The Protagonist of the Founding Festival (1)
“I couldn’t bring myself to ask you about it that day. You never talk about yourself, Nanny….”
Catherine hesitated for a moment, then lowered her voice even further.
“I was worried that because of me, you might have gone through something… awkward.”
It was obvious what kind of “awkward situation” a woman might face after entering the king’s chambers alone in the dead of night.
“After that day, I asked them to send different maids instead of you, but every single one of them said they spent the whole night dozing off in a chair. So I thought nothing must have happened to you either, but then I remembered how His Majesty told you to call him by his name and kept giving you those slightly… suggestive looks….”
Catherine seemed genuinely afraid that Rachel had suffered some humiliating ordeal on her account.
No wonder she’s been fidgeting like a puppy that needs to pee every time she sees me.
“Nothing like what you’re imagining happened, Catherine.”
“R-really? That’s a relief, but….”
“For now, could you step back a little?”
“Pardon?”
“At this rate, Her Highness Emilia is going to get squished.”
Catherine glanced down at Rachel’s words and gasped.
Because she had pressed in so close, Emilia’s chubby cheek—nestled in Rachel’s arms—was flattened like it might burst.
“Oh dear, I’m so sorry, Your Highness!”
“Uuuung, Ria is fine.”
Catherine ruffled Emilia’s hair vigorously before turning back to Rachel.
“Then is there some other big problem?”
Her eyes were full of concern as she stared at Rachel.
“It’s just that your expression has been so dark these past few days. I was worried.”
“…I simply had a few things on my mind. It’s really nothing.”
Yes, it really was nothing.
Rachel’s lips tightened as she thought of Kaiden.
He still hasn’t figured out why that man went to the place where I died.
Ever since that day she had secretly witnessed Kaiden shedding tears in the reed field where she had lost her life as Kayla.
She had been quietly observing him.
There was nothing particularly noticeable.
Except that the interest he had shown her had visibly decreased.
After that day, he hasn’t left the prince’s palace once.
The young king of Adamant still carried himself with that same sly politeness, that same rude courtesy, and that same air of leisure.
Since the night he visited the reed field, just as Catherine said, he had summoned a different maid to his room every single day.
Though the nightly rotation of maids wasn’t exactly by his own will.
The constant changing of maids entering Kaiden’s bedchamber was a kind of inevitability.
Every maid who had spent the night in the king’s room claimed they couldn’t even breathe in the same space with him and begged to be spared.
Regardless, it has become clear that Kaiden knows who I really am.
Rachel narrowed her eyes, sinking deep into thought.
The fact that he went to the place where I died… does that mean he had some business with me?
If it were someone whose life she had spared, she could understand. But no matter how much she thought about it, she had no memory of ever sparing Kaiden’s life.
“Hey!”
Suddenly, Catherine slapped her lightly on the forearm.
Rachel raised one eyebrow and looked at her.
“Nanny, no matter how much you have on your mind, today you need to focus on His Highness Edwin! Today is the historic day he performs a sword dance before His Majesty the Emperor!”
Catherine put on an unusually stern expression and scolded her.
“Today, let’s cheer with everything we have so that our Edwin can be the protagonist. That’s the only duty we have right now!”
“Ria will cheer for Brother too! Yeah!”
“Oh my goodness, how admirable, our princess. Your very existence is a form of cheering, Your Highness.”
The protagonist, huh.
Rachel gazed at Edwin, who was striking various poses on the platform.
A fresh wave of emotion washed over her.
When I first met him, he was a scrawny little thing, like a starving foal.
Now there was a lively energy radiating from his healthy layer of baby fat and developing muscles.
His neat, noble appearance made him look every inch a prince.
Edwin had changed completely from just a few months ago.
Enough that no one would find it strange to call him today’s protagonist.
“…You’re right.”
Rachel answered belatedly.
As Catherine said, her only role today was to cheer for Edwin.
Because right now she was not Kayla, but Rachel Brown, the prince’s nanny.
“I apologize for neglecting my primary duty and causing you worry.”
“No, you don’t have to go that far….”
“It looks like everything is ready. Shall we head out?”
“You’re not sorry at all, are you, Nanny?”
Leaving Catherine to grumble beside her, Rachel took a step forward.
Edwin, now fully prepared, was looking at her with bright, sparkling eyes from atop the platform.
“Shall we go, Your Highness?”
When she politely extended her hand, Edwin’s eyes widened before he broke into a huge grin and nodded vigorously.
“Yeah!”
* * *
The grand banquet hall of the Ventrum Empire, built solely for receiving distinguished guests.
There, to commemorate the Founding Festival, members of the imperial family, envoys from various nations, and prominent nobles had gathered in one place.
Normally the hall would have been filled with lavishly decorated tables at regular intervals, but today was different.
“A circular stage inside the banquet hall? How unusual.”
“They must have prepared quite the performance.”
The envoys, who had no idea what was happening, each added their own comments as they stared at the large circular stage set up in the center of the hall.
“Your Majesty, what is that?”
Meanwhile, the envoy from the Khan Empire, seated closest to the emperor, asked with evident curiosity.
He kept glancing sideways at the circular stage with great interest.
“What does it look like to you?”
“At first glance, it appears to be a stage.”
The envoy answered the emperor’s counter-question with a hint of laughter in his voice.
“Though its shape reminds me quite a bit of an arena.”
“Haha, an arena, you say.”
To call it an arena at a joyous occasion celebrating the Founding Festival.
It could have been taken as disrespectful, but the emperor simply laughed with genuine amusement.
He lightly lifted the wine glass filled with grape wine.
“Your words may not be entirely wrong.”
“Pardon? It really is an arena?”
“Is an arena not originally a place where gladiators compete?”
The emperor’s thick eyebrows rose at an angle.
A pleasant smile spread across his entire face.
“There is no spectacle quite as entertaining as watching a fight, don’t you agree?”
The envoy kept tilting his head in confusion at the cryptic remark.
In the meantime, the Second Empress Helena’s face stiffened slightly.
She clenched the hand she had lowered beneath the table.
“You seem to be in an exceptionally good mood today, Your Majesty.”
“Haha, how could I not be?”
In response to a noble’s question, the emperor turned his head toward Kaiden, who sat to his right.
“The gift brought by the King of Adamant has moved us greatly.”
Kaiden, who had been quietly wetting his lips with wine, gently curved his eyes into a polite smile.
“It is the first gift I present to Your Majesty the Emperor. I fear it is terribly modest, and I am ashamed.”
“Hahaha, Your Majesty is too modest.”
The tributes offered by the envoys of each nation had already piled up like a mountain.
Yet even if all of them were combined, they could not compare to the gift from Adamant.
Ten famous swords crafted by dwarves, ten lycans tamed by human hands, and ten thousand trion of adamant ore.
While the dwarf-forged blades and tamed monsters were priceless gifts that could not be bought with money, the most valuable by far was the adamant ore.
Ten thousand trion is an enormous amount—enough to cover a portion of the imperial city walls entirely with adamant.
The emperor smiled as he brought the wine glass to his lips.
If he could give away ten thousand trion as a mere gift, just how much adamant must be hidden within the Kingdom of Adamant?
Should I call it reckless, or arrogant?
The fallen Lionel Kingdom had desperately tried to conceal the value of the continent’s largest adamant mine in their possession. They had kept the deposit size strictly secret and limited exports of the mineral to a tiny fraction.
They were terrified that other nations would covet it and come running. The Lionel royal family was nothing but cowards.
But the new master of that mine—the King of Adamant—seemed to think very differently.
In times like these, when monsters run rampant, the value of adamant has only risen.
Adamant was the optimal mineral for destroying the tough hides and fangs of monsters.
For a moment, an indescribable greed flickered in the emperor’s eyes.
Perhaps I should have struck the Lionel Kingdom back then.
When he had heard that strange signs were appearing inside the kingdom right after the death of the Third Empress, who had come from Lionel, he should have occupied it immediately.
Because I hesitated unnecessarily.
If he had, that common-born knight of unknown origin would never have worn a crown far above his station.
A faint light of jealousy and contempt crossed the emperor’s face.
But he smoothly changed his expression and rose from his seat as if nothing had happened.
“Then let us raise a toast.”
The greed that had shone in the emperor’s eyes had long since vanished.
“For the peace and well-being of the continent!”
“Waaaah!”
Along with the congratulatory speech, everyone in the banquet hall raised their glasses together.
At the same time, the musicians began playing lively tunes, and voices filled with excitement rang out from every direction.
It was when the atmosphere of the banquet had ripened to about halfway.
“Are you all starting to feel bored? At times like these, we need some entertainment to liven up the party.”
Entertainment? Had they prepared dancers or clowns?
The envoys focused their attention on the emperor while enjoying their drinks and food.
“For the distinguished guests from various nations gathered here after so long, my sons have prepared a small amusement. I hope it pleases you all.”