That had been 20 minutes ago. Shia checked the time and clicked her tongue.
"Should I have written that I'd like him to come within an hour at the latest."
Since she was the one in the more desperate position, she couldn't afford to be too demanding.
'At least I was lucky to find this room.'
This room, which seemed to be used for study groups or something, was a bit far from the banquet hall but had the advantage of being secluded from people.
A perfect place to meet away from prying eyes.
"Now all that's left is for that duke to show up."
She wasn't fond of waiting to begin with, but not knowing how long she'd have to wait made time drag even more slowly.
Shia pulled out one book after another from the bookshelf, flipped through the pages, and put them back, repeating the process. They were all about magical engineering and boring.
'If I'd known I'd have to wait this long, I should have asked Janet to stay with me.'
Janet, who had offered to attend to Shia, had promptly fled to the carriage as soon as she heard Shia was meeting the Duke of Tenoris, claiming she'd "just remembered something she forgot to do."
"Ugh, this is tedious."
Clunk—
Shia, who had been twisting her body out of boredom, quickly sat up straight at the sound of the door opening.
Just as she'd seen before—black clothes and an expressionless face. The main character had finally arrived.
"I've kept you waiting. My apologies, Princess."
"Not at all. I just arrived myself."
Shia put up a vain front in response to his stiff greeting, which held not a trace of genuine apology.
'I think he might have caught a glimpse of me squirming like a worm, though...'
Since there wasn't so much as a twitch at the corner of his mouth, she wanted to believe that wasn't the case.
She gestured toward the chair across from her.
"Please, have a seat, Duke."
"I'll stand and listen from here."
To his refusal, which at first glance seemed rude, Shia added an explanation as if she'd anticipated it.
"If you're worried that the chair might be dirty, let me inform you that my maid thoroughly wiped it down before you arrived."
Warren fell silent for a moment at her words, which had precisely struck his weak point, before replying.
"If it's not too much trouble, may I verify that myself?"
"Of course."
He checked the seat with what looked like a penlight, as if he'd been waiting for permission, and apparently satisfied with its cleanliness, carefully sat down.
<SYSTEM: The real-time probability of the 1st World's destruction is 98.9%.>
The probability, which had been unchanged until he entered the room, had dropped slightly—so it seemed the chair was quite to his liking.
Shia decided to pretend not to notice his obsessive behavior and launched into her prepared lines. Lines she had practiced several times against her pillow the night before.
"Thank you for coming so readily despite my sudden request."
Making him wait about 20 minutes meant "readily" wasn't quite accurate, but anyway.
"The contents of your note were so intriguing that I thought I'd stop by briefly before leaving."
「Duke, when you have a moment, would you be able to have a private conversation with me? It concerns content that would be of great help to you. (Not a sales pitch, not proselytizing, not an expression of affection or hitting on you)」
Hearing aloud the part in parentheses that had particularly impressed him, Shia's face flushed. Was it too blatant?
"I was worried you might misinterpret my intentions, so I tried to keep it as concise and direct as possible."
"I see. Rest assured, I have not misinterpreted it at all."
Shia smiled coyly and covered her mouth with her fan.
"As expected of someone smart enough to graduate at the top of your class. There are people who have strange delusions about us, you know."
Warren raised an eyebrow in mock surprise.
"By delusions, are you referring to the absurd rumors that you, Princess, harbor certain feelings for me?"
"Yes, isn't that just a ridiculous rumor?"
"Thanks to the malice I felt in the force with which you stepped on my foot, I was never under any such misunderstanding. If those people had also been stepped on like that, they probably wouldn't think that way either."
"Cough, cough."
Shia, having inhaled wrong, cleared her throat for a moment.
"I didn't step on you that hard— ah, no. I'm sorry about that. I was being unreasonable that day and caused you trouble."
Since holding onto ill feelings wouldn't do her any good, and she herself thought an apology was warranted, Shia quickly bowed her head.
Warren found her obedient apology somewhat unexpected, but outwardly didn't so much as raise an eyebrow as he responded.
"It's fine. It was your coming-of-age party, so you must have been excited. And you must have had quite a bit of champagne. I never imagined you would have done such a thing in a sound state of mind."
"Oh my, how magnanimous of you."
Both of them knew full well that she had been of sound mind, so Warren's remark was clearly meant to needle her.
However, she maintained a placid, feigned smile on her face.
'I may look like this, but I've been through social life in the 2nd World! And at an advertising agency with hellish difficulty, no less.'
She was no longer Princess Cynthia Astley, who openly displayed her unpleasant feelings.
"Then let's forget about the past and move on to what you said would be helpful to me."
Although it stung a little that he had seized the lead in the conversation, she eagerly launched into the main topic at his words.
"Very well. I recently discovered a unique book in the royal treasury—"
Since the highly guarded Warren Tenoris would likely reject any unverified treatment, Shia diligently spun a tale about a "book she happened to find in a repository accessible only to royalty."
It was an old book documenting the treatment of a royal with symptoms similar to Warren's—unusual because it didn't use magical power, but seemed worth trying. Since the material couldn't be taken out, she couldn't show it to him directly, and so on.
'All lies, of course.'
The meticulously crafted story flowed out smoothly, like an AE from an ad agency presenting a pitch to a client, and Warren listened with an unimpressed expression.
Yet Shia didn't lose her composure.
The numbers dropping in real time showed that he was gradually being swayed by her words.
Finally, as she reached the part about detailing the contents of the book to Warren, he opened his mouth at last.
"Regardless of how helpful the treatment you're proposing might be—"
"It's a treatment with proven cases!"
His words somehow felt like an objection to the authority of Divine Professor Shin, and Shia couldn't help but snap back.
He continued, unperturbed by her reaction.
"What is your motive for making this proposal to me?"
"Motive—that has a negative connotation. That must be my imagination, right?"
"It's not your imagination. Why are you going out of your way to help me? I'm curious about your honest reason."
"If I said it's out of a pure desire to help you—"
"That can't be."
He smiled cynically and flatly denied her words. He had heard something similar from Noah, but to him, it was an unconvincing reason.
"Acting purely for the sake of others—surely there's no such person. Ah, pardon me. That wasn't a criticism of you personally. Humans are fundamentally selfish beings."
"...Ohoho, what a pessimistic person you are."
Shia pretended to laugh leisurely while secretly wiping the sweat forming on her palms. Being under his hawk-like gaze made her tense without realizing it.
"To be honest, there is something I desire in return for helping you."
Despite speaking in such calculating terms, Warren's expression remained calm. Rather, he seemed to have expected this.
"What kind of help do you want?"
"The royal succession council scheduled for three years from now—you're aware of it, I assume?"
"I am."
The "Royal Succession Council" was a gathering where those with noble titles in the kingdom came together to hold a secret ballot to select the next monarch.
There were two candidates: Cynthia Astley and Phil Astley, but... it was already all but certain that Phil would be elected.
"I'd like you to vote for me there."
"...Surely you don't have aspirations to win the election?"
"What's with that face?"
Though she'd never actually entertained such thoughts, Shia nearly jumped up in indignation.
That wry smile of his, which reminded her of a famous celebrity's photo with the caption "You? LOL," was truly enough to make her want to punch him.
Feeling her nails dig into her palms, Shia managed to regain some composure.
'Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.'
She mentally named each breath and slowly took three deep breaths. The emotional regulation technique she'd learned from Professor Shin was coming in handy here too.
"I have no desire to become queen or anything. It's not like winning over one person would make it happen anyway. To be blunt, I'm not very popular, am I?"
"Not very? I believe 'not at all' would be more accurate."
"Is the Duke really in a position to say that?"
Shia unconsciously raised her voice with a vein bulging in her neck.
Sure, she had her own karmic debt, but being called out like that by none other than the Duke of Tenoris? That was rich.
"I at least have the decency to be self-aware. I acknowledge that I lack popularity."
"I-I know roughly where I stand in the kingdom too, you know?"
More accurately, it was closer to "now" she knew. Having returned from the 2nd World after developing what they called "meta-cognition" there.
Even the nobles she'd met at the banquet hall earlier—she could see right through the truth that they were showering her with excessive kindness just to curry favor with Phil standing beside her.
"For someone who claims to be self-aware, it's quite something that you erected that statue in the royal gardens."
"Ugh, that's—!"
Struck right where it hurt by Warren, Shia's lips pursed and opened wordlessly for a moment.
