Chapter 252
“I am announcing to the Grand Duchess! Open the gates and cooperate with the Imperial Family. This is an Imperial Order!”
Those who lived near Grand Duchess Moriah’s residence suddenly had something to gawk at.
The Grand Duchess, an elder of the Imperial Family, usually lived quietly in the Imperial Capital. She had recently become the center of social circles and had begun hosting gatherings more often, but even those were never extravagant.
However, once the Crown Prince declared war on Maindulante and demanded the necessary military funds from every quarter, her mansion became the focus of intense attention. While other members of the Imperial Family and nobles begrudgingly contributed, the Grand Duchess simply shut her doors and refused to speak with the Imperial Family.
The Imperial Family sent knights to threaten her every day. It was both punishment for defying their orders and an undisguised attempt to seize the Grand Duchess’s wealth. The fact that she had no children and few close associates—while being one of the wealthiest people in the Imperial Capital—must have looked irresistible to her nephew.
“Repeating, this is an Imperial Order!”
A knight with the Imperial Family’s sun emblazoned on his chest shouted before the firmly locked gate. He certainly carried authority. But ever since the Crown Prince took over state affairs, the words “Imperial Order” had been used so often that they were already losing their luster.
Of course, the commotion could be heard inside as well. The Grand Duchess, watching from the drawing room window, said indifferently,
“The dignity of the Imperial Family has fallen into the mud. For that thing to dare invoke an Imperial Order and loiter in front of my house.”
“It seems Lord Ralph is unlikely to recover, so he must be trying to take his place. To do that, he needs to stand out.”
The Grand Duchess was usually alone in her drawing room, but today someone answered her. She glanced at the man who had replied so briskly.
“You’re calm. Don’t you think they’ll drag you away first if they enter? My nephew has been desperate to catch the Moriér Merchant Group kids behind the scenes.”
Aaron, Joan’s aide from the Moriér Merchant Group, grinned.
“Oh my. How frightening. Then how about bestowing grace upon me so I can leave before that happens, Grand Duchess?”
“I already told you. There’s no reason for me to leave my house. Sending your leader was enough to repay the Wedge Pouches that child sent all this time. If I go with you, I’ll be turning my back on my family and my country.”
When Joan of the Moriér Merchant Group left the Imperial Capital, the Grand Duchess took steps to help her avoid the Elandria family’s eyes.
She claimed it was repayment for uncovering the secret behind the death of a maid she had cherished like a child, but that wasn’t all. While hosting the social gatherings left behind by the Grand Duchess of Maindulante, she saw Joan’s face often. And, without quite admitting it, she found herself quietly waiting for the gifts Joan brought each week.
Aaron knew the Grand Duchess secretly cherished Joan’s honest, upright character, even if Joan herself didn’t. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have hidden him in this mansion even after Joan left. So he grinned without fear.
Most of the Merchant Group, including Joan, had already left for Maindulante, but a few were still hiding in the Imperial Capital. Aaron had volunteered to be one of them. He stayed in a wing of the Grand Duchess’s mansion, tasked with persuading her.
To leave the Imperial Capital together.
“How can a lord going down to their territory be turning their back on the country?”
The Grand Duchess frowned. ‘Their’ territory?
“Weren’t you going to Maindulante?”
“I am, officially. But the Grand Duchess doesn’t need to. Ah, I didn’t explain it properly, did I?”
Aaron smiled.
“What our Trading Company’s two bright ladies want is, first, for the Grand Duchess to be safe, and second, to protect what the Grand Duchess rightfully deserves. It’s going to be noisy for a while, so wouldn’t it be better for the owner to personally watch over a place like Trophur—something anyone can target if left unattended?”
The Grand Duchess stared at him for a while. Her sharp, solemn gaze made it feel like she was glaring, but Aaron didn’t care.
Even in seclusion, how could the Grand Duchess not know how the court was turning out? She, too, wanted to leave the Imperial Capital. This place was stifling, and she couldn’t feel even a little affection for her hateful nephews. She had no intention of being dragged around like this, and she had no intention of contributing military funds.
Moreover, the one declared an enemy was none other than that Duke and Duchess.
But because of that, she tried to hold her ground. That way, when Maindulante was defeated, she would still have enough standing to save even the Grand Duchess.
The Grand Duchess reminded herself again and again that she had only met Nerys recently, and that their relationship was not that deep. In truth, it was difficult even for her to understand.
What the Grand Duchess of Maindulante meant to her.
It was only that the eyes of that young one kept bothering her—eyes that cried out desperately beneath skillful and sophisticated etiquette.
Look at me.
The Grand Duchess knew that look well. When she was young, she had looked at her father with those same eyes.
She didn’t like Nellusion Elandria at first meeting, because he was obviously trying to play tricks, so she had thought she might listen once if Nerys had something to say. She wasn’t interested in Ja’an or anything. Ja’an had manifested in someone without blue eyes… so what was she supposed to do?
But something had changed. From the moment that child reached out her arm without hesitation.
From the moment she sometimes, inadvertently, showed a familiar smile—as if she had known her for a long time.
The Grand Duchess had roughly guessed she was a cold but kind and upright child. So she worried. She truly gathered up and cared for those of low status she had left behind, as she had presumptuously asked her to do…
“You mean you have a plan.”
For that clever child to convey these words meant, first, that she was worried.
But behind them, the Grand Duchess could also read the calm thinking of someone who had been preparing for this moment for a long time.
“Then I understand. I don’t need anyone’s permission to leave the Imperial Capital residence for a while.”
The next day, the people of the Imperial Capital learned that the Grand Duchess’s mansion was empty.
❖ ❖ ❖
Nellusion did not show any disappointment at the news that the Grand Duchess had left.
“It’s within expectations. If she comes out like that, I don’t have to worry about her joining that side.”
He spoke smoothly and softly, and his eyes shone—just like they always did these days.
Although he said it aloud, Nellusion wasn’t trying to converse with his subordinates. He was organizing the calculations rushing through his head. So the subordinate who had just reported that Grand Duchess Moriah’s mansion was empty—and that, from the traces so far, she seemed to have gone down to Trophur—kept his mouth shut.
Nellusion continued, placing colorful pieces on the small map spread out on his desk in the study.
“It would have been more helpful to that side if she had contributed military funds to show off and interfered using her position as a member of the Imperial Family. But it’s rather welcome that she’s leaving her position so openly… because right now, the most important thing is to make it clear who is on whose side.”
A gray piece with a sword engraved on it was placed about halfway between Maindulante and the Imperial Capital. Thud. After that, small pieces with roughly carved designs—simplified crests of various families—lined up. Thud. Thud. Within the Imperial Capital, more pieces were stacked depending on alliances, and sometimes they were shoved inward, pushing others away. Thud thud thud thud.
The piece with the Elandria family’s leopard was placed so it did not overlap with the piece bearing the Imperial Family’s sun. His hand, holding a copper coin, hovered near the Imperial Capital for a long moment.
The coin was placed in one area, then pulled back, circling three positions in total. Finally, after a brief hesitation, it settled in one.
‘Minor territories where supplies have suddenly been cut off.’
On a map made of lines and planes, all lands were equally flat. In reality, each castle and field had its own value. Some places mattered because they produced abundance. Some lands mattered because of historical symbolism.
And some mattered not for their own value, but because they were positioned well to reach a particular place.
The road the Maindulante army was rushing down like a storm was the same road several emperors had used to send great armies to conquer that land, back when Maindulante had not yet belonged to the Empire. It was an old road—its ends and middle damaged over time—but the overall route remained the same.
The Imperial Army was not only blocking the approaching Maindulante forces. They were also distributing soldiers along the route in preparation for counterattacks, and they instructed surrounding minor territories to send supplies to the camps those soldiers established.
Of course, those small territories didn’t have the surplus to feed so many soldiers in the first place. Their lords would contact the merchant groups they usually dealt with, use the money sent by the Imperial Family and noble houses, and exchange it for the prescribed supplies.
But suddenly, cries of distress came from those very territories. Trade had been cut off, they said, and they could no longer send provisions. They couldn’t scrape together the residents’ food to send, could they?
Even a few days of hunger would leave soldiers unable to fight. At the same time as finding out why trade had been severed so abruptly, they also had to make major adjustments to troop deployment. Of course, that cost a great deal of money as well.
And Nellusion seemed to know who was behind all this.
‘Nerys. It’s you.’
Knowing the culprit didn’t solve anything. Nellusion was frustrated by her excellence, but at the same time, he was pleased. It meant he hadn’t completely misjudged her.
Because it had been proven—through undeniable force—that she was the person he needed most.
“Viscount McKinnon can only go here.”
To reduce this chaos even a little, money was needed. And among the noble families the Imperial Family held hostage, only a few still had the resources to keep feeding even their own soldiers. It was only natural to send those families to the most important lands.
In Viscount McKinnon’s case, considering the backlash from other families who still craved military achievements, he could not be sent to the front lines. Nellusion looked sadly at two of the three candidates he had selected that had not been chosen, and he considered which family besides the McKinnons could fill those vacancies.
The contemplation did not last long.
“Since you’ve enlisted, you’ll have to be useful.”
Nellusion murmured, recalling a group of young “soldiers” who were doing nothing but socializing in the Imperial Capital.
❖ ❖ ❖
Slender, beautiful fingers lightly placed pieces on the unfolded map. Thud. Thud. Thud thud.
In the conference room, where sunlight rolled in gently like waves, Nerys’s thoughtful eyes sparkled with intelligence. The huge map in front of her was crowded with small, delicate, expensive pieces and looked impossibly complex, but she understood its meaning well.
In fact, she understood it so well that she could even guess how the pieces would move next.
“If Lord Joyce is here.”
Her finger traced the gold coin that had already been placed in its proper position a few days ago.
“Then the remaining two places will probably be filled by my dear classmates. Most likely the Anguson family and the Gardiner family…”
Pieces painted in the crest colors of the families she named were placed in their positions. Thud. Thud.
The habit of unfolding a map, placing pieces, and reading the situation was something Nellusion and Camille had drilled into Nerys in her previous life. They said that if you only thought inside your head, you would miss clues that seemed trivial at first glance.
‘That’s right. There’s no need to abandon good habits just because I hate them.’
And the fact that Nerys could read not only the Imperial Family’s secret strongholds, but also the military strongholds evaluated by the court on the map, was also a gift from her previous life. The Crown Princess couldn’t not know her country’s land.
‘Abelus knew less than me… but that’s a good thing now.’
The Imperial Bistor was now a giant chessboard. Nerys’s gray piece was rushing relentlessly toward the enemy’s heart, and the enemy was busy blocking it. But as long as the person seated on the other side was Nellusion, he would definitely come up with countermeasures—and Nerys intended to settle the situation before that.
Nerys smiled as she looked at the crown-shaped piece she had placed far away in the Elandria Duchy.