The Perfect Pawn
The Fifth Princess was the perfect pawn.
To stop Viscount Bjorn's scheme, they needed a backer of some standing — someone whose rank carried real weight. That problem had already been solved by the potion's unveiling: hundreds of friendly letters had poured in. Among them were messages from no fewer than four imperial heirs, each expressing a desire to form ties.
Every one of those four was a formidable ally. And yet Freya had never, even before speaking with Rachel, entertained the slightest thought of taking their hands.
Joining them would have crushed Viscount Bjorn's plot and secured a powerful alliance for years to come. But the more one was given, the more one was expected to pay. Those heirs already commanded considerable power; no matter how brilliantly the Evergarden family was performing now, they would inevitably end up as the junior partner. And if those same heirs then demanded the potion's manufacturing method, the Evergardens — already bound by alliance — would have no grounds to refuse.
The ideal position, then, was neutrality: belonging to no faction, playing the heirs and the other noble parties against one another while watching from the sidelines. But thanks to Viscount Bjorn, standing alone was no longer an option.
And into that predicament had walked the Fifth Princess — once again, the perfect pawn.
She held the rank of imperial princess, yet unlike the other heirs she had never swollen her own power base. A scarecrow princess in the truest sense. On top of that, her life was currently under threat inside the Imperial Palace; she desperately needed the Evergarden family's help.
So Freya made the Fifth Princess her piece.
She would use Rachel's status to block Viscount Bjorn's conspiracy while pretending to be the girl's sturdy shield — a pawn she could deploy however she pleased. Rachel was sharp-minded and free of any hunger for power, so there was no risk of greed derailing the plan. In chess terms, she was a pawn one square from promotion.
Of course, rejecting the other heirs' proposals and taking Rachel's hand instead meant turning her back on them outright — a choice that could make everything far messier. But the person most confident in that particular field was Freya herself. If anything, it was exactly what she wanted.
With this, I've secured an excellent piece.
I can keep the potion's secret safe, and with my pawn as a shield, our range of action will grow considerably wider.
Freya had intended to use Rachel from the moment she heard of her, yet she had deliberately met the girl face-to-face and let slip the implication that she might refuse any partnership. Rachel was still royalty; she might well have regarded a mere count's household as nothing more than her own limbs. So Freya's earlier performance had thoroughly reminded Rachel of her own circumstances: that she was, at present, a nobody, and that the Evergarden family was extending her mercy by offering aid.
The letters from the other heirs — which Freya had kept in reserve despite having meant to refuse them — proved especially useful. As a result, Rachel's original goal of "allying with the Evergarden family to grow her power base and secure her safety" had transformed into "the Evergarden family that saved my life." The end result of both aims was the same, but the path had changed. From now on, Rachel would be unable to make demands for her own sake, and would have no choice but to answer the Evergarden family's "requests."
"I look forward to working with you, Your Highness. May we maintain a fine relationship going forward."
"…Yes, Countess Evergarden."
Freya smiled as though offering a hand of mercy and set down her teacup. Rachel, subdued yet relieved to have weathered the crisis, answered.
"Forgive me, but I would like to move straight to the main point."
"The main point…?"
"…Regrettably, our family is currently in a rather dangerous situation."
"…Pardon?"
Now that Rachel and the Evergarden family were firmly joined, Freya began to lay out the matter she had been holding back: their relationship with Viscount Bjorn, the movements in the North, the magical beasts, and the fact that the Evergarden territory was being used as a trading ground for those beasts. The longer Freya spoke, the paler Rachel's face became.
"Magical beasts… How could anyone commit such an act…!"
As a member of the imperial family, Rachel knew better than anyone why the trading and breeding of magical beasts had been made a capital crime.
Why were magical beasts treated as such a grave problem?
First, they were dangerous.
These were not ordinary animals. Exposed to corrupted mana and mutated by it, they became far stronger than any common beast. Even a herbivore, once infected, would hunt carnivores and chew through flesh and bone alike — its violence amplified beyond measure. The infamous case of a single rabbit, turned into a magical beast by corrupted mana, slaughtering dozens of well-trained soldiers was still widely known. Despite its cute appearance, the mountain of headless corpses piled before its burrow had been almost impossible to believe — for those who reported it and those who heard the report alike. Fortunately, that rabbit had been dealt with by the Temple's secret weapon: Anticline's Sacred Holy Water Bomb.
If even a mere rabbit (or rather, that particular rabbit had been an anomaly) posed such a threat, what of a carnivore? Magical beasts were that dangerous, that troublesome a pest.
But even that alone would not have been enough for the Empire to treat them with such extreme caution. The reason was simple: someone had once tried to use magical beasts to stage a coup.
One hundred and seventy-eight years ago, a coalition of nobles seeking dominion over the Empire had captured and trained magical beasts, intending to drop them on the capital and seize power. A whistleblower among them had fortunately stopped the plot short of success — but from that day forward, the capture, trade, and breeding of magical beasts became a crime of the highest order, equivalent to treason against the state. Of course, nobles still intoxicated by the beasts' wild nature, and smugglers who understood those nobles' appetites, remained plentiful; the magical-beast trade continued to flourish in secret.
"I see… So if Viscount Bjorn should try to pin every crime on the Evergarden territory, you would need me."
"That is part of it… but we have found a somewhat better option."
"A better option…?"
"Would you care to hear it?"
Freya went on to explain her plan. Rachel listened through to the end, her face a mixture of shock, bewilderment, admiration, and a touch of unease.
"I understand… Very well. The matter of the magical-beast trade is not something I can overlook as a princess, no matter the circumstances."
"How very reassuring."
Too much information had been crammed into her mind all at once, and she was still reeling — but magical beasts were too great a threat. Rachel steadied herself and nodded.
"Shall we leave the complicated talk there? If you would allow it, I have prepared a modest gift for your departure. Gordon?"
"Yes, my lady. Here they are."
"This is…"
With the important discussion concluded, Freya had Gordon place something upon the table.
"Not mere prototypes, but five bottles of the finished potion. A small token to celebrate our meeting."
"So these are… the potions?"
Five bottles of the World Tree Potion.
Oh? Look at those eyes.
Faced with the finished product of a potion she had only ever heard of in rumors — one said to be nearly impossible to obtain — Rachel's eyes shone brighter than Freya had seen them at any point so far. Those were not a princess's eyes. Those were the eyes of a mage who had just spotted a fascinating research subject.
"The potion that restores both stamina and mana, with no side effects…!"
"Would you like more? I can prepare additional bottles if you wish."
"Truly?!"
"Ah — yes, of course."
The moment Freya asked if she needed more, Rachel shot up from her seat and leaned in close.
"Ah, how rude of me… I got carried away."
"Ohoho, not at all. That look of yours reminds me of our eldest."
A born researcher, through and through. In a way, inheriting imperial blood may have been a misfortune for her.
…Though for me — for our family — it is rather fortunate.
"Ah… you mean Professor Felix."
"I shall send you as many potions as you desire, so please rest well for today."
"You have my thanks for the courtesy."
And so the private meeting between the two women came to an end.
Time flowed on.
The Harvest Festival passed, and as the thirteenth moon began to rise, Viscount Bjorn at last set foot in the Evergarden Territory.