Chapter 159 - The Value of the Imperial Princess

Ferda answered.

"She is a beautiful woman."

A simple fact he could state without emotion.

"She is. They don't call her the Flower of the Empire for nothing."

Valdemar let out a displeased sigh.

"But if beauty were all she had, that would have been wonderful... The problem is that it isn't."

"Is that so?"

"Stop pretending. Someone like you, who isn't swayed by appearances and isn't ruled by emotion, must have already seen her true nature."

"What is it that you want to say, Grand Duke Valdemar?"

"I wish to say that the woman is my destined partner."

Ferda thought to himself.

Has this old man finally gone senile?

"I suppose that's exactly what you're thinking. That this old fool is lusting after a young woman. That someone my age ought to die with dignity."

At least he seemed aware of how others viewed him.

"But no matter what anyone says, I am certain of it. Olivia is destined to become my life partner."

Madness lurked beneath his calm tone.

The Emperor's promise had been exactly that—to unite Olivia with Valdemar as his partner.

"My partner is still wandering. And..."

His icy gaze locked onto Ferda.

"And it seems that one of the stops on that journey is about to become you."

"..."

Disgust filled Ferda's face.

Garnet had once told him about those who had died after becoming entangled with Valdemar.

"As far as I know, Stella Arken was supposed to be your destiny."

Stella, the elder sister of Imperial Princess Olivia.

It was publicly known that she had died in an accident when a balcony collapsed.

In reality, however, it had been suicide.

And Valdemar had been behind it all.

His obsessive desire to possess her had driven everything.

"Ah... Stella... Yes... There was Stella as well."

Tears fell from Valdemar's eyes.

He mourned as he spoke her name.

"Poor thing. If only that poor child hadn't tried to defy her destiny... none of this would have happened..."

That unsettling expression revealed his genuine feelings, enough to send chills down even Ferda's spine.

"Now that Stella has become like that... I will never let it happen again. I cannot lose the woman destined for me a second time."

After wiping away his tears, the dryness returned to his eyes.

He was already a man beyond salvation.

Meeting those lifeless eyes, Ferda answered.

"I'll say this once again. I have no interest in the Imperial Princess. Even if she bears goodwill toward me, it is not as a man. And even if it were, I have no need for it."

"Is that so?"

The oppressive pressure eased slightly in response to Ferda's unwavering resolve.

Yet the next moment, Ferda wondered if he had made a mistake.

Valdemar's eyes sank even deeper into madness.

"In that case, perhaps you can help me."

"What do you mean?"

He made his proposal.

"Make Olivia acknowledge that she is destined to be with me."

***

Ferda boarded his carriage and left the Imperial Palace.

From the moment he stepped out of the reception room, Valdemar's words kept echoing in his mind.

"As I said, this Empire is already overflowing with people who have no patriotism. Even if you don't love this Empire, you'll merely become one more unpatriotic citizen."

Ferda was nothing more than a single raindrop falling into a great river.

Then Valdemar had explained the reward for accepting his proposal.

"If you cooperate, I can establish the Far East. I can grant it such strong autonomy that it would practically be the same as independence."

Valdemar's proposal was so extraordinary that it could easily be considered an act of treason.

Ordinarily, under the banner of a single Empire, such an offer would never be tolerated.

'Is Olivia really worth that much?'

His obsession was terrifying.

So how had Ferda responded?

He had been unable to answer immediately.

More precisely, he had been weighing his options when Valdemar postponed hearing his answer.

That was why, instead of giving a reply, the proposal continued to linger in his thoughts.

'Olivia Arken.'

She had failed to become a saint.

Instead, she had nearly brought the nation to ruin through her beauty.

Even that had ended in failure.

'But things are different now.'

She had once remained at the Three-Circle Opener stage.

Now she had reached the Four-Star Mage level and was steadily taking her first steps toward becoming a saint.

She now possessed potential, along with the ability worthy of that potential.

Olivia was a capable strategist and politician.

Even so, there were still too many variables.

To the surrounding nobles, Olivia's value as an Imperial Princess was immeasurable.

To noble daughters, she served as an ideal stepping stone.

To noble sons, she was the embodiment of a fairy-tale dream and inspiration.

Even powerful old men like Valdemar watched greedily, waiting for the chance to claim her.

If she ever spread her wings to soar higher, they would seize those wings and tear them apart.

Everything about her seemed solid, yet far more dangers lurked around her than anyone could imagine.

Valdemar, on the other hand, stood on unshakable ground.

He enjoyed support from both commoners and nobles alike, making him the Empire's true power.

If he chose to support Ferda, then every future threat to the Far East would effectively disappear.

'All it takes is selling a single woman.'

The simplicity of it was almost horrifying.

Trade away an uncertain possibility in exchange for a dependable ally.

It was a situation both repulsive and strangely tempting.

'He must have deliberately postponed hearing my answer for exactly this reason.'

A master tactician.

The deeper one thinks, the more cautious one becomes.

But at the same time, deeper thought breeds fear.

And once fear takes hold, people choose stability over adventure.

"Your Highness the Regent, we've arrived."

The carriage stopped in front of the luxurious inn where Ferda was staying.

The knights guarding the entrance recognized him, saluted, and opened the door.

But instead of walking inside, Ferda turned to the side.

"I'll take a short walk."

"Then we'll accompany—"

"I'll go alone."

Answering briefly as though his mind were troubled, Ferda ignored their attempt to escort him.

Even if a noble insisted he needed no protection, the knights could not simply obey.

They secretly followed after him.

However, the moment Ferda turned into an alleyway, their mission fell apart.

He vanished without a trace.

"Huh?"

"Did anyone see where he went?"

"No. I didn't see a thing. He literally disappeared without leaving a single trace..."

Thinking he must have sprinted away at incredible speed, the knights hurried after him.

Yet no matter how hard they searched, they found no sign of Ferda.

"Spread out and search! If we lose him, we're dead!"

Contrary to the escort knights' assumption that he had fled far away, Ferda had not moved even a single step after turning into the alley.

It was a spell he had learned from the Great Demon Barbatos's Shadow Arts.

Shadow Inside.

It concealed his body within the shadows.

It was a stealth spell capable of hiding both presence and sound.

It could even evade detection magic, making it superior to ordinary stealth spells of the same rank.

However, it had one fatal weakness.

'The moment light touches me, I'll be exposed.'

If any of the knights had been carrying even a small lantern, Ferda would undoubtedly have been discovered.

But this was the Imperial Capital.

Aside from the main streets, it was a labyrinth where darkness was more common than light.

After slipping beyond every watchful eye, Ferda headed elsewhere.

He left behind the pleasant scents of food and flowers and entered a back alley reeking of sewage.

Beyond it stretched a slum where waste and garbage from the entire city gathered.

Beggars lay on the filthy ground, using mud-soaked streets as their beds while begging for alms.

Ferda walked past them.

His footsteps moved toward a very specific destination.

"My lord... Please spare a single coin..."

Waiting there was an old beggar woman pleading in a hoarse voice.

Kneeling flat on the ground, she held out a wooden bowl.

At the same time, Ferda noticed a tattoo on her wrist.

He took out a coin and dropped it into the bowl.

The old woman immediately lowered her head to the ground again in gratitude.

"Greetings, Your Highness the Regent."

The hoarse voice vanished.

In its place came the voice of a young woman.

It was Garnet.

"Shall we move somewhere else?"

"There's no need. This entire area is under my control. There isn't a single place where information could leak."

Ferda quietly extended his shadow to search the surroundings.

Just as she had said, numerous people were hidden throughout the area, keeping watch.

Satisfied, Ferda began speaking.

"What were the results of observing the hearing?"

"To be honest... the outcome exceeded our expectations once again."

"Did I make a mistake?"

"No. Your performance was exceptionally well received."

They had listened to Ferda's entire speech while carefully observing everyone's reactions.

The response had surpassed even their highest expectations.

"Because the response was so overwhelmingly positive, the chances of the other side making a drastic move have increased even further."

A variable created precisely because things had gone too well...

Ferda already knew what that drastic move would be.

"As it happens, Grand Duke Golt has already played the Yurei card."

Garnet, who had been bowing her head, looked up.

"He mentioned it personally?"

"Yes."

"If he's speaking about it openly... then he's prepared to make sure there's no escape."

Around the end of the Festival of the Beginning of Spring, Ferda had kidnapped the son of Duke Yurei.

The reason was simple.

The man had openly insulted dragons during the banquet.

Ferda had intended to torture him.

To make him suffer more than death itself.

But in the end, he never carried it out.

The man took his own life first.

Ferda knew exactly what had happened because he had been the one involved and the prime suspect.

But what about everyone else?

Valdrova was the Grand Duchess.

And as a Grand Duchess, she was obligated to uphold the Empire's laws.

As public opinion escalated, the discussion would naturally drift in another direction.

'Black Magic.'

The claim would be that the Yurei heir had been killed not by physical force, but through Black Magic.

Questions would then arise over where that Black Magic had come from and how it had been cast.

There was only one person who would handle such a matter.

'Erdes.'

She had undoubtedly been waiting for this very moment.

The highest authority on magic across the Cerdes Continent, and someone who utterly despised Black Magic.

Even if she knew that the magic had not been cast by Ferda, she might very well choose not to reveal the truth.

"What do you think is going to happen?"

"First, Duke Yurei's faction plans to publicly expose everything in front of the inn where you're staying. At the same time, their agents spread throughout the city will begin circulating the rumors. By the time you head to the Golden Council, every citizen will already know."

"I see. Are there any other variables besides that?"

"There is one more."

"What is it?"

"One of Prince Alexander's close aides attempted to make contact in Hestia Village."

"With whom?"

"William, the commander of the Public Security Force."

He had once been a knight cadet serving under Duke Yurei.

"And then?"

"He abandoned his duties as commander of the Public Security Force and teleported away with them. It's obvious they intend to use him as a witness."

"..."

William had taken up the sword for the sake of the common people.

But what if he learned that Ferda was actually a practitioner of Black Magic, and that he had killed the Yurei heir?

On top of that, Ferda had driven a dagger through William's own hand simply because he was angry.

He had tried to take away the very hand that was a knight's life.

It would not have been strange for William to make the difficult decision to expose him.

"We've already identified his current residence."

"I see."

"If he's a source of uncertainty, we should consider eliminating him."

Assassination...

Erdes hated Ferda, and the Alte Religion had a policy of zero tolerance toward Black Magic.

If not today, then tomorrow, he would gain two more enemies.

In a situation like this, avoiding the creation of even one additional enemy was the best outcome possible.

If he could instead make an ally, it would be nothing short of a miracle.

"It may be time to consider Valdemar's proposal..."

"What exactly did the Grand Duke ask of you?"

"He wants me to help him make Olivia Arken his. In return, he said he'd leave the Far East alone."

"...The Imperial Princess."

Garnet let out a quiet breath, her expression complicated.

She already knew that the Imperial Princess was their ally within the Empire.

"What do you intend to do?"

"I don't know. What's to stop him from getting what he wants and changing his mind afterward?"

"I don't think he will."

Garnet answered Ferda's suspicion.

"You believe he'll keep his promise?"

"His obsession with Olivia Arken is that great. In fact, just before he was about to obtain Stella Arken, he had already named his successor and was preparing to retire completely. Once he obtains that woman, the Empire itself will become a secondary concern to him."

Human greed knew no end.

Normally, Ferda would never have believed such words.

But he had already seen a similar case.

'Henri Dandolo.'

The man had driven his own father to his death.

He had even handed over the trading company to Ferda.

All for the sake of possessing the eldest daughter of the Pascal Trading Company.

"What do you think I should do?"

"The Imperial Princess is the more trustworthy choice, but we can't be certain the plan will succeed. Valdemar, on the other hand, offers immediate and stable influence. Assuming he can be trusted."

The advantages and disadvantages were clear.

Most people would lean toward Valdemar.

And Ferda himself found his thoughts drifting in that direction.

"For now..."

Ferda gave Garnet an order.

"Proceed according to the plan."

"...Do you truly believe they'll be among them, Your Highness the Regent?"

"They definitely are."

Ferda spat out the detestable name.

"Those damned bastards."

Before he died, the Yurei heir had said this:

Welcome to this wretched world.

Perhaps it had simply been set as a trigger phrase.

But Ferda believed otherwise.

'It was a message.'

The Demon Race had been waiting for exactly this situation.

There was a reason they had chosen the Imperial Capital instead of the Far East during that siege.

It had all been pressure meant to cut off the Far East's lifeline.

With both sides' interests perfectly aligned, everything had unfolded in a cruelly simple manner.

It was like standing on the edge of a cliff.

All it took was the slightest push from behind for everything to spiral beyond control.

"I'll do my utmost to find them, but investigating an unidentified enemy may prove meaningless."

"What do you mean by meaningless?"

"By the time we find them... it may already be too late."

This postwar conference would determine the very survival of the Far East.

Bearing such a tremendous burden, even Ferda could no longer see the right path forward.

What was he supposed to do...?

"Perhaps... asking the person in question would also be a good option."

"The person in question...?"

Garnet glanced toward the alley.

Footsteps could be heard approaching.

Her voice gradually turned into the grating sound of nails scraping across a chalkboard before changing back into that of the old beggar woman.

"I shall take my leave now."

She limped away.

The beggars who had been secretly watching the area also disappeared one by one.

At the same moment, a group of people appeared at the entrance to the alley.

All of them wore robes.

Those dressed in dark gray robes had broad, sturdy shoulders.

Standing in the center was a small, slender figure wearing a white robe trimmed with gold thread.

As expected.

Even beneath the thick robe, her hidden beauty could not be concealed.

At a glance, Ferda knew who it was.

The Flower of the Empire.

"Oh?"

Olivia Arken.

She let out a playful exclamation in her melodious voice.

"Isn't that Your Highness the Regent?"

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