CHAPTER 7
I pressed my hands to my stomach and began to moan.
Maxine considered me only fleetingly with an uninterested glance. He didn't feel the need to feign an ounce of sympathy when the person right next to him had doubled over in pain. The man's heart was apparently made of stone. But I secretly admired his cool methods just a little bit.
"So, Sir Norman Gilbit, there are only men present here. Take off the mask."
"Sir Maxine, are you only interested in my master's face, or would you perhaps rather hear what Carolia's people think about their motherland? Wouldn't you like to know our opinion on these warmongering plans?"
"Whatever it is I want to know, one thing is for sure!" Maxine's voice grew louder. "I did not ask the butler!"
His left hand struck out so quickly I didn't even see it. The bearded butler sailed a few meters through the air, crashed against the wall, and remained lying there, motionless. A maid ran to the gasping victim and lifted his head onto her lap.
"He's got it good," I sighed. Damn, why did I always have to have such dirty thoughts?
Even with the loss of the butler who was his only ally, Sir Norman seemed unfazed.
"Perhaps I have made myself clear enough now, my esteemed Gilbit?" Maxine said frostily. With each subsequent word, the level of anger in his voice increased. "Simaron suspects you of treason! In your place, I would throw this mask and your idiotic pride overboard immediately, and start confessing the truth!"
Maxine took up the position where the butler had been standing, grabbed Norman by the chin, and wrenched him from his chair. This could no longer be classified as a meeting between the representative of a colonial power and the prince of an autonomous region.
"Your country is under the control of Small Simaron. What have you done behind our backs? Have you dared to make direct contact with Big Simaron's royal family? Answer me now!"
Maxine loosened the hand on Norman Gilbit's chin and gripped the mask instead. The delicate, peaceful Gilbit didn't have a chance against the representative from Small Simaron. And since I was too inconsequential to step between them and be taken seriously, I could only murmur, "Quit it, stop." But Maxine wasn't remotely interested in doing that.
He began to loosen the leather bands at the back of the mask. Norman tried to hold them together with his thin fingers, but Maxine responded by pressing down on his head. Resistance seemed futile. Next Maxine went for a stranglehold. Norman stuck his arm out. His thin white fingertips reached in my direction. I rose from my chair and touched my fingertips briefly to his. What a brave young man, not allowing himself to be defeated by illness and accidents, and still giving his all as prince. Mutely, since he couldn't speak, he withstood the torturous treatment from his opponent.
Keeping my face turned forwards, I came around the table. Just by my voice alone, Adalbert wouldn't be able to recognize me. How would he be able to tell that I'm the Demon King if I keep my hair and eyes hidden?
"Hey, you there, Mr. Maxine! It's true I've kept my mouth shut until now, but don't you think your methods are a little brutal? Mr. Gilbit was sick and was in an accident. How can you demand that he take his mask off?!"
His eyes, cold as glass, took me in his sights. "I don't know you. But I advise you to stay out of this matter. This man is a traitor to his colonial power, Small Simaron. He gave us the runaround in order to cut a deal with Big Simaron. If this betrayal proves to be true, we will be forced to withdraw Carolia's autonomy and all her other privileges."
His dry voice sounded like the growling of a predatory animal.
"But a confession doesn't count if it's forced. First just listen to what he wants to tell you voluntarily. And stop choking him, or he's going to suffocate."
Without taking his eyes off me, Maxine loosened his hold on Norman Gilbit's neck.
"Sir, who are you and where have you come from that you dare to criticize Small Simaron's methods? You don't seem to be from around here."
"I... I'm Captain Crusoe. My native country is very far away from here."
Suddenly a high, fine voice rung out, and everyone in the room stopped to listen. It was so pretty that you wanted to put your hands over your ears to hold on to it.
"So you really want to see my face that much?"
"Sir Norman, please don't do it!" the butler pleaded from his lap-pillow. "You can't reveal your face! Think about the consequences! What will happen to your people and this country?! If you take your mask off now, there won't be any future for our people!"
"Baker, I simply can't do this any more."
With his delicate fingers, Norman Gilbit, the masked prince, began to loosen the leather bands at his neck. He was about to remove his mask voluntarily.
"Sir Gilbit! No!" the butler and maid yelled in chorus. Both of them were about to break out in tears.
"It looks like my time has come. I don't believe I'll be able to protect my secret any longer."
He pulled his head out of the silver mask. The platinum blond hair that had been tucked inside rolled down his back in waves. His cheeks and chin were a translucent white, which probably stemmed from the fact that they'd seen no sun in years. His sparkling bright green eyes seemed to be sensitive to the light. There were red welts under his eyes and along his ears which were probably caused by wearing the mask such a long time. Yet these small injuries couldn't impact the overwhelming beauty of this woman. She smiled a tortured smile.
What?! A woman?! It wasn't a masked prince after all, but rather a masked princess?!
"What is the meaning of this?"
As I heard Maxine's tight voice, I was seized by a shudder and came back to my senses. This woman's beauty had taken my breath away for a full twenty seconds.
Drunkenly swaying, the butler came back and gripped the woman's fist, which still held the mask, with both hands.
"My lady..." the butler said.
"Who the hell are you?! Where is the real Sir Gilbit?!" roared Maxine. The whites of his eyes were bloodshot; his light brown eyes burned with anger. He smashed one plate after another on the floor. "I came here to speak with Norman Gilbit! At the command of His Majesty Saralegi, the King of Small Simaron, I'm here to take him to task! And then suddenly it turns out that some random shrew has come along and slipped into his role!"
The butler grabbed Maxine fearlessly by the lapels and shook him. "You dare to call my mistress a random shrew?! All those years my lady stood faithfully by her husband's side when he was still well!"
"Let it go, my dear Baker. Sir Maxine's anger is more than justified. We have no alternative but to end all the secrecy and plead for forgiveness from our motherland Simaron."
Murata, Maxine and I stared at the woman.
I was probably the only one frivolously speculating about her age and body size. She was probably a few years older than me. From her looks, she had to be about twenty.
"I, Flynn Gilbit, married my husband Norman Gilbit six years ago in the spring. Because of my husband's childhood illness, he lived his life under this mask. That never bothered me; Norman had a good heart. As a prince and also as a man, he was respected by all. But three years ago he met his death in the carriage accident."
"What exactly are you trying to say? That for three years, this region has not been ruled by the prince, but by his wife? Am I understanding this correctly?"
Flynn Gilbit couldn't hold it together any longer; she began to cry. The tears of a beautiful woman didn't seem like normal tears, in my opinion. I imagined they were filled with a lot of love or loneliness.
"We didn't have much time for mourning," she said when she found her voice again. "We had to face a terrible fact: Norman and I still didn't have any children. There was no descendant." She sniffed noisily and continued, "And Simaron's laws prohibit feminine succession. Without a successor, the feudal territory would be returned to the state, and so the whole region would be absorbed into Simaron. We had to prevent that. And this is the result."
Flynn wrapped her thin white fingers around the mask and twisted it until the material squeaked.
"Luckily, my husband left me his mask. Since his childhood, no one had seen his face. We thought it would work out if I kept my voice a secret. So I decided to live my life as Norman Gilbit."
"How can people be so naive?" we all groaned.
This amateur trick had fooled the entire world for three years.
"It wasn't exactly easy." Flynn sighed deeply. "It would grow musty under the mask and it would stink of sweat. And in the summer you also get a heat rash!"
"Laws have been shamelessly broken here, and you have nothing better to do than complain about heat rash? Who the hell cares if you have a fart sitting across from you?"
Well, she hadn't actually said anything about sitting across from a fart...
"Oh my lady, what a pitiable fate you've been forced to suffer! I would never have been able to bear that sweat-soaked mask," the butler lamented.
"How did you get through all the meals?" I wanted to know.
"Did it never occur to anyone to simply wash the thing?" Adalbert groaned.
Flynn Gilbit's story dragged on for an eternity. We had to suffer through six whole years of her life. But people can demonstrate remarkable staying power when a beautiful woman is making a passionate confession.
"The parliament will deal with Norman Gilbit's death," the representative from Small Simaron eventually said. "But back to my original concern: Norman... no, Flynn Gilbit, is it true that you have spoken out against Small Simaron's war plans and independently launched an anti-war movement?"
"Absolutely not," was her answer.
I was a little disappointed. Damn it, was there not a single, solitary pacifist around here?
Maxine wasn't convinced. "Then how do you explain the rumors about Gilbit?"
"Which rumors?"
"You are beasts that take the form of men. Wolves should quarrel with wolves and foxes with foxes. Driven by greed you seek out human settlements, you shameless fools! This clever girl carries out her duties with a smile. And you dare to harm even a hair on the head of this enchanting creature?!"
Those who were witnessing this display for the first time were speechless with terror.
"With deadly poison, you play your game. And only for the question of its whereabouts was this brave person harmed. Doing nothing to stop this evil -- that is appalling. Should it be that such creatures come away unpunished? No, it should not."
He pointed at the shocked duo of Flynn and Maxine in turn. He stepped forward on his toes and turned his side towards them. This supermodel pose had become second nature to him.
"You are barbarians! Though it is repugnant to me to misuse such a valuable drink that should instead delight the palate, this evil must be detoxified. My wish was not to take lives, yet you leave me no choice. My sword will strike you down!"
Although there was always some drivel about a sword from this guy, he had never made use of one.
The broken teapot's spilled contents, along with the remnants of tea in the teacups that had dropped to the floor, all flowed together into a large puddle.
"W... what is that?!"
Out of reflex, Flynn lifted her feet off the floor. Still sitting on her chair, she wrapped her arms around her knees like a child.
Maxine, the other target of this punishment, assessed the situation in a more relaxed manner. What he was seeing for the first time in his life was the so-called "magic." The sight of it might be nauseating, but there were also some exorcists who let themselves be carried away into tasteless acts.
Adalbert had torn the heaving maid out of Maxine's grip. His attention was focused much less on the pool of tea slowly taking on humanoid form, and much more on the faintly glowing blue demon stone on Yuri's chest. But that stone belongs to the Wincott family, he thought. Susanna Julia had always worn it, ever since birth. What was it doing hanging around the neck of this lout? Who the hell had given him Julia's demon stone?!
The red liquid, which had by now formed a veritable lake, stilled for a moment, resembling the surface of a calm sea. Everyone breathed out. But even before they could breathe in again, the liquid drew itself up into a human shape that nearly grazed the ceiling. With the four fingers of its hand, it formed a pistol and pointed it directly at Flynn and Maxine.
"W... what? An angry tea-god?!" exclaimed Murata, the only one standing behind Yuri. He was undecided as to whether it was something to fear or something to laugh at.
Again and again, the tea god fired red shots out of its fingertips at its targets. Fear was written across the faces of those being fired upon. To a casual observer, the whole thing might have looked like a fun game. Perhaps the Demon King was holding himself back, since there were few true villains in this arena.
"The judgement will be enforced in a small scope!"
Red liquid sprayed forth; both targets were soaked. For Maxine, every drop became a blade, and they saturated his arms and cheeks with cuts. The drops bombarding Flynn were about the dimensions of raindrops. She wouldn't even get bruises from them. Thus, the Demon King remained ever the gentleman, even in undeserved cases.
Adalbert snatched up a receipt that had fallen from the apron of a servant who had fainted.
Why was it that Yuri was able to use magic on human territory? There really shouldn't have been any elements in this small town that would obey the demons.
Soap, de-wormer, black tea (from Kakil), he read. Aha! Kakil lay on the border of the Demon Empire. That's why this black tea obeyed the orders of a demon.
Meanwhile, Shogun Yuri seemed to be missing something. He looked all around searchingly. "Oh well, it doesn't matter." He gave a resigned sigh, apparently not finding what he'd been looking for.
But it was there! In the middle of the snow white tablecloth, a tea stain had formed the character for "justice."
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