Chapter 184: The woman who will steal the prince (4)

Chapter 184: The woman who will steal the prince (4)

After that, we returned to our respective spaces.

The chaos in the middle of the night thankfully ended without anybody getting hurt.

I was feeling guilty about not doing the dishes for Sand but unfortunately, I was forced to return home.

I decided to at least treat him to a nice feast of meat in the future.

*

The next day brightened. We were immediately summoned to the Empress Palace after breakfast.

“The incident in the alley yesterday was quietly settled. There are no talks among the commoners about seeing his Royal Highness or Prince Jesse.”

Vice Captain Élisabeth reported while standing at attention.

Her eyes that had returned to their original ash-color were sparkling intelligently.

“As for the original actress who was supposed to play her Holiness, the Pope in the parade, she was found tied up and asleep in the circus troupe’s lodging.

“Tsk.”

The Empress clicked her tongue. She seemed discontent despite drinking coffee that was not too hot.

“The business card lists Victoire D’Andresy. The reports indicate this is the same name that has been left behind until now. However, it is very likely that this name was created without any meaning behind it. The Count’s House of Andresy has, early on, denied that this person had any relation to them and it has been confirmed that no such person is listed in their family tree.”

Captain Duhem explained.

‘It is written as D’Andresy but it is the Count’s House of Andresy? Is there a preposition in front of the family name?

Then I guess the territory name and the family name is the same, like the House of Sarnez.

The French style was still difficult for me to understand.

I paid close attention to the report from the Imperial Guard and looked around.

This was my first time in the salon of the Empress Palace but everything was large and luxurious as expected.

The walls that were decorated with gold and jewels had the portraits of the past rulers of Riester on them.

‘If that is the late Empress Céline, then the left is......Is that the war lord of Claire Plaza, Romero Riester?’

The man was handsome with bright blonde hair and blood-red eyes.

For some reason, everybody in that family was handsome or beautiful. It made sense because they were the family of the male lead of a romfan, but...

“The noble who was the first to be harmed by her is Baron Savanier, whose territory is next to the Andresy territory. A portion of the storehouse in the Lord’s Castle was looted, and the looted goods were given away to the poor commoners. The Baron became extremely angry and sealed down the territory to do a thorough search, but he was unable to catch the culprit. That happened in May of this year, your Majesty.”

“How foolish.”

Vice Captain Élisabeth commented and the Empress dryly responded.

Crack, crack. The flames were peacefully crackling in the wall furnace.

As for me, I was cautiously cutting a Bouchée à la reine that an attendant placed on my plate with a knife.

The crust of this perfectly sized dessert gently crumbled like a blanket.

The truffe, button mushroom, chicken, and pieces of octopus that were drenched in white sauce slowly flowed down.

‘It smells amazing. I’m sure it’ll be delicious as well.’

“After that, multiple locations have been hit. However, there is a large period of time in between each incident, and her characteristic is that the scale of her theft grows as she goes. Most recently, the Holy artifact of the Marquis’ House of Cissé, the Saddle of the Late Empress, has been stolen.”

‘A bizarre thief is running amok lately in the nearby territories but this place is as relaxed and peaceful as its name.’

I suddenly recalled the letter Chantal sent from the Sérénité March.

The thought I had last night while going through the files was that only the Imperial Capital had been quiet.

“I heard about that as well. Apparently the item is not showing up even in the black market.”

Cardinal Boutier sipped her coffee before commenting.

The Empress peeked toward her before grumbling.

“And this time she is aiming for the Prince?”

“......That does seem to be the case, your Majesty.”

The Captain and Vice Captain of the Imperial Guard answered at the same time.

Everybody seated at the table turned to look at me.

I froze in place in the middle of moving my spoon. Christelle was quietly chuckling.

‘...Am I not allowed to eat......?’

“Eat as much as you want. Our chef has been waiting for the day you come, my little Prince.”

My teacher warmly commented. I felt relieved and consumed the snack.

I thought the only seafood here was octopus but I could taste pieces of plump shrimp as well.

The way the seafood and meat mixed together was amazing.

“There is one more thing, your Majesty. The fact that I would be observing the parade on the last day of the Harvest Festival was something that only a few people in the Imperial Palace and my friends knew about. But thinking about it......”

I trailed off and peeked toward Benjamin, who was standing in the back.

He sighed as if the world was crumbling before struggling to open his mouth as if he did not want to say it.

“When the circus troupe entered Juliette Palace, the attendants were fired up making their bets. They were betting to see if his highness would be able to observe the parade during the Harvest Festival.”

“......”

“......”

The room became completely silent as if someone had poured cold water over us.

Basically, the attendants who got a taste of losing all their emergency funds making bets in the Imperial Palace had amused themselves, betting on when the crown prince would release my confinement.

The Empress and Cardinal silently looked at Benjamin for a while.

They then looked toward their son or godson.

However, the crown prince simply raised one eyebrow as if he was telling them ‘what do you want me to do?’

‘This damn fire attribute filial bastard.’

“The palace was quite a ruckus, so anybody with good hearing would probably have been able to hear. That was the only situation where an outsider may have found out about his highness’s plans to leave the palace...... Please kill me, your Majesty.”

The pitiful middle-aged man bowed his head. The Empress let out a big snort. And then...

“......All staff of Juliette Palace will have their pay reduced for six months.”

She made it an Imperial Decree. My heart sank but there was nothing I could do about it.

It was rare to see my teacher scolding me like this as well.

“My little prince, you can’t let your people do as they please. You need to show them dignity befitting the royal family and the title of Marquis. You allowed your attendants to put their guards down that much when outsiders were in the palace?”

“I’m really sorry, your Eminence. I will try harder.”

I apologized.

Everything she said was correct, but I had never had people under me before.

Most of the attendants were still young as well.

It was still not easy properly acting as a prince.

‘I need to get better.’

“Anyway, such a reason does make sense. If she was lucky, she would have known that you were coming to the parade, but she probably did not hear that you or your group would be disguised. That is why she openly disguised herself as the little Sarnez girl.”

“Yes, your Majesty. She knew one but not the other.”

I agreed with the Empress. However, Christelle tilted her head in confusion.

“Your highness, I am asking you this because I truly am curious. How could you follow her so innocently? I had Vice Captain Élisabeth’s hair color last night. My eye color was different as well.”

I slightly bit down on the inside of my cheek. My neck instantly heated up.

I did pretty well working for a company so I had no idea why I made so many mistakes in this world.

I felt embarrassed.

“Umm...... What I usually see is pink so I had an error in judgment. It was quite a chaotic situation as well. But I did realize the truth while we were on the move.”

“Then I guess you wouldn’t have known until the end if I did not go in a disguise? Since the color was the same?”

‘......Damn, I just went up 2000 won in price. Is the inflation rate in Riester going to be okay?’ (TL: So this is a slang phrase that started in 2020. When someone is hit by facts, they say their value went up 2000 won because they also use ‘got struck in the bone’ when hit by a fact bomb. Getting hit in the bone makes the meat fall off, making you boneless, and boneless chicken costs 2000 won more, leading to this phrase. Yeah, it is weird.)

I was smacked around so much by facts that my mind was getting jumbled.

Even the crown prince and Sir Johann were looking at me as if they wanted an answer.

I buried my lip onto the cherry blossom tea to cover at least a portion of my face.

I would sound like an idiot regardless of what I said right now, so I chose to use my right to remain silent.

“There is only one conclusion. I will not give them the attention that they seek.”

The Empress looked at us and proclaimed.

“Confining the prince in the palace, openly sending out the Imperial Guard or the Imperial soldiers, all it will do is raise the fame of the criminal and fill their desires.”

It sounded as if important things were to be discussed. I put the teacup down and looked at her.

The Empress’s eyes squinted like that of a wild beast that found an entertaining prey.

“So you guys will personally play detective.”

‘......Why did the conclusion suddenly...? Excuse me?’

—

Translator’s Comments

Which famous detective will make their presence known? Hmm...