The Swindler Who Cried War

The rumor Loomdrax had set loose spread far and wide, and before long the kingdom's moneyed set began to stir.

"My lady, were you the one behind that rumor about a war?"

Even Jenice, faster with news than anyone, had come running on the heels of Loomdrax's story — but her question caught me off guard. Anyone else arriving with gossip would have asked, "Did you hear?" Jenice wanted to know the source. And she had pinned that source on me with pinpoint accuracy.

"Where exactly do you go, and what do you hear, when you're out and about?"

Jenice flinched, then quickly broke into a sly, scheming smile. "Curious, my lady?"

Curious, yes — but this was no time to trade stories with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her.

"You can tell me properly another day. We've a guest to prepare for, Jenice."

"Prepare for a guest? Who's coming?"

"Bella."

The letter I'd sent Bella last time had come back to me untouched. According to Jenice, the servants swore there was absolutely no one home — even though Bella was plainly inside. Instead, they said, they would personally deliver word to her provincial villa that I was looking for her.

And a short while later, a letter arrived from Bella.

At the tail end of that long-winded, saccharine little lie stood the date and hour of Bella's arrival in the capital. Today.

The very hour she could make it if she'd hurried up to the capital the moment my letter reached her hands.

She must have racked her brain getting the timing right.

Having ordered the servants to ready the house for a guest, I left my dressing to Jenice. She spread boxes of ribbon-and-shoe sets across the floor and sank into deep deliberation, while I — still in my lace-trimmed underdress — swung my feet and nibbled chocolate-covered almonds.

"Jenice, let's just throw on anything."

"'Anything' is not an option, my lady! Lady Bella is coming, isn't she?"

Jenice had despised Bella since the old days. I remembered how she'd dress me up bigger than ever, without fail, on the days Bella came. If I refused the billowing skirts and oversized ribbons, she'd simply make me sparkle instead. Sparkle or size — today, I chose size.

Honestly, was it sharp instincts, or an unerring eye for people? I was the one glued to Bella's side, and even I hadn't caught her sly streak. How on earth had Jenice seen through her?

"Today we're going with this one!"

Jenice carried over a box of shoes made from the same fabric as a sky-blue satin ribbon. Even to my eye they were sweet and elegant — and the sapphire set into the heart of each ribbon was genuinely lovely.

If I were really the child I appeared to be, I'd have cooed over how big the ribbon was. But with an adult behind my eyes, what caught my attention first was the gem — and what it was worth.

"Do you like them?"

"Mm, I do. And the dress?"

Jenice had something already in mind, and out the dress came — a strapless gown to be worn over a white lace blouse. The moment she finished explaining, she whisked my clothes clean off me, praised my porcelain skin and long, slender limbs at lavish length, and then capped it all with a scold: "You'll have to eat more if you want to grow, my lady."

"How does it look? I'll braid your hair."

I had long since handed Jenice full authority over my appearance. Protesting now would only stall things — Jenice would have her way in the end regardless.

I sat down at the vanity. Jenice had just settled in behind me, fingers working through my hair, when I heard the presence of someone who was decidedly not Jenice.

A glance in the mirror confirmed it: Chyo. In through the window yet again, mid-pluck, pulling the leaves off her clothes.

"Auntie, I keep telling you — use the door."

"Your place is crawling with suspicious characters."

Ever since my visit to the royal palace, Julia had set people on my tail.

"You knew?" Chyo asked when I didn't so much as flinch.

"I did. I know who they are, too."

Chyo scrunched up her face and grumbled.

"What, so all that legwork figuring out who they were was for nothing?"

"You looked into them?"

I'd never commissioned any such thing, so it was a surprise that Chyo had taken the initiative on her own.

"Protecting my clients is part of my job too."

Chyo held up a gloved hand. I thought I could make out hairs caught between the magic stones — was that human hair? I didn't need to watch the process to guess how she'd identified them, so I skipped the question and explained why I'd summoned her.

"I need you to report Loomdrax to the Security Bureau."

Both Jenice and Chyo simply stared at me, eyes round and mouths shut.

"Bahahaha! So you've finally decided to throw the con man in jail? Great call!"

A moment later, Chyo gave my shoulder a hearty slap through her laughter. To her it must have been a featherlight pat — my torso bucked forward all the same. Jenice whipped around and glared daggers at her, and Chyo, looking sheepish, peeled off the glove.

"The glove's just built too well, that's all."

Chyo tucked the glove into her back pocket.

I told Jenice to hold off a moment, then swiveled my chair around to face Chyo. With her standing, I had to crane my head all the way back.

"I'm not sending him to prison. Do you have any idea what it took to get him out in the first place? Report him to the Security Bureau — that's all. The only thing that matters is making it known that the man those noblewomen have been meeting is a con artist. The louder, the better."

"Shall I get a few lines into the papers while I'm at it?"

"If you can manage that, even better."

Loomdrax had worn a disguise to every one of his meetings with the noblewomen anyway, so there was no chance of his being caught moving about bare-faced. I did need to tell him to keep to his estate until the whole affair quieted down, though.

"There's something else I need you to handle at the same time."

"What kind of thing?"

I handed Chyo the note I'd written up in advance. The instant she read it, her brow knotted.

"Why are you buying this many trees? Building yourself a house? No — even a house wouldn't take this much. What are you going to do, raise a castle out of wood?"

"Why on earth would I build a castle — out of wood, no less? And it isn't lumber for my own use."

"Buying timber you won't even use. You really do squander in the strangest directions."

"Please handle it quickly. Once this job is finished, I'll give you five percent of whatever profit I make."

"Five percent? Do you have any idea what lumber costs — and on top of that, you want to hand out a cut of it? Forget it. Pay me in cash. One hundred Goldrings."

The kingdom's currency ran in Goldrings, Silverrings, and Bronzerings: one Goldring to one hundred Silverrings, one Silverring to ten Bronzerings. The same idea as gold, silver, and copper coin, only with names all the kingdom's own. A modest little house in the capital went for about fifty Goldrings — which meant Chyo's fee came to a full two houses' worth.

"You'll regret that."

"You're not exactly broke, are you?"

Chyo needled me. My funds were indeed trickling thin by now, but it wasn't as if I couldn't spare a hundred Goldrings — and besides, wasn't this job paid on completion?

"Then it's a deal. Please look into it right away and make the purchases. You'll be buying under a front name, of course?"

"But of course. Keeping client identities under lock and key is Chyorny's pride and joy!"

That much I had to grant. I witnessed it with my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠own eyes every single time, after all — the lengths my auntie went to, clambering through windows so no one would catch us meeting.

"Move fast, please."

Chyo vaulted straight out the window without so much as a goodbye. Asked to move fast, she answered with her whole body.

"My lady, I truly don't understand. Couldn't you explain it to me? Starting with why you'd report Lord Loomdrax."

Haah. Where was I even supposed to begin with this one?

There was exactly one reason I was buying lumber: a naval war was coming.

Six months from now, the Kingdom of Brooke would invade Bitwinner — the port region belonging to the Donet Kingdom — in its drive to trade directly with the Empire. Donet would take up arms to defend it, and the surrounding kingdoms were hardly the type to sit and watch. Sniffing opportunity in the chaos, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nations greedy for command of the sea would trip over themselves to join the naval war. In my past life, Petrora had stayed out of it. Pressed right up against the Empire as it was, Petrora had never felt much need for sea routes.

But Karman would come to regret that choice bitterly — because the victors of that war would seize naval supremacy and pile up staggering fortunes on the back of it.

I couldn't stop the war. But I could make sure the profits landed in my hands.

Even if I didn't, someone else would.

Wealth flows to those who reach for it — that is simply how the world works. In my past life, the ones who'd gotten rich off lumber had been Brooke's merchants. This time, it was my turn.

And since I meant to profit anyway, I intended to carve out the fattest margin possible. That was why I had spread the rumor of war first — and just now, I had spread the word that the rumor traced back to a swindler.

From here on, no one would give lumber a second glance, no matter how events actually unfolded. It would play out exactly like the fable of the shepherd boy: having been fooled once, people would write off the truth itself as another lie.

And rumors about me would spread right along with it.

Stories of a featherbrained noble heiress hoarding lumber because she'd swallowed a con artist's fabrication whole.

Chyo would make the purchases under a front name, but with Julia watching me so closely, there was a fair chance my lumber buying would come to light anyway.

Which might just be for the best. If the same story carried the detail that I'd since learned the rumor was a swindler's nonsense and was regretting my hasty buying spree, then Julia's wariness of me might actually ease.

And if that happened, no one inside the kingdom would push lumber prices up. All that remained was to sweep in and buy up the cheap wood before Brooke's merchants wised up and raised the price themselves.

The only problem: how was I to explain all this to Jenice without once mentioning the war?

I couldn't. Not a chance.

So I fudged it.

"I was afraid Loomdrax might get himself into even bigger trouble."

"True enough," Jenice said, nodding hard. Loomdrax had clearly managed to get on both her and Chyo's bad sides.

The sun-drenched library on an afternoon like this was made for napping. I stretched out on the long sofa and allowed myself a rare taste of leisure.

An article about Loomdrax had run that morning; he'd sneak home around dinnertime, dodging every eye in the capital. Rebert, meanwhile, had reportedly shut himself in his room for days on end, "dissecting people with his eyes."

When I asked what that was supposed to mean, Jenice enlightened me.

"He stares at people without blinking. Not once. And every so often he'll mumble out this little question — would you mind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rolling up your sleeve? — and if you actually do it, he stares at nothing but that arm the whole time he's working. As far as I can tell, that's what he means by dissecting with his eyes."

Ah. Now the situation made sense. I'd promised to let him observe a dissection — apparently he'd decided to study up in advance.

"And last time he asked a footman to take off his shirt, and the whole house nearly came apart. If you hadn't told us to look after him carefully, my lady, he'd have taken a swing at him."

I couldn't help admiring how Rebert threw himself into everything, but there was no need to keep needling the servants' nerves.

I'll have to give him a talking-to next time I see him.

Chyo, at least, was moving briskly and without supervision. Come tomorrow or so, odds were good she'd be at my window announcing she'd landed the exclusive lumber contract.

My terms had been too good to refuse.

I'd offered double the going price for lumber. With no sign of demand picking up anytime soon, selling was plainly the smarter move from the sellers' side of the table. And since lumber warps if it's stored badly, warehousing it would eat into their costs — on paper they'd be paid double, but once you factored in the upkeep, my offer was worth closer to triple.

Once the lumber was secured, the next stop was Karman. Persuade him, and the tallest mountain on the route would be behind me.

Which meant that, for now, it was time to enjoy the small delights of my life.

"My lady, Lady Bella has arrived."

The sweetest sound I'd heard all day. I shot up from the sofa and hopped down in a single bound.

She was here — my own small delight.