IBRIP l CH 14

Chapter 14

“You really only ever see one side of things.”

Yudis clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Bern’s face turned red all the way up to his neck from the insult.

“If we send her away and she does something embarrassing, it’ll reflect badly on us. It’s better to keep her close and train her properly. Besides, you don’t have a daughter.”

“A daughter?”

“If used wisely, a daughter can give you a much better return on investment. And if we’re going to send her away, we should send her far. Coincidentally, my family is planning to expand business toward the Balt Grasslands. As you know, that place is filled with those ‘barbarians’ where magic doesn’t work, right? My father said he needs something—or someone—to toss over there.”

Bern stared at Yudis blankly for a moment, then let out a hollow laugh.

“You’re unbelievable. I’m starting to feel sorry for that girl. Just be honest. Is she the result of something terrible that happened to you?”

Yudis looked at Bern with a strange expression and then smiled faintly.

“In a way, you could say something terrible did happen. Anyway, let’s keep Izana here for now.”

As she walked past the dumbfounded Bern, Yudis whispered,

“Oh, and now that Yubel has been born, let’s start sleeping in separate rooms. I’ll still do what you ask—but I’ll be the one to decide.”

With that, she left the room without a trace of hesitation.

***

Since Yubel’s birth, the usually quiet Rohia mansion had turned into something like a banquet hall every day.

From early morning, all kinds of finely dressed guests wearing expensive jewelry came to visit.

The air was filled with the smell of rich and sweet food, and the servants were cheerful, knowing they’d get leftovers from the feast.

…Except for me.

I had been startled awake by all the noise in the morning and got up earlier than usual. I was still trying to wake up when—

Knock knock—

The door opened before I gave permission, and a large figure burst into the room.

“Loti? You looked like you were about to head out earlier—what happened? Why are you dressed like that?”

It was Loti’s day off—the one day a week she had off.

She had been so excited about it last night, but now she looked like a widow in mourning, dressed in all black.

Loti dragged in a metal suitcase almost half her size, shut the door, and collapsed onto the floor, out of breath.

“Huff, huff… My lady, can I borrow your room for a while?”

I looked at her sweaty face and asked,

“You’re going to leave that suitcase here?”

She nodded with a forced smile.

“Yes, and… I was thinking of using your room to change from now on.”

“You have your own room, don’t you?”

“…I’m kind of an outcast now.”

The way she spoke so gloomily made me guess what happened.

“Fine, go ahead.”

I didn’t see any reason to say no, so I nodded and stretched.

“My lady, I think I need to buy you some medicine when I go out next.”

“Medicine? What kind? Poison?”

I teased, squinting at her.

But Loti’s face turned pale as she waved her hands frantically.

“No, no! Please don’t joke like that. I’d never do such a thing! I just mean that you’re not well, and Lady Yudis hasn’t even bothered to send you a personal doctor. Meanwhile, she sends a whole crowd of people to attend Young Master Boris…”

“What, are you worried about me all of a sudden?”

“Well, if something really does happen to you, I feel like I’ll be blamed and killed for it. I think I need to spend my own money to make sure you stay healthy.”

She smiled at me as if waiting for praise.

She was so annoyingly honest that I clenched my teeth and glared at her.

“You could’ve just said you were worried. Why do you have to be so blunt?”

“Being honest makes people trust me more! And… my lady, if you really believe Yubel isn’t a [Materia], maybe you’re sicker than we thought. Your mind might be slipping. Let me go get some emergency medicine, and you must stay in bed today, okay?”

“…Ugh, I should just stop talking.”

“Aww~”

She kept saying things that made my blood boil, so I just stayed quiet.

As she opened her suitcase and started rummaging through it, I turned my gaze to the window.

Several luxurious carriages were entering the mansion grounds in a line.

I watched them for a while—until I spotted one with a very special emblem.

A lion!

Only one family in the Western Empire was allowed to use the lion in their crest.

The royal family of Lionea.

Why is the imperial carriage only arriving now?

The emblem showed two golden lions facing each other with swords between them.

Inside these carriages were gifts and representatives from some of the most powerful noble houses in the empire.

According to what I remembered, the Emperor’s gifts and envoy should’ve arrived the day after Lady Haiga visited.

But now, things were happening differently from what I remembered—and that made my heart sink.

“Loti, did Boris do something to upset the Duke? Why is Joseph greeting the imperial envoy instead of Boris?”

Far away, I could see Duke Bern Rohia personally welcoming the imperial envoy.

Standing beside him, however, wasn’t Boris, the eldest son, but Joseph, the second son.

Loti was making struggling noises behind me as she answered.

“Ugh… whew… Well, because of what happened between you and Young Master Boris, Lady Haiga said some harsh things to him. So now, since Young Master Joseph has always behaved well, they sent him instead.”

I clenched my teeth and muttered,

“Damn it…”

I didn’t know what Lady Haiga said to the Emperor or how it changed his mind.

But it was definitely causing problems.

I didn’t care about when the Emperor’s gifts were supposed to arrive—but the fact that Joseph was now greeting the envoy instead of Boris was a huge problem.

***

“Brother, are you sure it’s okay to just keep practicing swordsmanship like this? Didn’t Father ask you to manage the tribute goods?”

Boris, who had been happily swinging his sword, frowned at Joseph’s words.

He liked Joseph a lot—but he already got enough nagging from their father.

“That job is just looking at the stuff Adrien already organized. I’m sure Adrien did it right.”

“Maybe Father is testing you. What if he told Adrien to mess things up on purpose, just to see if you catch the mistakes?”

Boris groaned.

Joseph, lying in the grass, sat up and offered a suggestion.

“Then let’s do this. I’ll take care of it for you. Just get the key to the basement warehouse from Adrien, and I’ll sneak down there at dawn.”

“Why? Need more pocket money?”

Boris laughed.

“Fine, fine. Even if you steal something, I’ll let it slide—future Duke of Rohia’s orders.”

Joseph smiled.

“It’s not about money. There’s something down there I want to see for myself.”

“What is it?”

“I saw it listed in an old Rohia inventory record. It looked interesting. If it’s really there, I’ll tell you after I see it.”

Boris was curious about what kind of item managed to get his book-loving brother so excited.

But the next day, Joseph came back saying there was nothing interesting—just shrugged it off.

—Excerpt from Wings of the White Dragon, Volume 2: The Bottom of the Abyss

As I recalled the original story, I bit my lip.

In the novel, Boris was the one who greeted the envoy beside Duke Bern Rohia. Naturally, he was also in charge of managing the tribute items they brought.

But Boris didn’t care about boring tasks, so he passed that responsibility to Joseph.

Thanks to that, Joseph was able to secretly get his hands on an item he had long desired.

“Loti, who has the key to the treasure vault in the basement?”