"How could I not be mad? You literally stamped my seal on an engagement document behind my back!"
"Brother, you really need to stop stamping things without reading them. That might have been fine for Julian Cato, the butcher’s son, but not for Julian Noart, heir of the Noart Count Family."
I patted Julian’s shoulder as if to console him.
"Think of this as a valuable lesson. Just let this one go and move on."
"Don’t try to comfort me when you’re the cause of the problem!"
"Eek! Why are you still mad even when I’m trying to make you feel better? Brother, did you lose your social skills along with your memory?"
Meanwhile, Shulva was muttering to himself in sheer panic.
"This engagement... it’s just a proposal, right? There’s a chance it won’t actually go through... right?"
His eyes flickered with sudden hope. As expected of someone who had spent years in the Noart household—he was quick to assess the situation.
"The Dyfenril Duchy... There are so many political and practical barriers. The chances of this actually happening are low, aren’t they?"
Practical barriers... Well, he wasn’t wrong.
Sigh. Right... The road ahead is long.
I nodded in agreement.
"If we’re looking at probabilities alone, the chances of success are low."
For now, at least.
Of course, if I do my best, the future might turn out differently.
At my response, Shulva let out a relieved sigh and nodded.
"Haa... Right. That’s true. It’s not like this is set in stone... and we’re definitely not the only ones considering marriage alliances... It’s just a discussion for now...."
Like a madman, he kept mumbling "It probably won’t work out... right?" over and over again.
I decided to change the subject.
"By the way, Shulva, now that my brother is awake, you’re going to send a message to Grandfather, right?"
I grinned at him.
Shulva finally snapped out of his daze and nodded.
"Yes. He’s expected to arrive at Solom soon, so I’ll send a letter to the communication hub there. The Count must be extremely worried about Lord Julian’s condition."
Solom was a city on my grandfather’s route to the empire. Every city had a communication hub, so we usually sent urgent messages based on his travel path.
"And after Solom comes... Tepan."
Tepan was where a landslide had delayed my grandfather’s journey before my regression.
I wanted to alter his route so he could reach us as soon as possible.
"But I can’t exactly tell him to avoid that path because there’ll be a landslide..."
I had never even met my grandfather before.
If I sent a letter warning him about the future, he would think I was insane.
I needed a different approach.
"Then, please include a personal letter from me when you contact Grandfather."
"A letter? To the Count?"
"Yes. But keep it secret from the other relatives. Just slip it in while updating him about Julian’s condition."
I quickly wrote a brief letter at Julian’s desk and handed it over.
Shulva furrowed his brows as he read it aloud.
"Seashell bracelets...?"
His expression turned to one of utter confusion.
"Wasn’t this Count Noart’s first business venture back when he worked as a sailor?"
"That’s right. He started by making and selling seashell bracelets. It was his very first business."
I explained confidently, watching as realization dawned on Shulva’s face.
"So he won’t be able to ignore this letter."
Shulva tilted his head and asked, "But why are you sending something like this? Even after reading it, I don’t understand what you’re trying to achieve."
"You’re not supposed to understand. That’s the point. Grandfather will be just as baffled when he reads it."
I met Shulva’s gaze and shrugged.
"If I want to catch his interest, I need to spark at least this much curiosity, don’t you think?"
"Excuse me?"
"Just watch, Shulva. Once Grandfather arrives, I’ll make sure he sees me as someone worth acknowledging."
Shulva still looked worried.
"Lady Rosie... Count Noart is a ruthless man. He always demands a fair price for anything he gives. He won’t show you any special treatment just because you’re his granddaughter."
"That’s fine. I’ll just make sure he gets a price he’s satisfied with. I have no intention of relying on blood ties to win his favor."
I ignored the concern lingering on Shulva’s face and pressed the seal onto my letter.
Julian, meanwhile, looked absolutely determined never to give me his seal again.
After handing the letter over to Shulva, I turned back to Julian.
"Brother, just forget about all this and go back to sleep. I’ll come by at lunchtime!"
Julian, who had been scowling the whole time, snapped,
"Why are you coming again?"
I widened my eyes in mock innocence.
"Do you really have to ask?"
With a big grin, I declared,
"Because I want to! I find it so entertaining just looking at your face!"
Julian’s bewildered expression was the last thing I saw before the door closed.
****
New n𝙤vel chapters are published on freewebnovel.cσ๓.
Near Solom, on the Road
Caliban was riding at full gallop. The empire was still far away.
"Julian got taken down... This has to be those temple bastards' doing."
Caliban Noart.
A broad-shouldered, imposing old man with silver hair and piercing green eyes. His tanned skin bore numerous scars, each marking a hardship from his youth.
Despite his lavish attire, he looked less like a high-ranking noble and more like a pirate king.
A former temple slave, he had spent his life driven by vengeance against them. To amass power and wealth, he had done whatever it took.
Even his marriage had been a calculated decision. After his wife passed away in his younger years, he never remarried, focusing solely on expanding his business.
Because money was the only thing that could stand against the temple's overwhelming power.
As rough as his life had been, he was equally ruthless toward his children.
All four of them had disappointed him in one way or another. Fortunately, his grandson Julian—Valia’s son—had exceptional talent. Enough for Caliban to name him heir without a second thought, leaving his other children behind.
"Faster, faster."
He had been overseas on business when he received news that Julian had been critically injured and was on the brink of death. Without hesitation, he set out for the empire.
Julian's safety was a concern, but there was also work in the empire that needed to be handled—work that had been left in Julian’s hands.
"Lord Julian is strong. Please don’t worry too much, Count."
His aide tried to console him.
"We’ll be reaching Solom soon. There may be good news from the estate—perhaps Lord Julian has already regained consciousness."
Taking the sea route would have been the fastest way to the empire.
However, the only way to receive direct updates from Noart Manor was to stop at major cities with communication hubs.
So Caliban’s group was traveling along a path that centered around these cities.
"...That would be best."
Caliban clicked his tongue.
"At the very least, he should wake up for his little sister’s sake."
Last year, Julian had brought another of Valia’s daughters home from the temple.
Distrusting the rest of the Noart family, he kept her in the annex, never introducing her to the relatives. Instead, he surrounded her with layers of guards, protecting her with extreme caution.
"Our little Rosie is still too young. I refuse to let her go through even a fraction of what I suffered."
Julian had many enemies. That was only natural for the strongest warrior outside of the temple’s influence. His excessive protectiveness was understandable. Caliban hadn’t bothered to tell him otherwise.
He had only seen the girl once—from a distance.
A small, delicate child with pale skin and soft, downy hair.
Since Valia had been the daughter who most resembled Caliban, it was no surprise that both Julian and Rosie had inherited his silver hair and green eyes.
"That child probably sees her brother as her entire world. Tch."
He had heard she was an apprentice priest with temple blood.
Julian, assuming Caliban would despise her for that, had hidden her away.
But Caliban wasn’t such a narrow-minded fool.
It wasn’t as if Rosie had chosen to be born with that blood.
He had simply been too busy to care much. And Julian had been so damn thorough in keeping her away that he had barely even thought about it.
"If he’s still unconscious by the time I get there, I’ll just yell into his ear that Rosie cut her finger on a piece of paper."
Caliban scoffed and spurred his horse forward.
"That’ll get his eyes snapping open in an instant. He’ll start wailing as he calls for every doctor in the empire, won’t he?"
With that, the old man picked up even more speed.
When they finally reached Solom—
Caliban received a letter.
Julian was awake. His condition was serious, and he had suffered partial amnesia.
And then...
"What the hell is this?"
For the first time in his life, Caliban found himself staring at a letter from his granddaughter.
And he couldn’t look away.