“Sylvia, just calm down for a second.”
“I am currently in a perfectly calm state.”
Of course, the hand that was calmly resting on my knee had lifted about 3mm. I barely managed to calm it down before it could smack my forehead again, but judging by the brief downward glance of Alice’s eyes, I couldn’t say I was completely hiding it.
Yeah, to be honest… I wasn’t calm at all.
“It doesn’t look to me like you’re in a calm state at all.”
Alice’s eyes were spot on, just like they always are this year.
It was natural that I couldn’t calm down.
Didn’t Alice take actions the Emperor wouldn’t even think of? While I was looping back in time gathering all sorts of information, the imperial army was flipping over some of the nobility and bourgeoisie in the Imperial Capital.
“Don’t worry too much. I’ve coordinated things so we can turn everything upside down before a report gets to Father.”
“…”
For just a moment, I doubted whether Alice had the ability to turn back time.
Right now, it must be before Alice used the ability to turn back time.
“I’m supposed to be the next Emperor, right?”
Alice said to me.
“Then I should be able to handle at least this much, right?”
“…”
Mia Crowfield’s face had shifted from unease to near panic. She looked like she thought there was something more she shouldn’t know.
“So,”
I could only finally say that after taking about 30 more seconds to calm down.
“So, you mean you’ve found something out?”
“Yes.”
Alice replied.
“Though the organizations weren’t connected, there were thin lines like spider webs above them. Obviously. I’m not sure about the kids going to and fro, but drugs get produced somewhere and flow into the Imperial Capital. There aren’t many places in the Imperial Capital that could grow poppies on such a scale.”
Mia Crowfield was startled by those words as well.
“Well, I understand the reason why you can’t eradicate the origin of poppies. No matter how advanced magic is, they can’t stop producing painkillers. There are many situations where people have no choice but to use them, even if they’re not good for you.”
Especially for the commoners who couldn’t benefit from magic. Or emergency supplies for soldiers trying to survive in the worst-case scenario where all the magicians are wiped out.
“So, you’re saying it’s flowing out of our territory?”
Mia Crowfield finally mustered the courage to speak.
Her expression was stiff as a rock.
“… It seems you trust your parents. You were just thinking earlier that there might be drugs in my teacup.”
“….”
It seemed Mia Crowfield had nothing to say in response to Alice’s words.
“Well, fine.”
Alice let out a small sigh and stood up.
“You probably can’t know everything going on in your territory. Until recently, I—”
Alice nibbled at her lip.
“There were things I couldn’t even imagine. I won’t blame you.”
“….”
And while Mia Crowfield’s complexion had gone white, she still maintained her stiff expression as she stood up after Alice.
“If you want, I’ll let you see it. What’s been happening here.”
“… If it’s to tarnish the Crowfield family’s honor…”
“There’s no need to worry about that.”
Alice said with a bitter smile.
“To be honest, the imperial family isn’t that clean either.”
I couldn’t help but silently agree with that.
*
“Are you going out for a walk?”
As we stepped out of the reception room, Count Crowfield’s wife who had been sitting by the window in the living room rose. Seeing that expression made me gasp—it was a soft smile that felt like an act of high drama. Is that what nobility is like?
Not that her expression always looked positively cheerful, of course. Maybe it was because I somewhat knew what was in this person’s heart.
“Of course. Is it okay if I stroll around the territory with Mia?”
“Of course.”
At Alice’s words, the Baroness glanced towards Mia. The face of Mia Crowfield, who was following us out of the reception room, was still pale. Seeing that expression, the Baroness turned her face back to Alice as if in doubt. Of course, she still presented the caring demeanor of a noblewoman.
“Our territory—”
While following Alice, the Baroness’s words were cut off.
As the door to the mansion we were heading towards burst open, a knight entered.
He wasn’t one of the bodyguards trailing behind us. He was wearing armor with the unique crow emblem of Crowfield.
A knight from the Crowfield territory.
“Milord…!”
But the knight who burst in with the door froze stiff upon seeing Alice and me beside the Baroness.
My gaze returned to Alice.
But Alice remained with her smile intact, not a single brow twitching.
At least, it seemed she knew why the knight had come in.
“What’s the matter?”
The knight’s behavior was rather rude for an audience with the Crown Princess. But if a well-trained knight showed such a demeanor, it meant the matter at hand was urgent. That’s probably why the Baroness had furrowed her brow without blaming the knight.
The knight took off his helmet. His well-groomed face was glistening with sweat, hair stuck to his forehead.
Finally finding his senses, he walked cautiously toward the Baroness. He raised a hand and placed it beside his mouth.
Even seeing the Baroness tilt her ear that way, Alice spoke to me.
“Well then, let’s go do what we have to do.”
The Baroness lost her composure just before we were about to exit the mansion.
“Crown Princess!”
At that shout, Alice, I, and a hesitant Mia Crowfield behind us all stopped in our tracks.
“Right now, what is this—”
The frown she previously had when speaking to the knight faded as the Baroness ran towards us in an exceedingly unbecoming manner for her etiquette.
“Crown Princess.”
Before she could get any closer, our knight stepped forward.
Already, our knights were packed at the entrance of the Count’s mansion. That wasn’t unusual. It’s only natural for knights to be waiting out in front when the lord is about to come out.
However, the atmosphere was exceedingly tense.
Though swords weren’t drawn, the knights of the imperial family and the Count’s territory seemed ready to draw their swords at any moment. If I could sense tension, my back would be drenched in sweat right from the get-go.
“All measures have been taken as per the order.”
“Good.”
Alice nodded at the knight’s words.
Then she turned around and looked at me, who was almost at her back, and at Mia Crowfield, who was timidly standing behind me. Without minding the Baroness behind, Alice spoke to me.
“Do you want to come along? If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. After all, I just want to know the truth.”
“….”
I didn’t say anything. Saying, ‘What if the Emperor finds out about this’ would only alarm the knights.
Besides, thinking back, wouldn’t it be stranger if the Emperor didn’t know this?
Initially, I thought I could just kill the Emperor. Just half a year ago. I thought I could go back in time as many times as necessary, assassinate the Emperor, and let the story flow as I liked, but strangely, the longer time passed, the more I felt that ways to definitely kill the Emperor were disappearing from my mind, one by one.
It felt like he would know everything I did… and even if I prepared a way to surely kill the Emperor, I weirdly thought he wouldn’t be there when the time came.
I was also anxious, wondering if I had fallen into the Emperor’s scheme.
Alice was silently watching me.
“… Understood.”
I answered Alice like that. A small smile flickered on Alice’s lips.
“I, I…”
Mia Crowfield looked anxious and turned to her mother. The Baroness was trembling, shoulders shaking. It felt like she wanted to kill the two princesses right here and now.
But the knight speaking to the Baroness would definitely know it was by the ‘order of the Emperor.’ The orders must have come in the Emperor’s name.
Refusing that name in front of the massively centralized imperial army wielding tremendous military power would mean asking for death.
Well, from a long-term perspective, resolving things so clumsily like this would be troubling even for the imperial house.
What would happen to the next Emperor after the powerful Emperor died?
I looked back at Alice once more.
Seeing Alice’s confident smile… um, somehow I briefly felt like it would be fine, and it frustrated me.
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