Two days ago, the meeting I held immediately after being branded by the Earl went like the following.

“What we have to do is simple.”

I started off the conversation like this.

“Win Sophna over to our side before Lady Dansoomyo arrives. What should we do if we want to do this?”

Als.h.i.+ raised her hand.

“How about making a request of Her Excellency the Earl and borrowing, that authority? Since you also received proof of, Her Excellency’s affection towards you.”

“Roroa, what do you think?”

“That’s nonsense, wan.”

That was the end. Roroa didn’t explain why it was nonsense.

I didn’t tell her to explain either.

Als.h.i.+, after thinking about it for a moment, spoke.

“For starters, it’s safe. There also isn’t a lot of time left before Lady Dansoomyo arrives. Asking Her Excellency the Earl and forcefully making Miss Sophna work together with us, would be the right choice. There’s no reason for it to be, called nonsense.”

I then spoke up.

“Explain it to her.”

“Yujin will die before that can happen, wan.”

Roroa spoke as if she were spitting those words out. Ariya was shocked.

“How do you know that?”

“Why wouldn’t I? Ah, of course, it’s because you don’t know that you got caught trying to steal. Wan. Ashya has been getting summoned by Miss Sophna since a couple of days ago, wan.”

“Miss Ashya? Of course, since she’s one of the maids that’s a part of the pre-established faction, in order to tend to Miss Sophna, she’d······.”

“Ashya is also an executioner who’s affiliated with one of the Black Dragon Street’s a.s.sa.s.sin groups, the Red Spiked Curtains, wan.”

Ariya was even more shocked. Sii was surprised as well. I wasn’t surprised since not only did I already hear about this from Roroa, but I had also been keeping tabs on her with my regular hidden camera checks.

Als.h.i.+ wasn’t surprised either.

“To be exact, her former occupation was, an executioner. It’s been a long time since she retired.”

Ariya’s mouth fell open.

“Als.h.i.+, you knew about this?”

“We got into an argument once and ended up fighting,” Als.h.i.+ answered candidly and turned back to Roroa. “So you’re saying that Ashya is going to, kill Sir Yujin?”

“Who knows? Ashya could be the one to do it or Miss Sophna could utilize some other method. One thing is for sure, if we don’t want to get swept up by the storm, then we have to check the dark clouds first, wan.”

“Ashya is the dark cloud?”

“Ashya went out yesterday, wan. Moreover, this morning, there was a conversation at the Black Dragon Street and they spoke with the nuance that ‘the Silver Lion Earl’s otherworlder has one foot in the grave’, wan. Is this not enough to be considered a dark cloud, wan?”

Ariya furrowed her brow.

“So you’re saying that Miss Ashya is the Black Dragon Street’s pipeline. Why haven’t you unrooted her, Vice-captain of the guard?”

“Then a pipeline unknown to me would enter, wan. Additionally, the pipeline which I had planted in the Black Dragon Street would also be unrooted. Wan. At the same time, Ashya is doubling as Miss Sophna’s right-hand person as well, wan. If I were to also answer the question that hasn’t been asked yet, then she had apprehended you without any hesitation because you were a petty thief who didn’t have a background like that, wan.”

Ariya didn’t slam her hand on the table. I spoke before she could do so.

“Let’s stop and wrap things up. Sophna does indeed want to kill me in the near future.”

“······Are you certain?”

Sii asked in a subdued tone.

I nodded. Sii lowered her head.

“Then I double Als.h.i.+’s suggestion. Wouldn’t it be better if we hid behind Her Excellency the Earl?”

Although Ariya had asked that cautiously, even Als.h.i.+ shook her head in response.

“If the opposition’s attack is imminent, then going only on the defense, isn’t preferable.”

Roroa flapped her ears.

“Honestly, I would like it if he just died, wan. If he did, then I would be released from my binds and become a free vice-captain of the guard, wan.”

Sii glared at that Roroa.

“Yujin, you set up countermeasures, right?”

“Yes. I’ve made it so that if I were to die, then Roroa will go through quite the suffering. Furthermore, since Roroa is also already aware of this, she wouldn’t just sit there and watch.”

“Mm~~ That’s right. Well, it’s probably because of that that she’s able to say something like this right now. ······Although it doesn’t matter since Yujin won’t die.”

“Yes, Miss Sii. In any case, what do you all think must be done in order to prevent my demise?”

Sii fell into deep thought.

Als.h.i.+ was the first one to raise her hand this time as well.

“We get her, with a counter.”

“Like I said, how?”

Sii, who had been thinking of an answer to that question, was the one to respond as she raised her head.

“False charges.”

Sii lightly touched her right arm which had once been severed.

“We counter by putting false charges on her.”

That was, definitely not an answer that had gone through logic. That’s why there was a part about it that caused a spark.

Roroa Ara Harte’s eyes glistened.

“The a.s.sault incident!”

She then continued.

“Wan! The groundwork has already been established, wan. Yujin had decided to bury the truth behind the a.s.sault incident, wan. Therefore, Als.h.i.+, Ariya, and I ended up becoming no different to slaves, but there’s another problem now, wan.”

Ariya appeared as if she understood.

“We don’t have a truth to give to Her Excellency now.”

“That’s it, wan. Yujin did turn her line of sight towards the Mage Tower, but that doesn’t change the fact that we don’t have anything, wan. Since we don’t have anything, we have to make something. If we can frame Miss Sophna in the process of making something, then wouldn’t we be killing two birds with one stone, wan? It’s good since Miss Sophna also has a Mage Tower members.h.i.+p card. As much as that was an incident which Her Excellency the Earl got upset about, Miss Sophna must have also received quite the blow, wan. Be it making an exchange or winning her over, we just have to do those things well afterward, wan.”

Roroa flapped her ears and looked at Sii. On one hand, her gaze looked like a dog that was in awe, while on the other hand, she looked like a wolf aiming for its prey’s throat.

I nodded my head.

“That is a good idea, Miss Sii.”

“I-Is that so? Mhm! Obviously! It’s the charisma that Yujin told me to have!”

Although it felt more like dampness than it did charisma, there probably wasn’t a need to mention it.

I decided to say something that was more important.

“There is an abstract but also realistic issue.”

There is no strength in lies.

The reason why Chanmi’s plots to send Minhee to a youth detention center were destroyed by a single boy was simply because they weren’t the truth. The false facts which the prodigy girl had created by utilizing all of her authority and wealth in order to press false charges were so poor that it was as obvious as looking at a fire.

Proudly presenting something like that to the Earl, going as far as to make her even believe it, and finally dealing a blow to that highly confident head va.s.sal was an impossible task.

“Wan! It’s still a good idea, wan. It’d be a waste to discard such a perfect thing, wan.”

“I also think that way. It would probably be better to adopt and build off of that. Let’s think about it more.”

Everyone turned to look at me with interested looks on their faces.

I adjusted my gla.s.ses and nodded.

“Induction of thought.”

Similar to the time I had drawn the Mage Tower insignia on the last will which had been discovered when Als.h.i.+ was stabbed.

“We make the Earl believe that she was the who had thought of these ‘facts’.”

I won’t say anything with my own mouth that could possibly trap Sophna.

“Ideas which you come up with yourself naturally appear incredibly special even if, they are actually trivial.”

“Even more so with Her Excellency the Earl’s personality.”

Although there was no strength in lies, they were no longer lies to those who believed that they were the truth.

There is strength in truth.

It’s a strength that’s capable of making those that know the truth believe that that’s the truth.

Of course, people don’t act purely on their beliefs. Delicate adjustments are needed in order to connect those beliefs into action.

I placed my iPad on the table.

“All right. Let’s use this as the main point. Now then, we have to decide on a concrete story so that we can carry that out. Let’s start by checking the truths. It’ll be better the more truths there are.”

Roroa, who got on top of the table and sat down, picked up the touch pen.

“First, we know the truth about the a.s.sault incident, wan. Second, the Gongs.h.i.+k members who had originally entered the city were hired by the Orange Hawk Prince and they became corpses the instant they entered the city, wan. Third, Miss Sophna had once attempted to kill you, Yujin. Fourth, Her Excellency the Earl and Miss Sophna cherish one another, wan. Fifth, Her Excellency the Earl cherishes you, Yujin, and bestowed upon you proof of her affection, wan. Sixth, we still possess the other remaining Gongs.h.i.+k mask and dagger which haven’t been discovered yet, wan.”

Swish, swish, Roroa jotted down this world language’s words on the screen with the touch pen.

“Seventh,” Roroa turned to look at Sii. “Miss Sophna cherishes you, Sii, wan.”

“Eh.”

Sii was startled. It seems that she didn’t expect her name to be mentioned in this moment. However, instead of asking for answers, she went into thought and attempted to try and understand the meaning of those words.

I let her be and spoke.

“Now then, let’s use these facts as the groundwork. I think we can use the first, second, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh facts.”

“Let’s take out the second. If the Orange Hawk Prince is mentioned, then it’d be immediately connected to me, wan.”

“We just have to take out the part about the Orange Hawk Prince. Wait a second, hm······ mmm ······ . ······ , ························ , ··· , ························, ········· All right. The fourth one as well. We should roughly be able to use them all.”

I stuck out my hand.

“Pen.”

Roroa handed me the pen. I started to jot things down on the iPad.

“I need a finger, a handle, and a trigger.”

I already have the first thing, the second is under consideration, and there was a need to acquire a new trigger.

“Do we really need a handle?”

“The chance of failing increases the more I say the keywords myself. I need someone who I can easily control and also be capable of influencing the Earl. Zia is perfectly qualified for this. We need a trigger as well. In this regard, it needs to be a person who appears completely unrelated to me, but is trustworthy······ Okay.”

I put down the pen.

“Roroa, Ariya, and me, the three of us will be the outing group. We’ll go to the arena first. There’s also something that I want to confirm. We’ll meet Zia, tell her about the banquet, and while I’m doing that, I’ll make things feel a bit out of place.”

I turned to look at Als.h.i.+.

“Als.h.i.+, you stay here. Protect Sii. Keep watch so that the pre-established faction maids don’t do anything needless, and subdue them in case of an emergency. You can do that, right?”

“If I, push myself.”

“Act at your own discretion. Also, when Zia comes to the castle for a bit in order to go to the banquet, make sure you go to her and tell her about me. Tell her that I’ve been unstable for the past couple of days. That I was branded by the Earl as proof of her affection. Once you do that, I’ll take care of the rest when I see her at the banquet later.”

Ariya raised her hand.

“Fair Grace, wouldn’t it be better if we just explain the situation to Miss Zia and have her join us?”

“No. We all share a common destiny, but Miss Zia doesn’t have, that sort of weakness.”

Als.h.i.+ told Ariya off. Ariya hesitantly turned to look at me. Her gaze appeared as if she expected me to do something with my abilities.

I pushed up my gla.s.ses.

“I’m not omniscience and omnipotent. I’m just a human.”

In Zia’s case, there was a weakness that I knew of, and I could probably make her join if I wanted to, but.

“Even if I’m capable of doing so, we can’t. Zia has to act as the handle every time something like this happens. If Zia remains oblivious, it’s easier to control her, she behaves more naturally, and she has a stronger influence on the Earl.”

Additionally, this would keep Zia safe as well.

After wrapping it up like that, I turned to look back at Roroa.

“Roroa.”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to meet Borg. I’ll be making him the trigger.”

“Will you be able to make him move, wan?”

“I feel like it should be possible. Arrange a meeting with him. It should go without saying, but in an unofficial place.”

There would be two problems if I were to officially request a meeting with him.

The first problem was the fact that I wouldn’t be able to know when the meeting would even take place. Sophna was going to try and kill me before the end of this month. I didn’t have the time to wait.

The other remaining problem was the fact that if I were to apply to arrange a meeting with Borg, it would go through several stages and all sorts of people would end up having an eye on our meeting. And if there was a pipeline that went straight to Sophna among those onlookers? And if someone thinks that they have to pa.s.s this information on to someone else?

“It has to appear as if Borg and I have no connections. Prepare a meeting that goes along with those conditions.”

“Until when?”

“Two days.”

“I’ll give it a shot, wan.”

“Okay. Also, Miss Sii.”

“I’ll handle Miss Sophna.”

Sii uttered.

I nodded.

“The banquet will determine the outcome. Prevent her from attending it.”

“Okay, I will. I’ll consult her about the time my arm was cut off······ that it hurt back then, that it was painful······ In any case, I’ll do whatever I can to hold her here.”

Sii spoke with a rigid expression on her face while also staring at the brands on my chest.

I couldn’t say a lot of things.

“Don’t do the impossible.”

Sii nodded her head and glanced at Roroa. Roroa looked back at her and smiled.

It was then that Ariya hesitantly opened her mouth.

“Fair Grace, is faithfully escorting you all that I have to do?”

“There will be times where you’ll have to do things while at my side. You just have to carry those tasks out at those times. The majority of the things will be trivial except for one thing. If I go outside while in the middle of the banquet, then make sure to bring the Earl outside once as well.”

“Her Excellency the Earl?”

“Yeah. The situation might change, so I’ll tell you the details then.”

“I understand, Fair Grace.”

Ariya spoke.

Als.h.i.+ dusted her hands and gave me a sidelong look.

“Then it has been decided.”

“Yeah. We just have to reinforce the rest before the day of our outing. Although we’ll probably have to adapt to some circ.u.mstances at that point······.”

“Will it work?”

“We’ll make it work.”

I gave her that answer.

And now, Als.h.i.+ said this.

“It worked out well.”

“Wan! It unexpectedly went really well.”

Roroa had a refres.h.i.+ng smile on her face as she said that.

Like that, although Roroa was in a good mood, Ariya was silent. Als.h.i.+ comforted the shoulder of that Ariya.

“Idiot. Why are you making that, face? Things went well so you should smile as well.”

Ariya was unable to do so. It seems that she probably required some time, but Roroa Ara Harte didn’t intend to give her that time.

“It’s because she’s a blockhead, wan.”

Ariya raised her head.

“What did you say?”

“I called you a blockhead, wan. Isn’t your current att.i.tude of getting agitated like that proving my point as well? In the end, the most important thing to you is yourself, wan.”

“It’s funny how you of all people are the one saying that.”

“There is a big difference between me and you. Wan. I know, but you don’t, wan. Although it would be more correct to say that you’re just feigning ignorance, wan.”

“Stop there.”

I interrupted them.

“Right now isn’t a good time to do this. I’ll prepare a place for the two of you to fight later. You can fight when you get there. Roroa, you’re the adult here, so endure it.”

Roroa flapped her ears. I turned back to Ariya.

“Ariya, you as well. I understand your feelings. I’ll give you time to be gloomy later. Bear with it for at least tonight.”

“······Yes, Fair Grace.”

Ariya lowered her head. I smiled slightly and adjusted my gla.s.ses.

“It’s really different, right?

I uttered those words while looking around at everyone.

“Schemes are like that. Although plotting them is fun, there is nothing more shameful and pathetic than the execution process of those plots. Lies aren’t as strong as you think they are, and people don’t move as easily as you expect them to. People who you think are idiots are strangely sharp and people who you think are slow are weirdly smart. In order to overcome that, we have no other choice but to believe each other and become modest.”

“How ironic.”

“From now on, you will be frequently scheming and carrying them out as long as you continue to stay with me. Engrave these two things in your minds and don’t forget them.”

“Why are you saying that while looking at me, wan?”

“Because you’ll end up like her if you forget.”

Roroa flapped her ears. The others nodded their heads firmly.

They should have understood. It’s because, prior to this, they already had experience with either arbitrarily or intentionally, with malice, dabbling their hands in plotting. That was most likely why they nodded their heads. Even the girl who was stabbed even though she was acting for the sake of her lover. Even the girl who had nearly lost her lover even though she was watching the person who had done her a favor.

And even the girl whose arm was cut off after being framed by some petty discord.

Among them, I stared at the last one, Sii, a bit longer before speaking.

“We were lucky this time as well. Firstly, the fact that the Earl had thought up the hypothesis involving Als.h.i.+ and Ariya through her own effort. I thought a bit more leading would have been necessary. Thanks to that, we were able to lessen our troubles.”

It was exactly the type of story which the Earl would think up. I believed that if it was the girl who had made Zia’s teacher cut off Sii’s arm simply because Sii and I were getting along, then she would definitely come to this sort of idea.

“The second stroke of luck was the fact that Sophna acknowledged the fact that she had tried to kill me when the Earl had asked her that question.”

Sophna most likely thought that the Earl was referring to the incident where she had her staff pressed against my throat. In the first place, I had structured the story in a way that aimed for that. Even the act of making the Earl drunk, this was in order to delay how long it took for Sophna to realize that she was misunderstanding something. Still, I had thought that it would be a 50/50 chance, but fortunately, the coin came up as heads.

“The final fortune was the fact that the pieces of evidence had come out at a crucial moment.”

“That’s for sure. Wan. Even I didn’t expect those to appear at that moment, wan. I originally intended to have the guard discover them during a seize and search, but, wan······.”

“It’s fortunate that all of the pieces fell into place.”

I planned to make a scenario like this one even if the pieces didn’t fall into place or went completely off-kilter by adapting to the situation no matter what, but it thankfully went well.

No.

To be more precise, I should say that things have gone well up to this point.

“Now we have to go and wrap everything up.”

Roroa flapped her ears.

“Are you really going to go with just the two of you, wan?”

“That’s right, Fair Grace. Als.h.i.+ and I should go with you······.”

Although Ariya had suggested that, I shook my head.

“There’s no need to waste lives unnecessarily.”

“Wan! He has a point. That’s why I’m not going either, wan.”

Sii lamented.

“You want to live a long life that much, but you probably won’t be able to live long.”

“I’m going to hope that’s not the case. That’s why I hope you guys do well.”

“Thank you for the support. I’ll leave it to you to guide us to the place.”

Roroa did so while inflating her cheeks. Sii and I followed behind her.

Before long, we reached a door with two guards standing in front of it.

“Tell those two to leave once I go in.”

“Aha, how could I do that, wan? They’re guards. Moreover, they’re both fellows who had bared their teeth at me, wan. It’s fine for them to stay there, wan.”

“Make them leave. This is an order.”

“······Wan. Understood.”

Roroa stepped forward and unlocked the door with a key. The door opened along with a clanking sound. I took out my beads and held them tightly. I took a deep breath.

Sii and I then entered the torture chamber.

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Once again, sorry for the delay. I sort of completely forgot that Lunar New Years was happening so I had to leave for a couple of days to visit relatives. My friend also came out on his final break from the military so I had to spend some time hanging out with him as well.

Excuses aside, there’s 3 chapters left and a side story. I honestly don’t look forward to translating the side story, but I’ll get through it.