Chapter 88
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Suspicion in the Entourage
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In the original story, Aiden meets his end at the hands of a great demon in the Pisvolt family’s main estate.
It was puzzling why Aiden, who was bored with everything and lacked any drive to take initiative, had gone all the way to the Pisvolt Grand Duchy. But one thing was certain: he perished after a fierce battle.
My fingers tapped repeatedly on the table.
The sound ticked like a metronome, tuning out the surrounding noise.
‘There are two great demons left now.’
Five great demons were born from the Great Fall.
Two met their ends during the Great War, and one died from infighting among their own kind.
That left just two.
The surviving ones were either the strongest, who orchestrated the Fall, or a demon marginalized from the start, uninterested in such matters.
‘The latter feels off somehow.’
Conversely, the one who led the Fall lay dormant in the capital, sealed by Elise.
I couldn’t be sure which of the two the Dream Demon Lord referred to, which made the great demons’ existence a direct threat to my survival.
‘Demons don’t adhere to fixed forms anyway.’
That was the lore.
The lore.
That’s why the boss kept reappearing with a new look every time it was recycled.
Even without that, the capital’s great demon breaking free was akin to the burrow incident.
If left alone, the protagonist would handle it—but no, the enemies would grow stronger by the day until the carefully built tower crumbled.
If I was going to leave it be, I should never have touched anything from the start.
I’d stepped in to save Isel, and that had warped the original story in various places...
“I’ll have to do it myself.”
In the end, just as I’d thought at the start of the semester, I had to take responsibility and outperform the original.
Continuing as a temporary professor and preparing for any potential great demon threat— all reasons why I, Dona Farr from the countryside, had to step up.
“The problem is Seohun.”
With the capital’s public opinion boiling over, Seohun couldn’t avoid it. But accepting Seohun meant I’d have to resign as academy temporary professor.
Accepting Seohun meant being appointed to a high knightly office.
I couldn’t hold both positions.
“That won’t do.”
I still needed to pave the way for the protagonists.
If Charlotte stepped forward and the princess added her influence, Seohun could be delayed a bit longer.
For that, I needed the princess.
My gaze met hers as the meeting ended, and Princess Lirian flashed a bright smile.
“I accept your offer, Professor. Looking forward to working with you.”
I shot her a knowing glance and nodded.
“Good. Likewise.”
“Then shall we call it a day? I can escort you out?”
“As if.”
After the greeting, I turned to Princess Lirian, who looked unusually flustered.
It was an odd mix of embarrassment and something not entirely unpleasant.
A look that said she didn’t like it but didn’t hate it either. I watched her with half-lidded eyes.
“Um... does that mean you’ll stay by my side from now on?”
“I’ll guard your side until this is over, no matter what. Escort me when you feel safe.”
“Uh...”
“Of course, even if you find me annoying, I’ll stay by your side.”
I’d only said we needed close protection since devil worshippers could strike anytime, anywhere. Yet Princess Lirian flushed bright red, unbefittingly so.
“Ahem, ahem. I see.”
With the weird tension cleared, I got her official schedule from Princess Lirian.
Then I sat back in the chair and closed my eyes.
The assassination attempts on the princess were top secret, so her enrollment at Ri Sete Academy signaled that the imperial family hadn’t abandoned it yet.
As such, she had to promote the academy’s partial reconstruction, the knight order’s stationing, and increased security personnel.
‘Silbeia will handle all that, though.’
Silbeia and her aide had left for the official schedule, leaving the mansion with just the maids, knights, me, and the princess.
‘The maids and knights were all thoroughly vetted once already.’
An awkward number.
Not too many, but not too few.
Likely the minimum needed to subdue suspects once identified.
But for me, I needed to narrow it down further.
With me here, numbers games were pointless anyway.
Better to draw them out.
Princess Lirian glanced at me uncertainly.
“Um... do you really need to stay like that?”
“Stay like what? What are you referring to?”
“No, I mean... that...”
She stammered before mustering courage.
“Professor, um. Do you really need to stare at me like that?”
“...I have something to say about the stationed knights.”
I’d thought she was hesitating over something important, but it was nonsense, so I brushed it off.
“Ah... yes. What about the knights?”
She looked annoyed at being ignored but I disregarded it cleanly.
“There are too many. Cut them to the minimum. I alone am enough to protect you.”
“That might be an issue. Please reconsider, Your Highness.”
I whipped around at the voice from behind.
A figure with chitin-like armor in a deep rust-red hue...
‘Who’s that?’
Unable to place her, I kept silent until the princess introduced her.
“Philia!”
I watched quietly as the princess lit up and approached, mulling over the name Philia.
‘The knight she mentioned.’
Not in the setting documents, so probably not a key figure.
If she were among the empire’s elite, she’d have appeared in the original somehow. No memory meant no spotlight.
“Princess Lirian.”
Philia swept the beaming princess into a hug.
What could pass for a warm scene, I observed with hooded eyes.
Princess Lirian noticed my gaze, pulled away from the embrace, and cleared her throat repeatedly.
“Ah, ahem. Um, Professor Aiden, this is Knight Philia, formerly of the Imperial Guard. Sorry for the embarrassing display.”
“I am Philia Rogeret of the Count Rogeret family. I pay my respects to Aiden, one of the empire’s Three Swords and a master.”
She knelt and bowed formally, but the aura cloaking her felt like an indirect warning to stay out.
Confirming the friction I’d overheard earlier wasn’t a mistake, I spoke slowly.
‘Given the princess’s reaction, she’s one of her inner circle.’
I crossed my legs—not rushed, not leisurely.
Matching it, I interlaced my fingers and lifted my chin, projecting dominance.
As an ex-Imperial Guard, she was likely the superior of the knights scattered everywhere.
Time to make the hierarchy clear and seize command.
“Rude.”
The princess alternated glances between Philia and me, surprised by my response.
Philia, however, replied as if she’d anticipated it.
“Might I know in what way I was rude?”
This was the expected opening—for both her and me.
“Didn’t you contradict me? That’s rude enough.”
I raised my head, as if spitting out words she was forcing from her.
The act wasn’t for me, but for Princess Lirian watching.
“Reducing the knights’ numbers will create vulnerabilities in the mansion’s security. Even now, the count is barely enough to keep constant vigil...”
“I never told you to raise your head. Are you mocking me?”
The room chilled instantly.
As the temperature dropped perceptibly, I broke the ice in Philia’s silence.
“With me here, standard security is unnecessary. We’re not defending against outsiders—we need to watch the inside. More numbers mean more suspects to sift through.”
“But that’s my authority.”
Authority, authority.
A smug smile flickered across her composed face.
‘Was this what she wanted from the start?’
Master or not, Philia had been the princess’s guard all this time.
Territoriality, plain and simple. A battle of wills.
“I never permitted you to speak, yet you do. You really are mocking me.”
Otherwise, she wouldn’t dare counter so sharply.
I tensed my muscles deliberately, knuckles cracking audibly.
Two heads always tangle what shouldn’t.
“She’ll do as a warning.”
As I rose, sensing trouble, the princess blocked my path.
“Please don’t.”
I halted, fixing her with cold eyes.
“Please. I beg you. Philia is trustworthy.”
Silence hung briefly before I sighed and continued.
“...Do you grasp the implications of what you just did?”
She bit her lip, eyes darting lostly.
A sharp-minded girl— she knew best how this looked to others.
‘But knowing and hearing it stated are different.’
“You just sided with this knight Philia right in front of me.”
“...That’s...”
“To me, it looks like you trust her more than me.”
“......”
“The other knights will see it the same way.”
Princess Lirian stammered fragmented words through gritted teeth.
“But... nothing’s proven yet.”
That action alone settled who held the upper hand.
Her guard knights were already under this knight’s thumb, and this scene would spread through the watching knights’ whispers.
Sigh...
Already tricky from the outset.
She’d called me for a purge yet clung to lingering affection.
Evidence would make her discard them, but without cause, she wanted to keep them.
“You’re in charge, so if that’s your will, I won’t argue. However...”
Philia smirked triumphantly on her knees, the head maid stone-faced behind her.
The absent Silbeia as stand-in, and the inscrutable aide last.
They flashed through my mind, and I sighed softly as I leaned back into the chair.
“You’ll bear the consequences too.”
The clash of wills decided, there was no point exerting more.
“Handle it yourself, Knight Philia.”
I ignored whatever the princess said next.
But one of Princess Lirian’s inner circle was a devil worshipper willing to feed her to a great demon—something even my director knowledge couldn’t pinpoint.
And they all eyed me warily, as I could sever their necks.
‘Her impulsive support amid all that.’
A mafia game starting in adversity.
Could be a mafia pretending to be ally, a neutral townsfolk, or a agitator framing others.
One certainty: I had to protect the princess in this isolated stronghold.
I sat, slowly interlacing my fingers.
In this mafia game, I was the joker cop whose role had leaked.
‘Things are getting interesting.’