Interlude – Underwater Negotiation

“It’s my first time meeting you, Saint… No.”

Sitting face to face across a round table covered with white cloth, Cardinando opened his mouth.

“Should I say ‘former’ Saint?”

“…If you’ve come to make cheap provocations, you’d better leave immediately.”

The Saint answered in a sharp voice, without even the slightest pretense.

Cardinando silently chuckled, then spoke to the Saint.

“Are you serious?”

“I don’t even feel it’s worth answering.”

“…Indeed. As expected of the Saint.”

Cardinando nodded and said,

“As you said, let’s stop with the trivial jokes.”

“…”

“I too didn’t come here to exchange jokes, risking numerous burdens.”

Ahem. Cardinando cleared his throat in an exaggeratedly dramatic manner.

Looking back at the Saint who was glaring at him, Cardinando asked quietly.

“Let me ask you one question.”

“Do I have an obligation to answer?”

“If you choose not to answer…”

Cardinando shrugged nonchalantly.

“I’d personally be quite disappointed, but that’s about it.”

“…”

The Saint, who had been glaring at him, eventually sighed deeply and answered.

“…Fine. I’ll answer.”

“Is that a promise?”

But at Cardinando’s subsequent question, the Saint couldn’t help but open her eyes wide and look up at him.

“Do you intend to end it all like this?”

“What?”

Cardinando, with his smile erased, asked her again.

“I asked if you intend to end it all.”

“…Of course not.”

Finally, the Saint answered in a cracked voice.

“Even if the Senate bastards have abandoned me, the Holy Nation hasn’t abandoned me yet. If I can just escape from here, I can certainly rise again.”

“I see.”

Cardinando nodded.

“To succeed in receiving information from outside even in this situation.”

“Isn’t it the same for you?”

The Saint let out a hollow laugh and asked back.

“What about you? How were you able to come here through such strict security? Did you bribe someone? Or did you pull some trick?”

“…”

Instead of answering, Cardinando silently put his hand into his bosom.

-Whoosh.

Simultaneously, two spear blades were pointed at him.

They were held by two soldiers standing behind the Saint.

“…”

Cardinando froze in place, with his hand still inside his bosom.

The Saint silently raised her hand and lightly waved toward the back. Only then did the two soldiers withdraw their spears, and Cardinando sighed and muttered nonchalantly.

“I thought my heart would drop.”

“Speaking words you don’t mean…”

The Saint’s voice, as she muttered while glaring at Cardinando, was abruptly cut off.

“……You.”

In a suppressed voice, the Saint opened her mouth.

The Saint’s gaze was fixed on the small crystal in Cardinando’s hand.

“Where did you get ‘that’?”

The subspace crystal she had used to infiltrate Cornelio Difind into the academy.

However, the subspace crystal is a one-time use item. A crystal used once cannot be used again unless it undergoes special treatment in the home country.

In other words, this wasn’t something picked up after they had discarded it.

It meant that through some route, Cardinando had independently acquired the Holy Nation’s top-secret technology.

The Saint nervously flicked her finger, and simultaneously, two spear blades from behind her thrust out again, pointing at Cardinando.

“From now on, it would be better to choose your words carefully.”

“…”

“I’ll ask once more. Where did you get that crystal?”

“…I have my ways.”

Cardinando answered with a smile.

“If I reveal all my cards from the beginning, it wouldn’t be fun, would it?”

“–You bastard!!”

One of the soldiers, grinding his teeth with an ‘urgh,’ brought down his spear.

-Clang!!

A sharp metallic sound echoed throughout the room.

Cardinando, who had drawn his sword from his waist in a split second, glared at the Saint and asked in a low voice.

“…The conversation is not over yet, Corphe Lilac.”

-Slash.

The blade in Cardinando’s left hand drew a swift arc in the air.

The spear shaft, cut in two, fell and stuck in the middle of the table.

“Please withdraw the spear.”

“…”

Cardinando silently glared at the Saint, and eventually, the Saint said in a voice mixed with a sigh.

“…Withdraw.”

-Swoosh.

The remaining spear shaft pulled back, and only then did Cardinando half-soften his expression and lean his shoulders forward toward the table.

“About the crystal, let me tell you a bit later. When our relationship becomes a little more… solid than it is now.”

Narrowing his eyes, Cardinando slowly trailed off.

“…What do you want?”

Glaring back at Cardinando, the Saint asked.

“What I want.”

Cardinando, who had been quietly muttering, shook his head and burst into a hearty laugh.

“You seem to have misunderstood something. I didn’t come looking for you with that kind of motive.”

“Stop spouting nonsense!”

Finally, the Saint shouted, overcome with anger.

“You pilfer the Holy Nation’s top-secret technology and flaunt it before my eyes to mock me, and then beat around the bush like a dog that needs to shit. Looking at your behavior, it’s obvious!”

“…”

“Do you think I don’t know what you Empire people are thinking? Not a chance! You’re always like this. Going round and round, never speaking first until the other person says what you want. Unless the other person lays out their liver and gallbladder on the table…!”

“Is that so.”

Cardinando said quietly. It was a single sentence with a tone clearly lower than the Saint’s voice, but there was a strange weight at the end of his words that made the Saint trail off.

“I understand what you’re thinking, but my purpose is not what you think it is.”

“Then, you just need to say it.”

“Very well. Let me be honest.”

-Thud.

Tapping the table audibly, Cardinando awkwardly rose to his feet.

And then, leaning his upper body fully toward the Saint and bringing his face close, he whispered to her in an eerie voice.

“What I want is the crown of the Valentine family.”

“…What?”

The Saint asked blankly.

“Let me be straightforward, Saint. I have absolutely no interest in anything in the world other than the imperial throne of the Valentine Empire.”

Toward the Saint who was staring at him blankly, Cardinando whispered quickly.

“I need someone to support me. An ‘achievement’ that can prove that I am superior to that woman Yuriana.”

“…”

Eventually, the Saint asked.

“…What do I need to do?”

Only then did Cardinando grin.

“Princess, are you awake?”

“…Mmm.”

As I got up, rubbing my swollen eyelids, I was on the sofa.

Feeling that the headrest was a bit hard, I glanced down and saw Delphina’s tanned thigh.

“Whaugh!”

“Are you alright?”

Sleep fled immediately. As I startled and jumped up, Delphina, equally surprised, asked.

“Are you awake?”

In my ears, still unable to gather my wits, a familiar voice reached me.

“Oscar…?”

“It seems you’re fully awake now, Princess Evangeline.”

Oscar, with his now-familiar distinctive smile, brought a teacup to his lips while holding a newspaper in one hand.

Only then did yesterday’s memories fully inflate in my mind like a balloon.

“…Um, about yesterday.”

“No.”

But Oscar shook his head in response.

“I should be the one apologizing. Although it wasn’t my intention, I ended up saying harsh words to my fiancée.”

“…So you didn’t mean it.”

“Of course not. What do you take me for?”

Oscar answered in a composed tone.

“B-but still. I too…”

I opened my mouth in a shrinking voice. I felt I should apologize somehow, but contrary to my intentions, my tongue kept curling up on its own.

Even now, I’m afraid of war. Nevertheless, it was clear that being captivated by that fear was something I shouldn’t have done to both Delphina and Oscar.

Come to think of it, it must be true that Oscar was attacked because I didn’t act decisively.

In my heart, a gloomy guilt crept up and raised its head.

Then how should I apologize to them? Should I say I was possessed by something? That I wasn’t in my right mind? Whatever I say would just sound like an excuse.

“…Evangeline.”

Looking at me as I muttered with my head bowed, Oscar opened his mouth.

“Everyone makes mistakes.”

To me, who was trailing off, Oscar said,

“And people call those who embrace such mistakes, comfort them, and correct them so they don’t make the same mistakes again, friends.”

“…Friends?”

I lifted my head, puzzled.

“I want to gain your trust before your love.”

“Trust?”

“The trust between friends.”

Oscar tilted his head and asked.

“I can at least have that much, can’t I?”

“…Yes.”

I nodded firmly.

If that’s what satisfies you.

If that’s what you want, I can give it to you, of course.

I, who was about to answer “I’m sorry,” closed my mouth.

Choosing a better answer from my mind, I smiled and said,

“Thank you.”

The fact that Oscar’s expression, as he looked at my face, seemed somewhat sad, must have been just my imagination.

Shortly after, Oscar suddenly opened his mouth.

“By the way, it seems like you’ve been speaking informally to me.”

“…Ah, that.”

I scratched my head and muttered.

“Come to think of it… since I’m older, maybe I should just speak informally from now on?”

After speaking informally in anger yesterday, it felt somewhat awkward to go back to formal speech. Anyway, that’s how I felt.

And I’m a year older, right? The bossy gene inside me was raising its head, saying “this guy.”

Hearing my words, Oscar muttered.

“Hmm, is that so. Then…”

Nodding as if it was a good idea, Oscar suddenly leaned his face in close to me and said,

“Then can I call you ‘big sis’ too?”

“Are you crazy.”

-Thwack.

With a dull sound, Oscar’s chin turned sideways.

“Prince!!”

Glancing at Delphina, who was screaming, I belatedly muttered in my heart.

‘Oops, by reflex.’