[286] 4. Teraze's Proposal (3)
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"Hurry, hurry!"
Reina ran at full speed toward the annex.
If the Teraje faction had moved against Shirone's parents, things had just gone serious. Guilt tugged at her—she should have been more careful.
"No, this was the best I could do. I strengthened every possible layer of security…"
If so, the attackers hadn't cared about covering their tracks. It was possible every attendant had been wiped out.
What puzzled her was why now.
Sending an assassin on the first night was a cunning move.
But by now they were prepared on this side as well. If their tail had been noticed, the tide could turn; there was no reason to employ a high-risk, high-cost strategy that offered little return.
Reina entered the annex and headed for the quarters where Vincent stayed. At the corner she nearly collided with a retainer of the Ozent household.
"Gah! Miss Reina!"
She shoved past him and darted into the room.
"Get out of the way! What's going on?"
When she opened the door, Vincent and Olina looked up at her in puzzlement. There was no sign of any commotion.
Vincent was whittling a piece of wood, and Olina sat nearby under a blanket, sipping cocoa.
"Lady Reina, is something wrong? You look off."
"Ah, um…"
Reina found herself at a loss for words.
Both of them were safe. Then why had Amy followed Jion?
A retainer who'd returned a moment late, his face flushed, asked, "Miss, what on earth is this? Why are you here all of a sudden?"
Reina quickly composed herself.
"Ah, I was just doing a patrol to see if everyone's all right."
The retainer let out a relieved breath.
"Phew—I thought something terrible had happened. I was actually about to report by the way. There's nothing wrong here."
Olina asked with a worried look, "Is everything really fine? What about Shirone?"
A mother's instincts were sharp. Reina swallowed and improvised.
"He's still in the banquet hall. He's having a good time with Amy, so don't worry."
At the mention of Amy, Olina visibly relaxed. If anything had happened to Shirone she'd have come running here.
"Good. Don't worry. We're fine."
"Hoho! Yes. Then rest easy. I'll be back soon."
Reina forced a smile, and as soon as she left the room she headed straight in the opposite direction.
Shirone's parents were unharmed. But Amy would have had no way to confirm that—she must have been threatened. Why Amy?
Reina stopped dead and said aloud, "Shirone."
This was the worst-case scenario.
The reason nothing dangerous had been sensed in the banquet hall was the Ataraxia demonstration. Most of the neutral guests had become friendly toward Orkamp.
But that very effect had allowed Jion to draw a real sword. The only reason he'd separated Amy with a lie that would be exposed soon was one thing: he intended to finish it tonight.
"I thought they'd just let it slide because the atmosphere was good, but Jion moved himself. No wonder we had no intel."
There wasn't time to linger. The retainer had only just left Vincent's quarters, so more than twenty minutes had likely passed since Shirone and Amy were separated.
Reina activated the Schema ear technique, Sound of Silence. With her hearing enhanced, the sounds of the castle started to collect around her, down to the smallest noises.
It was too late to tail Shirone now. Wherever a sudden rise in decibels came from would mark the center of the incident.
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Amy followed Jion down into the underground gallery.
Whether the castle basement was normally quiet or Jion had arranged it, not a single servant passed by.
Come to think of it, the banquet would run late into the night, so nonessential attendants would be asleep.
Amy thought that was actually for the best.
Jion was royal, but his actual fighting ability was about the same as other noble youths. Trained in elite magic since childhood, she could subdue him if the opportunity presented itself.
That made this silent space ideal. She could beat Jion without worrying about prying eyes.
"If possible, kill him…"
Hurting someone felt wrong, but with Shirone's parents held captive, such thoughts were luxury she couldn't afford.
Jion offered a gentlemanly smile and led her into a cave-like section of the gallery. Amy noticed the doors were double-layered and had the same thought Shirone had.
"I'll need to save at least two shots to break through these doors."
But the thought vanished as she took in the gallery's leisurely contents.
The room was filled with collected objects.
She couldn't tell their uses, but they weren't the sort of things suited to torturing or harming a person.
Amy checked the northern display—the only place that might hold weapons.
She couldn't judge the edge like an expert, but one sword seemed to radiate sharpness.
"Where are Shirone's parents?" Jion asked, a playful curl to his lip.
"Parents? I don't know. Do I have to know that?"
Amy's gaze went cold.
"Did you lie to me?"
Jion glanced at the time. He had one hour from now to carry out the plan. He hadn't fixed the assassination's exact moment because he'd planned a small strike force.
Some flexibility in timing was inevitable, but it allowed them to adapt to variables.
"One hour…"
A sudden pang of regret hit her. Amy really was a fine woman. With a beauty like hers, an hour might pass in a blink.
Anyway, while she killed time here, Zenogre and Arius would finish their side. She only needed to take in the Ataraxia that would fall into her lap.
"Sorry for lying. But you'll understand, right? A white lie is sometimes needed to seduce a beautiful woman."
Amy didn't want to hear it. He had lied first, so she shot back, feeling some rudeness was only fair.
"I'll be going back. I won't accept errands like this anymore."
"Really? Think you can say that after seeing this?"
Jion opened his hand and a necklace with a gold cross pendant slid out. The craftsmanship made it clear it was expensive.
Amy snorted.
She didn't know how many women had fallen for such tricks, but the Karmis family was a respected noble house in the Kingdom of Tormia. Even diamonds wouldn't sway her; she wouldn't bat an eye.
"What do you think you're doing? Do you really think you can win me over with this?"
Jion smirked as if he'd expected that and stepped closer.
"Just take a good look."
Amy rolled her eyes and examined the pendant.
Royals didn't carry alloys—so it had to be pure gold. From its size she estimated they must have melted down roughly five hundred gold coins to make it.
A pearl sat in the center, but it had an odd, iron-like metallic sheen.
It lacked the natural luster of a real pearl.
Perfectly spherical, it still wasn't something a woman would wear for beauty.
What on earth was this…?
Suddenly Amy remembered something she'd read. A steel-gray pearl that came from the depths of Alcantira—the emperor clam's pearl.
Geologists said the Alcantira Trench was the deepest abyss in the world.
No light reached it and the pressure was immense, so fishermen couldn't harvest it; only a national operation using mages could reach it.
The shells that endured that pressure were said to produce a substance harder than diamonds.
In other words, one of the hardest materials on earth.
Its perfect spherical form made it invaluable industrially.
Few would buy it as jewelry, but she had read that an emperor clam pearl could replace the ball bearings of ancient war machines, and one was worth at least two hundred million gold.
Because transporting huge sums of coin between kingdoms was impractical, it was sometimes used as currency in interkingdom trade.
"This is an emperor clam pearl…"
It's speculated that ancient weapons that survived into prehistory were made from heavenly-hard rock. Still, even ancient engines wore down. Replacing those parts required a material with the durability of an emperor clam pearl.
Two hundred million gold for a single bearing.
You could imagine how much kingdoms poured into maintaining ancient machines.
"Hah. So this is the endgame."
Jion assumed her silence was from inner conflict.
How could he not expect that? What he offered wasn't merely a jewel; it was currency used between nations.
"You know your stuff. Most nobles offer diamonds for marriage—their hardness symbolizes unbreakable love. But this is harder—an emperor clam pearl. Only direct-line royals can use such a gift. How about we promise our future with this?"
Jion put the necklace forward with a greasy smile.
Of course he wouldn't propose such a pearl to any random woman. Even if she were suitable, handing over two hundred million gold freely would be madness.
But he didn't care if he gave away every object in this room.
If Shirone died, Amy would be finished too.
"I was struck the moment I saw you. Will you accept my heart?"
At last Jion delivered his triumphant confession. Amy stared at him blankly.
A son of Teraje, the first prince of the Kazra Kingdom, offering an emperor clam pearl—it's the fantasy many noble women dreamed of. Amy wondered if she was the strange one for feeling nothing.
But she was unmoved. Her first thought on hearing his confession was that she should return to Shirone.
"I'm sorry. I appreciate the prince's favor, but I cannot accept such a burdensome gift."
Jion looked stunned.
She was the first woman he'd seen so calm after seeing an emperor clam pearl. Two hundred million gold suddenly arriving would make most people grab the outreached hand, even if they weren't interested.
Deciding half-measures wouldn't keep Amy, Jion threw out a surefire card.
"Then how about this? Bear my child. You'd be royal."
Amy's face showed disbelief.
"You're still wet behind the ears…"
Nobles arranged marriages, but royals took it further. They acted as if their blood were beyond value.
Maybe they had a point—there were still women lined up to bear a prince.
But Amy didn't want to become royalty. Jion's proposition felt like an insult.
"I'm going. I have nothing more to say to the prince."
She walked to the door without waiting for an answer.
"This…!"
Jion's wounded pride flared and he seized her wrist hard. Amy wrenched free and stepped back, her wrist throbbing from the grip.
"For a prince of a nation to behave like this…" she thought, rubbing her wrist and glaring at him.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Her tone carried emotion, but it was Jion who was truly angry.
"How dare you reject me? A mere noble!"
Amy felt she'd heard a brand-new kind of insult.
Even among Tormian royalty, Karmis held status—but that only made Amy more realistic. The man before her wasn't merely a prince; he was a son of Teraje.