Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Arabella and Isabella
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The kingdom's delegation had arrived.
Though called a delegation, they were little more than hostages in reality.
The delegates were well aware of this fact, so they crossed the border steeling themselves for whatever treatment awaited them in the duchy.
"Think any tomatoes will come flying our way?"
"Tomatoes would be lucky. Arrows might come instead."
"Sigh... Guess we have to watch what we eat, too?"
"I brought an alarm magic tool. Want to share?"
In the minds of the delegation's knights and servants, the duchy was a kind of demonic realm.
A hellish place where impoverished citizens struggled under the foolish duke's rule, trembling in fear of the brutal knight Duke and his knights' outrages.
But three days were enough to correct their misconceptions.
Clean city streets.
Knights straight out of a fairy tale, polite to a fault.
Citizens remarkably indifferent to the delegation.
To their surprise, life in the duchy was far too peaceful—peaceful beyond belief.
Peaceful and even prosperous.
"Didn't they say they were squeezing the people dry for road construction?"
"That's what I heard, but why do those folks look better off than us?"
Meals, clothing, living conditions.
In every aspect, the duchy's citizens lived incomparably better than those in the kingdom.
"Maybe it's just the capital?"
"We saw on the way. Every territory was under construction."
Territories incorporated into the duchy only three years ago were in a state similar to the kingdom's.
But the closer to the capital, the longer under the Providence Duke family's rule, the greater the disparity in development.
Even though the Providence Duke family's reign had lasted only 14 years, the gap was this wide.
The more they witnessed the duchy's bright future, the more the kingdom's delegation lost their will.
What had allowed the kingdom's people to barely endure under the triple curses of poor harvests, class discrimination, and taxes was the tale that the duchy suffered even worse.
Out of pity for those tales, some servants and attendants had even packed magic tools or snacks to share with the duchy's people.
But the magic tools they brought were worth less than the street lamps,
and the snacks they thought the locals had never seen were something even hard to find children who hadn't tasted.
Thanks to this, most of the delegation teetered on the brink of being won over.
"No way His Majesty lied..."
"Hey, watch it—the princess might hear."
"But how else do you explain this?"
"..."
They knew they were hostages.
So they had already cast aside their pride.
All that remained was homesickness and patriotism, but the longer they lived in the duchy, the more betrayal and shame overshadowed them.
To sum up their feelings: life had mocked them.
As the delegation crumbled in self-loathing, the decisive blow came from a little girl passing the embassy.
"Mommy! What's this place?"
"It's where the guests from the Esiric Kingdom are staying, dear."
"Esiric? Who's the lord of the Esiric Kingdom?"
"Oh my, silly child. A kingdom isn't a territory—it's a kingdom! And the leader there isn't a lord, but a king."
Up to here, it was just a curious little girl's questions.
But...
"Then between the king and the duke, who's more amazing?"
"Uh..."
The mother pondered her daughter's question.
Normally, the king held a far higher position.
But did kings or lords feed their people?
People naturally respected those who fed them.
The mother answered her child with a gentle smile.
"The duke is waaay more amazing."
That mother-daughter exchange was the knockout punch.
The servants and knights, already turning a blind eye to reality, saw their morale shatter like the cheap cookies they had brought.
They had suffered total defeat without a battle, and no longer guarded against the duchy.
They simply accepted the collar around their necks meekly.
This happened a week after their arrival in the duchy.
While the delegation crumbled on their own, Princess Arabella was also gauging the embassy's mood.
But she made no effort to boost their spirits.
Whatever self-loathing they felt had nothing to do with her.
On the contrary, the more prosperous life in the duchy, the more her heart raced.
'All this will soon be mine? Eating food like this every day, wearing clothes like these. I was right to switch to the duchy.'
Though her true feelings differed, she feigned sorrow on the surface.
"Everyone, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for lying..."
Playing the pitiful princess, she encouraged her knights and servants.
Of course, there was no need to manage her image for people she would eventually discard.
But the time wasn't right yet.
Changing identities required time and preparation.
Investigating the target's appearance, personality, relationships, then designing events that would feel natural.
Especially now that she had confirmed the maid Ari she met was 5th rank, methods like murder were far harder.
In such cases, only politics and intrigue remained, demanding even greater caution.
'No need to rush, though.'
While she stayed in the duchy, the kingdom wouldn't start a war, and the duchy cared too much about face to act until then.
Isabella just needed to bide her time quietly, gathering information.
Time was on her side, after all.
'First, I need to keep collecting info for a while.'
With that thought, she donned her usual mask and veil and headed out, as always.
As Isabella slipped out of the embassy, some of the shadows watching her headed to the ducal residence.
"She's going out again."
"The princess herself?"
"Wearing a mask, but definitely her."
Yu Hana, director of the intelligence agency Hell, Rex's retainer, and lord of Sneria County,
quietly manipulated the firefly spirit.
"Keep surveilling for now. Orders are not to restrict her outings yet."
"Got it, Director."
After issuing the order, Hana swept aside the illusion showing Princess Arabella's location via the firefly spirit.
She pulled forward an illusion displaying her territory's internal affairs status.
Territory management hadn't changed much since becoming Rex's retainer.
Signing documents one by one with a translucent quill and stamping seals—same as her baron days.
The differences? She could issue orders remotely without being there,
and it was far clearer and faster now.
Thanks to that, she could juggle director of intelligence and lordship.
"Reallocate this part first..."
Hana tended her territory, recalling facts from attribute tutoring under Rex.
Once today's internal affairs were done, she switched back to intelligence director mode.
"Nngh."
Leaning back in her now-familiar cowhide chair, Hana stretched.
Two mounds of fat asserted their presence under her dress shirt, as if suffocating.
A sight impossible in her queen days, where she couldn't show a flaw.
But now, with some leisure, she allowed small indulgences in private.
This was a virtue learned from Duke.
"Eut... haa. What is that woman thinking?"
After stretching, Hana thought of the woman Hell was watching most closely.
*
Princess Arabella Esiric.
From the moment they heard the name, the duchy's upper echelons felt something off.
- "Same as the head maid?"
- "Coincidence?"
- "Probably."
Hundreds in the duchy alone bore the name Arabella.
No rule against commoners using royal names, so overlapping with Ari wasn't odd.
Days later.
Princess Arabella arrived in the capital, Paidus.
Descending her carriage masked and veiled, she revealed her face only at the ducal mansion.
- "Hah. No wonder the king dotes on her."
Bureaucrats and nobles gathered for the welcome whispered.
Princess Arabella was quite beautiful.
Beyond beautiful—ideally cute, like the perfect darling daughter.
Those betting she resembled the head maid were disappointed.
Hair and eye color matched, but faces differed entirely.
If anything, Ari had a cat-like look,
while Arabella evoked a small bird.
But Rex and Duke sensed something amiss.
- "What? Her name... question mark?"
- "Falsifying her mana. What's her game?"
The duchy's 1st and 2nd in command suspected the princess.
That alone justified Hell's surveillance.
Monitoring began at the party.
They found suspicious points about Princess Arabella.
- "Too cheerful for a hostage."
- "Why so friendly with the head maid?"
Publicly, Ari was just the head maid.
Not Rex's retainer or concubine—just a capable combat maid, common enough.
From the princess's position, no reason to befriend her.
She was overly friendly to Rex too.
- "Seduction?"
- "Rex doesn't seem interested."
During the party, Rex suddenly fled after a ceremonial toast with her.
- "Urk, my stomach!"
Rex bolting mid-etiquette sparked odd guesses.
Smitten and embarrassed? Strange odor from her? Poison in the drink?
If Duke hadn't controlled the crowd with charisma, rumors would have spread.
- "No rash actions. No unfounded speculation."
As if anticipating it, Duke swiftly took Rex's place.
Order returned, and the welcome ended successfully.
But bureaucrats and knights there knew Rex's intent.
- "Keeping info from that woman, right?"
Hell ramped up surveillance after grasping his motive.
And so the story continued to now.
Post-party, the princess did remarkably little.
No sign of gathering intel for her kingdom,
no requests for audiences with Rex.
Her only oddity: outings chatting with citizens about non-military topics like duchy culture or games.
'What's her angle?'
The discrepant mana Rex and Duke both suspected.
Her inexplicable excessive egalitarianism at the party.
She knew she was a hostage, yet acted like a tourist.
Suspicious, but no leads.
A frustrated shadow knight suggested kidnapping and using the search engine Boguri Jiguri.
But Hana forbade it outright.
- "No evidence—just suspicion. That's no different from tyrannical power."
Even intelligence agencies had lines.
Especially since it violated the duchy's founding ideals.
Power checked minimally, laws just for all.
Thus, the duchy couldn't act beyond surveilling Princess Arabella.
'Just slip up once...'
As Hana prayed in her office for odd behavior, an urgent report arrived.
"Director. Emergency."
"What is it?"
"Princess ran into protesters while out."
"Protesters? What protest... Ah."
Hana sighed.
The protesters the upper echelons had given up on.
No schedule, no warning—sudden headaches.
Until now, princess's outings avoided them, but on this week-long mark.
They finally met.
Hana averted her eyes from the report.
"Leave it."
"No order to return to embassy...?"
"No danger to her safety. Suggest, don't order."
They won't listen anyway.
"Yes... How to explain?"
"Need me to spell it out?"
"Sorry, Director."
The knight bowed deeply and vanished into the shadows.
Hana awkwardly stared at the ceiling, then resumed approving documents with the firefly spirit's aid.
- "Your Excellency! Entering the third year, why haven't you ended the mourning period?!"
Listening to the senile old man's irrational shouts outside—ones she neither understood nor cared to.