• CHAPTER 06

Bridget, who had been fidgeting with excitement, suddenly closed her fan and grabbed Taeri’s wrist, dragging her up into the carriage without a second thought.

“Alright, I’ll come with you. I just need to give you a quick tour of the area, right?”

“How rude!”

Anshi scolded her with a horrified expression, but Bridget herself seemed completely unfazed, like What? We’re friends.

“The princess is heading to the apothecaries’ district. Make sure she gets there safely—and bring her back just as safely.”

“Ugh, why would anyone want to go to a place full of cranky old herbalists?”

Bridget whined about it, even threatening to kidnap Taeri and take her somewhere else, but Anshi’s stern gaze quickly silenced her.

Having properly “trained” her niece, Anshi took Taeri’s hands warmly in her own.

“She may be immature, but she’s not a bad girl. I’ll make sure she looks after you. Please take care.”

“I feel like I’m troubling too many people.”

“Not at all. No matter what you ask, it’s never a bother to us.”

With firm affection, Anshi left no room for doubt, then pulled Taeri into a tight hug one last time before parting.

Don’t lose your confidence, and don’t let yourself shrink back.

Taeri hesitated for a moment before cautiously returning the embrace.

If she had just scooted over a little, it would’ve been fine—but instead, Bridget chose to sit directly opposite her, and the pointed toes of her shoes kept brushing against Taeri’s dress.

Taeri sighed and began to shift over, thinking Fine, I’ll just move.

But right at that moment, as the carriage swayed, Bridget’s foot suddenly stretched out—deliberately blocking Taeri’s leg.

“You’ve grown into quite the beauty, Princess. And there’s something different about your aura too. Like you’ve gotten stronger somehow? Did you evolve or something before coming back?”

Bridget leaned in uncomfortably close, grinning as she scrutinized every inch of Taeri’s face.

“This is a bit much, you know.”

Taeri pushed her away, and Bridget backed off, but her crossed arms and the impatient tap-tap of her fan against her palm made it clear she wasn’t done.

“Honestly, who would’ve thought we’d ever end up sitting face to face in such a cramped space? Back in the day, I was the lowest-ranked among your maids. I’d sneak peeks at you brushing your hair and wonder if you even knew my name.”

Taeri responded with a polite but restrained smile. Whatever Bridget remembered from the past, her current outfit made her look far more like a courtier than Taeri did now.

“So, what’s the deal with the apothecary district? Going shopping? Bored? Or maybe—now that the ‘master’ has returned—you’re calling everyone back to the banner for some grand festival?”

Taeri looked at her with a blank expression, then calmly dropped the most effective threat she could think of.

“If you keep being this mean, I’ll tell your aunt everything.”

“What?! That’s so low.”

Bridget pouted, clearly rattled.

“Unbelievable. You still think I’m the same little handmaiden who used to wait on you? I’m someone important now, you know. A real community leader. Keep disrespecting me and you’ll regret it.”

Community leader? Taeri hadn’t expected that. She’s actually influential around here?

Now that she looked closer, Bridget’s extravagant dress did seem a bit out of place. It didn’t suit a mage at all.

Most mages took pride in their identity—they never hid the fact, and rarely ever removed their robes unless absolutely necessary.

But Bridget? Taeri hadn’t even realized she was a mage. The dress she wore was unmistakably Valoran-style.

That kind of gown was only seen in the New Town district, where the Valoran nobility lived.

A mage from Izaris, dressed in Valoran fashion?
This wasn’t just eccentric—it bordered on betrayal.

Well, her strange tea shop was located in the New Town area…

“You don’t live around here, do you?”

After piecing things together, Taeri asked. Bridget nodded without hesitation.

“Of course not. I live across the river, in New Town. And I live very well, thank you.”

She gestured out the window with her fan, pointing at the arch bridge spanning the moderately wide river.

Beyond that bridge was New Town, where the architecture followed Valoran designs and most residents were from the Empire. Even the consulate Claude had written down for her was located there.

So what was Taeri supposed to make of her friend’s claim that she’d become a local leader while dressed in foreign fashion?

Taeri furrowed her brow slightly without realizing it.

“I thought mages weren’t even allowed in places like that.”

“Ugh, listen to you—what are you, some grumbling old man?”

Bridget chuckled, tapping her fan against Taeri’s furrowed brows.

“The world’s changed. People have to change too. The old city? Still in ruins. Filthy, unsafe, uncomfortable. What’s the point of clinging to that? Is the ‘glory days’ going to come back because you stuck around?”

She spoke freely, insisting that anyone who still believed in that kind of outdated thinking would never escape Valoran’s grasp.

If you want to fight them, she said, you have to learn how they operate.

“I live in the enemy’s heart. That makes me the smart one. I’m going to become the queen of their social circles.”

So not a traitor—just a modern girl, Taeri thought, nodding as she mentally apologized for the earlier misjudgment.

“Well… I guess that does make a kind of sense.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah.”

“Really really?”

“If you want to beat your enemy, you need to understand them. Increases your chances of winning.”

Bridget looked genuinely surprised, as if she hadn’t expected Taeri to agree so easily. Staring out across the river, she launched into another monologue without being asked.

“Have you been to New Town?”

“Yeah. I mean—no. No, I haven’t. Not yet.”

“Go. It’s a whole different world over there. Clean, wealthy, fun. The Valoran knights built a new town by placing that bridge. And ever since, this side’s just been left to rot.”

“There are that many Valoran nobles from the capital?”

“Oh yeah, tons. They’re either moving in or visiting. They love turning our misfortune into entertainment—and while they’re at it, they’re consolidating power. You think they’re doing all that just for fun? They’re planning to make this whole place their territory.”

Taeri had assumed Bridget was just some shady pharmacist, but her awareness of the political landscape was surprisingly sharp.

Taeri asked another question.

“Whose idea was all this?”

“Ioria’s, obviously.”

Ioria—the Empress of Valoran and ruler of the entire continent. Bridget said her name without a hint of hesitation.

“But the one who’s going to benefit the most? That’ll be someone else entirely. Once things settle down, he’ll be the new master of this land.”

“You mean Claude?”

“Yeah, that damn eunuch.”

Eunuch?

Taeri felt her blood pressure spike for a second—and sure enough, Bridget launched into a brutal tirade against Claude.

“That sneaky bastard! The only reason we’re putting up with him is because his soldiers are better than having no protection. It’s not because we like him!”

“So you don’t recognize his authority?”

“Authority? Authority?! Don’t make me laugh!”

According to Bridget, Claude and his knights didn’t govern anything. They just maintained order and managed the defense perimeter around the Black Forest.

More like border patrol than a lord, she said—and she scoffed, referring to him as “just a knight,” or “that knight nobody.”

“He pretends to be some pious holy knight with no interest in wealth, but…”

“Yeah, no. People who say they don’t care about money? Always the ones who are secretly obsessed with it.”

“Ha! Princess, I like the way you think.”

Bridget clearly had a lot of pent-up anger. The more they talked, the more intense she got.

She launched into deeply personal complaints: how the nobles from the capital treated her like some backwoods hick, how her tea shop was always empty while the cursed wine bar across the street overflowed with people…

And, of course, how utterly insufferable Claude was.

“My tea shop is not some dumb wine bar. It’s a political hub! I host gatherings there, banquets, fundraisers—it’s supposed to be a place of resistance. But no one comes. All because of those damned nobles!”

Taeri was beginning to understand how this once-aspiring socialite might one day become a plague doctor.

Ah… so this is how a character goes down the dark route.

It was easy to see how all that bitterness could turn into something dangerous.

Taeri gently nodded along, offering words of comfort, and Bridget went off again about how unfair life had been to her.

“My whole life plan got wrecked! When monsters started pouring out of the forest, everyone ran—but I stayed. I stayed to help. I provided healing potions to the very end! I wanted people to see how effective they were!”

“Mm, I see…”

So that’s when she started selling her potions… with that precious talent of hers…

“Of course I got recognition! Once the situation settled down, I was practically soaring!”

“Congrats.”

“And if that had been the end of it, everything would’ve been perfect. But nooo—then that damned army showed up out of nowhere like a bolt from the blue!”

“You mean Claude’s army.”

“Yeah, that eunuch!”

Taeri wanted to ask why she kept calling him that, but Bridget was on too much of a roll, spitting fire about the downfall of her short-lived reign.

“I tried everything to get rid of him. Bribes, assassination attempts—I even tried seducing him! But nothing worked. That lunatic. May he die alone forever!”

Her choice of words and tone were incredibly intense.

“You mean he was that much of a fortress?”

Bridget shook her head.

“No, not a fortress. He just doesn’t talk. Doesn’t respond to anyone.”

“There’s probably a reason for that…”

“Reason? Please. That guy’s famous for acting like women are invisible. Back in the capital, they called him ‘the man without libido.’ He has zero interest in women!”

The man without… what now?