Weeding (4)
I focused every ounce of my attention on my hearing, and I could sense it.
A small but spine-chillingly terrifying sound of footsteps.
They were drawing closer to my room with every passing second.
Then they stopped directly in front of my door.
It seemed the footsteps had encountered the guard.
“Step aside.”
The voice was deeper and heavier than usual.
Just hearing it made cold sweat break out across my skin.
“Princess, I’m sorry. His Highness the Prince must have complete rest right now, so you cannot enter. His Majesty the King ordered that no one be allowed inside.”
“Move.”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself. Move.”
“Y-yes…”
The guard shrank completely at Lua’s icy tone.
He was so frightened he couldn’t even open the door for her.
“Pathetic.”
Bang.
Lua kicked the door open without the slightest mercy.
I had deliberately lain down on the bed and pretended to be asleep the moment I sensed her coming.
Lua approached my bedside slowly.
“Brother.”
She called my name in a low murmur.
“I know you’re not sleeping.”
With no other choice, I carefully opened my eyes.
Lua’s face filled my vision, inches away.
Her expression was cold, the kind that offered not a shred of mercy to anyone.
It was unmistakably the same chilling gaze I had seen in my previous life—the eyes of Empress Lua that could freeze a man’s blood.
“Brother, tell me. Why did you do that to me?”
“Lua… ugh!”
She gave me no chance to explain. Both her hands seized my cheeks with a loud smack.
“You promised you would let me help too. So why did you leave me out?”
“I swear it wasn’t intentional. The perfect opportunity simply arrived the moment I regained consciousness. Besides, the way you cried so heartbreakingly helped push the situation even further in the direction I wanted.”
“Even so, I’m hurt. I didn’t know anything. I was so happy you finally woke up after a whole week, but right then you immediately…”
A sniffle.
Lua couldn’t finish speaking before she began to cry.
“I was scared! I thought I might lose you!”
Anything else I might say was meaningless now.
I sat up and pulled her into a tight embrace.
Lua stayed in my arms and cried for a long time.
When she finally calmed, she looked up at me.
“Grant me one wish.”
“All right. I’ll grant it. Anything.”
“Then…”
Lua hesitated, then spoke timidly.
“Let me call you oppa.”
“You’re using a wish for that?”
“Yes.”
It was such a small, adorable wish.
Her eyes were utterly sincere.
For a moment I nearly lost consciousness for real.
How can a little sister this cute exist in the world…
“You may call me that from now on.”
“Really? I’m so happy!”
Lua beamed, her eyes still wet with tears.
When I had pretended to lose consciousness earlier, her near-scream of a cry had nearly broken me for real.
I had been worrying over how to repay the enormous debt I owed her, yet she allowed me to settle it by simply changing how she addressed me.
Perhaps the future empress had possessed an emperor’s caliber even as a child.
“By the way, I have something to tell you.”
“Go on.”
“There are spies around me, too.”
“Brother, please look at this.”
Empress Lua von Reichland called me over.
It was right after she had won the civil war and ascended the throne.
She showed me a mountain of documents.
As someone who disliked reading paperwork, the sheer volume was far from welcome.
Yet the contents were enough to leave me stunned.
“This is unbelievable. What is all this?”
They were all records of what had been used when the Reichland Empire swallowed Solea.
Who had been sent where and what they had done—it was documented in exhaustive detail.
“The empire truly is a great nation. They were utterly thorough when they annexed Solea. I wonder if there’s any point now, but I still wanted to review it with you. After all, we are Solea’s last remaining bloodline.”
The reason I could perfectly identify every spy the empire had planted was because Lua, after becoming empress, had shown me every confidential document concerning Solea’s annexation without reservation.
The plan to annex Solea had unfolded over roughly five years.
A massive number of agents had been deployed. In truth, spies had infiltrated every corner of Solea.
Servants close to the royal family, mages, members of the knight orders.
They were even cleverly mixed among the commoners.
Yet it was not the Lua who became empress, but the young Lua of her childhood who had seen through the spies.
“Who do you suspect?”
“My etiquette teacher, Aigrim. For some time now, he hasn’t just been teaching etiquette—he’s been trying hard to plant a favorable view of the empire in me.”
Lua had pinpointed it exactly.
Aigrim’s name had appeared in the documents as well.
His mission was to instill pro-empire ideology in Lua.
Yet he had been working at it for nearly two years, and Lua seemed completely unaffected.
It appeared he had succeeded in infiltrating, but was not particularly skilled at carrying out the actual work.
Still, even if the spy was a fool, Lua’s sharp eye in noticing and correctly judging him was extraordinary.
“I had been suspicious for a while, but I lacked proof. I asked you because I thought you might know.”
“You saw correctly. Aigrim is indeed one of the spies. From the beginning, the empire planned to expel me and take you as a hostage when they annexed Solea. His task was to instill pro-empire thinking in you beforehand.”
“Goodness. That was the intention? Then how should we deal with him?”
Lua’s eyes sparkled.
She spoke the word deal with as if it were nothing.
“Lua. Are you enjoying this situation?”
“Yes. I am! Being with you—oppa—and saving our country from crisis. Since you’ve begun moving in earnest, our victory is already decided.”
She found joy in a situation where the kingdom might be lost.
Come to think of it, she had already planted a magic tool in my room to secretly listen to my conversations.
There was a saying that an ordinary person cannot defeat one who tries hard, and one who tries hard cannot defeat one who enjoys what they do.
Now I understood why Lua excelled at schemes.
“By the way, where does your certainty that we will win come from?”
“It isn’t certainty.”
“Not certainty? You just said our victory was already decided.”
“I believe in you. In oppa.”
Her voice carried a firm, unshakable will when she said she believed in me.
But after speaking, Lua’s face twisted slightly.
“Ugh, I called you orabeoni again. You idiot!”
The sight of a child capable of seeing through spies scolding herself as an idiot was strangely endearing.
To completely block the empire’s intentions, I needed at least one more trustworthy and competent person.
In that regard, if Lua lent her strength, it would be an enormous help.
“Then I’ll tell you how to handle him.”
“Yes! Just tell me and I’ll carry it out perfectly!”
By now, Lua’s eyes were full of mischief as she spoke.
I am Aigrim, a thirty-five-year-old etiquette instructor.
Thanks to Reichland Empire Ambassador Wiz requesting a favor from the Solea king, I was able to take the position of Lua’s etiquette teacher.
My duty is to meet Princess Lua in the reception room of Solea Castle every Tuesday and Thursday for lessons.
But my true identity is that of a spy dispatched by the empire.
While waiting for Lua today, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
It has already been two years since I began teaching her.
By now I knew her habits, speech patterns, and even her way of thinking inside and out.
The grand plan lay three years ahead.
There was no need to rush, so I wondered if it was truly necessary to perform this well already.
At that moment, the reception room door opened and Lua entered.
She smiled brightly and greeted me with perfect politeness.
“Hello, teacher. Have you waited long?”
“Not at all. As the princess of the great kingdom of Solea, it is only proper for someone as lowly as a teacher to arrive first and wait. I have not waited long.”
She truly was a lovely, well-mannered child.
It was a shame she was the princess of a kingdom soon to be annexed.
“Hng, I wanted to come sooner if I could, but I wasn’t able to.”
“What brings this about? I had no idea you enjoyed my lessons this much.”
“Yesterday I read a book on the empire’s history and it was so interesting. Especially the part where His Majesty Emperor Franz von Reichland personally drove back the northern barbarians who came to plunder during winter…”
As I listened to Lua’s excited chatter, I felt nothing but satisfaction.
The etiquette lessons were merely a cover. My real task was to mold her behavior and thoughts to favor the empire.
Yet this was the first time she had proactively shown interest in the empire.
It seemed I had performed my duty almost too well.
That was what I believed.
At least until that particular topic entered the conversation.