CH 48

“Since when have you been peeking at us?”

“From the point where Your Highness Nagi and Mika went out into the courtyard…I guess?”

“That means you were watching from the start!!”

“Excuse me, Your Highness Nagi. Could you please do something with this cramped state?”

Even the other day when Mika and I went in here together, we thought it was too cramped. On top of that, now there were four adults here.

To begin with, Vivienne is an unmarried lady. It would be quite an ugly story if she were to be found in a place like this before we could do something about Baroness Tessier.

And yet, the person herself instead said without caring, “This place is great. It looks like the place where a little sister character usually used to take a nap in the garden in the national animated movie that is often played on Fridays in Japan.”

But to my surprise, there were four words in that one sentence that I didn’t know. I thought once again that Vivienne really seemed to have memories of a different world.

I felt sorry for Tillois who said that this place was too small. However, the presence of four well-dressed nobles in this place was not good, and this combination of people is also risky, coupled with the fact that I didn’t want to expose this place that no one knew about, so we had no choice but to stay here for now.

After looking around this secret base in one glance, Vivienne said.

“By the way, this is such a surprise! Today has been a series of amazing things happening!”

That was certainly true.

I don’t know where in the world she was peeking at us from, but if she really watched us from the beginning, she must also have seen the magic of Baroness Tessier. Mika and I were so surprised that we even couldn’t help but hug each other.

Vivienne snorted and mentioned the most surprising thing of the day.

“I became a love rival* twice!”

That’s the part she was surprised about? While thinking about that inwardly, I sighed.

Both Mika and Tillois were puzzled, and I’m not sure if they realized the meaning of her words.

Anyway, I reluctantly opened my mouth, not wanting to get caught up in Vivienne’s pace. I really wanted to go back to my room and go to bed as soon as possible.

“I don’t know if it was the fascination magic or not, but I saw Baroness Tessier cast a spell on Brother Vincent. Honestly, I think we should just trust Vivienne completely now and go with what she says and figure out what to do.”

“Wow! Finally! But that was…really surprising, isn’t it? I thought she’d be hostile to Your Highness Nagi, but she even said that you’re kind!”

“Yeah…I don’t know what she was thinking.”

If Tillois showed up with Vivienne, then he probably saw that scene as well.

Whether it’s a manifestation of a will to not think anymore or an expression of complete nothingness, Tillois does not move a muscle.

Vivienne looked at me with a puzzled face, then waved her hand in front of her face and said, “No, no, no.”

“That was one of her psychological battles. Things like unexpectedness, gaps, and so on. She will steer your attention in a certain direction, and then betray it.”

“What?”

“At that time, Your Highness Nagi must have thought that she would say bad things, right? But when you get the opposite action different from what you just thought of, the unexpectedness of it pulls you in and shakes your normal thinking.”

I was surprised that Vivienne said so.

I certainly thought at the time that I would not have made a very good impression based on her reaction, and I was sure she would say something bad to Brother Vincent. I wonder if that means that my attention has been steered by her.

My heartbeat gave an unpleasant sound.

Psychological battle… She would even slip such a gimmick into a trivial conversation like that?　As I thought of that, another chill ran down my spine. That’s not the behavior of an ordinary lady, it’s like the behavior of an assassin or a swindler—

As I was thinking about that, Vivienne whispered in a low voice.

“She’s really going to destroy the country.”

“!”

Until now, I tried to avoid mentioning that.

In the first place, the story that Vivienne talked about was a love story, and I didn’t think she was thinking that far ahead. Vivienne was talking about it based on the love story of Baroness Tessier and Brother Vincent that was chosen by her, then as a result Vivienne was in the way.

Everyone thought that might be the case.

But beyond that, no one talked about Baroness Tessier’s intentions.

Vivienne said that the second prince route implies the overthrow of the country. But I thought she thought of that as a consequence.

But after all, Vivienne also said that Baroness Tessier was working as a pawn in some larger will.

It’s not Brother Vincent who is being targeted.

It’s the country of Pluvia.

I realized once again that we are facing such an enemy.

Baroness Tessier is an assassin. Now that the understanding was solidified in our minds, we needed to share what Vivienne knew.

“Is she really the daughter of Baron Tessier?”

“Yeah, well, for appearances’ sake. But she has a background of growing up in the city. By the way, when Tillois sees someone from the same background getting the cold shoulder from people around them, it makes him feel affinity and wants to protect them~”

“I-I am not going to like someone only because of that!”

But for some reason, Tillois’ reaction seemed to support the fact that he was also in that book, which made me give a wry smile.

Tillois in the book seems to be even more uptight than the Tillois here. I was told before, that since the time he was taken in by the Dukes of Ackerson when he was a child, Vivienne had bullied him thoroughly and made him distrust people.

But despite Vivienne’s childish meanness, she didn’t seem to be that vicious, and Tillois has not gone so far as to distrust people.

On the way back from the Taurus Mine, Vivienne had nonchalantly said, “I only put a frog in the tea back there,” and Tillois was furious.

“By the way, I’m the villainess in both Tillois’ route and Jelaire’s route.”

That was right, I recall.

I had heard that besides Brother Seth, Brother Vincent, and Tillois, there was also a story about Brother Vincent’s knight, Jelaire, and the wizard Renalge.

Now that the possibility of Baroness Tessier being a Rubrum assassin is getting stronger, we might have to take care of Jelaire as well.

On top of that, Renalge is an enigma, even though I have never spoken to him.

But then, just like me and Vivienne, I wonder if there are also villains in Renalge’s story… As I thought about that, Vivienne said.

“But, I think I might have found one good piece of information. Emilia is probably a human from this world.”

“What?”

“I mean, I don’t think she has memories of another world like I do or anything like that.”

“Why are you thinking of such a crazy thing…?”

She said there’s no way Baroness Tessier is a human not from this world. I was too confused to understand the meaning and stared at her blankly. Then Vivienne says, “It happens a lot. The main character, the baroness, also had memories of her past life.”

Honestly, if there were a few more crazy monsters like Vivienne, Pluvia would have been finished long ago. Neither Mika nor Tillois seemed to understand judging from their faces.

“What do you mean she has no memory of another world? That’s just an ordinary person.”

“That’s right. In other words, she is purely an assassin for Rubrum.”

“Y-you…You even dare to say it was Rubrum…”

Even though I had avoided making such a statement in front of everyone but Mika. I was dismayed to see Vivienne mention it so casually. And then Vivienne continued.

“After all, when I was dancing with Your Highness Nagi, Emilia only glanced at me once and paid no attention to me after that.”

“And, so what?”

“Hmm? If she had memories of her past life, she’d be very interested in the villainess who is doing irregular things. If other people also have memories of the game-…I mean book, it would shake the advantage that she has. But she glanced at me, looked at me as if saying ‘You’re going to be executed anyway, what are you having so much fun for?’ and she didn’t even look at me after that.”

“That’s scary…”

Mika exclaimed unintentionally.

But still, I’m not quite sure what Vivienne’s intention is. Then Vivienne added another explanation, as if thinking “Do you still don’t get it?”

“What I mean is, instead of her making irregular, strange actions like me, you can think of it as her only having an assassin’s behavior from a textbook. That’s easier to understand, isn’t it?”

“!!!” “!!!” “!!!”

“What’s with those faces? They’re making me irritated for some reason.”

So that was what she meant! The three men finally understood.

Certainly, if that Baroness had memories of a previous life or something like that and made unpredictable moves as Vivienne did, we would have been in chaos.

Maybe she is indeed good at psychological battles.

Nevertheless, I did not think that the day would come when I would feel so saved, in the worst case, that it would be safe to think she was only acting as an assassin according to the textbook.

Vivienne said, “Well, that’s how it is,” and we agreed that the Rubrum-led assassins were manipulating Brother Vincent. Tillois didn’t argue anymore.

Then, Mika said.

“I’ll keep an eye on that baroness for a while.”

“Eh? You, Mika? You’re a personal knight, how can you do that…? Should I ask Machina to do it?”

“No, it’s better if you don’t ask Machina. Sure, you can only ask such a complicated thing to someone you trust, but his territory is already right next to the Rubrum. There is a high probability that someone will take advantage of him.”

Mika had a good point. But still, I think that Mika doesn’t have to be the one who does it. A sense of uneasiness spreads through me.

According to Vivienne, the magical silver needle can only be used once. After finding that magical tool in the Taurus mine, it seems to be stored strictly at the duke’s residence, and it can only be used on Brother Vincent no matter what.

(If…perhaps Mika also has some weird magic cast on him…)

As I looked down and thought about it, I felt Vivienne’s breathing become heavier so I glanced at her. There was Vivienne, breathing hard and staring at me with her eyes wide open, and my heart cooled down at once.

Mika continued with a troubled smile on his face.

“There was no sign of magic on Nagi or me. Maybe she can only use the magic on one person.”

“Hmm…I wonder about that. She used her unique magic on a lot of people in the book.”

“Well, I’ll do my best to make sure of that as well.”

I looked at Mika’s face which looked as if he had made up his mind, and let out a small sigh.

My childhood friend is the type of person who, once he decides to do something, will finish it. Now that it has become like this, Mika really intends to keep an eye on Baroness Tessier.

I watched Vivienne explain to Mika about the “fascination” magic she had read about in the literature of this world since she remembered her memories, and how to deal with it. I decided to give up on stopping Mika, thinking that it couldn’t be helped.

After she had explained everything, I saw Vivienne turn around and look at me with a sparkle in her eyes.

I stared with empty eyes, wondering what in the world was coming next. Then Vivienne, who had taken another deep breath, shouted loudly.

“Now then. Let’s hear some of your childhood friend episodes from this secret base sanctuary!”

“See you, Tillois. A lot was going on tonight, so be careful on your way back.”

“Yes. Good night, Your Highness.”

I decided to let Vivienne and Tillois return first, since it would not be good if others saw them together with us.

It’s Tillois after all. He probably remembers the way back. And then as for Vivienne, she disappeared into the moonlit night with her brother dragging her along in an unbecoming position for a lady.

“Wait, wait?! Wait…?!”