According to what Enya had managed to learn, this woman named Henna Assades rose to power by personally killing her own father—and compared to the former lords of House Assades, she was very different.
Henna despised sycophants, detested lavish, ostentatious lifestyles,and had no interest in imitating the so-called elegance of the nobility.
She was a traitor to the traditional aristocratic system.
But none of that concerned Enya.
What mattered to her was what she’d heard from the local information brokers—Henna was a woman with clear distinctions between gratitude and grudges, and had a deep hatred for cultists.
Most importantly, she was fair in both reward and punishment.
Enya placed an old, slightly yellowed piece of parchment on the table and slowly unfolded the map.
It depicted a complex underground tunnel network that ran beneath the drainage systems.
From the annotated dates, one could tell these tunnels had existed for a very long time—but few people knew of them.
And the moment Henna laid eyes on the map’s contents, her eyes widened in shock.
She stared intently at the parchment, not looking away until she reached the very bottom, where the Assades family crest was marked.
Only then did she exhale a long, heavy breath.
She’d almost jumped to her feet a moment ago, but managed to suppress the impulse.
Rationality prevailed, and she showed no outward signs of excitement—but Enya still caught the subtle reaction.
Perfect.
Enya smiled inwardly.
She knew her plan to get a house without spending a single coin was now all but guaranteed.
While the fire in the hearth crackled, she continued:
“I stole this from right under the cultists’ noses. I think its value is more than enough to exchange for what I want, don’t you agree, Lord Henna~?”
“…Mm.”
Henna stayed silent for a moment before finally answering.
She looked up at Enya.
In her eyes, the woman in front of her appeared to be nothing more than a fragile and delicate lady.
Stealing from cultists?
Enya could already tell what she was thinking from that look.
So she extended her hand, and a glow of magic gathered in her palm, condensing into a bright orange flame.
Then she closed her fist, snuffing the fire out in an instant.
With that, she shifted into a sorrowful expression.
Her eyelashes lowered slightly as her voice took on a wistful, stifled tone.
“I… used to be an adventurer. But I could never break through the fourth tier…
So eventually, I gave up…”
As she spoke, she placed her hand on the dragon egg.
Then, smoothly, she transitioned from sadness to a warm and sunny smile, turning to Henna and continuing:
“Lord Henna, all I want now… is to give my child a peaceful, stable home.”
“Ah… that is…”
Henna stared, completely dumbfounded.
In an instant, a vivid image bloomed in her mind:A young girl full of dreams, leaving home to become an adventurer… Enduring bitter hardships… only to lose those dreams and fall into despair.
And when she finally wanted to go back home— She realized she was pregnant.
By then, it was too late to return to the home she once knew.
So she could only wander with her unborn child, searching for a place where they could belong.
From a dream-filled girl to a single mother, doing everything she could to find safety and shelter for her child…
Hmm…
Henna found herself suddenly moved.
After all, hadn’t she also once rebelled against the suffocating chains of being a “noble daughter”—escaping from an arranged marriage by grabbing a sword and running away from home?
A wave of memories surged through her heart.
“If I hadn’t met her, maybe my fate would’ve been the same as this woman’s…”
“Come to think of it… She has silver hair, too…”
Enya, meanwhile, looked on at the dazed Henna, unaware of the strange thoughts running through her head.
To make her fabricated story even more convincing, she took out the necklace that the coachmaid had secretly slipped into her hand earlier.
After placing the necklace on the stand, Enya continued:
“Lord Henna, I overheard the cultists talking about targeting the princess from the Empire. On the way here, a young lady stopped me and gave me this—she said I should bring it to you.”
And that part, at least, was completely true.
Enya smiled inwardly, feeling that her acting had been absolutely flawless.
Well… except maybe her tone earlier sounded a little too syrupy?
She couldn’t help but wonder when she became this good at pretending.
Henna’s gaze never left the necklace; she paid no attention to Enya’s subtle expressions.
Once she confirmed that the necklace was the same one she’d seen on Vivienne, she no longer hesitated.
She slapped the table, stood up, and said to Enya:
“I’ll have someone arrange accommodations for you. Stay here for a few days. Once this matter is settled, I’ll give you what you asked for.”
After saying that, she grabbed the map and left the room directly, issuing orders to her guards along the way:
“Go. Assemble the City Guard’s knight division. Notify the Church of the Goddess—we’ve found the remnants of the cult.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The soldiers reacted swiftly, running off immediately.
Henna also began preparing to suit up in armor and personally head into action.
“Grandfather… the sins of House Assades—I will be the one to cleanse them.”
Though Henna was a woman and did sympathize with Enya’s story, that sympathy alone wasn’t enough to sway her judgment.
But the necklace—that changed everything.
It validated everything Enya had said, because it meant Vivienne herself was backing it.
That was why Henna acted without hesitation.
Enya let out a quiet sigh of relief once everyone had left.
She wasn’t worried about Henna going into the tunnels and being unable to deal with the cultists—she had already heavily thinned their numbers in advance.
Enya walked over to a chair and sat down sideways, crossing one leg over the other.
She leaned on the table with one hand supporting her chin.
Ever since she’d grown a tail, she could no longer sit properly.
Sitting upright required keeping her back straight and her stomach pulled in—otherwise, the base of her tail would get squished, and the sensation was far too strange.
Even slight pressure there could make her feel hot all over.
The tail… when touched, gave her a vaguely shameful illusion.
To avoid thinking too much about it, she simply avoided sitting upright altogether.
She had developed a habit of sitting or lying sideways.
The posture had the added effect of emphasizing her slender waist and sensuous curves.
Quite captivating, really.
Enya frowned slightly.
Some parts of her body were now covered in a fine layer of soft scales.
Even though her dragon bloodline was sealed, she knew that one day she’d have to face it—maybe even accept it.
“I’ll deal with that when the time comes…”
Enya was the type to live in the moment and didn’t dwell much on the future.
She picked up the teacup and took a small sip.
Just then, a young maid hurried in.
When she saw Enya, she was visibly startled—her mind seemed to be racing through an entire novel’s worth of dramatic plot twists, and her cheeks turned bright red.
The little maid quickly ran over to Enya, wearing an inexplicably delighted expression, and exclaimed:
“L-L-Lady Clorcy!!”
“…?”
Tftc!
Huh?, who is that little girl?