The day after our outing in the city, the marquis’s castle began preparing for a party. The outing had been the last item on Simon’s schedule, and the discussions about his engagement to Adria were settled. Our party would leave the castle tomorrow. Tonight’s celebration was a final farewell party before the guests from House Gresia departed.

I didn’t know why people here loved parties so much, but they seemed to be putting even more effort into this one. It felt less like a send-off for Adria’s future husband than a celebration of the marriage alliance between House Gresia and House Hierro.

The castle buzzed with preparations, and Simon and the others were busy too. I sat at my leisure in my guest room, waiting for someone to come. Time passed.

KNOCK. KNOCK.

“It’s Juan. I’m coming in.” The person I’d been waiting for had arrived. He was proving more helpful than I’d expected. I’d spent a lot of money on him, but with how hard he was working, I ought to take better care of him.

Juan entered with a grim expression. “It’s as you said. The mercenaries are gathering. The Red Bear Mercenary Company and several other companies are reportedly calling back members who are away.”

They’d been handed a prize too tempting to ignore: a secret passage into the castle that no one else knew about. They had to use it before anyone found out. And now that someone had overheard them, they must have decided to act before things went wrong.

Adria must have told Martin about the passage before she came to House Gresia in my previous life, too. After she left, Martin and the mercenaries must have slipped into the castle through it and set the place on fire, while other mercenaries came to House Gresia to eliminate Adria. Looking back, it was a remarkably brutal approach, but it had worked. I couldn’t call it a poorly thought-out plan.

This time, too, they were moving hastily, just as I’d expected. What I’d seen in my previous life had given me plenty of reason to expect it, but I still couldn’t understand what made them so confident.

“Thank you for your work.”

“Should I report this to my superiors separately?”

“No. I’ll report it.”

“Understood.” Juan bowed politely.

He seemed different from when I’d sent him out that morning. He’d gone from an adult humoring a noble child to a subordinate following a superior’s orders. I’d told him enough about the situation to help him investigate, and the way he looked at me had changed. Well, it was a hundred times better than being dismissed. In fact, it felt rather good. Was this why people wanted recognition? But I soon remembered my position and came to my senses. I couldn’t repeat the life in which I’d failed.

After sending Juan away, I left my room as well. What came next wasn’t my job. I only had to tell the people who would handle it for me. I knocked on the door of a guest room a short distance away.

KNOCK. KNOCK.

“It’s Alex. May I come in?”

“Alex?”

“Yes. Come in.”

Luckily, both the head butler and the knight commander were there. I wouldn’t have to explain everything twice. I opened the door and went inside. The head butler wore his usual smile, while the knight commander looked at me in puzzlement.

“What is it?” the knight commander asked bluntly.

“There’s something I need to tell you about Martin, the marquis’s illegitimate son, and the mercenaries with him.”

With both men paying attention, I told them what had happened: how much Martin hated the marquis’s family, the family history I’d heard from Adria, and the secret conversation I’d just happened to overhear after Adria and I took the secret passage to Mercenary Street. Finally, I told them what Juan had just learned about the mercenaries gathering.

What had begun as mild interest turned to grave concern as my story went on.

“This isn’t something you made up, is it?” the knight commander asked when I finished. It was hard to believe, after all.

“You could verify it quickly enough. Why would I lie about something like this?”

“This is no small matter...” he murmured.

He must have been troubled. Even if it came from a child, he couldn’t simply dismiss it.

“I think we should tell the marquis,” the head butler said. “This doesn’t seem like a matter for us to decide.”

He was right. This wasn’t House Gresia’s castle. Just as I’d told the knight commander and the head butler, all they needed to do was tell the marquis. Perhaps that was the wisdom of age.

“You’re right. We must inform the marquis,” the knight commander said.

The knight commander rose, and the head butler gave me a steady look. “As I’m sure you know, please keep all of this secret. The marquis may summon you separately.” I nodded. After the knight commander left, the head butler stood too. “I should go with him to explain.” Before leaving, he turned to me. “If the information you’ve brought us is correct, young master, the marquis will owe House Gresia a considerable debt. His Grace will be pleased that it’s thanks to you, Master Alex.” As always, the old man bowed to me before leaving.

I shook my head, putting his words out of my mind. Nothing was over yet; there was no need to think about what might come afterward. I’d done my part. Now it was time to see how events unfolded. Once they were both gone, I returned to my room.

To all appearances, nothing had changed at the castle. The painstakingly prepared party went off splendidly. Simon and Adria, knowing nothing of the matter, attended and received everyone’s congratulations. The guests who had come to celebrate them were eager to build connections with House Gresia. Simon, the knight commander, and the head butler were all busy greeting people. Of course, no one approached me, the illegitimate son.

With time on my hands, I could watch from the sidelines. And once I looked closely, I could see what had changed. The head butler’s expression was as it always was, but the knight commander and the other knights looked a little stiff. The marquis’s knights and soldiers showed traces of tension too. Guests praised their newfound discipline, though the marquis looked a little uncomfortable as he replied.

When the party ended and everyone was preparing for bed, the marquis summoned me. Unlike the duke, who had called me to his office even late at night, the marquis received me in a private sitting room. The butler who escorted me waited outside. Alone inside, the marquis watched me enter, weariness plain on his aged face. Then he frowned. “He’s still just a child. This child brought back that information?”

I’d expected as much. I bowed to him. “I’m Alex.”

“Hmph. At least this offshoot knows his place.” He acknowledged my greeting with a displeased look. “I don’t know why the people from House Gresia credited a young illegitimate son like you with this. Perhaps I should ask Adria about the secret passage...”

Even the knight commander and head butler, who had watched me for years at House Gresia, had been only half-convinced. There was no reason to expect the marquis to take a child like me seriously. Instead of answering, I walked to a corner of the sitting room. Adria had told me how to find the entrances to the secret passage. Fortunately, it ran beneath this room as well, and the mark on the hidden door was easy to spot. In the corner, I pushed a series of regularly cracked bricks inward, one by one from the top. An ordinary person wouldn’t have budged them, but a noble who could use mana could move them.

GRRRR.

When I’d pushed them all in, the floor in the corner began to sink. A staircase leading underground came into view. After confirming that the passage had opened, I turned back to the marquis.

“I think it would be best not to tell Lady Adria. She was close to Martin, and she’ll soon be leaving for House Gresia. Leaving her with regrets about her family home would do little good for relations between our houses.”

The marquis’s expression had changed by the time I turned around. His bored look was gone; his eyes swept over me with the shrewdness of an old weasel. A prickling sensation passed over my skin. Of course someone who had risen to the position of marquis was no ordinary man.

“I’d heard you were a genius, but it seems that was no lie. To have the skills of a knight at your age...”

Showing what I could do once had worked better than telling him a hundred times.

“And you’re right about that, too. As you say, the fewer people who know of a family stain, the better.” Even the way he addressed me had changed. He asked me questions in that new tone, and I answered them all, apart from a few things I concealed.

“You have the experience of someone far older than a mere prodigy... Could there be an ability like this?” the marquis wondered, tilting his head after hearing my answers. It was an ability of sorts, but not the kind he had in mind. I met his gaze calmly. After a few more suggestions and some further discussion, he sent me away.

As I was about to leave, I heard his voice behind me. “A shame. Such a shame. If things hadn’t gone wrong, Martin could have been a great help to this house too...” His voice was barely audible, but it carried deep sorrow.

The next afternoon, the guests from House Gresia left the castle amid farewells. Some of the servants, having finished cleaning up after the previous night’s party, were given leave and departed as well. The castle grew far quieter than usual.

That night, perhaps because the marquis’s guests had gone, the boundary between the castle and the city was less closely watched than the night before. The mercenaries were able to gather in front of the temple without the soldiers seeing them. Dozens of them, dressed in black, pressed against the temple wall and kept watch. At their head stood Benjamin, commander of the Red Bear Mercenary Company, his deputy Noah, and Martin.

“Is everyone here?”

“Yes. Everyone who agreed to come at the start is here,” Noah replied.

“And you’ve contacted the count?”

“Yes. He’s waiting outside the domain. Once we send the signal that we’ve succeeded, he’ll come at once.”

Benjamin’s eyebrow twitched as he watched Noah give her crisp answers. “Are you still in bad shape? If you sit this out, someone might get away.”

“I’m sorry. The internal injuries from that fight still haven’t healed properly...”

She had no visible wounds, but with her saying she was that unwell, he could hardly force her. “It can’t be helped. Be ready to assist as soon as we signal.”

“Yes.”

Benjamin turned to Martin. He was no happier about him. “Wouldn’t it be better for you to stay with the count, young master?”

“No. I’m going with you,” Martin said, shaking his head, his face set.

Martin had originally been meant to wait behind rather than take part. But something had changed his mind recently, and he had insisted on joining them. With Noah out, Benjamin had little choice but to take him along. Still, if Martin were killed, the plan could be seriously disrupted. The thought worried him.

If only he’d been able to contact those above him, he might have worried less... But everything had moved so quickly that there hadn’t been time. Surely there would be no problem, though. They had prepared this plan long ago, and the instructions from above had never been wrong—not even about their discovery of the secret passage a few days earlier. This operation was bound to succeed too.

He led the mercenaries toward the temple’s open door. They followed, while Noah stepped back with an odd expression. Then one of the mercenaries entering the temple spoke up uneasily. “But I heard a rumor that going into this temple makes you a eunuch...” The others’ faces darkened. They had all heard it. Setting fire to the castle of the marquis who ruled this domain didn’t frighten them, but losing their manhood was another matter entirely.

“It’s a baseless rumor.”

“Right?”

The mercenaries nodded at Benjamin’s answer, though their faces were still full of unease. Grim-faced, they disappeared into the temple.