Volume 5 - CH 2.15

Holding the scabbard of Jagielka in his arms, Dimitar was looking up at the sky.

The rain had stopped before sunset, and although there were still clouds remaining here and there, countless stars were twinkling in the sky tonight. The night wind, which had a trace of moisture slightly, gently brushed his skin and seemed to be alleviating his gloomy feeling.

「Hey…!」

When Dimitar narrowed his eyes at the wind, Valeria clambered onto the roof.

「…What’s the matter with you? To have intentionally climbed to such a place, are you very free?」

「Or rather, that’s my line…!」

Valeria spoke angrily in an imposing stance on the roof of the inn.

「Just when I was wondering where in the world are you and what are you doing that you had to quickly disappear by yourself… why are you exposing yourself to the night wind in a carefree manner?」

「I wasn’t enjoying the cool air in a carefree manner in particular」

Sitting cross-legged and resting his chin in his hands, Dimitar snorted slightly.

「…Perhaps in Taroma about this time, Lucius is being made to play the role of a villain that he doesn’t want to play. I just thought I’ll stay awake until morning without drinking sake and sleeping in a carefree manner for tonight at least. We’ve completed the first stage of the mission, after all」

「The role of a villain, you say… Lucius-sama?」

「It was written in the decree of His Majesty, right? If the mastermind is found out to be the countess, inform the Seal Chivalric Order, which is standing by in Taroma, of it. —And speaking of a person in the Seal Chivalric Order who could be entrusted with this sort of job, there’s no one other than Lucius, after all」

Valeria sat down next to Dimitar and asked while playing with the tips of her long hair.

「That countess, she’s the mistress of His Majesty the King, right?」

「Yes」

That the king tried to settle everything with utmost secrecy was, in short, because he had guessed that the one trying to kill the queen was his mistress. Jeffren Francesc was known to be broad-minded, but as one would expect, his reputation among the citizens might be ruined if it became known that his womanising had a repercussion in the form of an assassination plot against the queen.

Moreover, when the king tried to take Purna as his mistress, voices telling him to refrain from that alone were raised one after another from among the senior statesmen, such as the Four Elder Statesmen. As one would expect, it might be embarrassing for the king, who had overcome those voices of opposition and laid his hands on Purna.

「She was opposed by them that much… that countess, what kind of person is she exactly?」

「I’ve never met her personally either, but Lucius told me various things about her. —Simply put, it seems that she’s an exceptionally wicked woman」

「Wicked woman? Does she pick up men here and there?」

「It means that she’s loose with men. In that sense, His Majesty is probably much looser」

「Look here…」

While appalled at Dimitar’s words which might be equivalent to disrespect, Valeria listened to his story attentively.

「—Originally, the woman called Purna wasn’t even born in Ahmad, let alone be a noble of this country. It seemed that she was born in a distant foreign country, bought by a slave dealer when she was a very young child and then came to this country」

「Slave dealer…?」

「Blue pupils, light-brown skin and jet-black hair—so she might be born on the other side of the mountain range」

「Does that mean that she’s a barbaric believer?」

「Whether she’s a barbaric believer or a God believer, I don’t know. Anyway, it seemed that Purna, who was brought to this country from a foreign country when she was a very young child, had only been thinking about crawling up from her current position at any rate」

There was no way to check now, but she most likely was a woman who entertained customers with song and dance in a bar on the outskirts of a town or something in the beginning. Or perhaps she was a low-class prostitute. Speaking of demand for girls who were born in a foreign country but were beautiful, it was mostly for those sorts of things.

In any case, Purna rose from such a rock-bottom environment to become the mistress of a noble in some way. If her class as a prostitute rose, she could also have a connection to the high society. And after she temporarily obtained a status, she’d use that as a stepping stone and aim for the top little by little.

Stepping up from a mistress to the lawful wife when the wife of a poor noble died, she inherited all the assets when her husband died shortly thereafter and then became the mistress of another noble—whenever someone died, Purna would raise her status and become wealthy. After repeating that many times, the status she had finally reached was the king’s mistress and the title of Countess Dryton, which was bestowed by the king.

「Does that mean that… she assassinated the lawful wife and the husband?」

「There’s no evidence, but it’s too much of a convenience, after all. It’s probably like that」

What Purna, who had a strong ambition to rise in the world and a desire for prestige and money because of the reaction caused by an unhappy early life and environment, had seen at the end was the dream of eliminating Almudena and then personally becoming the queen of Ahmad.

However, perhaps the great number of successful experiences made Purna do so; she might have thought the man this time was of the same class as the men she had controlled so far. As a result, that became Purna’s first and last fatal mistake.

「…Assassination of Her Highness the Queen, even if it was a failed attempt, it’s probably the capital punishment, isn’t it?」

「Yes. The countess might not be alive any more about this time」

「Looking at it as a whole, this job doesn’t make one feel very good」

Valeria sighed and smiled weakly.

「—Well, it’s an honour to be able to become acquainted with the queen though」

「Everything is the result of His Majesty judging that we can protect Her Highness the Queen completely just by ourselves and then entrusting everything to us. This isn’t bad for our careers. For the time being, take it in a good way like that」

「Well, protecting the seal means protecting Ahmad and the royal family which are equivalent to its foundation, so us Dominas have to do this and that for the sake of that; un, I understand that reality too」

「If that’s the case, then this wasn’t pointless」

Dimitar pulled out Jagielka and started to polish its wide sword blade.

「Your Eminence~!」

Dimitar suddenly stopped his hands, which had just started to move, at the carefree voice that could be heard coming from below and looked at Valeria.

「…Isn’t that Her Highness the Queen? She seems to be looking for you though?」

「Ah… ahahahaha」

Valeria tried to laugh to gloss over it, but the voice that was calling her didn’t stop. On the contrary, it felt as if the numbers were increasing.

「Costacurta-geika~!」

「Your Eminence, where are you~?」

「Please tell us your stories by all means~」

「…You’re very popular」

Perhaps it was because her identity had been exposed to even the maids, she was probably badgered by everyone to tell them her heroic stories as a Dominas. Dimitar literally smiled thinly as if it was someone else’s problem and started to polish the sword again.

「Well, keep them company as much as you can. We’ll probably reach Roma tomorrow or the day after tomorrow at the latest, so it seems that you have to be patient until then」

「Hey… you do something about it too!」

「Talking about the grace of God that the Dominas had received is the job of the Dominas. And talking about it in a way that is easy for people without prerequisite knowledge to understand, in particular, aren’t Babel-geika’s or Karin-sama’s roles but the role of Valeria Costacurta-geika, who is also known as the “Pure Jewel”; I should have said this before as well though」

「U」

Valeria, who was prevented from refuting any further, dropped her shoulders and turned her back towards Dimitar. The best way to seal the mouth of this girl, who was noisy in various ways, was to bring up subjects such as the duty of the Dominas and so forth and cleverly attack her pride.

「…You must come immediately too, all right? The queen said that she wants to hear your stories as well」

「What a curious person」

Murmuring a few insolent words, Dimitar held Jagielka aloft.

The moonlight peeping through the rift between the clouds reflected off the edge of the sharp blade and pierced Dimitar’s eyes. There wasn’t even a little smudge of blood on the sword blade. Come to think of it, he never pulled out Jagielka, except for maintenance, in the mission this time.

「…I hope that each time will be like this though」

Dimitar, who had talked to himself with a sigh, kept the sword in the scabbard, stood up and casually jumped down from the edge of the eaves.