“How did you trust this woman?”
Liam looked puzzled.
In fact, on the same day April asked him to send a message, Liam went to visit the Duke in the evening to inform him of the situation and urge him to come up with an alternative solution.
But…
“It would be better to wait and see.”
What? If things get worse, the villagers will react harshly.
“Patience is a virtue”
Kayan had seemed so relaxed that day, and after that, he stopped listening to Liam.
As Liam watched the growing unrest among the gathered villagers, it seemed as if only his nerves were on edge.
But now, after facing this surprise, he could no longer shake the feeling that he had been deceived by himself.
No one had betrayed him, yet he felt dizzy in his head as if he had been struck.
“…Did His Majesty really know what that woman would do?”
“Well, almost.”
“How could you...?”
“There was only one way, right?”
If we looked at it from the perspective of the forest, not the trees, it was clear.
Kaiyan suspected that April was most likely acting as Limia's agent, but to confirm this, a cross-examination was necessary.
The reason he implemented the dam project for this purpose was that it provided a good means of verifying this.
If the Salt Kingdom had carried out this mission, it would have been familiar territory to him.
The empire was reticent about hiring foreigners, so they did not use mercenaries.
On the other hand, the Salt Kingdom, which always suffered from a shortage of manpower, was the first to use mercenaries.
It was a well-known fact that the clever Princess Limia was helping not only to fill the vacant position of Queen, but also in foreign relations and administration.
By collecting all this information, we arrived at this conclusion:
If April Salt was really Lemia's agent, she would have immediately mobilized a mercenary corps to solve the problem without delay.
As expected, April was able to directly contact the appropriate mercenary contract agent and successfully field them with remarkable speed.
It was a bit of a lucky chance for us. However, I didn't expect it to work out so well.
The imperial family was reviving slavery, and the empire had restrictions on foreign labor and controlled information related to it.
Of course, if someone had decided to do so, they could have bypassed the system, but it is true that April shortened a task that would have taken a long time.
Honestly, I liked the idea of it too. Her idea of employing the needy was… well, it's not easy for those who fill their time with formalities to come up with. She is very smart.
Liam didn't want to admit it, but he had to admit that April, who spent every day like a sloth in her room, was pretty impressive.
Was she taking great joy in her confinement, or was she just being lazy?
However, seeing her this way made him wonder if her being Limia's agent was just a collective delusion by many people.
But when he saw April's efficiency in handling her tasks first hand, it was truly astonishing.
Her method of handing over the work to the officials was not only effective, but also exemplary. She impressed Liam so much that he wanted to learn from her.
If April's usual expression wasn't 'please, leave me alone', Liam would have bombarded her with questions about how she was going to manage it.
“Honestly... I wonder if she's getting advice from an invisible person while she's stuck in her room.”
“Receiving a royal revelation, perhaps?”
“Maybe from the king of the room.”
Liam's harsh response made Kayan laugh out loud.
“Anyway, the princess has proven useful to me.”
What should he reward her with?
Kaiyan stroked his soft chin with his index finger.
Usually, to show courtesy to a guest who helped the Duke with a difficult problem, he would accompany her home safely. But unfortunately, Kayan abandoned this courtesy a long time ago and no longer cares about it.
Instead, maybe he could grant her one wish?
"It's best if I hear what you need directly. Bring the princess to me."
“Understood, Your Majesty.”
Liam bowed his head.
* * *
Three days later, the Duke Dam project was proceeding smoothly.
Liam thought that the villagers had returned to their daily lives and would not be looking for him anymore.
But…
“The Duke requests your presence, ma'am.”
Liam came to call me directly, as if he wanted to prove my assumptions wrong.
“Huh, now?”
“Yes, at this moment.”
“But...”
I just went out to get some vitamin D and was now washing my feet.
If only he had come a little earlier...
“Never mind.”
At least I didn't change my clothes.
“Let's go.”
Bang, bang.
I walked slowly, feeling strangely tired, and entered the Duke's office, which was now a familiar place.
"It has arrived."
Rays of setting sun streamed through the window into the room.
It was a bit surprising to look at, but I greeted him politely.
"Hello. It's been a while. How have you been?"
At my greeting, the Duke made a strange expression on his face without saying a word.
Hmm, maybe that wasn't entirely true. Was this some kind of imperial etiquette? I wondered.
While I was thinking about what I just said, the Duke suddenly laughed loudly.
“How amusing.”
"…What?"
“Last time, she stared at me and left, but today she asks me how I’m doing.”
"Yes."
I remembered that the last conversation I had with the Duke was about that fraudulent contract for the mill trade.
Well, that was in the past, and I've long since concluded that this isn't my problem anymore.
The Duke seemed to have moved on to another topic as well, because he quickly changed the subject.
“I heard that you solved the problem of the dam project very well.”
“Oh, thank you...”
I think you did an excellent job, even though you claimed to know nothing. What does the princess think?
I immediately bit my lip.
Thanks to the Duke's information network, there was no way he didn't already know about Limia's remarkable intelligence, despite all the efforts to hide it.
Before I could speak, the Duke continued.
I told you before. The Empire is cruel to liars. Do you remember?
This punishment... does he mean tearing out the liar's mouth?
I felt my insides shrink in an instant.
“I remember... but why am I mentioning this now...?”
“As I said before, you did an excellent job.”
“…?”
I'm ready to let it go. I won't ask for details. Finding it out myself is a different matter.
That wasn't bad news. This means I won't run the risk of tearing my mouth apart.
And besides, even if someone tried to find out, they wouldn't know I was possessed, even if they did an MRI on my brain, so I didn't care.
I nodded with a strange expression.
"Thank you. So, can I leave now?"
"no."
The Duke refused my request with a smile on his face.
“لا يزال لدي شيء لمناقشته.”
"What?"
Wait… Was I forced to prove my worth again after escaping a labor camp, and now I'm being pushed to another camp where I'll work until I die?
Suddenly, the future looked bleak, so she asked the Duke with a grim expression.
“Is there… more work?”
“Tell me what you want.”
suddenly?
I looked at the Duke with a confused look. He added as if he had missed something.
Forgiving the princess's lie is a bonus. I want to pay you for your help in the Duke's affairs. In return, you can ask for something.
Hmm. Usually, people ask to go outside the duke's domain.
But…
Three meals a day. Warm water. A soft bed that I sleep in without disturbance. I don't need to do anything. Even if you have to work, is the work-life balance here very good? I have to bear this.
For me there was no better place than here.
Returning to salt simply means repeating the same life of slavery.
If things go wrong, I could find myself on the ill-fated royal family bus, where I will be beheaded.
It's best to stick close to the Duke, who was a powerful character in the original story.
She looked at the Duke again.
His handsome face was shining brightly, and his broad shoulders seemed like they could easily hold my head and a dozen other arms.
Looking back, the Duke had it all: the looks, the background, and even a slightly quirky personality, which made him the perfect gentleman.
Isn't this an opportunity?
In many novels, the heroine would stay close to a very powerful man, and then when he asked her to grant her wish, they would agree to a contract marriage or engagement.
They will accidentally fall in love and head towards a happy ending.
“Is anything possible?”
“Apart from asking you to leave this place.”
With the Duke's answer, I finally knew what I wanted.
Yes. It's time to become my own hero and make all my dreams come true.
“Okay then...”
I took a deep breath, preparing to make my decision.
“I want to live in a room full of comics!”