The Contract Holder’s Duty
Regina stared at the cufflinks, now transformed into outrageously ornate earrings, with a look of complete disbelief, and Shiren muttered a small excuse as if trying to defend himself.
“I did my best.”
“...Haa.”
What Shiren had handed over, insisting that this was the best he could do, was a communication magical tool.
A magical device that changed shape according to the mana of the person it was given to, once passed along to its intended recipient.
Regina opened the hidden pocket sewn into her skirt and tucked the tool inside.
“Nothing unusual at the barony?”
“Unless the lady has gone missing, there’s no reason anything would be happening there.”
At Theodore’s calm reply, Regina let a faint smile touch her lips.
That smile—so genuine on a woman who rarely smiled at all—left both Shiren and Theodore momentarily dazed.
“Lady, that...”
“His Majesty the Emperor is entering!”
Before Shiren could say another word, the head chamberlain’s voice rang out from outside.
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“That’s a rather cute trick.”
Conrad, who had been leaning against the door of the sitting room and listening to Regina speak with her subordinates, murmured to himself.
He had put Regina’s desk in the emperor’s bedroom, but this was the most private place in the imperial palace; outsiders couldn’t be carelessly admitted here.
So when Regina received guests, she used the sitting room beside it.
Conrad had sent the attendants nearby a good distance away and stood alone, listening to the conversation inside.
He couldn’t allow spies from the Ferman Empire to stroll around the palace at their leisure, so he had followed them himself, keeping his distance.
Their destination was fixed, but he wanted to make sure they didn’t make any unnecessary contact along the way.
If they happen to meet anyone from the Empress Dowager’s faction, that’ll become a problem.
Since the path back to Ferman had been blocked by the barrier, the ones left here might have entertained other ideas.
He had received reports that no such move had been made yet, but he couldn’t be certain.
Conrad intended to keep his doubts alive until the next round of investigation results arrived.
Now that he had given them a place to stay, he couldn’t simply overlook people who immediately started scheming.
“Your Majesty, why are you...?”
Limutan, arms full of books, spotted Conrad and asked cautiously. At the Emperor’s raised finger against his lips, Limutan fell silent at once.
Conrad, still listening to the sounds leaking from the sitting room, gestured to the head chamberlain waiting at a distance.
Understanding his meaning, the chamberlain cried out loudly.
“His Majesty the Emperor is entering!”
Without hesitation, Conrad stepped inside and tossed out a breezy greeting.
“The lofty dignity of the empire...”
“Enough, Lena.”
Conrad approached Regina without the slightest reserve and seized her slender wrist before she had even finished bowing her head.
“There’s no need for formality between us.”
“But imperial protocol exists for a reason.”
Regina gently chided him, saying that rules mattered. He lifted a brow, intrigued.
“Is that so?”
“What if word gets around that the empress who simply rolled in here doesn’t even know basic etiquette?”
At her concern for the countless eyes and ears lurking throughout the palace, Conrad let his hand slide over her shoulder.
He seated her in the place of honor in the sitting room, then stood at her side.
Even while the flustered attendants hurried off to fetch a chair, Conrad did not remove his hand from Regina’s shoulder.
“Hmm.”
“So I must always be careful not to leave anyone an opening to criticize me.”
At her added words, Conrad gave a low snort of amusement.
This is experience speaking.
He didn’t know exactly what Regina had gone through in the Ferman Empire, but it was obvious enough that she had suffered some aggravation under the pretext of etiquette.
“Who would let anything that happened here leak outside?”
“You can never know what’s in a person’s heart.”
Conrad narrowed his eyes, catching the hidden meaning in her words—that his people might do it. Then he deliberately let a sharp edge of energy spill outward.
The force that crashed down in an instant made not only Shiren but Theodore stagger.
Spared only because it veered around Regina, that aura carried a dangerous killing intent.
“I doubt the empress’s retainers would go running around spouting nonsense.”
No one could hold out in front of Conrad when he showed his irritation so plainly.
Shiren dropped to his knees with a thud. Theodore did the same.
“Your Majesty, everyone at the Madarin Barony is completely loyal.”
A white, slender hand came to rest over the one gripping his shoulder.
“So you can be at ease.”
With Regina’s added reassurance, the pressure Conrad had been bearing down on her subordinates vanished as though washed away.
“If the empress says so, then I suppose that settles it.”
He answered calmly, slowly stroking Regina’s shoulder.
“Are you still in the middle of your discussion?”
“No! Not anymore!”
Shiren shouted loudly and hurriedly paid his respects. Theodore followed suit, and the two of them fled the room in a rush.
Conrad kept his gaze on their retreating backs for a moment, then turned back around, and Regina swallowed dryly before she could stop herself.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Conrad whispered as he lightly traced her chin with a finger. His touch grew firmer beneath her jaw, and her face tilted upward.
As his face drew nearer and nearer, Regina curled her fingertips tight. His lips parted when they were close enough for his breath to brush her skin.
“It makes it look like you’re hiding something.”
“Conrad, that’s... mmph!”
The light contact of his lips turned rough in an instant.
Conrad stole her breath at once, biting down on her lower lip before sliding his tongue through her parted mouth.
The tongue that invaded her mouth was so hot she could hardly think straight, but Regina refused to let her guard down.
She couldn’t shake the suspicion that Conrad might be doing this because he had noticed something.
Only after his tongue finally withdrew from its rough search did Regina manage to exhale deeply.
Conrad gently brushed his thumb across her gasping lips, then brought that same hand to his own mouth.
“...”
He stuck out his tongue and licked the thumb stained with Regina’s saliva, his eyes curving in amusement.
That teasing expression made Regina’s heart pound violently. Memories of the night before, and the time she had spent with him, rushed back at once, heating her face red.
“What did you talk about with your subordinates?”
“Nothing special. I only asked when Martain would be coming back.”
“That’s all?”
“...I also told them to bring the Madarin Barony’s ledgers.”
“Ledgers?”
She couldn’t very well keep silent about the magical tools hidden in the Madarin Barony when speaking to Conrad.
She would need those tools if she wanted to reduce mana consumption significantly.
Besides, there were more than a few magical tools stored in the barony’s warehouse, and if she wanted to avoid scrutiny from the noble council, she would need Conrad’s help.
Should I tell him beforehand?
Regina bit her lip and hesitated. It wasn’t something she could easily bring herself to say.
If she spoke of it outright, he might start asking what the people of her enemy nation were planning by bringing so many magical tools into the Fredericks Empire.
Once it came to that, she couldn’t quite force the words out.
The magical tools sleeping in the Madarin Barony’s warehouse could only be obtained by passing through Regina’s mana array. That magic circle could be entered only by people she allowed through.
In other words, only Shiren, Martain, and Theodore could access the warehouse.
I also need permission to take any magical tools out.
After some thought, she decided to conceal the scale of what she had hidden there from Conrad, at least a little.
She couldn’t know exactly how much intelligence the empire possessed, but she judged that even they couldn’t pin down the precise number of magical tools.
“We need to figure out what property remains in the Madarin Barony, along with everything else that’s there. There are quite a few useful things among it. If we bring them here, they’ll be a huge help to our plan.”
Regina answered as though it were nothing at all, but Conrad’s blue eyes never left her face.
Before Regina could even read the emotion in those clear blue eyes, Conrad tilted his head slightly.
His lips brushed her ear, and though she flinched, Regina didn’t pull away.
“Do you need money, or weapons?”
His breath against her ear was hot.
“Very much so.”
Regina meant to answer calmly, but the end of her sentence still trembled.
“Mana too?”
“We’ll need even more of that.”
“Hmm. Then I can’t afford to neglect the contract holder’s duty.”
“What? Ngh—!”
Conrad seized Regina’s lips without the slightest restraint.