Ch.105Chapter 105. Encounter (3)

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“The Lady Serpina will be here shortly, so please wait here.”

Following the soldier’s guidance, I arrived at the royal audience chamber, found a suitable spot, and looked around while standing in place.

The furnishings in the castle… seem to be just the bare minimum necessities.

Of course, this isn’t the capital of Serpina’s army, so there’s no need to decorate it elaborately.

While I was having these rather unproductive thoughts.

The soldier who had escorted me spoke to me with a wary attitude as I stood there blankly.

“What are you doing? If you’ve come as an envoy, show some respect.”

“Respect?”

“Kneel down, that’s what I mean.”

Really now.

I desperately wanted to say, “Shouldn’t I kneel after Serpina arrives?” but—

This was the heart of enemy territory, and there was no reason to create unnecessary trouble before negotiations even began.

I obediently knelt down.

“That’s right. As an envoy, you should wait properly, showing respect.”

Yes, yes. I understand, so please be quiet, I swallowed those words past my throat.

To be fair, the soldier’s attitude wasn’t enough to make me particularly angry.

Rather, I thought that whether you call it Serpina’s army or not, every single soldier seemed filled with some kind of hostility.

The pride of serving an absolute ruler with the overwhelming legitimacy of the Empire was dripping from even a single soldier.

Come to think of it, what kind of person is Serpina?

Since possessing this body in this world, I’ve keenly realized that the characters I knew as data have their own living, breathing personalities that can’t be explained by data alone.

Even Irene and Reika who came here with me—I never thought they would have such personalities.

Serpina is known as the “Tyrant” and bears the resentment of many people around her—

Would she really be as she’s known to be?

I wondered if she would be the same as the data I knew.

Thinking about this reminded me of my memories before possessing this body.

After hearing Ginor’s 99% accurate prophecy, I went as an envoy to request an alliance with Serpina’s army, but was imprisoned by her and died after having my throat cut.

And now, I had come as an envoy to her territory.

‘……’

I swallowed dryly.

I wondered if something would happen… but nothing bad should happen, right?

The reason I came here in the first place was because my intelligence 100 brain insisted multiple times that this was the right choice.

Based on what happened at the northern fortress where the meteorite fell, it wouldn’t have claimed this was “most efficient” if my life would be in danger, so I was likely to be safe.

However, what still bothered me was the result that said “it depends on heaven’s will.”

Why does it depend on my choice?

As an envoy, how much could I really decide?

While I was untangling these random thoughts in my head.

Creeeeak—

Along with the sound of an old door opening, I clearly heard someone’s footsteps approaching.

I kept my head bowed, waiting for the sound to stop.

One step, two steps.

After several such sounds… finally, I heard the voice of the absolute ruler who was called a tyrant in the world and bore everyone’s resentment and fear.

“Raise your head.”

My ears detected a slight surprise at hearing that voice.

It was too thin and beautiful a voice for someone called a tyrant.

But mixed within that beauty was a subtle fragility.

While there was definitely a charisma that could overwhelm an audience with just her voice… somehow, I felt like she might break if handled incorrectly.

I slowly raised my head to look at her.

‘…Huh?’

If I were my usual self—I would probably have thought this.

She’s beautiful.

Truly beautiful.

Among all the women I’ve met so far, if I had to name the top three beauties, there would be three.

Lunarian Ineanne, Irene Juliette, and Reika Nighthart.

They were undeniably beautiful women. Even those who didn’t think favorably of them would have to agree that each had her own feminine charm.

But.

The woman before me—in that respect, was almost like cheating.

Her violent beauty made those other women seem merely pretty in comparison, flashing above her will.

In short, if the word “beauty” were to be personified, wouldn’t it look like her?

Golden hair that shone so brightly it was almost painful to look at.

Features that maintained perfect balance, making even her distinctive accessories seem incredibly attractive.

Her pink lips were enough to fix the gaze of anyone looking at her.

She was beautiful. At least with my current vocabulary, I couldn’t fully explain how beautiful she was.

Looking slightly downward—

She was wearing attire that seemed like something a general would wear to battle.

It was quite different from the clothing of other “rulers” I had met so far—but as if proving that a ruler’s aura doesn’t come from clothing, she gave the impression of someone who ruled over knights rather than a knight working under someone else.

And—

Honestly, her chest was so large it was impossible not to notice.

It was smaller than Irene’s, but seemed similar to Reika’s.

Of course, considering how exceptionally large Irene’s was, that size would still be considered ample.

I personally preferred women with larger chests, and from that perspective—she was a sufficiently attractive woman.

Yes.

As I just mentioned—if I were my usual self, I would have been surprised by her beautiful appearance that belied her reputation as a cruel tyrant.

And I would have been caught in the whirlwind of her appearance for quite some time. That’s how beautiful she was.

But.

More importantly.

I had seen her face before.

‘The woman… from my dreams…?’

I was certain.

The Serpina before me looked exactly like the woman who had appeared in my dreams.

Since possessing this body in this world, I occasionally had dreams.

In those dreams, I was happily conversing with a golden-haired woman.

I don’t know what we were talking about. Even in the dreams, the image of what we were discussing wasn’t clear.

Anyway, we couldn’t continue our conversation for long, and I would only drift further away from her.

Dreams where I would reach out to grab her as she drifted away, desperately calling her name that I couldn’t remember after waking up.

This wasn’t the first time I had seen Serpina’s face.

But the Serpina I remembered from this game was just a crude pixelated graphic.

It wasn’t the first time I’d felt a disconnect between a remembered portrait and the actual appearance.

So I hadn’t thought that the face from my dreams would be… Serpina’s.

I recalled the dreams that had often troubled me.

The developments varied slightly, but the result was always the same.

I was always… in my dreams, pitifully calling out ■■■■’s name.

That’s right. I was always, in my dreams, calling… Serpina’s name…?

And at that moment.

“…Swen…?”

“…!!!”

My vision, momentarily confused by memories of the dream, finally registered her appearance.

She was staring at me with wide eyes, trembling.

No, her being surprised to see me was a secondary issue.

What was important was that she had called my name.

Even though I hadn’t yet told her my name.

And for some reason—

In my vision, I momentarily glimpsed an image of her sobbing.

Why?

Why do I have such a scene in my memory?

“Ah….”

“……”

We stared at each other’s faces in silence for a long time.

After several minutes had passed like this.

As the feeling of confusion slowly cooled, my mind began to work again.

‘Right. There seems to be something here… but without knowing exactly what it is, there’s nothing I can do right now.’

To be frank, all I knew was that the woman from my dreams was Serpina—nothing else was certain.

For some reason, she knew my name… but after the meteorite incident, my existence had become quite famous, so it wouldn’t be strange for a ruler like her to know my name, which had been the talk of the town.

Yes. Let’s not make a fuss and just do what I came here to do.

With that thought, I carefully broke the silence between us.

“…I’ve come today to deliver a message from our ruler, Lady Yurie.”

I bowed my head and finally got to the point.

Serpina across from me didn’t answer for a long time…

Then, returning to her original tone, she replied to me.

“…Speak.”

I slightly observed her expression.

Her face, which had been tangled with surprise, had become quite calm.

Though I was curious about why she was startled upon seeing me… it was time for negotiations first.

“Anima Ingram is an indispensable talent for our army. I humbly request your leniency.”

“Are you asking for the release of a prisoner?”

“Yes.”

“The conditions?”

“Naturally, I’m not asking empty-handed.”

I raised my head to look into her eyes as I spoke.

I hadn’t noticed when she was flustered earlier, but she definitely had the aura of an absolute ruler who could easily suppress others.

But I couldn’t lose this battle of wills.

“Seven thousand nine hundred gold. I believe we’ve prepared the utmost courtesy for the prisoner’s release. I ask you to make a wise decision befitting a great nation.”

“Is that so? Seven thousand nine hundred gold.”

This was definitely an overpayment.

Usually, the price for releasing a prisoner was around 2-3 thousand gold, with exceptional generals going for 5-6 thousand gold.

While Anima wasn’t a bad general, the cold assessment was that she wasn’t exceptionally outstanding either.

Serpina would know Anima’s value well, so our army’s judgment was that she would be satisfied with this amount.

Though I followed the opinion as an envoy, honestly, I didn’t agree with that judgment itself.

Because if I were Serpina—

“I’m sorry, but I cannot release Anima under those conditions.”

“Are you saying…?”

“Laclaine Castle.”

Serpina looked at me with an unwavering expression and said.

“I would be troubled unless you hand over Laclaine Castle. Gold alone doesn’t balance the equation.”

That’s right.

If I were Serpina, I would have demanded Laclaine Castle too.

Serpina probably understood that Anima Ingram was highly valued by the Aeshus army, regardless of her abilities.

In that situation, the biggest prize she could realistically extract from us would be Laclaine Castle.

Although Ginor’s prophecy wasn’t accepted, it was burdensome for our army to maintain three territories against a great nation like Serpina’s army, so wouldn’t it be a good opportunity to take the castle that we couldn’t capture despite bloodying our hands?

If this was an idea that came from Serpina’s mind rather than someone else’s, she certainly wasn’t in her position just because of her bloodline.

It meant she made judgments similar to mine, who knew the most efficient methods in this game.

But from our perspective, we couldn’t hand over the castle either.

To begin with, I, a mere envoy, couldn’t make such a decision to surrender a castle.

Should I withdraw without achieving anything?

But then, I couldn’t understand why this would be the most efficient choice.

At that moment.

Serpina’s tightly closed lips moved again.

“…is what I was going to say.”

“Pardon?”

“To be honest, I was planning to start negotiations with you by demanding Laclaine Castle. But now, my mind has changed. I don’t care about Laclaine Castle anymore.”

Serpina said this while looking straight into my eyes.

Was it my imagination?

Her golden eyes seemed to be burning as if they had swallowed the sun.

“You want me to release Anima Ingram? Well, I can do that. But there’s a condition.”

And with her next words—

I began to understand why the prediction “it depends on heaven’s will” had appeared.

“Swen. If you come to me.”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s exactly as I said, Swen.”

She smiled faintly at me.

It was the first time her expression, which had never faltered before, moved.

“I want you.”