“What, you aren’t even aware of it? I’m just saying you shouldn’t point your hunter’s gaze at those who aren’t your prey. Even I can’t handle the sheer iciness of it.”
“Oh, is that so?” I said as I stood. I restrained my overflowing magic and sat in my earlier seat in front of the game table. “Heed my words, Tommy: Vengeance is repulsive, yet it is the most delicious dish in the world. Do you not understand how impossible it is to drool before a wondrous meal?”
“I’m afraid my palate isn’t as refined as yours, Your Majesty,” Tommy replied.
“It is impolite to turn your nose up at something before you’ve tasted it yourself.”
“But revenge is toxic even to oneself,” he explained. “It’s rather unusual for someone to willingly consume something so harmful.”
“I suppose. A clergyman may accept his sins and beg for forgiveness. A corrupt soldier may lose his desire to accrue more vices. A friend may insist that his parents never intended for anything bad to happen. But despite…no, because of these things, revenge is a delicacy.”
“Huh?! Y-you have friends, Your Majesty?!” Tommy exclaimed. His reaction was rather rude, but I supposed I wasn’t the friend-making type.
I donned a quick little grin. “I had a friend, once. A very long time ago.” The words reminded me of those days in the tower, that perfect world shared between me and my one true friend, Alicia.
“Oh, I see. My sincerest apologies.” Tommy’s questions ceased immediately; perhaps he understood precisely why I was speaking in the past tense.
“It’s quite all right,” I said, fiddling with the pieces on the chessboard. “The Great Five must fall for the sake of our kingdom. It is a grand, laudable goal. However, at the end of the day, it all boils down to my thirst for revenge. The only feeling left in my heart is hatred for marquess scum. And on occasion, I hate myself for it.”
“Yet you continue down this path of revenge?”
“I have no other choice.” As I said this, the pawn in my hand snapped in two, and one could practically hear it scream in pain. It would seem my magical energies were beginning to overflow.
“The delectable fruit of our labor waiting at the end of this is what keeps me going. And having gotten a proper taste of it, my desires cannot be suppressed any longer,” I said, smiling coldly.
“Your Majesty, that venom of yours is starting to seep out again.”
“And you expect me to be able to control it? Now that our goal is finally within reach?”
“Understandable. But I do recommend exercising greater self-control. A predator revealing that much bloodlust can scare away even the most docile of prey.”
Tommy’s warning was accompanied by the kind of glare a carnivorous beast would use to stare down its next meal. It was the sort of gaze that could extract any secret from its victim, should the topic of conversation continue.
“Your advice is appreciated, Tommy.”
“Before I proceed, may I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“You mentioned your queenly duties are of utmost importance. Is that truly how you feel?”
“Of course.”
“More important than your own feelings?”
“Absolutely. I’d rather not follow the Great Five’s example.” Using state power and influence for the sole purpose of enacting my revenge would make me no different than those pathetic fools. To act like them would be loathsome.
“I suppose that’s all right, then. Just wanted to be sure,” Tommy replied.
“I have no desire to burn this kingdom to the ground in the name of vengeance.”
“Glad to hear it. Now, the main reason I’m here—I have intelligence on the movements of the Great Five.”
“Good. Tell me what House Slade is up to.”
“The house of the woman who challenged you at that tea party, eh? Very well.”
“True. That did happen,” I said.
His words brought me back to the tea party before my coronation. There were many who had derided me as the Doll Princess, and the daughter of House Slade was the worst offender of them all.
“Lord Slade truly does adore his little girl,” Tommy told me. “It’s not surprising that she has a rather large head on her shoulders.”
“Are you implying that she’s a spoiled brat? One spoiled by the abuse of power, no less. No wonder she mistakes herself to be a ruler of this land.”
“It would be nice if the Slades could spare any of the love they have for their daughter for anyone else, huh?” Tommy said, amused.
To the Slade family, civilians were little more than disposable tools to bolster their wealth—a fact to which Lord Slade would probably admit without a shred of shame. It was completely understandable why Tommy would complain about Slade’s over-adoration of his daughter and the man’s despicable view of commoners.
“It’s hard to believe the same man could be so loving toward his daughter when he so flippantly uses the less fortunate for his own ends,” he added.
“He likely only sees those with a similar social status to himself as actual people. Commoners are like ants to him.”
“I just can’t fathom why anyone could think like that,” Tommy said. “Never mind. We’ve got more important things to talk about. Like the things he loves spoiling her with—you know, the rubies?”
“The jewel she had on hand, hmm? Have you discovered the hidden mine?”
Slade’s daughter claimed to have found the jewel on her own, but there had never been any record of House Slade discovering a ruby vein. Thinking that might be an angle I could use to bring down their house, I ordered Tommy to investigate.
“I’m afraid not, Your Majesty. I couldn’t find anything pertaining to the discovery of a ruby mine.”
“Meaning they must have procured the jewels from another region or perhaps another country altogether.” If there truly was no ruby mine, then those were the only two possibilities remaining. Existence was not birthed from nothingness.
“I figured you’d say that. In fact, I happened to spot something rather peculiar when investigating the borders of Slade’s region,” said Tommy.
“Hurry up and tell me, then.”
“My apologies.” He cleared his throat. “It seems that people from the Celden Republic have been moving in and out of Lord Slade’s land.”
“Oh? Celden, you say?”
Celden was a neighboring nation of ours, and one that had close ties to House Slade. However, the Federal Kingdom of Ausgrid did not have a positive diplomatic relationship with Celden. The country’s policy was to regard magic as “the devil’s work,” oppressing any citizens who possessed magical powers. This view was completely incompatible with our own kingdom, one whose ruler wielded powerful magic: the Sacred Swords.
“There may be some kind of illicit business going on between them—whether it be trading goods or trading state secrets. It’s something worth pondering, certainly.”
“If Celden is giving rubies to House Slade, then the Slades must be providing them with something equally valuable,” Tommy replied.
“Naturally. And if they’re hiding that information from the rest of the kingdom, then they are up to something nefarious.”
“Agreed.”
I sighed deeply as the situation began to take shape in my head. “Do we have any spies assigned to Celden?”
“Yes. It’s already been arranged.”
“Good. Keep me updated on any new developments. To think Lord Slade gave his daughter such a prized gem so casually…”
“She’s a spoiled brat, I tell you. Rubies are so expensive that average folks could never afford them—not even if they saved every penny they made in their lifetimes.”
His observation brought a slight smile to my face. “But thanks to his indiscreet doting, we were able to learn something potentially important.”
“True. Next up, House Weston. They haven’t made any big moves lately, but there’s word that the marquess has been having a number of arguments with Oscar, his heir.”
“With Oscar? Really? Hmm.”
“Do you know him, Your Majesty?”
How perceptive of him to notice the subtlest change in my expression, I thought.
“No. But we have met once, on the day of my coronation.”
“Makes sense. Nobles from all the Great Five were there.”
“Indeed. But he was different from the others. Even as I stabbed Wilhelm, even when I pointed a Sacred Sword at the onlookers, he showed not even the slightest hint of fear.”