CH 108

I was able to hear an important testimony from Hannah, a maid who served House Lingerburg until Nikolaus’s assassination.

House Lingerburg had two maids at the time. Hannah, the young maid, and Annette, the old maid. At first, the two were a little reserved and wary of me, but as I played with Alexandra, they gradually became more comfortable with me. I think we had a relationship of trust to the point that even if I barged into Manor Lingerburg, they would silently let me through.

After the incident, most of the people related to House Lingerburg went missing. I finally found Hannah, and even got a very important testimony. I feel like I want to storm the Nassam Duchy right now. I’m in no mood to forgive.

But it’s still too early. I have to calm down. Even if I come in with full fury right now, they will just get away with it. If I don’t prepare my plans more perfectly… only this time, there is absolutely no room for failure. Naturally, it cannot be redone, and Alexandra’s safety is at stake.

In addition to the 5 of us, Helmut and Isabella returned from vacation later in the evening and joined us in a meeting to share the information from Hannah. Everyone seemed to be angry after hearing Hannah’s testimony, but after confirming with each other not to take premature actions, the group was disbanded for the day.

Everyone seems to be calm, but they’re not, so I’m worried that someone will act hastily. But I’ve told them not to run ahead alone, so I want to believe that no one will do anything unreasonable.

…… Even if I heard them say it, I feel like jumping out immediately right now. We all feel the same way. But for Alexandra’s sake, I made sure not to do anything prematurely, so it’s okay… right? I’m worried, but I’ll believe in everyone.

There was a knock on the door and a voice called out. Isabella enters the room because I recognized her voice and then urged her to enter. She held a letter in her hand.

“Sorry to disturb you,” Isabella said. “Miss Flora, you have received an invitation.”

“Thank you,” I said, taking it from her and reading it. “-!? This is…”

“…”

Isabella is waiting in front of me without leaving the room even after handing over the invitation. When I saw the sender, I almost exploded in anger, but I suppressed it and broke the wax seal.

“…………I will attend,” I said.

“Understood,” Isabella replied before she finally left the room.

I received an invitation to an evening party. The sender is Second Queen Amalie. I can’t think why they’d invite me.

Does this mean that we haven’t seen through the relationship between Queen Amalie and Duke Nassam? Or is it an invitation after knowing that their scheme has been exposed? Or maybe they purposely summoned us in order to find out just that.

If it’s just an invitation to an evening party at the royal palace, it’s probably not unusual. I’ve gotten it a few times in the past as well. But it was organized by Wilhelm and Ludwig. I have never received an invitation from Amelie before.

Of course, I didn’t live in the royal capital until now, so I refused all invitations to evening parties. I don’t think that the person hosting it thought I would seriously attend, they just invited me to be polite. From this year onward, I’ll be living mainly in the royal capital, so it’s within my expectations that I’ll be invited to an evening party. I can’t refuse it because I’m no longer far from the royal capital like before.

But I never thought that I would receive an invitation from the Second Queen Amelie. No matter how I think about it, I never thought that she would send a letter of invitation to her political enemy, House Carruthers.

But maybe not? No matter how much you say they are a political enemy, if you don’t blatantly invite them, it’s like advertising to everyone else that you have a hostile relationship. It is also conceivable that in an aristocratic society that lives and dies by public appearances and reputations, it is not possible to do such blatant acts.

Conversely, they may lure out their opponents and obtain various information, try to incorporate them into their own faction, or induce discord with their opposing faction. Putting aside the gatherings of your faction, I wondered if it would be possible to send out invitations to those from hostile factions if it’s already a sufficiently large gathering of your people.

Amelie’s soiree this time seems to be quite a large one. The purpose is not written. It just says to look forward to the day.

What am I going to do? Even an evening party needs a reason for holding it as a public appearance. You can’t just hold a night party without any meaning. To encourage those who’ll soon be shipping out to the front line in war, or to celebrate someone’s birth or marriage…

No way……. no… it won’t be like that… it can’t possibly…

Wilhelm and Dietrich have blocked Alexandra’s marriage permission. Besides, it’s possible to celebrate with the royal family and those close to them, but it’s impossible to hold an evening party hosted by the royal family to announce the marriage or engagement of a vassal, much less someone from a county.

But… what if… by any chance, Alexandra’s marriage is announced at this soiree? Even though it was hosted by Amalie, it was the same as an evening party hosted by the royal family. In other words, it will be transmitted both inside and outside that the royal family has approved of Alexandra’s marriage.

Even if King Wilhelm hasn’t officially approved it, if they announce it at an evening party where a large number of major nobles gather, it can’t be ignored. Of course, there will be a big backlash. It will also become a source of friction. But… but even so, what if, even with that risk, she announces Alexandra’s marriage at a large-scale evening party hosted by the royal family, specifically, by Queen Amalie?

This is just my imagination. It’s a baseless delusion. But… if Amalie and Duke Nassam, who had grown tired of Wilhelm’s refusal to give permission for House Lingerburg’s marriage, were going to take advantage of the evening party to forcefully announce the engagement, then they would have to stop them at any cost. Once announced, it cannot be taken back.

No matter how much it was a false report, even if Amalie’s faction decided on its own without the permission of His Majesty Wilhelm, if a noble daughter announced her marriage once and it suddenly fell through, it would leave a big scar on her reputation. When Alexandra’s marriage is announced in front of many people, and in the name of the royal family, we lose. Alexandra would be treated as a flawed woman if the engagement was withdrawn later, and it would have a great negative impact on her subsequent activities and marriage.

There’s no time. If I don’t hurry… at this soiree, we’re going to settle the matter with Alexandra.

I’m worried about Alexandra, but I can’t do anything right away. I have to prepare various things before the evening party, but I can’t do anything in a hurry, so I need to live my daily life without neglecting it.

The school is so peaceful that there is so little news, I wonder if Helene, Sophie, and the others have already given up. It would be nice if it just went away like this, but the world isn’t so sweet.

As I was walking down the hallway after school while thinking about such things, I was stopped by a voice I hadn’t heard in a long time.

“Lady Flora, are you heading home now?”

“Lord Simon…” I said.

After destroying the practice field and being banned, we stopped staying after school and practicing magic together. In the first place, I’m a bullied child, and if I get involved with him, even Simon could become a target of bullying. That’s why I usually try not to come into contact with him at school, but it’s rare for Simon to talk to me.

“Do you have a moment to spare?” Simon asked. “There is something I would like to talk to you about…”

“Huh? … Yes. Are you okay? Shall we move somewhere else?”

Simon started walking after that, so I followed. We entered an empty classroom, then Simon locked the door. And then he comes closer to me.

“Lady Flora…”

“Lord Simon?”

What happened? It’s obviously not normal.

“I’m sorry! I apologize! Miss Flora, please forgive me!” Simon cried as he threw himself to the ground.

“… Huh? Um…?”

This is not a kowtow in the sense of paraphrasing like before. He’s really crouching on the floor in front of me with his head pressed against it. There’s no such thing as kowtowing in this country, but it must have happened to look similar.

“I’m truly an insidious person!” Simon yelled. “At that time, it wasn’t really an accident that I shot a Fireball at you, Lady Flora! I did it on purpose when Lady Emma and the others told me to do it! As a result, Lady Flora, even if you didn’t get burned, such an act is unforgivable! Besides, I was thinking that if I kept quiet about this, I might be able to get away without any problems! I’m a cowardly person to confess things now! I’m sorry, Lady Flora! I’m so sorry!”

“Ah~… well, I already figured it was something like that,” I said.

“…… Huh?” Simon asked, raising his head and looking blank-faced.

However, I had no proof or confirmation, but I thought it would have gone something like that. I’ll explain to Simon how I came to think so.

“During the magic practice with me after school, you didn’t fail to cast even once, Lord Simon,” I said. “You were a natural so it’s quite unusual for you to have only made a mistake once during that class. Hence, it’s highly likely that Fireball was neither a mistake or a failure, but a purposeful ‘error’.”

The moment I said “purposeful”, Simon’s shoulders jumped up in tension. He looks up at me with a face like an abandoned puppy.

“However, I have never given you a reason to target me, Lord Simon,” I said. “It is possible that I have done something to you without realizing it, but no matter how much I think about it, I have almost no contact with you. I can’t think of any reason why you’d risked your life to do something like that to me. In that case, it would be natural to think that someone ordered you to do a crime of that sort. And speaking of who ordered you…”

There can only be Helene who manipulates Sophie and Emma’s quintet or even the entire quintet behind the scenes.

“S-So, even though you knew that much, you still treated me like this?” Simon asked, frightened.

I smiled. I have no intention of blaming him.

“I have seen with my own eyes what kind of person you are, Lord Simon. You are not the kind of person who would voluntarily do such a thing. You were coerced into doing it. For someone to have that sort of leverage, does that mean you have a considerable weakness for them to prey on? I would like to ease that suffering of yours.”

“Uu, aaa…, I-I’m… uwaaahhh…!” Simon burst into tears again.

This guy is a real crybaby. It’s easy to see that Simon doesn’t have the courage to put his life on the line to do something like that. Even if it ends in just an “attempted” crime, if it becomes public that he did such a thing, Simon will die socially. Or he could really be executed regardless.

I can only think that Emma and the others have a very big leverage point to make the weak-willed Simon do such a thing. Eliminate that weakness and release Simon from Emma and the others’ clutches. This is a significant step to reducing the pieces on my enemy’s side of the board.

But that’s not all. It’s not only that. Simon is the first male classmate friend I made in my life. There were the younger boys at the farm. There are people who are older than me and are under my control. But Simon is definitely the first male friend I’ve made among my schoolmates. I can’t forgive them for getting my friend involved in a criminal conspiracy and making him cry so much. If I keep silent, my name will be for nothing.

“Gah, I can’t take it anymore! What in the hell are you doing in here?!”

At that time, the door that should have been locked was kicked in and someone broke into the classroom. Or should I say, the idiotic pair of Rutger and Ludwig broke in? For some reason, this moronic duo kicked in the classroom door and came inside.

“Prince Ludwig? Lord Rutger? What are you doing here?” I asked.

“That’s my line, Flora,” Ludwig said. “What in the hell is this? What were you doing alone with a man inside a locked classroom?”

“…… Huh?” I asked.

Hey…! Hey… Ludwig, do you… think I had a secret rendezvous with Simon? That’s incredibly stupid…

“I’m friends with Lord Simon, so what?” I asked, shocked but speaking coldly at such a ridiculous thought.

They didn’t seem to like that. Ludwig and Rutger both got angrier.

“’So what?’ is not the right way to put it!” Ludwig yelled. “You can’t help but think there’s something suspicious going on when a young man and a young woman meet in secret at a place like this!”

“That’s right, Country Girl! To begin with, why is he crouching down and peeking up your skirt?”

Huh? Peek up my skirt? What is he talking about?

“What in the hell are you… ah!”

“-!”

When I looked down… my eyes met with Simon still crouched on the ground. No, not quite right? Simon’s gaze isn’t aimed at my face…

“Wh-Where are you looking!?” I yelled.

“Hebuh!” Simon gasped.

From looking up at my skirt, I push his head back down with my hand. If I try to step on him with my foot, he can see even more inside my skirt after I lift my leg. In comics, anime, etc., people often stamp on the perpetrator with their feet, but that would only make it even worse. I didn’t want that to happen, so I held him down with my hand.

Today… yeah. It should be fine. I wear underwear. It’s not like he saw it. It shouldn’t be that way… but his face is flushed. My face reflected in his glasses is flushed bright red, isn’t it? Me, really? Just because I, a man inside, might have flashed my panties a bit to another man?

It can’t be that way. First of all, the length of the skirt is long. It can’t be seen so easily that just looking up from below will reveal your pantie. It would be impossible, but…

“Iyaaaaahhhhh~~~~~!” I squealed.

With my hands on my face, I jumped over the broken door and ran through the corridor.