Chapter 66
“Third floor, you say? May I ask what brings you there, Princess?”
“I heard there’s a corrupt bureaucrat drinking up there. From the budget department. You know who I mean, right?”
When Solinor answered Maki’s question about her specific purpose, the surrounding spies all made troubled expressions.
‘Huh? What’s that about?’
Solinor had no idea why they were reacting that way.
After a brief pause, Maki opened her mouth again.
“Princess, may I ask why you are looking for him? It’s true he’s on the third floor right now, but could you please tell us the exact reason?”
“The reason?”
Solinor hesitated for a moment.
‘Is it okay to just say it? Hmm… But if they’re Corbin’s subordinates, maybe it’s fine… Eh, who cares, I already revealed the Spirit, this much is nothing.’
Although this was a completely different kind of information from summoning a Spirit, Solinor didn’t think too deeply about it.
“I heard he’s been accepting bribes from other departments and sending up budget proposals that demand far more than necessary. I came to tell him to cut it out.”
“What? You mean, you’re going to tell him yourself, Princess?”
“Yup! My father isn’t doing it, so I have to, don’t I?”
The princess spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, but everyone around her couldn’t help but be shocked.
After all, Corbin had never revealed the princess’s uniqueness to the world.
Not even to his most trusted subordinates. The only one who knew was Florina.
The fewer people who knew a critical secret, the better. That was something Corbin always said.
Solinor, who sometimes took her allies’ advice seriously, still had moments of blunder.
Even if it was a crisis, she had just gone and revealed her uniqueness to the whole world.
‘Princess Muriela herself is trying to correct corrupt bureaucrats? Then… Lord Corbin must be aware of this too… especially since Betchi is always with her.’
The spies were all in awe. That the Princess—only eight years old—was so involved in state affairs?
The people gathered here were assigned to Solineum City, so they didn’t know the royal family very well.
For them, Princess Muriela left a strong impression.
‘And on top of that, she’s a Spirit Mage. No wonder Lord Corbin thinks so highly of her.’
The fact that the princess was a Spirit Mage was another big factor.
They had thought that was a power exclusive to residents of the Fey Forest.
If records about Queen Aiorin were to be trusted, the power the princess could wield was immense.
‘But still… spilling all this to people she’s just met, even if they work under someone she knows… is that really okay?’
Of course, not all evaluations were positive. No matter how young, she was awfully loose-lipped!
Though to be fair, it wasn’t entirely Solinor’s fault. He hadn’t been like this in his previous life.
It was Muriela’s deep-seated desire, built up over seven years of receiving no parental love.
For a child her age, the need for attention and affection from parents was critical.
Having grown up in a gloomy cage with none of it, of course she’d want to talk when given the chance.
Now that she had something to be proud of, she was absolutely thrilled to share it.
Solinor was more influenced by Muriela’s subconscious impulses than he realized.
Though his tendency to get excited too easily didn’t help, either.
“If that’s your reason, then it should be fine for you to—”
“Thanks!”
Before Maki could even finish her sentence, Muriela dashed up the stairs.
Several spies had to urgently shout to stop her.
“Princess! Please wait a moment!”
“Huh? Why?”
“There’s something I must explain before you go up. That bureaucrat… is not quite the person you think he is.”
Maki, barely catching her breath, was quickly revising her internal evaluation of Princess Muriela.
Though to be fair, it was still relatively high—just no longer at its peak.
‘Maybe it’s because she’s still young, but her actions are far too rash. The servants must have a hard time keeping up with her.’
And honestly, it wasn’t even Muriela’s fault. Solinor, in his younger days, was just as hot-tempered.
It was a chaotic collaboration—a grandfather and granddaughter acting in perfect sync.
Meanwhile, Maki continued to wrestle with her thoughts.
‘This is a high-grade classified matter. Is it really okay to tell this impulsive and loose-lipped princess? What if it leads to a disaster?’
But in the end, “Lord Corbin probably knows already. It’s not my responsibility,” won over.
What she didn’t know was that Corbin had only told Muriela how to get to the budget department, not what was actually going on.
Even though Solinor was known to act before thinking, no one had expected him to leave the palace that very day.
“If you go upstairs, you’ll see for yourself—he’s someone who’s working closely with us. He only pretends to spend recklessly at the entertainment district, but in truth, he’s collecting as many bribes as possible to funnel back into the National Treasury.”
The reason he pulled all those tricks to get more bribes was, in the end, for the good of the kingdom.
In fact, the hostesses he hired were all spies, and the alcohol? Just colored water.
Solinor marveled at Corbin’s cunning.
“What? Then he was on our side all along? Was all this part of Corbin’s plan?”
Whose side ‘our side’ was being referred to, Maki wasn’t entirely sure.
But the meaning wasn’t lost on her.
“Yes. You could say that. He’s someone Lord Corbin planted in the budget department long ago.”
“Hmmm… So there was no need to educate him, then. But, I do have one question.”
“If it’s something I can answer, I’ll gladly do so.”
“If the plan was to operate this way, why didn’t Corbin just win over or threaten the rest of the budget officials so they couldn’t embezzle anything? I mean, I already went and educated the others just a bit ago.”
Maki was taken aback by Solinor’s words.
“Excuse me? Educated? What exactly did you do to the other officials?”
“I broke into their homes and had Hamilton here intimidate them. Told them not to pass any fake budget requests.”
Having finished speaking, Princess Muriela gave a little giggle—as if to say, “Didn’t I do well?”
Hearing her made Maki wince, a sudden headache pounding her skull.
‘It’s not like Lord Corbin didn’t know about the budget bleeding. But to suddenly go this far… and entrust the task to a child of all people?’
At this point, Maki’s mental image of Muriela had dropped to simply that child. Not that she was wrong.
Still, Corbin had his reasons for letting the princess roam freely.
The one moving that tiny body was none other than the true king—Solinor.
No matter how the body had changed, a king was a king. Corbin believed in that.
Back in their adventuring days, who would’ve thought he’d one day become king?
In the end, things that are meant to happen will happen—no matter what one does.
Some might say a Spymaster shouldn’t think in such an irresponsible way, but Corbin was unwavering.
In fact, the longer he worked as Spymaster, the more confident he became.
No matter how much effort they poured into secret operations and political maneuvering, they were ultimately just support.
The massive tides of history and destiny could not be controlled by mere tricks.
And among all the people he’d ever met, there was one whom fate loved beyond measure.
That person was Solinor.
Ordinary people could never hope to grasp the life of a hero.
Meanwhile, Solinor stared at Maki, who stood there dumbfounded with a headache, and thought:
‘Then there’s really no need to go up to the third floor, is there? He’s one of ours, right? No point in convincing someone who’s already on our side.’
In one corner of her mind stood the angel Solinor, advocating efficiency.
‘Nah, I can’t miss the chance to check out a VIP room in a top-class bar. I mean, aren’t you curious?’
On the other side stood the devil Solinor, the embodiment of curiosity.
What tipped the scales was none other than Muriela herself. Children are creatures of curiosity.
Now that she had reunited with her grandfather’s soul and escaped her lifeless shell, her curiosity had come back to life.
“Alright, now that everything’s cleared up—let’s go up! Everyone, follow me!”
And so, Muriela marched boldly up the stairs. Sir Hamilton and the maids rushed to follow her.
Maki, finally snapping back to her senses, gave a few instructions to the nearby spies before catching up.
“Wow, this place is so fancy. Huh? That must be him!”
While marveling at the opulence of the VIP room—on par with the Royal Palace—the group spotted a man.
A middle-aged man discussing documents with disguised spies posing as hostesses.
“…Father?”
The first to react to the man’s appearance—and to utter the most unexpected words—was the most unexpected person.
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