The Imperial Family's Faithful Dog
Interference. Damn it. That girl Ran never manages to be of any real help when it matters!
Leni slipped out of Cecilia's room, dumped the now-cold tea, and bit down hard on her lip.
I was going to break her slowly from the inside with a toxic herb that brings lethargy and addiction…
She swallowed dryly as she thought of the item waiting in her own room. She needed something dangerous but certain—and that something was already prepared.
Cecilia had liked the tea Ran prepared so much that she left her own chambers for a place in the mansion better suited to enjoying it.
"This is excellent tea."
"I'm so glad it suits your taste, Lady Cecilia."
Watching Ran's eyes sparkle like a puppy begging for praise, Cecilia found herself smiling without meaning to.
"Ran, would you sit and keep me company? It feels too lonely to enjoy this alone."
"Pardon? But…"
"It's fine. Come, sit."
Once seated, Ran immediately stabbed her fork into one of Chef Hans's special tarts on the table.
"It's delicious!! And so fresh!!"
"Is that so? Heh."
Cecilia decided she would soon send a reply to the merchant alliance that had opened a distribution network across the North for her, reaching far beyond the Walterheim estate. If only as thanks for the way their goods had so thoroughly delighted her adorable little maid.
"Lady Cecilia, why do you think Maid Chief Leni was so angry earlier?"
"Did she look angry to you, Ran?"
"Mm… how do I put it? The Maid Chief has this particular expression she only makes when something hasn't gone her way. That was the face."
"Hmm."
Cecilia took a sip of tea and replayed the events in her room. Tea laced with a highly addictive toxic herb. A herb that rarely circulated in the North. Maid Chief Leni.
"There's suddenly a great deal to think about."
"Pardon? Is there?"
"Heh."
Creak.
At the sound of the greenhouse door opening she turned her head—and found Victor standing there.
"Your Grace."
"Whoa… Your Grace!"
Cecilia and Ran both rose at once and offered their greetings.
"It seems I've interrupted your tea time."
"Not at all. Did you come looking for me?"
"Yes. I did."
"Then…"
Ran nodded and began setting another cup.
"Please, have a seat."
"Hm."
Victor sat and fixed his gaze on Cecilia without a word.
"If there is something you wish to say to me…"
"I heard the young lady gave considerable help with the distribution network the merchant alliance opened in the North."
"Goodness. I merely asked a few people with whom I had connections for assistance."
"Is that not your weapon? I am simply grateful you chose to use it for the North."
"Having entered Your Grace's protection, it is only natural."
While he protected her, Cecilia wanted to prove she was someone worth protecting—so that Victor would never regret becoming the shield for both her and the Roeyental Duke Family.
Yes. This is that kind of contract.
"Ah—"
A cold wind slipped in through the greenhouse window and Cecilia instinctively drew her shoulders in. Just as she was thinking that the northern wind truly was as bitter as Ran had said—
Thump.
"Oh?"
A thick fur coat settled over her shoulders. Startled, Cecilia looked up at Victor.
"The days are still cold. I heard you still lack proper clothing."
"Ah, I'm fine. I don't go outside often anyw—"
Victor did not wait for the rest. He simply left the greenhouse. Cecilia stared blankly after him, then buried herself deeper into the fur coat that now wrapped around her.
"…It's warm."
When I returned to the study, Jester greeted me with a knowing little smile.
"Your Grace, what became of the coat you left wearing?"
"I gave it to someone who looked cold."
"Hohoho. Well now…"
"It is nothing of the sort."
It really was nothing of the sort. I had gone to the greenhouse to convey my thanks, and the moment I saw Cecilia draw herself in against the chill, the warning bells in my head started ringing.
In the original she caught a cold, and that damned crown prince never even visited—he poured every scrap of attention onto the heroine instead and only made Cecilia's rampage gauge climb higher. Dangerous. A cold eats away at the mind and the heart!
Emotional stability was essential if I wanted to prevent Cecilia's rampage. Letting her catch even a simple cold would be far too risky.
"Tell Hans in the kitchen to prepare something good for colds for dinner."
"Hohohoho."
"I told you it is not like that!"
Jester's thoroughly delighted smile—as if I were some newlywed husband suddenly stricken with jealousy—was profoundly irritating when all I was doing was thrashing to stay alive.
After dinner Cecilia returned to her room, saw the coat hanging on the rack, and found herself thinking of the greenhouse again.
Was he… looking after me? No. Impossible.
She and the Grand Duke were bound by nothing more than a contract. She must not forget that. And yet—
It was the first time anyone had ever cared for me like that.
The warmth, and the thought that someone had considered her comfort. Receiving that from a stranger rather than family was a first for Cecilia.
She pressed a hand to her fluttering chest and was about to sit on the bed when—
"…"
A strange sense of unease prickled at her.
"Ran."
"Yes, Lady Cecilia."
"Aside from you and Maid Chief Leni, did any other maid enter this room today?"
"No. According to the schedule, no one was assigned to clean Lady Cecilia's room today."
"I see."
Whoosh!
Cecilia drew her staff and focused her mind. After a brief moment—
"Eh?"
Dozens of footprints appeared across the floor. Ran startled and hurried to her side.
"Lady Cecilia? What is this?"
"Don't worry. Ever since Father used to sneak into my room and read my diary when I was little, I've made a habit of installing a visitor-detection spell."
"Eeh…"
"Hm. These are my footprints, these are Ran's… and these."
Examining the trail, Cecilia found Leni's footprints—from when she had come to serve tea—leading toward the bed. She let out a quiet sigh.
"Hmm."
Confirming that Leni's footprints showed she had done something here before leaving the room, Cecilia searched the area around the bed thoroughly. Nothing suspicious turned up.
"Ran."
"Yes."
"Could you find someone strong enough—and trustworthy enough—to lift the bed…"
"The bed? Like this?"
Thud!
Ran single-handedly hoisted the massive bedframe. Cecilia stared for a second, momentarily speechless, then recovered her composure and checked beneath it. And—
"Found it."
"Huh? What is that?"
Cecilia severed the mana connection of the magic tool installed directly under the bed and smiled.
"A listening magic tool. It seems someone prepared this so they could hear every word I say in this room."
"Eh? Who on earth would—"
"That is exactly what we are going to confirm now."
Cecilia left the room with Ran. After making inquiries about Maid Chief Leni's whereabouts and learning she was currently handling documents in the mansion's archive, they headed there. Then they waited by the wall near the archive for Leni to emerge.
"Um, Lady Cecilia."
"Yes, Ran? What is it?"
"You said Maid Chief Leni was the one who installed that magic tool."
"I did."
"I honestly don't understand. Why would the Maid Chief do something like that…"
"The human heart is a difficult thing to understand. Especially when it belongs to someone who spent years living in the capital, in places that no longer smelled of people."
"Pardon?"
"That's why I like the North. I like the kindness of people like you, Ran, and the others here."
"Hehehe. Kindness? What are you saying…"
"Shh."
Once they confirmed Leni had left the archive and returned to her own room, Cecilia walked toward the archive door.
"…Locked."
"Ah—the archive holds many documents related to the Walterheim estate and the North, so only the butler or the Maid Chief are—"
"Is that so?"
Cecilia headed straight for Jester's quarters.
"For the young lady to visit this old man at such a late hour—has something urgent arisen?"
"I would like to enter the archive."
"The archive? For what purpose?"
"There is something I wish to confirm."
"…"
Jester studied Cecilia's eyes for a moment, then smiled and handed her the archive key from his coat.
"When you are finished, where shall I come find you?"
"Please come to the Maid Chief's room."
"Understood. May you obtain a satisfactory result."
Watching Cecilia and Ran leave for the archive, Jester turned and made his way to the study where Victor was still wrestling with documents.
Creak!
"Uwah… there are so many documents."
"Not this… not this either."
While examining the papers related to the Walterheim estate and the North, Cecilia discovered subtle numerical alterations in the most recent record of the dowry sent by the Roeyental Duke Family. Cross-checking it against other materials, she suddenly burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha!!!"
"Lady Cecilia? What's wrong?"
"Aha… honestly… what a thoroughly underhanded method."
Knock knock.
Leni opened the door to check on her late-night visitor. The moment she saw who stood there, her heart nearly stopped.
"Maid Chief."
"…Young lady?"
"May I come in for a moment?"
"Ah… yes."
Cecilia stepped inside, settled naturally into the seat of honor, and looked at Leni.
"You are from the capital originally, are you not, Maid Chief?"
"Yes. That is correct."
"Where did you work before coming to the Walterheim estate?"
"Haha… after graduating from the Academy I rested for a time at my family home, then through a fortunate connection I became a maid of the Walterheim estate."
"Hmm."
"Why… do you ask?"
"No particular reason. Your handwriting… simply resembles a certain hand I have seen far too closely."
"Wh-what do you mean by that?"
Watching Cecilia's gaze fall on the documents laid out on the desk, Leni swallowed dryly.
What… what on earth did she come here to say…
"Living in the Roeyental Duke Family means one often has occasion to examine documents from various imperial institutions."
Cecilia took out the dowry ledger she had brought from the archive.
"Among them, this particular notation method is the one used by the Imperial Finance Ministry. It is not a system employed in the North—so why is the final author of this record, Maid Chief Leni, using it?"
"Th-that is… I simply found it natural…"
"Maid Chief."
Leni looked into the violet eyes fixed upon her. Eyes that seemed to see through everything.
"You cleverly manipulated the dowry accounts so that the funds would flow toward the Imperial Family. Truly, taking advantage of how busy His Grace and the butler have been… thoroughly underhanded."
"How… how did you…"
"To dare handle the dowry the Duke Family entrusted to the Grand Duke of the North in such a fashion… Ah. Perhaps it is only natural. After all—"
Thud.
A magic tool clattered across the floor. Leni knew it well. It was the listening device she had installed in Cecilia's room.
"—you are the Imperial Family's faithful dog."
"Y-you madwoman!!! I have served the North loyally for years—and you dare seize on such… such outrageous fabrications!!! I will not forgive this… I will not!!!"
Leni yanked a dagger from her clothes. Cecilia leveled her staff at once. In that exact instant—
Whoooosh!!!
A sound tore through the air as the door to the Maid Chief's room burst open.
"Kyaaaah!!!"
An arrow punched clean through Leni's arm; the dagger fell from her fingers. She turned her head and looked up at the black-haired man entering the room, his crimson eyes blazing with fury, and began to tremble in pure terror.
"Explain to me exactly what is going on here."