“You have been entrusted with this duchy by His Majesty the King, Your Grace. If the worst were to befall you, the people would be swept into chaos without your leadership. Of course, as I said yesterday, I shall guard your life to ensure that no such tragedy comes to pass.”
I silently took in his answer.
Shit. He’s playing it safe. There’s no way that’s what he really thinks. C’mon, Craig! I’m not looking for a comfortable answer! I want your actual unbiased opinion here!
But from Craig’s perspective, that was probably exactly the answer he was expected to give. He definitely couldn’t say “Oh, that’d be absolutely perfect! There wouldn’t be any problems at all!”
It didn’t matter whether I took a direct or roundabout approach—given our standings, he was going to flatter me. How could I cut through that and get the answer I actually wanted out of him?
Gentle isn’t going to work.
I flinched at the sensation of a voice that wasn’t my own echoing in my mind. Suddenly, countless phrases and sentences began to form inside my brain—strings of words that I would never have thought up on my own.
“Your Grace?”
As my vision swam and I clutched at my head, Craig started to step closer to me. I tried to tell him that I was fine, but the words I ought to say pushed that aside, filling up my head and tumbling out of my mouth before I knew it.
“Nothing is wrong. Do not approach me without my leave, you insolent cur.”
“Insolent cur”? I’ve never said those words before in my entire life.
The unfamiliar command sent a chill through me, but I couldn’t swallow back the words I’d already spoken. I was disoriented, but for better or for worse, my body remembered what to do.
Screw it! Let’s hope this works!
I slowly removed my hand from my head, smoothly planted my elbows on the desk, and rested my chin on my intertwined fingers. As I glared sharply up at Craig, my gaze pierced through him. He immediately froze and returned to where he’d been standing.
“My apologies, Your Grace.”
“No matter. In any case, Craig, you utterly fail to apprehend the intent of my question. Do you truly believe that transparent sycophancy is what I desire of you now? I have never placed any faith in your flimsy loyalties to begin with.”
My cold voice echoed dispassionately across the large room. The words came out flat and toneless without my actual emotions behind them. I was just moving my mouth as though I were reading from a script—I almost worried that I was talking nonsense. I didn’t process the meaning of my words until the moment they left my mouth; it was an utterly alien sensation.
“I shall ask you once more, and once only. If I were to die, here and now...what would happen?”
I made my meaning simple and clear: This is your last chance. Give me my answer.
“If I may speak frankly, Your Grace...”
Craig read between the lines and finally capitulated. With a pained expression, he began giving me a completely different answer from moments ago.
“I don’t imagine there would be any great change in this duchy. Even if the worst were to befall you, His Highness would immediately appoint a new lord to fill your position. Taxes have already been raised as high as is feasible, so...there would be no change in that regard. Even your betrothal to Lady Angelica would likely be taken over by your replacement.”
The sudden flow of new details caught me by surprise, and I quickly scribbled down notes on a piece of parchment in front of me. Unlike in yesterday’s dream, I still had control of my body... Well, I’d puzzle that out later.
What was it again? Taxes, betrothal... Betrothal?! Was that in the novel?! It definitely wasn’t! Wait, actually, looks like there’s something vaguely along those lines in a corner of Heinreid’s memory... The guy pretty much forgot all about it! Was this just some background detail that never came up?
Hmm. There was a lot more I needed to take care of than I’d expected. I had thought Heinreid was a pretty influential guy, but Craig had just said my death wouldn’t change much of anything. In that case, maybe it would be better if I avoided provoking the final boss unnecessarily. After all, Heinreid was the king’s favorite. If he dropped dead all of a sudden, I could imagine the king going on high alert. Screwing up the plot and dooming the heroes was the last thing I wanted.
I needed a little more.
“So you do know the answer. Correct. While we’re on the subject, if that ‘worst’ were to befall me...how would you feel about it, personally?”
“My feelings in the matter would be irrelevant. If I and my fellow guards failed to protect our master, we would all be hanged for our incompetence. The prisoners in the dungeons would all be disposed of as well, aside from those who ought to be retained. And thus...with or without your trust, I shall protect you, Your Grace.”
“Hmm.”
Okay, yup, good thing I asked. Immediate suicide is definitely off the table.
I got the picture now. In this country, people were expected to pay for their crimes with their lives. Craig couldn’t start an insurrection right away; no matter how vulnerable I was, as long as the king still lived, he’d be punished without fail.
At any rate, if things went according to the plot of the novel, then Craig and the prisoners—or rather, the ordinary citizens who’d been locked up—would all get freed eventually. But there were plenty of people who never came up in the novel, and there weren’t any guarantees that they’d survive that long. I wanted to do something about them as soon as possible. After all, for them, this was a matter of life and death.
As I was staring down at the notes I’d taken, lost in thought, Craig’s voice suddenly cut in again.
“Permission to speak, Your Grace?”
“Huh? Sure, go ahead.”
Before I knew it, the mental script full of menacing lines had disappeared from my brain. My response came out a bit half-assed, but Craig continued speaking anyway.
“Your Grace... Is there some reason you wished to ask me these questions that you already know the answers to?”
I’m making preparations for my death.
Obviously, I wasn’t going to say that out loud. Well, to put it vaguely, I just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t send things off the rails, so I needed...
“Confirmation... I suppose.”
“Confirmation...”
I wasn’t sure what Craig made of my answer. He just quietly repeated that word to himself, closed his eyes with a slight air of chagrin, and fell silent.