“What’s up? You said it was just a formality, but why do you look so exhausted? Did that guy question you like it’s some ideological interrogation?”
Nathaniel approached.
“Ah?”
Pastel’s pink eyes widened. She covered her mouth with both hands.
“Are you worried about me?”
Does he like me, perhaps?
Well, it’s understandable to like someone as popular as Pastel!
It can’t be helped!
Nathaniel looked baffled.
“Are you worried because of what I did to you? Did that guy disrespect my face?”
Huh?
What bad thing did I do to Nathaniel?
Thinking, thinking.
Nothing’s coming to mind!
I mean, Nathaniel is an undercover agent infiltrating the Radical Group on Elly’s orders. There’s no way Pastel, Elly’s friend, could have done something wrong!
“If we’re done signing up, does that mean we’re finished for today? Let’s go. Now that I’m here, I need to play a game of poker. What was it called? Card counting? I should try that once. After all, this noble Presley Family’s Nathaniel now knows how to win; surely I won’t lose?”
Nathaniel licked his lips and rubbed his hands.
Ah! Right, right!
Now that work is done, time to have fun!
Pastel checked her winter dress. It was a neat and pretty outfit with Melissa’s advice. She quickly dusted off the dirt stuck to her hem.
She got so caught up in work that she forgot she came here for a date!
If work is finished, then of course it’s time for a date!
She stealthily moved closer to Nathaniel.
“Nathaniel.”
Nathaniel jolted and took a half-step back.
“What’s with that voice?”
He looked like someone caught off guard trying to pretend to be friendly.
Pastel, feeling very wronged as this was not something she usually did, puffed up her cheeks and let out her frustration with a finger push before asking her question.
“Do you happen to like dating?”
Nathaniel looked incredulous.
“How could I not like it?”
“Ah! Really?! Really?!”
Her pink eyes sparkled.
“Wow! I like it too!”
Pastel jumped up and down with her arms raised.
We’re totally on the same wavelength!
Is this fate?!
Nathaniel frowned slightly.
“But it’s been a while since my fiancée hasn’t shown up, so I haven’t been able to go on a date for quite some time.”
Huh?
Pastel froze in mid-jump. She rolled her pink eyes, repeating the word she just heard.
Fiancée.
Gasp.
Her pink eyes trembled sweetly.
“Nathaniel, do you have a fiancée?”
Why?!
“Of course. How old do you think I am?”
Nathaniel looked bewildered.
“Under normal circumstances, I should have been married by now, but she said she wouldn’t do it until she stopped gambling. So that’s been postponed. Well, big deal.”
The currently gambling-addicted Nathaniel was embarrassed.
“But I’m the head of the Presley Family, so it wouldn’t do either of us any good to break off the engagement now, so I’m just keeping it going. It’ll work out somehow.”
“Why?! Why an engagement?!”
Ugh!
Despair!
Ultimate despair!
Pastel clutched her head. Her pink pigtails flailed as she smacked Nathaniel.
“Yikes! What the?!”
This feels like something straight out of a legend…!
Zero confessions, wearing the boots of doom!
Waaaaah!
My pastel pink romance life…!
Pastel was supposed to have no romantic failures in her life, but now she found herself checking off that record.
She hadn’t confessed, but it was clear that she was getting rejected, leaving Pastel feeling forlorn. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Demon lord!”
Someone please punish this bad person who flirted with me while having a fiancée!
Just as she was about to shout that, Pastel paused suddenly.
In reality, no tears came out, and she wasn’t that sad either.
“Oh?”
Her pink eyes widened.
It didn’t feel that impactful, after all.
Thinking about it, it made sense for Nathaniel, the head of a family and already an adult, to have some sort of fiancée.
Pastel felt flustered.
Oh dear.
This was an emotion that shouldn’t have existed if it wasn’t supposed to come from romantic feelings.
This means what the Demon Lord said turns out to be true.
The popular Pastel has been advised that she couldn’t even define her feelings clearly and was confused.
This is a complete disqualification from the popular crowd!
Pastel felt a slight cold sweat building. She quickly fixed her messed-up hair.
The girl’s expression turned serious.
“What if I told you I like you? What would you think?”
“What?”
Nathaniel almost cursed but held back.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Hmm.
“Yeah, I guess?”
“Yeah, I guess?! What kind of rudeness is that?!”
Nathaniel bounced in excitement.
But since Pastel had too much on her mind to concern herself with such things, her breathing became shallow. Her pink eyes quickly peeked at the door where the Demon Lord might be waiting outside before returning.
A moment later, as Nathaniel calmed himself after having gotten overly excited, the girl asked in a trembling voice.
“What if, just say, I admire my guardian? Not blood-related!”
The last bit is important!
Star star!
“What’s with this? What’s going on?”
Nathaniel frowned slightly. But still, as if considering an answer for the benefactor who helped the butler, he thought for a moment before responding.
“Well, she must be some important figure of authority, huh? Someone for you to admire.”
The Demon Lord’s a significant figure, right?
“Not really. She’s my Sword Master.”
“Sword? You use a sword? Why not just call a knight for something like that? Isn’t it weak to fight with such a frail body?”
Oh dear.
Thinking about it, he has a point.
In this day and age where the Knight Order can be moved with a flick of the hand, is there really a need to…?
Oh dear.
“Then why am I admiring her?”
If we’re to be picky, it’d be about the title of Great Demon that seems to have something grand about it…?
But watching the Demon Lord whisking around the kitchen whipping up cream while wearing an apron every morning, it honestly doesn’t feel like the Great Demon title holds much weight.
“Why are you asking me for a reason? There’s bound to be a reason.”
Nathaniel looked befuddled.
Then, as if he recalled something, he grinned as if he had him cornered.
“Oh? I get it! That Governor, or whoever, I didn’t think you’d have such childish feelings!”
“Huh?”
“That’s not mere admiration!”
Nathaniel demonstrated an adult’s reasoning.
“Having a close guardian turning into a romantic preference is quite common! And if there’s no blood relation, then it’s perfectly natural for feelings to arise!”
The girl’s mouth dropped open.
Whoa?
Whoa whoa?
The sound of a typewriter echoed through the small room.
With each keystroke, the keys moved and printed ink letters. The mechanical sound changed the lines, filling the white sheet with black ink.
Redmond, someone referred to as Mr. Penguin for no reason, was busy drafting a report to hand over to the Empire.
The report, a direct reflection of the Empire’s investment efforts, thoroughly analyzed and arranged sensitive information from the United Kingdom.
“Congratulations on passing with honors. From now on, you will infiltrate the innermost parts of the United Kingdom under the name Redmond. Approach Princess Elly as if by chance, build a personal relationship, and become her confidant.”
“Yes.”
Calculating approaches and prepared lies.
Once high-rise buildings began to spring up without permission around the royal palace, the naive hierarchy of the United Kingdom reached a point where they feared shooting just because a young commoner boy could accidentally run into a younger princess.
Although countless infiltration operations had failed, Redmond’s approach that struck at the essential weakness of the Republic was ultimately successful.
The republic, buried in absurd pride believing in the competence of listening to talented commoners, had to be inherently weak in espionage.
“Is it the power of culture?”
As Governor Craft put it, if this was a war of systems between monarchy and republic, it would serve as evidence of the monarchy’s superiority.
In the end, the internally contradictory republic would collapse in espionage, and only the monarchy would survive.
The typewriter clacked a period.
The finalized report was now in hand.
It detailed how the railroads, heavily invested in by the United Kingdom, could threaten the Empire militarily.
In front of the governor, who subtly attempted to tease out his republican leanings, Redmond pretended not to understand the ideological verification while thoroughly analyzing how the military explosiveness of connected education, media, and transportation would look.
It compiled methods to forcibly prevent railroad construction without spending a single dime, using treaties from the great war and even inciting bankruptcy for the United Kingdom due to reckless financial investments.
The report sat beside him.
“Is it the power of culture?”
If that’s the case, it would be the superiority of the republic.
Redmond began drafting a new report.
“Why do you not discriminate by social class? Wouldn’t a royal family be too afraid to act when order has broken down enough for you almost getting assassinated? In another country, they wouldn’t even dare to do that.”
“Risk and return. Instead, we’ve gained a talent pool without restrictions on status. While the empire is tied down by the number of nobles and merchant families, we built schools. When many could speak and express, the archaic cannibalistic customs were discarded, and the steam engine began to pulse.”
The typewriter echoed.
“Is it the power of culture?”
Manipulation, reduction, expansion, bias.
Just as their previous reports had been manipulated for Governor Craft, this one kept getting adjusted.
The United Kingdom’s grand strategy was more of a fantasy.
The military value of trains remained limited.
Factional infighting in parliament made it difficult to project power abroad.
Ultimately, the attempts for the republic to address its fundamental inconsistencies of failing to consolidate national strength would lead them nowhere.
All the United Kingdom could do was rely on the Republicans as Governor Craft advised and create chaos within the Empire.
The finalized report was set down.
A new report began writing itself once more.
The betrayer the Empire feared was likely a Republican.
Since they couldn’t cut resources monitoring the great nobles, they might instead have to redirect intelligence resources initially meant for Sky Island and the United Kingdom back to the Republicans.
Redmond carefully manipulated Governor Craft’s recommendations.
Minimizing the risks for the United Kingdom while focusing on inciting internal turmoil in the Empire’s republic.
Redirecting the intelligence resources initially set for Sky Island and the United Kingdom back into the Empire to expand the governor’s options while keeping Redmond himself in a position of monopoly over foreign intelligence networks.
Governor Craft must have his reasons for needing to gain the Emperor’s trust, sacrificing the Republicans, but…
I will stake my ambitions on this gamble.
For the love of this nation.
“Equality, wasn’t this not the reason?”
“Rights hold value when they are earned by oneself, not granted by others. Just like how a structure built with gold can target a princess’s life. Look, those merchants who once shunned investment in military industries because of risk are now starting bold investments. This all will propel us forward.”
That smile was beautiful.
The boy decided to walk the double agent’s path without coercion, persuasion, or threats.
As Governor said, if this is a war of system between monarchy and republic…
This will serve as definitive proof of the superiority of the republic.
I will make it so with my own hands.
The typewriter’s sounds echoed.
The keys struck a period.
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