The Grand Banquet (5)
My eyes widened the moment I heard the word saintess.
So the Villainess Ring reacted to the word saintess... which means the saintess is the villainess.
Thinking back to the incident with the Northern Staff, Estella.
A saintess is... a woman who really hates it when Valerian falls head over heels for Mirne?
If I could make contact with her side, it might be hugely helpful to me.
The problem was how to make that contact. And even if I did, what could I actually do?
In the case of the Northern Grand Duke, it was domestic, so we could handle it internally. But the Holy Kingdom was completely overseas, so I'd need a solid pretext to intervene.
It would've been better if the one who ruined the banquet was the saint instead.
Pushing aside that regret, I kept focusing on the conversation between Mirne and the saint.
"It's not presumptuous at all. In fact, Mirne, you have more than enough qualifications to become a saintess."
"But... doesn't the Romper Church already have a saintess?"
"The position of saintess is vacant. There are only candidates, and you could become one too, Mirne."
"I'm not even part of the Romper Church."
"Doesn't it just come down to belief? The Romper Church doesn't reject those who choose to believe."
The moment "saintess candidate" came up, I could roughly guess what was going on.
If it's not the saintess but a saintess candidate who's the villainess, then there's a battle raging over the saintess position.
But could an outsider even get involved in a fight over the saintess seat? And the qualification for intervention was just... believing in the Romper Church?
This is pretty intriguing.
From what I knew, the Holy Kingdom claimed Romper as the one true god and worshipped him, but they didn't persecute other gods.
"...I'm not sure if I could bear such heavy duties even if I did ascend to the saintess position."
"It's fine. I'll be by your side... With me there... I'll provide you with so much support."
"Even so, I don't think we can decide something this lightly here. I'll... think about it seriously, as I should."
"Mirne... How can you be so thoughtful? Understood. We'll talk about this again when we're alone later."
"Yes, later."
While various plans were swirling in my head, the conversation between Mirne and Valerian came to an end.
"The conversation is over, but we can keep surveilling them. What are your orders?"
"No, that's enough. No point in tails that could get us caught."
"Understood."
I told the Executioner no more surveillance was needed. I'd already gotten plenty of info, and there was no spare capacity for more anyway.
"By the way, what's your name?"
"Lumnix."
I nodded at the response from the mystery-wielding Executioner, Lumnix.
"I haven't forgotten the oath. But from what I've heard, the oath is in the past... and you can't speak of its details."
"That's correct."
I was working to lower the Empire's doom probability.
I heard I need to find Arbeda's true name.
The Executioners' oath conditions were obviously different for each, and figuring them out seemed key to making progress.
Of course, finding Arbeda's condition right away was still a tall order, but it was better than nothing.
"It's from long ago, so honestly, I don't know the details. I'd love a hint to infer what the condition might be."
So I straight-up asked for a clue about the oath condition.
No need to beat around the bush when the person herself was right in front of me.
These guys raise the doom probability? Then just ask them directly and lower it.
No need to agonize over something this simple alone.
And in reality...
"...A hint, you say?"
"Yeah."
As if reacting to my words, Lumnix slowly turned to me, grabbed the hood she never removed in the North, and said,
"This is the biggest hint I can give."
She slowly pulled it off.
"...!"
What lay beneath Lumnix's hood exceeded my wildest imagination.
Purple blotches covered her entire body—cursed, perhaps—and her frame was withered and twisted from malnutrition. Unknown spots compounded the horror.
A visceral sense of the grotesque spread through me.
"I can't say more."
It was a big hint, sure, but still too vague to pinpoint the oath condition.
So...
"They say you get mad if someone calls you a fairy?"
I really didn't want to, but I had to pull the trigger.
Arbeda's intel on Lumnix's trigger—I pressed it, and instantly...
"That is something I can never forgive, not even from Your Imperial Highness."
Lumnix glared at me murderously, as if she'd been waiting.
I tried probing further about fairies to grasp more of the condition.
"I cannot forgive it!"
Whoosh!
My surroundings suddenly shifted.
Teleportation via mystery—no warning, unlike magic.
Or maybe mystery is still such an alien concept that I can't sense it yet.
I'd probably adapt after a few more times. My strength as Crown Prince had no known limit, even to me.
Anyway.
"You must not call me a fairy when you see me like this."
The moment we arrived somewhere unknown, Lumnix charged at me, ranting.
"It's an insult to fairies and a curse!"
Her eyes burned with the fury of someone hearing the deepest insult, seeing an unforgivable foe. And despite knowing it was rude, she rushed in.
From this, I inferred:
Lumnix was originally a fairy?
Her approximate identity.
Judging by the bodily deformation, she was cursed into becoming something else?
Her condition.
And...
The oath condition is to restore her to her original fairy form.
The oath condition.
As those thoughts raced, Lumnix closed the distance in a flash.
"Forgive me."
Her fist flew, brimming with clear attack intent.
But I got it.
Cursed, drowning in self-loathing—anyone calling her by her old self would piss her off.
Plus, apologizing amid the rage suggested the curse forced her body to react first to "fairy."
Why else swing while saying sorry?
Fairies were mage-like, wielding mystery over mana. Abandoning that for fisticuffs?
She's resisting as much as she can.
So I aimed for maximum safety in subduing her. It wasn't hard.
Just.
Thwack.
I casually swatted the feebly flying fist.
"Lumnix, next time, speak with some breathing room—don't just spew it out."
I tossed out a line, then...
Crack.
Using my palm's ulna edge, I uppercut her jaw.
"Guhk... guhk... kuh... I, I'll remember."
Lumnix shook her rattled brain back to sense and, with a swipe of mystery, sent me back to my chambers.
The moment I returned, what greeted me first was...
Lumnix's oath condition discovered.
Lumnix's oath condition: "Restore her to a fairy."
Remove the curse on her body.
The system message confirming my hunch.
"It really was a curse."
But obviously, not some easily lifted curse.
Only someone like a saintess could probably break it.
Which meant...
I have no choice but to contact the saintess candidate.
Would contacting the saintess candidate actually lower the doom probability? Or would it just end up blocking Mirne without real impact?
I pondered briefly, but it cleared up all those question marks.
And there was something I wanted to test anyway.
Just stopping the Empire from lavishing on Mirne lowered the doom probability.
So what if I disrupted Mirne's actions themselves? How much would it drop?
The doom probability itself raised questions. It was at 80% now.
Considering the lore that Executioners' oaths didn't hasten doom timing, a huge chunk of that percentage must come from elsewhere.
Why didn't it drop sharply when we decided to stop spoiling Maselin Kingdom anymore?
I needed to investigate properly.
But then I realized this didn't need much agonizing either.
The answer key's right nearby.
Maybe move under cover of night.
The story of doesn't feature the Crown Prince much.
He just comes off as a doting older brother indulging his sibling's whims, and his presence fades more as the novel progresses.
It made sense, in a way. He wasn't the male lead or even in the romance running.
No need to spotlight him in the story.
But.
"C-Crown Prince... What brings you here in the dead of night..."
"Can't I summon you?"
"N-No, it's not that. I was just worried about Your Highness's rest."
"Haha, I'm fine. I was more concerned you'd be displeased at being called out at night."
"How could I be displeased? Not at all."
Mirne was thoroughly flustered by the Crown Prince summoning her late at night.
This was absent from the original work. Even after being deemed not a target, the Crown Prince seemed hugely interested in her.
No, he was interested. No interest meant no public engagement proposal, no midnight summons.
Why? What's the reason?
Amid that confusion.
"Mirne, are you aware the former Northern Grand Duke committed treason?"
"...I am."
"I hear you were close to him... What am I to make of that?"
The Crown Prince's quiet question continued.
Deep night. A garden where no one would come.
"There was never anything like what Your Highness imagines. We just... kept in frequent private contact."
Even in this fully exposed space.
"Not involved in treason? Just private matters? Like with the Second Prince?"
"Y-Yes, that's right."
Mirne felt pressure like walls closing in from all sides.
"From the former Northern Grand Duke, to the Second Prince, and even the former Eastern Grand Duke... Mirne, why such interest in all our Empire's men?"
"Th-That's..."
"You kept private contact with them, yet gave no proper reply to my public engagement?"
"This lowly one struggled to grasp Your Highness's noble intent and couldn't reply. I am truly sorry."
Mirne prostrated deeply.
The Crown Prince suspected her.
In such cases, maintain total submission to dispel doubts and assert innocence.
Everyone had always shown her favor.
Now, unfamiliar malice crushed her body and mind.
"Haha, still dodging answers, huh? Well, could be."
The Crown Prince laughed briefly, as if not summoning her to blame.
Then he flipped, pressing harder.
"Private contact, you say—but isn't the timing too coincidental? Did the Northern Grand Duke really only share private tales with you? The Eastern one too? The Second Prince?"
"Y-Yes, truly only private matters. How could I lie to Your Highness?"
"Right... Of course."
Mirne kept prostrating.
Then.
If this keeps up, it's dangerous. Need to win some favor.
Mirne thought this trajectory spelled big trouble for the "Jupiter" storyline ahead.
So she decided to offer some info to curry favor now.
"Your Highness, rather than this, I have a more intriguing topic."
"Oh? What is it?"
"Our kingdom has... legends about dragons. Might that interest you?"
Dragon legends.
The Crown Prince probably knew little about Executioners, but learning later would help immensely.
Of course, slim chance he'd bite now—Northern treason and dragon legends are worlds apart.
Still, better than endless suspicion.
Just keep talking, divert his attention elsewhere.
But.
"Dragon legends... Does Maselin Kingdom have many such tales?"
The Crown Prince showed immediate interest, like he'd been waiting.
So there is a connection.
Crown Prince Bellon thought.
Executioners exist for Maselin Kingdom... some kind of arrangement?
Time to shake Maselin down in reverse.