Chapter 4

On the day of my escape, I was getting ready in the dungeon where I had grown quite accustomed to living.

I had already put the guards under a hypnotic spell.

["Ice Statue"]

Using magic, I created an ice statue that resembled my form in the chair.

I infused it with enough magical power that it should last for ten days if not touched.

It shouldn’t be discovered for three days, until the king and the dukes return to the castle.

“Oh, I almost forgot this.”

I removed the magic-sealing collar from my neck and placed it on the ["Ice Statue"].

Although it was meant to seal my magic, it had no effect on me.

After all, I was the one who created this magic-sealing collar.

It was an ancient magical artifact that I had reconstructed from ancient documents stored in the forbidden library beneath the castle.

Naturally, I had designed it to stop functioning if I infused it with my own magic, considering the possibility that I might have to wear it.

“Well, let’s go, Mirei.”

“Yes.”

Mirei and I slipped out of the dungeon together.

According to the information I had extracted from the guards under ["Hypnosis"], it seemed that Fried had taken the key to my cell, but if I could use magic, making an ice key would be easy.

I relocked the cell and left the dungeon.

The guards’ ["Hypnosis"] would wear off soon.

Mirei and I climbed the stairs leading to the ground floor and reached the door that led to the corridor.

It had been a month since we last came this far.

I could feel a creeping anger towards Fried in my chest.

Since that incident, I’ve become more aware of my emotions.

According to Mirei, it seems my emotions have become more abundant.

“Mirei.”

“Yes, [Illusion].”

Mirei has an affinity for light magic.

[Illusion] is a light magic that can manipulate light to create false appearances or make one invisible.

“Let’s go.”

We strolled through the castle, invisible, and easily escaped to the outside.

◇◆☆◆◇

Lucas Lebric finished writing the report to be submitted to his country, put down his pen, and pressed his temples, closing his eyes tightly.

He tried to mask his fatigue by sipping tea.

“Finally, I can return to the empire.”

Lucas was currently serving as an ambassador to the neighboring kingdom of Halderia, as the head of a viscount family.

His homeland, the Eutian Empire, was a young nation, having been founded only about 100 years ago, but it had rapidly expanded its influence by subjugating surrounding countries.

Halderia Kingdom was one of the few countries on the continent that could stand up to the empire in a direct confrontation.

The war with the kingdom five years ago ended in a stalemate, and they were now (at least on the surface) friendly nations.

Lucas had become the head of a baron family without a fief at the young age of 16 after his father, the previous head, died in an accident.

When he was just over 20, he was suddenly summoned by the emperor and, as a reward for his hard work, was promoted to viscount and given an unusually large fief near the border with the kingdom.

While it might sound like the story of a young noble’s rise to prominence, Lucas understood that he was merely a buffer against the kingdom, a young man with no significant backing.

His current mission was to attend the kingdom’s founding anniversary party as the empire’s ambassador.

After a six-day journey through the wilderness that served as a buffer zone, Lucas arrived in the capital and engaged in polite conversation with a disagreeable kingdom noble at the party.

The conversation was filled with intellectual, academic, and beautifully decorated noble language, but the content was no different from the petty squabbles of children.

He had once dreamed of becoming a proud noble like his father.

But now, as the head of a noble family, his job was mostly about maintaining good relations and engaging in verbal sparring.

Just as Lucas was sighing at the tediousness of his work, a commotion broke out in the center of the party.

The crown prince of the kingdom had denounced his fiancée, the daughter of a duke, and announced that he would marry a baron’s daughter, whose identity was unknown.

(What the hell, is that prince an idiot?

To display such a disgrace in public like this...)

Lucas could clearly see that the guests from other countries were looking at the prince with ridicule and disdain.

The duke’s daughter tried to smooth things over, but the prince, who refused to listen, had the guards take her away and then, right there, declared his engagement to the baron’s daughter.

The kingdom’s nobles reacted in various ways, some looking as if they had bitten into a sour apple, others clutching their heads.

The guests from other countries were either appalled by the prince’s scandal or trying to suppress their laughter.

I never expected something like this to happen.

After all, that young lady is a renowned talent.

The kingdom’s recent rise has always been attributed to her.

During the last war, the damage she, at just 10 years old, inflicted on our empire was immense.

For an imperial citizen, it’s hard to stop laughing at the prince’s decision to discard such a formidable card.

After the party ended, Lucas returned to the embassy assigned to him in the kingdom and hurriedly wrote a report about the commotion at the party.

A little over a month later, just as his work in the kingdom was coming to an end and he was about to return home the next day,

“L-Lucas-sama.”

“Hmm, what is it at this hour?”

The servant who had accompanied him rushed into his office in a panic.

“S-Someone... is here.”

“A guest? But I didn’t have any appointments. Who is it?”

“W-Well, it’s...”

When I heard the name of the visitor from the servant, I jumped up and hurried to the reception room.

I took a deep breath at the door and opened it.

“I apologize for keeping you waiting, King Blaht.”

When I entered the reception room, King Blaht of Halderia, who had been sitting in a chair, turned to look at me.

King Blaht was waiting for me with only one maid behind him, without any guards.

But something was strange.

King Blaht was supposed to be attending an emergency meeting in a nearby area due to a monster disaster, leaving the kingdom.

While he was expected to return soon, I hadn’t received any reports that he had returned.

“Wh-What?”

As I tried to figure out King Blaht’s intentions and sat down, he suddenly stood up and bowed.

Even though he was the ambassador of an equally powerful empire... no, precisely because he was the ambassador of an equally powerful empire, he shouldn’t show any weakness.

“First, I apologize for requesting a meeting at such an hour and in such a manner.”

The gruff, warrior-like King Blaht spoke in a voice as delicate as a tinkling bell.

“Huh?”

“Mirei.”

When King Blaht called the maid’s name in that unsettlingly out-of-place voice, the maid bowed deeply and clapped her hands lightly.

Whether she used magic or released it, it wasn’t necessary, but she did it to make me aware of the magic.

In other words, it was a way of indicating that the magic was not intended to harm me.

“Wh-What?”

As I realized this and turned my gaze back to King Blaht, I was once again taken aback.

The figure of King Blaht had disappeared, replaced by a beautiful and delicate young girl.

“E-Elizabeth...”

The girl was Elizabeth Reistone.

The young lady who had been behind the kingdom’s prosperity.

And the former fiancée of the crown prince, who was now supposed to be under house arrest.

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