The Contract Marriage for Attilenta's Revenge - Chapter 15

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Atilenta’s Revenge: A Marriage Contract — Episode 15
“Yesterday’s commotion was hardly worth mentioning, it seems.”
My tone was deliberately light. Poznan, understanding the implication, bowed her head a fraction lower.
“The Biaubi Family’s influence is considerable, but it hardly extends to the royal house. Moreover, Tatra overstepped in her conduct toward His Highness Henrik, to whom she is now married. Therefore, yesterday’s matter need cause you little concern. His Highness was merely doing what was appropriate.”
She explained in detail—it seemed she had been present at yesterday’s gathering as well.
The royal hand had clearly intervened in this matter too. I found myself thinking: this is Henrik’s authority at work.
From what I could gather, the disgraces that had clung to me like a shadow in the Francia Kingdom appeared to be little known here.
It was, after all, the business of a distant foreign land with which they had infrequent contact. One could investigate if sufficiently motivated, but for now it was of no consequence to me. Henrik would likely shield me from complications when needed for the sake of our arrangement.
“But what do you make of it, Poznan?”
“I merely follow His Highness’s command.”
I propped my chin deliberately and, legs crossed, gazed down at her with deliberate coolness.
“So you harbor loyalty to him?”
“Your Highness. I am no knight like my brother, and I would not go so far as to forfeit my life.”
Poznan’s answer satisfied me. I felt I had gleaned enough of her disposition and eased into a more comfortable posture.
Even if she were given to deception, there was no need to press her on it now. As the first meeting with the family of a knight Henrik trusted, there was no reason to affect coldness.
“I mean to visit the Royal Library. Prepare yourself.”

* * *
Upon arriving at the library, I deliberately left Poznan outside. I had no wish to offer her explanations.
The library, entered alone, was quiet as a forest path.
I had expected the royal library to be ornate and grand, but it was not.
The atmosphere was hushed, the thick smell of old paper hanging between the tightly packed shelves, while shadows cast by trees through the few windows drifted like mist across the stone.
“Aah…….”
I breathed in deeply and exhaled. I was certain this would become my favorite place in Bwendofska.
I was searching for where the books I needed might be shelved
when a voice came from beyond the dense shelves.
“You were here?”
Henrik appeared between the tall cases. Though we were husband and wife, we had exchanged little since yesterday’s reception.
He maintained his usual composure and cold tone, as though yesterday’s events held no meaning for him whatsoever.
“Yes, I was looking for something. Your Highness, what brings you here?”
Henrik walked through the space between the brown shelves and stopped before me, his voice low.
“There is something to verify among the information you provided.”
In the quiet, his measured voice drifted like wind.
“I see we share the same purpose.”
The information I had recently given him concerned the spies hidden within this realm. Rather than interrogate or deport them, Henrik had chosen instead to monitor their communications and exploit them strategically.
But what information would one find in a library that pertained to that? I tilted my head in thought.
Henrik glanced along the shelf, his fingers trailing as though selecting a volume. “Tell me—do you have interest in ciphers?”
His hand suddenly caught my eye, gleaming even beneath the library’s dim light. He wore a Ring different from the one he had given me.
A piece of considerable beauty and value: a black stone at its center, surrounded densely by fragments of gold. This, then, was how the royal house marked a marriage.
Rather than meet his gaze, I watched his fingers slip smoothly between the large, thick volumes as I asked:
“Does this library house such works? Your Highness—I am permitted to use this library, am I not?”
A soft laugh rode on his breath. I turned sharply to meet his face. Henrik smiled faintly.
“This is the palace where you reside.”
Henrik had apparently made his selection. He drew out a single volume—its cover faded and worn, densely inscribed with Bwendofska script—a book of no ordinary kind.
“We keep most books here. What are you searching for?”
I took a moment to consider, touching my cheek and jaw deliberately before him.
He was as I was, I thought.
Remarkable, how utterly unbothered he seemed by yesterday. For him, there could be only one matter of importance. He was more single-minded than even I.
From both the prince’s perspective and the family head’s, of course it was fortunate that yesterday’s incident posed no real scandal.
I had thought as much when Poznan showed me the newspaper—idle questions like “If the Biaubi patriarch is so reasonable, why did his daughter behave that way yesterday?”
But there was more. For a foreigner, it struck me as unusual that a man of his status and power would search for information himself in a library. He could have sent a knight.
Then again, he was a prince who took the field himself amid the chaos of battle. Whatever the reason, it was no ordinary business.
Clearly, he was a man who needed to do things himself to feel satisfied.
The thought made me somewhat tense. I resolved in that moment not to entangle myself in unnecessary falsehoods.
A man like him would conduct interrogations in person. If I failed to hold up my end and showed signs of “betrayal,” it was plain I would face his direct hand in my punishment.
Henrik continued to regard me intently. I affected composure, determined not to appear suspicious.
“I wish to study this nation’s history. Legends, tales, myths—the older the better.”
“Your education seems sufficient.”
“Your Highness, I am deeply curious about such things.”
“Surely you don’t mean to study mythology at this stage. Tell me—do you require imagination for Magic?”
Indeed, he was sharp. His incisive question seemed to rake through me without warning, and I found myself biting my lower lip before I could stop.
I could have chosen to lie to him.
But what bound us together was a transaction with clear purpose and price, and I owed him honesty in return.
Henrik knew of my disgrace, yet he had hidden it here so others would not easily discover it. It seemed he understood rationally why I had made that request on the First Night.
The First Night, no less. I nearly clicked my tongue before catching myself. Even knowing it was pointless, I found myself remembering that night.
I wanted to think as rationally as Henrik, whom I now faced.
If Henrik helped me, my work in this country would become far easier. In truth, it benefited him as well. So I chose to answer truthfully once more.
“You are correct, Your Highness. I can cast Magic through imagination.”
After all, he had already witnessed me using Magic—that mysterious green light emanating from a pristine mirror.
“Tell me, you don’t mean to say you disbelieve the gods of Francia?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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