I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess – Chapter 186

This news spread quickly throughout the region, including Hildak.

Normally, it would have taken some time for the rumor to reach Hespania, but the situation was different when it came to the Robeheim Family.

The spies dispatched to the capital, along with the acquaintances from their family who visited, often brought up this topic.

A prominent individual was this woman.

“Did you come all the way from that far away just to share this news?”

“Not exactly. I just thought I’d bring it up since I had some interesting information while passing by.”

Silvia responded with a cheerful smile, shaking her head at Ariel, who asked with a faint smile.

In fact, she hadn’t originally lived in Hildak.

However, she had a lover named Hagel, and coincidentally, his family home was near Hildak.

That evening, Hagel had witnessed a beam of light being shot up from nearby and relayed the news the next day, which brought Silvia to visit the Robeheim Family on this third day.

“I had heard the news earlier. So it seems you did see Hagel after all.”

“Right. But what could it be? It’s not just anywhere; it’s happening with the Bertus Family…”

Regarding this, people had varied opinions.

Some religious individuals said that the God of Light, Artilion, had come down for a moment at night, and that his location just happened to be near the mountains. Others claimed it was merely a shooting star spotted from afar, which had been misinterpreted as something rising up from below.

Anyway, there was no concrete explanation for that situation.

Silvia, who was quite sharp in such matters, couldn’t pinpoint anything either.

So she thought maybe Ariel could provide a good suggestion, which was partly why she brought it up.

“Well, considering he’s known as the Empire’s number one magician… maybe there was an accident during a magic experiment?”

However, contrary to Silvia’s expectations, Ariel’s answer was rather mainstream, something anyone could guess.

Of course, many would say that this was the most reasonable assumption, but Silvia thought differently.

“I thought so at first, but after hearing the latest rumors, my mind has changed a bit.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“I heard that the Emperor called that man recently to ask about the incident. They claimed they didn’t know anything about it.”

“Why?”

Ariel returned the question with a subtle smile, as if she had some interesting fact to share.

It felt less like she was curious for more details from Silvia and more like someone with the answer was watching someone else guess earnestly.

“Doesn’t it feel strange? If it were just an accident during an experiment, they would probably be straightforward about it. Besides, there are only a few eyewitnesses, including the residents of the capital, so why deny it…?”

What she meant was that if it were a trivial matter, they might have even been willing to reveal it openly. In other words, they clearly had something to hide, which made them completely ignore it.

At this, Ariel nodded as if she’d found a reasonable answer and tilted her teacup.

There hadn’t been many days recently when she’d felt the tea tasted good, but listening to Silvia made her feel like a decade-old blockage was finally clearing up.

“But why have you been smiling strangely since earlier? Is something good happening?”

Silvia, who had been watching Ariel with a peculiar look, pointed out the oddity she had felt for a while.

It wasn’t so much of a criticism but rather a suggestion to share the happiness if something good was indeed happening since Ariel’s smile had yet to leave her lips.

“Let’s see. Maybe it’s because Sonia is visiting the castle lately? It’s just making me feel good.”

“Oh right, Edgar’s sister is here. Where is she?”

“I saw her this morning before I dropped by the office… she might be playing with that guy.”

“That guy?”

Ariel’s reference seemed very distant compared to how everyone around her called him by name.

As Silvia cocked her head in confusion, Ariel, seeming a bit annoyed at the need to further explain, quickly summoned Shuri, who had been standing outside.

“Did you call, Miss?”

“Yes. Do you know where Sonia is right now?”

“She’s probably with the Lady. Recently, new clothes came in, and I think the Lady wants to gift something to Sonia…”

Although Shuri usually seemed a bit absent-minded, she was quick to answer since she was well-informed about most happenings inside the castle.

“Oh, I see. I want to check it out too.”

“Since we’re on the topic, do you want to go together? I’ve been meaning to see this girl Sonia at least once.”

“Shall we?”

Since Silvia had come, Ariel had the thought of taking a break for the day anyway. Plus, it had been quite dull just chatting, so this gave her the perfect excuse to see Edgar without having to search for him.

“Then Shuri, I’ll go meet Sonia with Silvia, so you go call Edgar and meet us there.”

“You’re talking about the Young Master, right? He’s probably in the middle of work right now…”

Shuri knew better than anyone how serious Edgar was with his tasks. It would be tough to persuade him to make time for something casual.

As Shuri showed reluctance, Ariel replied confidently, lifting one corner of her mouth.

“Who would oppose when the Young Lady commands? Just tell him to take the day off today.”

“Yes…”

Shuri quietly agreed, clearly intimidated by Ariel’s tone, and cautiously left the reception room.

In the end, it was entirely up to her to disguise the urgency and summon him.

But what can you do? This is the life of a user filled with ups and downs.

* * * * * * *

At the sudden call, Edgar quickly donned his outer coat and followed Shuri to where Ariel was waiting.

As soon as he arrived, he saw Sonia standing proudly in the center, surrounded by women who seemed to be attending to her.

The issue was that those women were nothing short of dazzling.

“Sonia, how about this dress? I think it would look great on you.”

“Oh my, Ariel. This dress seems much better for Sonia, don’t you think?”

“No, I think Sonia might actually look good in something that resembles Edgar.”

One after another, Ariel, Helene, and Silvia were trying to entice Sonia, each holding up a dress, making Edgar rub his eyes as if he wasn’t seeing correctly.

“Oh, you’re here? Don’t just stand there; find a dress that would suit Sonia.”

Even amidst all the attention she was giving Sonia, Ariel spotted Edgar’s arrival first.

However, realizing it did not mean she welcomed him; instead, she hurriedly pointed to the endless array of clothes and ordered him to find one.

‘You want me to find among all these clothes?’

With a dry chuckle, Edgar approached the rack displaying various clothing.

He had come to ask Ariel about something, but with the chaos unfolding, he wondered what kind of mess he had stepped into. Still, he thought that this noisy day wasn’t so bad after all.

“Ugh… I’ll go with this dress!”

“Hehe, I knew Sonia had an eye for fashion, just like Katria!”

In the midst of it all, Sonia picked one of the dresses that caught her eye, which was a sky-blue dress confidently presented by Helene, perfectly matching Sonia’s lively personality.

While Sonia changed into the selected dress, Edgar finally made his way over to Ariel to speak.

He had only greeted Helene and Silvia at that moment.

“What in the world is going on? What are all these clothes?”

“I think it’s because Mother asked the tailor to get some dresses made for Sonia. I only found out later.”

“Seriously… these aren’t just common clothes.”

Of course, while there might be items for sale, he noticed that even with a bit of cash, one might only get one or two accessories.

After all, at this age, even these valuable dresses would soon be replaced.

However, Edgar couldn’t bring himself to say that in front of Helene.

After all…

“It seems Sonia has started to like these kinds of dresses, unlike when Ariel was younger. Hehe, maybe we should look into more dresses like these…”

“…”

There was no point in saying something like that to someone so excited.

At this point, it felt like they were considering Sonia as the second daughter after Ariel.

‘Since I’ve always been doted upon too… does that make Sonia a third daughter then?’

While thinking about such trivial things, Edgar quietly called Ariel aside.

Having heard the news about the incident from yesterday through the grapevine, he wanted to ask about it.

“The incident that happened with the Bertus Family?”

“Yeah. Was that you?”

“Uh-huh. Didn’t I tell you to wait and see? I can’t be sure, but something interesting might happen.”

With her nose in the air, Ariel shrugged her shoulders as if to say ‘Aren’t I clever?’

This brought an involuntary smile to Edgar’s face.

He had been waiting for a sign, but he never expected it to explode like this.

Nonetheless, despite the rough approach, he couldn’t deny the effectiveness of it.

“You wanted as many witnesses as possible for this, right? But how did you manage it?”

“I pretended to show some magic and, while pretending to touch his shoulder, planted something else. I knew he’d have an odd body that could regenerate no matter what.”

The magic Ariel cast on Shepard was a sort of trap that activated when released.

If the person behind it was Albrecht, then when the two met, being known as the empire’s number one magician, it was expected that Albrecht would sense that oddity and unravel the spell.

However, given the complexity of the magic, there were limits to what could be contained inside it.

At best, it might create a spark of fire or freeze up the surroundings slightly.

But Ariel took a different approach, finding it to be more effective.

“Don’t you think this is more effective than ordinary high magic? Most of the residents in the capital must have seen the beam of light, and even if he tries to deny it, it won’t be of any use…”

“…And since it’s known that there was an intruder at the Robeheim Family, you’re planning to use that as leverage to press him?”

As Edgar picked up on her intentions, Ariel smiled brightly.

“Well, pressing might be a bit too ambitious. After all, that guy seems to be denying everything… and besides, there’s always the chance that they could frame it as something our family orchestrated, right?”

“That’s true. They aren’t exactly an easy opponent.”

Considering the Bertus Family, who ranked as the third power in the Empire after the Robeheim Family, using this as a means to press them might be difficult.

However, Ariel was pleased enough with the current situation.

For the time being, Albrecht would have to move cautiously, and discovering that they were indeed the ones behind the incidents was a significant tidbit of information for her.

“After all, what made us anxious was not knowing who the enemy was, right? Now that it’s out in the open, we don’t need to rush into things.”

“That doesn’t mean we should take it easy though.”

“Heh, you know me well.”

With a playful smile on her face, Ariel leaned her head on his shoulder and asked softly.

“Then, having accomplished something so great, shouldn’t there be some reward?”

“A reward is something given from those above to those below, isn’t it?”

“Where’s that rule? Even those above should get something if they did well.”

She poked his arm with her finger and playfully caressed it.

With that, Edgar promised to prepare something satisfactory for her and walked towards the now-changed Sonia.

This story took place three days after the loud news began to spread in Hildak.