93

The next day I came down with a bad cold—after being soaked in that rain, it was a miracle I wasn’t worse.

“There’s a meeting today…”

Elysia, who was nursing me, shook her head firmly. “Absolutely not. Do you know how high your fever was yesterday?”

Still, I worried some oddity in the treaty might have been overlooked, and I considered going anyway.

“Everything’s already been checked in the letters; today we just need to discuss the detailed clauses and sign. You already checked the agreement yourself.”

“That’s true. Cough!”

Knock knock.

At my reply the door opened and Aidan and Lukan came in, both visibly worried when they saw me.

“We were trying to persuade you not to go to the talks.”

“What meeting are you talking about when you’re like this? Just rest properly.”

“Coco, don’t worry! If they don’t sign the agreement properly, I’ll tear it all up!”

Aidan’s sincere concern made me feel I absolutely had to attend the talks.

The three of them only left after watching me take my medicine.

Knock knock.

Who was it this time? I answered in a barely audible voice, and the Duke entered. Though my fever still burned, the memory of yesterday flushed his face.

“Excuse me.”

He leaned over, placed a cool hand on my forehead, and sighed as he looked down; his expression said he’d expected this.

“Never. Do not come to the meeting hall.”

How did he know what I was thinking and insist so strongly? He seemed determined not to leave until I answered. With the meeting time approaching, I had no choice but to give up.

“Alright, alright! I won’t go.”

“Good. Rest well.”

His tone was brusque, but he wiped the sweat from my brow with careful hands. I didn’t know what to do with this unreturned feeling; I felt like letting go of whatever I’d been holding onto.

The talks hit unexpected snags. Simon cursed the confident version of himself who’d assured the foreign minister there would be no trouble. The foreign minister’s smile was prickly and off.

“This decree from the Empire is quite radical. For the state to inventory the nobles’ assets… If it were Yuno, a rebellion would have already broken out.”

Suddenly the Yuno delegation seemed to be backing off.

They’d accepted the delegation’s gifts and attended the banquet without issue—so why the sudden turn?

I kept up appearances while seething, but veteran diplomat Simon masked his feelings and answered calmly.

“In the Empire, no matter how noble, there can be no exceptions to the law. That’s how our subjects trust and follow us. It is also the will of His Majesty the Emperor. However, we do not intend to saddle the Kingdom of Yuno with that responsibility under this agreement. We will cooperate only in cases where a crime is confirmed.”

The Yuno foreign minister didn’t budge.

“To be honest, Yuno is currently facing intense backlash from the nobles over tax reform. If we sign this agreement, it might give the impression that we agree to investigate nobles’ assets. It would be like pouring fuel on the fire.”

Unlike the letters, they were now citing domestic politics. Simon glanced around for an ally.

The foreign minister—he was in a bad mood and thus a last resort. The Chancellery member was still a rookie and useless here. Reyra, the finance officer, looked irritated and was clearly biting back curses. The Supreme Justice could handle anything, but his speaking skills left much to be desired; he’d been nicknamed the “Fearsome Mouth.” Unless Simon wanted the talks to turn into a battlefield, he needed to resolve things before the Justice intervened.

Why of all days was Secretary Cornelia bedridden today! She was young but reliable; Simon worried for her like a daughter. He even had a daughter about her age.

As he gathered his thoughts, the door opened and the young but dependable Cornelia stepped in—sickness gone, looking perfectly fine.

“Sorry I’m late. I overheard some of the discussion outside—may I say something?”

The Empire’s delegation stared in surprise. Even the Duke, whose expression rarely changed, looked as if his eyes might pop.

“Oh, aren’t you Olgard the deputy minister’s younger sister? Please, speak.”

The reunion of the sibling pair, like a symbol of reconciliation, made Cornelia a favorable figure to Yuno. Cornelia, unconcerned, held up the agreement and pointed to a clause.

“It’s specified in Article 5. Each country can decide whether to cooperate according to its internal regulations after a domestic judicial determination. This guarantees autonomy, but we don’t turn a blind eye to crimes. This agreement is made for the benefit of both countries, not to make either suffer.”

At her reading, the Yuno foreign minister’s expression shifted. He cleared his throat and tried to regain the initiative.

“It’s not only the nobles’ backlash we’re worried about. The Seraphina Empire side will know—when a similar agreement was made with the Kingdom of Mokoko… In trying to trace hidden assets it eventually escalated into a political asylum incident and one of our nobles was executed. We’re afraid that might happen again.”

It was a trauma tactic. Simon berated himself for preparing the talks too casually. As he opened his mouth to respond, the Supreme Justice interjected.

“That’s why we’ve included an ‘exclusion of political matters’ clause this time. The Empire does not want an agreement aimed at executing someone.”

He didn’t sound enthusiastic, which was odd. After some back-and-forth, the Yuno foreign minister conceded.

“Your preparations are thorough. We’ll sign. However, it will take some time to get royal approval…”

Secretary Cornelia smiled gently.

“We’ll give you time. But please, don’t let it go past tomorrow morning.”

She shut down any delay tactics at once. Simon felt as delighted as if his daughter had taken the lead again. The foreign minister, reluctantly engaged, flashed a worried look but didn’t press further.

Don’t be fooled by that harmless appearance—she wouldn’t yield easily.

Thanks to Cornelia, Simon breathed a relieved sigh at the successful end of the talks and resolved to comply with any Chancellery requests for the time being.

“How did this happen?” people kept asking as they looked at me, restored to health. I scratched my cheek with my index finger and gave an embarrassed smile.

“Well, you see…”

After the Duke left, Olgard came by. When he saw me groaning, he took my hand and whispered something as if breathing a blessing into it. Moments later I looked as if the rain from yesterday had never happened.

Is this divine power…? I could feel the gods’ presence on my skin. Olgard looked at me with a thoughtful smile, said he’d like to speak again later, and left. Word must have gotten out that he’d walked into the rain—he had come to heal me.

What was a divine oracle? A low-ranking noble like me even received treatment from a priest. I was grateful, but couldn’t help wishing Rio would receive such care too.

“…And that’s how it happened.”

When I roughly explained that a reunited family member had healed me, not only our side but the Yuno delegation warmed up. I was just glad it had ended well.

Sensing the Duke’s sharp gaze, I met it without fleeing as someone from the Yuno side approached.

“Hello. I’m Marcel, Second-Rank Finance Officer at the Yuno Ministry of Finance.”

He was about my age—bright-eyed and resembling an adorable young reindeer.

“I wanted to express my thanks before it was too late.”

“Thanks?”

Other than collapsing from motion sickness and falling ill, I couldn’t think of anything worth thanking me for. Marcel flushed and explained.

“There were errors in the calculations on my report… I later found out the secretary corrected them. If not for you, I would’ve reported without knowing. Someone must have tampered with them… haha, anyway, you practically saved someone’s life. If it had gone wrong, I would’ve been fired.”

For some reason the calculations had inexplicable holes—and it was a Ministry of Finance document.

“Who would brazenly tamper with a report? And how did you find out it was me…?”

Marcel’s gaze turned to Lukan.

‘Wow. A charisma that knows no borders… truly remarkable affinity.’

Lukan grinned sheepishly, put his arm around my shoulder, and said,

“I’ve had Coco save me in a desperate situation like Marcel did. How do you learn this sort of sense? Ah! I just thought of a great idea. There’s time from now until the day we leave after the talks succeeded, so here…”