Miyako stood in front of a mirror wearing an extravagant dress. She tied her hair up and put on accessories. Then she topped the look off with lipstick. Her red dress complemented her auburn hair.
“Miyako, you have an intimidating look in your eyes,” said Umi.
“Yeah, I’m all pumped up. This is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime confession, after all.”
“And that’s what you want?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Then all that’s left for me is to support you.”
“Who was it that let her walk out again?”
“Nyahaha, nyo sulking. I will lend a helping hand to you in what you want to do, my master. And I’ll do what I can as a water spirit... But expecting that kind of emotional sensitivity from us is a typical human conceit.”
“Sensitivity, eh?”
“At the very least, you enjoyed all those warm yet tepid days in that cabin with her, but even you couldn’t put a nyame to your feelings.”
Miyako looked at the Undine that they happened to unearth, the fluffball that would surely come to her aid if Miyako wished for it, her Persian cat. Thinking about what we’re about to do, I couldn’t be more relieved to have her by my side.
“Hey, Umi?”
“What is it, my master?”
“I order you as your master: prepare for rubs!”
“Nyawah?!”
Miyako gave Umi her daily dose of rubs.
All right, time for a fight. Now’s my once-in-a-lifetime shot to snatch up my beloved villainess Fuuka Hamilton in the open for all to see, fair and square, face to face.
Beyond the window, rain began to fall.
✦ ✦ ✦
Meanwhile, at the Hamilton mansion.
Fuuka struggled as servants pinned her down and forced her into a carriage.
“Please, call for a doctor!”
“Keep her still! Tie her up if you have to, but get her into the carriage!”
“Listen to me! We need to do something about the plague—”
Thump. There was a dull sound, and Fuuka’s body went limp. The carriage sped away.
The Hamilton family directed all its manpower and funds towards the river management project, and their carriages formed a line stretching as far as the eye could see. Red rashes ran in lines across the necks of the attendants on board.
Furthermore...
“My lord, we should arrive at the Enot River on schedule.”
“Hmph, that damned Fuuka. My bastard daughter hasn’t made this easy... Hrrgh.”
“My lord?”
“Koff, koff.”
“Are you all right?!”
“Ahem... I’m fine. I can’t afford to miss this project.”
Fuuka’s father, current head of the Hamilton family, was Dan Hamilton.
“Speed it up. Everything must be in perfect order when we greet Reinhardt-sama.”
On his neck too, there was a dark red rash and cold sweat.
Meaner-while.
“Ah, I don’t want to be here.”
A line of carriages several times the length of the Hamiltons’, each adorned with the most extravagant decorations, drove down the city streets. Inside one of them, Klaus Reinhardt stared listlessly out the window.
“Why do I have to represent Father at the river management’s prayer ceremony?”
With blond hair and blue eyes, he was the very picture of a handsome noble.
“Ohh, what do I do? What am I supposed to do if my one true love Miyako goes to the mansion looking for me while I’m out here? You agree with me, don’t you, spy?”
There was no reply.
“Hm? Oh, that’s right, the sly bastard’s on vacation.”
The Reinhardt family’s spy wasn’t present to act out his master’s ridiculous requests as he usually would. Therefore Klaus headed to the Enot River alone, the same destination on the outskirts of the capital that the Hamiltons were dragging Fuuka to.
The Enot River was the largest in the kingdom, and it flooded almost every year. If they managed to succeed with the river management project, making the nearby land suitable for growing crops, that itself would be an outstanding achievement and expand the nation’s power.
The Reinhardts of high nobility were determined to play a pivotal role in the facilitation of the river management project. That was the plan the brainiacs of the Reinhardt household concocted.
“I just want to go home. I’m a little pissed at him for not finding Miyako... but it’s just not the same without my spy.”
In this world, power was a privilege bestowed upon its wielders at birth. He was not only a noble, but a member of the higher nobility—and on top of that, a man. Klaus Reinhardt never questioned any of it. He didn’t consider these to be things he was proud of or relied on. Those who wielded power never noticed the strength it gave them.
So, to Klaus, there was nothing strange about his former fiancée Fuuka Hamilton being forced to risk her life giving prayers at the river ceremony like a sacrifice—no, as a sacrifice. Klaus also saw nothing amiss about his unwavering, self-centered conviction that the other fiancée he’d dumped, Miyako Florence, still wanted to marry him. None of that mattered to Klaus Reinhardt.
The carriages drove on.
✦ ✦ ✦
Meanest-while.
A strand of blue light raced across the capital’s rainy sky like a comet. That comet was the divine figure of an Undine in the form of a large tiger, her fur a clear mountain stream.
On her back rode Miyako in a dark red dress, its frills dancing in the wind like flames.
Their destination: the Enot River.
The final battle was just around the corner.