Chapter 286
Chapter 286
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 286
Chapter Title: Teraje's Proposal (3)
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‘Hurry, hurry!’
Reina ran toward the annex at full speed.
If Teraje's faction had gotten to Shirone's parents, the situation would be dire. A wave of self-blame washed over her. She should have been more careful.
‘No, this was the best I could do. I reinforced all possible security measures...’
That would mean the enemy had acted without considering the consequences. The thought occurred to her that all the attendants might have been wiped out.
The puzzling part was the timing.
Sending assassins on the first day had been a brilliant move.
But now, their side was fully prepared. There was no reason to employ a high-risk, low-return strategy when getting caught would turn the tables completely.
Entering the annex, Reina turned toward the quarters where Vincent was staying. At the same time, she collided with an attendant from the Ogent family around a corner.
"Gasp! Lady Reina!"
Reina pushed past the attendant and ran to the room.
"Move! What happened?"
When she burst through the door, Vincent and Olina looked up at her with puzzled expressions. The atmosphere didn't suggest any sort of commotion had occurred.
Vincent was carving a block of wood, and beside him, Olina was sipping cocoa, wrapped in a blanket.
"Lady Reina, is something wrong? You look pale."
"Ah, well..."
Reina was at a loss for words at Vincent's question.
The two of them were safe. Then why had Amy followed Zion?
The attendant, who had just returned to the room, asked with a flushed face.
"My lady, what on earth is going on? Why are you here all of a sudden?"
Reina hastily composed herself.
"Oh, it's... I was just on patrol and wanted to see if you were doing well."
The attendant breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew, I thought something terrible had happened. I was just on my way to report. Everything is fine here."
Olina asked with a worried expression.
"Is something wrong? What about Shirone?"
As expected, a mother's intuition about her child was sharp. Reina swallowed hard and quickly fabricated a story.
"He's still at the banquet hall. He's having a good time with Amy, so you don't need to worry."
At the mention of Amy's name, Olina seemed to relax. If something had happened to Shirone, she would surely have rushed here as well.
"I see. Don't worry. We're doing fine."
"Hoho! Yes. Well then, please rest easy. I'll be back soon."
Forcing a smile, Reina left the room and immediately walked in the opposite direction.
Shirone's parents were safe. But Amy would have had no way to confirm that. That meant she had been threatened. But why Amy?
Reina stopped dead in her tracks and said aloud.
"Shirone."
This was the worst-case scenario.
The reason she hadn't detected any danger in the banquet hall was due to the effect of the Ataraxia demonstration. It meant that most of the neutral faction had become favorable to Orkamp.
But that had prompted Zion to make a serious move. No matter how she thought about it, there was only one reason for him to separate Amy from Shirone with a lie that would soon be exposed.
He intended to end things tonight.
‘I thought he'd let it go because the atmosphere was good, but Zion decided to act himself. That's why no intelligence came in.’
This was no time to stand around. Since the attendant had just come from Vincent's quarters, she had to assume more than twenty minutes had passed since Amy had left Shirone.
Reina activated Sound of Silence, a technique of the Schema Ear. Her hearing was enhanced, and she began to collect every sound in the royal castle, down to the most trivial.
It was too late to try and follow Shirone now. If she heard a high decibel level from any direction, that would be the center of the incident.
@
Amy followed Zion into a gallery in the basement.
She didn't know if the castle's basement was always this quiet or if Zion had arranged it, but not a soul was stirring.
Come to think of it, with the banquet running late into the night, it was time for the off-duty servants to be asleep.
Amy thought this was actually for the best.
Zion was royalty, but his actual combat ability was on par with that of his noble peers. Having received elite magic training since childhood, she was confident she could subdue him if the opportunity arose.
Therefore, this silent space was the perfect situation for her. She could beat Zion to a pulp without worrying about any onlookers.
‘If possible, I could even kill him...’
Harming someone was an unpleasant affair, but with Shirone's parents captured, such thoughts were a luxury she couldn't afford.
Zion entered the cavern-like gallery with a gentlemanly smile. Amy noticed the double doors and had the same thought as Shirone.
‘I'll need to save at least two shots to break down the doors and get out.’
But that thought vanished when she saw the gallery's innocuous interior.
The room was filled with all sorts of collected items.
She didn't know what they were used for, but at the very least, they weren't things suited for torturing or harming someone.
Amy examined the display case on the north wall, which held the only items that could be used as weapons.
Only an expert would know how well the blade was forged, but the single sword reflected in her eyes seemed to radiate a sharpness all its own.
"Where are Shirone's parents?"
Zion's lips curled into a playful smile as he spoke.
"His parents? Hmm. Do I really need to know about such things?"
Amy's gaze turned cold.
"Did you lie to me?"
Zion checked the time. The next hour was the window for the operation. The reason they hadn't set a precise time for the assassination was because the strategy was designed for a small team.
Some degree of fluidity was inevitable, but on the other hand, it had the advantage of allowing them to respond flexibly to variables.
‘One hour...’
He suddenly felt a pang of regret. Amy was a truly fine woman. With such a beauty, wouldn't an hour feel like a fleeting moment?
In any case, while he killed time here, Genoger and Arius would finish the job. All he had to do was sit back and receive the Ataraxia that would fall into his lap.
"I apologize for the lie. But I trust you'll understand. A little white lie is sometimes necessary to woo a beautiful woman, isn't it?"
Amy didn't want to hear it. Since he had deceived her first, she felt justified in being somewhat rude and snapped back.
"I'm leaving. In the future, I will decline such requests."
"Oh? I wonder if you'll still say that after seeing this."
Zion opened his fist, and a necklace with a golden cross pendant slid down. The precision of the craftsmanship alone revealed it was an expensive item.
But Amy scoffed.
She didn't know how many had fallen for such tricks, but the Carmis family was a renowned house in the Kingdom of Tormia.
She was confident she wouldn't even bat an eye if he offered her a diamond.
"What are you doing? Do you really think you can win me over with something like this?"
Zion approached with a smirk, as if he had expected as much.
"Something like this? Why don't you take a closer look?"
Amy glared at him and examined the pendant.
Royalty wouldn't carry an alloy, so it had to be pure gold. A quick glance told her it was large enough to have been made by melting down roughly 500 gold coins.
A pearl was embedded in the center, but it was an unusual iron-gray color with a metallic sheen.
It was a far cry from the beautiful luster of a natural pearl.
Its shape was perfect, but it wasn't something a woman would wear for its beauty.
‘What is this? What's so special about...’
Amy suddenly realized.
She remembered reading about it in a book. A pearl with a dark iron luster. It was a pearl from the Heaven King Clam, said to live in the deep seas of Alcantara.
According to geological surveys, the Alcantara Trench contained the deepest waters in the world.
Not a speck of light reached it, and the water pressure was immense, making it impossible for fishermen to harvest. It could only be accessed through national projects mobilizing mages.
The clam's durability, which withstood the deep-sea pressure, was known to create a chemical substance harder than diamond.
In other words, it was one of the hardest substances in the world.
Furthermore, its perfectly spherical shape gave it endless industrial applications.
Of course, few people would buy such an item with money, but from what she had read, a Heaven King Clam pearl could replace the ball bearings in ancient weapons, making each one worth at least 200 million gold.
For that reason, it was also used as currency in transactions between kingdoms where transporting massive amounts of gold coins was impractical.
‘So this is a Heaven King Clam pearl...’
It was presumed that the ancient weapons, which arrived before recorded history, still existed because they were made from the hard rock of the heavens.
But even for ancient weapons, the parts of their operating mechanisms were bound to wear down. To replace those components, a substance with at least the durability of a Heaven King Clam pearl was required.
Two hundred million gold for a single ball bearing.
One could only imagine how much of its budget a kingdom poured into maintaining the functionality of its ancient weapons.
‘Hmph. This should do it.’
Zion jumped to the conclusion that her silence meant she was conflicted.
And why wouldn't she be? What he had offered was not a mere jewel, but a form of currency traded between nations.
"As expected, you have some refinement. Most nobles use diamonds for their marriage vows. Their hardness signifies a love that will never be broken. But this is a Heaven King Clam pearl, harder even than that. Only those in the direct royal line are permitted to use it as a betrothal gift. What do you say? Shall we promise our future with this?"
Zion flashed a greasy smile as he prepared to put the necklace on her.
Of course, he didn't try to seduce just any woman with a Heaven King Clam pearl. Handing over 200 million gold, even for a truly exceptional woman, would be insane.
But right now, he wouldn't have cared if he gave away not just the 200 million gold but every object in this room.
Because once Shirone was dead, Amy would be finished anyway.
"I fell for you the moment I first saw you. Will you accept my heart?"
Finally, Zion delivered his ultimate confession. Amy stared blankly at him.
The First Prince of the Kazra Kingdom, Teraje's own blood, courting her with a Heaven King Clam pearl—it was a scene countless noblewomen could only dream of. For that reason, Amy wondered if there was something wrong with her for feeling nothing at all.
But she truly felt indifferent. The first thought that entered her mind upon hearing Zion's confession was that she should get back to Shirone.
"I'm sorry. I appreciate that Your Highness finds me fair, but I cannot accept such a burdensome gift."
Zion's expression was one of utter disbelief.
He had never met a woman so composed after seeing a Heaven King Clam pearl. Even for a noble, this was a situation where 200 million was dropping into her lap. Even if she had no interest in him, most would have taken the offered hand.
Realizing he couldn't hold Amy here like this, Zion decided that since he was already making empty promises, he might as well play a card that would surely captivate her.
"Then how about this? I'll let you bear my child. You can become royalty."
Amy looked at him, dumbfounded.
‘This kid who's still wet behind the ears...’
Nobles also engaged in political marriages, but royalty took it a step further. They acted as if their bloodline held some immense value.
Then again, perhaps it was true. Even now, there were women lining up, hoping to conceive a prince's child.
But Amy had no desire to become royalty. Therefore, Zion's words were nothing short of an insult.
"I'm leaving. It seems there's nothing more to discuss with you, Your Highness."
Amy walked toward the door without waiting for a reply.
"You...!"
Zion grabbed Amy's wrist, his grip as strong as his wounded pride. Amy quickly shook his hand off and stepped back. He had squeezed so tightly that her wrist throbbed.
‘For the prince of a nation to behave so disgracefully.’
Amy rubbed her wrist and glared at Zion.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Her tone was laced with emotion, but the one who was truly angry was Zion.
"How dare you reject me? A mere noble!"
Amy felt as if she'd just heard a novel insult.
Even the royalty of Tormia showed deference to the Carmis family. But that thought only made Amy more pragmatic. After all, the person standing here was not just any royal, but the son of Teraje.