Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Bestowing Favors (3)
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The Southern Duchess's carriage raced through the barren mountains.
The jolting interior.
Yet Duchess Rosetta sat silently in her seat with her eyes closed.
Her mind was more tangled than ever right now.
"Damn it...."
In her absence, the two grand dukes had already colluded with the First Imperial Prince and the princesses.
She knew the Emperor was gravely ill, but she never dreamed they would betray the Empire so soon.
However, what shocked her even more was something else.
No similar offer had ever come her way.
Even if she was busy defending the southern border...
The fact that not a single overture for collusion had been made was deeply irritating.
'Is my position in the palace seen as so insignificant?'
"I definitely need to back someone before His Majesty the Emperor passes."
If she kept up this lukewarm attitude, some noble supporting the next emperor would snatch her position away.
So she had to pick the next successor quickly and throw her support behind them.
"But who on earth...?"
From what she could see, the Crown Prince already had the Northern Grand Duke in his pocket.
Thanks to that, even if she supported the Crown Prince now, the rewards coming her way would be minimal.
Moreover, the Crown Prince's mother, Rozanna, had a bad falling out with her father in the past.
He would surely oppose backing the Crown Prince as well.
Then the First Imperial Princess, Lea...?
That didn't appeal to her either.
She wasn't stronger than the Crown Prince, and the top merit would go to the Western Grand Duke anyway.
It was high risk, low return.
"..."
The figure dominating her thoughts right now was ultimately the Third Imperial Princess, Lydia.
No grand duke-level noble had backed the youngest princess yet.
If she sponsored her, she could claim various interests when Lydia became empress.
Plus, her strength was on par with Lea's, and her wealth was solid.
If aiming for the top prize, investing in Lydia made sense.
But...
She wasn't convinced.
Did Lydia truly have what it took to become emperor?
From what she'd seen so far, she certainly had charisma.
At her young age, she brimmed with audacity.
But what if that was the makings of a tyrant or mere youthful folly?
The duchess let out a deep sigh.
She lay back on the plush leather seat and closed her eyes.
"...!"
But soon, she had to open them again.
She faintly heard the sound of another carriage's wheels from behind.
"Someone's tailing us from the rear."
"I'll check."
The secretary sitting opposite leaned out the window.
He soon closed the glass again as if it was nothing.
"Eastern merchants."
"Merchants? At this hour?"
Suspicious, Rosetta glanced out the window.
A plain cart pulled by a single horse.
And two men riding up front.
The man in the passenger seat held a lantern in one hand.
His other hand leisurely munched on an apple.
"What the hell is that guy?"
Far too flashy for a merchant.
A gold necklace around his neck, ornate turban.
Jangling bracelets to boot.
He looked like some nouveau riche kid from the east.
"Are they really merchants...?"
Rosetta frowned in displeasure.
But she soon dismissed her suspicions and settled back into the leather seat.
Bandits would travel in groups of five or more.
They didn't feel particularly threatening.
"They're probably following Your Grace's carriage."
The middle-aged secretary said matter-of-factly.
"A flashy carriage leading the way means they won't get lost."
"I see. I was a bit on edge."
"If it's bothersome, we can speed up and shake them off."
"No, leave it."
The blue bob-haired woman propped her elbow on the armrest.
She rested her cheek on the back of her hand and closed her eyes again.
"..."
How much time passed like that.
Around the time an owl hooted.
The carriage halted, and Rosetta slowly opened her eyes.
"Already there?"
Yawning, she peered out the window.
But the sky was still dark.
The carriage hadn't even left the southern mountains yet.
Puzzled by the sudden stop, Rosetta stuck her head out the window.
And...
She quickly realized why the coachman had halted.
Right in the middle of the southern pass.
Someone had blocked the road with barrels and boulders.
Flaming torches encircled the area.
Dozens of men openly guarded the pass ahead.
"I prayed we wouldn't run into them... What now, Your Grace?"
The coachman stayed calm, as if he'd foreseen this.
It was the price of taking the shortcut at night.
"Are those the bandits Her Highness Lydia mentioned?"
Thinking to handle them herself and clear the path, Rosetta stepped out of the carriage.
Bandits were no match for a general who wielded mana, even if dozens attacked.
"You lot stay inside. I'll open the way."
But something felt off.
Bandits appeared often, sure, but right when she passed?
"She's here."
As the elegant figure emerged from the carriage, the bandits took notice.
The black-turbaned men sauntered up to the female grand duchess.
"All of you, stay alert."
Among them was a middle-aged man who looked like the leader.
"The Southern Duchess must die right here."
The man with a gruesome knife scar around his neck.
He stood alone, arms crossed, staring intently at Rosetta.
Rosetta's blue eyes glared sharply back at the bandit leader.
"I'm Southern Duchess Rosetta. If you don't want to die, get out of the way."
The female grand duchess spoke expressionlessly, chin held high.
But even at the mention of grand duchess, the leader kept his feral blank face.
"Southern Duchess? If a little girl like you is a grand duchess, then I'm the Northern Grand Duke."
Most Empire citizens knew Rosetta was the beautiful blue bob-haired woman.
Yet the leader brazenly denied it.
As if he knew she was the grand duchess but pretended otherwise to kill her.
Catching on, Rosetta calmly prepared for battle.
"Come at me all at once. I'm in a hurry."
The bandit leader turned his head.
He riled up his men with a convenient excuse.
"What grand duchess travels a mountain path alone without escorts at this late hour?"
His men nodded in agreement.
"It's obvious lies, so kill her without hesitation. Leave no traces."
The bandits raised their weapons.
They slowly closed in on the pitiful-looking blue bob-haired woman.
Meanwhile, the leader adjusted his turban to thoroughly hide his face.
Dozens of elite soldiers should easily overpower a female grand duchess.
But...
「Graaaah!!」
A surprisingly booming voice for a woman struck his ears first.
Thud...
Two of his men already lay on the ground.
Standing over them was the young lady he'd just mocked.
"Who dares to kill...?"
A blue flash gleamed through her bobbed hair.
Rosetta glared at the leader, her fist wrapped in intense mana.
"You call yourselves elite soldiers...? Pathetic."
Seeing her powerful mana, the bandit leader's face hardened coldly.
He soon fixed Rosetta with the deadly gaze of an assassin.
"All of you, fall back and form ranks!"
Forming ranks, like some proper bandits.
Rosetta frowned at the command.
But that was just the beginning.
The men who'd been ambling forward moments ago now surrounded her in perfect formation.
Like hunters closing on a lioness.
"I'll handle her myself."
The leader drew his curved sword from its sheath.
The blade was clearly honed by an expert.
Sharp enough to slice falling leaves.
The moment she saw it, Rosetta realized.
These weren't mere bandits.
They were assassins sent by someone to kill her.
Sure enough, the man flicked his wrist like a pro assassin and swung the massive curved sword with skill.
In response, Rosetta drew her longsword.
A zweihänder nearly two meters long.
She raised it high into the air.
Both weapons had long, deadly reaches.
They probed each other, waiting for an opening.
―――.
Rosetta moved first.
As the bandit leader took slow steps and glanced down at a stone underfoot.
She twisted her wrist and swung the massive longsword.
The blade was so long that a savage wind whistled as it descended.
Reacting to the sound, the leader.
He barely blocked the attack by raising his sword with both hands.
Their mana clashed, spewing noisy sparks.
The Southern Duchess inwardly panicked upon realizing the bandit leader's mana matched her own.
That meant at least vice-captain level of the capital's knight orders.
Aim for his side, and he spun to target her head.
Block the head, and he slid the blade to go for her torso.
Faced with the graceful counters of a curved sword she'd never encountered before, Rosetta couldn't relax her guard.
After clashing blades countless times for a full twenty minutes.
Both began panting heavily.
This gave her a moment to question the assassin leader.
"I haven't backed anyone yet. So why try to kill me?"
"The moment you said you'd deliberate at the meeting, the order came down to kill you."
The middle-aged man chuckled and shook his head.
From this, she realized.
Either the Crown Prince or the First Imperial Princess.
One of them had already decided to kill her.
"No way...."
The man stabbed his curved sword into the ground for support.
No matter how strong he was, he couldn't match the young Rosetta's stamina.
In the end, he chose to swallow his pride.
"Your Grace must be tiring too. Everyone, rush her at once!"
The man raised a finger.
He ordered his encircling men to execute Rosetta.
"The one who takes her head gets an even bigger reward!"
"Annoying...."
The shadows of the approaching bandit horde.
Rosetta sighed deeply at the sight.
The moment she abandoned the carriage to flee with her retainers.
She turned her head, sensing intense mana from the path behind them.
「Piiiirii――.」
"What...? That market trumpet sound."
The exhausted leader reacted the same.
He lifted his head at the cheap trumpet disrupting the mood.
And blankly stared at the rattling approaching cart.
"Hah... Did you really have to play merchant that hard?"
The fishmonger in suspenders and a baker's hat, Batsu, sighed deeply.
He clutched his head seeing me decked in luxury goods and playing the flute.
"As expected of Master. Even gracing these dying fools with a funeral dirge personally."
On the other hand, Tau, who revered me as his master, looked at me proudly.
"Why? When drawing in market crowds, you always play the flute like this."
I hopped off the carriage with my horn flute.
And approached the weary fighters with a pleased smile.
"Here, let me show you some fine goods."
The customers eyed my lecherous grin as I smacked my lips.
They backed away bit by bit, like ingredients facing a chef.
Batsu eyed my grin pitifully.
"Hard to tell who's the real bandit here...."