The Truth Unveiled (6)
"What? Kaya?"
The Crown Prince tilted his head.
"Ah, you mean Lady Kaya Eshua? Why would you be looking for her here?"
"Why else? I heard she'd been coming to the Crown Prince's Palace, so here I am."
"She's never been here."
Isaac had come to the Crown Prince's Palace. And at his question about Kaya, Chablis tilted his head with his trademark blank expression.
"More importantly, why the Crown Prince's Palace?"
"Why do you think? I heard she visits here fairly often?"
"Well, yes, she does come. Lady Kaya is a Crown Princess candidate, after all."
The words had barely left his mouth before Isaac spat out the tea he'd been sipping.
"Hk—! Wait, THAT'S what this is about?!"
Leah patted Isaac's back as he choked.
Isaac wiped his mouth, thoroughly blindsided by the revelation. He'd already been plenty shaken by talk of an "Awakened God of Darkness," and he'd come here on the word that Kaya would know more about that Awakened God—and now this?
'And here I was thinking she just came and went from the Crown Prince's Palace because she was his companion-in-training.'
Noble children were attached to the Crown Prince and Imperial Princess as companions-in-training, a way of providing peers for the royals. Typically, boys were offered up by noble houses for future political power, and girls for a place at the prince's side as his consort.
Families that succeeded in sending a companion considered it an honor on the level of placing first in the imperial examinations.
At Isaac's reaction, the Crown Prince gave a light laugh.
"Companions usually serve until around fourteen, so she's past the age now. After that, they become retainers or consort candidates. I never had companions to begin with."
Isaac nodded as if that made perfect sense.
Well… figures.
"With a hobby like yours, no wonder you couldn't make friends…"
"Your inner thoughts are leaking out right now."
"Ahem…! No, they are NOT!!!"
Isaac coughed violently and shot him a sidelong glare.
'Ugh, this otaku. Having friends at all would be a miracle…'
"You were thinking that having friends at all would be a miracle, weren't you?"
"?!"
Isaac flinched and whipped his head toward the Crown Prince. Chablis clicked his tongue in something like disappointment.
"Young Lord. I forgot to mention, but I can hear a person's inner thoughts to some degree."
Excuse me, what?
"Did I not say I can understand any language? The hearts of men are no exception."
Son of a— WHAT did you just say??!
"That was a joke. I can't hear anything born of genuine malice. Your eyes were saying it just now."
You jerk, scaring me like that!
Isaac breathed a sigh of relief—but at the same time, his eyes darted around shrewdly.
'Still, being able to read malicious inner thoughts? That would be extremely useful.'
"So it's true, then. Kaya has been coming and going from the Crown Prince's Palace."
"Yes. She's been made to attend formal tea times. Though Lady Leah refused."
At that, Leah beamed.
"I like the Skeleton Demon King better."
The Crown Prince nodded as if he understood completely.
"That's why I found it so odd that a Saintess candidate would enter the palace as a Crown Princess candidate… but hearing that Lady Kaya is your kin, it makes sense now."
"Huh?"
Being royalty, he grasped Noel's political aim at once.
"Lady Kaya was not raised for the holy mission of subjugating the Skeleton Demon King. She was raised as a pure assassination tool. The eldest child of House Eshua—kill Isaac, then be made Empress and seize power. That was the plan."
Isaac immediately agreed.
'If anyone would, that power-mad bastard Noel would do exactly that—and worse.'
After all, once he seized the headship of House Eshua, becoming the Emperor's father-in-law would grant him staggering power.
"Though internally, I imagine Priest Noel would have preferred to become father-in-law to Louis rather than to me. Louis is utterly smitten with Lady Kaya, after all."
"Huh? Who's Louis again… oh! That retard Third Prince bastard. What's he up to these days? He's finally stopped making a fool of himself?"
"He got beaten half to death by that black-scaled lizard and is still hovering between life and death. One of his legs will be ruined regardless. He won't be standing up again."
Isaac chuckled in relief. He'd merely come to see Kaya, and now it turned out she was a Crown Princess candidate?
Which meant, heh heh, Chablis would become his brother-in-law, and the imperial family and House Eshua would be joined by marriage—which meant wealth… no, wait. SON OF A—!!!
'If that happens, I can't set up Chablis and Sapien together!'
Which meant he'd be stuck marrying Sapien himself!
Isaac shrieked and slammed his hands on the desk.
"Your Highness! You can't have my sister!! Absolutely NOT!!"
At the sight, Chablis regarded Isaac with mild surprise.
He had heard that Kaya was Isaac's blood sister when he granted the family access to the Imperial Archive. But given the circumstances, both Sapien and he had been quite startled by it…
The Crown Prince seemed delighted by this unexpected side of the Skeleton Demon King.
"I'd assumed you were incapable of sibling affection. I see. So even you have love for family…"
"What about Sapien?!"
…What?
"Come on, forget Saintesses—the Divine Dragons are the best match for the imperial family! Right?!"
The Crown Prince looked at Isaac with utter disbelief.
No, setting aside the whole family-love thing, why does this guy keep pushing that damned lizard at me?
One that tried to kill him, no less…?
The Crown Prince pulled the face of a man biting into moldy bread, but Isaac grabbed him with shameless persistence.
"Aw, come on, why not? The Divine Dragons are the best thing for the imperial family and you know it. You're just embarrassed, aren't you? A dragon really is the finest consort, isn't it? I'll lay the groundwork for you, so how about the two of you get nice and cozy—"
The motive was so transparent that the Crown Prince, finding it strangely irritating, replied with a single line.
"The imperial family likes Saintesses too."
"No! Not happening!!"
When the Crown Prince turned sulky and buried himself in a book, Isaac descended into despair.
"…If it's come to this… I'll just lure him with something else… Right, where IS Sapien? I should go see her face."
"Pointless. She said she was going to see Grandfather."
"Ugh!!"
Why is that girl going to see her grandfather?!
"In any case, Lady Kaya does come here often, but I suspect her purpose lies elsewhere."
Elsewhere…?
"Well, now that it's come to this, I have a rough idea what that purpose is."
The Crown Prince glanced at Isaac.
What? Why are you looking at me?
Isaac glanced at Leah.
"Leah, do you know anything about Kaya?"
In truth, even when Isaac had realized Kaya was his blood sister, the only thought in his head had been how he might put her to use.
'Well, this kind of scummy thinking is part of the curse too.'
The Skeleton Demon King's curse wasn't fully lifted yet, after all.
But that wasn't what mattered right now.
Leah spoke with visible deliberation.
"Hmm. Kaya and I were both raised as Saintess candidates, but… we had no contact, so I don't know her well. She's absolutely loyal to Uncle Noel… but she's not a bad person. She's just… extreme, I suppose you'd say."
"Extreme…?"
Leah gave Isaac a long, measured look.
Truthfully, Leah had been uneasy about letting Isaac meet Kaya. She'd seen the way Kaya glared at him, terrifyingly cold.
Though, raised as Noel's daughter, it was only natural…
It was then that the Crown Prince spoke.
"Then why not confirm it right now?"
"Now?" Isaac was about to ask what on earth he meant—
"!"
Isaac felt eyes on him. He spun around in shock, and a familiar figure stepped out from behind a pillar.
Blue eyes. Silver hair, cropped short. Twenty or so? Nobody could deny she was Saintess blood—a beauty of peerless caliber. Unlike Leah, there wasn't a trace of warmth in her, and she came across as chillingly cold.
Her sharp eyes, if anything, were the very image of Isaac's own.
But Leah went on guard the moment she saw the navy-blue garment Kaya wore.
"That's a mission uniform."
"Mission uniform?"
"Uncle Noel has given Kaya assassination missions too."
"…!!"
It wasn't the clothing of a typical assassin, but even the fabric seemed to radiate a killing chill.
As Kaya drew near, Isaac braced himself as well.
'Noel, you son of a bitch. You crawled back after getting drowned like that. Did you order an assassination? On me?'
Lure him to the Crown Prince's Palace, then strike from behind? And now that the Crown Prince had caught on, she was stepping out as if she had no choice?
At last, Kaya came to a stop right in front of Isaac.
Those frigid eyes fixed on him. He couldn't tell what she was thinking, but one thing was certain: this woman still had no idea that Isaac Eshua was her blood brother.
'If anything, she supposedly worships the ground her father walks on.'
Then of course she'd hate Isaac. After all, it was Isaac who'd sent Noel down into the abyss.
And sure enough, Kaya's snow-white hand reached toward Isaac's neck. At that horrifying sight—as if she meant to strangle him—Leah flinched and lunged to intervene. And in that very instant—
Streeeetch.
"?????"
Isaac's face filled with question marks.
Because Kaya had seized his cheeks and stretched them outward.
Stretch, streeeetch.
"……????"
At the sight of her fondling his cheeks as if he were something adorable, something lovable, Leah's own face twisted into pure bafflement.
"Um…?"
…She's not trying to kill him, right?
She's… she actually likes him, doesn't she?
Kaya wore an oddly satisfied expression, as if she'd finally gotten to touch Isaac with her own hands.
"She, she seems to be well-disposed toward you."
…See? You see it too, right, Leah?
"Um, Your Highness?"
The Crown Prince brazenly played dumb. His face, though, already looked like he'd figured everything out.
Isaac was speechless—but, ever the quick-witted demon, his eyes gleamed at once.
'Hold on. If this is how she feels, wouldn't she be extremely useful?'
Driven by that thought, the corners of Isaac's mouth curled up.
'Yes. Let's use this!'
And then it happened.
Kaya, finally close to Isaac for the first time, sniffed at him. The sensation was strange, but there was no hostility in it.
So Isaac obligingly sat still and let her.
If he could win her over as an ally, this much was nothing. Fuhhuhu.
That's it, sniff all you like. He'd even doused himself in perfume so he'd smell devastatingly—
"You smell like the Skeleton Demon King."
"?!"
Isaac's pupils trembled, thrown into total disarray by Kaya's words.
W-what did you say?
He glanced around nervously.
"No, look, how many times do I have to say it, this is because I ate the Skeleton Demon King's bones—"
"It's not that. It's not from the body. It's coming from your soul…"
WHAT is happening?!
Then Kaya asked him, point-blank:
"Are you the Skeleton Demon King?"
"PFAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"
"Pfft—!"
This time the Crown Prince, mid-sip, choked on his tea and sputtered right along with him.
Isaac's mind went blank.
Son of a… this girl is terrifying, in so very many ways…?