The herald kept talking, but none of it rang a bell. The more he explained the situation, the more whatever had felt familiar just slipped further out of reach.
Yeah, this wasn't helping at all. Too bad I didn't bring the novel here, but...
This was still a system, right? Maybe I could try something.
I slipped a hand inside my coat, closed my eyes for a second, and focused on the novel's cover in my mind. Then...
"Novel..."
[Transporting...]
RUSTLE.
Something brushed against my fingers the moment I spoke—thick, solid, paper.
No way, right...?
I pulled it out, and, just like I'd hoped, it worked. The novel was in my hands. And of course...
Faye noticed.
"H-Huh? You brought a book with you?"
"Is there a problem with that?"
I'd just play it off. There was no way she'd jump straight to "he used some bizarre magic to pull that out of his coat."
"The act itself, no... but how did you even fit that in there?"
"I have my ways."
[Faye Amberlyne: Personality shifted due to actions.]
Seriously? Even that changes her personality?
"You really are skilled..."
"Well, it doesn't hurt to be flexible."
I set the book down on the table. Before I could even crack it open to remind myself what had me so worried, the herald cut in, his voice a notch higher.
I guess someone yanking out a book mid-briefing about a serious issue was enough to rattle him.
"May I ask what that book is, Duke Noctierre?"
Interrupting a meeting just because I took out a book... I still couldn't get over how much authority this character carried.
"Nothing special. I just thought I should take notes while you're discussing something this important."
A simple lie—but one I was completely confident would work, even coming from me.
"I see."
The herald nodded, then swept his gaze over everyone else in the room, eyes measuring, thinking, before he spoke again.
"Duke Noctierre is correct. If any of you brought parchment or a pen, please take it out. This is something best written down."
"But aren't the scribes already recording this meeting?" another noble cut in, raising a hand, clearly annoyed.
"Silence. The Duke has a point. This ensures you are actively learning instead of merely reading the scribes' records later."
"I-I guess that makes sense..."
The noble lowered his hand, then twisted in his chair to signal a servant to fetch paper and ink. Others who hadn't brought their own followed suit.
While they were doing that, I was already flipping through the novel, turning straight to the page I remembered—
Page Eighty-seven.
The beginning of the capital's strife arc. One of the first major crises both the protagonist and Faye faced, and the first arc where their relationship truly began to bloom.
And in this arc...
It was the moment the Nimean Empire truly lost control of its borders. The capital's bureaucracy was so tangled up in internal threats that no one could properly deal with the magical beasts. In the end, almost everything fell—everything except my domain.
That was the arc where the story first began to hint that I was the real antagonist. The cold, powerful duke who somehow held his ground against the oncoming tide of monsters. And with that survival came something else:
The Emperor's absolute dependence on me.
From the main characters' point of view, it was the beginning of a villain's rise. But for me? It just felt like reading a success story about myself that simply hadn't happened yet.
Just from that alone, you'd think I would sit back and let the story play out, right? I mean, who wouldn't? If I just let things flow, I'd practically become an unofficial regent.
But there was something more important than that.
Something the main character got during that time—something that completely overshadowed my own success.
A magical awakening.
Something he gained after killing a special magical beast that crawled out of a portal at a place called the Helios Factory.
And that portal only appeared because of a dangerous mix: the corruption spreading out from the capital and the massacre that happened at the borders.
…From what I know, that thing was worth way more than just being made some imperial regent.
If I played my cards right, I wouldn't just gain influence—I could steal the main character's power in one move.
There was no way I was going to let that slip by.
I had to take control of Helios Factory before that arc even started.
"May I speak?"
"Duke Noctierre!" the herald said, almost tripping over his own words, clearly hoping I'd magically fix the capital's corruption problem. "Have you thought of something?"
"Yes," I replied, "but it's not going to be anything like what you're expecting."
I'm not letting this slip through my fingers.