I was at least thankful that I said what I needed to say before I became unconscious at the Duhem Lord’s Castle. The three sisters, who had been awake because of their eldest brother’s sudden leaving, all clearly heard it. I didn’t remember much of it.

“Your highness, you said that you were attacked by the Imperial Guard on your way to the Imperial Capital.”

“You said that our second brother was in danger!”

“You also explained about Sir Johann Geens, Baron Bellang’s family, and your attendants as well……”

Young ladies Antoinette, Maria, and Thérèse explained one after the other.

I didn’t have an appetite so I only ate two plates of vichyssoise and was sitting with them in the living room. There had not been much time to look through this vast Lord’s Castle during the Great Clearance of Demonic Beasts. There had been other guests in the castle and we had left for the Imperial Capital. It felt bitter that I had to be framed for something unbelievable and escape from deadly harm to have a chance to look through this place.

The nice staff at the Duhem Estate placed a whole kettle of Rooibos for me and a wall of palets de dames baked in the morning. However, I couldn’t even touch the crackers.

“So, what happened? Has the search started?”

I asked. Antoinette winked at me.

“Yes, your highness. We used our authority to send half of our Knights Brigade. However, they said that it would take a while because they have a large area to cover. You don’t remember the exact location you were attacked and our eldest brother is still unconscious…… But please don’t worry, your highness. The people of our territory are tenacious!”

She then sipped her black tea. She seemed quite energetic despite Marquis Duhem still being unconscious and her second brother’s situation unknown.

“Thank you very much.” I barely managed to answer before falling into thought.

It was a relief that the House of Duhem was getting involved, but the fear did not stop. If this was the misfortune that Modeste Bacary had prophesied… Or if this was the issue from the Almighty God that the Ark of the Wind Deity had warned me about… ‘Then Duke Sarnez really……’

“Ha……”

If he was aiming for me, I couldn’t help but worry about Christelle. My eyes went dark thinking about how things ended up like this.

‘He’s the MC’s dad. Why is he doing this?’

“Your highness?”

“Excuse me.”

I got up and stood in front of the cradle in front of the furnace. Tithé and Demy were laying in the two cribs of different colors. The Duhem family had lent us these cribs for the divine beasts. Demy had been sleeping since our long escape last night but Tithé flapped his flipper toward me. I petted the two of them and did my best to calm myself.

‘I’m happy that you guys are safe. I hope Percy isn’t hurt either.’

“……Are you not going to ask me anything?” I suddenly asked. I pulled up Tithé’s blanket and turned around to see the second of the sisters, Maria’s flowery pink eyes were sparkling.

“Should I be asking something, your highness? You are someone our eldest brother rescued and you also let us know that our second brother is in trouble. Furthermore, according to what you told us, our second brother did everything he could to help you! Then it is only obvious that we would help you as well, your highness!” She loudly commented.

Her short clay-colored hair was sticking out of her backwards hat. Anybody would think she was a troublesome servant, not the young lady of a Pair de Riester.

Antoinette placed some crackers on her younger sisters’ plates as she spoke. “Of course we sent a message to the Imperial Palace as well! We said that the Imperial Guard has had some internal conflict and that you are safely with us, your highness. You don’t need to worry.”

“But you know what that means. Duke Sarnez…… Has planted some swords into the Imperial Guard.” I quietly whispered in case someone might hear us. It was a serious situation where a real rebellion might end up starting in the Empire.

The youngest sister, Thérèse, answered in a quiet voice. “Yes, your highness. That is the only conclusion we can come to. However…… Her Majesty is someone praised for her wisdom. I’m sure she will resolve it properly with the help of her Eminence and his Royal Highness. Our eldest brother…… Should be helpful once he wakes up soon.” The young lady whispered before lowering her head. Maybe she was feeling embarrassed for having said so much as she was fiddling with the tablecloth as well.

It was only then that I realized that the young lady’s fingertips were shaking. I also noticed that Antoinette had not eaten anything and had only sipped at her black tea. The only one here with an iron heart seemed to be Maria.

I bit down on my lip. It was obvious that I would not be the only one who was scared and concerned, but I was anxiously popping left and right like popcorn because I went through that chaos last night. I now felt embarrassed and returned to the table to sit down.

“……I am truly sorry. I had not considered all of your feelings.”

‘Jung Yeseo, let’s act your age!’

“No, your highness! It is understandable after the shock you must have faced last night. You were injured all over when you got here! It’s such a relief that Marielle is a healing priestess.”

“Thank you very much.”

Maria laughed and drank some milk.

Marielle was Antoinette’s Religious Partner, the one I served as witness for their celestial covenant. I did not see her right now, but she must have healed me in the middle of the night.

‘I should remember to thank her when I see her.’ I had that thought as I did my best to organize my thoughts. ‘I’ll take care of things one at a time for now. I just need to calmly take care of things as usual. Our two seniors, the crown prince, and Vice Captain Élisabeth are all at the Imperial Palace, and Christelle is our main character who always does more than her share of things. As long as I do a good job here, it should be fine. Let’s first think about the initial questionable moment.’

“May I ask a question?”

The moment when I first thought that the Marquis and the Duke were weird.

“Even three questions is fine, your highness. We love getting questions!” Antoinette’s long ponytail shook as she spoke.

I placed two pieces of palets in my mouth and crunched. The sweet and sour combination of apricot jam and lemon icing filled my tongue. I felt a bit better after having some sugar. I cleansed my mouth with the now perfectly warm cup of Rooibos and calmly started speaking.

“I met Marquis Duhem behind the Empress Palace on the day his Royal Highness and Christelle were appointed as Holy Knights.”

“Yes, your highness.” The three of them answered at the same time.

“He seemed extremely busy. He looked shocked to see us as well. And I feel sorry toward the Marquis for saying this, but…… He told me to keep it a secret from all of you that he was there. He said nothing much happened.”

“From us?” Maria tilted her head. She didn’t seem to suspect anything.

“Yes ma’am. He then dropped a card. He was extremely anxious when I picked it up and handed it to him. Christelle then asked him…… If he was going to come to the Duke’s House of Blanquer’s masquerade. The Marquis coldly answered that it would be difficult.”

“Ah……”

I finally got a reaction. Thérèse dropped her head with a grim look on her face. Antoinette seemed to have figured something out as well while Maria chuckled and massaged her younger sister’s neck.

I cautiously continued to speak. “But the Marquis ended up coming to the masquerade. He was with you, young lady Thérèse. He arrived extremely late and left as soon as the dungeon opened in the Duchy.”

“……”

“Normally, I would not have considered anything to be weird regardless of when, where, and what the Marquis does. That is his freedom to do as he pleases. But we had Captain Bacary’s ominous prophecy that day and Robert Blanquer had also infiltrated the ballroom to try to make contact with someone. Duke Sarnez also showed some suspicious behaviors around the same time. I apologize for having to tell you this, but……”

I clasped my hands together and thought about how to choose my words. ‘How can I say this nicely? How can I say it without hurting the people who saved and protected me……’

“That’s okay, your highness. Our brother clearly did something that could be taken the wrong way. Even I would think that was suspicious. Our brother is such an idiot.”

Antoinette smiled and responded to me. She looked sad despite the smile on her face. Her actress-like lively expression was gone and her eyes seemed to be nostalgically thinking about a moment in the past.

Maria used some energetic movements to peel some hard boiled eggs. It was as if she was doing this to show that she would not be shaken no matter what we talked about next.

“Our youngest sister, Thérèse…… Has never been to a Beau Monde gathering until that masquerade. Never been to one despite being nineteen years old.”

“Excuse me?” I looked at Thérèse in shock. The young lady absolutely did not look that old. She looked like she would be Eva’s age at max and was very petite.

Thérèse lowered her gaze with flushed cheeks. I finally realized I was extremely disrespectful and turned away.

“I am truly sorry for my actions.”

“That’s okay, your highness……”

“Our youngest has a weak body and is afraid of strangers. Our brother had no intention of forcing Thérèse to make her Beau Monde debut because of that. It was because of an accident that happened when she was young.”

I placed the cup of tea I was drinking down. Antoinette looked into the teacup.

“Thérèse once had a twin brother.”

‘She said had.’ I predicted a tragedy based on her choice of words.

The young lady’s story took us nineteen years into the past. François Duhem had only been nineteen years old, just a young master who had yet to rise to the position of young patriarch. His daily task was running around the territory talking about how he was going to invent something.

Ten year old Antoinette got along with her eldest brother very much and frequently went around with him. He enjoyed receiving attention as much as he did right now, loved the residents of their territory, and was curious about getting rid of the demonic beasts that frequently annoyed his parents. The thing that delighted him the most was using his specialty to save lives.

That was around when the Marquis successfully invented the magic tool for requesting assistance. It was the orb that I used last night.

“My brother gave the orbs out to the nearby residents for free. He told them to break them as soon as a demonic beast appeared in the village, that he would go to save them if he saw the ray of red mana in the sky.” Antoinette quietly commented.

However, reality was different from expectations and plans always went awry.

“……The residents were so busy fending for their lives on a daily basis that they did not take proper care of the orbs.”

Most of them carefully kept them, but sometimes they would drop while the person was working and get crushed by farm equipment. There were even times when a child was playing with their parents’ orb and accidentally broke it or swallowed it. And, although there were only a few, there were some people who didn’t care much about an orb they received for free.

Whether it was to make fun of the esteemed young master or to see his handsome face…

Some people broke the orbs without reason as well. François, who responded to each incident day or night, started to get tired.

“One day, he finally got really sick. Our whole family was busy making fun of him! It was the first time our eldest brother got sick like that. Even our second brother talked about how our eldest brother had acted rashly. Our parents chuckled and went out on a picnic with our four month old twins. They were even really cruel, joking about why he brought such pain upon himself.”

“……”

Maria placed the whole egg in her mouth and chewed. She then peeled another egg.

“Not long after that, a red ray of light rose up into the air.”

I clenched my teacup so tightly that my fingertips turned white. ‘No way.’

“But our eldest brother had such a high fever……”

“I had been irresponsible.”

A familiar voice echoed through the door of the living room. I blankly looked back at him.

His brown hair, which had always been neatly slicked back, was covering his forehead. His light pink eyes bitterly curled up. The mace that he was holding instead of a cane had a large pink magic stone on top.

“Brother.”

Thérèse urgently got up and ran over to him. The Marquis tightly hugged his beloved youngest sister.

“The reason this child lost her parents, her younger brother, and ended up alone…… It is absolutely my fault.”

He looked at me and confessed. I wanted to tell him that was not the case. Antoinette immediately got angry.

“You’re so mean! Why do you keep saying things like that to hurt us? Everybody made mistakes that day. The Knights Brigade was late to notice the hole in the barrier and both I and second brother stopped you from going as well. We told you to stay in the castle because you couldn’t even walk properly.”

“Yes, your brother is sorry.”

“I don’t like it when you do that. Honestly speaking, our parents were at fault as well for going out without any guards. Why do you, whenever it gets to be around this time of year……”

The Marquis gently smiled and extended his empty arm. Antoinette glared at the man with red eyes before getting up and grabbing her dress. However, Maria was faster.

“I’m second place!”

The young lady ran over and hugged her eldest brother. I quickly chuckled. Antoinette, who walked elegantly to arrive in front of the Marquis in third place, hugged him around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

And finally……

“Brother, we are here.”

My eyes opened wide and I stood up. Clang! The chair fell but I was too dazed to even get shocked. I couldn’t tell if this was real or just a dream.

Captain Hervé Duhem was covered in blood and dust while Sir Johann was completely clean as if he just washed off. And behind them……

“Prince Jesse!”

My precious friends were all standing by the door. I smiled brightly and ran toward them as fast as I could.

—
Translator’s Comments

Phew they are all safe.

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