Episode 93: Being Watched
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“……Um, excuse me. Could you say that one more time?”
Victoria, having received a report about the commotion in front of the castle gate in the Weimar Royal Castle’s conference room, doubted her ears, wondering if she had misheard the reporting soldier.
However, what came from the soldier’s mouth was the exact same report as before.
“Yes! Earlier, a man calling himself a Summoner was causing a ruckus, demanding to meet with Your Highness. When we tried to remove him, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, striking the man who called himself a Summoner directly. He lost consciousness, so we apprehended him and removed him from the Capital City.”
“……Lightning, when it’s this clear out…?”
“Yes! I believe it was Divine Retribution. I saw Divine Retribution for the first time!”
The soldier was saying such things with excitement, but Victoria had never seen Divine Retribution either.
What Victoria was thinking was that the phenomenon was probably not Divine Retribution, but…
“Understood. It’s good if you were able to remove him for now. Good work.”
“Yes!”
The soldier who came to report gave his reply and left the conference room.
Then, a heavy atmosphere settled between Victoria and the few dignitaries who remained in the conference room.
“……Now, what do you think this means?”
Victoria already knew the answer, but she didn’t want to say it herself, so she wanted someone else to say it.
“……Perhaps, it was the work of Maya-dono…”
“Really!? You really think so too!?”
Since she started participating in politics in place of her father the King, she had been trying to speak formally to project an air of dignity, but the shock was so great that her tone collapsed.
“I don’t know how he did it. I don’t know, but… if you told me that Maya-dono caused this phenomenon, I would readily believe it. After all…”
“……He even found out about Wimple, didn’t he?”
All pretense of being the next queen was gone, and there was only the figure of a woman trembling in fear.
She could still clearly recall that scene.
Where did he get the information? How did he infiltrate?
She didn’t know at all, but Kenta knew that the Weimar Royal Family was secretly keeping Wimple alive, and he directly imposed sanctions.
The roar that echoed in the middle of the night.
The tower that blazed and eventually collapsed.
Everything was Victoria’s trauma.
Her father the King, for that matter, had fallen ill because of this.
Something similar had just happened.
This time, it was in the form of helping them out of a troublesome situation, but that wasn’t the problem.
“……We’re being watched… We are being watched by Maya-dono after all…”
When Victoria said that, the dignitaries also swallowed hard.
“Maya-dono’s anger hasn’t subsided yet…”
Victoria said, holding her head.
The dignitaries desperately tried to comfort the next queen.
“I-If Maya-dono is still angry, he would have left this alone! The fact that he helped us instead means that his anger has subsided, I believe!”
“T-That’s right, Your Highness! This wasn’t a hostile act, but rather an act of assistance! Maya-dono no longer harbors any anger!”
“Rather, the fact that he’s acting in a way that doesn’t harm Your Highness might mean that he’s interested in Your Highness!”
“Don’t say careless things!”
Victoria strongly rebuked the last dignitary’s words.
“……We might be being watched, you know!”
Victoria rebuked in a hushed voice, glaring at the dignitary.
The startled dignitaries hurriedly looked around, beginning to show a frightened appearance, wondering if they were being watched from somewhere.
“Besides, the person by Lord Kenta’s side is probably an important figure even in this world. And Lord Kenta dotes on that person. Don’t make any remarks that could cause a misunderstanding, even by chance.”
After saying that, Victoria said with a serious face.
“…You’ll seriously get erased, you know.”
The dignitaries who heard Victoria’s words turned pale and nodded repeatedly.
Seeing that, Victoria let out a small sigh, leaned back in her chair, and looked up at the sky.
“……That place is a magical zone full of landmines. Why did he set up residence in this country…”
The dignitaries could only look at Victoria, who was muttering with a tearful face, with pity.
Because if they said anything, they might get erased.
And that concern was right on the mark.
The state of that conference was being monitored by Nara and Eva.
“……I can’t help but feel sorry for this person.”
“Yes, indeed. I’ve known Princess Victoria for a long time, but… it’s the first time I’ve seen her so timid…”
“So she’s just that scared of Maya-san…”
“For Maya-sama to be that angry… I wonder what Princess Victoria did?”
“Come to think of it, I’ve never heard the details of why Weimar is groveling to Maya-san.”
“Shall we ask Meileen-sama?”
Nara and Eva, seeing Victoria and the others so frightened of Kenta, became scared, wondering what Kenta had done.
They were scared, but they needed to know because they might have the opportunity to interact with Victoria in the future.
And they were simply curious.
“Meileen-saan.”
Nara, who called out to Meileen, who was taking a breather after putting Leon down for a nap, asked what had happened between Victoria and Kenta.
And then regretted hearing it.
“……Seriously?”
“Yes, it’s true. After all, she deceived Kenta and broke her promise, so it’s a natural result.”
Not at Kenta’s actions.
Because she saw Meileen talking about it with a smile as if it were natural.
Her face was smiling, but her eyes weren’t smiling at all, and she felt madness instead.
Seeing such Meileen, the two of them…
“Hahaha…”
“Y-Yes, that’s right…”
That was all they could say, and they couldn’t express any more impressions.
For now, they had heard what they wanted to hear, so they left Meileen’s presence together, returned to their house as if fleeing, and sat down on the sofa together, then let out a very large sigh, “Haaaa.”
“I swear I’ll never go against Meileen-san.”
“Me too… Originally, Meileen-sama was the top of the women here, but I’ll respect her even more from now on.”
It was the day that ‘Meileen is too scary’ was engraved in their hearts.