The next morning, having barely touched my breakfast, I made my way to Anne's room.
Anne was already awake, sitting up in bed.
She had been gazing out the window, but turned her eyes toward me the moment I stepped inside.
"—!"
Anne caught her breath, showing a hint of fear.
Though she was frightened of me, I was actually relieved.
Her mind was far clearer than it had been yesterday.
Right after I rescued her, and even when we spoke last night, she had seemed in a daze, as if half in a dream. But now, though still fearful, it appeared to stem from a sharp grasp of her current reality.
I entered the room, came to a halt a short distance from the bed, and spoke to her.
"How are you feeling?"
"Um..."
"How is the rose?"
"Uh... yes, I'm... fine."
"I see. That's good."
"...Um."
Though her fear hadn't completely vanished, Anne asked as if plucking up her courage.
"Where is this? And who on earth are you...?"
"Hm? Ah, right, I never introduced myself. Did no one around you tell you anything?"
"Yes, um... only that you are an important person."
"I see."
Peiyu, the maid assigned to care for her, had likely said that.
Right now, I am here in Larak, the provincial capital of Enlil Province, in my capacity as Governor-General.
To keep things running smoothly on various fronts, I have insisted that I am the Governor-General rather than the Emperor.
I've done this several times now.
Depending on the official or merchant, some still treat me as the Emperor regardless.
Even among the maids, those who know me well clearly understand that under the current circumstances, it is undesirable to treat me as the Emperor.
Zoe—though a former maid—is like that, and so is Peiyu, whom I brought along seeing her potential.
Add to that this entire situation.
That's why Peiyu had spoken in the vaguest possible terms, simply calling me an "important person."
Looking at her again, Anne's consciousness was clear.
I decided it was about time to give her my name.
"This is the government office of Larak. I am the Governor-General of this Enlil Province."
I presented myself as the Governor-General, not the Emperor.
In this case, there was neither necessity nor benefit in calling myself the Emperor.
In the first place, I was handling this entire affair as the Governor-General.
That was why I claimed to be the Governor-General.
"...Eh?"
Anne was stunned.
Naturally so. A governor-general was the single most powerful figure in an entire province.
To Anne, the daughter of a mere merchant, both a governor-general and an emperor were equally beings far above the clouds.
Upon hearing this, Anne hastily tried to climb down from the bed.
She looked ready to prostrate herself right then and there.
"You've just recovered from illness; stay put. That is an order."
"—! Y-Yes..."
Anne caught her breath and remained on the bed she had been about to leave.
Stating it firmly as an "order" seemed to have done the trick.
"Um... You are truly the Governor-General, Your Excellency...?"
"I am."
"...Then why did you save me?"
I gave a nod.
Once she learned I was the Governor-General, it was only natural that she would have even more doubts about why I had rescued her.
"To put it bluntly, it was a coincidence."
"A coincidence..."
"Finding out about you was a coincidence. And I saved you simply because there was a dying person right before my eyes."
"Uh..."
She had a look on her face that said, Well yes, but that's not what I meant.
"Now then. I asked you last night, but I'll ask once more. Do you know the reason you ended up in such a state?"
"...No."
"I see. Then let me ask you another thing."
"Yes."
"Do you have any idea—no."
Pausing for a breath, I rephrased my question.
"Do you have a hunch?"
"..."
Anne did not answer.
She kept biting her lower lip and remained silent.
I see, I thought.
So she did understand after all.
"All right, rest a little longer."
"Wait!"
Just as I turned to leave, thinking the conversation was over, Anne called out with enough fervor that she leaned forward.
"My father... where is my father now?"
"It seems he is bedridden with illness. The details are unclear."
"Illness... It can't be."
Anne's eyes went wide.
She seemed to have an idea of what was happening, and her expression quickly stiffened.
It seemed she was a clever girl.
"I see."
I let out a small sigh.
Halting my turn, I faced her once again, looked straight at her, and spoke.
"In that case, there's no need to beat around the bush. We have no hard evidence, but I suspect it as well, and we have testimony. It seems your stepmother has been poisoning him."
"..."
"It appears she has been administering a slow-acting poison to your father, one that outwardly looks like nothing more than an illness."
"That was what happened to my mother."
Anne answered immediately.
Mortified, tears began to pool at the corners of her eyes.
"When she first fell ill, she was still full of energy. But after my aunt took over nursing her and began preparing her medicine, she grew worse by the day."
"It is likely the same medicine."
"—"
Once again, Anne attempted to stand up.
Lowering her legs from the bed, she tried to rise.
Weakened as she was, however, she couldn't stand and nearly collapsed at the knees.
I stepped forward and caught Anne just in time.
"Don't push yourself."
"But I have to investigate."
Though her body was frail, her gaze was resolute.
Her tone was crisp, conveying a powerful will.
"No matter what?"
"Yes."
"What will you do if your aunt is the root of it all?"
"I don't know. But I want to know for sure."
"Is that so?"
Fair enough, I thought.
Having everything end behind her back while she slept would only leave her with lingering regrets.
If that was the case...
I bent down and gathered her into my arms.
Slipping my arms beneath her armpits and the backs of her knees, I lifted her in a bridal carry.
"Eh? Wh-Wha, th-this is—"
Anne turned bright red and grew flustered.
"I'll lend you a hand."
"Eh?"
"If we wait until your condition fully recovers, it might be too late. For now, I'll help you."
"...Understood."
She quieted down, allowing herself to be carried by me.
Gazing at my face from point-blank range, she muttered softly.
"............Um."
"Hm?"
"Thank you very much."
She offered words of gratitude that sounded apologetic, yet came from the bottom of her heart.
☆
Carrying Anne in my arms, I stepped out of the room.
"Where do you intend to go?"
"I'd like you to take me to a certain shop. It's a small greengrocer in the southwest of Larak."
"Understood."
Once in the hallway, the maid Peiyu approached, so I ordered her to prepare a carriage.
Though I was carrying Anne in a bridal carry, maids like Peiyu who had served me for a long time didn't question such things one bit.
She immediately ran off to prepare the carriage.
Boarding the promptly prepared carriage together with Anne, we set off.
After giving the driver the rough destination first, Anne guided us the rest of the way once we got close, bringing us safely to our goal.
Perhaps she had rested enough in the carriage, or perhaps her willpower was beginning to compensate for her physical strength.
When we arrived and stepped out of the carriage, Anne was able to stand on her own two feet.
"Is this the place?"
"Yes."
I looked up at the shop.
Outwardly, it was just an ordinary greengrocer with nothing noteworthy about it.
At the semi-open storefront, customers constantly came and went, purchasing fruits and vegetables.
"Please wait a moment."
Saying that, Anne approached the shop. I quietly followed behind her.
A shop clerk's eyes met Anne's, and he addressed her with an exaggerated business smile.
"Welcome! Looking for something in particular?"
"Do you have any red fish that even a cat wouldn't eat?"
"It's awful greasy; you sure you're fine with that?"
"Of course. I'd like it greasy enough to clog the plumbing."
"Right this way."
Anne and the shop clerk exchanged that strange dialogue.
Anne spoke with a hint of tension. She had deliberately carried out a dialogue that felt truly out of place.
The clerk, on the other hand, kept smiling to the end, playing along with Anne's unnatural words with a completely natural expression.
However, the moment he called out to another worker, saying, "Cover for me for a bit," and turned around to guide us, I saw his profile instantly turn dead serious.
A capable man, I thought, maintaining his greengrocer facade until the very last second.
I was guided deeper into the shop alongside Anne.
"That's quite a humorous passphrase."
"I hear it was a favorite of my father's."
"Ho. Which means this shop belongs to your father?"
Anne's father, Jibu Locke, was ostensibly a merchant dealing in silk thread, but to think he also owned a greengrocer so far removed from that.
"My father has a hidden side."
"Ho."
"Rather, I think you could call the hidden side his primary business."
"What does he deal in on that side?"
"Information... so I've heard."
"An information broker, then."
"Yes."
"I see."
I nodded quietly.
I already knew that Jibu Locke operated as an information broker.
Such people often hid their illicit businesses even from their families, but it seemed Anne was fully aware of what her father did.
This girl, Anne, is quite something... I mused, watching her resolute profile despite having just recovered from illness, as I followed further into the back of the shop.
Reaching the very end of the hallway, we found heavy double doors leading to a room at the dead end, with an old man standing right before them.
With a bent back, he looked at first glance like a genial old fellow, but the sharpness in his eyes showed he was by no means a man to be underestimated.
"Gramps."
Standing before the old man, Anne addressed him in a faintly affectionate tone.
"Forgive me, young lady."
"Which means you knew about me, didn't you?"
"Yes... Truly... truly, I am so sorry."
Saying that, the old man suddenly dropped to the floor and prostrated himself on the spot, tears dripping down his face.
Looking down at the prostrated old man, Anne interrogated him in a flat tone that, while not outright angry, was very close to it.
"If you knew, why didn't you save me?"
"I have no excuse."
Still prostrated, the old man merely repeated the same words.
Piecing together the fragments of information, it went like this:
This place was an information brokerage run by Anne's father, this old man knew Anne, and being an information broker, he had known about Anne's plight.
Anne, having correctly grasped this, demanded to know why he hadn't saved her, but the old man had circumstances he couldn't speak of and simply rubbed his forehead against the floor in endless apology—that was the gist of it.
"I see."
I chimed in.
Anne looked surprised, while the old man slightly raised his head, wearing a somewhat wary expression.
"Your father seems to be quite the capable man."
"Wh-What do you mean by that?"
Anne was bewildered.
The wary old man glared at me with sharp eyes.
"He strictly adheres to the principle that this place is strictly an information brokerage."
"Strictly an information brokerage?"
"As an information broker, he must have dealt with all manner of clients. Depending on the case, he likely went back and forth between opposing factions."
"That... yes, I'm sure that was the case."
Mid-explanation, I gave a light hum of appreciation.
To understand that in an instant—between this and everything before, Anne was indeed a sharp woman.
Setting that aside for now, I decided to finish my explanation.
"In that position, he couldn't afford to take sides. Possessing deep information means that, depending on the situation, one could also intervene. But intervening means favoring one side and making an enemy of the other."
"..."
"Of course, it's possible to strike a balance, but an information broker who intervenes will still be doubted. People will wonder, Could this information have been tampered with?"
"That... means..."
Anne thought for a moment.
Glancing at the old man who remained prostrated, she made a sour face for an instant before speaking.
"He limited himself to merely trading information, and made it a rule never to intervene no matter what happened?"
"Correct. Taken to the extreme, your death in this incident would only increase the credibility of your father's business. It proves that his subordinates would abandon even their master's only daughter for the sake of the purity of their information."
"Is that true?"
Anne directed a confirming gaze at the old man.
"Magnificent. Truly, Lord Noah... Your insight exceeds even our information."
Without answering Anne directly, the old man spoke to me.
His guilt over standing by and letting his master's daughter, Anne, face death had not faded.
That feeling, which likely would never leave him, caused him to avert his eyes from Anne and praise me instead.
On the other hand, calling me "Lord Noah" instead of "Your Majesty" was probably a testament to their high information-gathering capabilities, I thought.
"I... see."
Anne bit her lower lip, a bitter expression on her face.
I could clearly tell that a multitude of emotions were swirling within her chest.
Keeping her eyes closed, she lifted her face and took several deep breaths.
Eventually, as if swallowing it all down, she opened her eyes.
She couldn't act as if it had never happened, but she took it all in for the moment.
Carrying herself that way, she addressed the old man.