The Plum Blossom Swordsman Reincarnated into a Count's Family
I walked the secret passage.
It wasn't pleasant. Dark and damp. What really got under my skin were the bugs — spiders, cockroaches, centipedes crawling everywhere.
Crack!
A flash of lightning. The venomous spider that had lunged at me fried to a crisp, electrocuted on the spot.
Crack! Crack!
Every other bug that came near me died the same way.
Noecheonryu — Electromagnetic Barrier.
An invisible electromagnetic field shielded me. Its durability left something to be desired, but for frying bugs that charged toward the light, it was perfect. Right now I was a walking electric fly swatter. Well — the output put any ordinary fly swatter to shame.
"Filth everywhere you look. Does House Arhen not maintain its secret passages at all?"
"The only people in House Arhen who even know this passage exists are the direct bloodline. You think the direct line is going to scrub the tunnels themselves?"
"Still. There are way too many bugs."
Snap! Snap! Snap-snap-snap! Snap!
Bugs diving at the flashlight made a racket that set my ears ringing.
"This much should be bearable. Hmm. Good thing I came with you, Master."
"If I weren't here, you'd just use magic. Yuria told me. You reached Master rank not long ago, didn't you? Sword and magic both."
"Hmph. Madam really does get too loose-lipped when it comes to you. There goes my plan to surprise you."
"I was plenty surprised when I heard. Mastering both paths isn't exactly easy."
"I had Madam's help. Without her teaching, it would have taken decades — if I managed it at all. Your help mattered too, Master. Those elixirs you hand out make you feel yourself getting stronger by the day. You distribute them to the maids and the Golden Rose Knights… just how many of those things do you have?"
"That's a secret."
Most of them came from the world of Path of Radiant Ascension. In that world, elixirs regenerated over time. Bring them into reality and the effects drop by more than half — but in the Baekhwan world, they still perform decently well.
"I'm bored. Tell me about House Arhen."
"Hmm. Nothing particularly interesting about House Arhen."
"Family stuff, then. You've got a younger brother, right? What's he like?"
"Verdo, you mean. Who knows… We were never close to begin with."
Melissa had a much younger brother. She had been thoroughly groomed as the heir of House Arhen — until he was born and the succession was stripped from her. Simply because she was a woman.
Common enough in this world.
In another noble house a woman might have kept the heir's seat. But House Arhen clung to its stuffy old traditions.
"Once Verdo was born, I became leftover scraps. Every privilege I'd enjoyed as heir vanished overnight. From the retainers right down to the servants — their attitudes flipped in an instant. Heir training ended on the spot."
"Isn't that a good thing? You didn't have to sit through all that tedious education."
"I think so now. Back then… the sudden change hit me hard. Duke of Arhen. That was the only goal I'd run toward my entire life. When it disappeared, I became useless. All that remained was marriage into the royal family."
"Do you resent your brother?"
"I think I did, at the time. Not anymore. I feel sorry for him, if anything. Right about now he's probably grinding through heir education for most of every day. Training sword and magic at once, studying management and history that make your head throb just from reading… Hmm. The worst of it was etiquette."
"Etiquette?"
"The Cobalt Kingdom treats abstinence as a virtue. Guarding your chastity is a given, and you're not even supposed to eat too much. From the smallest things on up — abstinence. In other words, they force etiquette on you."
"If even you're saying that, how bad is it?"
"Take table manners, for example. In the Cobalt Kingdom, the moment a meal begins, you take a sip of water first. As a show of respect for the food — rinse your mouth clean, and so on. You must hold the fork in your right hand. Being left-handed is no excuse. You may not open your mouth until you've tasted three dishes. You can't eat too fast, and you can't make noise while chewing. And in the middle of all that—"
"Stop. Stop. I get how fucked-up Cobalt etiquette is. Enough."
Just listening made my head throb.
"It is Cobalt etiquette, but the truth is you don't have to follow all of it. Most high nobles can't keep every little rule. Life goes on fine without them, so nobody obsesses. House Arhen is the exception. They obsess over every trivial detail."
"Insane."
"I only realized how strange it was after I entered Goldway Academy. Until then I'd lived entirely inside House Arhen, so I thought keeping every rule was normal. Once I learned otherwise, I started ignoring etiquette on purpose."
"By then it must have been habit. That couldn't have been easy."
"Not hard at all. I threw etiquette out in a single day. Habit? It means nothing next to convenience."
Thud. Thud.
She stopped walking, still leading the way through the passage.
She shone the flashlight across the uneven wall.
"…What now?"
"There's a trap ahead. A fairly annoying one, so I meant to deal with it first… Hmm. I'm not sure how."
"I don't sense anything. A physical trap?"
"A relic. The kind that manipulates the mind. Going from the inside out is fine… but coming from the outside in is a problem."
"A trap for intruders, then."
"And if you're fleeing, you can activate the relic and screw over anyone chasing you."
"'Screw over'? How crude. For a duke's daughter."
"I don't want to hear that from a Master who thinks about things like pussy stamps."
Melissa glared at the wall. Kept glaring. Ten minutes of that, and sweat beaded on her face.
Five more minutes passed before she finally spoke, with difficulty.
"…I forgot."
"What?"
"It can't be helped. I last heard about this secret passage more than fifteen years ago. People forget minor details after that long."
"This is not a minor detail. And Yuria wouldn't have forgotten."
"Don't compare me to Madam. That's comparing a candle to the sun."
I nodded. Fair enough — comparing anyone to Yuria was a bit much. Put next to Yuria, most people were…
"Just smash it and go through. Stay back."
"I told you — if the trap hits you, your mind goes wrong."
"I'm immune to mental attacks."
If I'd been alone, I would have walked straight through. With Absolute Mind, mental attacks meant nothing to me.
Melissa realized I was serious and stepped back, putting distance between us.
"This wall is the relic, right?"
"Yes. If you touch the uneven parts in the correct sequence, the trap disarms… but I can't remember the order."
I half-listened to her excuses and approached the wall.
I swept my palm across the rough surface.
Vmmmm.
The wall vibrated and released a formless energy.
Zzt.
The Electromagnetic Barrier I'd kept up for the bugs blocked it.
…Formless energy, sure. But this is basically electromagnetic waves. Messing with the brain via EM radiation?
Vmmmm.
Zzzzt!
Energy burst from the wall again. The barrier stopped it once more. The output itself seemed low.
"Melissa. No need to destroy it. We'll just walk through like this."
"Seems so."
We passed the trap.
"About ten minutes from here and we arrive."
"Ten minutes… After that earlier business, I'm not sure I trust you."
"I said about. Don't start timing me."
Snap. Snap.
The damn bugs still charged us and met their end.
"Melissa. Do you regret following me?"
"I don't. Thinking about what you did to me at the Academy still makes me a little angry… but it's far better than becoming Dulibard's wife. If I'd married him as planned… I would have ended up a canary in a cage."
"A canary in a cage… Not bad, actually."
"Don't think weird things. Anyway, I'm satisfied with my life now. The house is warm, the food is better than anywhere else. The work suits me, and I've gotten close with the other maids. I'm living happily."
Melissa smiled and playfully swept the flashlight around.
"And Yuria… no, Madam said something else to me. That the seat beside you is hers alone — but a concubine's place, she could give up anytime."
"Yuria said that…"
"I'm content with that seat. My competition would be Madam, after all. I have no confidence I could win. And no desire to try."
"I didn't know you loved me that much…"
"Don't get the wrong idea. Honestly, I don't like you much, Master. I like your cock."
Melissa said it with a straight face. Impossible to tell if she was joking or serious.
"…Fine. After I get Yuria pregnant, I'll get you pregnant too."
"Bearing Master's child. Not bad."
The end of the secret passage came into view. A steel door blocked the way.
"Master. I have a request."
"A request? If it's 'kill the Duke of Arhen for me'… not right now."
"Unbelievable. Why would you think I'd ask for that? I cut ties with House Arhen, but cutting ties doesn't make the bond disappear. We're walking to House Arhen right now, aren't we? I don't particularly hold a grudge against them."
"Then what's the request?"
"I want to mess with the Duke of Arhen… my father. Tease me in front of him."
"You want me to take you in front of the Duke of Arhen?"
"No. I said tease me."
"I get what you mean. But will it even work? You cut ties with House Arhen. Ah — they care about etiquette, so yeah, it'll land."
Melissa toyed with her own hair with one hand.
Dark blue-black hair.
A hallmark of House Arhen.
"I carry the blood of House Arhen. That is a truth no one can deny."
"…I see. So that's why you deliberately wore something so revealing. Fine. I understand. I'll do it."
"Thank you, Master. As thanks, I'll serve you properly later. Come on. Let's go."
Melissa grabbed the handle of the steel door and pulled.