A Question of Motives
I was wrapped in a thick, stiff robe in preparation for stepping into the water, and I glanced down at myself to check if anything looked amiss.
“Keep that sphere safe, okay? If you tap it twice quickly, it connects straight to me!”
“This really is fascinating… It looks quite precious, though. Is it really all right for you to just give this to me?”
“Bibi has so many of these lying around that they’re practically overflo—well, not quite that many, but! I’ve got plenty, so it’s totally fine for me to give it to you!”
“All right, thank you. Whenever I miss you or something happens, I’ll be sure to call.”
I smiled with genuine gratitude. Just then, I heard Debbie tapping lightly on the door.
“Um, Your Imperial Highness, well…”
Her voice carried a hesitant note. Still speaking with Bibi, I simply turned my head and asked, “Hmm? Did the temple send someone? I thought they said I had to soak for three full hours.”
“…No. It’s, well, you have a visitor, Your Highness. The temple officials couldn't verify their identity on their own, so they asked if you could confirm it yourself.”
At the mention of a visitor, I asked without giving it much thought, “A visitor? Who is it?”
“…The young Count Cortez.”
Now that was a name I truly had not anticipated.
“…Does his body not ache at all?” I asked, my voice half-appalled.
“He must be doing better than you are, Your Highness…?” Debbie replied, sounding just as unenthused.
Every single movement right now brought an ache so sharp I had to grit my teeth just to walk! How utterly unfair! Just as I was contemplating whether I desperately needed to take up physical conditioning, Bibi—whom I had momentarily forgotten—chimed in.
“Sissy.”
“Huh? What is it, Bibi?”
Perhaps it was just my imagination, but Bibi’s tone sounded unnervingly sweet and innocent as she piped up.
“That… Cortez or Fortez guy, whoever he is, came to see you?”
“Uh, yeah. Why?”
Our Bibi was practically a genius; she was hardly the type to mix up names. Did she dislike the sound of Cortez? Or had she heard yesterday's story and found it unforgivable that he had kept me awake all night?
“That trash who caused all that trouble, kidnapped you in the dead of night, and had the absolute nerve to play the victim?”
Bi-Bibi, sweetie… He might seem that way, but in the original story, he actually tried his hardest to pursue you… Even if you only ever treated him as a business partner until he gave up on his own and became your loyal subordinate, still?!
Well, Bibi had plenty of male lead candidates who were far superior to him anyway, so it hardly mattered if she treated him like dirt. Besides, to be completely frank, what that bastard Flux had pulled fell short of even the trashiest scoundrel.
Granted, his own life had been on the line, his father was capable of who-knew-what madness, and everything he had built up until now risked being reduced to rubbish. Even accounting for how that overwhelming pressure had driven him out of his right mind, what he did was thoroughly unhinged.
Was he out of his head? Kidnapping a sleeping woman in the middle of the night?
Considering the dark storm clouds that would have loomed over my future if the slightest scandalous rumor had leaked, he wouldn't have had a leg to stand on even if he died for it.
“My Bibi’s words aren’t harsh… at all! He really is trash! Yep! Combustible trash!” I nodded meekly in agreement.
“Then why aren’t you even mad at that traaash?”
“Because I already took out an enormous amount of anger on him yesterday…”
“I bet! You probably just scolded him a little and let it go! Because you’re too nice, Sissy!”
I blinked, my gaze turning distant.
No, Bibi. I love you with all my heart, but you’re talking utter nonsense right now…
I mentally reviewed my track record ever since regaining the memories of my past life: The moment I opened my eyes, I forced a confrontation with my fiancé. I struck a hard-nosed deal with the Castrein family. When Lisianthus brought back their answer, I set a fire right in front of him. To pay back the Empress for crossing me, I unleashed demonic beasts right into the Imperial Palace…
No matter how generously I looked at it, calling that the conduct of a "nice person" was an impossible stretch. Besides, I had beaten Flux black and blue with my scabbard for practically half the night. Surely that counted as paying for his sins.
“Well,” I said in a mild, ambivalent tone, “it seemed like the desperate thrashing of someone trying his best to keep his head above water, in his own way…”
“And that excuses kidnapping an innocent person? His methods were rotten from the start!” Bibi fumed like a yapping chihuahua.
“When your own future looks pitch-black, you tend to lose the capacity to care about anyone else…”
Just like the Titania of the past, for instance. Her own circumstances had been so suffocating and agonizing that she failed to realize her feelings were nothing but a burden to Raymon. Though she did eventually come to realize it later on…
Framing it like that gave me a slight prick of conscience. The young count, too, might have lost his head under the crushing dread that not only his own future, but his family—and by extension, this entire city—might be utterly ruined.
“Anyway, you saved me, Bibi! If House Castrein hadn’t stepped in to help, the Offering Festival would have gone up in smoke. Thank you.”
“It’s not even properly wrapped up yet…” Bibi let out a heavy sigh. “Anyway, Sissy, be careful! We still don’t know who the real target was behind those bastards pulling shady tricks in that region.”
“Mhm, you take care too, Bibi.”
“If anything happens, call me right away! Debbie and Lisianthus reach out to me often, but you have to do it too, Sissy.”
Only after soothing the nagging little girl several times did I manage to say goodbye.
Once the communication ended, I carefully stored away the now-dimmed sphere. Handing me a towel and the clothes she had brought, Debbie asked, “Are you going to see the young Count Cortez?”
“I need to assess the situation, at least.”
After stepping out of the bath, drying off, and dressing properly, I headed to the room where the young count was waiting. I didn't forget to strap the whining Emoticon Sword to my waist, either.
When I opened the door I had been guided to, the young Count Cortez, who had been laughing and chatting cordially with a priest, flashed a broad grin.
“It is an honor to meet You, Imperial Princess Titania. I am Flux Roman ben Cortez. You may address me as the young Count Cortez. Or…” Flux smiled charmingly and extended his hand toward me.
Unable to entirely shake a lingering sense of unease, I offered my hand. His lips brushed against the back of my hand, still cool from my hurried drying after the bath.
“You are more than welcome to simply call me Flux.”
“Young Count Cortez? Uh… yes… Pleased to make your acquaintance. But what brings you here?”
At a discreet glance from Flux, the priest smiled pleasantly, murmuring that he would bring refreshments, and excused himself from the room. The moment the priest was gone, the slick, polished smile vanished from Flux’s face, leaving behind only deep exhaustion.
Well, of course. After being beaten mercilessly with a scabbard until dawn, he could hardly be in peak condition. Looking like a desperate examinee who had stayed awake for three straight nights, Flux spoke, his voice a tangled mixture of joy, excitement, and lingering apprehension.
“Every single physician and priest told me there is nothing wrong with my leg. They said my body is in perfect health.”
“Well, that’s wonderful news. No, seriously? You’re not stiff anywhere? It doesn't hurt at all?! That’s amazing.”
“Your Imperial Highness.” Flux fixed a searching gaze upon me as I made a fuss. “Rumors of Your Highness have reached even these parts. The heroic tales of your deeds in the Imperial Palace sounded almost too magnificent to be true. Yet nowhere in those stories was there any mention of a power that can heal a human corrupted by Demonic Energy.”
Standing behind me, Debbie’s lips tightened into a hard line. I merely shrugged.
—Of course there wasn't! My Contractor is special, after all! (｡› ▿ ‹｡)~
Right? I thought inwardly.
Neither House Castrein nor House Cortez was foolish. Even if detailed knowledge of divine powers had faded with time, families with that level of intelligence networks were bound to have pieced together a rough idea. Especially when it concerned imperial royalty. It was only natural to deduce that I wielded the Power of Light, and that my healing abilities were a derivative of it.
While I hadn't gone out of my way to announce, ‘I have this kind of healing power,’ I had never instructed Debbie to hide it, so House Castrein had likely been informed. They wouldn't carelessly blab the secret of their benefactor to just anyone. Besides, Flux was hardly in a position where he could openly advertise that he had almost mutated into a demonic beast, which was why I had healed him without hesitation in the first place.
“So, surely you aren't planning to pull some ungrateful stunt now, are you? Like claiming that because I wield sacred power like an imperial chosen by God, I’d make a great candidate for the throne?”
“Perish the thought.” Flux swallowed hard. A faint glimmer of anticipation flickered in his eyes. “…I merely wondered why Your Highness would take such a risk to save someone like me.”
“…”
“After all, am I not the scoundrel who dared to kidnap and threaten Your Highness?”
“That you did. It was remarkably bold. To put it bluntly, if the wrong rumor had leaked, my marriage arrangement with House Castrein would have been ruined, and you would have been forced to take me off their hands. Were you really prepared to take that kind of risk?”
“Wh-Whaaat?!”
Flux flailed in sheer mortification, his face flushing crimson. Unlike in the original novel, was he still too young? Why get so flustered over a simple joke?
Waving a dismissive hand at Flux, whose ears were burning red as he hung his head, I spoke up.