Chapter 56 – Part 2 – Falling Apart
Beatrice’s POV:
In a royal carriage, Prince Jumair was peeking out of the small window, lost in his thoughts. We were hurriedly making our way back to the royal capital due to the king’s urgent summon, interrupting our date midway. The reason was clear: that woman’s speech…
“My Prince, please don’t worry. You are not alone, I am with you”, I said, trying to console him.
“Mmm”, he muttered. Not looking away from the window.
He was going through a lot. Not only did our plan to monopolize the raw materials fail, but his reputation also plummeted. I decided to leave him to his thoughts as we silently traveled for a few days.
***
We walked towards the king’s chamber, side by side. He asked me to stay outside, but I insisted on following. This situation was partly my fault, after all.
“Your Majesty”, we greeted the King in unison. We didn’t dare say anything unnecessary in order to not fuel his anger, and we bowed our heads.
“At ease. It seems you know what mistakes you made, so I won’t scold you. Go outside, show your faces to the public, and clear your reputation”, he said.
Er… That’s it? I thought he was angry…
“Your Majesty, why didn’t the guards stop their gathering? This is a clear attack on the royal family. Why did you let them go?”, Prince Jumair asked.
“This matter is out of our hands. Don’t interfere with them. That is all I can say”, the king said.
“Out of the King’s hand?”, Prince Jumair repeated his words.
“Yes, out of the bloody king’s hand. Don’t make me repeat myself”, for the first time since entering, the King showed his anger. He looked straight into Prince Jumair’s eyes, showing his dissatisfaction with his questions.
What is this pressure? I am scared to even move a muscle, and the anger isn’t even directed toward me.
“Understood, we’ll take our leave now”, Prince Jumair said, holding my hands and dragging me out of the room.
I regained my composure after moving to another room, where I finally took a breath of relief.
“This is why I asked you to stay behind. Are you alright?”, he asked.
“Yes, I am fine now. But are you alright?”, I asked.
“Yeah, this is one of the traits of the royal blood. Don’t worry about it. That aside, I don’t understand why this matter is out of the king’s hands? The king can’t stop a woman with no background from running amok in the capital and slandering his own son. I don’t buy it, there is something wrong that we don’t know about”, he said.
“Yes, I was thinking the same. And remember when I told you about the possibility of her being some secret mage? This is what truly happened…”, I told him about the incidents leading to her accidental kidnapping and how I rescued her.
“Did you say that she attended the gathering as Lady Aria’s maid? Is she a commoner?”, he asked.
“Ah, yes. Wait, I didn’t think of this before. And she also has a very close relationship with Lady Aria. She is really suspicious, we should investigate more. If she turns out to be a commoner, we can expose their relationship to tarnish their reputation. This will also help us clear up our name”, I said.
If the word about Lady Aria’s scandalous affair with a commoner gets exposed, the now-dormant members of my prince’s faction would be able to stand up again. The nobles who were silenced due to this incident would seize this opportunity to take our side again.
This will be perfect!
“Hmm, let me think about it… She must have used her powers to somehow manipulate my father. This has to be it! We must expose her! For now, just investigate this matter and don’t take any action. If we play our cards right, we might get even better results”, he said.
I hadn’t even thought of that. Once again, he is looking beyond what I see. Truly remarkable.
“Okay, I’ll do that”, I said.
“And also, as the King said, let’s go and deal with some monsters in front of the public eye to clear up our image in the meantime. I’ll do the grunt work, you should just stay with me and claim that you dealt with the monsters instead”, I suggested.
He smiled, and said “What would I do without you”. He kissed the back of my hand.
Hah, my heart can’t take it!
***
Aria’s POV:
Letty returned home safely and was warmly welcomed by everyone in the city. Her fame also shot up after her wonderful speech. People were strongly impressed by her guts to speak against the Third Prince in the Royal Capital. Many people are curious about her background, and some have begun to idolize her.
Now we really can’t delay buying a title for Letty. If the word goes out that she is a commoner, the nobles who are already riled up won’t stay quiet. Even though I don’t mind it, if Letty’s origin gets out, she’ll have to face harsh judgments of the aristocracy and it would even affect her newfound popularity. I absolutely can not let that happen.
So we talked about it, and Letty finally agreed to buy a noble title from the foreign kingdom. It’s a huge relief, especially with our popularity rising through the roof. We don’t need to worry about someone finding out about her origin.
We are planning to announce Letty’s background, that of being a foreign noble, as well as our engagement with the public by hosting a gathering on my next birthday. So until then, we’ll have to find something fun to do.
At that moment, I received a quest,
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Quests –
Develop gadgets that will help people in need. The more severe problems you solve, the more reward you’ll get.
Clear Criteria:
Develop gadgets for the betterment of people in need.
Rewards:
20 EXP + Bonus
Failure Penalty:
- 5 EXP
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I guess we know how we’ll pass the time now.
A few weeks later,
I, Letty, and Carolina were gathered in our office, holding a letter addressed to each one of us.
“I can’t believe Sophia is getting engaged. It’s all so sudden…”, I said, as we all received an invitation to a dinner party. Although the subject wasn’t specified, Sophia had told Letty about it, so we knew that it was regarding her engagement.
Carolina placed the letter on the table after reading it and spoke, “Well, I sort of knew about it too”, she said nonchalantly.
“What? So everyone except for me knew? I am hurt”, I said, faking anger.
“With the amount of work you were pushing on our shoulders, it’s already a miracle she hasn’t sued you. She even stopped me from raising a complaint with the business association. More specifically, to your father, as he is the regional president. You should be more grateful for having such a good friend”, she said.
“Hahaha, as if you can sue one of your only friends”, I said.
“Oh, keep provoking me, and you’ll get what’s coming”, she said.
She’s kidding, right? She won’t seriously complain to my Dad… Right?
“Anyway, I got a call from my dad yesterday. After I told him about Sophia’s engagement, he started searching for a partner for me as well. He asked me to return home. So after Sophia’s dinner party, I’ll return to the north”, she said.
“What? You too? Are you fine with marrying someone you don’t even know about?”, I asked.
“It’s not like I am getting married right away, he just started searching, so it will take some time. As long as he is rich and he’s not an old man, I don’t mind at all. I’ll do as my dad says”, she replied.
“Hah, all of a sudden, we are all going to be engaged. I hope both of you come back after a while. I’ll miss you guys”, I grimaced.
Well, we are at this age after all, I can’t do anything about it. I’m so glad that my parents approve of Letty. I don’t know what I would have done if they hadn’t.
“Er, Aria, there is one more thing. At the time of this dinner party, Teacher and Sir Richard will be busy on their month-long vacation to Auravista Isles”, she said.
Yeah, I’m surprised that Mom agreed, Dad must be on cloud nine. Hehehe, I’m happy for them.
“They are leaving in three days, right? That will leave just the three of us. It’s a good thing that they are hosting a small dinner party instead of a large gathering. I like it”, I said.
***
A week later, we attended Sophia’s dinner party. It was a short ceremony where only select friends and family were invited. We met Sophia’s fiance, he seemed like a nice guy. He was well-spoken and looked attractive. Sophia didn’t like him at first, but she gradually came to like him after a few dates. Well, as long as she is happy.
We enjoyed the rest of the dinner, followed by a small dance session, and returned home the next morning.
With both Carolina and Sophia gone, I was worried that it would cause some issues with the management of the company, but it seems that they already arranged their replacements, and they contacted frequently over mana-comm from time to time. So it all ran smoothly.
Well, let’s treat this as a small break from the company stuff and work on completing the quest instead. It would be a little tedious without Carolina’s abilities, but I’ll manage.