“The women after Wendel range from babies to thirty-year-olds, but you’ve got them all, Karen—teens all the way to sixty-year-olds,” said Elena, sipping a cup of tea in the corner. “People must think you have a thing for older men. You’re so hot right now.”
“And I couldn’t be less happy about it!” I declared.
I had never expected that my marriage to the margrave would come back and bite me quite like this. Being popular was one thing, but being drowned in marriage proposal documents was downright annoying. We had a basic refusal template, which we used to respond to the proposals en masse, but it wasn’t quite so simple when some proposals came from the empire’s higher-ranked nobility. These invitations were harder to turn down, and they had to be written personally...by me.
We ran each prospective proposal document by Wendel for his perusal, but he turned them all down.
“I really don’t need to see any more of them,” he’d said eventually. “Just turn them down, please.”
“Yes, you’re right. Far too early to be thinking about such things. I’m so...”
“I’m simply not interested in a person’s background,” he’d continued, cutting me off. “The best partner is one you fall for yourself.”
“Oh? I don’t suppose you have such a girl in your life, do you?”
“Well, no. But one day I might.”
“Oh, come now, don’t be shy—you can be open with your own mother, can’t you?”
“Huh? You’re just as bad as Nico was. You just can’t get enough of that kind of thing, can you?”
Access denied.
He may not be interested in girls now, but he’s going to be popular with the ladies, I’m certain of it.
To make matters worse, even our servants were targeted as a means to get proposal letters into our hands. Rio, our cook, informed us that he’d encountered a woman who suddenly fell ill. When he stopped to help her out, he discovered she was attached to a merchant family.
“So I’m out shopping as usual when she appears in front of me. A real stunner. When I stop to make sure she’s okay, all of a sudden she gets all touchy-feely, and she’s dead set on taking me home to ‘repay me’ and ‘introduce me to the family’ and whatnot. I was terrified. I thought it was some kind of badger baiting or blackmail scheme.”
As for what happened next, Rio fled for home as fast as his feet would carry him. Whateley had already given him fair warning to look out for such advances, but he still couldn’t quite believe it had actually happened.
“I wouldn’t leave Humphrey on his own,” cautioned the cook. “His naivety is the perfect target for a honeytrap.”
All of these advances had begun in earnest when my name had started making the rounds for my “mage extermination.” The news that we were to receive a portion of the Tuna domain, too, came as a shock to some. Conrad was still very new in the empire, and I suppose many thought it wise to make connections with us in the early stages.
At this point, Blacky walked by the three of us.
“Your cat has a clump of black in his mouth... Is that okay?” asked Elena.
“They’re just playing around. Let them be,” I said.
Black Bird was getting more energetic by the day. Until now, it had just been bouncing around like a rubber ball, but as of this morning, it had spread its wings and taken flight. That said, it didn’t have very much in the way of power or stamina, and so after a brief five seconds of airtime, it summarily gave up and plummeted to the floor.
Black Bird didn’t seem to be at all bothered in the jaws of Wendel’s cat. For us, too, such scenes had become old hat. Sometimes the cats batted the bird around like a plaything, and we simply watched on.
I was sleeping just fine and even taking afternoon naps, but still, I was prone to drifting off to sleep when I wasn’t careful. I rubbed my eyes and noticed a glimmer of light reflecting from my sleeve. It was my bracelet. Looking at it brought me joy, and so I rarely took it off.
I haven’t seen Reinald in some time... I wonder what he’s doing?
“Don’t overwork yourself, my lady,” said Sofie, noticing my lethargy. “You’ve an appointment with the fourth empress to think about.”
“Oh, you’re right. I should get changed too.”
“Aw, you’re going to the palace?” cried a dismayed Elena. “Stay here, play with me!”
“But I don’t have any cash on me, and betting with you quickly gets very costly.”
“Hang on a second...” muttered Sofie. “Elena, you’re still up to that? Even here? I thought I told you to knock it off already...”
“Oh. I, well, er... I’m not! I’m not!”
The fourth empress had been quick to invite me for tea, and I was all set to visit her with Sofie as my attendant. Usually the role belonged to Geoff, but today we were visiting the inner palace, and men were strictly prohibited from entering. I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers, so I elected to bring Sofie with me.
“I’m a little sleepy,” I admitted. “I think I’ll take a short nap before I get ready.”
“Understood. I’ll visit Sir Claude and meet with you later. Come along now, Elena.”
“Oh, but I—”
“No buts. You and I have to talk about this gambling of yours...”
Sofie dragged Elena from the room. Our new aide was nothing if not the very epitome of reliability. When the room was mine and mine alone, I stretched out along the sofa and let my thoughts wander. I was admittedly reluctant to visit the imperial palace, but my curiosity easily won out over my fear. If my hunch was right, then somewhere in its past, the mountain capital had a connection to rebirth and reincarnation.
“But I won’t know for sure until I talk to the empress...”
Still, I’ll save those thoughts until after I rest.
I closed my eyes and very quickly discovered that I would not be able to sleep.
“Why?” I uttered.
“Because I’m here, that’s why.”
An uninvited guest had arrived in my room—the ever-gaudy and always well-dressed box known as Sixtus. He also happened to be carrying a bouquet of purple roses, which was unusual.
“Here,” he said, holding them out. “These are from Reinald.”
“Reinald had you bring me a bouquet?”
“Yes, well, you’re visiting Nadia, aren’t you? He’d like you to give them to her.”
“Oh. I see,” I said curtly.
Reality hit hard. I was embarrassed to have gotten the wrong idea. I leaned in and touched the flower petals, hoping to hide my expression.
“News travels fast,” I mused. “I am indeed visiting the palace, but why can’t Reinald give these to the empress himself?”
“Everything’s a pain of late. Apparently he’s trying to avoid meeting her in person. You meeting her like this is convenient in that regard.”
“Then why don’t you give her the flowers? You have free access to the entirety of the palace, don’t you?”
“To her, I am a specter of evil, and one that will do the emperor’s bidding at a mere word. She won’t ever trust me, regardless of the circumstances.”
And on one hand, I could understand why. It had been Six himself who had burned the entirety of her nation’s recorded history and culture.
“Well, you can tell Sir Reinald that since he asked, I’ll pass these flowers along for him.”
But why does he even need to give her flowers anyway? And why doesn’t he want to meet her in person?
“Eww, what is it?” I uttered. “Why are you grinning like that? It’s icky.”
I had hoped Six would simply disappear and leave, but instead, the corners of his mouth curled into a crass grin.
“What?” I continued. “If you’re done, then please—leave. I have to get dressed.”
“For a second there you thought those flowers were for you, didn’t you?”
“I did not.”
“Don’t play coy. You wanted them. And now you’re wondering why it’s Nadia who gets them. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“You’re not.”
It was like he knew the exact tone to take so as to grate on my nerves. His grin only grew as he went on.
“Hmm? So, why don’t I speak up on your behalf? I’ll tell Reinald that he should at least give you one of those roses. I’ll do it, I promise; you just have to fess up and admit that you wanted them.”
“I told you to leave. You didn’t even come in by the door. Everybody’s going to think something weird is afoot.”
“Okay, okay... Then I guess you don’t really want me to tell you why Reinald is giving those roses to Nadia, huh? And you didn’t even know that this isn’t the first time, did you?”
I turned away from the mage, but he made a point of circling around to look right at me, his eyes alight with excitement.
“There are rumors around the palace, you know,” Six said. “They say Nadia smiles at no man...save for Reinald. They say it’s a forbidden love... A romance between a prince and his father’s—”
“I’m not listening! I didn’t hear anything! I know nothing about any of that! Now please! Leave! Me! Alone!”
I refuse to listen any further!
I refuse!