The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases: Volume 3 [Parts 1 to 5] by Shin Kouduki

Author:Shin Kouduki
Language: eng
Format: epub

The Lady of the Empire

The lady had visited Adastera in the past. Though embroiled in a cold war, the two nations had nominally established a friendly relationship. Visits from the nearby Marquis of Rinkwest had been part of the obligatory exchanges between two friendly nations—or so Allen had been told.

It had been ten years since he’d seen her. Back then, he had still been a child prodigy and had met Anriette at one of the parties to which he accompanied his father. That was the only time they had spoken. He had seen her a number of times since but never exchanged words. Rather, he had actively avoided speaking to her.

“It’s been a while,” said Allen.

“Sure has,” Anriette replied. “What’re you doing here, anyway?”

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”

The daughter of the governing house of a territory shouldn’t have been wandering around a town so far from the Marquis’s estate, and within sniffing distance of the kingdom. Pride of the empire or not, it wasn’t a safe place for her. Especially with—at least as far as Allen could tell at a glance—no guards. “Careless” wasn’t the word for it.

“You know each other?” asked Noel.

“Uh... Anriette, of the Marquis of Rinkwest, wasn’t it?” said Riese.

There was something in Riese’s tone. Allen glanced at her and saw an indescribable expression. He tilted his head in confusion. Tracing the gazes of the two women, he realized he had been holding Anriette’s hand ever since he helped her up.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Not at all,” Anriette replied. “I’m not gonna sweat something like that when you just helped me out.”

That might have been true, but the lady’s dignity mattered. She was around the same age as Allen; for many reasons, he shouldn’t have been touching her without good reason.

Allen composed himself. “Uh, anyway...as Riese said, this is Anriette of the Marquis of Rinkwest. Do I need to give any more details?”

“Nah,” said Noel. “Even I know whose domain we’re in right now.”

“Same here,” said Mylène. “But I’m confused about what you’re doing here.”

“Yes,” said Riese. “This isn’t a place for someone such as yourself, even if it is your domain. Um...not that it’s my place to say.”

“Quite,” said Anriette. “You should explain yourself before criticizing others. What is the princess—no, that’s not right anymore, is it? Anyway, what’s a duchess of the Kingdom doing here with this motley crew?”

Riese was shocked. “What? You know about that, Lady Anriette?”

The news that Riese was no longer a princess had not been disclosed; nothing about the House of Westfeldt had. Now that news of the General’s death had spread, there was no telling how Adastera’s neighbors might react to further developments. The news was supposed to have been kept within the kingdom, yet here Riese was faced with a representative of the empire—the nation they least wanted to know anything about the goings-on in Adastera—who seemed to know all about her.

To Allen, it didn’t seem too surprising.

“I try to stay in the loop,” Anriette said curtly. “Oh, and you don’t need to call me ‘lady.

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