Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord - Volume 2 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Hidden Boss Graduates

After packing up and vacating my dorm, I’d headed to the Dolkness mansion in the Royal Capital. Now, I sat in the carriage that carried my few belongings as it stopped in front of my parents’ unnecessarily grand mansion. I’d decided to keep the estate for now, despite wanting to sell it off; if I got rid of it, I’d feel bad for ousting all of the people who worked there, and beyond that, my parents were still living in the mansion.

To tell the truth, I had no obligation to take care of either of my parents, after all the assassination attempts they’d sent my way. It was their fault I’d had no choice but to forcefully succeed my father and take on the title of countess in the first place. I’d proposed that they go live out in the countryside somewhere in our county, supported by an allowance I’d provide to them for that purpose, but they’d refused to leave the Royal Capital. And so, in the mansion they’d remained.

What’s so good about the Royal Capital, anyway? I wondered with a sigh as I climbed down from the carriage. It’s not like either of them will ever be able to return to the aristocratic world. 

I’d sent word that I’d be stopping by the estate, so I wasn’t surprised to find that there were a few servants waiting outside for my arrival. They were all standing in stiff, upright positions, and had blanched faces. I casually glanced over at one of them, and they immediately started to tremble violently.

It’s unfortunate that they’re reacting like this, but I guess I am the person who caused all the commotion around the estate. Isn’t she a bit too scared of me, though?

Honestly, I was used to people reacting to me this way, so I didn’t particularly think much of it. The issue here was Rita, the woman standing behind me.

Rita had been my maid for the past three years, during which time she’d lived with me in the Academy dorms and been responsible for the care of me and my rooms. If that was the extent of our history, she’d be nothing more than a familiar servant to me, but she’d also just so happened to poison my tea a few times in order to save her sister, whom my parents had taken hostage. I’d later been the one to save that very sister, which had led to Rita’s loyalty to me morphing into something terrifying.

“How dare you take such an attitude toward your master?” she demanded, outraged. “Having the chance to serve Lady Yumiella should bring you to the pinnacle of happiness!”

This is just what I feared, I thought with an inward sigh. I didn’t step in, though—Rita’s gaze was far too intimidating.

“Why, I would even give my life for Lady Yumiella if she ordered me to do so! But my lady doesn’t at all desire such a thing; if anything, I am the one who wishes to die for her! Oh, seeing you treat her like this, it fills me with such a burning, fiery frustration! Do you understand what I’m trying to express to you?!”

The servants slowly shook their heads in denial.

“Y-You...don’t understand?” Rita laughed, her expression shifting from rage to an unholy glee. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you do soon enough.”

“Rita, calm down!” I finally said, cutting into her rant. “They don’t need to understand! Anyway, I don’t really care about their attitude. Oh! How about you go see your sister? You haven’t seen her for a while, right?”

Rita inclined her head. “I am grateful for your benevolence, Lady Yumiella, but there is no need to spoil Sara. She is working hard every day in order to become your slave, so—”

“Go and see her right away,” I said, cutting her off.

Rita fell silent at once, then bowed deeply to me before heading off into the depths of the mansion. Watching her go, I released a relieved breath.

Sara’s in trouble—I’ve got to save her before she falls too deeply into her sister’s clutches. I can’t have another Rita running around...

My biggest concern, however, was the other servants, who’d witnessed the entirety of what just happened. I didn’t want them to be turned off by Rita’s actions.

I haven’t brainwashed her, I promise!

Before my parents had assigned Rita to me, she’d been working here at the Dolkness estate in the Royal Capital, but it was becoming clear that I couldn’t leave her to her own devices. At this rate, I’d probably have to bring her home with me to Dolkness County. I was scared to think of what she might do if I left her behind...

Now that Rita was gone, the servants nervously tried to show me around the mansion. Unfortunately, I couldn’t enter the house just yet.

“Wait a second,” I told them. “I’d like to go to the yard first.”

“The yard...?” one of the maids asked. She gave me a puzzled look but said nothing more, bringing me over to a large stretch of lawn.

Now that I’d gotten a better look at it, I realized the Dolkness mansion was L-shaped, which meant there was plenty of room for a sprawling field of grass.

All right, I thought, nodding to myself. This should be good enough for a few days.

“Ryuu!” I yelled toward the sky.

Past the clouds, a dark entity appeared, flying straight toward us—it was Ryuu, my absolutely adorable child, who was also my pride and joy. Reaching the skies just above the mansion, Ryuu wildly flapped his wings as he came down. When his feet thumped to the earth, the ground quaked violently under my feet.

“You did such a good job moving here from the Academy, Ryuu!” I praised him, jumping onto his face, which was as long as I was tall. “What a good boy you are!”

Ryuu fawned over me, rumbling purrs resonating through his body. They were so deep the sound almost felt like it came from deep within the earth.

How cute, I thought, my heart full. Even if he is a dragon, he’s still a baby. 

That’s when I realized I’d completely forgotten about the maid. I turned back to apologize, only to find that she’d collapsed to the ground. She seemed petrified with terror, judging by the loud chattering of her teeth.

Oh, she must not be fond of animals. My bad, miss.

◆◆◆

At the longest, I decided I was only going to stay at the Dolkness mansion for a week. After all, I just needed to wait until Patrick finished taking care of the errands he had to run in the Royal Capital, and then we’d be good to go. I’d expected him to arrive a few days after I’d left for the mansion, so I was quite surprised when he showed up much sooner—that is, the same day I arrived.

When I went to the front of the residence to greet him, one of the first things I did was invite him to my room. The chamber itself still felt quite unfamiliar to me, since I’d only just arrived myself, but I figured it was as good a place to talk as any.

“Didn’t you have some things to take care of?” I asked as we walked there. “Are you done with everything already?”

“Not yet,” Patrick admitted, “but after vacating my dorm at the Academy, I had nowhere to stay.”

“But...doesn’t your family have a place here in the Royal Capital too?”

“Yeah, they do, but there aren’t enough people working there to take care of me. Would you mind if I stayed here instead?”

The Dolkness mansion was plenty large enough for mere provincial aristocrats to be living in, since my parents had neglected Dolkness County and based themselves in the Royal Capital instead. Still, it didn’t sound right to me that a margrave’s estate didn’t have enough spare staff to care for Patrick, especially if he was going to be staying there all by himself.

There must be some other reason he wants to stay here, I mused. Oh, I’ve got it!

Patrick seemed to notice a slight shift in my expression, because he heaved a sigh. “To be honest, I made that up. It was just an excuse so I could spend more time with—”

“I get it!” I cut in. “You’re scared, aren’t you? I mean, who wouldn’t be after telling their family they weren’t going to visit them even once after graduating from the Academy?”

“Oh... Uh, yeah, that’s it.”

“Are you sure you shouldn’t go and show your face at the Mark of Ashbatten? Aren’t your parents worried?”

“I’m more scared of letting you go to Dolkness County alone,” Patrick said, exasperated. “I’m worried about you.”

Am I really that unreliable? I wondered. I guess it’s fine. Regardless, I’m happy he’s coming.

◆◆◆

Later that night, as I lay in my unfamiliar bed, I realized that Patrick and I were actually sleeping under the same roof. Now that we weren’t in separate dorms anymore, like we’d used to be, something was bound to happen.

Was this what he was after all along? I wondered. Patrick, you’re such a horndog. How should I go about fending him off if he comes in here? Or...maybe I shouldn’t? But I don’t want to do anything until we’re married...

I stared at the foreign planes of my room’s ceiling, my thoughts wandering, as I waited. Until, finally...the time came, and I heard the sound of someone softly knocking on my door.

“You can come in...”

He wouldn’t immediately jump on me, right? I should be able to come up with a plan while we talk. Us talk, much important.

The door to my room slowly opened, creaking as it went. A person walked slowly inside, their silhouette growing gradually more apparent as they drifted closer. They were slightly taller than me, and had their hair tied up in the back, and they...wore a standard maid outfit? The person was a maid?!

“Good morning, Lady Yumiella; I’ve come to get you. Breakfast is ready.”

“Rita...?” I asked slowly.

I still couldn’t quite believe that the person who’d come into my room was my maid. Confused, I looked over at the window—a sliver of morning sunshine was spilling through a gap in the curtains. It appeared that, contrary to my expectations, it was already morning.

Does time pass differently in this room than others?

◆◆◆

Having not slept a wink, I was still unbelievably tired, even after breakfast. Noticing my fatigue, Patrick had considerately offered to spend the day at the mansion.

“You seem really sleepy,” he said idly. “Did you not like your bed?”

“Oh, that was fine; I can sleep anywhere,” I replied. “On the floor, on top of a boulder...even in a dungeon.”

“Don’t sleep in a dungeon.”

“So...does that mean floors and boulders are okay?”

“No?”

In the midst of such silly banter, Rita appeared. I’d asked her for some tea a few minutes earlier to wake me up. The tea she prepared was always exquisite, but I couldn’t tell her that—she’d probably collapse from the sheer joy of me praising her.

However...when I looked at Rita closer, I realized she hadn’t brought any of the items she needed to make us tea.

I wonder what’s going on...

“I apologize,” my maid explained, her voice frustrated. “It appears the tea will have to wait a moment. Just now, the second prince arrived at the estate. I’ve taken him into the drawing room for now, but would you rather I send him away?”

“I don’t think we can send His Highness away...”

“Nevertheless, I would chase him away with a broom if you commanded me so, Lady Yumiella,” Rita said, her expression dead serious. “Even if I were to be executed as a result, as long as it was the result of carrying out your orders, I would be happy.”

Oh my god, she’s terrifying, I thought. Though I made sure it didn’t show on my face, inwardly I was quailing in horror.

To tell the truth, I didn’t even really care if we sent the prince away or not—I was more focused on the disturbing level of seriousness in every word Rita had just said. Even Patrick was scared stiff.

“Um, Rita. We’ll meet with His Highness, so could you bring the tea over there? You know how I love your tea.”

“Yes, right away,” she agreed, her face immediately brightening up.

I don’t remember Rita being this bad at the Academy, I thought, breathing a sigh of relief when she left.

To be honest, though, I didn’t really have time to focus on that now—I needed to turn my attention to the prince waiting in my drawing room.

I thought we wouldn’t be seeing each other for a while after graduating, I thought suspiciously. I hope he doesn’t drag me into something annoying.

◆◆◆

When Patrick and I arrived at the drawing room, we found Prince Edwin waiting for us, absent his usual escort.

His level was around 40 a year ago, I mused as Patrick and I took our seats on a couch opposite the prince. If you consider the fact that the strongest knight in the king’s forces, the commander of the Knight’s Order, is at level 60, and that most of his soldiers are under level 20, Prince Edwin is actually one of the most powerful people in Valschein. I guess he doesn’t really need bodyguards anymore. 

Once we’d all settled in, the three of us began our chat with some rather innocuous small talk, mostly just congratulating one another on our graduations from the Academy.

The conversation took a turn, however, when Prince Edwin grew abruptly serious and said, “I apologize for suddenly stopping by, Lady Yumiella, Patrick. I wanted to sit down and talk with you back at the graduation ceremony, but there just wasn’t enough time.”

“If you had let us know ahead of time, we could have properly welcomed you,” I commented, watching as the prince took a sip of his tea.

“Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option, as I don’t really want my whereabouts to be public. If I sent someone, it would have left a trail.”

Strange, I thought. I’d only intended to sarcastically take a jab at him, since I would have preferred prior warning before he came over, but the prince actually did seem to feel bad about showing up so unexpectedly. If he doesn’t want it known that he came here...I wonder if he has something else he wants to speak with me about. The problem was, I didn’t want to be involved—I’d be perfectly happy to depart this room without hearing a word of it.

As I sat there, stewing over how I couldn’t just ask the prince to cut to the chase, Patrick spoke up and asked, “Did something happen? It hasn’t been that long since we graduated...”

“Well, you see...” the prince said slowly. “There’s been something that’s been happening for a while, but it got worse after graduating.”

Stop leaving us hanging and just come out with it already! I screeched internally.

Thankfully, despite the prince’s evident discomfort, he continued. “A new faction seems to have developed, one that supports me specifically. They want to make me the next king.”

“What? That’s not what you want, is it, Your Highness?”

“Of course not,” Prince Edwin replied. “I have no intention of going against my brother. Those people are just being cajoled by the aristocrats in the duke’s faction.”

So there’s a dispute going on regarding the king’s successor, and only outsiders want it to happen...? Seems like those radicals are at it again. 

The radicals, also known as the duke’s faction, or the antimainstream faction, were a group of aristocrats who were unsatisfied with the current state of things. They were dangerous people who were calling for Valschein to invade foreign kingdoms so they could gain power and profit from the infighting. From what I understood of them, most of them weren’t actually war aficionados, they just wanted to snatch up the important positions in the kingdom that were mostly held by the king’s faction, also known as the moderates. If the king chose to appoint any of them as a minister, they’d probably flip to his faction practically right away.

Prince Edwin was perhaps slightly pitiable, having caught the eyes of such ambitious people.

But wait, wouldn’t all of his problems be over if he just declared that he didn’t have any intentions of succeeding the throne? 

Curious, I asked the prince about it, and ended up receiving a detailed explanation.

“The radicalists are claiming that I’m the rightful heir to the throne, since I’m the one who defeated the Demon Lord,” Prince Edwin told me. “I believe their goal is to increase the influence of the duke and his faction by making Lady Eleanora queen, since the saintess is currently ‘recuperating.’”

“How annoying...” Patrick mumbled.

I guess the king and queen were right, I thought. They predicted that something like this would happen once the Demon Lord was defeated, and now it’s really starting. I really dodged a bullet by not going to the Demon Lord’s castle alone. I would’ve gotten myself wrapped up in all kinds of trouble. 

Upon the Demon Lord’s death, it had been announced to the public that Prince Edwin had been the one to defeat him. I’d also participated a bit, according to the official story, as had Alicia and the others. It was just that everyone other than Prince Edwin and I had ended up critically wounded.

Regardless, it sounded like the possibility of Prince Edwin and Eleanora getting married had now decreased to near impossible. She might be head over heels for the prince, but she was also the daughter of the head of the radicals, Duke Hillrose. The radicals were already trying to parade Prince Edwin around as their own, and that would only grow more pronounced if he married the daughter of their leader. Plus, Prince Edwin had no interest in marrying Eleanora either.

“Lady Eleanora must be acting quite persistent,” I commented.

“That’s what I’ve been having the most trouble with,” the prince admitted with an exhausted look. “Ever since the graduation ceremony, she keeps showing up uninvited, regardless of where I am.”

Wait, I just came to this mansion yesterday, which means the graduation ceremony was just the day before that, I realized. Eleanora’s kind of incredible for tiring him out this much in such a short period of time, isn’t she?

“She’s probably being encouraged by those around her,” I told the prince. “She’s kind of too pure for her own good...”

“That’s exactly it!” Prince Edwin proclaimed, a pained look on his face. “She has no ill intentions whatsoever, which is why it feels so awful to have to treat her unkindly.”

Hmm, what should I do here? I wondered. Honestly, things will probably only get worse if I get involved, so I should keep my nose out of it. 

“What if you were to just disappear?” I asked. “It would be impossible to cajole a second prince who doesn’t exist.”

Prince Edwin sighed. “That would likely have little to no effect. The radicals have been riling people up to take my brother down for my entire final year at the Academy.”

If that was true, it appeared there was little Prince Edwin could do. The crown would either have to make a statement by punishing the radicalist aristocrats, or they’d just have to wait for things to cool off. It shouldn’t be that hard for Prince Edwin, honestly—he’d just have to withstand Eleanora’s heavy flirting for a while.

Actually, I take that back, I thought, wincing internally. Eleanora is...a lot.

“Lady Eleanora is quite the persistent one,” I admitted to the prince. “I’ve also struggled with her.”

“Oh, right, she’s fond of you as well. She might even come here.”

Don’t jinx it, you’re going to set off an event flag! And if she does end up showing up here, you’re the one that’s going to be in the most trouble!

Just as I was about to complain to Prince Edwin over his careless language, all three of us heard a commotion from down the hall. Footsteps came rushing in the direction of the drawing room, and Rita barged in without even a knock.

“The daughter of Duke Hillrose, Lady Eleanora has arrived,” she said, panting. “Currently the other servants are stalling her, but she’ll be here at any moment.”

Didn’t she spawn kind of fast?! I thought, turning toward the prince.

I was a tad surprised by Eleanora’s impromptu invasion of the Dolkness mansion, as was Patrick, but it was clear the person most shocked was Prince Edwin himself.

“Your Highness,” Patrick said hurriedly, “let’s move to a different room for now.” He grasped the panicking prince by the arm, leading him out of the drawing room. That done, he called over his shoulder, “Yumiella, I’ll get some more details from His Highness, so I’ll leave dealing with Lady Eleanora to you!”

What?! But I don’t want to!

Alas, before I could voice my thoughts aloud, I was left alone. Just as I began to consider running myself, the door to the drawing room was thrown open, and Eleanora strode inside. It seemed that the prince had only narrowly escaped bumping into her.

Well, at least that worked out...

“Yumiella, I’ve arrived! It’s been ever so long since I last saw you!”

I blinked. “Lady Eleanora, it’s only been two days since the graduation ceremony. Also, if you had let me know you were visiting ahead of time, I would have been able to properly welcome you.”

Eleanora bounced on her heels and grinned, then gracefully sat down on the couch across from me. “Wow,” she said, “you were that excited about me visiting?”

“Yes...” I responded after a pause. The word hissed through my teeth.

Where Prince Edwin always seemed to pick up on such sarcasm from me, it seemed to fly right over Eleanora’s head. Honestly, when I’d said, “It’s only been two days,” I’d meant it. And yet, Eleanora hadn’t caught on to my meaning at all. By this point, I was sure that she wasn’t purposefully ignoring the things that I was hinting at—she just genuinely didn’t catch on to such things.

In hopes of sending her away as soon as possible, I decided to push Eleanora to say what she’d come here for. “How may I help you?” I asked her. “You must have something important to discuss, since you came by so suddenly.”

A look of confusion flickered over her face. “Something important? Why, I don’t need any reason to visit my friend’s house, do I? Plus, aren’t you going to be leaving for Dolkness County soon?”

“That’s correct,” I agreed.

Internally, I was sighing. The concept of being friends with someone like her sounded nice, but I couldn’t let myself fall for it. Eleanora was the daughter of Duke Hillrose, the head of the radical aristocrats—even if she was a good person who liked me without any ulterior motive, it would be best if I refrained from growing too close with her.

Hmm, maybe I’ll just bring up Prince Edwin, let her talk all she wants, and then have her leave.

That sounded like as good of a plan as any, so I dived in right away. “How are things going with His Highness?” I asked. “You haven’t mentioned him recently.”

Actually, now that I think about it, she hasn’t brought up her love life at all, I realized. She used to talk my ears off about it.

“Oh, would you like to hear?!” Though Eleanora’s eyes glimmered with excitement, she immediately calmed down and corrected herself. “Ahem. I mean, I’ll permit you to hear the details.”

It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. All you did was make your statement condescending...

Still, her reaction had told me all I’d needed to know—Eleanora had come here fully intending on talking to me about the prince.

“I’d love to hear all about it,” I said without even an ounce of feeling. “Please, tell me.”

Eleanora giggled. “Oh, you! I guess I’ll tell you all about it as a treat!”

I get it already! Can you hurry up and talk so you can leave?

“Hmm, where should I start,” Eleanora mused, her voice a pitch higher than usual. “Perhaps from the very beginning? Sir Edwin and I met—”

“I’ve already heard that part many times,” I interrupted, tone flat. “What about recently? How have things been these past few months?”

I briefly considered just ignoring what she was about to say, just like I’d done back at the Academy in order to get by, but I decided I should press her for a bit of information instead. This conversation would be a win for me if I could gain some insight into the current state of the Royal Capital or what Duke Hillrose was thinking.

Even if I don’t put some pressure on her, I’m sure she’ll still share details with me, I thought ruefully.

However, to my surprise, Eleanora’s expression had clouded over. “Recently...?”

“Yes, what’s been going on recently?” I asked, staring at her questioningly. It was unlike Eleanora to be unwilling to talk, especially when it was about her dearest prince.

After a few moments of silence, Eleanora mumbled, “For the past year, everyone’s been telling me that my time to win over Prince Edwin has come, and that if I acted now, I’d be able to make him my boyfriend, or even marry him. But the person that Sir Edwin cares for is still recuperating... I couldn’t bear to think of that as an opportunity for myself...”

Now that I think about it, Lady Eleanora stopped talking about the prince almost right away after the Demon Lord was defeated, I realized.

My heart softened a little. Despite having called Alicia a homewrecker in the past, it was clear that Eleanora was worried about the other girl. And that wasn’t all—it seemed that despite her love for the prince, she’d taken the time to fully understand his feelings for Alicia, and had chosen to be respectful of them. Likely the only reason that she’d continued to flirt with him at all had been because everyone around her had pushed her to do so, overriding her reservations.

I could easily imagine Eleanora’s entourage filling her mind with things that sounded good on the surface, leading her on and encouraging her feelings for the prince. She was a kind, good person by nature, even if she was slightly... Sorry, quite condescending at times. In my eyes, Eleanora was the ultimate airhead—the only reason she instructed others to bully Alicia in the past was because her entourage had instigated that behavior. Eleanora was just that divorced from malicious intent, and that easily swayed by the words of those around her.

“I see,” I finally said. “Out of curiosity, who was it that said that now was your chance?”

“Um... I believe it was all of my friends. Oh! I mean, all of my friends aside from you.”

That was no surprise; all the girls that had hung around Eleanora at the Academy were daughters of radicals. It was safe to say that Eleanora was just a pawn to be used in their political war. Of course, her father, Duke Hillrose, was one of those using her as well.

“What about your family? What has your father said about the situation?”

“My father has told me that I should stay away from Sir Edwin, and leave him alone for some time.”

“What? The duke said that?” Surprise flickered through me.

According to Prince Edwin, the radicals were planning to have him succeed the throne and with Eleanora as his queen—I’d thought for sure that plan had been led by Duke Hillrose.

Why would he do something that would put the plan on hold? I wondered.

I had only met Duke Hillrose once, at the ceremony after defeating the Demon Lord. He’d simply expressed his gratitude and hadn’t said anything else. With so little to go off of, I still didn’t have a solid grasp on what kind of person the duke was.

“What do you think, Yumiella?” Eleanora asked, jolting me from my thoughts. “Do you think it would be all right for me to go see Sir Edwin?”

“Well... I think it would be good to wait some time before doing so, just as the duke said,” I admitted.

“Then that’s what I shall do! Anyway, it’s been so much work to not look sad in front of Sir Edwin. I haven’t wanted to cause him any trouble by burdening him with my emotions.”

I’m pretty sure you’ve caused him plenty of trouble already, I thought, holding in a laugh. Although I guess you were being considerate of him in your own way. 

Still, there was one more question on my mind. “Are you sure you want to make your decision so quickly?”

“Well, if you said it, there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s the right thing to do!”

I wanted to sigh, but held it in. I don’t want you to trust me so much, Lady Eleanora. It’s exactly because you’re so trusting, and willing to believe the words of the people that you’re close to, that you get into troublesome situations like this. 

“I’m not sure you should be trusting what I say so much,” I finally said, hoping that would get through to her.

“You seem to... It feels like you only tell the truth, at least compared to the others. I mean, usually untrustworthy people don’t tell you to not trust them, do they?”

I’m honestly just saying whatever comes to mind, I thought with a sigh. I decided not to push the conversation any further, since it would be beneficial for me as well if she kept some distance between her and the prince.

“Oh, also,” Eleanora continued, “you remind me of my brother! At first glance, it seems like you always are wearing the same expression, but if you look closely enough, you can see a wide range of emotions just hiding under the surface.”

“Is my face really that expressive?” I asked dubiously.

“Yes! Very much so!”

But everyone says that I appear so emotionless, I thought, feeling a little adrift. I’ve always thought so too. But...Patrick told me my face changes a lot. Since Lady Eleanora said the same thing that he did, does that mean she’s watching me as closely as Patrick does...? I shivered. I think it’s time to put the brakes on this train of thought. 

“So,” I said, focusing back on Eleanora. “I take it your brother is pretty expressionless too.”

She nodded. “He’s always smiling. Even when he’s angry, he has a grin on his face.”

“I see.”

The thought of someone who was constantly smiling made me think of Headmaster Ronald. There was something dubious about him and his plastered smile. The duke’s heir is like that too, huh? Gross.

I’d already thought it was a bad idea for Eleanora to trust me so much based solely on the fact that I reminded her of her brother, but now I thought it was a horrible idea. As far as I could tell, he sounded like a questionable type of guy.

Eleanora leaned forward, clasping my hands in hers. “Do you remember when you told me that Sir Edwin and I would get married for sure?” she asked. “That’s why I was so overjoyed back then—because I trusted you to tell me the truth.”

“Oh... I did say that, didn’t I?”

That was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, something I just said to please her... I didn’t think she was taking it so seriously. Abruptly, I felt extremely guilty. Shoot.

Despite the confidence with which Eleanora had declared she could read my expression, though, she didn’t seem to notice my suddenly conflicted emotions. Instead, she dived into an elaborate speech about all the good qualities Prince Edwin had until her need to speak about him was finally satisfied.

After taking a moment, she said in a lowered voice. “So, how are you, Yumiella?”

“Me? What do you mean by that?”

“I’m referring to how things are going with you and Sir Patrick, of course!”

“Oh,” I said, relaxing. “Well, we’re doing just fine. He’s going to be coming with me to Dolkness County.”

Even though I’d have preferred to tell Eleanora that there was nothing new happening between me and Patrick, after what she’d observed of us at the Academy, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d caught onto the fact that there was news. It was just easier to tell her straight out.

Eleanora’s face absolutely lit up at my words. “Oh, that’s absolutely wonderful!” she cried. “I’m so glad to hear that, especially since you two are so standoffish in public.”

Oh, I thought, feeling silly. Looks like she hadn’t caught onto anything after all. Though she might be hiding the fact that she knows a little something...

Seeing how happy Eleanora was for me and Patrick made me feel guilty about all the times I’d avoided her at the Academy, and even worse about the fact that I was still trying to avoid her now. I mean, she was practically as excited over our relationship as she’d be over having one of her own. The truth was, deciding to stop myself from becoming closer friends with her had been an agonizing decision for me to make—there was nothing I hated more than people who based the way they treated someone based on their background.

“So...” Eleanora pressed, “has he already proposed?”

“P-Proposed?!” I stammered. “Not yet, that’s far in the future for us.”

“Is that so...” she said thoughtfully. “Oh! Would you mind if I was there when he proposes to you? I want to watch.”

I gave her my version of a dubious look. When she says “proposes” she’s referring to when someone asks someone else to marry them, right? I thought. If that’s true, then why on earth is she trying to participate in mine?

I couldn’t find it in me to understand the reasoning behind Eleanora’s request, but it was clear she was asking in earnest—her ruby-colored eyes were sparkling bright enough to rival even the jewels she had on. Staring at her, I felt like I could feel energy draining right out of my body.

At this point, I started to feel silly about thinking over whether to accept or reject her friendship so seriously. No matter how much I spurned her advances, Eleanora would still barge into my life without care. Honestly, our relationship had already fallen into that strange push-and-pull, and the level of closeness we had now was perfect for me.

I was wilting onto my couch at this point—the sleep deprivation and general exhaustion were beginning to overtake me. By contrast, Eleanora was as energetic as ever.

“If Patrick hasn’t proposed yet, you must not have an engagement ring either,” she said.

“I don’t, but...is a ring really necessary?”

Engagement rings are the ones with the stones, right? I thought blearily. Honestly, the difference between one of them and a wedding ring feels kind of ambiguous to me. 

Regardless, I’d be happy with anything Patrick decided to give to me, and if I had a choice between a ring and something else, I’d prefer the something else.

If I had to choose something that also went on my hands like a ring...maybe he could get me some brass knuckles? I nodded to myself.

“Stones are just shiny, but I think I’d like something that was actually useful, like an amulet with magical effects,” I told Eleanora.

“Wha—?!” Eleanora stared at me, appalled.

At the same time, a large thump came from the other side of the drawing room wall. The sound was quite loud, since it came at a lull in Eleanora’s and my conversation, so she got a good listen.

“Oh?” she said, glancing at the wall where the noise had come from. “Is someone in the room next door?”

“It’s probably Patrick,” I said with a shrug.

Prince Edwin was there as well, of course, but I couldn’t dare tell her that, lest things get messy. With that in mind, I watched Eleanora carefully to see if she fell for it. But...she was acting strange.

“What if Patrick heard our conversation just now...?” she asked, flustered.

Does she mean our conversation about my lack of interest in gems? I thought, confused. I’ve always been like that, so I don’t think it’s an issue. 

After taking an exaggeratedly deep breath, Eleanora began to passionately speak on all things marriage—every word that came out of her mouth was about the importance of things like engagement rings, wedding dresses, and so on.

Ugh, this is going to be a long one, isn’t it?

◆◆◆

What felt like an eternity later, Eleanora went home without a fight. I assumed her willingness to leave had something to do with the overwhelming satisfaction she seemed to feel over the long speech she’d given me about an ideal wedding.

Once I’d confirmed she had truly left, I headed to the next room.

“Eleanora’s gone home,” I said upon opening the door.

The two men in the room were making strange faces. They continued their conversation, disregarding me.

“Don’t be so down on yourself, Patrick,” the prince said, placing his hand gently on Patrick’s shoulder. “Just be glad you found out before you gave it to her. Also, there’s plenty of stores that carry rare magical instruments in the Royal Capital.”

“I thought I knew how Yumiella felt, but I didn’t think her disdain for jewels was this bad...”

That perked my ears up. Huh? Wait, you guys were talking about me? Hey, hey, what were you guys saying?! 

Before I could interrogate them, Patrick turned to me and said, “Sorry to keep you waiting, you must be tired. What did Lady Eleanora say?”

“She agreed to refrain from intruding on His Highness for a while,” I pronounced.

This was surely good news for the prince, but instead of looking at me with joy, his eyes were wide with shock.

“Lady Eleanora said that?” he said, voice hoarse. “What kind of persuasion methods did you use?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t do anything special. Oh, and what kind of person is her brother? Apparently, he and I are quite similar.”

“Lady Eleanora’s brother?” Prince Edwin asked, brow furrowing. “I thought she was the duke’s only child.”

How could Prince Edwin not know Eleanora’s brother? I thought, perplexed. I mean, that would be impossible. They’re both aristocrats living in the Royal Capital, after all. Plus, there’s no way the royal family and the duke’s family haven’t met before, so Prince Edwin should at least know of his existence...

“Do you know anything about the rest of her family?” I asked the prince, even more curious now.

“I believe the duchess passed away quite a while ago,” he said slowly, “so the only Hillroses left are the duke and Lady Eleanora. I’m sure of it, because I heard people discussing whether or not the duke would have someone marry into the family, or if he would adopt an heir from a distant relative.”

Prince Edwin’s words were highly credible—so, if he wasn’t mistaken, just who was Eleanora’s brother?

◆◆◆

It was the day after Prince Edwin and Eleanora’s visit, and Patrick had been out since the morning. He’d told me that something he needed to take care of had suddenly popped up, so our time in the Royal Capital had been extended by a few days. Now that Patrick was gone, however, I had nothing left to do—I’d just been hanging around my room, idling away the time.

Lady Eleanora wouldn’t show up again when she was just here yesterday, right? I wondered.

As if on cue, there was a light tap on my door, and Rita popped in to let me know that I had a guest.

I immediately headed to the drawing room, where I found Headmaster Ronald waiting for me. I’d been quite sure that the one calling upon me was a certain duke’s daughter, since that was how things usually went, so to instead see someone entirely unrelated raised my eyebrows a little.

“Oh? What are you doing here, Headmaster?” I asked.

“Congratulations on your graduation, Yumiella. Also, I’m not the headmaster anymore.”

Did you blow it so bad that you were terminated? I thought, truly shocked now. I opened my mouth to ask, then stopped myself. Oh, right—he was the headmaster to supervise me and be my point of contact with the king, not because he just wanted the job. 

“Ah, I see. So it was a temporary position from the start.”

“Exactly,” he said, giving me a smile I found rather dubious. “All I’ve done is return to my actual job.”

This guy’s an advisor to the king...right? I thought. I couldn’t honestly be sure, as he was a man of many mysteries—he wouldn’t even share his family name.

“Headmaster Ronald... Oh, should I just call you Mr. Ronald now?” I asked, sitting down across from him. “What brings you here today?”

Come on, tell me why you’re here...

“Just Ronald is fine... And, honestly, I didn’t have any reason in particular for stopping by. I just thought I’d check in.”

Internally, I threw up my hands. If you don’t have any reason to stop by, why did you bother to come then?!

Ronald seemed to read my mind, for he continued, “You’ll be heading to Dolkness County soon, right? I just came by to make sure you know that you can rely on His Majesty or me if you run into any trouble there.”

I nodded. “Thank you, but just the thought is enough.”

“You’re no fun,” he said, sighing.

Oh, well, I thought. I don’t want to get special treatment from the king and then end up getting drawn into the royal family’s web. 

If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up becoming the subject of unnecessary hatred from various parties that opposed the king’s faction, and regardless, getting help from so high up felt like cheating.

“Well, now that we’ve gotten that over with,” Ronald said, turning and grabbing a stack of documents before spreading them out across my table, “how much do you know about the state of your county?”

“I regularly receive financial statements,” I replied. “As far as I can tell by looking at them, it doesn’t seem like there are any issues. Though, it does seem like there are a lot of things I won’t know about until I actually go there myself.”

Currently, all the operational tasks related to Dolkness County were handled by a deputy. Despite my parents having neglected the county, on paper it seemed to be doing all right. I’d known it was wrong of me at the time, but when I’d first taken over the Dolkness estate, I’d decided to continue to leave things to the deputy until after I’d finished school.

Ronald nodded, as though this was as he’d expected. “But you’ve only seen the financial statements for the past few years, right? I brought statements from ten years ago.” Ronald pointed to the paperwork he’d just finished arranging on the table. “Have a look.”

I leaned forward, starting with the document farthest to the right. I’d received one just like it recently. Ah, I realized. These are the documents you submit in order to pay taxes. There was nothing on it that was particularly remarkable, so I began skimming through the rest of the documents, starting with the document farthest to the left—it had been filed ten years ago, and so was the oldest of the group.

As far as I could tell, everything was going perfectly fine—we’d been in the black every year.

“The deputy must be skilled,” I mumbled without thinking.

“Yes, I think he’s really skilled,” Ronald cheerfully said.

Sensing something more to his words, I scanned through the documents in my hands once more. It seemed that Dolkness County’s tax revenue was on a very small upward trend, increasing every year just as it would if our county was growing.

I paused, my eyes narrowing. Wait, is it even possible for our revenue to increase every year? Sure, if you looked at the entire kingdom, that would be the case, but the main industry in Dolkness County is farming. Crop yields depend on the weather—it’s not realistic for them to increase at a similar rate every year. 

When I jerked up, staring at Ronald with shock, his smile slowly widened. “I see you’ve caught on. It seems your deputy is so skilled that our tax officials didn’t notice a thing. Even I couldn’t find any discrepancies in the statements.”

“Am I...looking at tax fraud?” I asked incredulously.

The deputy could have taken advantage of the fact that the county owner hasn’t been on-site for so long in order to line his own pockets, but if that was the case, wouldn’t he have made it look like our earnings were lower than this? Why would he...?

As he watched me get lost more and more in my thoughts, Ronald’s usual grinning expression changed into a serious look. “As you said earlier, there are things you won’t know about until you go there yourself.”

I nodded, shaking off my confusion. “You’re right. Thinking about it here won’t help much of anything.”

“That said...if you end up firing your deputy can you hand him this referral? I want him to work for me.”

I gave Ronald a suspicious look. We didn’t even have any evidence yet that my deputy had cooked our books—granted, the documents I’d just looked at seemed pretty strange—and already Ronald was acting as if he was guilty, and trying to recruit him for his skills? Just what was he planning on making him do?

“I guess I can give it to him...” I said reluctantly, taking the paper from Ronald’s hand.

“Thanks.”

Who on earth are you, Ronald? I wondered. There truly wasn’t much to go off of, without access to even his family name. All I knew was that the king’s trust in him ran deep.

After that, our discussion of Dolkness County wrapped up, and Ronald went on to share a few tidbits revolving around the current talk of the town—the faction that had formed around Prince Edwin. Ronald’s information almost perfectly lined up with what I had heard from the second prince the previous day.

With no new information to inquire after, I decided to ask Ronald about Eleanora’s brother instead.

“Are you familiar with the makeup of the Duke of Hillrose’s family?” I inquired.

“It’s just the duke and Lady Eleanora...” Ronald said quickly. “Why do you ask?”

“Lady Eleanora was telling me about someone who she referred to as her ‘older brother.’ Though I guess she might just be calling someone she’s close with and who she looks up to her brother...”

“I see,” Ronald said, not an ounce of suspicion on his face. His trademark smile was firmly stretched across his lips, obfuscating what he was really thinking. “Elea— Lady Eleanora’s got an older brother, huh?”

◆◆◆

That night, I told Patrick that I wanted to head to Dolkness County as soon as possible. After what Ronald had shown me, it felt disturbingly possible that it wasn’t doing as well as I’d thought.

“All right,” he agreed. “Let’s leave tomorrow or the day after.”

“But what about the errands you had to run?”

“They’re all taken care of.”

I nodded. It seemed that whatever errands Patrick had needed to take care of had been dealt with, although he didn’t appear to want to talk about whatever had happened. I decided to refrain from pushing him for details.

I’m just an understanding girlfriend like that, heh heh.

Patrick raised his eyebrows at me, as if to say, “You’re thinking about something weird again, aren’t you,” but I ignored him in favor of starting a discussion on our plans for the next few days.

“Since you’ve got everything taken care of on your side, we’ll head out as soon as we’re ready. Although Rita and Sara are coming along, so it might be a lot for Ryuu to handle...”

“Hold on. Are you planning on flying to Dolkness County?”

“Yeah,” I said, giving him a confused look. “Why do you ask?”

What other method would there be...? I mean, I personally don’t mind running, but that might be rough on Rita and Sara.

“Why don’t we go by carriage, just for the first time?” Patrick said, his voice oddly strained. “First impressions are important, you know?”

“I do know, but...wouldn’t that make Ryuu the better choice?”

The people of my county might be worrying over what kind of person I am. I could be someone unreliable, or scary...and that’s why my darling Ryuu is the perfect choice! One look at him and they’ll cast aside all their worries, their hearts captured by his adorableness! 

I could practically see my reputation skyrocketing now. It was the perfect plan.

After a long pause, Patrick said, “I understand that Ryuu is a good, obedient dragon. Really, I do...but can we please take the carriage? We can, uh...inspect the main roads together!”

I nodded, fully on board with that suggestion. “Ah, I see what you were getting at now. All right, let’s take the carriage.”

I hadn’t even thought about how different things look in the sky compared to the ground... Nice job noticing that, Patrick! Oh, but...what does that have to do with first impressions...?