Chapter 27

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 27

Chapter Title: Friends Close, Enemies Closer

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I smiled softly and comforted Viscountess Filern.

"The Empress will soon soften her heart and take you back."

"I can only pray that's true. Sob!"

Viscountess Filern wept even more piteously.

Having been through it before, I could read her behavior patterns like the back of my hand.

I gave her exactly what she wanted to hear most.

"I might not be much of a substitute, but if you'd have me, I'll be your friend."

Just like the first time we'd met in the previous timeline.

"Would you be my friend, if it's alright with you?"

"Oh, I'd be honored, Your Highness the Grand Duchess."

Edith Filern teared up with emotion once again.

It was the exact same expression as last time.

But I hadn't forgotten. How that very same face had later fabricated crimes against me, denounced me, and twisted into something else entirely.

"Did you really think a fool like you would have a true friend who approached you sincerely? Just as Lady Evangeline said, you're naive and greedy to boot."

Viscountess Filern had been a spy planted at my side from the start, at Evangeline's instigation.

'It'll be the same this time, too.'

Her banishment from the Empress's palace was probably staged, as well.

It was too obvious—chased out in plain sight, only for the victim herself to linger around the Crown Prince's palace, begging to be seen.

No one could fail to suspect that.

I put on an innocent smile, hiding my true feelings, and said,

"I've been so busy with social duties that I don't have any friends. I'm thrilled!"

Keep your friends close. And your enemies even closer.

Especially when that enemy makes perfect bait to catch a bigger one.

After sending Viscountess Filern on her way,

I returned to the Ivory Bedroom feeling oddly subdued.

There sat someone I could have predicted, in an unexpected guise.

Only one person besides me could enter the Ivory Bedroom at will.

Arpad.

And the reason I called it unexpected was simple.

Because it truly was.

I stood there blankly for a moment, admiring Arpad's annoyingly handsome figure, then asked,

"Did you hear some rumor about my tastes running toward scholars?"

Arpad lifted his bespectacled eyes and frowned at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

That's right. Arpad was currently wearing glasses and reading a thick, leather-bound tome.

If you fancied scholars or intellectual men in specs, you'd melt on the spot.

Not my type, of course.

But... I had to admit, it was refreshingly novel.

I approached with quick steps and replied,

"Because there's no way someone with your eyesight would ever need glasses to read."

Dragon blood was remarkable—even Ludwig, whose lineage was diluted, had never caught so much as a cold.

His wounds healed at an astonishing rate, and his vision never faltered unless something catastrophic happened.

Arpad, with the purest bloodline, went without saying.

"Ah, so you're mocking me for wearing glasses to suit your tastes."

"Says the man who once dressed as a pretty boy to pry secrets out of me."

Arpad didn't get angry.

He just chuckled dryly, removed the glasses, and set them aside.

"More like I was testing normal human vision. I'm not familiar with ordinary senses."

A genuine exclamation escaped me.

"So annoying!"

"Why am I being scolded this time?"

"Your eyesight's so perfect, you put on ill-fitting glasses just to experience normal vision! It's like a rich person borrowing a poor man's home for a day out of curiosity about poverty!"

And I added one more feeling.

"Jealous!"

"Of what? Your vision's fine too, isn't it?"

True, for now it was.

My body felt vibrantly alive, my sight sharp. This was before Ludwig and Evangeline got to me.

'But before the regression, after all the suffering in the temple and prison, my vision went bad—how inconvenient that was!'

It was one reason I'd realized I'd regressed right away: my clear field of view.

I resolved anew.

'This time, I'll eat eye-healthy foods, take care of my body, and live healthily to 100!'

With three premature deaths under my belt, this was my top priority.

Knowing the plight of the nearsighted made Arpad's actions all the more infuriating.

Sensing my sincere grievance, Arpad offered an excuse.

"Vision that's too good has its downsides."

I shouted with 100% sincerity.

"The taller a man, the better—and the sharper the eyesight, the better!"

The haves would say,

"Not always."

"No way!"

"If you're too tall, your head keeps bumping doorframes."

"But palace doors are all tall and wide."

Arpad shrugged.

"Civilian buildings aren't so grand."

Poor nutrition kept commoners shorter on average, and taller ceilings or wider doors cost more.

A place Crown Prince Arpad rarely visited, but Mercenary King Gerald? Not unusual.

"Still, bad eyesight has no upsides!"

Squint because you can't see, get called grumpy for frowning—how heartbreaking is that?

Arpad stroked his smooth chin and replied quite seriously.

"You end up seeing things you don't want to."

"Unwanted sights?"

"Yeah. Like... the black pores and acne scars on grubby guys."

"...!"

"Or couples in the garden corner, too busy getting productive to care."

"...Fair enough."

Seeing that, even I'd want to gouge my eyes out.

It was a ridiculously trivial conversation, but surprisingly, Arpad seemed in better spirits.

A smile without twist or edge curved his lips.

"Why the grin?"

"First time I've beaten you in a war of words so easily."

"Anyone hearing that would think I always cheat to win."

"......"

I ignored Arpad's silence and glanced at the book he'd been reading.

"What were you looki... Oh, Founding History of the Estrid Empire? This one?"

It was a fine edition, with a red silk bookmark at his page.

A tale every citizen of the Estrid Empire knew.

"The dragon said. 'My one and only flower, my bride. The moment I saw you, I knew you could make me whole. Thus, I could not resist the instinct to claim you.'"

"......"

I closed the book casually and handed it back to Arpad.

Our eyes met, and I realized.

'He's watching me?'

He was definitely scrutinizing my reaction.

His gaze was sharply probing, nothing like the playful man from moments ago.

Tension crackled in the air.

Then Arpad reached out, grabbed my wrist, and took the book to open it again.

"I've loved this passage since I was a boy. It came to mind when I heard you mention Artanus and Estrid before the Emperor, so I was rereading it."

"I... see. ...Why this part?"

Arpad smirked faintly, his expression distant.

"I wished for one, too. An existence like that."

His fingertip tapped the printed words.

"A fated counterpart."

It was romantic.

But the eyes reciting those poetic lines spoke something else entirely.

"I wished for an existence... that could make me whole."

Arpad elaborated.

As if to ensure I wouldn't pretend not to understand.

"Someone who could pull me from my madness. I yearned for it desperately."

His inhuman blood-red eyes gleamed dangerously.

"And I always wondered. If such a being truly existed, could I recognize them at a glance, like Artanus?"

His slit pupils narrowed exceptionally thin.

Like needles, poised to pierce me.

"How lovable would they be? Or, if they appeared too late, utterly hateful."

So which was it for him?

Arpad asked like a snake dangling cheese before a mouse.

"What do you think? Should I love such an existence... or hate them?"

The hairs on my body stood on end all at once.

I couldn't help but wonder.

'Has Arpad already figured it out?'

Figured out what?

'That I'm the "bride" with the power to stabilize the madness of the dragon's bloodline.'