyes slowly widened.
[Ma...rs.]
He was there—her friend, whose face had now grown faint even in her memories, standing right in front of her.
「My precious friend.」
[...]
Something rolled down from Isla’s eyes.
Even a Spirit King of Winter cries ice.
Crystal-clear ice crystals, sparkling like jewels, fell ceaselessly from her eyes.
[Ha.......]
She knew this was an illusion, knew this form had been made by the power of a Guardian... but she simply could not look away.
The friend she hadn’t seen in so long was still looking at her with a bright smile.
Drip. Driip.
“Huh?”
Something cold fell onto Camilla’s forehead.
SHHHHH—
The drops that had been falling one by one soon began to soak the ground around them.
“It’s rain...”
For the first time in five hundred years, rain fell on the Gracia Empire.
*****
SHHHHH—
With the rain pouring down day after day, the entire Gracia Empire was in an uproar.
Some people marveled at the sudden change, while others were afraid.
In the meantime, the rivers that had been frozen solid for hundreds of years began to thaw, and the snow and ice that had covered the land gradually started to vanish.
“......”
Duke Escra stared hard at the person sitting in front of him. Under that gaze, Camilla only smiled pleasantly.
“Shall we start by supplying umbrellas?”
Camilla spread the contract open and smiled even more broadly. She’d hit the jackpot—she was allowed to be as happy as she wanted.
“I really am asking just on the off chance.”
“Ask me anything.”
Duke Escra pointed straight at the window.
“That—does it have anything to do with you?”
“Of course not. How would I have the ability to change the weather?”
Fair point. And yet the timing was too perfect.
It was as if she had known all along that this would happen, when she’d made that absurd contract with him.
She’d come to a land of winter and said she was going to sell other seasonal goods, and now the seasons were changing right on cue.
And that’s supposed to be a coincidence?
He recalled the report Count Alton had brought him not long ago.
“They say she tells prophecies.”
Camilla Sorpel—supposedly very famous for seeing people’s futures and predicting what would happen around them.
At the time, he had scoffed, thinking it was ridiculous nonsense...
“You knew ahead of time?”
If she hadn’t, there was no way to explain it.
“Well, is that really what matters right now? What matters is that you and I just happened to sign this contract in advance at exactly the right time.”
Duke Escra’s expression as he looked at the contract in Camilla’s hands was decidedly displeased. Because, in truth, what he needed most right now really was other seasonal goods.
“You’re not about to say you want to break the contract now, are you? As clearly stated in the contract, in the event of a unilateral termination, you’ll have to pay thirty percent of the deposit as a penalty.”
“As if I’d already forgotten the terms of a contract I signed only recently.”
“Exactly. Let’s not do anything that would cause either of us losses.”
At that, Duke Escra fell silent again. He looked at Camilla with a long, steady gaze.
There he goes again.
When he stared at her so sharply like that, it was honestly very uncomfortable. It felt like he was seeing right through her.
“They say you’re seventeen.”
“I am, but...?”
What was this, a background check out of nowhere?
Camilla’s eyes went round at the sudden, random question. Was he planning to start looking down on her as just a kid now?
“The last time I went to the Fable Empire was around then.”
“I see.”
What the heck? Why was he suddenly talking about his travel history?
“I had an accident there.”
“An accident?”
At Camilla’s question, his mouth snapped shut again.
A moment later, he clicked his tongue softly and told her to go, effectively dismissing her.
“I’ll have the list and quantities of the goods we immediately need put into writing. Get them from Count Alton.”
“Understood.”
He looked like he still had more to say, but Camilla rose from her seat at once.
Either way, now that she had confirmed the contract was valid, she planned to contact her house immediately.
To prepare that massive volume of goods, they would have to start moving very busily right now.
SMACK.
Once the door closed behind her and Camilla left, a short sigh slipped from Duke Escra’s lips.
“So my lost year is that girl.”
*****
“It’s truly remarkable.”
After the rain passed, the Gracia Empire changed faster and faster.
In the sunlight now full of spring’s warmth, life that everyone had thought was completely dead began to sprout, just a little at a time.
Crown Prince Edsen let out exclamations over and over as he looked at the little blades of grass poking out like weeds from the soil where they had been hidden.
“Winter is over.”
Camilla glanced at the presence sitting squarely on her shoulder.
Having withdrawn all the power of winter, Isla had changed into the form of a small, pure-white dragon.
Taking her place was Yellow, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the Spirit King who ruled over spring.
Perhaps because he was unleashing all the power he hadn’t been able to use for so long in one burst, the speed at which things were turning green was astonishing.
“It’s even hot.”
The sunlight felt not just warm but verging on hot. She hardly needed her thick outer coat anymore.
“Both empires are about to prostrate themselves before you.”
The entire Fable Empire had risen in an uproar when the news reached them. A massive new trading partner had just been born, so in a way it was only natural.
“They say everyone’s already scrambling from all sides to cozy up to House Sorpel.”
Crown Prince Edsen also brought up the latest contract.
“This is only the first round of transactions.”
For now, they had only written up the goods that were urgently needed and sent that list on to House Sorpel.
With so many things that were needed immediately and so much to coordinate, Camilla couldn’t return to the Fable Empire right away. She had to stay here for a while and act as an intermediary.
“Your Highness, I heard you’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Why? Are you going to miss me?”
Face control, face control! Don’t look too happy!
“Yes, the thought of being left here alone... I’m very sad.”
“Is that so? If you’re that sad, I suppose I’ll have to reconsider the timing of my departure.”
Are you insane?!
“How could I dare hold back a busy Crown Prince? Regrettable as it is, I’ll return to the empire and see you again there.”
Edsen let out a soft laugh.
“I’ll let myself be fooled one more time.”
Slide.
Rising from his seat, he walked over to Camilla and brushed the loose hair at the side of her face back behind her ear.
“See you again, Lady Sorpel.”
At the sound of his laughter-tinged voice right beside her ear, Camilla bowed her head lightly.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
*****
“Duke Escra’s place? You mean House Escra’s estate?”
“Yes. Wouldn’t that be better than staying here alone? His Grace will be returning there soon as well.”
“...I have to ask just in case, but... am I being kicked out?”
“Of course not! ‘Kicked out,’ what a thing to say!”
Pretty sure that’s exactly what this is. Camilla’s expression turned dubious.
No sooner had Crown Prince Edsen left than Count Alton came to find her with a proposal.
Instead of living alone in the now-empty detached palace, where the whole delegation had gone home, how about moving to Duke Escra’s estate?
“I’m not a fan of living on scraps of other people’s moods.”
She’d had more than enough of that when she was little.
“Scraps of moods? Who would dare make Lady Camilla walk on eggshells?”
Your boss. Lately he’d been staring at her like he was about to eat her alive every time he saw her.
“Have you perhaps been made to feel that way where you’re staying now...?”
Count Alton’s expression tightened as he asked carefully.
What’s with that look?
Under his gaze, which had turned oddly pitying toward her, Camilla tilted her head for a moment.
Ah, is this because he knows I’m a stepdaughter? Is he wondering if I’m being mistreated at home?
Well, they would have looked into things at least a little before signing a contract.
“When I was little, sure, I had to watch people’s moods a bit.”
Actually, that had been true until pretty recently. She’d scrambled desperately just to avoid dying.
Camilla gave a vague answer and let out a small laugh.
Compared to back then, her situation now felt much improved—but for some reason, Count Alton’s expression only grew darker.
“I strongly recommend going to Duke Escra’s estate!”
...Seriously, what is with him.
With Count Alton even clenching his fist for emphasis as he urged her, Camilla finally took a step back.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Yes!”
Watching him go on and on about how wonderful Duke Escra’s estate was after that, Camilla could only grow more suspicious.
This feels wrong.
There was a chill running down her spine, like there was something she didn’t know about.
“By the way, Lady Camilla.”
After a moment, Count Alton carefully spoke up again.
“About that ring.”
“This one?”
Camilla looked down at the ruby ring on her hand.
“Everyone seems to like this ring.”
Duke Escra had been that way before, too—why was everyone so interested in it?
Aside from the fact that her mother had passed it down to her, there was nothing particularly special about it.
Well, the craftsmanship is a bit unusual...
Even to Camilla, whose eye for gems was better than most, the workmanship was extremely fine. But still, it wasn’t the kind of thing that should draw people’s attention this often.
“Did your mother ever say anything else about it?”
“Not at all.”
She had only recently learned from Ravi that it was a ring her birth father had given her mother.
“I see.”
At that answer, Count Alton let out a silent sigh, as if disappointed. Seriously, what was with him?
“Ha-ha...”
Under Camilla’s puzzled gaze, Count Alton could only keep giving off a smile so awkward that anyone could see it.
