The Medal Ceremony dragged on even longer than I had feared.
A civil servant from the royal palace droned on about the bandit suppression on the Southern Highway, praising our contributions to the road’s restoration while layering on flowery rhetoric about the crown’s mercy and the duties of a lord. Throughout the ordeal, I kept my fingers busy inside the sleeves of my formal wear, waiting solely for the moment the reward amounts were read.
If I were to yawn here, it would only give the nobles of the royal capital fresh ammunition for rumors. So, I remained silent. I stood there properly, letting the tedious speeches flow in one ear and out the other.
Since no one else was going to praise me, I made sure to do it myself.
The official list of grants I was eventually handed noted the reward for the bandit suppression and the formal permit to renovate the Southern Highway. However, it also stated that my request for a tax deferment would be stamped at a later date.
I took particular offense to that phrase: "at a later date."
Stamp it right here, right now… Why summon someone all the way to the royal capital only to leave the paperwork unfinished? The royal palace was vast, yet it seemed they insisted on splitting a single task among as many people as possible.
Once the Medal Ceremony concluded, the attendees were ushered into the palace gardens.
It was officially called a Garden Party, but in reality, it was just a stage for nobles to sip grape juice while monitoring who was speaking to whom. The garden was paved with white stone paths, and flowers of various hues were arranged in prim, orderly rows. The sound of the fountain wasn’t unpleasant. If not for the surrounding cacophony of laughter, I might have been able to review my grants in peace.
I retreated to the edge of the garden and opened the document in the shadow of a hedge.
The figures themselves weren't bad.
However, once I returned to the domain, that money would instantly vanish into bridge repairs, highway maintenance, manor upkeep, and food for the workers. Gold looks substantial on paper, but as soon as you start listing its uses, it becomes woefully insufficient.
Wealth leaves far faster than it arrives.
Still, the trip to the royal capital had been worth it. All that remained was to finalize the procedures tomorrow, collect the formal seals, and go home. As long as I didn't get cornered by unnecessary social calls, I wouldn't have to pay for more lodging than I’d planned.
Just as I was folding the list back up, an unfamiliar female voice rang out.
"Hey. Are you the young head of House Razgrim?"
I turned to see the girl who had been watching me from near the pillars in the hall.
Her bright chestnut hair was tied loosely at her shoulders, and she wore a light coat over her dress. She wasn't draped in as many jewels as the other young ladies at the Garden Party, but her clothes were fashioned from clearly superior fabric. Though her outfit prioritized ease of movement, no one dared to criticize her for it.
A man stood a few paces behind her, pretending to admire the garden. I saw no sword at his hip, but the way he carried his hands and the set of his feet weren't those of a common servant. Further off, an elderly lady-in-waiting stood watch.
The surrounding nobles gave the girl a wide berth, yet none of them addressed her by name. She was likely the daughter of a family with deep access to the palace, or perhaps a relative of a very high-ranking noble.
However, I had no way of knowing her house name just by observing the crowd. Digging deeper would only increase my workload.
I tucked the reward list into my coat and looked at the girl.
"That is correct. And who are you?"
After a look of brief surprise, the girl’s lips curled into a delighted smile.
"You really don't know me? If you've been watching the room, you should have been able to guess at least a little bit."
"I can tell your status is high, but I don't know your house or your name. If it’s some capital game to make others guess your identity without an introduction, I’m not playing."
A young noble nearby choked on his grape juice.
The man behind the girl turned his gaze toward me, but he made no move to intervene. At the very least, it seemed she wasn't the type to have me executed for a minor lapse in decorum.
The girl ignored the reactions around her and laughed out loud.
"You’re much ruder than the rumors! What you said to the baron earlier was savage! I bet the poor man won't be able to taste his food for a week."
"He mocked the members of my household. I would have let it slide if he’d only insulted me, but he dismissed the people I personally selected as useless."
"And so you tore into him like that?"
"He insulted my eye for talent. Laughing at those I’ve chosen to run my manor is the same as laughing at me. I saw no reason to listen to it in silence."
The girl's expression shifted. Her eyes, which had been filled with the mirth of someone watching a circus act, narrowed as if to weigh the sincerity of my words.
"In the royal palace, you’re supposed to keep a smile on your face even when you're fuming. You praise people to their faces and trip them up when they aren't looking."
"What a tedious set of manners. If you're going to kick someone, it's better to do it where they can see you so they have a chance to dodge."
"You really aren't suited for the royal capital, are you?"
"I couldn't agree more. That's why I'm leaving tomorrow."
As I turned toward the garden exit, the girl shifted a step to block my path.
The man behind her adjusted his stance slightly, but I kept him in my periphery. I had no intention of touching the girl, nor did I plan to force my way through. If I got into a spat with a high-ranking noble’s daughter and my paperwork got stalled, I’d be the one paying for it.
"Are you running away already?"
"I'm simply trying to go home. I came for the gold and the permits, not to spend my time entertaining a brat."
A hush fell over the immediate area.
The girl didn't look angry; if anything, her eyes were shining.
"A brat, is it? You were looking at me like I was some child earlier, weren't you?"
"You look younger than me, don't you? I'll stand corrected if I'm wrong."
"Isn't this the part where you're supposed to find a more polite way of saying that?"
"If you won't give me a house name, I can't offer the respect due to your house. If you're asking me to flatter you based on guesswork alone, that's a bit too much to ask."
Someone in the distance gasped.
I knew she was no ordinary lady, but she was the one who had approached me while concealing her identity. I wasn't about to bow my head just because everyone else was acting skittish.
The girl studied me in silence for a long moment.
Eventually, her lips softened into a smirk instead of a scowl.
"Everyone else changes the second they see my face. They change the way they talk, the way they laugh, and they start praising things I never even asked about. But you haven't changed once, have you? Though you've been rude the entire time."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Half of it is. The other half is me being genuinely annoyed."
"Then you should leave. That would be a favor to us both."
"No! The more annoying a person is, the more I want to know what makes them tick."
What a ridiculous philosophy.
I’d only come to collect a reward, yet after dealing with a spiteful baron, I was being pestered by a girl hiding her identity. I found myself actually missing the mountain of ledgers I’d left back at the manor.
No, those were their own brand of torture.
The girl fell into step beside me, looking toward the center of the garden.
"I thought House Razgrim was a much darker, scarier place. I heard that as soon as your father died, you kicked out the old staff and replaced them with nothing but mercenaries and women with 'circumstances.'"
"That's more or less accurate. I kicked out the old staff because they were embezzling funds, and people with complicated pasts can be hired for cheap since no one else will value them. I hired them because I found them useful. It's as simple as that."
"Are those people happy being with you?"
The tone of that question was different. The girl wasn't smiling anymore. She wasn't teasing; she was looking for a real answer.
I gave it a moment’s thought.
"I wouldn't know."
"You wouldn't know?"
"Whether they are happy or not isn't for me to decide. I provide meals, a place to sleep, and pay them for their labor. If they don't like it, they're free to leave. I’d be inconvenienced if they fled, but I have no intention of chaining them to their work."
The girl blinked in surprise.
"That's a very detached answer."
"It would be nauseating to claim I’ve 'made them happy,' wouldn't it? They aren't my property. They are the people who run my house."
The girl didn't reply immediately.
The wind stirred the garden flowers, carrying a sweet fragrance between us.
After a few moments, she let out a quiet laugh.
"You're a stranger person than I thought, Vain Razgrim."
"I've heard that enough times today that I should start charging a fee for the observation."
"You’d actually try to bill me?"
"Naturally. But first, give me your name. I don't know where to send the invoice."
The girl laughed and opened her mouth to reply.
Just then, the elderly lady-in-waiting approached from a distance. Her face wore a practiced smile, but her eyes signaled that it was time to go. The man behind the girl also stepped forward with intent.
The girl looked at them and pouted, clearly bored.
"How disappointing. I have to go now… I still have more tedious greetings to finish."
"Then by all means, go. I can finally go home myself."
"I'll come to see you again."
"Don't. I smell nothing but trouble."
"Hearing you say that only makes me want to visit more."
What a nightmare of a personality.
The girl turned back one last time before leaving, looking me straight in the eye.
"Vain Razgrim. I've remembered you."
"I still haven't heard your name."
"That's fine. You'll end up hearing it sooner or later, whether you want to or not."
With that cryptic parting shot, the girl walked away with her lady-in-waiting.
As she moved through the crowd, the nobles parted like the sea. She was undoubtedly a high-ranking lady, but as long as she refused to identify herself, I had no intention of chasing after her.
Getting deeply involved with unknown figures in the capital would only delay my departure.
I wanted to avoid that at all costs.
◇
On the far side of the garden, Baron Barzen was white-knuckling his glass.
His face was even more flushed than it had been when Vain insulted him. The young upstart from the frontier had spent a significant amount of time talking to the girl whom no one in the palace dared approach casually. Just by association, the attention of the surrounding nobles was shifting toward Vain rather than the baron.
Barzen summoned the attendant waiting at his side and issued a low, venomous command while clutching his glass.
"Contact the Shadows of the Royal Capital! Do it tonight!"
The attendant’s face went pale.
"You don't mean… the Black Needle Society? My lord, are you certain?"
"Silence that Razgrim brat! Make it so he can never open that mouth in front of me again!"
"But, my lord, if we employ them, it might not end with a mere warning."
"I don't care! I’ll pay whatever they ask! Just move before I’m humiliated in public any further!"
The attendant looked like he wanted to protest, but one look at the baron’s face silenced him.
"…As you wish."
Bowing deeply, the attendant slipped through the crowd toward the garden exit.
The baron watched his subordinate’s back for a moment before draining his grape juice in a single, ragged gulp. He was gripping the glass so hard that the thin stem looked ready to snap at any second.