Contract (1)
Father had promised to come up to the capital, but I couldn't just sit on my hands until then. I had to do whatever I could before he arrived so I could convince him.
Paved highways crisscrossed the Empire nowadays, but distance was still distance. Even making the absolute best time, traveling from the remote Damos Territory—a rural backwater so obscure that even the Emperor might scratch his head wondering if such a house existed—to the capital would take at least three days. Under normal circumstances, it was a solid week’s journey. Unless Father practically lived in his coach and swapped tired horses for fresh ones at every hamlet along the thoroughfare, I had to figure on five days at least.
So, was I supposed to just twiddle my thumbs and wait? Hell no. I needed to formulate a countermeasure of my own.
“Hey, Yohan! Playing hooky with another fake illness today, huh?”
“Yuna, you punk, perfect timing. Just the person I needed.”
“Uh... what...?”
Yuna was already taking wary steps backward, but I lunged forward and grabbed her by the arm. Don't do this to me. If you don't help, I'm genuinely done for.
“Wh-what's going on?”
“This is going to sound like utter bullshit, but I need you to take it seriously.”
“Okay...”
“Ariel proposed to me.”
“Wait, what kind of bullshit are you—?”
She started to wave her hands dismissively with her usual puhihi snicker, but then her brow furrowed. It seemed she'd finally realized my deadpan stare held no trace of a joke.
“For real?”
“Yeah.”
“Can't you just turn her down?”
“It's an arranged political marriage between our families. They even sent over the betrothal gifts.”
“Whoa...”
Did she finally grasp the sheer gravity of the situation? For once, a rare, dead-serious look settled over Yuna's face as she pondered.
“I thought she was being awfully quiet lately, and then she goes and pulls this?” Yuna clicked her tongue in disbelief. Her gaze turned frosty. I was almost touched by how deeply she seemed to sympathize with my plight—anyone watching would've thought she was the one personally wronged. “So, what do you plan to do?”
“That's what I need to figure out right now. I was hoping you could dig up some intel on House Aether for me.”
“Ugh... If I slip up, that's instant death.”
Tronios Aether was an Archmage, and a monster specialized in direct combat at that. In terms of pure destructive capability, he easily rivaled or exceeded Great Sage Faust. It was precisely because monsters like him stood gathered beneath the Emperor that all the high-and-mighty factions across the continent walked on eggshells around the throne. Besides, the Duke was a battle-hardened veteran who had rolled through countless killing fields. He'd spot an assassin's presence in a heartbeat.
“I'm not asking you to infiltrate the ducal estate yourself. Just listen around for rumors and gossip, that sort of thing. See what you can find.”
“Well, I guess that's doable... but Yohan? Don't you think you've gotten a little too comfortable bossing me around?”
“Think of how many times I've bailed you out...!”
“Pretty sure I've saved your butt way more often, haven't I?”
“Then what's one more to the pile?”
“Your conscience has officially given up the ghost, hasn't it? Hmm... fine, whatever. I want to keep this ride going with you as long as possible anyway.”
“Right, exactly! You're the only one I can count on. You're the best, Yuna.”
“...Ahem.”
Praise could make even a whale dance. The moment my shameless flattery hit her ears, her sour mood vanished, replaced by an unmistakable smugness.
“I-I know, right? Puhihi!”
“Of course you are.”
If things kept going like this, I was going to end up six feet under. There were things in this world far more terrifying than having powerhouses like Cult, Tillis, or Faust keeping tabs on me. Those bastards were at least straightforward; you could predict what to watch out for. Getting entangled in that sort of relationship with Ariel, however, was a completely different beast.
She was nothing short of a walking taunt totem, having smashed the skulls of terrorists left and right both inside and outside the Cradle. If I got engaged to a girl like that, I would become her glaring, neon-lit weak point. Every enemy gunning for her would immediately pivot to taking me hostage. Being exposed to an unspecified swarm of nameless hostiles was infinitely more hazardous than facing a single clear adversary.
“Honestly, the cleanest fix for this sort of mess is for the other party to quietly drop dead without a trace,” Yuna murmured casually. “Too bad that's impossible—neither the justification nor the skill is there.”
“Spoken like a true assassin. Do you have to sound so terrifying?”
“Is it really? I feel like anyone in your shoes would think of that first.”
“...”
To tell the truth, the thought had crossed my mind. But it was so utterly trashy that I made a point of scrubbing it from my brain as fast as humanly possible. It wasn't as if Ariel and I harbored any mutual grudge, after all.
“Fine, I'll help you out for now. But you owe me a favor later, deal?”
“...”
“Is your conscience truly six feet deep?”
“Of course. But let's hear the favor first before I agree.”
Now that we'd shared each other's deepest secrets, her banter held no holds barred. It made her feel that much closer.
“So, Yohan, what are you going to do?”
“Me? I'm going to...”
I had no intention of dumping all the legwork on Yuna while kicking back myself. The tomb known as holy matrimony was marching toward me in real time. Rather than pacing the floor in frantic anxiety, I might as well pound the pavement.
“I'm going to go see Her Highness Lobelia.”
“Whoa...” Yuna gave a low whistle of admiration and patted my shoulder twice. “Good luck.”
A single phrase packed with countless unspoken sentiments.
Had I ever sought out Lobelia on my own initiative before? Probably never. It wasn't as if someone of my station had the right to casually summon an Imperial Princess in the first place.
Yet here I was. I stood before Lobelia looking like a farm animal dragged to the slaughterhouse.
“Yohan. You are the one who requested an audience, not I. Does it make any sense to wear such a sour expression?”
“This is just how my face naturally looks, Your Highness.”
“Is that so.”
I couldn't control my expression. And why would I? Lobelia, having readily granted my audience, was smirking as if she had known this would happen all along. To be fair, she had explicitly warned me before, so she wasn't entirely wrong. It was just infuriating because that smug look on her face screamed that she had anticipated my utter failure from the start.
“So, what brings you here? This is the first time you have ever sought me out, is it not?”
“...”
“I shall grant you five minutes.”
She helped create this catastrophic mess, and now she was putting me on a timer? She really had no shame.
“Please stop Lady Ariel.”
“Stop her? That is a terribly vague request. Is Ariel attempting to murder you or something?”
Lobelia played dumb even though she knew every gory detail. I honestly couldn't comprehend how a human being could be so petty and underhanded.
“Lady Ariel proposed to me. No, worse—she bulldozed straight into an arranged political marriage between our families. And the situation makes it practically impossible for me to refuse.”
“A joyous occasion, then. Frankly speaking, compared to you, Ariel is far out of your league, is she not? I cannot fathom why you recoil with such sheer disgust. Where on earth does such confidence come from?”
“You know exactly what I mean, Your Highness. At this rate, I'm going to die!”
“Now, now. How could I possibly know what you have not said? Sir Yohan, you have a tendency to overestimate me.”
Anyone who can crush a man's skull with their bare hands deserves to be overestimated.
“The reward you promised to give me last time, only to cancel it—wasn't that because of this?”
“Hooh.”
By this point, even an idiot could put the pieces together. Too many things lined up. Given Lobelia's personality, reneging on a promised reward was extraordinarily rare. Back then, I'd simply felt a twinge of mild disappointment, but I really should have considered why she had canceled it in the first place.
“You canceled it out of consideration for Lady Ariel, didn't you? Once I realized that, it wasn't hard to guess what kind of 'reward' Your Highness intended to bestow upon me.”
“I shall grant you three more minutes. Continue.”
“There's hardly any need to elaborate. It was a letter of recommendation for an imperial bureaucrat post, wasn't it? Setting aside whether calling such a thing a 'reward' is absurd in itself...”
It was easy to forget, but Lobelia had always wanted to rope me into her faction. Until now, we had maintained a casual acquaintance, but that was only because she suspected me of being an Oracle—or something comparable. And unfortunately, I was that 'something comparable.' Cult had already given that the official stamp of approval. Damn it all.
“If someone connected to the ducal house receives a recommendation from imperial royalty, it risks looking like too much power is being consolidated in one place.”
House Aether's prestige pierced the heavens. In truth, its influence was so immense that even the Emperor would have preferred to sweep it off the board if he had the chance. Yet House Aether had never fallen from imperial grace because they conducted themselves with quiet deference and utter restraint. It was precisely because Tronios never took aggressive initiatives and maintained a passive posture that Emperor Abraham showed him respect.
Had Tronios ever bared his fangs or flaunted personal ambition, the imperial throne would have moved heaven and earth to crush the ducal family underfoot.
Now, toss a nobody named Yohan Damus into that delicate balance—a promising talent brandishing a personal recommendation from the Third Princess, Lobelia. That alone would paint a massive target on my back for every criminal syndicate on the continent, but Lobelia's true intention was to use that recommendation to bind me hand and foot to her service.
That was right. Save her skin, and she demands your coat and coin purse in return. Lobelia possessed a conscience so microscopic it defied scientific detection.
In any case, what would happen if the recipient of that royal recommendation suddenly entered an arranged marriage with House Aether? The Emperor would not be pleased. In fact, he would find it profoundly irritating. One wrong step, and not only would I be ground into dust, but House Aether might be dragged to the chopping block right alongside me.
That was why Lobelia had retracted her recommendation.
“An impressive deduction. Most of it is spot-on,” Lobelia remarked. “And yet? What can you possibly do simply by knowing that, Sir Yohan? Or are you about to utter the commendable words that you wish to enter imperial service of your own volition?”
“...”
She was right. Lobelia was baiting me to willingly choose the path of an imperial bureaucrat. What made her truly vicious was that even if I offered to make that choice right now, she would likely reject it. There was no deep mystery as to why: she simply cared for Ariel far more than she cared for me.
Besides, Ariel was already Lobelia's close companion. If I married Ariel, Lobelia would naturally view me as part of a package deal anyway. I wouldn't be able to escape her clutches either way. Therefore, walking into that cage was out of the question.
“Your Highness only desires me because of the information locked inside my head, does she not?”
“Like the matter with Cult, you mean? That intelligence was exquisite. Whether due to our constant surveillance, Eden's terrorist activities have plummeted dramatically of late.”
That was just because I'd told Cult not to do anything stupid searching for holy relics and just sit tight. Of course, Lobelia had no way of knowing that, so I was more than happy to let her draw her own conclusions. It did wonders for driving up my stock, anyway.
“If you assist me with this matter, I will cooperate with Your Highness.”
“Oho...?”
Lobelia's eyes widened in genuine surprise as she stared at me. It was an understandable reaction. Up until just a few months ago, I had loathed the very idea of getting entangled with her.
However, circumstances had shifted. The Prophet, Cult. The Great Sage, Faust. The Judge, Tillis. The three most dangerous entities on the continent had already figured out my identity and were keeping their eyes fixed on me.
Granted, that didn't mean I wanted to draw aggro from every other faction under the sun... Still, the water level had risen to the point where taking this calculated risk felt acceptable. Whether that meant my courage had grown or my life had simply gone down the toilet was anyone's guess.
At any rate, if I strictly maintained the role of an advisor while keeping my true identity veiled behind the scenes, Lobelia had nothing to lose. Her goal was to exploit my knowledge, not destroy me. Having my existence concealed behind a shroud would be far more convenient for her as well. I just had to be as cautious as humanly possible.
“How does that sound?”
“An extraordinary offer.” Lobelia nodded. She seemed thoroughly pleased. But in the next breath, her expression flattened into a cool, impassive mask. “Yet, why should I bother when you will roll into my lap on your own even if I do nothing at all?”
“Even if I were to become engaged to Lady Ariel, that hardly obligates me to spill everything I know to Your Highness, does it?”
“You would have to if you wished to stay alive.”
“...”
“Well, it is merely a jest. I am not truly so wicked a person.”
Oh, really? For a second there, I'd genuinely wondered if this woman was supposed to be the heroic protagonist of the original story. At this point, it wasn't just a missing conscience—she was acting like a full-blown villain.
“Let us see... Yohan, you understand that I cannot recklessly obstruct the internal affairs of a ducal house, do you not?”
“I am well aware. However, can you not persuade Lady Ariel?”
“Persuading a maiden blinded by love is hardly a simple feat.”
Shrugging her shoulders, Lobelia gestured to Stan, who had been standing behind her like a decorative folding screen. Stan scowled as if something rubbed him the wrong way, but he stepped forward and thrust a document in front of me.
And the moment my eyes fell upon that paper, my face twisted into the exact same scowl as Stan's.
“Sign there. If you do, I promise to steer this situation toward an outcome that satisfies everyone.”
It was a contract.
My hands began to tremble entirely of their own accord.