The familiar faces weren’t just Charlotte.
The Empire is a vast country. If I think of the size of the one country I lived in before, South Korea, the Empire seems like it’s the size of several countries combined. If you count the colonies as territories, the Empire extends all the way across the sea.
Wait, no, with Lindbergh directly occupying some of those colonies, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that there’s really an ocean between the country and the Empire.
There’s Crowfield, which borders entirely different nations, Lindbergh, where you have to cross the sea to see the center of the territory, and then there’s Northwood, which you have to take a train for several hours to reach in the far north of the Empire.
Not only Duke and Count, but even the relatively small Baron’s kids often lived far from the Imperial Capital. The ones living closest were actually commoners from the capital, but I didn’t have much of a relationship with them.
Even if I did have a relationship, due to class differences, it wasn’t easy to meet them. The other party might not even want to meet me in the first place. To meet up, it would require a tremendously complicated process.
For that reason, during the time we didn’t go to the academy, the only ones I could meet properly were Claire and Leo.
As I sat in the classroom waiting quietly, one by one, my friends I knew started to come in.
“Hello.”
Rena greeted me plainly without any grand words despite it being a while since we last met.
“Did you, um, have peace?”
Mia tried her best to adopt the tone of a noble lady.
“Oh, looks like you’re a bit more relaxed than I expected?”
“…I apologize on behalf of your rudeness, young master.”
Jake and Roti still looked friendly as ever.
And—
“It’s been a while, everyone.”
Sophia had a slightly dark expression, but it seemed much better than the last time I saw her.
Lily Baker was probably in the commoner class. She wouldn’t come all the way here just to greet us.
Surprisingly, my friends seemed quite bright. I was relieved to see that Sophia, who had her entire belief system challenged, had a much better expression than before.
The ones being more cautious were the other kids from the same class.
There are probably several reasons for that. It could be because Alice had truly become the “Crown Princess,” or maybe they heard rumors about the Gryphon. It seems like some nobles thought that Alice had pushed out the Emperor. … And the fact that those rumors weren’t entirely wrong made it all the more troublesome.
It wasn’t something we hoped for in the first place.
Whatever happened that day, I probably wouldn’t have heard the details. But news spread widely about who was there. Also, the ‘results’ of that incident.
While the noble kids who had returned to their territories hadn’t been attending the academy, it was easy to guess what orders they received from their parents.
Of course, they would have been told to make sure to listen to everything we talked about.
And since the noble friends knew this fact too, we didn’t say a word about that day in the classroom. If the conversation slipped out, it would be quite troublesome.
That doesn’t mean we didn’t talk about it at all, though.
*
“I’ve lost quite a bit of weight over the past month.”
Sophia sighed heavily as she spoke.
“I didn’t even lose this much weight during sword training…”
It was a bit ironic that a girl of a high school age worries about losing weight instead of gaining it. Normally, such concerns would be from middle-aged people who really risk their health if they didn’t manage it properly.
“That’s because you were blatantly ignoring the laws of Velbur.”
Charlotte shot a piercing gaze at Sophia, and Sophia evaded it.
…Ah, maybe the reason she looked so dark was entirely because she was being scolded around that time.
“Regardless, being a national traitor is a serious crime. Be thankful you can sit here safely.”
Charlotte said sternly while stabbing her parfait with a small spoon.
We were sitting at a café we often visited since we came to the academy, seated on the usual terrace. While people passed by, the street was quite noisy, so if we didn’t speak too loudly, our conversation wouldn’t reach the ears of those nearby.
Not that we could talk about anything too sensitive either.
“Still, the procedures were legal…”
Sophia protested in a small voice, but it seemed to have no effect on Charlotte.
“Even if legally you became a citizen of Velbur, if your loyalty is to the Papal State, that’s a crime. If you only had patriotism in your heart and didn’t show it, no — even if you did, you wouldn’t get caught if you didn’t do anything illegal. If you declare it as you did, it would count as ‘treason.’ Are you okay with that?”
“…I’m sorry.”
With no way to counter Charlotte’s words, Sophia bowed her head in response.
…No wonder she lost weight. For an entire month, not just from Charlotte, but she probably heard those words drilled into her ears by other officials too.
At least in the end, we fought on our side, and the place where I actively engaged wasn’t Velbur but the Empire, the target being me, the Empire’s Crown Princess, so I wasn’t treated as a major criminal that should rot in jail for life.
On the flip side, if it had been known to the Empire, it would have really been a major crime. But we decided to keep silent about Sophia’s identity regarding her status.
After all, the Papal State is on the brink of collapse. While they wouldn’t entirely let the country disappear, for now, the leadership has been completely empty. The Emperor and his children, along with the Knights, had ransacked the place thoroughly.
The only ones left were the Cardinals who were outside the country, but it seemed there was a divided opinion on who should take the Pope’s position among those Cardinals.
Overnight, the phenomenon of divine power vanished. Who would prove their faith in what manner?
Even in the world I lived in, there was a Pope, and there were massive religious organizations, so they would eventually be rebuilt, but it seemed the debate would continue for a while. Moreover, from now on, they wouldn’t be able to covertly engage in aggressive policies like before.
“How’s the situation in Velbur?”
Although we exchanged letters, the difference between communicating in writing and face-to-face conversation is significant.
“Well…”
Charlotte’s pupils relaxed slightly at my question.
“There are complaints coming in about the stench from the underground, which seems to come up every once in a while. And experts say the size of that underground facility under the castle is so large that it will take decades to investigate it all.”
“……”
This really is like the Paris Catacombs.
Of course, unlike the real catacombs, it was much bigger, but that’s what made it more troublesome. Until now, the Papal State managed that underground, but now it’s empty. Moreover, the existence of that place has already been made known to the public.
With that empty underground at its center, there is a possibility that security may deteriorate.
And while I was breaking the device held by the Cardinal, all kinds of beasts that the Papal State had laid down below perished instantly. If the smell of those corpses began to rise as time passed, it would be a truly troublesome matter for the kingdom.
If it were just the smell, that would be manageable. Decaying bodies become hotbeds for all sorts of bacteria. Although viruses and bacteria are still being uncovered in this world, the common sense that ‘diseases spread from decaying bodies’ had already taken root long ago.
Every time the smell rises, finding the area causing the issue and cleaning up the corpses is said to be much more challenging than expected.
“You don’t need to make that face. If we hadn’t cleaned the underground like that, it would have been far more dangerous later.”
When I made a somewhat remorseful expression, Charlotte spoke refreshingly. Thanks to that, my mental load was somewhat lifted.
“……”
And there was one more person who reacted to my ‘expression.’
No, two.
There were two people staring intently at me.
One was Mia, and the other was Rena.
Neither of them had any particularly grand expression, but I could definitely tell their eyes had widened.
…That’s right. They were the two people who had seen my ‘emotionless act’ most clearly.
I had forgotten for a moment since it had been so long, but clearly, it wasn’t time to show a completely expressionless face yet.
I’m doomed.
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