“Eveleel, what’s going on! Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”
The door to the luxury suite in the inn was flung open, and Valenrian stormed in, his face twisted in fury.
Behind him trailed Lord Willry, the land’s lord, who looked as uncomfortable as if he were sitting on a bed of nails.
“Brother? What happened? Were you attacked by bandits?”
Eveleel’s tone was full of concern and doubt. Her brother looked nothing short of wretched.
A chunk of his blond hair was missing from the center, leaving not much left—though his scalp was not exposed.
This distinct split in the middle could only be described as a ‘Mid-Part’ for now.
A piece of gauze was stuck to his right cheek, the faint bruise beneath it still visible even after magic healing.
His once white suit, prepared for the wedding, was now stained with blood and dust.
Two buttons on the waist of the outfit were missing.
Truly… marvelous.
“Don’t play dumb with me! Did you send someone to attack my wedding? That’s a serious crime!”
“Brother, what sort of joke is this? I am your half-sister. Even if you don’t like me, you can’t just pin such a crime on me without proof.”
That’s right—he had no evidence at all.
She had even prepared a more seamless excuse, but it seemed it wasn’t necessary when dealing with her foolish brother.
“Then let me ask you: where’s that ‘Pet’ you brought back before? Where did she go?”
“Brother, did you see her? I haven’t seen her since the auction ended. The staff of this inn and my own attendants have gone out looking for her. To be honest, I’m at a loss over how I’ll explain her disappearance to your fiancée.”
The ‘Pet’ had vanished, but Valenrian hadn’t caught anyone, nor did he have a Record Crystal as evidence. He could not make an accusation based solely on speculation.
If she were a lower-ranking noble, it would be another matter. Unfortunately, she was a Princess of the Kingdom of Vishi; in terms of rank, they were equals.
But just that much wasn’t quite enough; a good lie still needed patching.
“Brother, have you forgotten Sylvie is from the slums? That girl was someone she picked up from there. To be precise, she’s both my ‘Pet’ and an orphan sponsored by Sylvie.”
“That damn brat ruined everything for me! She sabotaged the wedding parade and humiliated me in front of everyone!”
“How could that be? Brother, are you sure you saw clearly?”
“I didn’t see her face, but judging by her physical features, it couldn’t have been anyone else. And you just said yourself, she’s missing!”
Though Valenrian was suspicious, Eveleel’s explanation was reasonable.
As long as the real culprit wasn’t caught, at worst, his sister could only be accused of a lapse in oversight.
If she shifted the main responsibility onto the missing Sylvie, not only could he not convict Eveleel, but he might even end up being counter-accused by her.
With no choice, he could only change his accusation from “Did Eveleel send someone to ruin my wedding?” to “Eveleel’s ‘Pet’ is the culprit.”
“I apologize, brother. I was careless. But even so, are you telling me your guards couldn’t handle a girl of twelve or thirteen?”
Eveleel pressed the attack by conceding a lighter fault of her own, so that any further evidence-less accusations from Valenrian would only seem like deliberate bullying.
“Tch! That girl was no ordinary girl at all! She’s a witch—she’s not only skilled in intermediate fire magic, but she can even control armored ‘Monsters’!”
“I see. With all due respect, brother, if that’s really the case, perhaps it was no accident that Sylvie picked her up. But don’t you think the appearance of those ‘Monsters’ was a bit suspicious?”
As expected, the blame was pushed onto the missing Sylvie. But this matter concerned the Vichy Royal Family’s reputation—someone had to take the fall.
“Shouldn’t the Marquis of Weirley be responsible for the city’s security? How did so many ‘Monsters’ get into Moravia?”
Beads of sweat as large as beans rolled down the fat noble’s forehead.
Greedy for pleasure, Lord Willry never cared about the city’s security or defenses.
Eveleel’s question was like a death sentence hanging over him.
If he couldn’t give a satisfactory answer, he’d be offered up as the scapegoat.
“Well…”
“Guards! Seize this traitor from the enemy nation!”
“Mercy, Prince! It was all Sylvie’s doing, it had nothing to do with me…”
His mind, clouded by years of indulgence, could produce no decent excuse.
Unfortunately, as a lower noble, trying to push the blame onto his own missing daughter was useless.
“Take him away. Interrogate him thoroughly!”
The foolish lord struggled as he was dragged away.
Seeing there was no hope for rescue, he went hysterical. “You pack of jackals, you bandits—I curse you all to die miserable deaths…”
“A wise decision, brother. Now the Ashley Chamber of Commerce is yours as well.”
Eveleel smiled as she spoke, her tone somewhere between praise and mockery, as though she had predicted the outcome all along.
A shiver ran down Valenrian’s spine. He suddenly realized his sister might not be the harmless ornament he thought her to be.
But as she said, the Ashley Chamber of Commerce was now in his hands.
“Eveleel, what are you really after?”
“What could I want? Now that you have the Ashley Chamber of Commerce, surely the Vichy Royal Family will grow ever stronger. Although things strayed from your expectations, as long as the result is good, isn’t that what matters?”
Her reply was flawless, but Valenrian couldn’t help but feel a vague sense of displeasure, as though he was a clown dancing in someone else’s palm.
“Brother, are you dissatisfied? So you merely lost your ‘fiancée,’ merely got humiliated by some thief, merely allowed the Vichy Royal Family’s reputation to be tarnished. Compared to the wealth about to fall into your hands, aren’t these things insignificant? My sincerest congratulations to you.”
“You!”
Eveleel’s words were laced with mockery. Though she hadn’t slapped Valenrian, his face stung all the same.
Wait a minute, was Eveleel really not involved with today’s attack at all? Hadn’t he just mentioned how many Monsters entered the city?
As expected, she must be connected to the attack!
Sylvie’s disappearance didn’t affect his acquisition of the Chamber of Commerce, but this humiliation and the damage to the royal family’s reputation must have been her real goal!
But, evidence… right, he had no evidence…
No, there was something—he had left a ‘contingency’ on Sylvie, that little ‘hobby’ of his!
As long as he could find that ‘fiancée who always obeyed him’ and get her to testify against Eveleel, he could pin the crime on his annoying sister—for her, even exile would be lenient!
“You think you’ve won? Just wait and see!”
The prince with the Mid-Part hairstyle stormed out of the suite in a fury.
He’d only been caught off guard before. If he gathered all the forces of his guards together, what was there to fear from a mere ‘witch’ who only knew intermediate-level magic!
With this thought, Valenrian hurried out of the inn, while Eveleel, confirming his departure from the window, took out a Magic Tool and whispered something into it…