Volume 01; Act 02 – Part 02

Is this how it feels to be caught red-handed?

Or an evil villainess who relentlessly pushes a weak lady down the stairs? Should I laugh loudly while holding a fan in my hand? Or should I curse her and say 『You don’t know your place! 』.

… Oh my, this isn’t good.

I, of all people, got involved in something that looked like a stage play, and my thoughts went off into the distance. My aunt made me repeatedly read romance novels to her just the other day, and I couldn’t stop myself from overlapping a scene from the novel with reality. Were they actually bad influences?

“Irene… Did Miss Elianna really do this to you?”

“I, I…” Irene, who was shaking pitifully, spoke and a new protagonist appears. No, should I say hero in this case?

“――― What is this fuss?” His Highness Christopher appeared. He seemed unusually irritated, but that didn’t damage his handsomeness at all.

It is concluded that the Heroine would be the one who calls his name.

“Prince Christ…!”

Miss Irene looked joyful as tears ran down her face, and my heart grew cold and sunk.

Even if this is a well-orchestrated farce, is the role that I’ve been given to follow the plot accordingly? Is this also part of the deal that I had made with His Highness?

His Highness calmly grasped the situation and got onto one knee by Miss Irene’s side.

Miss Irene looked like a tragic heroine as she clung to his sleeves with tears running down her face while he was checking to see if she was injured.

He asked her about the situation in a dignified voice. She was frightened, but answered as if she was determined, “I, I… I just told Miss Elianna that the relationship between me and Prince Christ… His Highness is a misunderstanding. B-but, Miss Elianna said that I… that I was in the wrong. Then she suddenly pushed me down the stairs…!”

The way she was covering her face and grieving reflected pitifully in other’s eyes. Prince Christopher comforted Miss Irene gently.

“Irene. Why a misunderstanding? Did Elianna do anything else to you?”

“Y-yes… Prince Christ. I couldn’t say it all before…”

“You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. Will you testify so that all her crimes are clear?”

Miss Irene’s eyes full of tears coincided with Prince Christopher’s.

Even the trails of tears coming down her face looked like a painting.

… I wonder why. I feel like I have chills on my back.

I feel like I have seen this side of His Highness before.

His glistening eyes before he catches his prey, and the smile of the devil that perfectly covered his carnivorous slaughter.

Miss Irene eagerly accused me.

According to her, every day had been tough for her ever since she started learning manners through apprenticeship at the inner palace. She was abused by lower-ranked nobles, treated like a servant, and her meals were skipped. On top of that, she was forced to sleep in the stable and narrowly escaped from being violated by a lower class soldier.

And all of this was instructed by the future Queen of the royal palace, Miss Elianna.

“A-and…”

Her harassment had become even worse after she got acquainted with Sir Glenn, Lord Alexei and Prince Christopher.

“――― The other day, Miss Elianna wanted a rose from the garden, so I went there to pick her one. It was on the day that the pipes were damaged and she laughed at me while I was soaking wet. When I went to the palace archives to borrow a book I’d been asked to borrow, the ladder was tampered with, and Prince Theodore saved me when I almost fell down… The candy I received from Miss Elianna the other day had a… b-bug in it…!”

Dear me! I, 『Princess Bibliophile』, had done a lot of things. The first half aside, the second half sounded kind of familiar.

In front of me who was pondering to myself, His Highness listened to the succession of harassments and stopped her compassionately, “It’s been hard on you, Irene.”

He comforted her while gently suggesting, “So you wanted to talk directly to Elianna about everything?”

“Y-yes, but I can’t believe that she would push me…!”

“Hmm. You’re sure that Elli pushed you down?”

“She did! I’m sure of i…”

Finally, Miss Irene’s eyes moved from His Highness and looked up at me with blame, and she was speechless from the contradiction.

… I am sorry. It seems like I have ruined the grandest stage of your lifetime. I also apologise for not looking like a lady.

To the audience, none of the ladies have this kind of strength.

In my arms are five books with the length and thickness of an adult’s thumb. I held two rolled-up maps on the tips of both my hands as if to stop the books from dropping, and a bundle of paper and documents are perfectly balanced on top of all the books.

Only the top half of my face was peeping through the top because of my petite stature. The arms that I had trained from sorting the archives didn’t shake one bit. However, I couldn’t push someone down without the books falling everywhere.

… Unfortunately, I don’t remember even apprenticing for acrobats.

His Highness Christopher let out a small and practised sigh.

I was a bit surprised. It was the same lamented sigh that my aunt and family members do. It meant『Please don’t show your strength that clashes with your appearance』.

However, I don’t need weak arms for books. Because sometimes, book lovers needed to face the threat of climbing ladders while carrying books in their hands.

His Highness stood up and didn’t even look back at Miss Irene as she clung onto him, “Hmm? Erm, Prince Christ…” as he walked away from her. He climbed up the stairs while silently being pressured by those around us and took the two rolled-up maps and half the books from my hands.

I had no time to refuse. “Isn’t carrying books under one’s arms uniquely apply to men?” He muttered and complained for some reason.

“Alex, that guy… Jeez. I always tell him that’s enough.”

“Prince Chris…! Please believe me. Miss Elianna really pushed me down. And she also harassed me a lot up until now…! Please make a fair and just judgement, Your Highness!” Miss Irene was intoxicated with playing the role of the Heroine. However, she seemed to have noticed the clear mood around her and appealed while crying.

His Highness quietly listened to her appeal, “I see. Then first, did anyone actually witness the scene?”

“Alan did…!”

Miss Irene looked at the honey-coloured hair young man for a chance of recovery, and he smiled innocently, “Yes. I saw Miss Irene Parcas tumble down the stairs.”

“Did Miss Elianna push her down?”

“Hmmm… Well, no one could have seen it. She’s carrying so many books. Even I don’t have the acrobatic skills to push someone while playing a musical instrument.”

Miss Irene turned red, and she glared at him. “Alan, you…!”

The young man, on the other hand, smiled gently, “It would be obvious even if you had my testimony. And if you add in the Royal Maestro’s ears, then I heard you scream before you came tumbling down… It would have been fine if you were screaming as you fell down, but it was as if you knew that you would be attacked beforehand.”

Miss Irene’s face quickly paled.

The young man, Alan, looked a little dissatisfied with her reaction. It was as if he was saying, you’re done?

He lightly shrugged and drew the attention of the curious onlookers behind him, “You were pretty lousy at the end, Irene. You probably thought you were smart, but you were in the palm of His Highness’s hand. Especially today, both you and your father decided to make your decisive moves, and were marching towards ruin.”

A short and plump middle-aged man stood where the curious onlookers were divided. He looked petrified despite dressing like a noble. Was it because the soldiers were about to restrain him?

Miss Irene shouted in surprise, “Father…?!”

From next to me, His Highness smiled, but his cold voice resounded, “――― Shall we move on to the real act?” He addressed everyone and for the first time, I saw His Highness’s sharp gaze point down.