Pardon? What are you talking about…"
Hurelbard was uncharacteristically dismissive. Not Princess Veronica. Elena's confession was difficult for him to understand and accept.
"It's exactly as I said. The one you're looking at right now is not Princess Veronica."
"If you're kidding, this is overkill."
"No, it's true."
More serious than ever, at Elena's facial expression, Hurelbard shut his mouth.
"I'm a substitute."
"Substitute?"
Elena nodded to Hurelbard's reply.
"I am from a fallen noble family on the frontier of the continent, and Leabrick brought me to the Grand Duchy. With Grand Duke Friedrich's permission, she made me a stand-in for Princess Veronica."
"…!"
Hurelbard's face was distorted by chaos to the point where the word "the knight of ice" was overshadowed by confusion. It was such nonsense that it would have been ignored if someone else had said it. But what Elena said couldn't be ignored.
"I can't believe it."
"Sir."
"The princess I saw and experienced was more aristocratic than anyone else. Such a person…"
"Because I worked hard. Tenaciously."
Elena smiled bitterly as she recalled her past life. Hurelbard could not say anything or act when he saw her calmly telling everything. He just watched.
Elena said lonesomely, tossing back her hair that fell down in front of her forehead.
"The real Princess Veronica is alive. She can come back in a year, or she can come back tomorrow to find her place."
"Such…"
"What will happen to me by then?"
Hurelbard couldn't answer those words. The meadow tribe had a saying, 'We don't need a hound that has finished hunting.' A puppet that has finished its puppet show is nothing but a piece of baggage, useless.
"Sir, you may have guessed it, but my end is set."
"…"
Hurelbard couldn't speak easily. Elena's calm way of talking even though she knew of her death was more shocking and regrettable than her confession that she was a substitute.
There was a long silence in the carriage. Elena gave him time to think without fretting.
'Whatever choice he makes, I won't be disappointed. I'll respect it.'
Knights are bound to value honor. She couldn't guarantee that he would accept the disgrace of serving Elena, a substitute from a fallen noble family with an unknown lineage, as his lord. She believed him, but now that she had confessed the truth, she couldn't help but feel uneasy and irritated.
"… Her Highness is such a cruel person."
Breaking the long silence, Hurelbard looked up and stared at Elena. His gaze was deeper than ever, and Elena was embarrassed.
"Why aren't you telling me honestly? To stay by your side."
Elena was embarrassed for a moment. She never thought that Hurelbard would say anything like that to her as he looked so passionately.
"To respect your choice…"
"Very selfish. Is that all you've got?"
"I'm a fake."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Elena couldn't take her eyes off the angry man. The heat was so intense and uncontrollable that she wondered if this man in front of her was really the Ice Knight.
"The honor of a knight, I raise to the dogs."
"…"
"Even if they point their fingers at me and swear, I will bear it."
Elena felt a stabbing pain that made her want to cry. She didn't hate his passion. She was so grateful that he was angry at her.
"Even if dirt is in my eyes, and even if I am blind, my master is the only one in front of me."
"Sir."
His one and only master. Elena's eyes watered as she was moved by the sincere loyalty. Calming her emotions, she reached out and grasped Hurelbard's hand. Hurelbard was dismayed by the sudden touch. Elena patted the ceremonial glove he was wearing without concern.
"Do you remember the letter I engraved here?"
Hurelbard nodded.
L. He'd never forgotten. Elena embroidered the ancient letter inside his cotton gloves and told him to always engrave it in his heart.
"Do you remember what I said at the time?"
"How can I forget? From the first time we met until now you have always been true to me… No way?"
Hurelbard's eyes grew so large that they popped out. It had always been engraved on the back of his hand, but she had never told him what it meant, so he hadn't noticed. But when he remembered what Elena said while letting go of the embroidery, he wondered if it was possible.
"It's what you think."
"L, the mistress of the salon…"
"Yes, it's me."
"…!"
Elena grinned. Hurelbard was dumbfounded. He never thought that L and Elena, who were at the center of the public, would be related.
The weight of the name L was never light. She was the mistress of the salon, who made the capital city flutter, and was called the Modern Woman, and was an object of envy.
"Sir, I dare to promise you."
"…"
"I will protect the honor you have given up, and I will turn the criticisms and insults you endure… To respect."
Hurelbard became reverent to Elena's promise. It no longer mattered who Elena was. It was Elena who recognized him and chose him for the first time. She was also more noble than any noble he had ever seen, and had never once shown any sign of disappointment. He was deeply in awe of her. Not for a moment did he doubt the fact that serving her was an honorable blessing. That hadn't changed even now that he knew she was a substitute.
"So please keep an eye on me."
Hurelbard's head bowed to Elena's smile.
"That's what I wanted."
***
"Cough."
The skinny man died without being able to scream. Resistance may have been his last struggle, as the room was underground with no way out.
"Subdued."
Sian nodded at the report of Count Lyndon, wearing a black robe.
"I'm shocked. To think that they would build and operate an opium production facility in the capital city with impunity."
It was only by chance that Sian got a clue about an opium production facility. When they raided the slave auction house with Duke Reinhardt behind it, they were able to capture alive a distributor who was handling a large amount of opium.
In order to get a hold of the body, Sian deliberately let him go and then followed him secretly. As a result of a good trail, he succeeded in finding out that he was the top of an organization that distributed opium. They were able to track down the people who had come into contact with him and discovered an opium production facility hidden in the capital.
"Kneel."
Seeing Count Lyndon's hand gestures, his men kneeled the middle-aged man who was the head of the opium mill. Feeling that resistance was pointless, he straightforwardly did as he was told. Sian asked, as he patted the ears and leaves of a flower that had been placed in a large cauldron.
"Is this all opium?"
"…"
The middle-aged man didn't say anything.
"Who's behind this?"
"…"
The middle-aged man didn't say much. Count Lyndon, who could not bear to look at him, looked him in the eye, and his men held him down and forced him to answer. Blood flowed from the mouth of the middle-aged man who hadn't opened his mouth until the end.
"Keuk."
"He bit his tongue!"
"What are you looking at? Save him!"
Count Lyndon pressed him, but he bit his tongue so hard that he soon died. Count Lyndon's face was distorted when he saw the drooping corpse.
"Tough. It's impossible to figure out who's behind this."
Sian also nodded his head as if he was disappointed. The middle-aged man who committed suicide was the head of a drug manufacturing company. Aside from the ones who had resisted and been killed, the majority of them had been doing odd jobs. It seemed unlikely that there would be any usable information to pursue them.
"No need to panic. They don't know that this place was attacked by surprise. Someone will come for the opium. I'm sure they will."
Sian's eyes did not fall off the opium that was stopped while manufacturing. All the opium in the kettle combined seemed to be over five kilograms. There was demand, and there was distribution. He was sure distributors must visit here.
'We need to figure out the body, not the tail.'
Sian focused on the background behind such open production and distribution of opium in the capital of the empire. If you are going to distribute such a tremendous amount of opium in the capital, you have to have a background of it. It was highly likely that they would be a great noble, comparable to Duke Reinhardt, one of the four major families that routinely engaged in the illegal slave trade.
"It seems the nobles' liver is sticking out of their stomachs. Slaves are not enough, but opium." (T/N: overbold and foolhardy)
"Suddenly I think this. Does the empire really need the existence of nobles."
Count Lyndon's expression stiffened. He was following Sian, but he was still a nobleman. Even though he was guilty, it seemed excessive to even question the necessity of nobility.
"Why do you put all the nobles on the same line? That's an exaggeration. There are many nobles who practice noblesse oblige."
"Do you really see that?"
Sian answered calmly.
"I don't know how many of these opium production facilities there are in the capital alone. If there is no demand, there is no supply. Who is going to consume all of this opium?"
"That's…"
"The nobles."
"…"
Count Lyndon couldn't deny what he had said. Opium was too difficult for a commoner to handle. Unless you were a nobleman or a wealthy merchant, it was not easy to buy it, or even to see for the rest of your life.
"The more I think about it, the more I'm amazed. I wonder how many moves ahead of time you were able to see…"
Sian murmured, recalling Elena.
Elena insisted that the people, the foundation of the pyramid, had to be reformed. Her words were directly connected to the meaning of raising the human rights of the common people and giving them the right to vote like the citizens of the Holy Empire.
Emperor. Aristocrat. Citizen representative.
He believed that the establishment of a republican political system with the separation of powers was the new way forward for the "broken empire". He also thought that this was the right way to go. It was necessary to decentralize the power concentrated in the imperial family and the aristocracy, and to have citizen representatives to replace the people. The reason why Sian, who was only a frog in the well, could be changed is because he met Elena.
"The sun is coming up soon. Let's step back for now."
"Okay."
Sian agreed with Count Lyndon, who finished cleaning up the mess. It was time to go back to the Imperial Palace.
"Have you heard nothing yet?"
"Heard what… Oh, yes, I haven't."
"…"
Sian stared at Count Lyndon's answer.
"You're afraid I might have hidden it?"
"I'm just looking."
"I really haven't heard a single word."
When Count Lyndon confirmed it again, Sian hid his disappointment and turned away.
'I'll wait. I'll hold it in. I've already made an agreement to bear with it…'
Sian's heart wasn't working as well as he expected.