Revenge (3)
Revenge (3)
"Yes, just a moment ago I looked at you and called you a 'friend.'"
Alice spoke rather sharply toward Mia Crowfield, who had frozen in place, her mouth slightly agape, unable to manage a proper answer.
"Or does that mean you don't consider me a friend?"
"Ah, no, I, well, that's—"
Watching Mia Crowfield fumble for a reply, Alice lifted the teacup she was still holding and gave it a little shake.
"At the very least, seeing you point out the issue with the teacup, even a little late, suggests you don't see me as a target for revenge the way your mother does. Unless your feelings of friendship happen to outweigh your thirst for vengeance."
At those words, Mia Crowfield clamped her mouth shut. But she couldn't quite maintain a blank expression. The corners of her lips trembled, her pupils darted back and forth, and her face turned literally as red as a carrot.
"First, let's talk. The biggest reason I came here is obviously because of Sylvia, but...... it's also because of you—no, because it's connected to your family."
I caught myself staring openly at Alice before I realized it.
Was something connected to me?
Could Alice have discovered the exact truth about my past?
...... Well, thinking about it again, if Alice had set her mind to investigating my past, there wasn't much she couldn't find. The people involved were certainly beyond the reach of most, but she could at least figure out where I'd come from simply by asking the Emperor's children—Bella or Jaden—since they were at least approachable.
But still......
"If you're thinking the place I used to live is connected to this place, that assumption is most likely wrong."
At my words, Mia Crowfield's gaze shifted cautiously toward me. Her eyes looked as if she was seriously debating whether she ought to interject or not. Though her internal leanings seemed to have settled heavily on 'better not to interfere,' of course.
"Is that so?"
But even after hearing me out, Alice didn't seem particularly fazed. She merely set the teacup she'd been holding down on the table with an elegant motion.
"The last time I investigated, they weren't."
Back then, before I killed the Count, I had searched out and read his internal documents by every means available. I found no evidence there linking him to the orphanage where I had lived.
In the first place, that one orphanage couldn't have been the only one selling children. The Empire was vast. When buying a child all the way from the imperial capital to here, it might simply have been easier to purchase and gather orphans from some other location nearby. There would have been plenty of orphans within County Crowfield itself, and since it was a border region, they could easily have purchased orphans from abroad too.
In truth, Claire also seemed to have conducted her own investigation, but she never located anyone connected to that orphanage.
So I had tentatively concluded on my own that the orphanage was a small-scale operation run independently. And that I had annihilated it completely when I burned it down.
Though I never did manage to track down that man and woman who had visited the orphanage back then.
"If that's what you think, then it would mean you missed something."
Alice spoke, wriggling her fingers as if her hands felt empty. Perhaps she thought a conversation like this was better suited to the act of sipping tea.
"No matter how much a place is run like a cell-based organization, there's always a thread that leads higher."
When I stared calmly at Alice as if to prompt her to keep explaining, she shrugged her shoulders once before continuing.
"It means no one keeps buying their goods from a single shop forever. If they can't find what they want, they'll diligently poke around all the neighboring shops, digging until the desired article turns up. Especially if someone's commissioned a custom order, then it's even more certain."
"Ah, excuse me......."
Until just a moment ago, Mia Crowfield had been wearing an expression that said, 'I really shouldn't butt in.' But watching the two of us keep having a conversation she couldn't understand right in front of her, it seemed she finally couldn't take it anymore.
"What exactly are you talking about right now? Are you saying this 'article'...... has something to do with our county?"
Alice and I both turned to look at Mia Crowfield at the same time. I was the one whose gaze lingered on her for the shorter interval. I glanced briefly at Mia Crowfield's flustered expression, then turned my eyes straight back to Alice and stared fixedly at her.
Was Alice actually trying to reveal the fact that I had killed Count Crowfield?
"Yes, it's related. Because it's connected to the business the Count was running before his death."
But Alice didn't go so far as to say that I had killed him. It was still dancing dangerously close to the line, but...... well, thinking about it again, Mia Crowfield already knew I had killed her father. Even if she didn't know the precise details, she'd already reached that conclusion for herself.
That was exactly why the better I treated her, the more bewildered she became. From her point of view, the more she stopped thinking I'd kill her, and the more her ill feelings toward me were erased, the more confused she was bound to be. If she ended up not wanting to kill the person she'd treated as a target of revenge her whole life...... the sheer emptiness of that would be overwhelming.
"......."
Whatever Alice said next, I had no intention of stopping her.
Partly because it was too difficult to stop Alice once she got stubborn, and more than anything else—
I wasn't sure if I was allowed to say this, but honestly speaking, I found the current situation...... rather intriguing.
Because I was witnessing, firsthand, 'relationships between characters changing on their own,' rather than being directed by my hand.
"What kind of business was it?"
Was Mia Crowfield really asking that question without knowing a single thing?
Perhaps she truly hadn't known during her childhood. But as time passed, after her father died and her mother began preparing for revenge, pulling Mia Crowfield into it—might she not have gradually started to pick up hints? Even if she herself was simply forcing herself to look away......
"For now, let me finish explaining."
But Alice, instead of giving Mia Crowfield a proper answer, simply pressed on with her explanation.
Fortunately for us, or perhaps unfortunately, Mia Crowfield was not reckless enough to challenge an imperial princess who was practically telling her outright, 'I'm not going to tell you.'
"So, in order to trace it, there's no point in inspecting the very bottom shop that's already burned down. That place was reduced to ashes ten years ago, after all. Instead, we'd need to locate the level above it, which is surely still alive and operating."
Alice let out a small breath. It was a sigh that sounded almost like a lament.
"Starting from the top, you search for the nobility addicted to opium, single out the ones known for debauchery among them, then root through the opium dens one after another. If you go looking that way, you can find out more easily than you might think."
"...... Did you go into those places yourself?"
When I asked in a slightly reproachful tone, Alice furrowed her brow.
"Of course I didn't go personally. My skills aside, I don't exactly give off a very threatening appearance at first glance. Sending a knight clutching an imperial order borrowed from His Majesty's authority is far more terrifying."
"Are you saying His Majesty permitted this?"
"I didn't exactly receive explicit permission. I, ah, borrowed the form for the imperial order. I already knew perfectly well what my father's signature looks like. And no matter how I look, I am his daughter. It's not exactly strange if my handwriting happens to closely resemble his, is it?"
"......."
I mustered every ounce of strength I had to keep from making a wheezing groan. Worse, Alice's face as she said that looked so profoundly self-satisfied that for a while I couldn't even figure out what I was supposed to say.
"Are you saying you forged an order from His Majesty?"
"Since His Imperial Majesty could not possibly be unaware of the fact, practically speaking, I consider that permission granted."
No, no matter how you sliced it, the Emperor didn't actually know 'everything.'
This time I had to lock my arm tight to keep my hand from flying to my forehead.
"Anyway, doing it that way...... we swept through the district where you used to live in one fell swoop. And as a result, I can confirm a few things definitively."
Alice grinned as she spoke.
"Namely, these so-called nobles often find they cannot run away, however much they might wish to. Because discarding their territory and their name is worth far more than their own personal worth."
"......."
"And also, they come to see having someone turn a blind eye as 'perfectly natural.'"
I found myself seriously wondering whether Mia Crowfield's jaw had actually dislocated. Wouldn't a jaw hanging open that far have warranted a visit to at least either orthopedics or a dentist?
"Hmm."
Having finished that remark, Alice picked up her teacup again, looking slightly regretful. Then she peered at the reflection of her own face on the surface of the tea inside.
"...... But honestly, is there actually something in here?"
Alice asked in a somewhat more serious tone.
"......."
Well, I supposed, being careful couldn't hurt. There was indeed a minute chance some drug really had been slipped in. In truth, the Countess wasn't insane enough for that, and it might simply be that Mia Crowfield had panicked all on her own.
But was that really what mattered right then?