Fish Caught in the Net (1)
Eleanor found every single aspect of this situation utterly alien.
There were no citizens cheering at the mere flash of her hem, no men gazing at her with lovestruck eyes wherever she went, no archdukes and bureaucrats preparing mountains of gifts at the mere news of her arrival.
The moment she stepped off the train, the controlled streets were nearly empty of ordinary citizens. Instead, a training ground reeking of acrid smoke and thundering with tremendous noise greeted her from the side.
Walking a little farther, she even witnessed criminals being hauled away in custody.
For Eleanor—who had lived her entire life pampered and treasured by everyone in the imperial palace, from the Emperor and the Crown Prince down to every last bureaucrat, all on the strength of her looks alone—this landscape was so foreign it bordered on cognitive dissonance.
But more than anything else, what she could not adapt to was Isaac's attitude: cold to the point of open hostility.
She had heard, once before, that Isaac had submitted a memorial stating she had proven no usefulness whatsoever, received treatment far exceeding her age and ability, and was bankrupting the empire's economy.
Could that opinion still hold even now? Is he deliberately showing how little he thinks of me?
Even the barbarians around him showed her no particular goodwill. Without so much as lowering their voices—as if daring her to overhear—they freely tossed out remarks like 'ordinary,' 'scrawny,' and 'unattractive.'
Eleanor had always been enormously confident in her appearance, and the world had proven that confidence well-founded through their actions. For someone who had lived her whole life receiving nothing but affection, this was an environment she simply could not get used to.
She wanted to cry—but having received the Emperor's order to pretend to seduce Isaac, make him withdraw from the South, restore Harth, and draw the West's enormous profits into the imperial coffers, she could not even allow herself tears.
Of course, even if she returned having achieved nothing at all, neither the Emperor nor anyone in the empire would blame her. But as this cold treatment continued, a spark of defiance rose inside her.
Let's see how long you can keep that attitude! Once I set my mind to it, there's no man I can't seduce!
But that thought lasted only a moment. When Eleanor saw the bloodstains remaining all too clearly on the floor before the conference room door, her mind went blank white.
"Ah—Lord Isaac? These marks… could they be…"
"Hmm? Ah, there was an occasion when the disposal of some trash didn't go quite smoothly. That's when those marks appeared. Don't concern yourself with it. Stop fretting over such trivial things and… well, let's hear just how grand a message the imperial family wanted to deliver that they sent you."
Isaac sat in the seat of honor and spoke with cool indifference. But Eleanor, who had never seen blood once in her life, had already panicked and frozen solid the moment she laid eyes on those vivid, copious bloodstains.
"Th-that's…"
"Why the stammering? If His Majesty the Emperor sent you, surely you came fully prepared? Or did you just show up empty-handed, thinking things would somehow work themselves out?"
Seeing Eleanor flustered, Michelle, Commander of the Rose Knights, let out a light sigh, then pointed out Isaac's behavior while shielding her.
"Duke Isaac, what is the meaning of this discourtesy? Do you think we don't know you deliberately left those bloodstains uncleaned? If you intend to pressure Lady Eleanor, can you not use a more gentlemanly method? You do this and then dare speak of preparation?"
Isaac scratched his head with shameless nonchalance.
"Hmm. Seems I was a bit too transparent there. I apologize for that."
With Michelle protecting her and condemning Isaac's actions, and with Isaac readily acknowledging and apologizing, Eleanor finally managed to find some composure. Conveying her thanks to Michelle with a glance, she steadied her breathing and opened her mouth.
"Then… I shall convey His Majesty the Emperor's words. His Majesty expressed concern that the conflict between the South and the West could be seen as going beyond an exceptional struggle over interests and into civil war. He said this is a terrible thing that cannot be permitted under a single empire, and…"
Eleanor then recited the well-memorized script, and finally brought out the main point.
"Thus, His Majesty the Emperor has recognized the rights claimed by the West and ordered the South to completely abolish the illegal collection of tolls, establish measures to prevent any recurrence, and return the full amount of tolls collected thus far to the West."
"Hmm."
"Meanwhile, to the West, His Majesty condemned the large-scale invasion of the South, and ordered the restoration of Southern Archduke Harth, the withdrawal of occupying forces, a strict ban on future acts of civil war using military force, and the extradition of those responsible for this civil war to the imperial family."
Having delivered the entire content without a single error, Eleanor inwardly sighed with relief.
Isaac mulled over those words, turning them over on his tongue.
"Extradite those responsible for the civil war… In other words, send someone else instead of myself? Show everyone the sight of me throwing my subordinates under the bus to save my own skin—is that it?"
But Isaac's reaction differed from what Eleanor and the imperial family had expected. Contrary to their assumption that guaranteeing the return of tolls and telling him to send a subordinate rather than holding him personally responsible would make him readily agree, Isaac precisely articulated the imperial family's true intentions while wearing a somewhat subtle expression.
"I've received His Majesty's will well enough, so I can summarize my answer like this."
Isaac leaned forward and murmured with a sinister edge.
"I have no intention of carrying out a single word of His Majesty the Emperor's commands."
"What…!"
At this open declaration of defiance against the Emperor, Michelle excitedly put her hand on her sword—and simultaneously, the demi-humans on the opposite side of the conference room drew strange weapons of a form never seen before and aimed them at her.
Seeing the demi-humans level their weapons at Michelle, the Rose Knights also put their hands on their swords at once, and in an instant the conference room descended into a hair-trigger atmosphere.
Eleanor, who had never imagined things would come to this, broke out in cold sweat with trembling pupils—but Isaac remained utterly composed.
"Eleanor. Do you know what absolute proposition has remained unchanged through the thousands upon thousands of years of history from the First Age until now?"
"……?"
"It is the law of the jungle—the logic of power. That the strong rule is natural. That the weak are trampled is natural. And that the strong may freely spout whatever they please and act however they wish, while the weak cannot raise even an objection or a counterargument. It is the filthy, base logic of beasts—and the fundamental, absolute proposition that has underlain our world from the First Age to this day."
Michelle raised her voice at those words.
"Duke Isaac, do you not realize that what you are saying right now could be seen as an insult to the imperial family of the Empire—the ruling class?"
"I know. I know that my words and actions make excellent grounds for a charge of treason, and that saying such things before the Emperor's envoy is the same as saying them to the Emperor's face."
"Knowing that—"
"Let me ask you in reverse. Commander of the Rose Knights, Sword Master Michelle. When a person who clearly knows all of that still speaks and acts as I am now—what do you suppose they're thinking? Here's a hint: I am not insane."
Michelle glared at Isaac as if she wanted to tear him apart and quietly muttered.
"…When they have absolute certainty that no matter what happens… they will win."
Isaac clapped.
"Remarkable insight. As expected, not just anyone becomes a Sword Master."
When his exaggerated gesture brought Michelle to the brink of exploding, Eleanor stepped in.
"Lord Isaac, if this is empty bluster, please stop. His Majesty the Emperor—everyone—is giving you a chance right now. You must know that, so why are you doing this? What benefit do you gain from provoking me or Dame Michelle here?"
"Benefit? Nothing particular. If I had to name one, it would be creating a pretext to keep a parasite tied up here—one who, with no ability whatsoever, relies solely on her face to plant herself in the imperial palace and shamelessly freeload off jewels mixed with the blood, sweat, and tears of the empire's people."
"I will hear no more of this! Lady Eleanor is an envoy personally appointed and sent by His Majesty the Emperor! How dare you spew such outrageous words! Just because you briefly occupied the South through a surprise attack, have you lost all sense of what's before your eyes?!"
In stark contrast to Michelle's shouting, Isaac was utterly at ease.
"Surprise attack? Does the Commander of the Rose Knights believe that my detaining Harth here and playing the ruler of the South was achieved purely through a surprise attack? I was impressed until just a moment ago—this is disappointing."
"What are you trying to say?!"
"Let's say I truly did detain Harth through a surprise attack. The rumor would have spread throughout the entire South within two days at most—so why wouldn't the proud, honor-valuing knights rush to protect their lord? Why wouldn't the Iron Vanguard, pride of the South, immediately cut us all down? A few hundred demi-humans at best could all be killed by just ten members of the Iron Vanguard, no?"
"……!"
Only then did Michelle recall that the Iron Vanguard had shown no movement whatsoever despite all this time having passed.
What she had been told was merely that Western forces under Isaac had attacked and occupied the South, and that Isaac was claiming the title of Southern Archduke. If such a thing had truly happened, the Iron Vanguard would have immediately stood at the forefront and cut down the Western army, and rescuing Harth would have been trivially easy.
So why had there been no movement from the Iron Vanguard at all?
"The Iron Vanguard may be a step below the Rose Knights in skill, but their numbers are far greater. Aren't you curious? Where did all those Iron Vanguard go?"
"Isaac, what the hell did you do?!"
As an ominous premonition seized Michelle and she snarled, Isaac pulled a crystal orb containing memories captured through magic from behind him and tossed it forward.
"A hundred words are not worth a single look."
Watching the memories floating above the crystal orb, Michelle and the Rose Knights were soon struck with horror.
There was the Iron Vanguard—that valiant strongest force of the South—being pulverized armor and all from an enormous distance in less than two minutes, collapsing and dying along with their horses.
Having watched countless troops annihilated in under five minutes, the Rose Knights recognized that the weapons the barbarians before them were holding were the same weapons they had seen in the crystal orb's memories.
They had not directly witnessed those weapons being fired—but merely seeing the memories was enough to plant terror deep in their hearts.