C128
Two mornings later, a letter arrived for me.
The content of the letter was not very different from the others mixed among the large number of letters wishing to buy magic stones.
However, the phrase attached as a postscript at the end of the letter was the key point.
["Soon I will enter the palace, so if I am lucky, perhaps I can visit you."]
The person who sent the letter was a man named Jan Asitar, who claimed to run a small business, but in reality, there was no person named Jan Asitar.
That's because it's a fictional character I created to communicate secretly with Tara.
Tara. The last image of her being dragged by Elliot and his gang in the Wandering Forest passed through my mind.
There is only one reason for Tara to come to the imperial palace: Liena invited her.
Regardless of whether I had doubts about Tara or not, Liena seemed to have decided to use her.
After thinking for a moment, I took a pen and wrote a response to Jan Asitar.
Of course, what I really wanted to say this time was in the postscript.
["Well, I look forward to the day when I can meet Mr. Asitar."]
Welcome, Tara. However...
["But are you sure about your purchase? As you know, since they are high-quality magic stones, it is questionable whether small-scale traders can afford the cost."]
Are you firm in your intention to betray Liena and join me?
On the surface, it was about buying magic stones, but Tara would definitely recognize the hidden meaning.
I sent a response to the address written in Jan Asitar's letter.
Perhaps because both here and there were outside the capital, Tara's response did not take long to arrive.
["Yes, I know very well that it is not a small amount. So, if you take into consideration my situation, I will do my best to repay your kindness."]
At first, it seemed like she was trying to negotiate the price of the magic stones.
I want to return the favor. That's what Tara wanted to tell me.
"Divine beast, can someone once released from Liena's blessing be caught again?"
In response to my question, the divine beast, who was sitting by the window and engaging in a staring battle with the birds on the branches, looked at me.
"In theory, it is possible. It is possible for my master who has her own blessing, but it would be difficult for others to resist."
"Mmm."
As I pondered the words of the divine beast, I thought of Tara. Whether to use her or not.
I couldn't examine her eyes closely at that moment, but Tara was probably released from Liena's blessing when she first contacted me in the Wandering Forest.
At that moment, I unintentionally reminded Tara of her main goal of revenge and made her reflect on herself.
"Judging by the fact that she sent me this letter, Tara must still be sober."
However, there was no way to know what would happen if she continued to be by Liena's side.
The divine beast saw my serious expression and opened its mouth again.
"It's difficult to fight, but that doesn't mean it's impossible."
"Is there any way?"
"If you distrust the person blessing you, the effectiveness of the blessing will be weakened."
"... I suppose that's also true."
"Did you know?"
"I wasn't aware of it, but I suspected that this time it might have been due to the use of blessings against Iver's employees."
Last time, it took me a long time to remove the blessing from an employee who was particularly rude to me.
He was the liaison person connecting the Iver guild and Liena.
In essence, except for Cecil and Elliot, he was the person who had the most contact with Liena in Iver.
"I guess it wasn't simply because Liena's power remained strong that he rebelled."
"A person's will cannot be easily ignored."
"That's right. Cecil had a heart for the people of Iver, so he could escape from Liena's blessing relatively quickly."
Looking back, they were also like that.
Elliot, who was in agony after meeting Count Miloam and Duke Cassius after reading his wife's letter, and Tara, who had been harboring a desire for revenge for a long time.
The fact that they returned to their senses after being with Liena for so many years was not only possible thanks to my blessing but also because something resonated within them.
"Well. Let's trust Tara's will."
Moreover, isn't it worth it anyway?
Even if Tara were to fall back under Liena, there wasn't much to lose.
Tara will only give me information about Liena, but she won't know my important information.
I thought I should be careful about the possibility that Tara, whose mind had been brainwashed, might give incorrect information.
After sending a letter to Jan Asitar wishing him the best for the future, I called Laura aside.
"From now on, if you receive something suspicious, send it to me."
"Something suspicious?"
"Whether it's a letter, an object, or some nonsense that someone muttered, anything is fine."
Among those working in the villa, Laura was the only girl I brought from outside.
"If Tara has something to tell me."
It would be difficult to approach me directly due to the opinions of others, so there was a high possibility that they would go through Laura.
While waiting for Tara to communicate with me, I dealt with everything I had to do one by one.
Soon, the magic stones from the Lucibiu mine began to be extracted seriously, and I delivered them to the Imperial Family Asteroth according to the terms of the contract.
Up until that moment, no one was discontented, but the problem came afterward.
After the imperial family, the next person I sold magic stones to was the Kingdom of Leok.
There were subtle criticisms towards me, asking why I was giving it to a foreign country when I didn't even think about selling it in the empire, but I thought it was absurd.
"If you're not satisfied, could you have helped me get a divorce?"
While most of the nobles of the Empire saw my divorce as a source of entertainment and enjoyed it, the Leok ambassador's family expressed their support and showed me warm kindness.
Among the many letters addressed to me, it was natural for me to choose the letter from Ambassador Leok, who had been sent as an ambassador representing his country.
I completely ignored what others were saying, and at some point, the critical article disappeared.
It seemed that many people had realized that if they messed with me more and I went to the Kingdom of Leok, only the empire would suffer.
Then, one day, while choosing my next business partner, Laura handed me a small note.
"It was in my pocket before I knew it!"
Tara seemed to have good dexterity.
Unlike Jan Asitar's letter, the note got straight to the point.
Tara said that the mission she received from Liena was to investigate me.
Furthermore, Liena seemed to have a plan, but not even Tara knew the details of the plan.
"Well, she's not foolish. There's no way she can easily tell someone she once doubted..."
But if you were going to hide it, you had to hide it completely.
I raised the corners of my mouth and focused on the last sentence written in the note.
Recently, I exchanged secret letters with someone named Herciso.
Tara didn't seem to understand his identity, but I did.
Because Herciso is a character that appears several times in the novel.
One of the talents to strike, the con artist Herciso.
He is a master of disguise with a thousand faces, in the past, he was a criminal caught in the Duchy of Cassius while committing fraud in various places by falsifying his identity.
Although he was destined to receive severe punishment, Liena gave him a new life and noticed his skills.
Unlike Tara, who helped Liena by her side and received orders mainly to gather short-term information, Herciso was assigned long-term infiltration missions.
And where Herciso is currently hiding is.
"The Temple."
In other words, Liena's plan was related to the temple.
Otherwise, there was no reason to contact Herciso and risk his identity being revealed to the temple.
I tapped the desk with my fingers and thought about it.
"The temple..."
According to the content of <Return and walk on a path of flowers>, this was the time when Liena was in the midst of a conflict with the temple.
Right at that moment, Liena reveals that she is the owner of the Iver guild and makes a large donation. To a general charity, not the temple.
Normally, it was customary to make donations of that amount to the temple, so the temple openly showed its displeasure.
As Liena disliked the temple, which consciously or unconsciously looked down on Duke Cassius as a descendant of demons, the relationship deteriorated rapidly.
The active person at that time was Herciso, who had infiltrated the temple long ago under Liena's orders.
"But is it still like that now that the circumstances have changed?"
First of all, I didn't think that Liena, who declared me an enemy a few days ago, would necessarily increase her enemies.
She must be busy dealing with me and Terence right now, so there's no way she can afford to cause friction with the temple.
Moreover, I was concerned that the temple was the only source of high-quality magic stones besides me.
If the Iver guild were still active, this would be the next business Liena would have attempted.
"Certainly, she would need a lot of magic stones."
Based on this evidence, I came to a conclusion completely opposite to the novel.
Liena is trying to join the temple.
"Now that Duke Birod's power has been broken, the greatest support Mikhail can have is the temple."
That night, after hearing my assumption, Terence responded thoughtfully.
"We'll find out privately."
However, the person who really gave me clues about Liena's plan was neither Terence nor Tara but a completely unexpected person.
"So we have to work together to stop that nasty witch!"
A few days later, a man who secretly called me hit the table and complained.
"Whether it's a rabbit or a leech, it seems like it's going to ruin our family!"
That person was Roland Cassius, who was said to have returned to his home in the Cassius Territory.
"Viscountess Lucibiu! The only person I can trust is you, who freed me from the evil black magic!"
... For some reason, this was the first time I wasn't so happy that others trusted me.
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