I took big steps toward the ledge.

Marquis François Duhem looked at the unfamiliar girl and spoke gently.

“Thérèse, greet his highness.”

“……My name is Thérèse Duhem. I greet Prince Jesse Venetiaan, the Moon of the Holy Kingdom.”

The young lady who seemed to be in her teens bowed toward me.

Since her last name was Duhem, it was highly likely that she was one of the Marquis’ three younger sisters.

The only siblings I knew about were Captain Hervé Duhem and young lady Antoinette until now.

“Hello. Umm, excuse me.”

I showed my respects quickly before walking in between the siblings.

I knew that it was disrespectful, but this was more urgent.

The Marquis looked at me with a shocked gaze but I didn’t care and inspected the area underneath the ledge.

Crack! Ssss! The shrubs groaned as they broke.

“……It’s fine, I got him! Someone bring over some rope!”

“Ugh, let me go! Do you know who I am?!”

“Take off the helmet! Take off the helmet first!”

“Haaaa……” I sighed in relief as I watched.

The soldiers of the Duchy rushed over to the flower bed and had the armored man pushed down on the ground.

He was around the middle point of the balcony I entered and the right balcony.

Duchess Cecil Blanquer had meant it when she said that they would close off the main building and catch the suspicious person on site.

My shoulders and legs relaxed as the tension disappeared.

Young lady Thérèse must have been scared as she was tightly hugging the Marquis.

I leaned on the ledge and looked toward the right. I was extremely shocked.

“That is……”

“That seems to be Duke Sarnez. He entered at the same time as me, your highness! He is disguised as the < Phantom of the Pas de Trois >, which this child right here loves.”

The Marquis explained in his usual voice. The young lady’s face relaxed a bit and she smiled.

But I could not smile with her.

The Duke, who had been alone on the right balcony, was completely stiff as if he was surprised at someone’s visit.

The unexpected guest used rough hand movements to throw away her skeleton mask and glare at him.

Those bat-like black wings and blue hair swirled up like goat horns…

And those blue-gray eyes that sparkled like Alpha Pegasi in a night in the fall… The devil young lady.

“……Christelle.”

I quietly mumbled.

She, who had been in the ballroom, must have noticed that I was chasing a suspicious person and followed me.

I couldn’t tell whether it was a relief or misfortune that she checked the other side in my place.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the atmosphere there was clearly bad.

I gulped and clenched my eyes shut before opening them back.

‘I need to be calm.’ I needed to calm myself and organize my thoughts.

“……”

‘Basically, after hearing Bacary’s revelation, we were looking for the shadow of death and someone giving off a stench of a terrible plot.

That bastard had asked if we properly planted the tulip roots as if to secretly contact someone. It was as if that was a code.

He then followed someone toward this balcony where Marquis Duhem was, or that balcony with Duke Sarnez, before throwing himself into the flower bed.

There were a couple things this could mean.

First, It was possible that one of these two Pair de Riester really…… Conspired with the armored man for unspeakable scheming.

“Let go of me! Give me back the helmet! Shit! Get lost!”

“My goodness, it is the young Duke!”

“What a mess. Call the Knight Captain-nim right away!”

“My goodness.” Marquis Duhem gasped in astonishment. My jaw dropped.

Something ridiculous that I had not even imagined was happening down below.

The first floor terrace was already completely packed with spectators.

All of the balconies were full of people. I mumbled in shock.

“It’s Robert Blanquer.”

……Second. That bastard finished conspiring with a third party and simply used the balcony to run away.

I raised my head and looked at the Marquis.

His light pink eyes that were sparkling in the moonlight did not avoid my gaze.

“Marquis, was the young Duke here until a few moments ago by chance?”

“Unfortunately, we did not have such joy. I was chatting with Thérèse. Ah, the introductions are quite late, your highness. This is my youngest sister!”

He hugged the young lady as he spoke.

Thérèse’s eyes that looked almost identical to the Marquis’ eyes curled up before she buried her face in his shoulder with embarrassment.

I had no idea what to say to that. It was at that moment.

– Ruuuumble!

I heard something similar to thunder from beyond the mountain range.

The people outside became completely silent as if they had cold water poured over their heads. After that…

– Boobooboooom……

“Eek!”

“Ahhh!”

The ground shook and screams could be heard from inside and outside the main building.

The shaking, which was as light as a vibrating cellphone at first, was slowly getting as strong as an earthquake.

The Marquis urgently grabbed the staggering Thérèse and I and channeled his mana.

The instant that I made eye contact with him, I could see that he was completely focused.

*

– Screech, screech, screeeech……

“No, nothing’s wrong. Yeah. Nobody got hurt.”

I did my best to calm and console our little troublemakers that Benjamin urgently brought over from the tower.

The coward, Rhea, showed no signs of moving away from me so I had to have Sir Johann and Ganael look after Demy and Perry.

Percy was turning into a mocha bread on top of the Imperial Crown Prince’s head.

It was now about thirty minutes since the sudden shaking.

All of the guests invited to the Blanquer Lord’s Castle, their attendants, and the staff at the castle were all gathered in the plaza.

I was able to evacuate to this place faster than anybody else thanks to Marquis Duhem’s teleportation specialty.

Eva’s eyes were wide open as if she was completely awake now while Crown prince Cédric and Christelle took their disguises off all the way to their wigs before they stood next to me.

Maybe it was me, but David seemed a bit disappointed.

“Are the two of you hurt anywhere?”

“We are okay. What about you, your highness?”

“I’m fine as well.”

I exchanged a short conversation with Christelle.

She had Tithé on her back and was standing next to Lady Isabelle, but, potentially because of what happened on the balcony, the expression on her face was not very good.

Duke Sarnez was a few steps behind them. I could see Modeste Bacary on a servant’s back as well.

“This is unbelievable. What is going on?”

“They said that a demonic beast must have woken up! The east truly is wild.”

“It is not that rare. Something like this happened during the Masquerade eight or nine years ago as well.”

The nobles, who had half their disguises off, chatted, sounding both concerned and excited.

They were all speaking loudly, potentially because most of them had a lot to drink.

The soldiers of the Duchy were stationed in a circle around the large plaza to protect everyone.

I had heard that the border did not have much friction but that the mountain ranges had a lot of demonic beasts and the cold looks on their faces made it look as if they were used to this.

“Over there, my mother is coming.”

Eva pointed to a spot. We all turned toward that direction.

Duchess Blanquer, who was coming with her husband and the Knight Captain, was entering the plaza with quick yet elegant movements.

This was quite a dire situation but her face showed no signs of worry.

The bound young Duke Blanquer was being dragged behind her.

The nobles were flapping their fans while whispering to each other.

“Your Royal Highness.”

“Duchess Blanquer.”

The Duchess showed restrained respects to the Crown prince in the front of our group before looking at Eva for a moment and then breaking the silence.

“I haven o excuses for making you experience such an ominous incident on a day that should only be full of joy and blessing. I received a message that one of the two dungeons in the territory’s mountain ranges suddenly opened out of the blue. The entire Knights Brigade is ready to fight. It is my and the Magic Tower’s goal to suppress the hoards of demonic beasts until dawn and seal the dungeon.”

“……”

Her voice was as calm as if she was reading the breakfast menu.

However, we were the only ones who were quiet. The nobles were now talking loudly with anxious tones.

The fact that the crystal bell was quiet must mean that the distance between the demonic beasts and the Lord’s Castle were far away.

I blinked a few times before making eye contact with the crown prince. His orange eyes seemed calm.

Dungeons in the QNW world evil caves that were full of demonic beasts.

They were usually located high in the mountains and required special interest like an active volcano.

The dungeon that opened in Duhem March during the Great Clearance of Demonic Beasts was one that opened once a year. The residents there could live in peace knowing that the clearance happened right on time every year.

I learned from Eva that the two dungeons in the Blanquer Duchy were also well-maintained.

Those areas were not consistently checked, but the Magic Tower located deep in the jungle checked the flow of mana 24 hours a day, making them able to immediately notice the appearance of demonic beasts.

In that case, was this just coincidence? The fact that the dungeon burst open when the two main characters are in the territory?

‘There’s no way.’ I quietly mumbled.

“It is highly likely that it is because of the divine items, your Royal Highness.”

“Most likely.”

The crown prince responded in a low voice.

Most people only recognized his Sword of Wisdom from the Flaming Star as a divine item here right now.

However, there was a divine item inside my body, Christelle’s body, and Percy, the bird everybody called ‘The Prince’s cute chimney bird,’ was one himself.

A total of five divine items were in the territory right now counting the Sacred Bow of the Tree of Life in the forest.

Demonic beasts show an instinctual desire to attack divine items, so It was not weird for a dormant dungeon to explode.

‘……Is this perhaps what Nikky was talking about?’

– That is correct. However, you cannot forget the most important existence.

I recalled his warning about how the divine items were gathering in one place and getting stronger as well as his warning about he didn’t know what would happen if they all came together.

I gently rubbed the area around my heart that he had pointed at during our conversation.

That must have made me look anxious as Christelle extended her hand and placed it on the back of my hand.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I’m okay, Dame Sarnez.”

“Still.”

She quietly whispered. The back of my head felt prickly for some reason. The Duchess continued to speak.

“I do not have the authority to stop the guests from returning to their respective homes or territories. However, I strongly suggest that you stay here until noon as demonic beasts that came out of the dungeon could attack you on the mountain path. That should be enough time for my knights and I to take care of the weaker ones.”

“This is crazy business. I will be leaving.”

An old woman grumbled as she put on her jacket.

Some of the nobles agreed with her and raised their voices.

The Duchess nodded her head to show that she would respect their decisions.

‘In movies, those people are usually the first……

No, I shouldn’t have such thoughts about the elderly.’ I quickly shook my head.

“There is actually one more thing for me to tell you.”

“Isn’t it an urgent situation, Duchess-nim?”

Someone suddenly asked. They were grumbling that she was talking so much.

The Duchess didn’t even blink as she continued to speak.

“As you all are probably aware, my son, Robert…… He dishonored his Royal Highness and his guest, Prince Jesse and caused a scandal. It is embarrassing but there was another time when he dirtied our family name in the past as well. Today, he intruded into this building without permission.”

“……”

Everybody closed their mouths and stared at us.

I felt my neck getting hot.

I stiffened my chin so that I do not pay much attention to the gazes of people I don’t know.

Eva, standing next to me, had the same look on her face.

“As a result, my husband and I have determined that Robert is not fit to be the heir of our house.”

“Mother! Duchess-nim!”

The young Duke bastard shouted in a cracking voice.

I could see the young Duchess clenching her fists.

She seemed to be barely holding herself back from grabbing Vice Captain Élisabeth or my arm.

I looked at Eva and smiled.

‘Children grow well if everybody helps them.’

“No!”

“Starting from this moment, my second child, Eva, is officially young Duchess Blanquer.”

“Wooooooooooow!”

The nobles cheered. Some of them even clapped despite this not being the situation for something like that.

Eva smiled as brightly as a Queen of the Night flower in the middle of the night and looked up at me before hugging me so hard that she basically slammed her head into me.

It hurt a bit but my joy was greater than my pain.

“Hahaha.”

– Whimper!

Rhea licked Eva’s cheek, Christelle whispered congratulatory remarks, and Vice Captain Élisabeth kissed the young Duchess’s head saying that she went through so much until now.

Small golden pebbles started appearing from the child’s body.

She must not be able to control her ether because she was so happy.

The Duchess and her husband looked at us with a somewhat upset look on their faces as if this had nothing to do with them.

I rubbed Eva’s back and bit down on my lips.

I have heard about parents with no maternal or paternal love, but how could they be so business-like?

“You may all leave if you please. Your Royal Highness, with your permission, I would like to escort you to the tower. I will report as soon as the situation is settled. I will also report any information I get from interrogating Robert.”

The nobles started scattering as soon as the Duchess said that.

The crown prince flicked his chin, and the young master, who had been the official young Duke until one minute ago, was screaming with a red face and kicking into the air.

The Knight Captain did not want to hear him anymore and placed a gag in his mouth.

It was a desperate measure to maintain his master’s dignity.

“Shall we head back to the room, your highness? I will fill a bath for you.”

I nodded at Benjamin’s comment.

I could see Duke Sarnez and the Duhem siblings getting onto their carriages through the crowd of people walking around with all sorts of decorations dangling on their bodies.

Those people…… Do I have no way of stopping them from leaving?

—
Translator’s Comments

Sadly, I do not think so Jesse.

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