Chapter Nine

I scrutinized Aster, who seemed a bit more sluggish than when we arrived at the banquet. I swiftly stood up and headed to the inner hall. She didn’t even ask me where I was going and just followed me. Let’s see… the Crown Prince said he was tired and was cooped up in the lounge area, so he should be somewhere around here.

I stopped a maidservant passing by and asked her where the Crown Prince was. She readily guided me to his whereabouts and announced that Lady Rosalite of the House of Roxburg would like an audience. I barged in without reserve and bowed to the Crown Prince, who had a wet cloth over his eyes. He must be really tired.

“That bow isn’t well-mannered enough to indicate your presence to inform me you’re leaving. What, you have some leftover scolding to dish out?”

I did have some more nagging to do, but his tone was way too sassy. I shelved my plan to get to the point quickly and straightened up, elegantly spreading my fan open.

“I do not wish to go home tonight, Your Majesty.”

Will he be shaken up? I would give him some credit as a slightly cute being if he were, but he retorted as though my words were unworthy of any thought.

“Do you and your father see the royal palace as free room and board?”

Such an unlovable child. But hold up—the duke has been using this place as a hotel since before this period? I thought he only did that when I was pretending to be a burrito bagworm, but I guess it’d been an ongoing thing. Understandable. I didn’t want to go home when I was out, either… It was like reality hit you in the face when you reached home.

“I’ll pay for the accommodation if you are having financial troubles. I do not wish to go home tonight, Your Royal Highness.”

“Fine. Stop being coquettish. It’s repulsive.”

Hey. You. Son of a— What do you mean “repulsive”? How could you call a pure, beautiful, sweet sixteen-year-old repulsive?

“I’m guessing you’ve never had anything really repulsive happen to you, Your Majesty.”

“Can you just nag instead? That would be so much better.”

Fine then, I’ll nag. I’ll nag your ears off. I told the maidservant to tell our horseman and servant that we would stay for the night, and I got right to nagging the Crown Prince. I followed him all the way to the Crown Prince’s palace, climbing into his carriage with him, and badgered him endlessly about road construction fees and choosing a wife. The Crown Prince covered his ears for some time.

“How long are you going to follow me? Surely you don’t want to spend the night in my bed.”

“That’s fine. I’ll sing you a lullaby.”

“You there! Kindly show this woman the guest room.”

Hey! I’m not done talking! Are you going to take care of the road construction fees or not? I was about to say those words—respectfully, of course—but the Crown Prince slammed the door in my face as though he couldn’t stand the sight of me any longer. Oh, I’ll see you later. I’ll be back.

“This way, please, esteemed daughter of the duke.”

“Little Miss, let’s go now. He wasn’t even listening.”

I flipped off the door the Crown Prince disappeared behind and followed the maidservant, who showed us to our room. The maidservant guided us to a room on a different floor, far from the Crown Prince’s chambers, as though she had orders in advance.

Aster suddenly stopped. She frowned and looked back as if she sensed something strange. Soon after, she put her hand on her sword hilt, so I also turned and looked around.

“What is it?”

“Something’s here, Little Miss.”

Really? I didn’t notice. I checked if anything was visible and then focused my mind on perceiving the mana around us, just in case. Oh. I sense it.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, Little Miss.”

This was similar to what I’d sensed before. Dark magic? Mentalist magic? Anyway, it was some creepy magic like that. It must’ve been insignificant compared to the last time I felt this type of magic because I would lose track of where it emanated from if I lost even a little concentration.

Hold on a sec. Did Aster just figure this out with a “feeling”? What is she, a genius?

“I think it’s this way.”

I’d heard that expert swordsmen who could radiate lethal sword energy were sensitive to these types of ambiances… But is Aster on that level? Is she really a genius? A bundle of talent? Should I get her a legit trainer?

Aster said she thought it came from the other side of a door, and she went to turn the knob.

“Wait,” I said. I had a bad feeling. Dark magic was usually associated with curses. And this room, location-wise, seemed to be right under the Crown Prince’s chambers.

“Bring the court mage,” I ordered the maidservant, who had been respectfully following us.

She saw how serious we were and went running, saying she would hastily summon the mage. I put my hand close to the doorknob and produced an electromagnetic force.

“What are you doing, Little Miss?”

“Don’t talk to me. You’re distracting me.”

Drawing in mana from around me was hard. I was a magic noob. A noob with zero mana circles. After taking the time to turn the doorknob with magnetism, I opened the door wide and walked inside. I made a small lightbulb on the tip of my finger and lit the room around us.

“What did you just do, Little Miss?” Aster looked at my finger, bewildered.

“Go look for the thing.”

“That’s irrelevant right now. When did you learn magic? Does the duke know?”

“Shut up and find it!”

I stomped heavily on Aster’s foot, and she grabbed it with a yowl. I’ve got a lot on my mind. Stop talking to me and do your job.

“Oww… I think it’s here.”

A vase? As I looked into the enormous vase, I saw a totem inside. What in the actual heck is that? A cursed voodoo doll? Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be that effective, considering it radiated an insignificant amount of energy. It caused stiffness in the shoulders or tiredness in the eyes at best.

“Ah.”

I looked over at where the Crown Prince’s chambers were. So this was why he cried about how tired he was after dancing a few times.

“It’s a cute prank now, but…”

The fact that such a ghastly item could make its way into the Crown Prince’s palace was a big problem. He could have died if someone with true malice had set this up. On second thought, perhaps this item went unnoticed because it was so insignificant.

“Did you summon me, Lady of the duchy?”

As I stood there deep in thought, a young mage came running up with the maidservant. He was shocked by the lightbulb on my finger, and paled in fear when he looked inside the vase.

“My lady, I—”

He would be punished by death whichever way the dice rolled, even more so as a mage assigned to protect the Crown Prince while residing in the palace. Fortunately for him, Aster and I didn’t let anything slip to the maidservant.

“Find the source. Report only to me, and I shall take responsibility and overlook this blunder.”

“Thank you! I look forward to your kind assistance, my lady!”

“I trust that you’ll take care of reinforcing security.”

I left the rest to the mage, then gave the maidservant a small bribe to forget what she saw. She refused profusely at first, but then I topped a few more gold coins into her palm, and she bowed and showed us to our rooms. There was rarely anything money couldn’t fix in the world.

My mood was restored when I reached our room, ate a late-night snack with Aster, washed up, put on a nightgown, and went to bed. I slept like a log. The next morning, a maidservant screamed at seeing Aster cuddling up and sleeping next to me, but I threw her some shiny gold coins, and she shut right up. Don’t wake her up. She’s sleeping soundly.

I made preparations to leave until Aster woke up, and we called for the carriage. It was time to go and face reality.

***

It really didn’t take long to return home from the palace. Maybe that was why I didn’t want to leave. As the gates opened and the carriage drove into the garden, I lamented that I probably wouldn’t have any vacation days for a while.

A familiar figure came into sight far away. The figure pacing back and forth at the front doors, buffeted by the cold wind, was none other than Rion. Once Rion saw the carriage approaching, his face brightened.

“Welcome back, my sister!” he shouted, dashing over.

I opened the carriage doors and grasped his outstretched hand. It felt as cold as ice. He also had bags under his eyes. Did the kid not sleep?

“What are you doing out here? It’s still cold.”

I held both his hands and breathed on them. As they began to warm up, Rion giggled innocently.

“I was out here last night, and the duke told me you’d probably come home in the morning.”

The duke knew me too well. Wait, you were out here last night?

“Why do you look so exhausted?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing.”

Lies. I moved my hands to his ice cold ears and rubbed—perhaps a bit rough, as he scrunched his eyes closed and quietly whimpered as though holding back pain. Is he doing this on purpose? Does he do research every day on how to be more adorable? In any case, I should get him back to his room quickly. We shouldn’t stay outside longer than necessary.

“Let’s go to the annex. You should get some sleep. You still have classes today.”

“Okay...”

No use looking like a sad little foal. You must study hard and become strong enough to protect yourself so you can be a magnificent laborer for this House. I clasped Rion’s hand, and we headed toward the annex, swinging our arms enthusiastically. I asked Rion what he had learned so far. Seeing how he answered readily, I could tell he was studying earnestly.

Considering the duke’s personality, I’m sure he would’ve put Rion on the family register and used him for the House regardless of him being a bastard. Still, I wonder why he kept Rion on as a servant? It would’ve been apparent that he was a bright kid since he always progressed with his education. Or he could have adopted Rion out to a different family to reconcile with mother if he was desperate enough to write apology letters to her constantly. Is Rion insurance? Or a strategy to kill two birds with one stone?

“Hm?”

My steps faltered at the annex entrance, and I felt a strange sense of dissonance. Something was off. I felt like I was forgetting something important…

“What’s wrong, sister?”

It had something to do with Rion. What was it again? Seriously... what was it?