A few weeks had passed since I made and presented my plans. At that time, to my utter joy, Duke Armand backed my cartoon trap plan. He was King Eduard's scheme expert, so I hoped he actually liked my plan and wasn't plotting against me.

Back to the present, I was in a meeting room. King Eduard, Queen Eleanor, the Prince of Greenrivers, and Duke Armand were there. Also, Duke Armand's doll wife was there. She was carrying a whip, Duke Armand's arms were tied up, and I was not questioning anything. A crystal ball was in the center of a table. Hildoara was attending the meeting through it. Duke Carini was on another crystal ball.

"To begin this meeting..." King Eduard started.

"Hold on a second," Hildoara spoke up. "I have a question."

It seemed that Hildoara wasn't of the same mind as I was.

"And that would be?" King Eduard the Defenestrator asked.

"Why are your duke's arms tied up? And why does that woman have a whip?" she questioned.

Well, that was...ummm...

"How is Hildoara that naive?" I thought.

"Probably because this is she doesn't have any memories from past lives," Dʰéǵʰom said. "In fact, I'm pretty sure this is Queen Hildoara's first life. And if she dies, she'll end up in a permanent afterlife and not reincarnate."

"Oh, right. I guess that would...wait a minute, wasn't her father a sex freak or something?"

"That doesn't mean he was into bondage," the deity pointed out.

"Good point."

Duke Armand tried to wave it off, but he couldn't move his arm. So, King Eduard's son did it instead.

"I find that it is best to not think too much about what Duke Armand does with his wife," the prince said.

"Yes, yes, I just messed up my schedule a little bit," Duke Armand added.

"And I would rather us get to the main point," Queen Eleanor stated. "And not talk about what Duke Armand gets up to in the bedroom."

A massive blush formed on Hildoara's face as she suddenly realized that this was a sex thing. Duke Carini spoke fast to save his queen from embarrassment.

"Yes, we have a report regarding the trap we made, and some reports from our spies in Motteburh," he said.

"I have similar reports. Let us focus on the spies first," King Eduard stated.

"Ummm...I have a question of my own," I spoke up.

King Eduard turned to me.

"And that is, Saint Gustav?" the monarch asked.

"It is for Queen Hildoara," I answered. "Your Majesty, where is your brother? He usually attends these meetings."

Hildoara let out a deep sigh.

"Wisimir has taken it upon himself to plan our wedding," she said. "The last he told me, he hired a dragon and a necromancer. I don't know what he's planning, and I am not looking forward to it."

A disturbed look crossed over my face. I heard Dʰéǵʰom stifle a chuckle.

"Gustav, you are going to remember your wedding even if you live forever. And I'm not going to have to make you remember it," the deity stated.

"Fuck!" I thought before swiftly changing the topic. "So, spies? The spies have things to say, right? Let's see what our secret agents have to say!"

To my mercy, King Eduard seemed perfectly happy to get back to the meeting.

"Our spies in Motteburh report that support for Greenrivers has risen among the commoners. It seems your plan is working, Saint Gustav, even if your dragon never showed up," he said.

"That's news to me," I stated. "My parents always talk about family stuff when I call them. Where is Cinnamon, anyway? It's not like dragons his size can hide ea..."

I recalled my mother mentioning a caravan going to Weltai, and I realized which dragon Prince Wisimir hired. Additionally, I was getting an idea of the necromancer he employed as well.

"...Hildoara, has your brother hired a normal-sized dragon, or the dragon I rode to that battle on?" I asked.

"I haven't seen the dragon, but I'll ask him," Hildoara promised. "Now, my spies report similar things. They also report that some Motteburh nobles are increasingly upset that they haven't gotten certain goods from Greenrivers and Vandalland, like the famous Vandalland grape wine or Greenrivers fabric."

Now, everyone in the room except the Vandallanders looked confused.

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"Our fabric is famous?" the prince asked.

"Yes. Everyone in Vandalland and Motteburh knows how high-quality Greenrivers fabric is," Queen Hildoara answered. "Don't you know that?"

"Of course, we have," King Eduard spoke up. "Saint Gustav here..."

He then shook his head.

"Why am I even trying to use him to hide this? Saint Gustav is going to marry you."

Then, the king's attention turned to me.

"Saint Gustav, as our economic advisor, do you have the faintest idea what she's talking about?" King Eduard asked.

"No," I answered. "And please understand, Your Majesty. I'm turning 16 tomorrow. How can I know when people centuries older than me don't?"

I was hoping he wouldn't bring up all the other things I knew about that people centuries older than me didn't. Still, I would have to have a talk with some merchants.

"I'm going to have to talk to some merchants and appraisers," Hildoara noted.

"As will we," Queen Eleanor added.

"Now, onto the next topic," King Eduard the Defenestrator said. "The traps we laid for Motteburh nobles. The first priority here is intelligence. In particular, finding out who dared send assassins to kill someone in my castle. The second is submission. We have already weakened Motteburh, so if we capture enough of their ruling class, we can force them to do almost anything."

As expected of a conqueror. Even if King Eduard wasn't planning on subjugating Motteburh, he certainly would weaken it. But our priorities were aligned. Finding out who tried to kill Astrid was number one for me, and the reforms I wanted to push onto Motteburh were number two.

Three traps were laid. One in Vandalland, a masquerade ball. Another was a party in Greenrivers. And the third, a stick-and-box trap in Greenrivers. Unfortunately, I wasn't directly involved with any of them. King Eduard the Defenestrator seemed to want to keep me here and away from Motteburh nobles who might want to stab me. It was understandable, even if it was frustrating.

"I have the report on the feast in Greenrivers," Duke Armand stated. "Unfortunately, my hands are a bit tied up right now. Could you read it for me, my dearest?"

The doll nodded and walked over to Duke Armand. She grabbed a piece of paper from his tied-up hands. What it was doing there is something else that I was not going to think about. Then, the doll read it aloud.

"First, the feast from Greenrivers resulted in a half dozen high-ranking Motteburh nobles getting captured. Although few Motteburh nobles showed up at it. And, out of the high-ranking nobles who showed up uninvited, a half dozen more managed to escape."

"A 50% success rate," I noted.

"As expected," King Eduard the Defenestrator shrugged. "And six captured nobles is very good. I certainly hope one of them knows who sent the assassins."

A slightly awkward look crossed Hildoara's face. Duke Carini spoke up.

"Some 22 high-ranking Motteburn nobles attended the masquerade ball uninvited. Despite the anonymity of the event, we captured 10 of them."

I cringed a bit.

"Don't worry, Hildoara. That's almost as good," I said.

Now, everyone in the room looked confused.

"Almost?" Queen Eleanor asked. "She captured more than we did."

"True, Your Majesty. However, Hildoara had a 45% success rate, as opposed to our 50%," I answered.

King Eduard rubbed his forehead.

"I do not care who captured more nobles or...whatever. As long as they are captured," he said.

Hildoara breathed a sigh of relief. Ah, so she was expecting King Eduard to get jealous. Makes sense. My fiancée hadn't been stuck in a castle with him for several months. I probably had a much better idea of His Majesty's personality than most people in Greenrivers. Even those older than me.

"And lastly," Duke Armand spoke up. "We have to discuss the stick-and-box trap Saint Gustav suggested. My dearest, if you would."

He nodded, and his wife talked.

"One high-ranking Motteburh noble fell for the stick-and-box trap. This noblewoman was subsequently captured."

Even King Eduard was struggling to hide his surprise. Dismay flowed through me. Fuck. Everyone was gonna be jealous of me now.

"Jealous? You only captured one noble. Even the Greenrivers trap caught 6," Dʰéǵʰom pointed out.

"First, my trap is a Greenrivers trap too," I thought.

"Good point. But the feast still caught more."

"Yes, but I set one trap and caught one person. That means it has a 100% success rate, twice as much as the next highest rate. My trap was objectively the most successful."

I heard Dʰéǵʰom bashing his head against something.

"Gustav, it is very difficult to tell if this is you messing with me, a you thing, or an accountant thing," the deity noted.

"You're the God of Exposition. You should know easily."

"...good point, Gustav."

Hildoara looked dumbstruck.

"How could anyone possibly fall for that?" she wondered.

"The trap has more merit than you would think," Duke Armand said. "Especially when dealing with nobles who drink a lot of wine."

Greenrivers' prince shivered.

"Father, Mother, please remind me to never drink when I'm visiting a foreign kingdom. If I am to be captured, I'd prefer it if it weren't in some humiliating trap," he stated.

"I will," Queen Eleanor promised.

King Eduard scratched his beard. It seemed that his mind already moved on to another topic.

"We should interrogate the Motteburh nobles separately. If they are all together, then freeing them at once will be easier for Motteburh," he said.

"Agreed," Hildoara replied. "And when we're done with the interrogations, we use them as leverage against Motteburh?"

"If you wish to use them right after, that is your purview as queen. However, I will wait to reveal my hand until the slight against Greenrivers has been avenged," King Eduard stated.

The monarch's voice turned cold with his next words.

"Anyone who dares attack someone under my personal protection must pay with their life."

Queen Eleanor nodded.

"There is nothing else to be said on that matter. And Queen Hildoara, I would appreciate it if you could wait for us to execute whichever Motteburh nobles was behind the assassination attempt. If Motteburh gives in and we have to release the other nobles sooner, that will inhibit our efforts," she said.

Queen Hildoara looked to her side, probably at where Duke Carini was. I felt bad for her. She didn't have much experience being a monarch. Hopefully, I'd be able to help when we were married. But maybe I could right now?

"We will wait as long as we can," Hildoara turned her attention back to us. "But that is not forever. So, please hurry."

"We will do our best," King Eduard the Defenestrator replied.

"Your Majesties," I gave a quick bow, smacking my forehead into the table. "Perhaps we could arrange a trade agreement if Motteburh's efforts start damaging Vandalland's economy? We are already cooperating with them, and if we have to draw resources away from helping Motteburh's peasants because of what the nobles of Motteburh are doing, that could spread dissent among the enemy ranks."

I didn't want it to come to that, but if it did, then it did.

"A good contingency plan," King Eduard agreed.

Then, he stood up.

"But for now, we have interrogations to get to. We are the people who have to rush now, after all," the monarch said.

And with that, everyone else got up. King Eduard was right. I hoped that his torturer could get the Motteburh nobles we captured to crack as easily as he did the assassin. We might be in a bit of trouble otherwise.

I also wondered if my main target was among the Motteburh nobles we captured.

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