episode_0132

“Father… … .”

Mia Crowfield muttered weakly.

“Your mother… …the countess may have planted a vengeance in you. She may have told you that you should seek revenge on me, Alice, or the royal family.”

“… … .”

I continued speaking to her, who had her head bowed.

“But don’t you know that? Your mother too. If you try to get revenge, that alone will be the end of Crowfield.”

“That’s… ….”

“And if that’s the case, your mother should have taken revenge right away, right after the Count died. While she still had a cause. If she knew something, wouldn’t that be a good moment to expose it? The surrounding nobles would have welcomed it. Even if they couldn’t kill the Emperor, it would have been a big blow politically. But Crowfield didn’t start taking revenge right away. Why do you think that is? ”

“… … .”

“Because there was some talk between the royal family and Crowfield.”

Mia Crowfield just sat there with her head down, unable to say anything.

“At that time, ‘right now’, if you did something like that, there was a card that even the emperor could pull out. Everyone may know, but there was a terrible reason that could not be revealed openly. Your mother would have had to erase any trace of that reason in order to take revenge. ”

“And that guy.”

Alice, who had been listening calmly, answered.

“He must have used that. He must have used the fact that Crowfield was erasing the evidence to buy a house like this. Nothing would harm the cause more than someone who knows a little about the past joining. ”

Alice’s expression as she heard those words passed with a somewhat distressed emotion. Because they were friends who had spent a semester together. They had even fought together, risking their lives.

You might think that there might have been an alternative to just killing the man.

But there is no way a man like that would have threatened his wife without being prepared for that situation. He would have at least been bluffing.

And the man himself had utility. This wasn’t the only place he traded. If he was the one who ‘bought the drugs’, he must have sold them to another territory. Later, when establishing a ‘justice’, he might be able to use that as a weakness to get them to join the cause. Although it would be extremely ‘rude’.

Since he was caught like this, the man would just open his mouth.

“… … .”

Mia Crowfield slowly raised her hand and covered her head.

“… … You killed our father.”

“… … .”

For a moment, I hesitated whether I should respond to that.

It was strange. I had said that out loud on the first day of school when I had a proper conversation with Mia Crowfield.

I killed your father, and he was a drug-addicted pedophile.

But, strangely enough, it was extremely difficult to bring out the exact same words. It was as if the words had become an object stuck in my throat and wouldn’t come out.

This must also be the weight of time. Mia Crowfield and… I can’t say we’ve become complete friends, but even so, the time we’ve spent together has kept me from saying those words.

“Yes.”

So, I could only say that one thing.

What happened next happened in an instant.

“Mia!”

Alice screamed.

It was difficult to breathe.

Mia Crowfield, who was shorter than me, was holding my neck tightly with both hands. With all her might. Although her hands were small, they were strong enough to strangle a person.

But that was literally just a moment.

Before Alice could rush in and pull Miakrowfield away, Miakrowfield’s grip loosened.

The hand flowed down my body. Down, down.

Mia Crowfield knelt on the floor. No, she lay face down.

He lay face down on the floor, clutching his head with both hands.

“Mia… … .”

Alice followed suit and knelt down beside him, but did not touch Chamamiacrowfield’s body.

“You… …you too.”

Very subtly, in a trembling voice, Mia Crowfield asked.

“You knew it too.”

“Yes, I knew it.”

Even before I came here.

“… … Was it here?”

“It was here.”

“The kids who were here, the kids who were there until the end, where did they all go… … ?”

“I don’t know either.”

I don’t know whether it was received from the imperial family or disposed of by the count’s family. I have never been back here since.

“… … How many people… … ?”

“Unknown.”

The evidence would have already been burned. The children who were here would have probably disappeared without a trace. Without even telling anyone their names.

“Ahh… … .”

The moans that Mia Crowfield let out soon became screams that were difficult to express in words.

A few knights outside the door reflexively kicked the door open and came in, then froze in place.

*

Mia Crowfield, who had returned to the count’s mansion, walked past the countess without saying a word or hugging her.

The Countess looked at us with a look of hatred as she saw Mia Crowfield passing by without even making eye contact, then turned around and followed her in.

Leaving the mansion behind, we boarded the steam car that had been prepared in advance.

Alice and I sat in the back seat, but we didn’t talk for a while after the car started. There was a driver, so I had to choose my words, and most of all… …we weren’t in the mood to laugh at each other.

“… … Is this a good thing?”

That was the only thing Alice, who had been silent for a long time, finally opened her mouth and said.

And I already have an answer prepared for that.

“Well done.”

It was sincere, without any hidden meaning. At first, I was speechless at the thought of forging the Emperor’s order… … but it was something that would happen eventually.

At least it’s better for Mia Crowfield than if it happened during the semester. She’ll have time to collect her thoughts.

“But… ….”

Alice bit her lip.

“If what the royal family does is the same bad things that other nobles do… … .”

Alice’s confident appearance before she went into the water was nowhere to be found. Alice, sitting next to me, was just saying that in a distressed voice.

“Do I really have the right to punish such things?”

“… … .”

I stared quietly out the window for a while.

I didn’t have the authority to grant such rights. I was once a child in that orphanage, but now I was a servant of the Emperor.

It’s not Alice’s fault, though. Just as the Count’s actions weren’t Arklowfield’s fault.

“At least,”

I opened my mouth cautiously.

“At least, the fact that the Princess would think of doing something like that means that she is a different person from His Majesty the Emperor.”

To my question, Alice didn’t answer for a while.

“… … Thank you.”

That was the answer that came out of Alice’s mouth after thinking for a long time.

*

“Your identity.”

After taking Alice to her room, I went straight to meet the Emperor. It was fortunate that Alice had a lot to think about. Otherwise, I would be standing here next to Alice right now, and I would not have been able to ask this question.

“Why are you asking me that?”

I felt my insides boiling as I watched the Emperor ask me back as if he was openly amused, but I asked again with patience.

“If you brought me here, there must have been a reason for it. Why did you place Lucas in that orphanage?”

“I’m curious to ask that now.”

The Emperor looked down at me quietly, his hand resting on his well-groomed golden beard, and spoke.

“I won’t ask. It’ll be fun to figure out the reason.”

“I didn’t come here to play a puzzle game.”

I said this while glaring at the Emperor, but the Emperor still looked at me with an expression that said he found me amusing.

“Do you already know your true identity?”

For a moment, my heart sank.

Could it be that the Emperor has already noticed? Could it be that there is some other truth that I have not read in the book, and that he already knows that I come from another world?

“You are my daughter.”

But my anxiety quickly disappeared. The reason I didn’t sigh in relief for a moment was because I was so irritated. I was grateful for that fact.

“So, don’t answer like that—”

“Hmm? I’m telling the truth. This is the answer you want.”

The emperor said with a smile.

“You are my daughter. You definitely inherited my talent. Maybe you inherited your mother’s talent too. Of course, I don’t remember what kind of person your mother was. ”

So simple.

Just like when his own daughter asked, ‘Am I the child you picked up from under the bridge?’

“… … Yes?”

“You.”

The emperor spoke with a smiling face, leaning slightly towards me.

“She said she was my daughter.”

… … and that is… … .

It must be about Claire.

And it will also be a story about ‘The Emperor’s Children’.

The reason why the Emperor could think of his ‘children’ as ‘children’.

“… … .”

For the first time since coming to this world, I looked astonished in front of the Emperor.