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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: The Tomb of Old Fairy Tales
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Chapter 4. The Tomb of Old Fairy Tales
The Dennique royal family had a legend that had been passed down for generations. It began on the day George von Dennique, the future founding monarch of the kingdom, was sailing the southern seas as a young boy and fell into the water.
George von Dennique was missing for a period of time no one could have possibly survived, only to be discovered on a southern beach. When he regained consciousness, George told the people that mermaids had been caring for him.
Mermaids.
A fantastical species thought to exist only in ancient times.
The people, who did not believe in the existence of such creatures, dismissed George’s words as nonsense. But when they went to the location George had described as the mermaids’ home, well—
A mine of incredibly high-purity magic stones was sitting right there!
If the magic power of a stone from the carcass of an orc or a giant boar was a 1, the magic power of the stones from that place was an outstanding 100. Thus, a rumor began to circulate that magic stones of such potency must have come from the bodies of mermaids.
And that what had cared for George von Dennique were the spirits of long-dead mermaids.
Thanks to that incident, George acquired the high-purity magic stones mined from that location and declared that it was all thanks to the ‘mermaids’ blessing.’
George von Dennique.
The one who received the mermaids’ blessing.
And later, George would conquer the Helenia Continent, which had been under the control of the Hixenbourg dynasty until then, and establish the Dennique dynasty.
…And so the legend ends.
Of course, whether George was ever truly missing, and even if he was, whether he actually met a mermaid, is impossible to know. Even if he did meet someone, wasn't it more likely to have been a kind-hearted, meddlesome old fisherman?
But when it comes to royal legends, tossing things like plausibility or realism out the window is standard practice. That’s the only way to make the claim, ‘Our dynasty is protected by such mystical beings! Aren’t you scared?’
Well, one way or another.
It seems it was true that the high-purity magic stone deposit existed, and it was also true that George became the founding monarch because of it. After all, other places where high-purity magic stones were mined, enough to be called ‘Mermaids’ Tombs,’ did exist. But only two more Mermaids’ Tombs were ever discovered after that.
And the princes who discovered those two sites, despite both being second in line to the throne, became kings, accompanied by rumors that they were ‘those who had gained the mermaids’ protection.’ Though it was likely more due to the immense wealth the magic stones from those deposits would bring than any mermaid’s blessing.
Eventually, the symbolic story that whoever discovers a ‘Mermaids’ Tomb’ becomes king became firmly established, and princes and princesses became obsessed with finding these magic stone deposits.
But for several hundred years, no other high-purity magic stone deposits had been found beyond those three…
To think that one of the few ‘Mermaids’ Tombs’ on this continent just so happened to be located on the tiny strip of coastal land that Viscount Wedgwood had inherited.
“Isn’t it astonishing?”
At Eric’s words, I struggled to maintain a serious expression and replied.
“It really is. A piece of land like that…”
“Surely you’re not thinking it would be nice if you could sell it off?”
Eric had perfectly read my thoughts from the moment I first saw that document. I flinched and gave an awkward smile.
“Hey, of course not. If it’s a Mermaids’ Tomb, not just Prince Robert but the princess herself would come rushing to seize it…”
I was tempted, but because of the symbolic meaning attached to the Mermaids’ Tomb, I obviously hadn’t even dreamed of it. Besides, that coastal land was drowning in debt anyway.
‘But how on earth did Young Lord Eric find out about this?’
I grew curious but decided not to dig any deeper and instead spoke of the more pressing issue.
“The problem, however, is that the coastal land exists in name only. The money borrowed against it as collateral is owed to so many different places that even the loan sharks aren't sure who exactly holds the lien…”
“Wedgwood borrowed money using that land as collateral?”
Eric tilted his head. I nodded.
“Then even if you regain the rights to the collateral, you won’t be able to sell it again for a year. And you can’t transfer the title to Prince Robert, either.”
“Regain the rights to the collateral?”
My eyes widened. Eric then spoke as if he found me absurd.
“If you pay back the money, you can naturally regain the rights to the collateral. You said the title is still active, didn't you? With many creditors, determining the priority of claims might be complicated, but it’s not entirely impossible.”
“…?”
Then why did the Duke try to kill us? No, why *did* he kill us?
“But even if you regain the rights, once the title is transferred, you can’t sell it again for a year. It’s a law to prevent profligate nobles from selling off lands passed down from their ancestors.”
Could it be—
He needed the coastal land immediately, but found out ownership was scattered among loan sharks, and even if he went through the trouble of reclaiming it, he would have to wait a year after the title transfer before he could use it—
‘So it would have caused a hitch in his contract with Robert.’
And rather than explaining the whole situation, persuading Helena, paying off the debt on our family’s coastal land, and having her sell the Mermaids’ Tomb to Robert, he figured it would be better to just kill us and handle it himself…
Wow…
To a noble like the Duke, a family of swindlers like us was no more than a fly to be swatted?
“Haha…”
That rotten son of a bitch.
I clenched my fists.
Hearing the hollow laugh escape from between my teeth, Eric’s face crumpled.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know if I should say this in front of the Young Lord, but your father is utter human scum.”
I expected Eric to shout at me right then and there, but he remained silent. Then, with a bitter expression, he answered.
“If all of this is true, then of course he is. He must be punished.”
Huh? Punished?
I furrowed my brow.
After all, if the Duke were to be charged with treason and murder, the entire ducal family’s fortune could be confiscated by the royal family.
“Wait, hold on. You’re going to reveal this? Not some ending where we sweep it under the rug and you help my family escape in exchange for our silence?”
“Are you insane? If a crime is committed, there must be punishment.”
Eric spoke like a stubborn old man. I let out a dry laugh.
“Ha. Didn’t you say you’re not a fan of poetic justice anymore?”
“Evil must be fought with evil.”
He looked me over again, his face as if lost in thought. Seriously, why did he keep sizing me up like that?
“And from what I can see, there is no villain more trustworthy than you, Imeline.”
“Huh…?”
Eric suddenly knelt before me. I tilted my head.
Just then, the lights in the dark garden began to flicker on, one by one. Eric’s shadowed face gradually brightened.
Ah? The lights are coming on at the time the Duke prearranged?
Fearing someone in the now-brightening garden might see us, I hastily looked around.
“Why are you sitting there like that? Get up. If someone sees…”
If someone sees, they’ll think the picture I took yesterday was real.
I thought of the photograph of Eric and me that I’d had developed at the photo shop before coming here.
Why, of all moments, did that picture pop into my head? Eric’s sculpted torso. Me, straddling him. And Eric’s slightly parted lips.
I looked at Eric’s red lips, which were identical to the ones in the photo.
Every time I saw him, his appearance stirred a strange feeling from the pit of my stomach.
‘This must be what they call a wicked thought…’
I mumbled, my eyes fixed on his lips.
“This could easily be… misunderstood… perfect for a scam…”
Despite my muttering, Eric began to speak.
“In any case, I must prevent the deed to the coastal land from falling into my father’s hands, and you must prevent your mother from marrying my father. And their wedding is less than two days away.”
“Yes, well, that’s right…?”
Eric’s words snapped me back to reality, and I replied.
The moment our eyes met, Eric’s cheeks and ears turned as red as if they were on fire. Like someone who had been caught.
But caught doing what?
The Eric I had seen so far seemed to have nothing to be caught for. He was a good man, so naive he was almost foolish, one who would choose poetic justice over his family’s well-being.
‘So why is he acting so flustered in front of me?’
Eric cleared his throat and, now sweating profusely, said.
“I’m about to make a very strange proposal, and I need you to accept it. Because I desperately need your help, and it seems you do as well.”
“Just say it. Why has your face been so red this whole time…”
You’re making my face turn red, too!
“Speak quietly!”
“I am speaking quietly…?”
He was the one doing all the talking.
I glared at Eric, dumbfounded. Don’t his knees hurt, kneeling like that?
Eric finally opened his mouth.
“There’s only one way to stop a wedding that’s less than two days away. You become my wife, not my sister.”
The words Eric spoke, while he poured with sweat, didn’t immediately register in my ears. I asked blankly.
“What did you say?”
But as if he didn’t even hear my question, Eric clenched his teeth like an angry man and pulled something from his coat.
It was a small box, of a size that even a person passing by in a carriage could tell what was inside if they glanced out the window.
‘Oh, no way…’
I felt a chill run down my spine as my eyes widened.
“Of course, it’s a scam, a scam marriage, but I believe marriage is sacred, and a marriage requires a proposal…”
“Uh, uh, wait… just a moment…?”
This wasn’t the development I wanted…!
But despite my waving hands, Eric stubbornly continued.
“Will you marry me, Imeline Wedgwood?”
I had to clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming. But a curse had already slipped past my teeth.
“You crazy bastard!”
Eric’s expression crumpled beautifully.
✵ ✵ ✵
Behind the ballroom was a private lounge reserved exclusively for the royal family.
Princess Ella, having been dancing for some time, had entered the lounge to take a short break, but she was not alone. Sitting awkwardly beside her was a twenty-year-old noble scion who had just made his debut this year.
Ella looked at him as if he were adorable and asked.
“Are you nervous…?”
“Pardon? Ah, no. I mean… yes. This is, this is the first time I’ve met someone of such high station…”
“And not beautiful?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking if I’m only of high station to you.”
Ella chuckled and picked up her glass. The young noble, sweating buckets, hastily replied.
“N-No! You are beautiful! You are so very beautiful, Your Highness!”
Ella watched him fiercely, like a hunter with prey in its sights. She had no intention of letting this prey escape alive.
Ella set down her glass and cupped the young man’s cheek. Just as she leaned in to take a sip of his lips…
“Forgive the intrusion, Your Highness.”
Someone burst into the private room.
Ella glared at the intruder with annoyance. There stood Eric Orleans, staring back at her and the half-dressed young noble with a blank expression.
Just as Ella was about to grit her teeth and kick Eric out, the crimson-faced young man spoke first, gathering his coat.
“I-I was looking for the washroom and came in here by mistake! I, I really…!”
“N-No… wait…!”
But before Ella could stop him, the young noble was gone in a flash.
As soon as he left, Ella shouted at Eric.
“What do you think you’re doing…? And after I helped you and that cute red-headed girl earlier?”
Ella clutched the back of her neck. To lose such a cute boy when he was right within her grasp!
Eric said firmly.
“This is urgent.”
“If it’s not truly urgent, I’ll have you locked up for three days for trespassing in the royal chambers. Then you won’t even be able to attend your father’s wedding!”
Despite Ella’s furious voice, Eric didn’t bat an eye.
“Please compose your attire. I did not come alone.”
“Then who did you come with?”
Ella asked irritably, slumping onto the now-empty sofa as if to lie down. Just then, the door to the room opened a little wider, and a shock of red hair appeared in the gap.
“…?”
Ella narrowed her eyes at the hair.
Red hair and brown eyes… Ah, the woman who was to become Eric’s sister. The one who had looked so precarious after being confronted by that audacious marquess’s daughter earlier, before fleeing the scene…
Ella stared silently at the face of the woman whose name she couldn’t quite recall, and rose from her seat.
Just then, the woman suddenly knelt before Ella.
“Please give… the Young Lord to me!”
“…?”
With a thud, the woman’s knees hit the floor. Eric’s face contorted. He urgently whispered to the kneeling woman.
“I know what you’re thinking… but that’s not how you do it. Get up, Imeline Wedgwood.”
Ah, right.
Imeline Wedgwood.
That was her name, she thought.
✵ ✵ ✵
“This isn’t how I do it? Why not…? You said I had to get the princess’s permission, didn’t you?”
As I muttered, Eric ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. He looked as if he had a headache.
“Why on earth would you ask for permission like that…? Get up.”
Eric took my hand and pulled me to my feet.
His gaze lingered for a brief moment on my dress and shoes. But it was only for a moment.
My attention was immediately stolen by what the princess said next.
“What do you plan to do with him after you take him?”
The princess naturally referred to the Young Lord of Orleans as ‘him.’ So, were the two of them really in that kind of relationship?
Fearing I might get on the bad side of the notoriously jealous princess, I hunched my shoulders and said.
“Um… I plan to use him well and return him…”
‘Because this is a scam marriage, you see?’
A scam marriage.
The grand spectacle that would ruin the marriage Eric had proposed to me was none other than a marriage between Eric and me.
‘Was it something to curse about? Marrying me? I heard I’m the kind of man people want to marry, you know…?’
‘Wow… Did you see the rankings in that tabloid poll? I didn’t know someone like you reads those things, Young Master.’
‘Speak quietly, quietly.’
‘I am speaking quietly…?’
Eric, his face beet red, continued.
He said the Duke likely held more than one or two of my family’s secrets. If the Duke started to use those weaknesses, our family could be isolated on this vast continent without a single ally. It meant that even if my mother broke off the engagement and ran, the Duke wouldn’t just let her go.
So, from my perspective, breaking this engagement and protecting my family, while at the same time creating an important witness for Eric and preventing the Mermaids’ Tomb from falling into the Duke’s hands, there was only one way.
‘I will protect you and your family until we uncover all of my father’s secrets. With marriage. Didn’t you say you were thinking of becoming my strategist? It’ll be easier if you think of it as a kind of contract.’
If it’s a contract, why is your face so red?
Eric took out the ring and with a trembling hand, he slipped it onto my finger…
…is what I’d like to say, but he actually pressed it firmly into my palm.
‘If you’re willing to work with me, take it.’
How long did it take? About five seconds?
That’s how long it took for me to put on the ring without a word of complaint.
‘Yep.’
My reason for putting on the ring certainly included the many factors Eric mentioned, but the most important reason I decided to side with him was—
Eric Orleans is a good man, and a good man can never outmatch a bad one.
I, on the other hand, am a bad woman. And I’m confident I can use him to my heart’s content and then toss him aside.
But… was Eric really the princess’s property?
“What nonsense is this? Am I an object? There’s a limit to your jests.”
Eric spoke firmly to the princess. In response, the princess shrugged her shoulders and smiled.
“Why? She asked for you first. You’re not an object, but she must have a use for you, right? Whether for decoration, for emergency rations, or to satisfy certain… primal human urges.”
“Your Highness.”
Eric turned his head away.
I, however, was rather impressed by the princess’s colorful language and directness.
‘Wow, I want to be friends with her. Now that’s an expression born from life experience.’
Of course, a friendship between the princess and me was likely impossible.
“That is enough. I did not come here to jest.”
At Eric’s words, the princess’s playful tone vanished, replaced by an icy voice.
“I’m not jesting either. The woman who was supposed to be your sister knelt before me and asked for you. How could this possibly be a jest? This is something that will turn the entire capital upside down. So what’s the problem with me asking about your use?”
The princess stared at me intently with a completely changed gaze.
Her sharp expression made it seem as if the playful and cheerful demeanor she had shown during the audience was all an act.
“Imeline Wedgwood. A woman as passionate as her hair color, I see?”
Feeling as if my whole body was freezing over, I couldn’t even bring myself to look at the princess and swallowed hard.
The princess leaned back against the sofa again, almost lying down. Eric sat me down in the chair across from her.
“Now, it’s been entertaining enough so far, but not enough for me to forgive you for interrupting my pleasant time. So speak plainly now, Miss Imeline Wedgwood. What do you intend to do with this man, Eric Orleans?”
Princess Ella’s eyes flashed.
Just as the princess’s gaze felt like it was strangling me, Eric reached out his hand to me. I looked at him with a puzzled expression. He then said in a low voice.
“Give it to me. That document.”
At Eric’s words, I blinked. I whispered to him.
“Are you serious?”
Seriously, can a person be this sincere? Lily said he was the same on the inside as he was on the outside, but this much? He’s really going to give this to the princess? A secret of his own family?
Feeling sweat trickle down my back, I pulled the document from my dress. Then I looked at Eric pleadingly.
Aren’t we both going to get our heads chopped off here if I hand this over? In the end, the Orleans family is in league with Prince Robert!
Eric pried my fingers, which were gripping the document tightly, open one by one and took it from me. He then held it out to the princess.
“You must read this.”
It didn’t take long for the princess to read through the document.
“Wow, Baldeck Orleans. And to think I had a soft spot for him, my handsome older man… What a disappointment.”
The princess muttered.
Handsome older man…?
Is that how princesses normally talk?
Putting the document down, the princess crossed her legs and looked at Eric.
“And yet, you brought this to me?”
My thoughts exactly.
I pounded my chest inwardly.
“This document, which could serve as evidence of your family’s treason at a time when Robert is embezzling from the state treasury? This very document, which you took back with you last time, you’re bringing it again?”
I looked at Eric.
What are you going to do now? You have a plan, right? Huh? Say you have one.
