episode_0125

If I were a real student, I would have enjoyed the vacation period a lot.

Going to school is similar to going to work. It’s a reason to wake up even when you don’t want to, a reason to shove breakfast into your mouth and walk when you don’t want to, and once you go in, it’s a place where you have to somehow sit and endure the time until the end of class that day.

Of course, school was better than work. School ended a little earlier and there were two long vacations a year.

But I wasn’t a typical student. Not only me, but Alice was no exception. The two of us were princesses, and we had a lot to do during the vacation.

Fortunately, I don’t know if I should say that I didn’t properly notice the foreshadowing of the events that were about to unfold, but in any case, the Emperor hasn’t asked me to do anything yet. He hasn’t even suggested that we make a deal. More importantly, he didn’t seem to know that I had entered the forbidden library.

And based on that fact, I was able to relax a little. The Emperor had inferred my abilities thanks to his own reasoning skills, not because of some supernatural power that allowed him to see through my abilities.

At least that was one thing.

*

“There’s no need to follow me around like this.”

Alice spoke to me in the rattling carriage. As she spoke, there was a truly apologetic expression on Alice’s face, and I almost smiled without realizing it.

“Even if you stay in the palace, there is nothing to do.”

“I was just cooped up in my room during the beginning of the vacation.”

As it turned out, that’s what happened.

In reality, I would wander around the palace, infiltrate the aerial battleship Dreadnought that was anchored for regular maintenance to inspect its internal structure, throw bombs at each facility in the palace to destroy it and see the results, or time the time when soldiers would rush in.

I repeated this not once or twice, but ten or twenty times, and I memorized the average time and wrote it all down in my notebook. Of course, all in Korean. The numbers were not written in Arabic numerals, but in artillery style.

After the emperor learned of my abilities, he always carried that small notebook in his bosom, so no one ever read it.

And all of that happened when Alice wasn’t around. I didn’t shoot anyone directly, but it was clearly an act of betrayal from the perspective of the Empire, and I didn’t want Alice to look at me with eyes soaked in betrayal, even if no one else did.

I saw the Emperor’s reaction several times, but it felt bad because he always had an expression that was not at all flustered.

It was like, ‘This is going to be undone anyway, right?’ Of course, if he were the emperor, he would have said it in a more serious tone.

“… … The place you are going now is much more dangerous than the places you went during the whole vacation.”

“No matter what, I can’t just kill the princess outright. No, killing her outright is a second chance, and if she dies in an accident, the entire territory will be blown away.”

“But the opponent is Crowfield.”

“Then shouldn’t you be careful?”

While I spent the whole vacation making excuses and waiting for an opportunity to get out of the room, Alice was out in the open and official business the whole vacation, as if she wanted to make it known to the world that she was the next emperor.

If Alice’s face was not well known to the common people before, she has now worked hard enough to make her name and face known to many people. Even the media has expressed doubts.

“Because I’ve already dealt with Crowfield.”

“That was a few years ago. The security and equipment have become much more brutal than a few years ago.”

When I heard her say clearly, “I lost” rather than “I probably lost,” I turned my gaze from out the window toward Alice.

“Do you think I didn’t do any research after hearing from you? I’m serious when I say I’m your sister.”

Alice spoke in a slightly firm voice.

“And it’s also my sister’s job to protect you.”

“In that sense, protecting the princess, who is the next emperor—”

“No.”

Alice cut off my rebuttal in the middle.

“The Emperor is the one who protects his loyal subjects under his name. If you follow me, I must protect you. I… … .”

Alice paused for a moment, then looked straight at me and said.

“Like my father, I won’t just use you. Because I’m different from my father.”

“… … .”

I don’t know what else to say.

It makes me happy when someone thinks of me, especially if it’s one of my favorite characters.

But at the same time, I am also worried.

In the original, Alice wasn’t such a strong character at this point. She has a twisted side, has an inferiority complex, and sometimes causes friction with the main character, and also shows a soft side.

What I’m saying is that the Alice I see right now looks different.

So, I couldn’t tell exactly what Alice in front of me would do in the future. If I were trying to control something and bring about the future results as I wanted, I would probably have already failed.

“… … However, there is no need to visit Crowfield.”

When I said that to refute her even a little, Alice snorted and looked out the window.

It was a beautiful sight of endless green grasslands, in stark contrast to the name Crowfield. It was hard to imagine how many factories belching out black smoke would be in the center of the territory.

And it’s hard to believe that there was once a place that sold drug-addicted children.

“There are things you don’t know.”

Alice muttered.

“Yes?”

“Or maybe you don’t know ‘yet’?”

“… … .”

Alice, who was looking out the window, glanced at me.

Those eyes—

—Well, Alice may not be happy to hear this, but she actually resembled the Emperor a little.

*

“Princess.”

The person who spoke like that and greeted Alice with such elegance was the Countess of Crowfield. She also grew up in a different count’s house when she was young, and was said to be a distant relative of the Count of Crowfield. But now it didn’t seem to matter.

Pale skin, black hair. In fact, Count Crowfield also had that kind of vibe to some extent, so it’s a bit ambiguous to say who Mia Crowfield resembles more. Since I know that the two are mother and daughter, I might just think they look alike.

As Alice gave her a dignified greeting, the Countess of Crowfield turned to me.

There was no sign of any negative emotion in his gaze.

At least he is a person who is much better at controlling his emotions than his own daughter.

It was like that in the original too.

“… … .”

The countess’s gaze, which had been looking at my face for a moment, slightly shifted downward. I bowed to the lady, who was bowing while bending her knees.

It’s the first time you’ve seen me, Countess, but I’ve already seen you many times. Of course, it was several years ago.

This is a story about when I went undercover as a maid and succeeded just once.

The Earl of Crowfield, who would casually molest a child much younger than himself, never showed such behavior in the mansion. Rather, he acted like an ordinary and caring father. I don’t think it was acting. The Earl was just… …sincere. He must have truly loved his wife and been a caring father to his daughter.

They just didn’t treat the children in the orphanage like people.

And that gaze was revealed to some extent in everyday life.

Among the servants of the count’s family, there were children of noble families of low status, and there were also children of commoners. The count was always kind to the children of noble families. He spoke to them in a gentle tone as if he were his own nephew, and if there was something inconvenient, such as a child who had just begun to recognize the evidence that she was changing from a girl’s body to a woman’s, he would kindly excuse her from her work.

Basically, it was the same for common servants.

… …basically.

But I felt the Count’s licking gaze several times. That was also the reason why I, who had just become a maid, was able to get close to the Count in an instant.

Ironically, that was the reason I only succeeded once. So… … it was extremely difficult for me to slip something into the Count’s food while still having a chance of not losing my virginity.

In the original work, it is understandable that the Count had been dead to Claire for several years at the time of the main story. With that background, Claire would have been less able to endure that situation than I was.

I turned my gaze and looked for the nearby Mia Crow Field.

Just like Mia Crowfield, who had been giving me extremely complicated looks before the start of the vacation, her expression was still extremely confused. She could barely maintain the courtesy between a princess and a noble.

Countess Crowfield glanced at Mia Crowfield for a moment.

… … Isn’t that too much for your own daughter?