Chapter 131
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Crown Prince Selection Tournament (2)
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"Young Master. We've safely returned the First and Second Imperial Princesses to the imperial palace now that their interrogations are over."
"Damage to the Belverk household is minimal. Aside from a few new maids who sustained minor injuries from the knights' blades."
"By the way, since the Second Imperial Princess's clothes were completely soaked, we gave her one of Lady Lilien's dresses."
Several days had passed since the all-out confrontation with the First and Second Imperial Princesses had ended in such an anticlimactic fashion.
"……."
Having been forced to take over Mother's office in her stead, I stared at the acting head maids—my big sisters—who were giving me their earnest report, my eyes half-lidded. They looked at me with puzzled expressions and asked questions.
"Young Master?"
"Why are you looking at us like that?"
"D-Did we do something wrong…?!"
Of course, they had done an excellent job—there was nothing they had messed up.
But there was one problem: if the big sister maids stayed in the family head's office like this, I wouldn't be able to properly take advantage of this golden opportunity with Mother away.
'If I could just get my hands on that diary again, it would help tremendously…!'
Of course, Mother might have hidden it somewhere else, but unless she was carrying it on her person at all times, the highest likelihood was that she'd stashed it somewhere in the family head's office.
Mother didn't even have a separate bedroom and spent almost all her time in the office anyway.
"The big sisters scare me…."
"……!"
"So Kairen wants to be alone for a while."
With that, I took a deep breath and forced myself to say some harsh words to the big sister maids.
"Young Master, wait a moment…!"
"Ah, aaah…!"
"We're actually weak…!"
As expected, the big sister maids immediately turned tearful and protested in unison, but with my eyes dyed red, I pushed their backs, sending them helplessly out of the room.
"Ahem…."
Feeling a slight pang of conscience after removing the interlopers(?), I sat back down at the family head's desk and began to grin slyly.
'Alright, time to start the search….'
But just as I reached out toward the desk drawers with that thought—
- Rustle….
"……Eek!?"
Startled by the sudden sound from right in front of me, I yanked my hand back and looked up.
"Uh, um…. What brings you here?"
What came into my view was none other than the family head's personal guard maids.
"……."
"……."
"……."
Beings who were rarely seen around the estate had gathered in the office, so naturally, I was taken aback.
'Did Mother order them to keep an eye on me?'
They'd appeared the moment I reached for the drawers, so searching the office seemed like a lost cause….
'Wait a second.'
That was disappointing, but on second thought, as the family head's personal guard, they might know something about the incident from ten years ago.
'Maybe I should use this chance to get friendly with the personal guard big sisters?'
Until now, they were shrouded in such mystery, and unlike the other big sister maids who looked human, their eerie forms wrapped in black smoke had kept me from trying to get close.
But looking at them again, they kind of resembled a secret bodyguard unit from some fictional story—actually pretty cool…?
And seeing as they could speak and reason like humans, as the protagonist of a romance fantasy parenting story, I could probably win them over?
"H-Hi there…?"
"……."
"Th-The weather's nice, huh. Haha…."
With those thoughts, I tried speaking to the personal guard maids, but they remained utterly silent.
"W-Wanna shake hands?"
Growing a bit awkward, I scratched my head, then gathered my courage, approached them with an innocent smile, and extended my hand.
"Private conversations with the clan are forbidden."
"Private contact is also forbidden."
"Understood."
What came back were curt, icy responses that sounded like they had static interference.
"…Kairen wants to get close to the big sisters."
After some inner turmoil, I finally unleashed what was essentially the ultimate weapon of a romance fantasy parenting protagonist: my childish lisp.
"What should I do?"
"…We don't know."
"If we don't know, we follow protocol."
They glanced at each other, then gave another emotionless reply. As expected, the personal guard maids weren't easy to deal with.
'They say even the Belverk servants try to avoid the personal guard maids as much as possible….'
In the past two years, I'd absorbed most of the Belverk secrets and information, but I still knew next to nothing about the personal guard maids' true nature or abilities.
There were only rumors that they were something other than human, demon, or beast; eyewitness accounts of them serving family heads for generations; and hypotheses that they were one of Belverk's hidden asymmetric forces.
"Um…."
Even so, they might know the truth about ten years ago, so it wasn't time to give up on getting close.
"What do the big sisters look like?"
I openly made a childish face and sneaked a sidelong glance as I asked.
"…Showing our true forms to others is also forbidden."
"Kairen Nox Belverk. Do not speak further."
"If you become a nuisance, we will report to the family head."
The personal guard maids, staring down at me silently, offered more static-laced advice.
"My mother is on my side!"
"Haa…."
Of course, their advice was sound, leaving me speechless, so I tried whining anyway.
"Do you not know how many of the clan we have eliminated with our own hands?"
"We have no obligation to follow orders from anyone but the family head."
"Provoke us further, and we will use physical force."
At that moment, an eerie aura began emanating from the personal guard maids.
"…Sniff."
I stood there dazed for a moment, my eyes welling up with tears, causing the maids—who had been radiating killing intent—to tilt their heads.
"Crying is unbecoming of a Belverk."
"The current youngest is unusual."
"It feels just like the previous youngest…."
And finally, I caught the clue in their words.
"…The previous youngest?"
I immediately stopped my fake crying, my lips curling up as I stared up at one of the personal guard maids who had hastily cut herself off, persistently pressing her.
"Who was the previous youngest?"
"…Response denied."
"If you tell me about that person, I won't bother you anymore!"
Judging by how the black smoke around her body was noticeably disturbed, even these machine-like beings could get flustered.
"You made the slip-up, so you handle it."
"We will observe."
"Kuh…."
As I thought that, they whispered something low to their blundering comrade, then all stepped back in unison.
"…Fine."
The one now left alone with me sort of sighed in resignation and opened her mouth.
"Shall I show you?"
"Huh?"
Wait, what did she just say?
"My true form."
"…Huh?"
This was taking a weird turn….
"N-No, no…!"
"Look properly."
"Eeeek!"
One personal guard maid grabbed the black smoke-like aura around her body with her hands, her face filled with shame, and slowly lifted it upward.
"I was wrong!!!"
Misinterpreting her action, Kairen frantically dashed to the family head's desk, diving behind it to hide.
"…Somewhat cute."
"However, that's all."
"As expected, that time was just coincidence."
The watching personal guard maids began whispering among themselves in lowered voices.
"No, don't, please don't!"
At that moment, Kairen—this time with genuine tears in his eyes—raised his voice in a desperate shout.
- Crackle….
Right after, crimson vines erupted from the floor, ensnaring all the personal guard maids gathered in the office at once.
"This is…."
"…Impressive."
"It seems no coincidence after all."
The personal guard maids' eyes widened momentarily, but soon they gazed at Kairen hiding under the desk with noticeably changed looks.
"Eek?"
They then swarmed toward the desk, peering down silently at Kairen below.
"Then it's been several hundred years…."
"We may need to confirm directly."
"Agreed."
As the personal guard maids' momentum grew ominous, Kairen's huddled body began to tremble more and more.
"B-Big sisters?"
"……."
"Wh-Why are you suddenly acting so scary…."
Yet they continued staring silently at Kairen before slowly lowering their postures.
"H-Hiiiik…!?"
Realizing the situation was going south once more, Kairen let out a pitiful scream—right then.
"That's far enough."
Fortunately for Kairen, the office door opened, and a welcome voice echoed through the room.
"Personal guard, return to your duties."
At Schwarz's chilling voice as she entered the office, the personal guard maids glanced back briefly before melting into the shadows and vanishing all at once.
"……."
A brief silence followed.
"A new intruder has been detected, Young Master."
Schwarz's report broke the silence, prompting Kairen to poke his head out, his face blank.
"…Again?"
"Why are intruders suddenly pouring in all at once…."
Rescued by Schwarz in a manner of speaking, I returned to work with a sullen expression, muttering as I surveyed the retainers and servants arriving one after another in the office.
"That's because everyone except you was away, Young Master."
"Ah."
"To the imperial family, who have been closely watching Belverk's situation, it must have felt like the perfect opportunity."
True enough—even I saw the current Belverk estate as practically empty, ripe for the picking.
"So, who is this intruder!"
But now I was a full-fledged Belverk clansman, so it was time to show them what for!
"Ah…. Well."
Asking Schwarz seriously about the intruder's identity—
"This intruder is rather unexpected."
"……Huh?"
"I didn't think they'd come at a time like this."
I took the photo from the intelligence agent that Schwarz handed me and froze solid.
"Around 7 a.m. this morning. Leading a force presumed to be her retainers, the intruder is…."
Of course, mixing personal feelings into such a situation was taboo, but I couldn't help it.
"The Third Imperial Princess, Princess Lia."
I never imagined Princess Lia would come to compete in the Crown Prince Selection Tournament so soon—it was beyond even my wildest thoughts.