“Oh, really? So the two of you snuck out of the villa at night, went around the morning market, and watched the sun rise over Lake Barlama?”
Wearing only a towel, Fiarca slowly repeated Ras’s report. Her soft words and gentle smile failed to conceal the anger simmering beneath.
“You’ve sure been having fun since we arrived, Ras. Are you trying to make me jealous? Here I am, stuck in meetings with no chance to enjoy the sights.”
“You’re the one who ordered me to seduce her,” Ras replied with a sigh. Whether he got friendly with the princess or kept his distance, Fiarca seemed to complain either way. He wanted to ask her just what on earth he was expected to do.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” he asked. “These are the men’s baths.”
“They wouldn’t let me in otherwise,” Fiarca replied, looking around the spacious bathing area. “I had to tell them I needed a private conversation with the Guardian of Silver just to make them go away.”
The hot spring waters that gushed forth from beneath the royal villa were rich with alkalies and had a slightly muddy texture, and were said to enhance a person’s beauty. Even in Barlama, blessed as it was with natural resources, there was no other natural spring like it.
Tishna had dragged Ras here so she could ask him afterward what he thought about it, and it seemed that Fiarca had seized that moment to sneak in.
“It’s too dangerous,” Ras scolded her. “What if someone finds out who you really are?”
The fact that Crown Prince Auriol had been replaced by his twin sister was a national secret of the highest order. This deep behind foreign borders, it was bad enough for Fiarca to remove her mask, let alone the rest of her clothes. It was such a reckless move that Fiarca really ought to have known better.
“You don’t need to worry,” said the princess. “I have aura charged and ready to go at any time. If anyone sneaks in on foreign royalty taking a bath, they deserve what’s coming to them, don’t you think?”
“I think you shouldn’t join me in the baths with something that dangerous, thank you.”
Fiarca chuckled. “What’s the matter? Are you being shy? It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, Stallion.” She leaned forward, showing more of her uncovered bust.
“I’m surprised you’re not more embarrassed,” said Ras, hastily averting his gaze. It was true that he’d grown accustomed to seeing nude women from his time at the brothel, but Fiarca was special. Hers was the body of his old friend and ex-fiancée.
“Well, I will be if you keep blushing like that,” she replied, seeing Ras’s unexpected reaction. When she was the imperial princess, Fiarca often entered the baths attended by maids, so she was used to other people seeing her naked. Even now, it was less like she’d grown shy about her nudity and more that she’d suddenly realized the kind of situation she was in, alone with Ras.
“Did you really have such a pressing reason to come here?” he asked. “There’s a bath in your room, you know.”
“I want to avoid suspicions about my behavior as much as possible,” she explained. “And this spring is so famous that even the Argyllian nobles speak highly of it.”
“I suppose it would seem strange if you stayed here for a week and never tried it.”
“Exactly. Perhaps Princess Tishna already knows about my secret, but if she does, it looks like she’s happy to keep it under wraps for now, thank goodness.”
“I wonder what she’s thinking…”
Ras adopted a serious look and turned to Fiarca.
If Princess Tishna really did have knowledge of future events, then it was likely that she knew who Fiarca really was as well. By revealing that secret, Tishna could plunge Argyll into civil war, and yet she had not, nor had she approached Ras or Fiarca to blackmail them.
That was precisely why they found it so difficult to gauge Princess Tishna’s motive.
“Do you think that girl really does know the future?” asked Ras.
“That’s what I was hoping to ask you,” Fiarca replied. “You’ve spent the most time with her. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. It certainly seems like it, but I haven’t seen anything that proves it for sure.”
Fiarca looked surprised. “You’re telling me you’ve been going to the theater with this girl, dining at fancy cafés, helping her pick out underwear, and you still haven’t managed to do the one thing I asked of you?”
“I was her bodyguard. I didn’t have a choice. Also, how do you know about all that?” Ras frowned. It had already been three days since he was assigned to protect Princess Tishna, and in that time, all she had done was take Ras out on the town. He expected that Elmira or somebody had been spying on them the whole time and faithfully reporting back to Princess Fiarca. “Anyway, I didn’t help her pick out underwear, she just dragged me inside.”
“I’m not saying I care either way. But just so you know, people around the city are already beginning to talk.”
“Despite what she said in the beginning, the princess really hasn’t been trying to hide our relationship at all,” Ras agreed.
“Well, of course not. That’s precisely what she wants.”
“What do you mean?” Ras turned to Fiarca in surprise. He hadn’t suspected that the princess had a motive beyond taking advantage of the moment to have fun around the city.
“It’s different with Prince Auriol,” said Fiarca. “No matter how close Tishna acts with me in public, people will assume that, at best, she’s tolerant of our arranged marriage.”
“Well, that’s the way it goes,” Ras agreed. Marriage among those of high rank was the same wherever one went. It was rare for feelings of love or romance to factor into the equation.
“But what would people say,” asked Fiarca, “if Argyll assigned their top soldier to guard Princess Tishna, and even take her out on the town to show her a good time?”
“They’d probably assume there was something going on behind the scenes,” Ras said.
“Exactly. People would start to think that she has some influence with Argyll—or at the very least, some pull with the Guardian of Silver.”
“But how does that benefit her?” asked Ras, puzzled. Tishna’s path to marriage had already been laid out, and those in charge of the decision hardly cared for her interpersonal relationships. Her future wasn’t going to change just because she was seen flirting with Ras in public.
“It doesn’t,” Fiarca answered. “At least not directly. But think about how it affects her enemies.”
Fiarca shot Ras a suggestive glare. At that, he suddenly realized what she meant.
“She’s trying to provoke her assassins to action!” he cried, rising to his feet with a splash.
A princess married off for political convenience was not expected to have any say in the affairs of her new homeland. Even after her marriage to Crown Prince Auriol, Princess Tishna’s reputation would hinge on that of Charlgia, and she would live her life constantly seeking to maintain their approval.
If Tishna were ever to gain power independently, it would only be through supplying the empire with an heir, and even then, only after that child took power. That would be at least a decade down the line. Nobody could predict what would happen in that time. Perhaps, for some reason or other, that day would never come.
But what if Tishna had already gained influence within the empire? Say, through an intimate relationship with the Guardian of Silver? With that kind of power under her thumb, she could mobilize Central Command if she wished, and by doing so flatten even an alliance of the kingdom’s most powerful families.
That was precisely what she had been trying to flaunt over the past few days—that she had that kind of power at her disposal and wasn’t afraid to use it. Her half sisters and the other nobles who mistreated her would surely be feeling the heat. And if so, perhaps they thought that their only option was to eliminate Princess Tishna before her alliance to the empire was complete. That was her aim. The reason she had recruited Ras—it was to send a message: “You’d better kill me now, or you might not get another chance.”
“P-please don’t stand up without warning me, if you can help it…”
Uncharacteristically flustered, Fiarca hid her eyes with her hand. Through the gaps in her fingers, there was a look of enjoyment on her face.
“B-but the princess is in danger. We have to hurry,” said Ras, concerned at Fiarca’s lack of urgency.
“There’s no rush. They won’t attack straightaway. At the soonest, they’ll strike two days from now, at the evening ball.”
“The welcome party. Delegates from every country will be there.”
“Right. That’s when the summit begins in earnest. And it’s also when my engagement to Princess Tishna will be announced.”
“Hmm? Isn’t that a little ahead of schedule?” Ras asked. Previously, he was told that the marriage would only be announced after the summit was over. After all, the story was to be that Tishna hosted Auriol during the proceedings, and that they fell in love during that time.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to move it forward,” said Fiarca, with obvious meaning behind her words. “The point is, our assassins won’t make their move until then.” She sank down, submerging her whole body in the hot water. “Until the party starts, we can take it easy and keep our spirits high. We’ll certainly need them.”
“You just want to stay in the bath, don’t you?” replied Ras with a glare. Fiarca pouted like a child and turned her head away.
“Don’t blame me,” she said. “I’ve had an absolute nightmare of it lately, being forced to speak to diplomats day and night in that stuffy mask!”
“So it is stuffy…,” said Ras, as though a burning question of his had finally been answered.