It'd Be Nice If My Brother and Sister Got Married!
"It'd be nice if my brother and sister got married!"
Cayden waved his hand with an awkward laugh, looking thoroughly flustered. "Haha, Noel. What are you suddenly going on about?"
He gave Elena a slight bow. "My apologies. Please forgive my little brother's rudeness."
I tilted my head, the picture of pure innocence—like a child who knew nothing at all. "It's fine. But..."
Elena took a step closer, smiling. "Is there any reason it couldn't work? I think it's a wonderful idea."
Cayden froze. Elena advanced another step, her eyes gleaming with provocative boldness. "What do you think, Your Highness the Second Prince?"
It sounded like playful teasing. But beneath it, countless calculations were no doubt spinning at full speed.
I nibbled on a cookie while enjoying the show. Man, this was entertaining. Adeline seemed equally fascinated. When I picked up another cookie and popped it into her mouth, her face lit up with delight.
Cayden stayed silent for a long moment before answering in a low, heavy voice that had grown somber. "You know very well it's not realistic."
"What's the issue?"
"Nobles and commoners. Marriage between the two classes is legally forbidden. You know that, don't you?"
Elena laughed softly. "Hmm."
Her eyes narrowed for the briefest instant. "So if we solve that, there's no problem?"
Cayden swallowed a dry chuckle. "Sure. If it could be solved, that is."
"I see."
Elena took a graceful step back.
What Cayden needed wasn't some simple marriage candidate. A beautiful woman? That meant nothing. A woman from a powerful house? Those were almost certainly already aligned with the First Prince or carefully watching the Empress's mood.
In the current battle for the throne, the First Prince held the established coalition of great nobles. Ancient titles. Central government posts. The Empress's family connections. The capital's social scene. Most of the empire's outdated power structures were firmly on his side.
If Cayden fought the same way, he'd lose. So he had to seize different forces.
The North had Adeline. She was the sword—military might, the border itself, the rallying point for provincial nobles. The greatest name for those pushed out of the center to lean on.
But a sword alone couldn't move the empire. The emerging powers crushed beneath the old noble order—the merchants. Those trying to buy titles with money. People without titles yet wealthier than most nobles.
The nobles called them vulgar. Said they reeked of coin. Claimed their blood was tainted.
Yet without that vulgar money, wars couldn't be waged, banquets couldn't be held, and the imperial family's luxuries couldn't continue. The palace was always short of funds. Nobles were perpetually in debt. War devoured money, high society burned through it, and vanity dressed up as honor always needed someone's vault to sustain it.
This era was already trembling. Noble status remained high, but it wasn't as unbreakable as before. Debt-ridden nobles sold titles to wealthy merchants. Fallen houses took merchants' daughters as daughters-in-law. Merchants bought those titles and knocked on society's doors.
Nobles called it corruption. The fall of dignity. The pollution of bloodlines. The erosion of imperial tradition.
I saw it differently. It was a crack.
The moment the old class system began slapping price tags on itself, that order had already begun to collapse.
Elena van Laque. Owner of Silver Feather. She stood at the very center of that fracture.
What Cayden needed to seize was that woman. More precisely, the new era she represented.
Adeline stood for the North. Elena represented the rising merchant class. And my brother Cayden carried the imperial blood.
If those three forces bound together, they would create a picture—a new power structure capable of challenging the old coalition of great nobles.
"Anyway." Cayden cleared his throat, as if trying to dispel the awkward atmosphere. "I didn't invite you here today to discuss that."
He slid the thick booklet Elena had brought toward me. It was bound in fine leather, with the Silver Feather emblem engraved on the cover—a bird spreading its wings. Beneath it sat a small inscription.
Silver Feather reaches wherever it desires.
Pretty confident for a merchant group's slogan.
"Pick out anything you want," Cayden said.
My eyes widened. "Really?"
"Yes. Your brother will buy it for you."
"Even everything?"
"If that's what you want."
I beamed and opened the booklet. Elena immediately slipped back into her role as merchant leader and continued in a calm, professional tone.
"These are the products handled by the Silver Feather merchant coalition. We've prepared a wide selection—jewelry, perfumes, thermal magic tools, books, snacks, toys, and small calculation devices."
I flipped through the pages with sparkling eyes, like a child absorbed in a picture book. Outwardly I pretended to hunt for toys, but my gaze was actually tracing the hidden currents of logistics within.
Spices from the south, glasswork from the west, magic stones from the east, furs from the north. Military preserved rations, wine supplied to the palace, luxury perfumes for noble wives, paper for scholars, calculation boards used by merchant clerks.
Silver Feather wasn't merely a luxury merchant group. It was the organization that circulated the empire's very lifeblood.
Nobles bought perfume but never knew where it originated. The imperial family drank wine without knowing which ports it had passed through. Generals chewed preserved rations on the battlefield without knowing which warehouse had sent them.
People only saw the goods. What mattered were the paths. The routes goods traveled. The channels money flowed through. The veins information followed.
Whoever controlled those paths could move the empire.
Silver Feather sat squarely upon them. Therefore Elena van Laque was far more than a rich merchant. She was the woman who could tell where a war might stall, which noble had fallen into debt, which region was starving, which port was reviving, which mine was running dry.
A woman who traced the empire's ledger with her fingertips.
She might prove useful for my escape plan.
I turned another page. This one displayed small magic tools arranged neatly.
Palm-sized lanterns. Portable heating stones. Travel coolers. And beside them, a separately illustrated Magic Storage Stone. It appeared to be an item that could be inserted into portable magic devices to keep them running for a set time.
I tapped the illustration with my finger. No matter how I looked at it...
"It's a battery."
My eyes met Elena's. In that instant I saw surprise, suspicion, wariness—and expectation.
I offered a faint smile.
Elena stiffened briefly before continuing to note down items on the order form as if nothing had happened. Cayden laughed lightly and promised to buy everything. Elena bowed politely, assuring us the goods would arrive today.
That left only Adeline and me in the room.
She stood by the door, quietly watching me.
"Adeline?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Aren't you leaving?"
I tilted my head. Adeline remained silent for a moment, then hesitated before speaking.
"Does Your Highness know about the Northern Greeting?"
"No, I don't."
A Northern Greeting, huh. Might be good to learn it in advance.
"What is it? Tell me!"
"It's a hug."
"...A hug?"
"Yes."
Quite the extravagant greeting. She wouldn't lie about something like this. Besides, what would she gain from lying? All she'd get is a hug from me.
I climbed down from the chair and trotted over to her. Adeline opened her arms, and I stepped straight into her embrace, wrapping my arms around her waist. She was softer than I expected.
Adeline slowly wrapped her arms around my back—gentle yet firm, as though she had no intention of letting go.
......
My breath felt a little constricted. Adeline's subtle scent enveloped me, cool like a snow-covered forest. Near my ear, a rough breath escaped.
"...Ha."
"Adeline?"
"...Yes."
"Are you feeling unwell?"
"No."
Adeline carefully unwound her arms and took a step back. The nape of her neck had turned red.
"Then I'll take my leave. Please don't forget to do the same next time we meet."
"Got it! Don't worry!"
I answered with a tight fist pump. She was the one who suggested it—why was she acting so shy? She seemed to have quite the bashful side despite living in the North for so long. Strange that she still hadn't grown used to it...
I returned to my chair, opened a storybook, and munched on more cookies. While the maids cleaned around me, I secretly moved the shadows.
The shadow I'd planted on Elena earlier began to stir discreetly. She must be inside her carriage by now. She sat with her chin propped on her hand, staring blankly out the window.
I made the shadow wave.
Her gaze shifted toward it. I slowly formed letters above the shadow.
Full moon.
Midnight.
Northwestern Alley of the Imperial Capital.
Come alone.
Elena's eyes widened. Once I was sure she'd read it, I erased the letters.