CH 132

Characters in this chapter:

Sapphiras Perfectio, 2nd son of the Earl of Aldridge

Percival Belisario, 3rd son of Margrave of Vanderwall on the Eastern Frontier

Aurora Steinfeld, daughter of the Duke of Bloomfield

Liliana, daughter of a Viscount, Aurora’s lady-in-waiting

Herrera Stiard, daughter of the Marquess of Fargerson

The fact that you are talking about it means that there are already people who are acting suspiciously.

I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help my friends, so of course I’ll lend a hand if there’s a situation like that. Whoever the opponent is is not an enemy to me, but I want to know who the opponent is at least.

“Yes. Actually, I’ve discovered that Fargerson-kyou sends frequent messengers to His Highness the Second Prince at the foot of Mount Paluum.

“Fargerson?”

I’m sorry, I have no idea who that is. Who’s that?

“Do you remember Herrera-sama?”

Herrera? Huh? Where have I heard that name before?

“It’s Lady Herrera Stiard. She caused a ruckus with the Second Prince at the soirée, didn’t she?”

As I kept tilting my head, Percival told me.

“Aah! That young lady with big boobs for her age!”

“Well…….”

For some reason, Aurora covers her mouth and blinks her eyes. Even Liliana, who was standing behind her, had a slightly troubled look on her face.

Eh? Wh-What’s wrong?

Percival cleared his throat as I tilted my head, not understanding the meaning of their reaction.

“Sapphiras……in front of the women.”

“……Ah! Ermm, a well-developed young lady!”

Was it a little bit bad to say that her boobs are big in front of the young ladies? I’m a commoner at heart, so I’m not good at saying things in a roundabout way.

I’m really sorry, but I completely forgot the face of Herrera-jyou, who disappeared from the academy after being sent to the temple. Accompanying that, the figure of the greasy and useless Second Prince comes to mind. It’s kind of funny to think that that’s the royal family of our country.

Let’s be clear, I’m not interested in women’s boobs. Byron used to tell me I was a child when I said that.

“Fufufu, I was surprised that Sapphiras-sama said such a thing, but strangely enough, it doesn’t seem to be too vulgar.”

“Herrera-sama’s father, Stiard-kyou, doesn’t openly discriminate against beastmen, but he is actually quite a strong opponent of the alliance.”

“I see?……Oh! The Marquess of Fargerson was behind the fake Holy Magician fiasco, isn’t he? He used his daughter to entangle the Second Prince and turn him into a puppet to overthrow the Crown Prince, who was pushing for the alliance?”

“There’s no clear evidence, but I think it’s pretty much as you imagined, Sapphiras-sama.”

I see. In that incident, the second prince, who became obsessed with the young lady in his heart, caused a fuss when he got excited saying it’s love, it’s love1愛だ恋だ (ai da koi da), both 愛 and 恋 translates to love but 愛 can be used for anything and 恋 is usually for romantic love. Like 恋人 (koibito) refers to a lover/sweetheart/significant other. Funnily enough, 愛人 (ai jin) can also mean lover but it usually refers to a mistress. What’s even funnier is that in Chinese, 爱人 (ai ren) refers to one’s legal spouse while 恋人 (lian ren) is just someone you have a romantic relationship with and will not necessarily have a fruitful conclusion. Got a little bit carried away there but the more you know! , and the family of the young lady was only given a stern warning and the young lady was sentenced to training in the temple, there was no significant blame.

However, was it the Marquess’ wisdom that brought the royal sceptre out of the treasury? Love wasn’t just blind. Certainly, if the Second Prince is a pawn, his fiancée, Aurora, is in the way. If he succeeds in entrapping him, he can bring down the name of the Duke of Bloomfield.

But the stage of denunciation set up by the Marquess of Fargerson ended with a complete failure because of the poor performance of the actors. In the first place, the plan itself is too sloppy, such as causing a disturbance at an evening party hosted by His Highness the Crown Prince.

What exactly do they want to do?

“So, the Marquess, who is at the forefront of the opposition to the alliance, is once again planning to use the Second Prince to do something nefarious?”

“That remains to be seen. It could just be a consolation.”

“A consolation, huh……”

How could such a black-hearted guy console? I’m sure he’s up to something.

The second prince has also suffered once, so I hope he doesn’t get caught in the same hands. The first time he was sent off to Mount Paluum by the mercy of His Highness the Crown Prince, but if he did it next time, there is a possibility that he would be imprisoned or even poisoned. After all, the evening party this time is to invite dignitaries from other countries. If something goes wrong, it won’t just be a domestic problem.

Even the Second Prince, who was foolish enough to pull his own leg, must have been a lovely little brother to His Highness the Crown Prince. If he had understood his brother’s heart, which was trying to protect his position by choosing someone like me who could be useful as his future partner, I don’t think he would have done anything stupid again. He doesn’t necessarily love his older brother in the same way.

“……Actually, just the other day, the former administrator of the treasury was found dead.”

“Eh?”

What on earth does that mean?

“The manner of his death was unnatural, so I privately investigated him. Then, I found a letter suggesting that he had taken scales out of the storehouse of curses at the request of someone. When the Order of Magician immediately checked the storeroom of curses, several scales had been replaced with fake ones.”

Wow, that’s a story that could lead to another royal scandal. The Second Prince took out decrepit national treasures without permission, and the curse was replaced. There’s a limit to how lame you can be.

“The curse storage has never been opened since the change of administrators. So we think the scales were replaced when His Highness the Second Prince entered the treasury.”

……In other words, there’s a strong possibility that the Marquess of Fargerson was the one who ordered the replacement.

That foolish prince is being used to the fullest.

Moreover, the fact that it is replaced is strangely clever. In the first place, you will rarely go in and out of the curse storage. If it’s gone, no one will notice that it’s replaced.

“By the way, you don’t know who is the person who brought out the scales do you?”

“Yes. It seems that they took a very roundabout way so that they wouldn’t know who the letter was dealing with. It is possible that the previous administrator himself didn’t know who the other party was.”

Without evidence, it would be impossible to pursue the matter. It’s been a long time since the Second Prince fiasco, and the evidence has probably been completely erased.

“……Is there anything other than just scales in that curse thing?”

Percival asked with difficulty. His brow wrinkled again. He’s such a good guy, I’m worried it’s going to leave a mark.

But I’m also wondering if there’s any material left. It was pretty burnt, but it was that big. I should have been able to retrieve a lot of things.

“There is one claw and one fang. However, there is a lot of magic left here, so it is not possible to easily touch it.”

Uwah, what a terrifying calamity dragon. It’s been a long time since then, but there’s still some demonic energy left that I can’t touch. If that’s the case, the calamity dragon’s corpse must have been scattering a considerable amount of demonic energy.

“I wonder what happened to the dragon’s body that couldn’t be handled?”

“I heard that magicians from all over the country covered the dragon with barrier magic and sank it in a cauldron on a mountain of fire.”

That’s the right way to end it. A cauldron on a mountain of fire would have burned without a trace. I would have loved to have seen that. If I hadn’t carelessly died, I would have participated in the clean-up of the calamity dragon.

But anyway. The fact that the scales of that troublesome dragon are in the hands of someone who seems to be plotting something is worrisome.

Even if they threw it into the abyss of the royal capital and Vanderwall, it’s hard to believe that they used it all up.

“I understand the situation. You can leave Clawis and the others to me. I’ll just think of it as if I’m on a luxury passenger ship!”

“Thank you, Sapphiras-sama. I can always rely on you.”

After the difficult conversation, we were treated to delicious pastries and tea, and Percival and I left the salon.

I moved into the second dormitory building, but I’m on a different floor from Percival. I’m on the second floor and Percival is on the fourth. It seems that it was not possible to be on the same floor because I moved in halfway through the year.

I don’t mind that at all, but Percival takes me to and from my room every time. I know it must be hard for him to do this every day, so I tell him to meet me at the entrance of the building, but my refusal was brushed off.

Today, as a matter of course, Percival walked me to my room.

“Thanks again today, see you…….”

“Sapphiras,”

When I tried to say thank you for sending me,  he called my name to interrupt me.

What’s more, he was staring at me with a serious look. He’s kind of close.

Umm……what is this situation?

“Per-Percival? What’s wrong?”　

“……I’ll support Sapphiras no matter what. So please don’t ever act alone. Promise me you’ll call on me before you make a move.”

I don’t really understand what it’s about, but I have no choice but to do so if I’m told with such a straight look. I know Percival is worried about me.

“……Ye-yeah. I understand.”

I nodded, and Percival relaxed his expression. It’s that smile mixed with sweetness that makes me feel strangely unsettled, something I’ve been seeing a lot lately. I was dazzled by the smile of the Prince of the Sun when suddenly something warm and soft touched my forehead and quickly left.

The scent of lemon and mint wafted to my nose.

“……Eh?”

What was that?

“You promised, Sapphiras. Then I’ll come back for you tomorrow.”

‘……’

Percival left the room, leaving me standing in a daze, unable to understand what had happened.

The door closed with a ‘patan’ in front of my eyes.

That just now, that just now, could it be?

Kiss……!

As soon as I understood what Percival had done to me, my face got hot as if it had ignited. That! That! That serious, Knight of the Sun Percival! He kissed me!

A soft touch still lingered on my forehead, telling me that what happened earlier was no illusion.

‘Uuuuu, uwaah! Uwaahh!”

I fell to the ground and rolled around on the floor in unspeakable embarrassment and unbearability.

Ahh! Come on! A surprise attack is cunning! And why is my heart beating so much? Didn’t his lips just touch my forehead! For the second time in my life, and I am an adult! Just a kiss on the forehead……Why is this? It doesn’t make any sense at all!

“I……I’m tired……I’m going to bed for the day…….”

I managed to regain my composure after making a lot of noise, but even after getting into my bed, I would occasionally remember the kiss on my forehead, and spent the rest of the night writhing in unspeakable embarrassment and ticklishness.

melon: Eep! If you’ve noticed, Percival got promoted to Prince of the Sun and then quickly demoted back to knight. Not sure if that means anything…