Episode 3
“Go back.”
Bang!
A complete shutout.
The Crown Prince locked the door the moment he heard my footsteps approaching.
“Ah, come on. We should help each other out. Why’s he being so uptight?”
Muttering under my breath, I rubbed my nose and marched back to my room.
Every time I had a spare moment, I knocked on the Crown Prince’s door, but I was always met with cold rejection.
“What a difficult brat.”
The moment I entered my room, I flopped onto the bed.
“Hmm.”
The softness of it eased my fatigue a little.
I really like the technology of this era.
“Just feel this texture. It’s amazing.”
‘From today onward, you will use this room.’
The room assigned to me was on the second floor of the Crown Prince’s palace.
Decorated in pale green and gold, it was elegant and spacious—larger than a training ground.
“As expected. They’ve got money.”
For a mere play attendant, the room was outrageously luxurious.
“Is this about the same as the room the king of the kingdom I lived in used?”
The Seven Heroes—my former comrades—had originally belonged to a single kingdom.
Thanks to us, the Kingdom of Frident held a unique advantage among the dozen or so warring nations at the time. The king believed that was entirely due to his own ability, and gradually drove me and my comrades harder and harder.
Subjugating monsters. Territorial wars. Infiltrating enemy states.
During those missions, it was common for my comrades to be kidnapped, and we were never properly compensated.
Even so, he took all the credit and strutted around proudly…
“Nice to see it collapse.”
I had wondered what would become of that damned kingdom. Turns out it really did fall.
“And by the hands of my own comrades, no less.”
I sprawled on the plush mattress, flailing my arms and legs.
“Hngh, they got to enjoy all the luxury.”
This was paradise.
I had never lain on a bed this good in my entire life.
The only pillows I’d known were bundles of leaves picked up from battlefields or old ones with stuffing spilling out.
Those traitorous bastards probably lived comfortably in places like this their whole lives.
I started making a memo of things to take back when I returned to my original time.
‘Pillow is a must.’
The bed was so wide I could roll around several times without falling off, and so cozy that my whole body loosened.
This imperial palace really was something.
A bathtub with endless hot water.
Relaxed meals without having to wolf everything down.
Plates without chips and intact forks.
Fresh clothes provided every single day.
No more washing in unheated cold water.
No more filling my stomach with hard bread and cheese until I got sick.
No more stitching up clothes torn by monsters, only to have them rip apart again.
“Lady Tia, would you like me to prepare some refreshments?”
I nodded.
“Would you prefer strawberry cake or brownies?”
“Brownies?”
“Understood. I’ll prepare brownies.”
I was asking what they were.
What’s a brownie?
Before I could figure it out, a warm brown pastry was brought out.
It’s burnt, isn’t it?
‘Why are they serving me something burnt?’
Suspicious, I cut off a small piece and fed it to a bird outside the window.
At least it’s not poisoned.
The moment I put the so-called brownie into my mouth—
“…!”
A blissful sweetness I had never tasted before gently coated my tongue.
“What is this?”
Something this delicious existed?
I devoured the brownie in an instant.
“Oh my, you seem to like it. Would you like another?”
“Yes. Yes. Quickly.”
Staring blankly at the fresh brownie, I let it melt slowly on my tongue.
‘…This is insane.’
It’s delicious!
And those traitors—and their descendants—have been living well and eating things like this?
‘I need to take the brownie recipe back with me. No—should I just kidnap the chef?’
I wrote “Brownie” at the very top of my notebook.
Must not forget.
“I’m looking forward to the day I go back.”
When I return to my time, maybe instead of being a hero, I can just sell brownies and become filthy rich.
With a meaningful smile, I glanced at the small calendar on the table.
“It’s already been a week.”
It had been one week since I arrived at the imperial palace.
And I still hadn’t even caught a glimpse of Kazen’s shadow.
“Did I approach him too aggressively?”
I tapped my chubby cheek thoughtfully.
“It’s not like I can just kidnap him and draw his blood. I’m not that bastard Rut.”
Though as a last resort, it was worth considering. The Crown Prince was exceptionally difficult.
‘Your Highness the Crown Prince, I am your play—’
Bang!
‘Your Highness, may I come in? I’m Tia—’
Thud.
‘Your Highness, just once—’
“Roil. I told you not to let peddlers within the perimeter.”
The Crown Prince had never once agreed to meet me.
“It felt less like he was avoiding me and more like he hated me.”
The way he frowned the first time he saw me.
This is why humans are the most complicated.
Monsters can just be beaten to death. Wars are won by victory. I’m good at those things.
‘But the Crown Prince is a thirteen-year-old brat.’
Winning over a child’s heart wasn’t easy.
I thought a little coaxing would do the trick, but he blocked me from the start.
He must take after his grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather’s—whatever. Suspicious to the core.
“Well, that’s only natural.”
Clink.
I set down my fork and slouched back lazily.
This was the Crown Prince’s palace.
But I was the play attendant brought in by the Second Empress.
‘Which means, to anyone looking, I’m obviously a spy planted to monitor him.’
The Crown Prince knew it, and so did his faction.
Yet the attendants in the Crown Prince’s palace were fairly kind to me. If I were from an opposing faction, they would normally keep me in check. But there was none of that tension.
Why?
‘It means the Second Empress currently holds real power in the imperial household.’
I looked at the magic tools I had personally collected while wandering around the Crown Prince’s palace.
‘Someone carefully installed nothing but poison-specialized magic tools.’
Swaying gently in my palm were ordinary-looking door handles, armrests, and teacups—each disguised as something harmless.
Every single one was a killing device infused with malicious mana.
“Tools with such nasty taste—slowly poisoning someone so they die without even knowing when it happened.”
If the Crown Prince’s faction were strong, things like this wouldn’t be scattered all over his palace.
I knew someone capable of making such insidious tools.
‘Rut.’
One of the Seven Heroes—an assassin.
He claimed to have left the underworld he grew up in and changed professions to become an architect, but in truth, he was the head of an information guild and a maker of assassination tools.
In the official records of the Heroes, he was written down as a short-range, strategic swordsman.
Of course, these weren’t Rut’s original works.
They appeared to be crude imitation models—someone had dismantled his creations, studied them, and made inferior replicas.
“But for them to be used against the Crown Prince…”
Tap, tap.
I bounced the detoxified magic tool in my palm and narrowed my eyes.
Someone who wanted the Crown Prince dead.
But someone who couldn’t leave clear evidence.
“It’s obvious who’s behind this.”
The current empire had two empresses.
First Empress, Sierra Perille.
Second Empress, Bellavita Clurion.
“Clurion, huh?”
The corner of my lips curled upward.
Bellavita Clurion—the woman who had become the empire’s Second Empress.
She dared to use my family name.
“As if I’d have red eyes.”
Descendants of heroes usually inherit their ancestor’s eye color.
The Second Empress had black hair and red eyes.
I have blond hair and golden eyes.
“It’s my fault for not leaving behind a single portrait.”
Even the statues of the Hero scattered throughout the empire weren’t modeled after my true appearance.
My comrades had merely described me verbally, leaving behind a vague likeness.
Knowing that, the woman named Bellavita made full use of the title “descendant of the vanished Hero.”
‘But I used it too.’
To call it even would be unfair—I’m the one at a loss.
I looked toward the Second Empress’s palace and smirked.
‘How should I make her pay for this?’
Unfortunately for Bellavita, she chose the wrong opponent.
I have a very high tolerance for frauds.
