CH 261

Conspiracy [Part 2]

“Joanna-sama, let me guide you to your next class.”

Joanna was in the middle of recalling her meeting with the chief delegate when somebody struck up a conversation with her and took her back to the present.

Ah, right.

I’m taking classes at the academy now.

Although the class was over without me realizing it.

“Joanna-sama?”

Upon hearing no response from Joanna, the noble male student who spoke to her peered at her face worriedly.

“…It was nothing. Please lead the way.”

“Please leave it to me!”

The male student took Joanna’s bag naturally, and led her to the next class with an intoxicated look that almost made it seem he had lost his sanity.

“Joanna-sama, how do you do?”

“Joanna-sama, please attend our house’s tea party next time.”

“Joanna-sama.”

“Joanna-sama.”

While she was moving between classrooms, she was greeted by the students everywhere.

The people who greeted her all had the same intoxicated look as the male student earlier. Those who didn’t appear entranced were looking at that scene with wonder.

Joanna’s POV

Originally, now should have been a suitable time for me to make everyone in the academy subservient to me.

No, several months have already passed since ‘Joanna’ came to the Royal Capital, so it wouldn’t be strange if the entire Royal Capital was now under my control.

That student there, and that student too. I recognize them. I remember trying to manipulate them once, but it didn’t work on them at all…

Does it mean that I still haven’t returned to my normal condition?

This is the first time I’ve met this situation, and it irks me. I’m growing a little impatient now.

“Joanna-sama, have you heard? House Stuart’s Emma-sama has returned today. My friend said that she saw her in her previous class.”

When I arrived at my seat in my next class, a young lady with an intoxicated expression told me about that news.

“House Stuart…? Emma-sama?”

It seems like I’ve heard of that name somewhere before, but I can’t recall it off the top of my head.

“It was the young lady that was rumored to be the Holy Maiden before Joanna-sama came. I heard that her entire family went abroad during the important social season.”

“Oh, I’ve somehow heard of that rumor.”

I remember that when I parted with the chief delegate, he said he would look for that young lady instead to present her as the Holy Maiden to His Imperial Majesty. He couldn’t have taken her back to the Empire when she hadn’t even been in the Kingdom.

Unlike “Joanna”, who appeared lovable because I manipulated the minds of the Church’s priests, this girl with genuine beauty ended up saved by her remarkable stroke of luck.

Ah, never mind. It’s the opposite.

I suddenly thought up of something.

Sorry for that girl, but I will be using her as my scapegoat.

People become easier to control if we have a common enemy to attack.

“Even so, that young lady… How thoughtless of her to travel during the most-important social season…”

After hearing what I said, these students started to look disgruntled as waves after waves of harsher, reproachful words surged in their minds.

As a dizzying shock came crashing on their heads, their consciences turned empty, and a vague sense of indignance from an unknown origin slowly boiled inside them.

—Unbelievable. Is she still an aristocrat despite that?

—Is she aware that she is a Kingdom citizen?

—Isn’t she being too selfish?

“Joanna-sama, you think so too?”

“Truthfully, I’ve also thought of this as strange.”

“Isn’t she getting too arrogant just because many lionized her as the Holy Maiden a while back?”

“Joanna-sama is the Holy Maiden. How presumptuous!”

The feeling of malice infected everyone like ripples spreading out on the water’s surface.

These trifling words will soon turn into a blade to attack that girl.

How much people denigrate that girl, while I, as “Joanna,” will then ascend to a higher position.

This magic is more effective when fueled by malice.

As my influence on the people around me grows, my power should also return to its original state, like in my normal condition.

Sorry not sorry, I shall make the most out of that girl.

♠♠♠

~Robert in a different place; on the same day~

“Ooooiii! Hey, all of you, use your head a little! I’ve been watching for a while, but what are you doing sowing that many seeds in one spot?! They will fight for nutrients and grow badly, won’t they?!”

After watching the villagers work in the fields for some while, Robert finally couldn’t stand their clumsiness and shouted without thinking.

Since agriculture was also a flourishing industry in the Lance Duchy, Robert, as the next lord, also took botany classes in the academy. It was just that his knowledge of growing crops had been useless to him up until now.

“OI, OI, OI, OI, OI, OIII!! What are you doing splashing such precious water everywhere?! The seeds will flow out!”

“Darius… if you’re going to say that much, just do it yourself and show us how it’s done. …Ugh, my back hurts.” The old woman, who took Robert in when he was first dropped at the village, groaned while straightening her bent waist.

“Yeah, yeah.” After hearing what the old woman said, other villagers nodded along.

It had been several months since Robert came to this village. And surprisingly, the villagers had totally accepted him as one of them.

Young men were taken to the army, and young girls went to find work at the Royal Capital.

All who had the physical strength to escape Lance Duchy left the village, and only the elderly were left.

“Barren land with unproductive elderly” was the fitting description for this place.

When the youthful Robert appeared in such a bleak farming village, he immediately became the “adopted” grandson of all the villagers, and was now called Darius.

“…As I said, sow the seeds with even spaces between each other, and water them little by little,  gently to let the water soak throughout the soil…”

“Yes, yes.”

“I see…”

“Rather than watching me so leisurely, you guys should work too!”

“Hohoo.”

“Young people sure are energetic.”

The heavy taxes were suddenly reduced because the Lord of Lance seemed to have been replaced, but no one knew of any details beyond that.

And in this village, which now had a lighter burden, the lively shout of one vigorous young man echoed throughout the whole place today too.

♠♠♠

Author’s words: I couldn’t stand the restless, disturbing atmosphere in this chapter, so I added Robert…