Chapter 81

It took about a week to put down the uprising.

The residents themselves hadn't been touched at all, so by the end, whenever someone said "It's Cherity," people were practically lining up to show him the way.

"He's a full-on hero, huh."

"So it seems."

The whole thing wrapped up faster than expected.

The residents who'd taken refuge in Lecashe seemed to be thinking, now that the lords have been hauled away, maybe we could go home — but none of them actually stepped up to do it.

There was no guarantee a new lord would be any better.

On top of that, Lecashe was getting to be a livable place.

More than anything, they'd never go hungry here.

"I wanna meet the duke too!"

Little Ether seemed to think the duke was the coolest thing ever.

Then again, everyone around him kept going on about Duke Cherity, so it tracked.

"I figured he'd swing by Lecashe at least once."

"Hm? Here, to our territory?"

"Yes. Didn't he say he'd come if Lady Iberin invited him?"

"I didn't actually invite him."

"That was just talk — the real reason is he's totally fallen for Lady Iberin! He's looking for any excuse to see you again!"

Rozelia was talking nonsense.

Watching her, Iberin started to think Rozelia was convinced she was some kind of femme fatale.

"What?"

What was funny was that Lyssel actually reacted to a child's offhand remark.

His mouth twitched like he wasn't thrilled about it.

"Mister, you'd better be on your toes. Our Lady Iberin is gorgeous, you know. Anyone can see how pretty she is."

"Hold on — how did we get back here, Rozel."

Talk of him being smitten, of a face nobody could resist.

Iberin's own cheeks were starting to burn from the praise.

She wasn't exactly the beauty of the century — she couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about.

"I keep telling you, Duke Cherity has such a thing about purity that he'd have hated even coming anywhere near Lecashe."

"Hmph."

"If he pushed through that and actually came, sure, maybe he really has fallen — but that's not going to happen!"

"But nobody's said Duke Cherity went back up to the capital, have they?"

"What?"

"Word is there was no duke with the imperial knights."

"Is that so?"

The muscles in Lyssel's face stiffened in an odd way.

Don't tell me he's actually going to show up.

A vague unease crept in, and Iberin's eyes darted around as she thought.

"Haha, well — he's probably got things to wrap up. Cleanup, at least."

"True. The place was basically rubble."

Pons and Rotte chimed in.

---

The empire's military might hadn't dulled in thousands of years.

The knights were a well-honed blade in their own right.

Unlike the other nobles, every emperor in the line had been the sort to fixate on power — so it made sense.

In any case, where the Gelta nobles had struggled, Cherity and the knights moved through it all fast.

They'd swept up every last straggler too, so there was nothing to worry about — but Cherity stayed.

The official reason was to keep things running until the empty Gelta Six seats could be filled, but the truth was that he was planning the Grand Duchess's assassination.

He'd made the deal with the emperor, so he'd have to keep it.

The first thing he did was reach out to a group of assassins.

It was safer to leave it to specialists than to handle it himself, and he didn't particularly feel like getting his own hands dirty just because the emperor had asked.

A promise was a promise, but he didn't want blood on his hands.

It wasn't as though he was about to swear loyalty to the emperor.

"By the way, sir — why is it you're looking for an assassin's guild?"

"You found one?"

"Yes. The most famous of them, apparently. Called {Moana}(#nhilbxby6il0)."

"Moana?"

Cherity had heard of Moana before.

The kind that would do anything for the right price.

"And they're here?"

The timing was almost too good.

It was as if the heavens themselves wanted the Grand Duchess dead.

"Yes. Seems they moved their hideout recently. But their leader insists you come in person."

"In person?"

The duke's brow furrowed.

"Yes. Otherwise they won't take the job. We sent other nobles in our place, but they were turned away — like the leader already knew exactly who was placing the order."

"All right. Where?"

Soon after, Cherity headed to the location Annette had given him.

That was Moana's rule.

If you want someone dead, bring big money. And the nerve to match.

In other words, don't be a coward hiding behind someone else.

And so Cherity met with Moana.

---

Meanwhile, Lecashe, completely unaware of any of this, was at peace.

Or rather — had been at peace.

"A rumor's gone around."

"What rumor?"

"That Lecashe could've helped the residents but turned a blind eye to line our own pockets."

"Line our pockets? In what way?"

Iberin was stunned.

"If the Gelta region collapsed, residents would flow into Lecashe. We'd be growing our population without lifting a finger…"

"Hah."

"But Duke Cherity ruined that, so we're supposedly seething about it on the inside."

"That's insane."

She couldn't help cursing.

"Where did it come from?"

"It's spread so wildly there's no pinpointing the source, but it looks deliberate."

"Right."

There was no other way it could've spread this fast.

Residents who'd lost family to the Gelta lords were apparently reacting to the rumor on a hair-trigger.

"What is this all of a sudden."

Lyssel looked thrown himself.

It was true they'd stayed out of it while the neighboring territory went up in flames, but Lecashe wasn't the only one.

Nobles all over the place had watched it like a fire across the river — why were they the ones taking the hit?

"Could it be Cherity?"

"Cherity?"

"I had a bad feeling when he didn't head back to the capital with the rest."

Lyssel said it.

He'd been cool on Cherity from the moment the man had been mentioned in connection with Iberin, so his read wasn't entirely free of bias — but the suspicion wasn't unfounded either.

"But why would Cherity…"

Pons looked skeptical.

Still, you couldn't rule it out completely either.

"Even if it is him, what's he after?"

"There's nothing in Lecashe a Cherity would want, as far as I can see."

Even with the ijet, the Forest of the World Tree was nothing but demonic energy and monsters — no Cherity would touch it.

"He might've cut a deal with the emperor."

"A deal?"

"The ijet was just discovered in Lecashe, and the Gelta region burst into uprising right after."

"And Lecashe stands to gain the most."

"Exactly. Anyone with half a brain would see Lecashe coming out ahead. The emperor would've thought so too."

"So the emperor's started swinging at Lecashe."

"That's where I'd put my money."

"Hah. That bastard emperor."

So this was the petty route he was taking.

She'd thought Duke Cherity was unhinged, but she hadn't pegged him as actually evil — that read was being revised.

"Still — would the duke really stick around just to plant a cheap rumor?"

"You think there's more to it?"

"Yes. I don't like the feel of this at all."

"Where is he staying?"

"He was last seen in Alketa, but there's been no sign of him since."

"Hmm."

So he'd gone underground.

But why,

what was he planning?

"He might be trying to kill someone."

Iberin murmured it.

"Kill? Kill who?"

"Me. I'm the one the emperor finds inconvenient."

Spreading a sleazy rumor to drag Lecashe's reputation through the mud was one option, but from the emperor's perspective, killing Iberin would be the easier route.

"Iberin!"

Lyssel shot to his feet, the cry torn out of him like he was about to lose his breath.

The idea of Iberin dying.

His face went bone-white, but he couldn't tell her she was wrong either.

---

After Iberin floated the assassination theory, security tightened sharply.

Tightened security here meant the staff watching the gates with everything they had, and Lyssel refusing to leave her side.

"More than that, we need to put the rumor down."

Lecashe was used to taking hits, sure, but that didn't mean any of them enjoyed it.

The one comfort was that the Lecashe residents themselves were squarely on Lecashe's side.

So were a fair number of nobles.

She'd been moving in society lately and building a few real connections, and it was paying off now.

The nobles had sent letters with quiet notes of sympathy.

It wasn't the totally isolated situation it used to be, and that was something.

It wasn't exactly help, but it was something.

"Iberin, by the way."

"Yes?"

"Are you…"

"Am I?"

"…No, never mind."

Lyssel looked like he had something he wanted to say, but he waved it off and changed the subject.

Iberin tilted her head.

"What is it. Tell me. I can't stand it when you do that, you know I can't."

Lyssel hesitated for a long moment, then said,

"I was worried it might be stressing you out."

"What — well, it'd be a lie to say zero stress, but I'm fine."

"Then good."

"That's what you were worrying about?"

A laugh huffed out of her.

She gave a low chuckle and reached up to stroke his hair, as if she thought he was being adorable.

"If I were really stressed, I'd be snapping at you every day."

"You can snap at me every day. I don't mind."

"Sure, you say that and then you'll be right back snapping at me too."

"I won't. That won't happen."

Lyssel cut her off instantly.

"You kind of just snapped a little there, didn't you?"

"Iberin."

"That one too?"

She was teasing him on purpose.

This always knocked Lyssel off-balance.

But this time Lyssel pulled his face flat and shot back,

"Could you actually handle it if I got angry?"

"Oh my."

She'd expected him to fluster a little, but instead Iberin's eyes lit up with something interested, and Lyssel flinched.

He'd been planning to laugh it off and tell her he was joking the moment she looked thrown — and now he was the one thrown.

"My heart can't take it. Say that one more time."

"…"

"Please? Just once. Your face going all fierce when you said it, oh my god—"

It was practically a scene from a drama.

There weren't any dramas in this world, so she kept that part inside and just pushed him.

Do it again.

"I-Iberin."

"Come on!"

There was no keeping up with Iberin, ever.

Lyssel couldn't handle it.

---

"I think I like you…"

"Again!"

{"There's no one inside me but… ugh, how many more times. I really can't do this."}(#3dk7o1c9yng6)

"Pft. But you sound so cool when you say it, Lyssel. If it's really hard, we'll stop."

"…Thank you."