Outaishihi ni Nante Naritakunai!! 446

She and the Night of the Ninth Day 6

Abel must’ve noticed my complicated expression as he awkwardly spoke.

“Ahh, that had been a request, so I won’t apologize, but I promise I won’t show up in front of those two. Well, I don’t plan on using disguise this time, so I don’t think they will notice even if we cross paths… Mrs. Crown Princess, you’re the exception.”

The words calling me the exception were unnecessary.
Still, I did feel relieved to hear him say that.

“Please. Those two are already facing forward, so I don’t want them to be reminded of you.”

As long as he does that, I’ll also turn a blind eye to it. It’s a fact that he helped us a lot, and I do understand that he’s an outstanding information broker.
It seems he’ll help us a lot in the future too, and Freed made the decision. I’ll follow my husband’s will.
When I agreed, Abel smiled with relief.

“I’m glad. Well then. The information broker Kaleidoscope is looking forward to working with you! Ah, could you tell the Crown Prince of Irvine that I’d like to collect the request fee first thing in the morning tomorrow? Sure enough, it’s hard to stay here any longer. For now, I just want to go back.”
“Got it. I’ll tell Hendrik.”
“Thanks. Then, let’s meet in Wilhelm~”

Abel moved his hands and put together signs. I saw a red light flash, and the next moment he was gone.

“… He disappeared. Really, he’s like Cain.”
“It’s because he’s actually from the same clan as Cain. It’s not to a full degree, but I’m glad we could make him our ally. I don’t want to be his enemy again. His abilities are too troublesome.”
“You’re right. Ah…”

While talking with Freed, I realized something important and raised my voice. Freed looked at me.

“Lidi? What is it?”
“No, it’s nothing. It’s nothing, but――”

I reflexively looked around searching for Raid.
Didn’t Raid say that she’d assault Abel tomorrow under the pretext of paying the request fee? However, considering the conversation just now, there’s a very high probability they’ll pass each other. Moreover, Raid will definitely feel depressed when she hears of him going to Wilhelm.
She’s finally found new love, so I think it’ll be quite hard on her when the person she loves goes to another country.

“… What should I do?”

I pondered for a moment.
Let’s talk to Raid once again.
She’d be too pitiful if she didn’t at least know that he’ll visit her brother tomorrow.

“Raid, where did you go?”

I impatiently searched for her, but I couldn’t see her anywhere. While I was looking around, the King, who stood at the platform in the back of the party venue, spoke up to gather attention.

“Everybody, can I have a moment?”
“Ah, Raid.”

The person I’d been searching for was standing next to the King. When I unconsciously raised my voice, Freed pulled my hand and whispered.

“It seems they have something to say. Let’s go closer.”
“… Yup.”

After the speech finished, I wanted to catch Raid, so I obediently nodded. Everyone gathered close to the King, but when we came, they unsurprisingly let us pass to the front.
Before I knew it, Prince Hendrik and Ilya also came to us.

“I was thinking of calling out to you, but you know, it seemed strangely exciting, so I was waiting for it to finish.”
“It wasn’t anything like exciting.”
“No, no, almost all nobles from our country were watching your exchange, you know? Really, I apologize for my countryman. To go against Freed of all people… It’s obvious it wouldn’t end well for her, so why? I had a feeling it would be an interesting event, so I decided to watch silently. In the end, Esteemed Mother showed up though.”
“Hendrik.”
“It can’t be helped. I had nothing to do with her, and it was only appropriate for Esteemed Mother to show up.”

Despite being looked at reproachfully by Freed, Prince Hendrik shrugged his shoulders and continued.

“Esteemed Mother too said that, but she’d been intolerable for a long time. Really, you guys truly helped us. You saved us trouble of finding a reason to punish her.”
“… Deal with such women before they start causing trouble.”

Freed had a point, but Prince Hendrik made a complicated face.

“There was no concrete evidence. She could only be scolded for acting slightly selfish. Then the same would repeat, right? She wasn’t particularly doing anything besides insulting Ophelia behind her back either. It was hard to punish her for that… So to make sure she wouldn’t do anything worse, Esteemed Mother was pretending to have her as a ‘favorite’ to keep an eye on her.”
“So she was kept as a favorite to monitor her? However, without realizing that, the person herself seemed to get more and more carried away?”

Freed said with displeasure. Prince Hendrik scrunched his eyebrows.

“Looks like it. It was honestly bewildering. She feels that she wasn’t doing anything wrong. She lives in a world where her ideas are always correct. It’s been particularly bad recently. She didn’t even hide her attitude of superiority to Ophelia, who’s the princess of her own country. Just when we were thinking of doing something, you came to talk about her. Esteemed Mother too must’ve been unable to suppress her anger. The result is as you can see.”
“You don’t seem to be reflecting. That will happen again.”
“I know that. We’ll deal with that properly, but we won’t bother you guys anymore. Well, the culprit has been captured, so won’t rumors about Ophelia calm down to some extent―― Ah.”

Prince Hendrik suddenly paused like he realized something.
When I followed his line of sight, I noticed that the King just began his speech and everybody was paying attention to it. We stopped talking and turned our attention towards the King.

“Everyone, despite the slight incident, thank you for attending tonight. The evening party ends here, but before that, I have one thing to report.”
“Report? I wonder what it is.”
“Who knows?”

When I asked Freed about it, he glossed it over with a smile. I was sure he knew what it was about, but for the time being, I listened to the King’s speech.
The King put his hand on the shoulder of Raid standing next to him and said with a smile.

“Due to her fervent desire, it has been officially decided that my daughter, Ophelia, will study in Wilhelm. For the time being, the period of her study will be two years. Wilhelm has already agreed. Depending on the situation, the stay may be extended, but the reason my daughter’s stay can take place is because we entered into an official agreement with Wilhelm. Let me repeat, I vow that Irvine stands together with Wilhelm from now on.”

Raid took over from the King and said.

“Princess Lydiana, with whom I’ve made friends during her stay here, lives in Wilhelm, so I don’t feel uneasy. During this precious studying abroad, I want to learn things I couldn’t in Irvine.”

A commotion ran through the venue. I reflexively also looked at Freed.

“Freed… Eh… That was?”
“Well, you’ve heard it. I also only learned about that today.”
“Raid is coming to Wilhelm?”
“Yep.”
“Wow!”

I shouted in joy after hearing the unexpected news. I was reluctant to part with somebody I could call my close friend despite only knowing each other for a short time, so there’s no way I wouldn’t be happy now that the problem was gone.

“There had been talks about Princess Ophelia studying abroad before, right? It was simple to do when the countries cooperated.”

Or rather, we’d been originally sent to make Raid agree to studying abroad, so in a sense, it felt like we completed the mission.

“It’s not a short term stay either.”
“It’s what she wished for. I’ve heard she wants to study diligently. There are plenty of things she wants to learn.”
“Things she wants to learn. What are they…”
“How about you ask her yourself later?”
“Yup, I’ll do that.”

The King talked about the concrete plan for Raid’s studying abroad. After seeing us off tomorrow, she’ll prepare and come to Wilhelm after a week.
The nobles who were listening appeared surprised at first, but at the end, they looked relieved instead.

“My, my… That mannish princess… No, the princess of our country will study in Wilhelm, that’s not bad, is it?”
“It… isn’t.”

She slurred her words.
Seeing her begin saying mannish princess and correct herself in a fluster, I thought that they probably insulted Raid behind her back together with Kate.
The Queen called it unpleasant earlier, so it seems they at long last noticed how poor their behavior had been.
They must’ve been relieved to hear Raid would be going to Wilhelm.
They don’t know how to treat somebody they badmouthed until now. It’s difficult to change right away. So they’re happy that she’s going somewhere far away to have time to sort out their feelings. It’s such selfish thinking.

“… Freed. In a way, I find them more irritating than Miss Kate.”

It’s not like I don’t understand wanting to save your skin as a noble, but it’s annoying how extremely blatant they are. After all, Raid is my dear friend.

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Editor: Valkyrie

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