My father and I finished our discussion about moonflowers and medicine. We’d probably have to discuss these matters again in the future, but we’d talked about them enough for now. My father appeared to think the same thing, because he called Garren, who’d been waiting outside so we could talk in private, back into the room.
“Excuse me,” Garren said as he entered. “You called for me, Sir Reiner?”
“Yes. Could I trouble you for some more tea? When you return, I’d like you to stay in the room and participate in our discussion. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. Would you like some more tea as well, Sir Reid?”
“I’m all right,” I replied.
My teacup wasn’t empty yet. In my previous life, I’d liked my tea piping hot, but as Reid, I seemed to prefer it lukewarm.
“Very well,” Garren said, then he bowed and gracefully took my father’s teacup and left the room.
My father turned back to look at my face, but his eyes seemed as if he were staring into the distance. “We’ll have to tell Garren about you someday. Not telling him would keep the information from leaking, but it will prevent him from coordinating with us. Considering your future, you shouldn’t thoughtlessly go around telling people, but it will be good to have more allies on your side.”
Though my father had his usual emotionless expression, his tone sounded tinged with worry. Telling Garren about me likely referred to sharing the fact that I had memories from a previous life. However, I didn’t know what he meant when he mentioned my future.
That seems like an unnecessary concern.
“I think I would like to keep that information from Garren until the cure for mana depletion disorder is complete. Once it’s ready, I think it would be good to assess whether it is for the best to tell him.”
“That seems reasonable.”
There was very little information available about mana depletion disorder. I probably shouldn’t be sharing anything with Garren when we didn’t even have a prototype for the cure yet.
“I also believe that any questions from Garren can be solved if you simply inform him that we are discussing confidential information and trying to avoid any information leaking,” I suggested.
Garren was both trustworthy and intelligent. That would be enough for him to understand that we weren’t ready to share our discussions with him yet.
“I agree. If we ever need Garren’s help regarding the medicine, we can create some kind of code... Yes, that’s what we’ll do.”
The matter was settled, and we waited for a bit longer before Garren returned to the office with my father’s tea. Just as we had discussed, my father informed him about the confidential discussion that needed to be kept under wraps.
“I understand, sir,” Garren replied with a bow.
I might have imagined it, but I thought I saw him smile at me, as if he were happy on my behalf.
My father took a sip of his steaming-hot tea before he began to tell me what had happened in the capital. It was basically a rehash of everything he’d reported to me in his letters, except when he mentioned that he’d had to put on a performance without informing Kris of what was going on. That was when I remembered Kris’s letter and how she’d said she had been “the victim of a surprise attack.”
“So that’s what it was about...” I mumbled to myself.
My father gave me a suspicious look as he continued to speak. Apparently Roland had attacked Kris without knowing that she was a noble from another country, and the emperor had ordered him to pay her damages. However, Kris had refused to accept such a payment.
But she wasn’t so reserved that she would let Roland off that easily. Several days later, she was summoned to the audience chamber by Emperor Arwin to discuss Roland’s disrespectful behavior toward her. The emperor suggested she accept a payment of damages from the count, but Kris refused. The emperor then asked if she had any other wishes.
Kris remained undaunted among the crowd of nobles gathered in the audience chamber as she confidently declared, “In that case, there is something I would like to say. Would that be all right, Your Majesty?”
“Very well. I will vow on this empire that anything you say here will be pardoned. Go ahead and say anything you wish.”
Arwin seemed to pick up that Kris had something planned, which was why he’d gone out of his way to say that she would be pardoned for anything she said. Thanks to that guarantee, Kris was basically able to act as freely as the emperor could.
Matilda, the empress, was sitting beside Arwin through all of this, and her eyes were sparkling with excitement over what might happen next.
“In that case, I would like to say that everyone makes mistakes; therefore, I do not need damages paid to me. I do believe that it would be best if, moving forward, people were careful not to believe rumors and only speak about things based on confirmed information. If a noble of Magnolia and vassal of Your Imperial Majesty acted as they had in this situation in a diplomatic setting, they would be resented by other countries and stain this empire’s reputation. I humbly ask that the nobles of Magnolia all consider such consequences and that the members of the nobility use this incident as an opportunity to reflect on their behaviors.”
Kris’s words completely stunned the nobles of Magnolia, including the emperor himself. While everyone else had frozen up, Matilda was the only one moving, her shoulders trembling as she covered her mouth with her fan.
Kris had argued that Count Roland’s behavior was a result of an issue with the entire nobility of Magnolia. A man who was not only a vassal of the emperor, but also a count, had believed rumors that had led him to hurl unforgivably abusive and insulting words at her. Kris argued that this had happened because Roland wasn’t properly educated and that it was a problem among the entirety of the Magnolian nobility.