Midnight in Valentine (1)

“…I didn’t expect you to come at me like that. You got me there, Princess Evangeline.”

Cardinando answered.

“But Princess, even if that’s the case, you still don’t have a choice.”

“I know.”

I nodded at Cardinando’s words.

“It’s not me who chooses, nor is it you, Prince Cardinando. The one who chooses is Miss Miriam.”

“…Indeed.”

Cardinando nodded.

“Then I should ask this side again. Miss Miriam…”

“I’m sorry!”

At the same time, Miriam swallowed hard and shouted in a shrill voice.

“I, I’m afraid… I cannot accept your proposal… it seems.”

“…”

Cardinando’s expression twisted slightly, and I glanced at him with a smile.

“…Why is that?”

Cardinando asked, staring at Miriam.

“…If we just cover up and move on from this incident, it will leave a bad precedent that might cause the same thing to happen again.”

Miriam continued her words articulately, even while fidgeting and avoiding Cardinando’s gaze.

“So, I think I need to officially establish a precedent so that such things don’t happen again, for the future… and for other departments like the gardening club that might be created in the future, it’s difficult to just let it go… I think…”

Cardinando, who had been silently looking down at Miriam as she muttered with her head deeply bowed, eventually turned his steps silently.

“…I understand. If that’s Miss Miriam’s thinking, then there’s nothing I can do.”

 

Without even looking back at the other three who had turned pale, Cardinando stepped outside the club room.

“Wait.”

At that moment, Oscar quietly stopped him.

“Are you just going to leave like this?”

“…What do you mean?”

Cardinando asked in a cold voice, slightly turning his head.

As if he thought there was no need to pretend anymore, the friendly attitude from just a moment ago had already disappeared without a trace.

“I’m a busy person, Oscar. Unlike someone.”

“You made others apologize, even going as far as to lay hands on their faces, but how generous are you planning to be with your own wrongdoings?”

Oscar said in a sharp voice, regardless of Cardinando’s sarcasm.

“…What do you mean?”

“I mean that you also have an obligation to apologize.”

Oscar growled.

“…I wondered what you were saying. You’re my brother, but you’re quite narrow-minded, Oscar.”

Cardinando laughed and shook his head.

“Listen carefully, Oscar.”

Then suddenly, Cardinando thrust his face toward Oscar.

“You can’t demand anything from me.”

“…You think I can’t? If possible, right here…”

“No, you can’t. Because you have to put Yuriana’s position on the scale.”

At Cardinando’s words, Oscar’s face contorted.

“Why don’t you try exposing everything right here? You should know better than anyone that you and Yuriana would be more embarrassed than me, right?”

“…Despicable bastard.”

Cardinando, who had been looking at the muttering Oscar, silently smiled and once again distanced himself from him.

Cardinando glanced at the three girls, who were restless and had now turned completely pale.

“…”

Unlike before, without saying anything to them, Cardinando left the club room alone.

The girls, who had been looking at each other with dazed expressions, eventually walked out of the club room with zombie-like steps.

The sound of the four sets of footsteps gradually faded away.

Carefully closing the wide-open door, Delphina looked at Oscar with a worried expression and asked,

“…That conversation just now.”

“Such things happen.”

Oscar shook his head.

“…It’s just a personal matter between us, so please don’t worry about it.”

Oscar said this as he gathered his things and got up from his seat.

“I’ll be leaving first.”

“Uh, okay.”

At his sudden words, I nodded dazedly and waved my hand.

‘What was that conversation about?’

I was worried about it inwardly, but I thought it probably wasn’t anything serious.

Seeing Yuriana’s name mentioned, it was likely related to internal affairs of the imperial family.

‘I should console him later.’

I nodded as I muttered inwardly.

“…Um, thank you.”

At that moment, Miriam said awkwardly.

“For helping me, and… that joining.”

“Ah, that…”

At Miriam’s words, a mischievous impulse activated in me, and I shook my head with a deliberately troubled expression.

“I just threw that out because it was the only thing I could think of at the time.”

“…Eh.”

Miriam muttered in a bewildered voice and stared at me with trembling eyes.

“T-then it was a lie…?”

“Ahaha, I’m joking.”

Only then did I smile and wave my hand.

“I’ll officially join here.”

After barely calming down Miriam, who was crying and wailing, begging me not to joke around, I received an armful of stuff from her.

She said they were gardening supplies that would be helpful for beginners, but honestly, apart from the flowerpot and watering can, most of them were things I had no idea what they were used for.

Still, thinking it would be better to accept what was given, I took everything she offered, and ended up with so much stuff that I couldn’t hold it all in one hand.

Weight wasn’t particularly an issue, but volume was.

In the end, with Miriam’s help, I managed to carefully select and adjust the volume to the point where I could barely carry everything at once.

Miriam subtly tried to persuade Delphina if she also had any intention of officially joining, but Delphina shook her head, saying she wanted to think about it a bit more.

…Well, Delphina didn’t seem particularly interested in things like gardening. Given her active personality, circles where there are more people and frequent outings would probably suit her better than the gardening club.

Anyway, for the past few days, I’ve been focusing all my attention on growing the morning glory I received from Miriam.

Some might say, what’s there to focus on when growing just a wildflower, but at least I was sincere.

To be precise, I tried to focus.

Until news that couldn’t possibly be ignored reached my ears.

“…Dropout?”

The one who first informed me of this news was none other than Delphina.

Even she said that it wasn’t the first time she had heard the news, but rather something she had heard secondhand.

“It must have been that guy Cardinando or whatever, plotting something.”

“The First Prince?”

“When there’s a problem in the circle where he’s the leader, his reputation drops, so he expelled the students who caused the problem from the school.”

Delphina said, shaking her head.

“I looked into it, and if the student who caused the problem drops out first, the Student Council can’t do anything in principle. They can’t punish someone who isn’t affiliated with the academy.”

“…Even so, dropping out.”

I muttered the two words “dropping out” inside my mouth.

Of course, it’s true that they did wrong.

The literature circle they belonged to is a large-scale circle where the Empire’s First Prince serves as the leader.

If an empty club room becomes available, it would be nothing for them to snatch that empty club room using the circle’s power.

However, no matter how much they coveted the club room, it wasn’t appropriate to harass a member of a club room that already had an owner in such a way.

Therefore, they should have received appropriate punishment based on the judgment of the Student Council, which coordinates issues of conflict between circles.

This kind of outcome wasn’t right.

“…Doesn’t Oscar know?”

“Of course I contacted him!”

Delphina muttered in a voice mixed with a sigh.

“The Prince, really, how could he not say a word to us? What kind of relationship do we have?”

“Yeah, what kind of relationship?”

“…It’s not ‘yeah.'”

Delphina shook her head vigorously.

“Not just about this conversation, but Prince Oscar has been a bit strange lately.”

“Strange how?”

“He hasn’t been coming to see you at all recently, Princess.”

“It’s nice and quiet because he’s not coming, so what?”

I retorted, shrugging my shoulders. Just then, a strange voice suddenly echoed in my ears.

[That’s hurtful, Princess Evangeline.]

“Ack!”

Not having been on alert at all, I was startled by the unexpected bizarre voice and glared in the direction it came from.

“…A shadow puppet?”

[It’s me, Oscar.]

The shadow puppet opened its mouth.

[I borrowed my sister’s shadow puppet for a moment. It may look and sound a bit blurry since I’m not the original owner, but fortunately, it seems there’s no problem with having a conversation.]

I glared at the shadow puppet and said,

“You scared me. What are you doing, going through all this trouble?”

[I apologize. But I had no choice but to meet the Princess like this.]

To my complaint, Oscar replied.

[I am currently in a situation where I have temporarily returned to the Empire.]

“Eh?!”

I asked, surprised.

“What about the academy?”

[I’ve already talked with the professor. When I said it was important, they gave permission without much fuss.]

‘Well, who would refuse a request from an imperial prince…’

[As the Princess just heard, the three who dropped out are all children of noble families in our Empire.]

“So they had no choice but to follow the coercion of Cardinando that bast… I mean, the Prince.”

“Since Miriam is clearly a person from the Republic, even an imperial prince couldn’t do more than apply subtle pressure to her.”

At Delphina’s words, I nodded.

“That’s why he handled it that way. Within the range of his reach, to avoid harming his reputation.”

[Whether it’s a coincidence or not… it seems all three of them were children of viscount or baron families. They were families with small influence who were clinging to Prince Cardinando, so they probably had no choice but to comply with his unreasonable demands.]

“That can’t be.”

Delphina shook her head.

“So, Oscar, what are you doing there?”

[…I’m planning to persuade them and make them return to the academy. If things go well, I can both solidify my sister’s position and give Cardinando a big hit.]

Then, after hesitating for a moment, Oscar opened his mouth again.

[And, once everything is resolved… I have something I want to tell Princess.]

At his unexpected words, feeling a chill for some reason, I quickly said to him,

“What is it? Tell me now, don’t say ominous things.”

[…I’m sorry, but I cannot grant that request.]

However, Oscar… no, the shadow puppet conveying Oscar’s voice shook its head.

[This is an issue related not just to you, but also to the safety of myself and my sister.]

“What do you…”

[Don’t worry. No matter how much investigation is done, this is the Empire, I won’t die or anything.]

Through the shadow puppet, Oscar made a small laughing sound and bowed his head.

[I’ll end here.]

“Wait!”

-Crackle.

The shadow puppet, as if it had never existed, turned into black smoke and scattered into the air.

I felt somewhat uneasy.