Lost In Character: Transmigration Chronicles Of A Nameless Heroine 32 Monarchs

He didn't even question it. Leal would never understand many of the Lysean King's methods nor his reasons for doing the things he did – even if someone explained them to him in great detail, which his father himself certainly would not.

For example, this information he was offering the Arnican Queen, which was in exchange for a bride who might one day sit two thrones. It was about what happened behind the scenes in the northern states, which had resulted in the Warlord of Askari nearly completing his sincerely-wished-for defection only to be betrayed by his own men before any deal was sealed. Specifically, it was about who had orchestrated it all.

Queen Heloise had said that this information could have been offered in good faith, if Lys had been so inclined. Offered without any strings attached, in other words, which Leal absently thought was a strange thing for any ruling monarch to expect from anyone, let alone from another monarch.

But he was more concerned about how it was only being offered NOW, after Arnica was already suffering the extreme consequences of the northerners' thoroughly-executed plot.

King Madelon would have been justified in not offering it without asking for anything substantial in return, but if he'd had possession of this knowledge even before the fatal events had taken place, then withholding it from Arnica was undoubtedly a malicious and predatory move. It meant he himself had indirectly contributed in the incapacitation of the Queendom, and now, before the northerners could make their next move, King Madelon had swooped in, attempting to secure a piece of the prey for himself.

Such a thing… Leal had a mind capable of reasoning it out. Intellectually, the logic made sense to him. But as for understanding the ruthlessness necessary to make that choice, of waiting until the tragedy had struck and not acting before it did – he was certain any attempt to wrap his head around it will only end in more confusion.

Inside that small, pink-themed sitting room, which appeared to be seldom used by anyone judging from the outdated yet pristine quality of the couches and cus.h.i.+ons, Princess Hilde's attendant dropped her not-quite-all-there act in favor of a bland persona.

He didn't know exactly at what skill level she was as a spy, but she was certainly good enough to have avoided his early detection. His distraction had nothing to do with that, he was sure.

Still, having already failed at exercising caution, Leal's first act upon entering the room was to scan the surrounding, first to memorize its layout so that he'll be able to navigate it in case he needed to fight, and second to check if it was secure.

He didn't give the second task as much importance. It was on the female spy to ensure the security of the place she chose. Knowing he'd been contacted in person for a reason – which he a.s.sumed was urgent enough for them to risk being seen together – he waited for her next move.

Matter-of-fact, the spy led him to a standing table in the middle of the room and fished out a square-inch piece of paper and a fine-tipped pencil. She then began scribbling coded words in a tiny hand. He handed it to Leal, gave him a moment to read and decipher it, confirmed with him that he understood the information, and took the paper back so she could swallow it.

She was smiling up at him as she did so. Leal decided that if he and Hilde ever got around to marrying each other, this attendant of hers was going to have to go.

"I'll have to go spread rumors about you now, Prince," she declared, practically skipping on her way to the door, exaggeratingly sneaky in her care not to be spotted by a random pa.s.serby. In case someone did see her, she'd only look like the usual servant who had been s.h.i.+rking her duties and was now trying not to get caught. If she was already a well-known gossip on top of that…

Leal had to pause a moment to grudgingly appreciate her tactics. The question remained: how in the world was this woman still employed here?

***

The door closed. Once he was out of sight, Hilde sought to drive all thoughts of Leal from her mind, despite the chance she'd get h.e.l.l for the evasion later. Seeing him with the Queen had renewed her fears about the reason he came to Arnica, and that fear mixing with what was already brewing in her chest made her lose control.

'Grace Under Pressure' was the skill she had "failed to consolidate" when she was still in the Cube as Yong Fan Shu. As Hilde, she was finding out more and more how useful that would have been. This day alone, it was one pressure on top of another for this Princess, or was it just her?

Then Leal just had to further complicate things. That hadn't been the first time she felt disarmed when their eyes met, but when it did again moments ago, there wasn't only surprise, there was also an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu. She got this odd certainty that someone else used to look at her that way: a mixture of exasperation and – should she dare say? – of worry.

The frustrating thing was, she couldn't recall whom he reminded her of in that fleeting instant. It was certainly not Lothar, who possessed a lackadaisical nature that, among other things, meant he rarely got exasperated with her.

Lothar was the kind of person who wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone unless there was a need to, but he also had little concept of what could or couldn't get another person hurt. For instance, he had once told Hilde to practice a set of sword swings a thousand times a day, every day, until he could once again return to Oste and check up on how she was progressing.

Lothar did that because he knew it to be a good way to improve, but he failed to take into account if Hilde was already at a stage where she could handle the grueling exercise. He just wanted her to have something to focus on while he was gone.

This was during the earlier days, when he had just joined the Prince's Guards. He returned two weeks later to find his eight-year-old student beaten down, having failed to complete a thousand sets even once but still stubbornly trying. Until he saw her condition, he had no idea this was what the regimen he gave could do to her.

You'd think he'd learn from that and never set too high a bar for his student again, but seeing how she did improve in leaps despite failing to meet the daily quota, he did variations of the same thing every so often.

He also did more things that pushed Hilde to her limits. When sparring with her, he held back only as much as he might against a soldier trainee closer to his own age.

This was all to say that Lothar never expressed worry for her wellbeing either. If he thought there was a chance Hilde could accomplish something, no matter how difficult, he'll have her try it out – sometimes, out of a childlike curiosity if nothing else.

Alone in the private study, Hilde remained where she stood and the Queen walked around her desk.

"What from you, sister?" she said.

"Please tell me it's not true," Hilde answered at once, trailing her gaze on the older woman, waiting for her to look up. Queen Heloise didn't do so until she reached a seat for two people, placed under one of the side-facing windows.

"Come closer," said the Queen in a soft, uninflected tone. "Let me look at you."

Still riding a wave of urgency despite the brief distraction earlier, the younger woman shook her head. "Queen—"

"Please, Hilde," her elder sister interrupted. Though her voice's volume didn't change, its sudden sharpness brooked no argument.

Hilde's patience snapped. She approached the seat in quick strides, surprising the Queen who, if Hilde had to guess based on how the sisters interacted in the past, must have expected tortured hesitance. The next instance, the Queen broke into a flat smile.

"Who are you and what have you done to my sister?"

The words that had sounded all-too-knowing nearly made her stop dead in her tracks. 'What is it NOW?' Hilde thought, her eyes wide, her heart trying to burst out of her ribcage. And though she continued walking, she faltered a bit and just managed to catch her balance.

Seeing that, the humor in Queen Heloise's eyes disappeared.

"There's the Hilde I know," she said, interpreting Hilde's panic for fear. "You should still be resting now, though I can guess why you stormed your way here."

Hilde stopped before the couch but didn't sit in the s.p.a.ce her sister left for her.

Getting her thoughts back on track, she baldly stated, "They are calling you a coward."

"They?"

The Queen merely smiled serenely. It left Hilde at a loss.

"Only one man," she clarified. "But nearly everyone who heard him agreed. Are they correct? Are you not going to declare war?"

Instead of answering, the Queen slowly took Hilde's wrist so she could guide her down into sitting. All this while, she maintained her smile. The younger woman could do nothing but move along and try being graceful about it, despite feeling rebellious.

"Aunt Ilse had asked me about your education," the Queen finally said.

Hearing that, Hilde was at once touched and mortified. 'Oh, Aunt!'

"Now's not the best time," her sister went on, "but I might as well start on that. What if I say, Princess, that I am merely waiting?"

Due to the chair's narrowness, Hilde sat very close to her sister – something she was not used to doing. Though uncomfortable, she asked, "Waiting for what?"

'Surely not to be deposed?' she added privately, eager for her suspicions to be proved wrong.

Because unless she missed her mark, a certain group of people was starting to get a certain idea into their heads. Hilde for one wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

If the Queen caught wind of it, however... would she believe the same?