SEVL 7

Chapter 7

As expected of a mansion that was obviously coated in money, the reception room was extremely luxurious. Even the cushions had the logos of the most famous designers in the capital prominently displayed. Truly, it was a taste that could only be described as extravagant.

“This cushion is really nice. It must be expensive. Wow, this designer even makes cushions?”

I said this while patting a cushion, and Joshua answered bluntly:

“Limited edition. People like you, with no sense of fashion, wouldn’t even recognize its value. So what are you waiting for—just sit comfortably already.”

Meeting Joshua after several years, he was exactly the same. Since long ago, no kind words ever came out of his mouth. In fact, he had been an even bigger headache for grandfather than I was. So, ignoring Joshua’s words was the best course of action. That said, it was smart to grab any crumbs that fell nearby.

I leaned comfortably against a cushion, and Joshua looked at me with a sulky expression.

“When did you get to the capital? Without a single call.”

Wow. He really was a sly little thing, like a summoned familiar. I snickered and crossed my legs.

“You already knew, so why are you acting like that, Editor-in-Chief of Lorelai?”

Joshua’s relaxed expression immediately stiffened. I gestured toward his summoned familiar, the green snake, and shrugged.

“Even if I couldn’t summon a familiar, I grew up with you, remember?”

At this, Joshua raised an eyebrow and fell silent for a moment.

In the capital, a messy gossip magazine called Lorelai was popular. It exposed people’s secrets and private matters—a vulgar third-rate tabloid—but it sold incredibly well. And that Lorelai was published by Joshua himself. Only the public editor-in-chief, a stand-in, was visible to the outside world, so no one suspected Joshua was behind it.

The stand-in editor was actually his familiar. Joshua’s summoned green snake, Lea, had the ability to take human form. For a certain period, she could appear as a woman with green hair and green eyes.

No one except members of the Frelliger family knew this about the familiar. They kept it secret in case of unforeseen circumstances, which allowed them to deceive everyone flawlessly. That was why no one knew where Joshua’s wealth came from.

Grandfather and Alex pressured Joshua to shut down Lorelai. Of course, Joshua ignored them and ran off, living well and eating well.

“I heard the editor-in-chief of Lorelai is a beautiful woman with green eyes and green hair. I kind of figured it out.”

This was actually information from the original story.

<Oh, clever.>

Lea raised her head and complimented me.

Being recognized by a familiar pleased me, so I nodded in approval at the snake.

“That’s right, I’m very clever. You, a stupid snake who doesn’t understand the beauty of right angles, at least have an eye for human intelligence.”

<…….>

After establishing camaraderie with Lea, I turned my gaze to Joshua and spoke.

“Anyway, you must have all your informants in the capital. You knew I arrived last night, didn’t you?”

“…Yeah. I knew you arrived.”

Joshua commanded a huge number of informants to collect all kinds of gossip for Lorelai.

‘In other words, Joshua is a luxury-obsessed backroom raccoon holding all the information and public opinion…’

Though his influence was limited to the capital, it meant that if you wanted information, you came to Joshua.

“Then I’ll just say what I need and leave. I have two questions.”

Joshua scoffed and crossed his arms.

“Did you leave something with me? Why are you so confident?”

“Because someday I’ll be able to help you too? We’re not strangers; we’re family, so we should help each other.”

Joshua choked on his tea and coughed. Then, with eyes full of disbelief, he said:

“You’re really Kiana? After six years, you suddenly show up and say something family-friendly?”

His red eyes suddenly became chilling.

“Right now, there’s no other soul inhabiting Kiana’s body, is there?”

Joshua’s face went as cold as ice in an instant. He spoke in a low, grave voice:

“The secret that only the two of us know… tell me immediately.”

Unbelievable.

Since childhood, Joshua had been obsessed with all sorts of gossip, and he read tons of romance novels. Many of them involved spirits inhabiting other people’s bodies. He must have been imagining one of those stories in his head.

I sighed once and calmly gave him the answer.

“There’s no secret that Kiana and you share. We’ve never been close since birth. Satisfied?”

“Really… it is Kiana…”

Joshua’s icy expression immediately softened. He even brushed his long, golden hair behind his ear, looking angelically pretty. I calmly began speaking.

“My first question is…”

I asked, being mindful of Lea.

“If a familiar gets hurt… what do you think someone would feel?”

“If Lea got hurt?”

Joshua frowned and looked at his green snake familiar. Then he answered immediately:

“I’d wish it were me instead. She came to this world relying on me alone.”

<Of course, that’s how it should be. You must take the pain instead.>

Lea giggled and nodded as if satisfied.

“Then if someone were to heal that hurt familiar…”

I asked quietly.

“Would you be inclined to fulfill that person’s request?”

“Hmm.”

Joshua answered seriously.

“If it were me, even if the person were Alex, I’d wrap them entirely in luxury from head to toe.”

“Well, Alex probably wouldn’t like it… but anyway, I understand that extreme opinion.”

Since I couldn’t summon the familiar myself, I didn’t know the exact value of what I wanted to do for grandfather. Seeing Joshua’s reaction, it was clearly a significant matter.

‘It might go smoothly.’

I busily spun the wheel of hope.

‘If I just fix Hou, and let grandfather know that Hitten is after us… it might surprisingly go very smoothly… Grandfather is competent, after all.’

Some might say, “Why would telling grandfather just one sentence be so nerve-wracking?” But for me, it really was.

“But tell me, Kiana. Suppose the familiar is hurt. How exactly would you fix it?”

Joshua tilted his head in puzzlement.

“There’s no doctor or veterinarian who can heal a familiar. You know that.”

I nodded in agreement with his reasonable objection.

“Don’t worry about it. It has nothing to do with you.”

And then I continued.

“And the second question… Do you have any information on His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? Anything will do.”

“What?”

Joshua’s brow furrowed instantly.

“The Crown Prince?”

“Yeah.”

“….”

Joshua looked down in displeasure. The expression was completely different from when I asked the first question.

After a moment of silence, he reluctantly spoke.

“I don’t know why you suddenly care about that, but I have no secret information beyond what we all know.”

I quietly observed Joshua’s face. He continued with a stiff expression:

“Six years ago, the Crown Prince went on a hunting-picnic trip to the Edpa Mountains with his closest aides. Then he fell off a cliff and disappeared. That’s all I know.”

“….”

“You were trapped in the Principality of Riloni, but you should at least know that much.”

“What happened after that?”

“What do you mean, after that?”

Joshua grumbled.

“After the Crown Prince disappeared, Prince Hitten seized power and became the de facto first in line to the throne. The Emperor is also quite ill…”

I already knew this, but I patiently listened. Joshua continued carelessly:

“However, the Emperor said he wouldn’t give the Crown Prince’s position to Prince Hitten until he personally saw the Crown Prince’s body. That’s why the position remains vacant.”

“Is that really all?”

“Yeah. Truly, even if I stake Lea, that’s all I know about what happened next.”

Hmm… he really doesn’t know. At this point, there was nothing to do. I nodded calmly and said:

“Then promise me. If you learn anything about the Crown Prince, you’ll tell me. And also investigate the connection between Prince Hitten, our family, and the Crown Prince.”

Joshua looked at me with a complicated expression. He clearly hated it, not knowing how to play the older brother role for a younger sister now.

After fiddling with his lips for a while, he finally said:

“Hey, don’t get involved in royal affairs half-heartedly. You’ll get into trouble.”

Ah, he’s worried about me… I answered with a grateful look.

“Don’t worry.”

“….”