“The condition you mentioned. Don’t you think it’s a bit harsh for a child?”
The next day. A peaceful afternoon in the office.
Knox, who had been pondering all day, finally asked Calypse, who was busy with work.
“What about it?”
“I don’t mind, but if it gets out that Your Excellency made such a contract with a five-year-old, it might harm your public image.”
“Oh.”
Calypse responded indifferently.
“Beheading?”
“…I was trying to be subtle, but if you put it that way, it sounds really scary.”
“For whom?”
“For me.”
Knox’s blue eyes, magnified by his monocle, widened.
Indeed, the additional condition Calypse proposed to the five-year-old was that if they failed to find the princess, they would be executed by beheading.
It was a condition unbecoming of Duke Kreutz, the guardian of the Frozen Kingdom.
“It wasn’t a serious contract in the first place. So dull.”
“Was it just a joke?”
Calypse replied indifferently.
“I was just playing along.”
“What if the kid was lying? Were you really going to proceed with the beheading?”
“I had no intention of chopping off a child’s head. I just wanted to see the reaction.”
“A reaction?”
“That kid.”
He answered nonchalantly.
“If it was a joke, they’d be scared and back out of the contract. I just wanted to test them.”
He spoke casually, but behind his mask, his red eyes were cold.
In the end, Aisha didn’t even flinch upon hearing his condition.
Her small hands seemed to tremble slightly, but she looked at Duke Calypse with a determined expression, as if she was prepared for it.
That was the problem.
Aisha wasn’t joking.
If her words were true, then right now Eve would be in the Ductia Kingdom.
‘To be precise, at an orphanage near the wetlands of Duke Pose’s territory.’
Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
The two kingdoms originally made a peace agreement in the face of a common enemy, the monsters.
The Kreutz Duchy’s freezing ability created a massive ice wall that prevented the monsters from crossing.
But recently, the actions of the Ductia Kingdom were strange.
They kept crossing the Frozen Kingdom’s borders without permission, and it seemed like they were testing the kingdom’s defenses by sending bandits to small villages.
The peace agreement aimed at exterminating the monsters was becoming more fragile due to Ductia’s provocations.
In such a situation, a letter had to be sent to the Ductia Kingdom.
“Let’s send a message first.”
Both situations were problematic, but with no other options, he sent a personal message to Duke Pose.
A few days later.
“This is outrageous.”
Knox frowned as he read the message.
“They say we can come to Duke Pose’s territory, but there must be no guards, and only two attendants can accompany us. And they demand the Crime Plains in return.”
“Those bastards.”
Calypse’s gaze darkened as he let out a low scoff.
The Crime Plains were the territory that the Kreutz Duchy had defended in the territorial war with Ductia ten years ago.
But he had no choice but to agree to these unfavorable terms.
His child was far more important than the land.
“Tell them I will visit in a week.”
Knox was shocked.
“…What? Please reconsider. Not just the land, but asking a noble to visit without guards is like walking into a lion’s den alone.”
“Tell them I will visit.”
But Calypse, speaking firmly, got up as if to end the conversation.
Or rather, he tried to get up.
“Oh, and that kid.”
“That kid?”
“Yes. That Aisha kid. Do some background research. She said she was in the same orphanage as the princess, but it’s strange how she got here.”
“Ah, finally, an order that suits me.”
Knox sighed in relief at the sensible command, but then-
“Never mind.”
“Sorry?”
Calypse suddenly stood up and donned his robe. It was the robe he used when walking in the garden, the only time he would walk around without his mask.
“I’ll investigate myself.”
A child was just a child. It might be faster to approach her disguised as a gardener than having knights interrogate and investigate.
“What?! Your Excellency!”
Bang!
Knox hurried after Calypse, but all he found was the closed door.
Sigh.
“…It’s all good, but he loses his mind when it comes to his child….”
Knox sighed slowly, rubbing his dry face.
Everyone except Calypse had already acknowledged it.
The missing children were likely dead.
* * *
A peaceful afternoon at the annex of the Kreutz Duchy.
I stopped chewing the bread in my mouth.
“They said that kid told His Excellency where the princess is?”
“Yes. That’s why His Excellency is making a fuss about going to the Ductia Kingdom without any guards.”
“Oh my. Isn’t that like going to his death?”
“I hope His Excellency doesn’t get caught up in such nonsense. The monster extermination just ended recently.”
On this peaceful afternoon.
Under this clear sky.
“…Because of that kid, really.”
The maids sighed and glanced at me as they walked by.
I’m going crazy.
‘I don’t know how to react when they talk behind my back so openly.’
And they’re not wrong.
I sat there feeling like I was sitting on a bed of thorns. Even eating bread felt like a crime at this point.
After contracting with Duke Calypse.
Rumors quickly spread that I had found out the whereabouts of the direct princess. The problem was that the staff didn’t want that.
‘I’m doomed. I thought they would be happy.’
Considering the strained relationship between the Frozen Kingdom and the Ductia Kingdom.
In such a tense situation, Duke Calypse making a fuss about visiting the Ductia Kingdom without guards… It was no wonder the atmosphere in the duchy was tense.
But I felt wronged too.
‘I mean, doesn’t Duke Calypse think? Why would he just charge into the Ductia Kingdom?’
I bit into the bread angrily.
Think carefully first!
Find the weakness of the Ductia Kingdom!
And use that as leverage for negotiation!
Of course, the usual Calypse would have done that.
But I underestimated how obsessed he was with his children.
Now there was no choice.
‘I just have to keep a low profile until we find the princess.’
So the current goal.
Pretend not to notice the maids’ sharp gazes until the princess is found.
‘Alright. I’ll be like a shadow.’
Determined, I shifted my seat to a more inconspicuous shadow.
“Hmm~ What’s this kid doing here? No attendant?”
Thud-
With a familiar voice, something poked my side.
‘What is it?’
Cold sweat trickled down my back as I looked around.
Next to my desperately wriggling body, there was a maid’s leg.
When I looked up.
“If no one’s in charge of this kid, I’ll take over~”
Dorothy, with her hands on her hips, was looking down at me like a predator eyeing its prey.
I was doomed.
So very doomed.
“Ah!”
“Quiet down, kid.”
A rough hand grabbed my neck, and a short scream escaped my lips.
I had entered this place with only my goal in mind.
But once inside the Kreutz Duchy, there were countless things to consider.
Duke Calypse’s condition. The atmosphere of the duchy.
And the spy, Dorothy, who had infiltrated earlier.
‘Is this really the life of a five-year-old? Isn’t this child abuse?’
I wanted to complain to the creator of the original novel.
No, I wanted to argue with the god of this world who made me possess a spy extra.
What do you want from me? What did I do so wrong?
“Eek!”
I was thrown into her empty room, landing hard on my butt. From across the room, a sharp laugh echoed.
“You’ve done something cute, haven’t you? Duke Pose is very pleased.”
My butt was really working overtime today.
Rubbing my sore backside, I struggled to stand up.
Or rather, I tried to.
“Because of your cunning little trick. I’m left stranded.”
Thud-
A sudden poke on my forehead made me sit back down.
“…?”
I looked up at her, frowning.
“What do you mean?”
“It means a rolling stone displaces a settled stone. Haven’t you learned these basic metaphors during your spy training?”
“Oh, I know that. But if Duke Pose benefits, isn’t that good for you too?”
She’d be able to return to Duke Pose’s side once the mission was nearly over, and she’d be recognized for her contributions as a spy.
Bang!
But Dorothy stomped her foot, seemingly in disbelief at my words.
“Duke Pose has ordered my return! Think about Duke Calypse’s perspective. Does he seem like the type to easily agree to such an unreasonable deal?”
Ah.
Her meaningful words made my eyes widen automatically.
‘I think I understand the situation now.’
Realizing the situation late, I swallowed dryly.
Duke Pose’s household would be in a festive mood right now. Calypse had agreed to visit Duke Pose’s territory without guards.
But there was a problem.
There was still time before that visit.
‘So Duke Pose will want to eliminate any potential weaknesses during that short period.’
Such as the spy who had infiltrated the Kreutz Duchy for six years.
A spy like….
‘In this situation, if Dorothy’s identity as their spy is discovered, they’d want to take her back quickly.’
It was underhanded, but that’s probably why the Duke Pose family had survived for so long. It made sense.
Wait a minute.
Then something hit me, and I looked at Dorothy with wide eyes.
‘But that weakness is right in front of me?’
Dorothy flinched at my gaze.
“What are you looking at?”
“…”
“What are you looking at, kid?”
“Oh, nothing.”
‘I just think I’ve found a pretty good prey.’
I swallowed the last words quietly and clenched my small fists.
And then—
“Thinking that it’s my fault that you ended up like this… I’m so, so sorry… Waaaah!”
“…Why are you suddenly crying?!”
As I burst into tears with a performance that could make one question my sanity, Dorothy, flustered, grabbed her head.
‘Wasn’t my job to keep a low profile?’
No.
My goal had changed.
My new goal was to expose Dorothy’s identity.
