TSHF 09

Chapter 09

I quietly picked it up.

At once, the spirits appeared and flared up in anger.

[Th-That insolent bastard! Master, just say the word! I’ll burn him to a crisp!]

[Hmph, burning him isn’t enough~! Master, let’s throw him into the water~! I’ll punish him until he begs for his life~!]

[Master, are you okay? That human is bad! So mean!]

‘I’m fine.’

I gently smoothed out my mother’s crumpled diary and murmured,

“It was you who refused reconciliation first, Your Highness.”

So the one who will leave this capital… won’t be me. It will be you.

Calmly predicting the future, I watched Gobard’s figure as he walked farther and farther away.

“Good afternoon, Princess Neroli!”

A few days after the banquet ended,

into my garden came Abwa Boboncher, the precious jewel of the Duke of Boboncher’s house.

I greeted her with a bright smile.

“Welcome, Lady Abwa.”

At my smile, Abwa’s cheeks flushed pink as she took the prepared seat.

“To have tea alone with Your Highness! Ever since I received the invitation, I’ve been counting down the days!”

“Really? I’ve been looking forward to seeing you too, Lady Abwa!”

With that, we began chatting casually.

Abwa, who loved to talk, naturally led the conversation.

“Grandmother was especially worried about Your Highness’s well-being. After all, such a sad thing happened not long ago.”

“Oh my, I’ve caused concern for the Dowager Duchess of Boboncher.”

“Oh heavens, not at all!”

Abwa waved her hands frantically.

“Our family owes Princess Neroli such a great debt—how could you call it a burden? Please don’t say that!”

I smiled quietly at her words.

It was only natural for Abwa to say such things.

Two winters ago, I had secretly cured the chronic illness of her grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Boboncher.

‘As it happened, the new medicine I formulated was effective for her condition.’

Thanks to the spirits’ advice, I knew exactly what effects plants and fruits had on the human body—and what effects they would produce when combined.

Even the things that weren’t written in books.

My specialty was using that knowledge to create various medicines.

And occasionally, when the timing was right, I would discreetly pass those medicines to people who needed them—

careful not to catch the Emperor’s attention.

‘I get to test the medicine’s effects and expand my connections. The patients get cured.’

It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.

The Boboncher family was one such case.

They had been deeply moved by my goodwill and had maintained a favorable relationship with me ever since.

“We only ever worry about you, our benefactor! So please don’t say such lonely things.”

“I’m truly happy and reassured that you think of me that way.”

I met Abwa’s gaze with a touched expression.

“I’m really fine. If I keep grieving, I feel like my mother won’t be able to rest peacefully… And I have people like you and the Boboncher family who care about me! So I’ve decided to cheer up! Fighting!”

I gave her a bright smile.

Abwa, who had been staring at me as if entranced, slowly nodded.

“Your smile is a treasure of our empire.”

She muttered that softly, her cheeks still flushed.

Lowering her gaze shyly, she took a sip of her tea.

Sensing the atmosphere had ripened just enough, I naturally introduced a new topic.

“Come to think of it… it seems to be taking some time.”

“Time?”

“Well… you and…”

I cupped my cheek with one hand and spoke in a worried tone.

“His Highness the Crown Prince’s wedding.”

At my words, Abwa’s hand twitched briefly.

Pretending not to notice, I tilted my head innocently.

“It’s been several years since your engagement… I was wondering if perhaps I’d missed any new developments.”

At my concern, Abwa’s face darkened with clear dissatisfaction.

She let out a long sigh.

“I’m frustrated to death about it, actually.”

As if seizing the chance, she began pouring out everything she had been bottling up.

“Since it’s you, Princess, I’ll be honest. It’s already been five years since we got engaged, hasn’t it? But His Highness keeps saying he’s busy and avoids the topic!”

“Oh my, is that so?”

“At first, I understood. Right after our engagement, he was busy suppressing pirates! But that ended last year! Then shouldn’t we hold the wedding right away? Why does he keep dragging his feet?”

“Hm, indeed.”

“Sigh. I insisted on marrying him in the first place. If only I hadn’t fallen for that face at first sight…”

“……”

“But it’s too late to call off the engagement now. His Majesty only granted permission because I begged so much.”

Abwa, clearly stressed, took a large bite of cake.

“He doesn’t even consider the heart of his anxious fiancée. What on earth is His Highness thinking?”

Of course, I knew exactly what Gobard was thinking.

‘Originally, he did intend to marry Abwa right after finishing the pirate suppression.’

But upon returning to the imperial palace after several years, he encountered an unexpected variable.

The female protagonist of the original story.

‘Right now, he’s deeply drawn to her.’

No wonder his fiancée doesn’t even register in his eyes.

For reference, Abwa was merely a minor villain in the original.

‘Thankfully, Mother’s diary detailed the story up to the middle.’

That’s how I learned roughly what role Abwa would play.

Of course, the real Abwa sitting here with me was slightly different from the one in the novel.

In the original, Abwa stubbornly refused to break off her engagement and ultimately met a tragic end—being sent to a convent. A one-time villain.

But the Abwa drinking tea with me now wasn’t just a few lines in a story. She had her own circumstances.

‘It was an engagement she forced through by her own insistence. And through it, the Emperor extracted an enormous dowry from the Boboncher family.’

On top of that, as time passed, she had already gone well beyond the typical marriageable age. The Crown Prince was her only option left.

‘If she had clung to those facts, the marriage might have gone through somehow.’

At the very least, if she had stayed quiet, her father, Duke Boboncher, would have devised something.

But she was ignorant of the complicated political interests between her family and the imperial house.

She was emotional, somewhat hot-tempered, and repeatedly fell for Gobard’s provocations—his attempts to push her toward breaking off the engagement.

As a result, her reputation among the nobility steadily declined.

‘And then, at an imperial banquet, she pushed the female protagonist off the terrace.’

She was caught.

And so, under the charge of attempted murder at a sacred imperial banquet, Abwa was expelled from the capital.

Quietly recalling my mother’s notes, I deliberately spoke in a hopeful tone.

“Still, Lady Abwa, please don’t worry too much!”

Abwa looked at me.

I smiled at her innocently, without a hint of ulterior motive.

“His Highness finished suppressing the pirates using the dowry he received in advance from the Boboncher family. Surely he wouldn’t pretend not to know that? He must simply be truly busy!”

“Pardon? What do you mean? I know the dowry was given in advance… but what do you mean he used it to finish the pirate suppression?”

“Oh? You didn’t know?”

As I said that, I smiled faintly inside.

‘But what if someone began offering her proper advice from behind the scenes?’

I wonder how that would change the board.

“The Boboncher family commands the empire’s largest navy, don’t they? That’s how they supported His Highness’s campaign against the pirates.”

“That’s right.”

“At the time, the imperial house received seventeen ships from the Boboncher fleet as part of your dowry. After that, the total number of ships between the imperial fleet and the Boboncher fleet reversed, didn’t it?”

“…Is that true?”

She probably didn’t know such details.

Abwa’s face turned pale.

“Seventeen ships…? I’ve never heard such a thing!”

She was horrified.

And understandably so.

The Boboncher family of the south was the guardian of the southern seas, possessing the strongest naval fleet on the continent.

They had fifty-seven ships—more than the imperial house’s forty-six.

‘But five years ago, seventeen were handed over as dowry.’

Now the imperial house held sixty-three ships, while the Bobonchers were left with forty.

The rankings had reversed.

It was a heavy loss for the Bobonchers.

Of course, dowry contracts between high nobles were often kept secret. Abwa, who had little interest in political affairs, wouldn’t have known.

Her hands trembled on the table.

“Oh dear, Lady Abwa.”

I placed my hand over hers and gently patted it.

“Perhaps Duke Boboncher didn’t tell you the details because he was worried you’d be troubled.”

“Princess, I… I can’t believe this! No matter what—how could they not tell me something so enormous when I’m the one involved?”

“Well, you believed that your engagement to His Highness only succeeded because you insisted so strongly.”

“That’s…!”

“Lady Abwa, I may not know every detail, but this I can say for certain.”

I clasped her hand firmly and spoke in a steady tone.

“His Majesty never accepts a deal that disadvantages him. The same goes for permitting your engagement to the Crown Prince.”

“Ah—.”

“The Boboncher family has already paid a tremendous price. There is absolutely no reason for you to feel small. In fact, I think it’s time for you to assert your rightful position with confidence.”

“Princess Neroli…”

At my words, Abwa, her face full of worry, urgently gripped my hand in return.