Chapter 7

  Caged Bird

  “…My engagement.”

  “!”

  Dan Burn and Zeedee Lamp both stared in disbelief.

  Cut to the next scene: dinner was over.

  “What do you mean?! An engagement?! A marriage engagement?! You’re engaged?!”

  Zeedee pestered Nora so much that Dan was the one starting to feel annoyed on her behalf. But still… it was shocking. A lot of things had been, from beginning to end. Snowhaven was like a whole other world compared to everything Dan knew.

  “Yes… My fiancé’s name is Jacob. He’s not a bad person or anything… Just someone my mother chose for me.”

  “…Is that normal for your family?”

  “Yes, Mr.Fury.”

  Nora admitted it plainly. Dan could only watch from the side, eyes drifting to the painting of the Ophilis family.

  Nora’s father, the late King Ophilis, had died of smallpox when she was only two years old.

  Fury knew that already—from the day he first met Empress Ophilis the XIV. She had already been alone by then.

  This really was a single-mother household.

  And with the Empress’s military-like discipline, it wasn’t surprising her children had grown up under such pressure.

  Dan had heard the late King Ophilis was a Level-10 ice mage—powerful, but relaxed to the point of being the Empress’s complete opposite.

  “So this is what you meant when you said you had to come home to sort things out? Your engagement?”

  “That’s right, Mr.Fury.”

  “All of this was arranged by the Empress?”

  Nora nodded again.

  “He’s the son of one of her most trusted guards. We were betrothed when we were twelve… Yes…”

  As she spoke, one hand moved up to grip her own shoulder.

  “Nora… are you really okay with this?”

  “…”

  She said nothing—but Dan could already piece it all together. The tension, the suffocating dinner, the forced engagement, the regimented life… it was all part of a script written by the Empress, and every child was expected to follow it down to the last dot.

  He didn’t even need to meet the fiancé to know—Nora clearly didn’t want this. But the look on her face said something else:

  I have to do this. It’s my duty. Mother expects it. I cannot defy her.

  And in that moment, Dan learned something.

  If he hadn’t known Nora personally—if he’d only ever passed her in the halls of the institute—he’d have thought she was just some stern-faced princess obsessed with her grades.

  But behind that exterior was a weight too heavy for a 19-year-old girl to bear. Expectations, responsibilities… all far too much for someone so young.

  Her siblings were stuck in the same fate.

  But who was he to say what was right or wrong in another family’s business?

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  “…Not like what Casca used to tell me at all.”

  “Mr.Fury?”

  Nora looked up. Dan sat down across from her, fingers interlaced, leaning in.

  “Casca always told me back when we started living together… the most important thing for a person is their heart.”

  The most important thing for a person is their heart.

  That line rang with both literal and metaphorical truth.

  “I probably can’t do anything about your situation. Who am I to say what’s right or wrong in your family, right? But if I can say one thing… it’s the same thing Casca once told me. Remember this, Princess: people can only bear so much. If you ignore your heart, in the end, what it gives you back… is a lifetime of regret.”

  “!”

  The word duty was what she’d used to coat over everything—repeating it to herself as she endured all the burdens thrown her way.

  “Anyway, we’ll leave you alone for tonight, Nora. We won’t bother you anymore.”

  Dan stood up.

  “Zeedee.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  The two of them left together.

  (door closes)

  Nora was left alone in her chamber… to sit with Fury’s words and think.

  “That poor girl… I’m starting to feel bad for her.”

  “Weren’t you the one complaining about her wrecking the dorm the other day?”

  “That was because she trashed our place. She’s nothing like your beloved. That one, I hate in every dimension.”

  “…Wow.”

  “So, where are we even going now?”

  They walked through the heart of Snowhaven, surrounded by its people.

  They passed a blacksmith’s forge—clearly a popular spot for local kids to warm up—and an upscale jewelry shop run by one of Snowhaven’s leading firms.

  Visually, the city looked well-managed. Dan gave silent approval.

  “So this is Snowhaven… Not bad at all.”

  Snowhaven was the northern giant—no exaggeration. Its territory spanned millions of square kilometers. Its economic model wasn’t all that different from Diablo’s.

  Dan wasn’t surprised the Empress was the way she was. In fact, he understood.

  She ruled a massive country with poor food resources and freezing weather year-round. Even if she wasn’t depressed, a land without sunlight would naturally shape its people into introverts.

  Scarcity breeds struggle. Struggle breeds pressure. It made sense that the Ophilis family turned out like this.

  “If all you do is pamper a girl like some fairy tale princess in a world of fluff, then the country’s doomed.”

  “So a leader’s personality depends on the land itself, huh, Your Highness?”

  “That’s what my father taught me.”

  Dan closed his sketchbook, having finished drawing the city’s towering walls.

  “All right. Let’s look for news about Casca.”

  “Where are you going to find that? Why not just wait for Nora to ask for us?”

  “You ever heard of two-factor authentication?”

  “…What?”

  “Let’s say Nora gets some info. How do we know it’s accurate? I’m not taking chances. I want to find something first—then compare it with what she tells us.”

  “Ahh… a cross-check. Smart.”

  “Exactly.”

  “What if the two don’t match?”

  “Then we’ll need a third source. There’s only one truth. We’re not gonna get 100 completely different versions.”

  The place they stopped?

  A local inn.

  The go-to for travelers, adventurers, foreign knights—anyone passing through.

  A goldmine of rumors, if nothing else. Whether those rumors were true? That was another matter.

  Inside, the air buzzed with adventurers eating, drinking, and chatting.

  Dan and Zeedee walked up to the bar and hopped onto the stools.

  Behind the counter was a burly, brown-bearded Viking-type man who looked like the owner. He was handing a beer across the counter, but when he noticed them, he ambled over.

  His first question pierced through the background noise:

  “Aren’t you two a bit young to be here?”

  “I’m not ordering alcohol, don’t worry.”

  “Then what’ll it be?”

  “…Two glasses of sheep’s milk.”

  “Coming right up.”

  Moments later, they had their drinks—two credits total.

  Sheep were the backbone of Snowhaven livestock: cold-resistant, useful from birth to death.

  “Sir.”

  “Hmm?”

  The Viking man was about to turn away, but Dan stopped him.

  “Is it true someone important passed through Snowhaven a few months ago?”

  “We get important folks all the time.”

  “I’m looking for one in particular.”

  “Name?”

  “Hero Casca Saint-Maximin.”

  Dan looked up, setting his milk down.

  “I heard she came here not long ago.”

  At that, Zeedee laid down ten credits on the bar.

  “Got anything you can sell us?”

  Direct. Efficient. No room for confusion.

  “Don’t recognize your faces. You’re foreigners, huh?”

  The Viking scratched his beard, thinking.

  “If you make it fifteen credits, we’ve got something to talk about.”

  “Didn’t the milk buy us goodwill?”

  Without anyone noticing, one of Zeedee’s tentacles slithered out from under her purse and placed more coins on the table.

  “Information’s just another product, kid. No haggling.”

  “All right. What’s the juiciest rumor about Casca Saint-Maximin? What’ll that cost?”

  “Twenty-five credits.”

  “Twenty-five?!”

  “Looks like someone’s a fan. Can’t be helped. Pay, or leave.”

  “Twenty-two?”

  “Twenty-five. Final offer.”

  “…Fine, fine. Twenty-five.”

  Dan gave a wink. Zeedee stacked another fifteen credits. The Viking leaned in.

  “Let’s see if it’s worth your money…”

  “Three months ago, the palace sent an official delegation to welcome Casca Saint-Maximin. She came to visit the royal family. At first, people thought it was just a reunion—The Raven was there too—but the nobles whispered otherwise. Word is… Casca came to ask the Empress for help. Personally.”

  “Ask for help? Casca?”

  “She wanted the Empress’s influence to get a meeting with the Pope.”

  “…The Pope…”

  Fury had heard of him.

  Casca had told him before: Snowhaven and Luminus both followed the same faith—the C-IS religion.

  They shared scriptures and rituals, and yes—one Pope.

  But only rulers could secure an audience with the Pope. That meant Empress Ophilis or the King of Luminus.

  So why didn’t Casca go to her own king?

  Why trek all the way to Snowhaven for something like this?

  Fury smelled something suspicious.

  “Well, that’s your 25-credit story.”

  The Viking leaned back.

  “No one knows what they actually talked about. But a few weeks later, Casca left Snowhaven.”

  Dan and Zeedee exchanged a look.

  “…Okay. That’s… interesting.”