Academy Semester-End Party (12)
Well, shit. I'm completely, utterly screwed.
Just look at that smile slowly warping out of shape.
Haaaa. This is exactly why I never wanted to meet the Second Queen.
Why is someone who should be mingling with her faction at the party standing here of all places? I genuinely don't understand.
'Grandpa. What do I do now?'
Anything I say from here on out is just going to make things worse, same as during the speech. How am I supposed to talk my way out of this one? I would love to hear the expert opinion of Lord Ruel, holy knight and aristocrat.
"Do whatever you like."
'...Are you seriously just washing your hands of this because it's not your problem?'
"Have I not told you before? That side needs you, but you have no need of her. You can afford to treat her however you please."
That was Grandpa's argument—queen and duchy be damned, rank meant nothing here and now. But I couldn't quite bring myself to agree.
Politically speaking, he was probably right. The Second Prince needs me if he wants any hope of contending with the First, so no matter what I did, they couldn't afford to come down on me too hard.
But here's the thing—people don't always move according to reason.
World history is stuffed to bursting with people who made decisions no rational mind could comprehend and perished for it. Where is the guarantee that the Second Queen won't be joining their ranks?
And above all, there's the little matter of my Mesugaki skill.
Before a catastrophic provocation generator like this, could even the Second Queen's reason survive?
"Really. Duke Patran wasn't wrong about you at all. You are far too arrogant."
Whoa. So there was a reason she became Queen of the kingdom after all.
How on earth can she hear that and spin it into something like that?
Just as I was marveling at the Second Queen's emotional regulation skills, she swept back her disheveled hair and continued.
"Well. Fine. You have talent enough to justify a little arrogance. I'll overlook this one instance of rudeness."
Uh, sorry, but I don't think this "one instance" of rudeness is going to end here.
As long as "Filthy Old Hag Queen" is locked in as her title, I'll keep calling her that unless something truly extraordinary happens.
"Why have you clamped your mouth shut again? Am I not even worth answering?"
No! No! This IS the height of courtesy from me right now!
I'm biting my lip because the moment I open my mouth, who knows what fresh disaster will unfold!
"So 'Filthy Old Hag Queen' is the only message you care to deliver to me."
Gyaaah!
That's not it, I swear?! It's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!
Please, Your Majesty, use that keen insight of yours to read my face like Karia would! Understand my true heart!
"Young lady."
'What now?!'
"You've been provoking the Queen with smirks this whole time."
'...Seriously?'
I stealthily touched the corner of my mouth—and sure enough, one side was curled upward in a definite sneer.
It's true.
Yep. It's really true.
...
Ha. Fuck. I swear, this goddamn piece-of-shirt mesugaki skiiiiill!
"Ha."
The moment I heard that laugh, thick with barely-contained fury, I seriously considered leaping off the clock tower for an emergency escape.
Wouldn't a swift retreat be better than keeping this face-off going? Sure, that would be a massive insult too, but less of one than continuing this conversation, right?
Yeah. Let's do it. It's not like I'm fragile enough to get hurt from a fall this size anyway.
I'll definitely be fine.
"Mother and daughter alike—cut from the same rude cloth. How long does Benedict Arln intend to let his prestige carry you..."
The moment the word mother reached my ears, every cluttered thought in my head scattered, and into the empty space, composure settled in.
Not the rationality born of logic, but the cold clarity forged in the heart of a rage that knows no bottom.
I don't fully understand why.
Given everything I've said and done, the Second Queen is well within her rights to complain like that.
Honestly, it barely qualifies as an insult. If Lucy's mother did something terrible in the past, then her irritation would be justified.
And I don't know what kind of person Lucy's mother was. All I know is that she genuinely loved her daughter.
Why would I rage over an insult to a woman whose name I don't even know?
So thinking about it rationally, I have neither reason nor justification to be angry at the Second Queen.
But my chest—my emotions, my overheating head—flatly ignored reason's counsel.
What they were screaming was simple.
Pay it back.
Take revenge.
Make that bitch in front of me cry tears she can't hold back.
If it were Phoebe standing here, I would have smothered the emotion and followed reason's advice.
But I'm not Phoebe.
Ah. Damn it. Whatever. It'll work out somehow.
Grandpa just said it, didn't he? I can go in swinging however I want.
A man who's lived through both scheming nobility and the Church says it's fine—what could possibly go wrong?
"Pffht♡"
A laugh spilled out of the mouth I'd been holding shut, and my eyes narrowed to slits.
The Second Queen, who had been rattling off her grievances nonstop, furrowed her brow and waited for my answer.
Go ahead and say your piece, if you have one. That was the attitude—Senaar's attitude—and it was unmistakably the expression of confidence. The conviction that whatever words I produced would be meaningless.
"Why are you so terribly angry?♡ Has menopause already come calling?♡ Considering the Idiot Prince's age, you must have had him quite late in life~♡ That must have been so hard on you~♡"
One line was all it took to shatter that composure.
"...Lady Arln. What nonsense are you spouting right now?"
Watching Senaar lose the ability to force even a strained smile, I dragged the corner of my mouth up another degree.
Don't get all serious on me now. I've only just gotten started.
"Nonsense?♡ What nonsense?♡ I've never once said anything that wasn't true?♡"
When I tilted my head in exaggerated puzzlement, I heard the sound of teeth grinding, faint but unmistakable.
Senaar had no idea.
How many weaknesses her rage-consumed self was exposing right now. How many different avenues of attack she was handing me.
She probably believed she was carrying herself with all the dignity befitting a queen.
Well.
Weakness Detection disagreed.
"Really, I mean it♡ There's no one alive worse at lying than me. Right, Your Majesty, the Filthy Old Hag Queen?♡"
"...There are limits to how much insolence one should tolerate."
"Why do you hate this pathetic academy so much?♡"
I could see it now.
The unmistakable disgust pooling in Senaar's eyes whenever she looked at the academy buildings.
I didn't know the reason, but she did not like Soul Academy. Not one bit.
"Just what did you get up to in your student days?♡ Well, I suppose as the Idiot Prince's mother♡ you only added to the legacy, never subtracted from it♡"
"That's enough."
And there goes the honorifics entirely.
But not yet. The heat in my heart hasn't died down yet.
"Is that why you're so cold to the Idiot Prince too?♡ Did you spawn something that looks exactly like you, and now you can't stand your own kind?♡"
"Ha. And what about you? For someone born under a mother drowning in hypocrisy, you're honest to a fault, aren't you? What, couldn't stand to follow in Mommy's footsteps?"
Senaar's lips curled into a sneer as she watched my fist clench.
Good. Got it. Let's see this through to the very end, then.
"Calling goodness 'hypocrisy'—that tells me everything I need to know about the Filthy Old Hag Queen's character♡ No wonder you never made it to first place♡"
"Hahaha. Right. Of course. A face as fine as yours, wasted on a personality like that—that's exactly why you've never received a single marriage proposal."
"Oh my♡ You think I can't get one?♡ Puhahaha♡ Now I think I understand what the Filthy Old Hag Queen's school days must have looked like♡"
"How wonderful for you, brimming with such empty hope. I pray you can keep that sunny outlook even when you're old and alone."
With both of us giving our absolute all to flay the other, my mind was working faster than usual.
Whether it was the influence of the mesugaki skill or simply my nature as a human being, I couldn't say—but now was not the time to worry about that.
What mattered was shutting that damned woman's mouth for good.
I thought back to when the Second Queen first arrived at the clock tower.
The frantic clatter of high heels climbing the stairs. The dust-covered state of her dress. The naked disappointment on her face when she saw me.
And the words of a certain female adventurer I'd met in the game, back before I became a resident of this world—the one who told me about this clock tower.
'Sneaking out of the dorms at night to stargaze with a friend was my one pleasure. But the difference in our stations was too cruel. We couldn't stay together long.'
Once I'd sketched that insult in my mind, a strange certainty washed over me.
That remark will seal that woman's lips for good.
And that certainty was proven by the look of abject shock spreading across Senaar's face.
"Don't worry♡ Unlike certain people, I would never throw away a friend for the sake of success♡ I'll never be alone♡"
"...How do you know that."
"Filthy Old Hag Queen♡ A little independence, please♡ How can you climb all the way up there and then fail to think things through?♡"
"Answer me! How do you know that?!"
"Curious?♡ Do you really want to hear it?♡ Funny, your neck seems awfully stiff and proud for someone so desperate~♡"
"By the command of Senaar Soladin, Second Queen of this realm! Answer!"
"Clinging to authority the moment you're losing—it's honestly so unseemly♡ But oh well♡ Nothing to be done♡ I'm just a frail, pitiable noble daughter, after all♡ I suppose I simply must answer you♡"
Watching the bloodshot whites of Senaar's eyes, a few ideas occurred to me, and I picked the option I judged would infuriate her most.
"How do you think I knew how to open that door?♡ How do you think I know about the past of a Filthy Old Hag Queen who couldn't care less about?♡"
"...You met her? That girl?"
"Correct!♡ I happened—puuurely by chance—to run into that pathetic little adventurer, and later, when I met her friend, I was given a message to pass along~♡ How about it?♡ Curious?♡ Dying to know?♡"
"..."
"You remember what I said just a moment ago, don't you?♡ If you want to hear the story, what do you suppose you'll have to~do?♡"
I strode right up in front of Senaar and picked the fight openly, and she bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood.
"...Give it to me."
"Sorry?♡ Your voice is as small and shabby as the Filthy Old Hag Queen's petty little heart—I can't quite hear you?♡"
"...I'm begging you! Tell me! I'll forgive every last insult for it! I'll grant whatever you desire! Please!"
"Hmmm♡ You do look terribly earnest♡ But what ever shall I do?♡ It was all so very long ago, I simply can't remember~♡ How embarrassing for me♡ Pffhahaha♡"
Mana stirred in Senaar's hands as she stared at me in a daze.
Gray power, ash-like in color, gathered above her palms, then reshaped itself at its mistress's whim.
It was an axe.
A weapon of barbarism utterly ill-suited to a nobleman's daughter, gripped in both hands—and Senaar, just as I had moments ago, seemed to have found her cold clarity within the fury.
"Don't worry. I won't kill you. There is something I must hear first."
"Realizing words won't win, so you're reaching for a weapon?♡ How barbaric♡ It suits a Filthy Old Hag Queen to a tee♡"
Even as I hurled the taunt, drawing shield and mace from my inventory, cold sweat ran down my back.
She's strong. Disgustingly strong.
Not on the level of Benedict or Count Kent, but more than enough to shatter the current me.
How long can I hold out?
Please, let someone at the party notice something's wrong at the clock tower before I go down.
"...Young lady. Could you not simply give her what she asks for?"
'No.'
"This is different from before! One wrong move now and your life could be forfeit!"
'Still no. If I tuck my tail and back down here, it's the same as losing.'
Unless that woman grovels first, I have no intention of bowing my head to someone who insulted my mother.
"Lucy! Please, listen to me!"
"Planning to keep striking that pose over there?♡"
I let Grandpa's shout wash over me and laughed—and Senaar laughed back.
"Let's see how long you can keep that laugh."
Beneath the moonlight, an axe gleaming with lethal frost came hurtling toward my throat.