The Queen on the Board
Nina grinned.
"All right. Then start by appointing me knight captain."
"The name comes first. La Del. Nina La Del."
In the Empire, to be given a surname meant she had become a lesser noble. One thing still nagged at her.
"Is it Radel, or La Del?"
To the question of whether another name sat in the middle, the answer came back at once. "The surname is Del. The middle name is La."
"You're giving me a fief?"
A middle name meant a lord who held land. Not in perpetuity, of course—only a temporary lease of the rights. If Nina ever had an heir, that heir would have to come before the Duke of Rubuaene and have the succession recognized.
"If I'm to keep a spirit knight who came back from the dead and contracted a greater spirit, I have to do at least this much."
"That's a very elegant way of telling me not to let anyone look down on me out there."
"You understand it even when I put it elegantly."
"Then I'll take it gladly."
Nina did not refuse. She swallowed the title in a single gulp. Turning down what was offered would be rude. Profoundly rude.
Adrian drew a sealed document from the desk drawer, tapped her lightly on both shoulders, and spoke.
Upon Sir Nina, a fief is granted. The rank conferred is viscount. The middle name shall be La, and the surname Del.
"I receive it with respect." Nina accepted it formally in both hands. When she broke the seal, she found the packet thick with papers: Nina La Del's patent of nobility, the rights of succession, the documents for the land.
All that remained was her signature.
"When did you prepare all this?"
She asked it in surprise, and the answer came back, "It's been ready for quite a while."
Nina slid the papers back into the envelope, leaned across the desk, and hugged Adrian where he sat.
"Thank you for waiting."
"Thank you for coming back."
"Then I'm a noble now, too!"
Envelope in hand, she spun out of the study as if she were dancing. Adrian watched her go, then let out a short breath of a laugh.
He turned his eyes to the chessboard. Black pieces and white stood mingled together, and more than a few sat far from their proper squares.
He was not actually playing. Whenever he worked out a strategy, he assigned the pieces to factions and built the plan that way.
Carefully, Adrian drew a queen from the drawer. Carved of ivory, pure white, she was the strongest piece on the board—the one that could move anywhere at all.
He set his queen upon the board.
Every undesirable had been sifted out. The board was entirely new. It was time the ducal house put forth the claws it had kept curled close.
If Nina moves, the other side will move as well.
His eyes narrowed.
The Cult.
He did not forget what he had lost. Revenge had only been postponed. It had not been forgotten.
A little longer.
A little more.
Hone the anger until it runs cold.
Just a little further yet.
Black Shield Castle had a greenhouse. It was small, but it was a proper glasshouse, and Nina was appalled.
How much did this even cost?
Kirill opened the door as if it were nothing and stepped inside, and Nina followed.
"Whoa!"
The moment she entered, the scent of herbs struck her nose. Sweet, bitter, green—every fragrance tangled with the damp peculiar to a greenhouse until it felt like stepping into a bath of scented oil.
"Brought the lot from your garden plot and improved them."
Kirill gave a dry little laugh.
"Heavens..."
"They'll grow in other places, too. We're already raising them in stony fields. Most of the duchy's land is too rough for wheat."
So they had sown herbs there instead.
"Can people make a living on herbs?"
"The ducal house buys every bit of it."
At Kirill's words, the poor castle's meals came back to Nina all at once. For some reason she wanted to cry.
At the same time, pride lifted in her. They could have forced the labor. Adrian had not.
"I'm developing medicines, but it's hard on my own. Be nice to have help. People who do this kind of work aren't common."
Someone came to Nina's mind. The original novel's male lead.
"Mm. I'll see if I can find him."
At that, Kirill said, "I'll give you a report later. Look it over, then use it as bait. Anyone researching plants will lose their mind when they see it."
She cackled and gestured that they ought to leave the greenhouse.
Outside, she showed Nina the ordinary plots as well. Even beyond the glass, the plants were growing lush and strong. What stayed in the greenhouse, she explained, was experimental stock that was not sent out; what grew in the plots was already being raised in quantity beyond the walls.
Nina asked, "But Kirill—what about the wheat?"
What about the wheat, the thing that mattered most? In this age, the truest currency was wheat. A good harvest or a bad one decided everything. Why did broader land mean greater wealth? Because it grew more wheat. In an empire that measured the value of money in gold, wheat and gold were the two pillars of the economy.
Kirill looked at her.
"That depends on you, Captain."
Nina frowned, not understanding, and Kirill crooked a finger for her to follow. When she opened the door of the wooden storehouse built out back, sacks stood piled to the full.
"Wheat. The strain you brought. Plant a single grain and you get thirty at the least—it multiplies thirtyfold, and the storehouse fills before you know it. The trouble is, there's nowhere to sow it."
That lost land. The great plain belonging to Rubuaene Territory.
At Kirill's words, Nina grinned.
"Then I'll have to bring that plain back."
"Yes. Find it quickly, before the seed goes to waste."
"I will."
Nina tapped her chest lightly.
Saying she ought to take the research report now, Kirill led her to the laboratory. It lay beneath Black Shield Castle—not wholly underground, but a half-basement. A third of it sat below the earth and two-thirds above, and because the walls were all glass, the light came in well.
"Where did these windows come from?"
Windows this large, and a greenhouse besides.
"Squeezed them out of Your Grace."
Kirill's answer was brief. Nina thought she might faint. So there had been a reason they'd lived on nothing but potatoes.
The laboratory was not cluttered. Everything was in order. The glass jars of dried herb powder in the cupboard bore neat little labels.
"Here. This is it."
Taking the thick bundle of Kirill's report, Nina was seized by the sudden conviction that she had gone illiterate.
"Kirill, I knew your handwriting was bad, but this is too much, isn't it?"
"Did I give you the original? Here. The fair copy."
Kirill produced another set of papers. This time Nina could actually read it. She offered the scribe a moment of silent mourning.
"I don't know who you'll send it to, but I only chose what can stand being seen outside."
Nina nodded. Only one place came to mind. Where the male lead lived. Blue Stone Island. The mages there were called sages, and they lived gathered together on the island known as Blue Stone.
"Is there another copy?"
"Yes. You can take that one."
"Oh—Kirill. I'm going into the Purple Forest. Anything you'd like me to bring back?"
"Obviously."
Kirill rummaged out the list of what she needed. The paper was worn and the letters faded, plainly old, and Nina asked in puzzlement, "When did you make this?"
"Long ago. Nobody ever asked this old woman whether she needed anything, so it's just been sitting all this time."
"Kids these days. Tsk, tsk."
Nina laughed and took the list.
"Thank you for waiting, Kirill."
"Hmph."
Kirill snorted and waved her out. Nina gathered the report into her arms and left the treatment room.
Reading it in her own room, she understood that Adrian had been preparing for a long time, and with ruthless thoroughness.
To think he kept all of this hidden until now. Then again, we are a long way from the center.
Every plant she had raised in the garden, Adrian had sought out without missing one and sent to Kirill, and Kirill had grown the important varieties first.
"Wheat, clearfruit, the oil trees... quite a few herbs, too. Good."
Nina took up the list of herbs Kirill wanted and set out for the Purple Forest. Jin, as vice-captain, said he would come along, and she agreed at once.
She tied her hair into twin tails as always and put on the black uniform. Once the packs were loaded onto the horse, the two of them set out.