However, it wasn’t surprising when you think about it.

It was Theodore’s men, dressed as waiters and gardeners, who were monitoring the castle.

Theodore initially sent them to gather information about Arnold in the castle, but there was no way Arnold wouldn’t have noticed their presence.

…But come to think of it, I also noticed that his younger brother was collecting information about him. It’s so sweet how he left his brother to his devices all these years…

She should inform Theodore of this discovery as well. He has helped her a lot, and she needed to repay him as much as she could.

With this in mind, Rishe opened her mouth softly.

“As a matter of fact, I’m just as guilty as Teacher Michel.”

“How?”

“I made use of Teacher Michel’s plan instead of stopping it… And I wanted you to see those fireworks, too.”

She had already assumed in advance that there would be a time difference in the launch.

When Arnold heard the first one, he would surely look to the sky. Her plan evidently worked.

“Fireworks have dangerous properties as you can imagine. But as you can see, depending on how you use them, they can create a view that no one else in the world has ever seen. I believed that if you know this, you’ll surely open up to a lot of possibilities.”

It was by no means limited to the pleasant use of gunpowder.

It was about the products made with Koyor’s technology. It was also about the future of Arnold himself.

“You may still think that all of your power is dedicated to war.”

Rather than keeping the existence of gunpowder a secret, she trusted him and presented it.

This was Rishe’s choice.

“One day, I’ll prove to you that it’s not.”

“―― ……”

Arnold merely raised a brow and stuck his chest proudly.

“You might regret it.”

Eventually, that was the only line he strung.

“You can do whatever you want with Michel Evan, just don’t dispose of him publicly.”

Rishe cringed at Arnold’s bluntness.

“I don’t want to hear you or Kyle complain if I kill him and dispose of him secretly. You’re okay with that?”

“Your Highness Arnold…”

“…”

When she pulled Arnold’s sleeve, he bent down a little.

After all, Rishe and Arnold had a height difference of more than 20 centimeters.

“What?”

“Actually…”

Rishe stood on tiptoes and whispered in his ear.

“It was Teacher Michel who came up with the structure of the pocket watch.”

“…”

She could see the wrinkles deepening between Arnold’s eyebrows even without looking at him.

“It seems that he invented it as a means of having an instrument to measure time for his research.”

“…”

“There’s a lot of evidence that Teacher Michel, a Koyor scholar, was the developer of the device, although he hasn’t disclosed his name because he hated the hassle with it. For example, Koyor’s artisans have molds of the parts.”

“…”

“I believe that Teacher Michel’s knowledge will be essential for future joint research with Koyor.”

She planted her heels on the ground, then craned her neck to look up at Arnold.

“What do you think?”

“…You…”

Arnold raised the other brow, and then sighed softly…

“No matter how I think about it, I’m sure you’ve been confident in your ability to woo me from the start.”

“No way! I was confident that Your Highness would be interested in my teacher.”

That was quite true. There was no way she could be so proud as to fool Arnold and have him do what he wanted.

She could tell by the bitter look on his face that the plan had managed to work.

That was a close call, though. Before the meeting in the evening, he absolutely had no intention of lending knight to the Koyor Kingdom. If His Highness Arnold had prepared knights in advance, it wouldn’t have been for an alliance to Koyor, but only in light of the war…

That thought chilled her liver all at once.

She knew that Arnold wasn’t outrageous.

But for that reason, he must have meant it when he said, [If you’re thinking for Koyor, I’d better invade him quickly.]

Besides, there are other things that bother me.

Earlier, Rovined mentioned Emperor Garkhaine’s name as the reason why he couldn’t obey Theodore’s orders.

He disobeyed Theodore’s orders to show that he was someone who would never disobey.

And yet, His Highness Arnold said, “Before my father hears about it. In other words, His Majesty wasn’t informed about Teacher Michel’s case.

To be exact, Rovine just mentioned that his master was the emperor, but he never said that he was under His Majesty’s order.

It’s strange that an incident involving a distinguished guest wasn’t reported to the emperor. Isn’t His Excellency Rovine supposed to be a famous loyal vassal?

Rishe felt a stirring in her heart somehow.

After all, she knew the future.

-His Excellency Lord Rovine will be executed for treason as a result of his advice to His Highness Arnold in the future.

She looked up at Arnold.

His profile, which was deadpan, was as beautiful as a counterfeit.

“…What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing.”

Rishe gently shook her head and spoke.

“The people in the castle must have seen those fireworks.”

She glanced at Michel and realized that Kyle was still scolding him.

Kyle was pretty scary once he got angry. She was well aware of it, but she wasn’t going to give him a helping hand this time.

“If it becomes known that this is Koyor’s technology, public interest will support the alliance.”

“…”

No one knew what gunpowder was. They wouldn’t know what it was for or how powerful it was just by looking at the fireworks.

The fireworks must have caught people’s eyes simply as beautiful art.

She hoped that the reputation of the fireworks would help to build an equal relationship between the great nation of Garkhain and the small nation of Koyor.

“…You’re probably right.”

“Fufufu!”

She was delighted to hear Arnold’s approval.

There were still countless things that Rishe didn’t understand. But she knew what she had to do.

She took a deep breath and rekindled her determination to push forward for the future.