CH 85

Natalie is currently taking me down the third floor hallway. We are heading up the stairs to the opposite side of Sasha’s room.

Natalie stops and knocks at one of the doors and calls out inside.

“Emilia-san, I have brought Luke-san with me.”

“Come in!”

It was Emilia’s voice. She sounded very nervous. It seemed that this was her room.

I went inside… I see.

The room was very girly, or rather, very cute.

Inside the room, Mifa and Erica were sitting on the couch waiting for her.

『♪It’s amazing. Most of the small items here are handmade by Emilia. 』

There are many dolls lined up on the sofa and around the desk. Are these called bisque dolls? A cute ceramic doll with a realistic, pretty face, dressed in a pretty gothic dress full of frills.

It seems that Emilia’s hobby is handicrafts. The tablecloth of the parlor set is also made of lace, one of Emilia’s hobbies. Of course, the dolls’ lovely outfits are also made by Emilia.

Looking at this room, I can understand why she wanted to make clothes for Navi. Navi, the size of a doll, is a doll, and you can’t help but want to play with her to your heart’s content.

“It’s a lovely room. Is this your room, Emilia?”

“Yes, it is. I’m embarrassed to say that this is my room. I’m not good at going outside, so while I’ve been cooped up in my room, I’ve come to love crafts, and here we are.”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. This is your handiwork. It is good to have a hobby. This lacework is very well done.”

“Thank you very much. Please sit down and I will make you some tea.”

She seemed a little happy to be praised for her hobby.

Right now there are seven people in this room: me, Iris, Mifa, Erica, Emilia, Natalie, and the maid who is following me around.

Diana, Hati, and Spinel are in Anna’s room, getting snacks from Lara and the others and seem to be in a good mood. Navi is working on some things in the workshop while keeping an eye on my surroundings.

The maid is making tea, but after I sit down, Emilia looks nervous and doesn’t want to proceed with the conversation. I wait for a while, but she doesn’t seem to be able to get a word in edgewise, so I start talking to her a little.

“Emilia, is there something you want to talk to me about?”

Well, I somehow know what Emilia wants to say by what she has said and done so far, but it would be better to let her speak on her own.

“Yes…. I would like to tell you why I have become afraid of men…..”

She said that much, and the conversation stopped again–

I was waiting for her to slowly start talking on her own, but I couldn’t judge if there was a solution without having her talk first. I tried to guide her so that it would be easier for her to speak again.

“From what Duke Guile said, I can guess that something must have happened about five years ago, but is it a story that everyone knows except me?”

Emilia and Natalie look surprised that my guess was right.

“I don’t know anything about it.”

“I don’t know either.”

Erica and Iris don’t seem to know.

Emilia took a deep breath and then removed the collar of [Recognition Alienation].

”Heh~ I knew it, you and Mifa are cousins, and you look alike somehow.”

“Eh! Luke-sama’s reaction is too weak!”

“I’m more surprised by that comment from Erica!”

The truth is, I’m really nervous about Emilia’s cuteness, but I know it’s a bad idea to show it on my face, so I took advantage of Erica’s surprised and light-hearted words to distract myself from Emilia.

“I mean, Emilia-sama, you’re so cute. That reaction is absolutely ridiculous when one sees your real face!”

“I think she’s cute.  Maybe you have about [beauty tolerance] level 5 tolerance?”

“”I don’t have that kind of tolerance!””

That’s a good point, everyone!

“I mustered a lot of courage to get this collar off…..”

“Emilia, it’s Luke-sama’s consideration. He’s trying to relieve your tension by playing a joke on you on purpose.”

“Mifa-oneesama… I suppose you are right, given your behavior thus far.”.

Mifa ruined it by giving away my clownishness. I don’t like it when people are honest about everything. Sometimes things work out better when you don’t say them.

Emilia’s true face is so cute!

She looks somewhat like Sasha. I think she looks the most like her mother out of the three sisters. She has a small face and her hair color is light reddish brown? Her hair color hasn’t changed much since she was wearing the collar.

Her skin is fair, perhaps because she doesn’t go outside much, and the freckles on her face are all gone. Like Mifa, she’s a cute girl. To be honest, she’s my favorite type!

“I’m not interested in that, but can we please move on?”

“””Such a thing to say!”””

The reaction of the team members to my poker-faced attitude is getting a little interesting, but I have to listen to Emilia properly.

“Is it okay for the maid, Iris, and Erica to be listening to this story?”

“Sierra is the one who has been my personal maid since I was a little girl. I would like you to ask your team members Iris and Erica to listen to her.”

“My name is Sierra, it must be painful for Emilia-sama to talk about that matter and I would like to ask you if you would allow me to talk to you.”

“Sierra-san, I’ve heard your name twice before, but I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember it because there are so many servants here. Then, Sierra, will you tell us how Emilia developed a phobia of men?”

I asked because I wondered if it was okay for the maidservants to hear about Emilia’s personal situation, but it seems that this maidservant, Sierra, is going to tell me about Emilia’s situation.

『♪Supplementary explanation. Sierra E. Harkins, age 29, is the third daughter of the Harkins family. After graduating from the academy, she went to the royal family as an apprentice maid, but Emilia took a liking to her there and she went straight into the service of the duke’s family. 』

“Really? Didn’t she go to the royal castle to learn the etiquette of the nobility as a maid apprentice? Why did she become Emilia’s servant there? 』

『♪Ten years ago, the succession to the throne hadn’t been made yet, so Guile was living with Sasha and Emilia and others at the royal castle as the second prince. It wasn’t until he was succeeded by the current king, Zeno, that he took over as a duke. 』

“I see. So Sierra has been friends with Emilia for 10 years. 』

The story of Emilia’s situation as told by Sierra was largely as expected.

“It was so predictable that it made sense in a way.”

”Did Luke-sama know before he heard Sierra-san’s story?”

Iris asked curiously.

“Well, I guess it was pretty much as I expected.”

Sierra’s story can be summarized as follows.

At an annual event, a social debut is held at the beginning of each year at the royal castle for children of noble families who turn 10 that year, and an incident occurred when Emilia attended a social party six years ago.

When Emilia went to the bathroom alone during the party, a member of the viscount’s family took her into the guest room and attacked her. When Emilia resisted, the attacker bit her on the arm and punched her so many times that her face swelled up, and since then she has been afraid of men.

“I should have followed her to the bathroom at that time.”

“If you had been Emilia’s maid, you would have. But there was nothing you could do about it now. Was that man really trying to rape the 10-year-old Emilia?”

“Actually, I was a big part of that incident.”

“Mifa?”

Incidentally, the rape was not attempted, and Emilia had immediately called for help via the call function when she was taken away, and was saved while she was being beaten.

“It was  because of a grudge that Emilia-san was attacked. The viscount who attacked her was a vassal of the former Lord of Forest. He was on the verge of falling because of the purge of the main family by Guile-sama and King Zeno at the time. When he was in financial difficulties, he visited several times to borrow money from the dukes whom Guile-sama had succeeded, but it seems that these viscounts were also engaged in illegal tax evasion, only that no proof was found, and Guile-sama dared to ignore them.”

“Hm?  So why did they attack Emilia-san? If they were going to attack someone out of spite, shouldn’t it have been Guile-san?”

“The only thing I can imagine is that even if a small group of people attacked Guile-sama, they would be beaten.  If nothing is done, their downfall will be inevitable…. Since there is nothing left to do, it seems that he thought he could kill two birds with one stone by also clearing his grudge.”

Sierra-san’s brow wrinkled in annoyance as she recalled those days.

From my Japanese point of view, I don’t understand why someone would marry someone who has been raped, but it is said that the fact that a daughter was raped is quite dishonorable for a noble family.

In the aristocratic society that values honor, if the rapist is a magic beast such as an orc or goblin, it’s enough to make the daughter commit suicide, but if the rapist is a member of a noble family, the dishonor is made to disappear with marriage. I seriously don’t understand.

Well, that is the story of the general aristocratic society, and there is no such thing as marriage if it is done to someone like a royal family or a duke family.

What happened to the viscount’s family? They killed the whole family.

“I see. On the verge of ruin, he didn’t have the money to hire a raider. The idea of attacking a 10 year old kid to make an already established fact is scary… So how is Mifa involved in this case?”

“Does Luke-sama know Mifa’s second name?”

“Erica! You shouldn’t say that!”

“Second name? No, I don’t know….”

“The Head-Hunting Princess!”

“I told you not to say that!”

“Eh? The head hunting princess!? Why does she have such a dangerous name? Ah~ I get it! It’s because of her official duties as a first-class inquisitor, isn’t it?”

“You’re right! It’s Luke-sama, after all. He’s very smart.”

I was embarrassed to be praised by Erica, but it felt good to be praised.

“Perhaps Guile-sama did this when he was given the titled of Duke?”

“Yes…. I was a child at the time, and as my father and uncle told me, I went around smiling and exposing lies without thinking. The people of the duke here are grateful to me, but some of the noble families still hold a grudge against me. You don’t want to be such a two-faced person…… do you, Luke-sama?”

It is said that these two names came about because there are so many nobles who were beheaded after Mifa exposed their lies, not because Mifa directly hunted for their heads.

Mifa just wanted to be praised, but from the family’s point of view, their father was executed while she had on a happy and smiling face and I’m sure some of the remaining family members resent her.

“You don’t have to look so anxious. Do you know my second name?”

“Orc Prince! Surely you’re still better than that, Mifa-sama.”

“Erica, I’m a little hurt! Well, that’s the way it is. I don’t care about your second name. I understand why Emilia is afraid of men. She is traumatized because of the violence at that time.”

“Yes. I’m afraid of them. Also, I am very uncomfortable and dislike the way men look at me sexually.”

“I am sorry about that. I’m a man, too, so I can’t resist. So let’s talk about how to improve Emilia’s phobia of men.”

I’ve got a few ideas for Emilia, actually.