“……Why did you come here?”
A voice as cold as if thin ice had formed over it, and a murderous expression fierce enough to make me flinch.
The force Chloe gave off froze the air in the room in an instant.
I had been about to take out the teacups, but at the deadly confrontation between the two princesses, I held my breath and set the cup down.
Instinctively, I felt there would be no need to brew tea.
‘No one’s drinking tea today.’
The girl who had always been gentle and lovely was nowhere to be found.
Chloe was radiating a terrifying killing intent, as if she wanted to tear Victoria to pieces and kill her.
If Victoria, rather than Chloe, had not been the physically stronger one, it felt as though Chloe would already have killed her and then some.
But what bewildered me even more was Victoria’s reaction—something I could never have imagined from her normally.
“…….”
Ordinarily, this would have been the sort of situation where she immediately flew into a rage. But at Chloe’s razor-sharp interrogation, Victoria’s shoulders twitched; she lowered her gaze to the floor and, as if forcing the words out, trailed off.
“I-It’s just……. The social gathering is only a few days away now… We’ll both be busy for a while and won’t be able to see each other separately, so I thought I’d stop by for a moment and see your face before I left…….”
“Why do you need to see my face?”
“…Am I not allowed to?”
“So you can look at it and kill me again?”
“……!!”
At the unbelievable word that burst from Chloe’s mouth, my heart dropped.
Kill?
I had no idea what context that word had come from, but Victoria could not offer even a single word in rebuttal.
“……”
Whether she had been badly hurt or was feeling guilty, I did not know, but an expression rarely seen on her face flashed across it.
Unable to even find an excuse, Victoria trembled with her fists clenched tight. In the end, unable to endure Chloe’s piercing stare, she slowly backed away.
At last, having retreated all the way to the door, Victoria muttered to me in a miserable voice.
“……Ian Sterling. I’m sorry you had to see such an ugly sight. I’ll come again another time.”
With those words, Victoria fled my room as if running away.
Until the sound of her hurried footsteps echoing down the corridor faded into the distance, only a heavy silence lingered in the room.
“Hoo, haa…….”
Though she had driven Victoria out through sheer force of presence, Chloe’s condition was not normal either.
She stood there, her face flushed bright red, both fists clenched tight as she trembled.
Just as I was about to carefully approach her—
“……Hic.”
A tear dropped from Chloe’s large violet eyes and dampened the carpet.
She hurriedly turned her head away so I would not see her crying.
“……I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Ian. Next time…… I’ll come again next time. I’ll be going now.”
Chloe spoke haltingly in a tearful voice, then set the thick book she had brought down on the table with a thud and hurriedly ran out the door.
“Ah, Your Highness! The book……!”
I called after her, but she had already vanished down the far end of the corridor.
I stared blankly at the open door, then walked over to the table and picked up the thick novel Chloe had left behind.
And the moment I absentmindedly turned the first page, the stiff flyleaf slid open, and a small note written inside came into view.
The instant I saw that note, a strangely chilling feeling came over me.
[Happy birthday, my beloved Princess Chloe!
Your eternal friend, Princess Adrian]
At a glance, it was a short congratulatory message written in very pretty, neat handwriting, with nothing strange about it.
But what drew my eye was not the content itself, but the condition of the paper.
‘Why is only this page so worn? The book cover doesn’t look that old…’
The corners of the page where the writing was had been darkened unusually black with the grime of hands, as though someone had brushed and stroked them hundreds of times.
On top of that, the paper was warped in places, as if it had been soaked by droplets and then dried.
They were unmistakably tear stains.
‘Princess Adrian…’
My mind began to turn rapidly.
Adrian—a name I had never heard before, whether in the original story or in this life.
Given that she was called princess, she did not seem to belong to the imperial family. I guessed she might have been the princess of some defeated nation or vassal state.
‘…She said killed.’
The word killed, which Chloe had cried out with bloodshot eyes just moments ago, circled in my ears.
And so did the sight of Victoria, who was always so confident, lowering her head before that word like a sinner and fleeing.
As I instinctively felt the puzzle pieces clicking into place, chills ran down my spine and I shuddered.
‘…Could this be the handwriting of someone dead?’
The owner of the writing in this faded note was most likely no longer of this world.
Though Chloe sometimes showed a chilling side befitting royalty, she was always gentle and loved her family. The reason she hated Victoria in particular was probably because of this person.
The complicated imperial family affairs Amber had avoided answering about—this Princess Adrian was undoubtedly tangled up at the center of all those events.
‘Did Victoria… kill this princess? Or did she directly cause her death?’
Either way, it had become clear that a bloody incident had occurred between the two princesses, and that hatred was still overflowing in the present.
To be honest, I was insanely curious.
After all, I was a person with a truly inquisitive nature.
But a bad feeling came over me, and I quietly closed the book.
‘……This is not something I can carelessly get involved in. If I stick my nose into it, I’ll really die.’
By my own assessment, I thought I had handled myself quite well as a hostage so far.
I had been working hard to win people’s favor, to the point where I could think that even if some problem arose later, I would not be dragged away at once and have my neck lopped clean off.
But that was that, and this was this.
Just as there were areas one must never touch no matter how close one was to someone, I decided to pretend I knew absolutely nothing about this matter.
#
“Ian, did you get back safely yesterday?”
That afternoon, even Crown Prince Maximilian came to my room.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, did you sleep well last night?”
“I slept well enough. It’s a shame I couldn’t drink more. I do apologize for losing my temper for no reason because I was drunk.”
“Not at all. I think my joke was somewhat excessive.”
“Haha, no, not at all. By the way…”
Maximilian looked around, then quietly whispered.
“I heard Victoria and Chloe had quite a row in your room this morning.”
“…You knew?”
“The imperial palace is small. No matter what secret it is, it spreads within half a day. What I want to ask is… what did you do?”
“I thought it wasn’t my place to interfere, so I kept my mouth shut.”
“Well done, well done. As expected, I knew there was no way you wouldn’t be able to conduct yourself at least that well. I’m saying this just in case, but don’t try to get involved in that matter in the future either. It’s connected to you as well, and it’s an extremely sensitive issue for every member of the imperial family.”
“Yes, I understand. But… what do you mean, it’s connected to me?”
“It has to do with why the empire prefers princes as hostages over princesses, roughly speaking. Just know that much. Well, as for me personally, I’m not exactly in a position to lose anything from it, so it doesn’t matter much, but…”
The crown prince’s expression hardened, and he whispered quietly.
“His Majesty does not like people meddling in this matter. And I would like to keep seeing you for a long, long time. Do you understand? If you get tangled up in this the wrong way, you’ll be the one to bleed.”
“I understand.”
“You’ll learn about it someday. But it’s the sort of matter where the longer you remain ignorant, the better… For now, just know that.”
After firmly warning me, the crown prince suddenly smiled and wore a mischievous expression.
“Now that I think about it, you haven’t had any chance to mingle with the other hostages since coming here, have you? You’ve been living only inside the imperial palace, after all.”
“…Yes, that’s correct.”
“Princess Himiko, whom you met yesterday, is the princess of a fallen nation, so we can call her something of an exception. Aren’t you curious what the other hostages do with their lives?”
“…I assumed they all lived receiving excellent treatment, like me.”
“No, no. Absolutely not. I’ve said this time and time again, but the empire venerates competence as the highest value. It is the imperial spirit passed down since the time of our great ancestor, Uzarat. Whether royal or noble, those who are not competent find it difficult to receive good treatment in the empire. However, the royals thrown into the empire as hostages are usually… incompetent.”
With a smile that somehow looked wicked, the crown prince winked.
“You’ll find out soon enough at the social gathering.”
“……? Understood for now, Your Highness.”
“Oh, and I read your report from last time. In truth, that’s why I came today as well.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Among the various improvements you proposed, the section on policy evaluation caught my eye the most. If only the system is put in place, it can be implemented immediately, and it’s not as if it costs more money or is an area where anyone would object. Could you write that part in more detail and submit a report? The deadline… let’s see, one week after the social gathering should do, yes? Once you come to work, start with that.”
“Yes, understood. Then regarding weights and measures…”
“There are people who were already handling that, so you don’t need to do it.”
It was hard to believe that a person capable of handling work this briskly was the same delinquent who had been wedged between women last night, guzzling down liquor.
The crown prince patted me on the shoulder.
“I’m delighted to be able to work with a clever talent like you. Then I’ll be going now.”