***

Leticia was a mage born with talent comparable to the first Herta Emperor.
As long as there was water nearby, she was confident she could face the entire imperial army without being overwhelmed.
Of course, even without water, Leticia’s magical power didn’t diminish, so it wasn’t like she became significantly weaker.
The first Herta was said to have created 37 rivers and removed 213 mountains.
Because of this, proper wars between countries could hardly exist back then.
When an emperor could cause floods or droughts in enemy countries at will, how could there be war?
“The Empire doesn’t know how strong Your Highness is. They probably only know that you’re a mage.”
Aina, who had chosen a brief rest outdoors rather than risk falling off her horse while dozing, said to Leticia.
Leticia sat beside Aina and nodded as if it wasn’t particularly surprising.
“It’s a bit strange that they even know I’m a mage. Basilinte is extremely closed off.”
People born in the Grand Duchy rarely had ways to leave it.
Due to this closed nature, all sorts of misunderstandings about the Grand Duchy ran rampant in the Empire.
“…Your Highness has a habit of using such pretty words when talking about Basilinte.”
Aina muttered with a sour face, loud enough to be heard, “Calling it ‘closed nature,’ really.”
Leticia pretended not to hear and changed the subject.
“Anyway, why doesn’t the Empire know about my power?”
“Because they don’t know how strong Your Highness is, I received these impossible orders. They told me to lure Your Highness to where they would send assassins to deal with you.”
Despite her exhaustion, Aina was filled with indignation.
“After no support or orders for the past 10 years! After practically abandoning me! Now they expect me to just say ‘Yes!’ and follow their orders!”
Though her situation was quite pitiful, Leticia pointed out the reality.
“But you are following orders. You’re taking me there right now.”
“That’s only because my younger sibling is being held hostage in the Empire!”
When selecting spies, the imperial palace always took hostages, regardless of the spy’s rank.
They wouldn’t even recruit orphans who had no one to be threatened.
And Aina had a younger sibling about Leticia’s age.
After cursing the imperial palace’s vicious practices for a while, Aina seemed to tire out and sighed deeply, muttering.
“Well, anyway, I just need to prove that I properly lured Your Highness. After that, whether Your Highness sweeps them away or gets captured…”
“….”
“They didn’t tell me to kill Your Highness, so if I just lure you properly, my sibling should be safe… After that, if I’m driven out of the castle and disappear… They’ll think I’m dead, so I’ll finally be free…”
“Then you’ll never see your sibling again.”
“That would be even better.”
Her absent-minded muttering was too unadorned to be considered acting.
Even more so because Aina’s words lacked any particular longing or intensity toward her sibling.
Aina just looked somewhat tired and weary.
“Why? Because that child is ‘Aina’s sibling, not your real sibling?”
Aina’s half-closed eyes quickly focused on Leticia.
Leticia had previously investigated ‘Aina’s background and had told her about it.
So Leticia asked without hesitation.
“Aina, the maid who served a sickly princess from a cadet branch of the imperial family who was a fan of ‘Leticia Borba,’ and who even delivered flowers to me.”
Leticia carefully recited the information that Aina had provided about herself.
And now she finally mentioned something she had deliberately not pointed out 10 years ago.
“But I remember everyone who delivered flowers to me. And you weren’t among them.”
There weren’t many nobles who sent flowers to a child actor who appeared on stage for just a few minutes.
That was separate from how Leticia had shone brilliantly on stage even at that young age.
“Ah. I didn’t know Your Highness was a genius when I said that.”
Aina sighed lightly.
“I should have been more careful, but I was young then, too, wasn’t I? I was also very nervous about leaving the Empire…”
Aina’s slow muttering gradually quieted.
For a moment, her brown eyes seemed to take on a reddish tint in the darkness. Like most imperial family members who couldn’t possess purple eyes.
“Since you investigated me, you must know how the princess from the cadet branch I served died.”
“From an epidemic. Along with her parents and siblings. Afterward, their assets and servants were incorporated into the imperial household.”
“Don’t you find it strange that all the servants were fine, but only the high-ranking imperial family members died of the epidemic?”
“The circumstances of even higher-ranking people must have been involved. Perhaps the name of that epidemic was ‘the crime of having insufficient power compared to others.'”
Leticia hit the mark casually, and Aina burst into laughter. Her laughter scattered somewhat emptily.
“That’s right. His Majesty the Emperor killed them. All the family. However, one very clever girl in that family switched clothes with her maid and survived. The maid died instead.”
“….”
“Even knowing this, the maid’s younger sibling continued to call me sister until the end. So I am Aina, and that child… is my sibling. The only hostage that can move me.”
Sometimes, people can become family even without blood ties.
Leticia knew this better than anyone.
For the first time in a very long while, she recalled her older siblings who had desperately poured water on her during the massive fire. Her family, who tried to protect her despite having no power themselves.
Aina said.
“You were curious about how I know about Basilinte’s curse. How could I not know when my ‘lady’s family died because of it?”
She spoke thoroughly as ‘Aina,’ and Leticia deliberately didn’t probe further.
She didn’t want to dig deeper into someone else’s wounds.
Whatever the other’s true identity was, as long as the information she needed to receive was accurate.
“The family of the lady I served managed the imperial tombs as a cadet branch of the imperial family. There were coffins of all emperors from the first Emperor to the present, and naturally, the place enshrining the first Emperor’s coffin was the largest and most beautiful.”
As with any family, the founder was always treated with the highest respect.
So it wasn’t strange that the founding emperor who established the empire would have a coffin made of gold and jewels, but Aina continued as if this were unusual.
“His Majesty the current Emperor also visited periodically. Always alone. After clearing out the entire tomb area.”
That was definitely strange.
“Then one day, he summoned the father of the lady I served to that place. He was told to bring one of his children, so my lady went with him…”
Aina recalled that from the Emperor’s perspective, it might have been a test for those who faithfully managed the tombs.
“There, they drank the blood of the first Emperor.”
A case where a curse remains alive even though the mage who cast it had died.
Leticia recalled the subject she had been researching since last year.
The first Herta cursed Basilinte 300 years ago.
And unlike typical cases where curses gradually weaken after the caster’s death, this one grew stronger over time.
All curses originate from the caster’s desire, so they should eventually fade after the caster dies.
So the curse placed on Basilinte was considered as if the caster hadn’t died yet.
Because magical power dwells in a mage’s blood, and the blood of the first Herta still flows in the bodies of the living Herta imperial family.