Tearmoon Empire: Volume 8 [Complete] by Nozomu Mochitsuki

Author:Nozomu Mochitsuki
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 28: A Terrifying Truth (of Terror!)

After Mia and Abel’s public display of affection concluded, the conversation returned to a more serious note.

“By the way, Mia, what was that about a marriage proposal? And does it somehow involve our friends here?” asked Rafina, gesturing at Tiona and Liora.

“Actually, it does,” Mia answered before glancing around warily.

Rafina got the hint and smiled. “It’s all right. The owner of this establishment is a trustworthy individual with a very tight lip. We can speak freely here.”

Said owner had stepped in just in time to catch her compliment. He laughed self-consciously and placed a few dishes of food on the table.

“I’m deeply honored by your words, Lady Rafina. I made sure to have the whole place reserved in advance for you, so there is no one else here today. Once I finish serving all the food, I will also retreat to the back room so you can enjoy full privacy,” he said, clearly accustomed to her demands.

Rafina leaned toward Mia and whispered in her ear.

“You know, he’s actually a Belluga spy.”

“Uh, what?”

Mia almost choked on her spit. Last she checked, the whole point of spies was to keep their identities secret. Sure, they were allies in the fight against the Chaos Serpents, but diplomacy and intelligence-gathering between nations existed on an entirely different level. They might have been friends, but that did not make it okay to divulge such information willy-nilly. Worried that this was some sort of serious espionage faux pas, Mia was just about to question the statement’s appropriateness when she noticed the expression on Rafina’s face—the grin of a successful prank.

“But his work doesn’t involve other nations,” she explained. “He’s a special spy, because he’s part of our intelligence war against the Serpents.”

Mia nodded. The Chaos Serpents were indeed an elusive group. It made sense for each nation to deploy undercover agents to suss them out.

“Ah, I see. In that case...”

She resolved to confide in them the details. At first, she wasn’t quite sure how to broach the topic, but once she started talking, the words came swiftly and naturally. After all, for all its complexity, it was fundamentally about a relationship. Being a girl, Mia was very much into relationship stories—both hearing and telling them. She liked them a lot more than ghost stories, at least. With the tone of a scholar, she described how a marriage proposal was being discussed between Esmeralda and Sunkland’s second prince, how Count Lampron had initiated the talks, and how it all tied into Tearmoon’s anti-empress faction.

It was, of course, ninety-nine percent regurgitation; she was just parroting what Ludwig had said. To her credit, she made no mention of Echard plotting Sion’s assassination. That was dangerous information, and she had to be very careful about its disclosure.

“So, just so I know I’m understanding this correctly, what you’re saying is that there’s a faction in Tearmoon that opposes you, and they’re trying to collude with the anti-Sion faction in Sunkland,” said Rafina.

Her succinct summary was actually an impressive feat.

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