Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 175 (Part 1)

After quite a while had passed, the door quietly opened. Rodin remained outside, and Jena hurriedly entered alone, wary of being seen.

“I’m sorry. I know it’s late, but I had no other choice.”

“Could you explain the reason?”

“You’ll find out soon. Jena, search inside and take out the things emitting mana. Behind the left dresser, and next to the mana light on the ceiling. There should be two.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Jena searched the places Rodin had pointed out and took out two small objects.

The object behind the dresser was a cube the size of a thumb, and the item found beside the mana light was a small bead the size of a fingernail.

“What are these?”

“They are devices that transmit sound from the room to somewhere else.”

To prevent mana from leaking outside, Rodin had altered the artifact in his own way. A typical mage would have needed a micro mana detector to even recognize the artifact’s presence.

However, Rodin possessed an extraordinary sense. As soon as he had entered the room during the day, he had immediately noticed the artifact’s presence.

“Ah! Please come in. We need to listen carefully.”

“Very well.”

As soon as Rodin entered, he received the two artifacts from Jena. Then, he enveloped the surface of both artifacts with mana.

It wasn’t yet time to destroy them. Since they still had to stay here for another day, he merely blocked the sound from being transmitted for now.

“These… are you saying these items are artifacts that transmit sound?”

“That’s correct. They are artifacts that transmit only sound. They’re not difficult to make. It’s a variation of a communication spell, and since it only transmits sound and not images, the magic circle becomes simpler. On top of that, the coordinates are fixed, so the difficulty drops even further.”

If it were Rodin, he could craft one of these simple artifacts in just ten minutes. Even Bianca could make them with a bit of practice.

“Who on earth could have done this?”

“Her Majesty the Queen might already have a suspicion.”

“You mean… the Duke of Lientas has joined hands with His Majesty’s political enemies?”

The “His Majesty” from Queen Regina’s mouth obviously referred to the current king of the Kingdom of Luvain.

The “political enemies” were the remaining forces of other princes who, even after the civil war had ended, continued attempting assassinations.

“That is probably not the case.”

“How can you be so certain? These are the people who secretly listened in on the sounds from my room.”

“If the Duke of Lientas had joined hands with the political enemies, Your Majesty would not be alive by now. Nor would the prince.”

“Ah!”

The political enemies attempting to assassinate the current King of Luvain aimed to wipe out all his bloodline.

To let his wife and child live and try to blackmail him? With the throne on the line, such threats would never work.

“There must be another reason they secretly listened to sounds from here.”

“What do you believe they gain, Archmage?”

“In my view, the Duke of Lientas is trying to establish connections with both sides and reap the benefits.”

Queen Regina, who stayed within the lord’s castle, was unaware, but the Duke of Lientas didn’t have a very good reputation.

Uncharacteristically for a swordsman, he was known to be sly and used many underhanded means—something everyone knew.

The way he imposed taxes on merchants and the tariffs he levied on goods brought in through waterways differed from other regions.

At a glance, the taxes seemed low, but in reality, the system was structured such that merchants ended up paying more.

His governance of the slums was also unusual—he didn’t issue residency permits to domain citizens whose property was below a certain threshold.

Because of this, even though the backstreets were filled with poor people, the domain was dressed up statistically as an ideal place with no poor population.

The only occupation treated favorably—oddly enough—was that of artisans. Perhaps because they were the financial backbone of the domain, they received generous benefits, from tax exemptions to various preferential treatments.

“What do you mean by ‘connections with both sides’?”

“He’s probably trying to fulfill the wishes of whichever side gives him more profit. To do that, he would need to gather information from here.”

“When you say both sides… I must be one of them as well.”

“Doesn’t he already see himself as indebted to Your Majesty? You are aware that the Kingdom of Maven and the Kingdom of Russell do not have good relations, yes? But since Your Majesty granted him favor, the Kingdom of Russell cannot make even minor provocations against the Kingdom of Maven anymore.”

The Kingdom of Russell was situated between the Kingdom of Maven and the Kingdom of Luvain. From west to east, the three kingdoms were laid out in a row: Maven, Russell, and Luvain.

The Kingdom of Russell had extremely poor relations with Maven. About fifty years ago, the Kingdom of Maven had suddenly seized one of Russell’s ports.

In contrast, Russell had fairly good relations with Luvain—an amicable relationship that had lasted for centuries.

“You’re saying that if the Kingdom of Russell provokes Maven, our kingdom will intervene.”

“Yes, exactly. There’s no need for some grand assistance. Even just holding large-scale military exercises near the border would force Russell to redirect a large portion of their forces toward Luvain.”

“Then what about the line he has with the political enemies?”

“Up until now, it seems it’s been limited to providing information. But today and tomorrow could be different.”

Rodin didn’t explain in detail, but Queen Regina understood what he meant. That was because earlier in the day, Rodin had referred to her son not as a “princess’s child,” but as a “prince.”

“Surely he wouldn’t go that far?”

“If an assassin breaks in and the prince dies, would Your Majesty treat the Duke of Lientas as an enemy?”

“Th-that… I suppose not.”

If Queen Regina were to discover that the Duke of Lientas had personally sent an assassin, she would naturally view him as an enemy—someone who killed her son.

But if it were made to look as though the political enemies sent the assassin, and the Duke was merely blamed for a security breach?

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