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“…yes.”

I don’t know how many more invitations I can accept.

Irene smiled shyly at my positivity. Then she showed signs of hesitation and finally whispered to me as if she had made up her mind.

“……but is it true that he’s a married man with three children?”

***

When I came back to the mansion after tea time, I was out of my mind.

I cleared Sir Davery from the stigma as a married man and said goodbye to Irene.

‘Irene is……. keep doing that.’

It was strange to think of Irene, who had been glancing at Sir Davery as she saw me off.

‘I can’t believe she is a geumsappa.’

Of course, as I said, I was surprised, but that was all.

Although it was amazing that she had moved from Ash to Sir Davery, there was no other appreciation.

Laughing, cursing, pointing fingers. Why would I do that?

I find it funny instead.

When I confirmed that Irene’s feelings had changed, I felt a sense of triumph at the same time as a moment of surprise.

‘See, I’m sure I like him more’ like that.

What have I done, so childish?

‘What the hell were you so happy about? Why are you flattering yourself in such a thought, huh?’ I thought to myself like that. But there’s no answer.

I returned home in a sense of shame for that reason that no one should recognize.

But I felt empty somewhere in the mansion that came back. I soon noticed the reason.

“Where’s Bessie?”

She was there before I went out, but the butler answered the question.

“She said she was going to the market then left.”

“Really? Alone?”

“With Alex.”

I paused when I heard the answer. Naturally, I had an idea.

“Again?”

“……..”

“Butler, this is just a question.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Weren’t the two of them always going out together lately…?”

Bessie and Alex. At first, I thought so, but it was already several times in a few days that the two of them went out alone.

The butler had a ‘than’ look on my words.

“Surely I thought so, my lady.”

“When did it start?”

“Well, as far as I remember, maybe after that day. The last night of the harvest festival.”

It was the day of the outdoor party in the backyard. And that day, Bessie and Alex danced together in the mood.

‘Don’t tell me?’

“butler…”

“It’s not bad news. They’re both good people. Isn’t that right?”

“How old is Alex?”

The butler calmly answered my abrupt question.

“Now that his birthday is over, he must be 29 years old.”

“What about Bessie?”

“Bessie, let’s see……because she came into this mansion at 14. Ah, she’s 37 years old now. Well, isn’t this age gap enough to overcome?”

The butler’s backbiting was not heard properly.

Why? What suddenly took my mind at this moment was the voice of the old woman I heard in the tent on the last festival day.

‘You’ll have a good relationship soon.’

‘Eiyy….’

‘With a younger man, younger man.’

It can be just a coincidence.

No, it was fair to say that it was a coincidence, of course, if I think simply.

Moreover, Alex has long known Bessie. The old woman said that the younger man was not a younger man who popped out of nowhere.

But it was strange. My heart throbbed.

‘There must be something you want, right? Then wait. As it goes, don’t do anything.’

‘…….’

‘Then the opportunity will come to find you.’

The old woman’s voice lingered in my head.

Then a few days later, there was news that a monster attack took place in the south and needed to form a subjugation force.

***

In the south of the empire, there was a vast forest called the base of monsters.

The forest, deep and wide enough to say that no one has seen the end yet, has usually been a problem, but it has emerged as a headache when a monster whose population has suddenly increased by a large number every two or three years has left the forest and attacked the private houses nearby.

The imperial family called it the “Monster Raid” over the monsters that flowed out of the forest invading human territory, and whenever an incident occurred, they were sending a subjugation force around the capital to the south.

“This is a chance!”

Ari, who had sent a letter to meet in bright light, continued with a reminiscent face.

“This was exactly what I was going to say last time.”

“……”

“Eonni, if you do well, you can run away.”

I closed my eyes and then opened them.

Sometimes I feel like fate was playing a prank to me.

That’s exactly the case now.

“In the book, the main character Agrita solves the case as soon as a monster attack occurs, right? Even before the subjugative force was formed.”

Yes.

In the book, <Spring of the Goddess Agrita>, there was a development around this time of the year in which a monster attack broke out.

But the imperial family does not send a subjugative force to the south.

Because as Ari said, things end before they do.

In the story, Agrita goes to the South to meet her distant relative and then unexpectedly enters the forest in question.

And perhaps, of course, she got lost in it, and then she happened to wake up to some unknown creature that was asleep deep in the forest, and then, with the help of it, she solved the monster attack.

This becomes one of the many accomplishments that make Agrita called as the “goddess” after she later became the empress.

“But this is only possible when Agrita is a real Agrita, and now Agrita is me.”

“……yes.”

“I haven’t come close to the South, unlike the book, and I won’t do it in the future. Then, as in the book, the Monsters Raid will not be solved on its own, and the imperial family will set up a subjugative force as usual and send it to the South…..”

Ari took a breather after saying up to here. Then came the next words.

“What if the villain becomes the leader of the subjugative force?”

Ari quickly followed up the back story.

“The South is quite far from here. I heard it takes about 15 days to go back and forth no matter how fast it is. Then, considering the time required for the subjugation, he’ll have to leave the mansion for a month, and wouldn’t that be enough time for eonni to run away?”

Ari’s brown eyes were twinkling. I stared at the innocent, stony eyes and opened my mouth.

“But how?”

“What?”

“How can I get Ash to take charge of the subjugative force?”

“Uh…”

Ari blinked as if she hadn’t thought that far.

Soon after, there was a voice that seemed to have been agonizing over.

“……do one’s best?”

“…..”

“Wouldn’t that work? So, um, maybe there’s someone who’s been mentioned as the head of the subjugative force? So either you go to him and make a threatening conciliatory gesture to make him somehow give up the position…….”

“There’s no need to do that.”

Ari looked at me as if she were wondering what I was talking about. I spoke calmly.

“It is Count Ilada who has led the subjugation force of every Monster Raid so far. He is a well-known armed-man of the empire who is reputed to be a veteran.”

“Then let’s get him right now! No, but what do you mean we don’t have to?”

“The Count of Ilada…….”

This was why I thought that fate was playing a prank on me.

“Has been lying in bed. It hasn’t been that long.”

“Yes?”

“I heard that he was discovered with a chronic disease last year. Did he say he had a bad heart?”

“That means…”

Ari’s expression became subtle. She seemed confused about whether she should say it was good or sad news.

“And Count Ilada is the third to be mentioned in the Empire as an armed-man.”

Above it, the Crown Prince and Ash were fighting for the first and second, side by side.

Ari stayed still at my explanation and soon covered her mouth.

“Hold on. So, unless the Crown Prince moves himself…You’re saying eonni’s brother is more likely to be in charge of the subjugative force, right?”

“Maybe so.”

“Awesome!”

Ari jumped up. The chair was pushed loudly.

“This is really an opportunity! How does the situation fit so perfectly?”

Ari was a fuss in her place, and soon came close and grabbed my hand.

“You can run away!”

“…….”

“You can make it, eonni. It’s a chance. What you’ve been waiting for.”

It is, it is.

As Ari said, this situation was a long-awaited and hoped-for opportunity. It’s been quite a while.

So even if I’m happy, I should be happier than Ari, who was running around in front of me.

“Eonni.”

But what a strange thing.

“……eonni?”

The excitement gradually subsided from Ari’s expression, gesture and voice.

“You’re not happy………”

Even though I knew that Ari was looking at me with strange eyes, I couldn’t do anything.

I couldn’t smile. Neither amused nor excited.

‘Then the opportunity will come to find you.’

What I wanted to become a reality. As the old woman said, I was doing nothing and I had a chance.

But I wasn’t happy. I just sat still stupidly. Until I was worried about Ari’s face staring at me.

***

“Your Highness the Queen.”

The woman who was looking at the painting in the corridor turned her head.

Voracious, luxuriant red hair although the colour was a little dark and her amber eyes like jewels.

She was such a beautiful woman that it would be hard to guess her age without the fine wrinkles around her eyes. But her hawk eyes and cold facial expressions with a slightly raised tip made the woman’s impression like an ice sheet.