A Warm Bath and Cold Schemes
"Excuse me~"
As I opened the door and stepped inside, a thick cloud of steam momentarily obscured my vision. In an instant, the towel wrapped around my body grew damp and clung tightly to my skin. This was the royal bathhouse, the pride of the Luistier Royal Palace. Smoothly carved white stone lined the edges of the hot spring. As I entered, Carmel, who had been soaking comfortably in the warm water, looked up at me with startled eyes.
"Oh, Mother, you were already here. Pardon me for a moment."
Well, of course I had come knowing full well she was bathing. I gently dipped my feet into the hot spring. The warm water washed over my skin, feeling as though it were restoring my energy. Submerging myself up to my chest, I offered Carmel a sly smile.
Carmel was visibly flustered. Unlike me, who was covered by a towel, Carmel was completely naked. Although the water was faintly tinted by various bath salts, it wouldn't offer her much comfort.
"Ngh..."
Carmel raised her arms to slightly shield her body. She was acutely aware of me. That realization stirred something deep inside me. As a member of the royal family, she always had maids nearby, even during her baths. Even if they didn't assist her directly, they remained on standby in case they were needed. Yet, Carmel, who felt absolutely no shame standing naked before them, was clearly embarrassed under my gaze. Perhaps the repeated defeats and humiliations had engraved a sense of shame deep into her body. She now understood all too well the meaning behind the look in my eyes as I stared at her.
"Why so flustered, Mother? We're both women, so let's enjoy some friendly company."
Carmel glanced at the maid standing by the wall and lowered her voice.
"What are you plotting this time?"
"I simply felt like washing up, and it happened to be a coincidence."
"Liar."
She had completely put on her glasses of distrust. Well, to be fair, half of my motive was indeed to admire her body and her flustered expression. I stared openly at Carmel's naked form shimmering beneath the water and spoke.
"What business did you have at the Magic Library, Mother?"
Her wary gaze locked onto mine.
"For someone who calls themselves the guardians of knowledge, they certainly have loose tongues... Well, it's nothing major. I just had a book I wanted to read."
"If it were a normal book, there are over ten ordinary libraries in Lurie. Trying to enter the Magic Library means you were looking to get your hands on a grimoire."
"Hmph. For someone so ignorant of magic, you seem to have picked up a few things."
Well, this was all common sense. But there was one fact only I knew: the grimoire Carmel desired was the Book of Enekra. Of course, Carmel herself knew this, but she had no idea that I knew. The other half of my purpose in coming here was to use this knowledge to test her reaction.
"I've heard that some of the grimoires kept in the Magic Library contain terrifying spells. Just what are you planning to do once you get your hands on one?"
"Fufu..."
A seductive smile played on Carmel's lips. It seemed she felt reassured by her overwhelming superiority over me when it came to magic.
"Yes, you're quite right, Princess Sera. The power of a grimoire—especially one in the hands of someone compatible with it—is limitless. You probably can't even begin to imagine what will happen when that great power manifests in this era once more!"
Well, I didn't need to imagine it; I had already read about it. The Book of Enekra in the original novel was indeed incredibly powerful.
"A great power... What is the name of this grimoire?"
"Do you really think I'd tell you? Well, out of stepmotherly mercy, I might consider it if you show some sincerity. Like dropping that towel and bowing your head to the floor. Ahahaha!"
"I-I can't... do that..."
Carmel seemed to thoroughly enjoy this rare taste of superiority. Playing along with her was proving to be quite a chore.
"You can't? Of course, a noble princess like you could never do such a thing. Fufu, but you'd better get used to it. The day that grimoire falls into my hands, I will corrupt you so deeply that you won't even consider something like that humiliating... Look forward to it, Princess."
"But weren't you banned from entering?"
Carmel sucked in a sharp breath. However, it wasn't a fatal blow to her elevated mood.
"That is merely a temporary setback. Before long, I will force both the Gerard family and the Tree of Knowledge to acknowledge me. By any means necessary."
Yes, that was the Carmel I knew. Seeing her act like a proper villainess for the first time in a while put me in an excellent mood. It was enough to make me want to give her the perfect reaction to fuel her excitement. I narrowed my eyes, feigning resentment.
"I will... never allow that! No matter what grimoire you are trying to obtain, I will stop you!"
"Fufu, so even that grand mind-reading ability of yours can't tell you? Well, do your worst. They say the Gerard family and the Magic Library never bend to external pressure, don't they? There is no way for you to stop me, Princess Sera."
Well, the one who was truly in the dark wasn't me, but Carmel. The reason she couldn't enter the Magic Library was that her destiny had changed. If that assumption was correct, Carmel, whose path had already begun to shift, would never be able to obtain the Book of Enekra. I looked forward to seeing her reaction when she finally realized this, but I had no intention of telling her. It would be far more satisfying to let her cling to the Book of Enekra as her final hope, continuing her futile resistance against my domination.
"Fufu, then I shall excuse myself first, Princess."
Carmel stood up from the water, her posture devoid of any remaining shame. Droplets of water, large and small, slid down her skin. Looking triumphant, as if she had finally won a verbal battle against me for the first time, she turned and walked away. Showing off her smooth back and hips, her stride was prouder than ever. Regardless of her attitude, I made sure to engrave every detail of her warm, glistening, naked body into my mind.
I wouldn't need to worry about the Book of Enekra for the time being. Judging by Carmel's reaction, she didn't seem to have any clever way of entering the Magic Library right now. However, I did need to secure an ally within the Gerard family. I needed a way to monitor any attempts she might make to contact the Magic Library or the Tree of Knowledge. That would be enough to settle that matter.
Then, what would Carmel's next move be? It would be nice if she was too preoccupied with obtaining the Book of Enekra to try anything else, but I couldn't rely on such optimistic assumptions. In the novel, this was the period when the conspiracy with Count Roberts was still ongoing. Opium was slowly spreading through the kingdom, and most of the nation's wealth was being funneled to foreign lands. But that history had now been erased. With Count Roberts's affair resolved so quickly, the events Carmel was set to instigate would likely be moved forward.
In the novel, the next major event was the invasion of the northern tribes. While the Margrave guarding the northern Third Fortress engaged in a mysterious work-to-rule strike, the army of the Kakas tribe, the northern barbarians, swept in like a tidal wave. With both the populace and the national treasury devastated by opium, the Luistie Kingdom had no way to repel the invasion on its own. Ultimately, through Count Roberts's mediation, they would request the Empire's arbitration, reducing Luistie to a semi-vassal state under imperial interference. On top of that, Princess Sera was chosen to deliver the peace treaty to the Kakas tribe, suffering all kinds of hardships on her journey.
What among those events could actually happen here now? If Margrave Weihart had already been won over by Carmel, it would be possible for the Kakas tribe to pass through the Third Fortress. However, with the nation's power still intact, a scenario where they marched all the way to Lurie seemed highly unlikely. Hmm... What I could imagine was them infiltrating forces to execute a special mission. A special mission suitable for a small unit would be... seizing key facilities or items, and assassinating high-risk targets. And right now, the most threatening person to Carmel was undoubtedly me.
'Could the Kakas forces already have crossed into Luistie?'
Margrave Weihart betrays the kingdom because he believes Carmel's promise to recognize them as an independent nation in the future. Though it was early, there was a possibility that this deal had been fast-tracked.
I immediately went to the Minister of National Defense and asked if there had been any reports of Kakas forces within our borders.
"The barbarians, you mean? There are no such sighting reports at present... Haha, Princess, really. As long as the Third Fortress stands strong, such a thing is simply impossible."
A reaction of pure complacency. However, at the very least, I was able to confirm that there were no official reports of such groups. Still, I couldn't let my guard down completely. I had to verify it myself. From the only person in the palace who would know the truth most clearly—Carmel herself.