If I Can't Fix It, I Might As Well Just Charge Ahead
If I Can't Fix It, I Might As Well Just Charge Ahead
No, there's no time to be frustrated or despair like this.
"It's not too late yet, I can still fix this if I act now."
Right, there's no situation worse than getting on the wrong side of that villainess Duchess.
So, screw the loan sharks or whatever; I need to focus on retrieving that letter first.
With that, I bolted out of the abandoned house and ran through the night streets.
"Huff... huff!"
This body must have never exercised a day in its life; I haven't even been running that long.
My lungs already felt like they were tearing apart, but I didn't have the luxury to care.
My mind was filled with only one thought: I had to retrieve that damn love letter.
After turning through several alleys, I finally arrived in front of the Imperial Post Office's regional collection box where I'd dropped off the mail earlier.
"Haa, haa...."
Relieved that I'd made it, I reached for the collection box, but the moment I did, I saw the blue light wrapping around the smooth metal surface fade away into the air.
"Uh, uh...? No, no, no!"
I instinctively felt that it was all over, but with a shred of last hope, I lifted the lid of the collection box and peered inside.
It was empty.
Just then, a night patrol guard passing by saw me clutching the collection box and panting, and said indifferently.
"Hey you, here to drop off a letter? You're a step too late. The regional transfer magic activated a minute ago, so all the mail has already been whisked away to the Capital Central Post Office. Come back tomorrow morning."
"Ah... ahhh...."
One minute ago.
Just one minute.
That one minute I spent losing my mind after realizing that woman's identity back at the abandoned house.
My death warrant had flown off toward the capital.
My legs finally gave out, and I collapsed to my knees on the street.
Clutching my head with both hands, I screamed at the top of my lungs, loud enough to wake the empty night streets.
"No, no... no!!!"
Early dawn, with the sun still sleeping below the horizon.
The massive bedroom of the Denius Duchy was filled only with the steady breathing of a woman.
That was when it happened.
Knock, knock.
As the rhythmic knocking sounded, the eyes of the woman lying in bed snapped open in the deep darkness.
"......."
Mirea Denius.
The master of the Denius Duchy, who wielded more power in the Empire than anyone save for the Imperial family.
Suffering from severe androphobia, she slowly sat up and said irritably.
"Come in."
The person who had knocked opened the door very cautiously and entered the bedroom, clearly hearing the dissatisfaction in her voice at being woken from her sleep.
"Duchess-nim, I apologize for disturbing your deep sleep at this early hour."
The man who knelt on one knee before the Duchess and bowed his head deeply was Bernhardt, the captain of the special operations unit, the shadows of the Denius Duchy.
"Was it you, Bernhardt? If you're knocking on my chamber door at this hour, there must be a reason worthy of it."
"......."
Seeing the Duchess, who clearly understood everything but made no effort to hide her displeasure, Bernhardt bowed his head even lower.
Mirea rose from her seat, draped a thin robe that had been on the sofa over her shoulders, and shifted her gaze to Bernhardt's hands.
Two luxurious parchment envelopes were resting in his hands.
"These just arrived from the manager of the 4th sector of the Capital Post Office. They were classified as urgent because they bear the crest of the Kardelde house."
"Kardelde...."
The Kardelde crest.
Mirea's brow furrowed at the mention.
They had been the hands and feet handling the Duchy's dirty work for a very long time, so sending a letter wasn't strange in itself.
But she hadn't given any orders recently that would warrant them submitting a report first.
Then there was only one conclusion.
'An impersonator. Some stupid, fearless rat must have heard some rumors and dared to try and blackmail the Denius family.'
Mirea said without even checking the contents of the letters.
"Burn them. And track down whoever that vermin is who stole the crest, and..."
Even though it was a connection made through a political marriage long ago.
Even if she couldn't love him, she had tried to maintain a relationship more than just strangers.
But in the end, that man she called her husband had thoroughly acted to swallow up the family, deceived her, and even drugged her to force her to conceive a child.
After cutting out that shameful past with her own hands that day.
She had vowed never to show even the slightest mercy to those who dared to try and deceive her.
But just as she was about to issue the order to kill.
"Duchess-nim."
Interrupting Mirea as she was about to give the order, Bernhardt carefully extended the envelopes a little further.
"This envelope, one is indeed addressed to you, Duchess-nim... but the other has arrived addressed to your only daughter, Lady Rihel."
"...What?"
To a woman named Mirea Denius, her daughter Rihel was...
The reason for her existence that she had protected even through that horrific past, and her absolute reverse scale that she wouldn't trade even for the entire Empire.
And now, not content with trying to blackmail the head of the Denius family, they were trying to touch her reverse scale?
"I thought the situation was too serious to simply dismiss as a prank, so I came to you in a hurry."
"......."
At Bernhardt's follow-up, Mirea silently reached out and snatched the two envelopes.
Fury and murderous intent flickered in her eyes as she looked at the envelope with her daughter's name on it.
"You've done well."
She immediately sliced open the top of the envelope and unfolded the contents.
Whether it was a blackmail letter or a warning.
Thinking she would accept whatever it was, Mirea scanned the writing on the letter, and her expression...
"What on earth is this..."
...began to twist.
[To you, Mirea Denius, wandering in the darkness: I offer you a burning, pure love to show you the way and melt your frozen heart. Two days from now at noon, if you have even a speck of willingness to accept this lowly man, I pray you leave the main gate of the Duchy wide open...]
"What is this...?"
Mirea doubted her own eyes and, without even reading the rest of the letter, immediately unfolded the one addressed to her daughter, Rihel.
[To Lady Rihel, who will be tormented by a fate more brilliant and cruel than the starlight in the night sky. I love your true self, which will bloom not as a hothouse flower, but as a rose with thorns. If you would only allow it, I will whisper my love to you forever by your side. If you are willing to permit this blind love, please leave the main gate of the Duchy open at midnight, two days from now. I will become a knight for you alone and walk through those gates with pride.]
Veins bulged on the Duchess's hand holding the letters.
The nature of the letters was neither blackmail nor a coded message.
It was a crazy love letter that could only come out of a third-rate romance novel, arriving simultaneously to her, who was known by everyone in the Empire to loathe men, and her arrogant daughter who had grown up without knowing fear.
Not only did he send love letters to both mother and daughter at the same time, but he even had the audacity to demand they leave the main gate open at noon and midnight two days later.
"Hah...."
In the end, Mirea couldn't hide her absurdity, and a dry laugh escaped her lips.
How dare you toy with me, and my daughter, at the same time?
"Bernhardt."
At her call, Bernhardt, who was still kneeling on the floor waiting, looked up.
Mirea crumpled the two letters and tossed them onto the floor, then spoke in a low voice.
"It seems a man even worse than that Crown Prince intends to visit the Duchy."
"Visit the Duchy...?"
"More on that later. For now, make preparations to welcome our guest as grandly as possible within two days."
"...I obey."
The morning sun rose, and the second day of my possession in this romance fantasy novel dawned.
Having realized the fact that I couldn't retrieve the letters, I prayed that they would be lost before reaching the Denius Duchy.
Or that they would think it was an impersonation and throw them away without even checking the contents; I had spent the whole night praying for that.
"Ugh... sleepy."
If it were up to me, I wouldn't want to fight my eyelids that were constantly drooping... but I couldn't do that.
Since Plan A had been completely screwed up, I had to revise Plan B and come up with a new Plan C before it was too late.
First, by giving Princess Ilusia Rodpen, who was part of Plan B, a tiny bit of information from the original story.
Giving her hope that she could steal the Crown Prince's seat, while reciting some romance novel lines to naturally snag the fiancé position and crush the loan sharks.
If I didn't revise that plan as quickly as possible or scrap it entirely, the already worst-case scenario was highly likely to spiral into something even worse.
'For example... hmm.'
The Duchess had already seen the letter, and the owner of the Golden Hand had also sent a letter directly to the Princess, with whom they maintained a good relationship.
So, in the end, I was holding the two most powerful and dangerous cards in this romance fantasy novel.
"Oh, crazy."
Just imagining it gave me goosebumps all over.
Damn it, I should have gone to the Golden Hand Alden branch's request box first instead of the mailbox yesterday; I might have been able to fix the situation a little.
Unfortunately, the wooden request box at the Alden branch that I had rushed to late last night was already empty.
"If only I had been just a little faster...."
'No, enough with the regrets.'
The water is already spilled, anyway.
So I have to focus on finding a way to survive.
Now that Plans A and B have completely collapsed, all that's left is Plan C, to prepare for the worst of the worst.
What's Plan C, you ask? I'll have to come up with that now.
Because it's certain that when tomorrow comes, my new fantasy life will end one way or another.
I immediately picked up a small piece of charcoal rolling on the ground and started writing on the floor with it.
The cards I have right now and the methods I can use.
First, the first one is just to try and run away like this....
I haven't actually considered this, though.
The opponents are the most powerful beings in the Empire, no, the continent.
Run away for what, a week? A month?
Either way, it would be faster to get caught by the Denius Duchy's private soldiers and the Rodpen Empire's shadows than by the loan sharks.
"Then it naturally moves on to the second method...."
This was also a bit of a dilemma.
The second method is to just let things be and continue this precarious tightrope walk to the end.
Somehow, I'll have to butter up my tongue to save my life.
And while properly utilizing the power and wealth of those scary women, I'll create a perfect happy ending by laying out a comfortable flower path for the pitiful original female lead.
It was certainly not a bad method.
No, in this situation where I'm pushed to the edge of a cliff, it was the only and best card I could hold.
'But even if I have a silver tongue, will my head still be attached to my neck by then?'
I threw the piece of charcoal, which had been drawing meaningless circles on the floor, into the corner.
"Haa."
Right, sitting here crouching and worrying more isn't going to produce any brilliant solutions anyway.
Above all, if I stupidly waste time like this and fail to reach the Denius Duchy's main gate by the promised noon tomorrow?
The moment that happens, Plan C or whatever, my life is definitely over either way.
After having my neck chopped off for breaking the appointment.
My cold, dead body would probably be hanging somewhere on the castle gate for days, or maybe months.
Saying, "This guy is the bastard who insulted the Duchess!"
"Haa...."
Sighing again without realizing it, I pushed off the floor and slowly stood up.
Then, I roughly picked up and put on the tattered outer garment that had been lying somewhere on the floor.
"Let's just go for now."
Whether I end up spouting nonsense like a madman or groveling on the floor begging, I have to face it head-on to get an estimate of my survival.
'...At least I'm glad I told the Princess to wait because I'd come find her later with everything she needs.'