"Young Duke, His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince has arrived."
At the report from beyond the door, Frisian let out a groan as she rose to her feet. The door opened, and Maxel appeared with a rigidly hardened expression.
"Young Duke Roam."
"I thought you would be returning home with Lilia."
"In the end, he failed to find Aneli."
Frisian's brow furrowed slightly. Maxel glared at her coldly and poured out frigid reproach.
"Wouldn't it have been better to cooperate with us from the start? Is this the result of deliberately giving my knights the slip?"
"It was unavoidable in order to move secretly."
"That excuse would have been persuasive only if you had caught Aneli."
His attitude was as if Aneli had been left in his care. Frisian quietly took a deep breath to contain her anger, then calmly began to speak.
"I apologize, Your Highness. The Roam search party operates separately from the Imperial Family's search. I will find and bring Aneli back properly, so would Your Highness please turn your attention to my adopted younger sister? She seems to be having trouble settling her mind lately."
Maxel had rampaged about going to catch his former fiancée during a trip with his current fiancée. Frisian had already heard the news that Lilia had barely stopped him with tearful appeals.
When she first heard that story, how absurd it had been.
Does this man even know how he appears to others?
'It grows more ridiculous by the day.'
Lilia was Roam's adopted daughter. An adopted daughter chosen even while discarding Aneli. For that reason alone, Frisian could not overlook Lilia being mistreated.
'If discord rumors break out, we will be in a difficult position.'
Frisian struggled to suppress her frown.
Honestly speaking, the relationship between Maxel and Lilia was quite laughable. When Aneli was around, the two had used every possible pretext to meet, but after their engagement, private meetings actually decreased.
Of course, it was still known in the capital that the two were on good terms. However, Frisian, who had accompanied them on the Imon schedule, could not help but notice their relationship had become more neglectful than before.
At Frisian's pointed remark, Maxel's face briefly reddened. Maxel, showing signs of anger, retorted as if demanding an explanation.
"Since Lilia came up, I want to ask—how exactly does House Roam conduct training for the Crown Princess?"
"Pardon?"
"Lilia keeps repeating only that she is not prepared. How long is the Imperial Family supposed to wait for her!"
Silence hung between the two at Maxel's raised voice.
Frisian, who had been gazing at Maxel with dumbfounded eyes, slowly curled her lips upward. Wearing a cold smile, she answered frigidly and stiffly.
"It was Your Imperial Highness the Crown Prince who proposed casting aside the properly prepared Crown Princess candidate in the first place."
"What?"
"Don't you remember? What proposal you made to me."
If Aneli died before becoming Crown Princess, the obligation of betrothal might pass to Frisian. So how about bringing in an adopted daughter to bear that duty instead?
In that sense, Lilia was the perfect candidate. It was Maxel who had persuaded her thus.
"That was because Aneli received a terminal diagnosis, so I thought of an alternative."
"Are you saying there was no selfish motive in that alternative?"
Maxel ground his teeth tightly. At his appearance, Frisian rather taunted him with a leisurely voice.
"You cast aside my younger sister who had studied her whole life to enter the Imperial Family, in order to keep a lady of fallen nobility by your side. Please show a bit more patience."
"Young Duke!"
"Ah, but Your Highness, it will be difficult to expect the same qualities from Lilia as from Aneli. They are different people, after all. That must be why Your Highness had an affair with her...."
At Frisian's strangely trailing words, Maxel threatened in an angry tone.
"An affair? How can you apply such a vulgar expression? Watch your mouth."
"Then how shall I express it for you?"
Frisian tilted her head as if genuinely curious. Maxel, his lips trembling, asserted in a suppressed voice.
"During my engagement to Aneli, Lilia and I interacted as true friends. It was an upright relationship without any shameful contact."
True friends. That was a phrase he had often kept in his mouth before as well. He highly valued Lilia's affectionate and gentle character, saying he wanted to form a true friendship transcending status, and often made her his official partner.
The more he did so, the more days Aneli, who should have been the original partner, spent in seclusion due to illness.
'People thought she was so foolish she couldn't control her anger illness...'
The more poorly Aneli behaved, the more Lilia stood out.
After that, it did not take long for the 'true friendship' said to be shared between the Crown Prince and a lady from a fallen house to become known to everyone.
Though no one said it aloud, they would have easily guessed that their 'true friendship' would degenerate into 'true love.'
Or perhaps they accepted that everything was already proceeding, merely playing word games at the level of covering one's eyes and saying it was fine.
"Yes, it was a sight worse than a third-rate melodrama."
"What?"
"Third-rate melodramas are at least entertaining, but sadly, Your Highness and Lilia's melodrama was too obvious and tedious."
Even Aneli's reaction as she watched Lilia and Maxel was utterly clichéd.
The younger sister, thought to be clever, was often overcome with anger and emotionally exploded. After receiving the terminal diagnosis, it became worse.
In Frisian's eyes, Aneli was pathetic until the end. Then, after hearing that she would exterminate House Roam...
Thinking that if she kept behaving so foolishly without taking care of herself, that prophecy would indeed come true.
"Didn't the Young Duke also benefit from her? You too were planning to use any means necessary to avoid marrying into the Imperial Family!"
Frisian, who had been lost in thought, slightly raised her eyes at Maxel's shouting.
"Yes, I did that."
Perhaps he didn't expect her to admit it so readily, for Maxel hesitated. Toward him, Frisian spoke in a voice without laughter.
"Your Highness, I am at least aware that I did such things."
「Do you know that it was Lilia who bribed the doctor to make me, who was perfectly fine, into someone with limited time?」
At that moment, a cynical question from Aneli rose in Frisian's mind.
Lilia bribed him? That couldn't be. Even before the doctor gave the terminal diagnosis, Aneli had been ailing constantly. She was truly ill. The doctor was someone whose identity could be verified, and additionally, the family's attending physician was brought in to confirm the same findings.
But....
「Perhaps it's not that she foresaw it, but that she manipulated things so her words would become the prophecy.」
But if, as Aneli said, all of that was Lilia's manipulation?
What if Lilia had fed Aneli some strange medicine to induce a misdiagnosis?
That was a chilling and wretched hypothesis.
"Leave reviewing the scene to lowly ones like us, so don't worry. More than that, Lilia is desperately yearning for Your Highness's love, so I would be grateful if you would show interest in her."
Frisian indirectly requested Maxel to leave. He, who had certainly understood that fact well enough, snorted heavily then stormed out, kicking the door open.
Startled by Maxel's departure in a foul mood, the adjutant came in to check on Frisian.
"Young Duke."
Even at the adjutant's cautious call, Frisian stood there staring blankly out the window. A faint blood color showed on her lips, which she had bitten several times.
「If my sister said she would exterminate House Roam, I wouldn't have believed it either.」
Why did Aneli assert so easily that she 'wouldn't have believed it'?
And why did others so easily trust Lilia's words?
'As if they were possessed by something.'
Frisian, arms crossed with fists clenched, looked back at her adjutant.
"Organize everything and convey the withdrawal order. We're returning."
* * *
Even after arriving at the monastery, we ended up camping. Neither Xenon nor Samuel had discovered the secret of the stone statue.
We all agreed that resting defenselessly in a monastery where an unidentified power lingered was dangerous.
Eventually, we set up a spot in the open ground not even ten steps away from the monastery and had our meal.
The Durahans, who had been patrolling around our temporary campsite and returned, gathered noisily before me.
[Boss, can we look around the monastery a bit more?]
[Since it's right in front, if you call, we'll hear. We'll come running straight away.]
[Umm... I'd like to go quickly too while the baby Lizardman is sleeping.]
"I'll carry this slow turtle around. Boss!"
The Durahans kept wanting to stay inside the monastery. Probably because of the 'memories with the old boss' they said they had recalled.
"Alright, go ahead. If you remember anything else, tell me."
I was watching the Durahans heading toward the monastery with their eager answers one after another, when for some reason, Jigor was not moving.
"Jigor? Aren't you going?"
When I reached out my hand, Jigor landed on the back of my hand. Jigor, having quietly folded his wings, looked up at me.
[I'll just stay by Boss's side.]
"Why? If you go in there, won't your old boss come to mind?"
[That's true, but...]
Jigor, who had been hesitating, bravely puffed up his fur.
[Since Boss said you saw a ghost, the brave knight Jigor will protect you! I can transform into my true form now!]
It seemed that seeing me communicate with the ghost earlier had been quite a shock.
Finding his determined appearance cute, I told him to do as he wished, and he flew up with enthusiasm.
"Sleeping arrangements are complete. Please check."
Just then, Samuel called me, saying the tent setup was done. Thinking he would have done it well without my checking, I nodded absently, and he continued.
"I've also checked a place for washing up. I'll show you."