episode_0080

88.

Three days after the accident that occurred when the twin heirs of the Raidlin family, especially Yuri, suddenly ran amok, the incident was neatly resolved with only a few people involved knowing the full story without any disturbing rumors spreading.

“I didn’t know it before when I was in the royal palace, but my aunt is also amazing… At that time, I just sat next to my mom and saw her smiling hahaha.”

As a party to the incident, Liana, who had been watching the proceedings at the Duke’s house without knowing the full story, suddenly muttered in front of Rachel and Rona, who were also involved.

Since the incident occurred in a secluded place, covering it up would not have been a big deal, but even though one of the twin heirs involved disappeared in an instant, no one spoke about it.

In just three days, the heir to the dukedom disappeared from people’s conversations, as if he had never existed from the beginning.

There was no magic involved that deceived perception or manipulated memory.

It was simply because Vanessa, the owner of the Raidrin duchy, stepped forward and made a firm decision to do so.

“It would be rather strange if the owner of the kingdom’s highest noble family was not that resourceful.”

“Is that so? But it’s strange when you think about how you and the twins had conflicting opinions before. If you had this much control, wouldn’t you have been able to just ignore it and push your opinion?”

“Well, Vanessa is an aristocratic person, in a good or bad way. This means that it was left alone because it was a protest that took place within the boundaries of the family and within certain rules that the person tolerated. Ultimately, if you are expressing your opinion for the sake of each other’s family, you should not use force to crush the other party without justification. That kind of thing is just a tyrant, and it’s not good for the family in the long run.”

“Even if you have the power to do whatever you want, you don’t do it carelessly, you don’t act based on emotions, you follow the rules… Is that right?”

“Yes, that is the so-called ‘aristocratic dignity’. As the one who always has the upper hand, he is generous and unforgiving when he crosses the line. The sense of stability that such a long tradition brings helps the family survive for a long time.”

“It seemed like I was really upset because things didn’t go my way…”

“Vanessa is truly an aristocratic person because even those feelings are all real and she actually has the power to overturn everything, but she takes it for granted that she cannot do whatever she wants.”

“Geez, it’s a bit difficult.”

Liana, who was talking to Rachel, eventually groaned, closed her eyes, and shook her head.

Then, when Liana saw Lorna, who was standing aside and not participating in the conversation, she realized that she was using a secret technique to treat the words she heard with her ears as unintelligible voice signals and send them out of her skull instead of keeping them in her mind. I was able to recognize the fact.

Feeling somewhat wronged, Liana glared at Rona for a moment, but then quickly looked away from her, who was just blinking calmly.

It was true that, as a knight, she had no need to understand or listen to these words. It is the virtue of a knight to simply act as a sword that is wielded honestly for its master.

Of course, in reality, the vice-captain of the royal knights’ guard usually has political sense, but Lorna was a typical but exceptional case who only used her head when headbutting or contemplating how to swing her sword.

And what made it possible was…

Liana thought of her older sister, Anise.

Perhaps it was she who valued Lorna’s skills and placed her in the position of vice-captain of the Knights of the Royal Guard, protecting her knowingly or unknowingly.

And now, somehow, Liana herself is in a position where she has to treat her like her older sister.

When Liana’s thoughts reached that point, she felt strange again.

As Liana closed her mouth and lost herself in something that was either sentimental or contemplative, Rachel and Lorna quietly stayed by her side without disturbing her.

However, the silence they had created was soon shattered.

It was because there was a visitor who came to visit them.

“I came to thank you for saving me from a long spell. I would also like to thank you for your consideration in waiting for me to find out what I should have done right away.”

Mari, the current sole heir to the Raidrin duchy, originally two, but now one, bowed her head politely in front of Liana.

“Uh, uh, um, you don’t have to say that much. It wasn’t a big deal, no, it was a big deal, but… Are you feeling better than that? Your complexion still doesn’t look good.”

The person she thought was a friend of her age behaved extremely politely and rigidly, and Liana’s embarrassment was revealed and she spewed out gibberish.

The eyes of Rachel, who was standing next to Liana, twitched at the sight of her being so obscene that she thought it was a good thing that there were no other eyes to see, but Rachel was the only one whose expression changed even slightly in response to Liana’s pathetic behavior.

Lorna was still standing with a face as if she had not heard or seen anything, as if she was letting out the words she had just heard, and Marie, the person dealing with Liana, spoke to Liana with a face as stiff as a doll without any changes.

“I’m fine. Also, can I tell you about your mother’s… no, our family’s decision?”

Liana, who still had no dignity but had corrected her embarrassed expression and returned it to a serious face, nodded her head in permission, and a low-pitched voice as if she was playing a pre-recorded voice came out of Marie’s mouth.

“From now on, according to the Duke’s wishes, our family will support Princess Liana with all our might. Yuri, who was the previous heir along with me, has been stripped of his position as successor and imprisoned indefinitely in response to an unpleasant incident in the past. I will also retain my position as successor, but will be suspended from family affairs for the time being.◦ @◦

In front of Liana, who was silent and unable to find the right words to respond to the outpouring of words, Marie quickly opened her mouth again.

“If you don’t have anything to say, can I leave now?”

Liana, who had been staring at Marie’s expressionless face, eventually quietly sent her away with an appropriate greeting thanking the Duke for his help.

“It’s insurance. It looks like he has the qualifications.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Unlike before, Marie, who was very stiff than before, was sent away, and in the space where only the three of them were left, Liana, who was sighing deeply, turned her head to hear Rachel’s words next to her.

“To anyone other than those of us who have experienced it directly, it would seem that the twin successors were disqualified for opposing Vanessa’s opinion. If something went wrong, they would have blamed it all on Vanessa and decided to preserve the family. Perhaps, if Marie had decided that she wasn’t good enough to be the successor, she would have taken a different approach… but I don’t think that’s the case.”

“That’s why it’s called probation, not recreation. Still, we don’t know each other and we don’t even see each other differently, so isn’t your attitude too rigid? No matter how much it happened, still…”

Liana, who nodded after hearing Rachel’s words, leaned back in her chair with a relaxed expression and expressed her dissatisfaction with Marie.

Then Rachel, who was looking at Liana blankly, blurted out a word.

“It’s hard to be so shameless when you’re the one who’s going to cut your head.”

“What?”

“That’s what insurance means. On the surface, it’s a fight over the throne, but if something goes wrong, you can’t just say it’s Vanessa’s fault and end it by saying you understand. In that case, Marie would sacrifice the necks of all of us here, including Vanessa, and ask for forgiveness.”

“In some cases, it may be possible to capture them alive and hand them over, but it won’t make much of a difference in the end,” Rachel added with a calm expression on her face, in contrast to Liana’s astonished expression.

“It was obvious that if you fail anyway, it won’t end well.”

Rona, who had been quiet before saying a word, didn’t seem too agitated.

Next to Liana, who was quickly calming down, perhaps because the other two were so calm, Rachel thought to herself about something she had not said.

Although the Duke’s family said they would support him with all their might, it was as if they were saying that they had no intention of properly serving him as a superior, considering that the words were delivered in the form of a notification to the successor, not the Duke himself.

This means that although Princess Liana is nominally in charge, in reality, she will be treated as if she were under her command.

It was something that should have been indignant, and even if they couldn’t protest directly, it was a situation where a fight could occur, but Rachel didn’t say anything to the two who didn’t notice this.

It would be a different story if she was truly loyal to Liana and wanted to put her on the throne and serve her, but their goal, including Liana, was not power in the first place.

The hero that Anis had all to herself was their only goal and nothing else mattered.

Rachel finished her thought, believing that if she just stayed still and did nothing, Vanessa would understand her meaning in some way.