Chapter 348: Alexia Doesn’t Understand Human Nature
“Click!”
The sound of a camera shutter echoed through the luxurious house. A flash went off, and the gruesome deaths of Earl Azukay and Baron Stergang were captured in photographs that appeared in Christina’s hand.
“I still don’t really understand why you insisted on coming here to take the photos yourself. If you didn’t want to get them from Knight Commander Gray, I could’ve sent you copies after my sister and I finished examining the scene.”
Alexia had accompanied Christina while she took all the photos. Now that Christina was finally done, she couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer.
Christina had been acting strangely since yesterday. As the daughter of an Earl, she could have obtained photos of the Nightsword’s death scene from the Island Guard whenever she wanted, yet she had specifically asked Alexia for them. Today, she had even refused Alexia’s help and insisted on taking the pictures herself.
“Probably because I’ve seen certain things more clearly now. Someone I thought I could trust turned out to be a parasite, so I don’t feel comfortable letting her handle things anymore.”
“Huh?”
Alexia stared at Christina in confusion after hearing such a matter-of-fact answer. She had no idea what Christina was talking about.
“Forget it. I can’t be bothered figuring you out. Come somewhere with me today.”
Don’t waste time thinking about things you can’t figure out. Pochi had once said something like that, and Alexia thought it made a lot of sense.
“Where?”
Christina blinked and carefully put the photographs away. Then she looked at Alexia, the Kingdom’s Second Princess who had been spouting outrageous things in front of her not long ago. The only reason Christina hadn’t immediately turned against her, fled, or withdrawn from their alliance was that Alexia seemed to have merely been running her mouth. For now, Christina intended to wait and see.
“The Mitsugoshi Café. I’m taking you to meet someone. An annoying silver-haired elf. She… barely qualifies as our ally.”
Alexia spoke with obvious resignation. She had always maintained a degree of wariness toward that silver-haired elf, someone she could never quite see through. She wasn’t even sure whether letting Christina meet her was the right decision.
“An ally? Then let’s go right now!”
Christina sprang to her feet, eager to meet this “ally” Alexia had mentioned. She still had some doubts about the claim Alexia had made when first recruiting her as a friend, that they would “spread justice throughout the Kingdom of Midgar.” Still, if this person had been drawn in by the same slogan, Christina was confident the two of them would have plenty to talk about.
“Uh… all right. She should be there around now anyway. But there’s one more thing I need to do afterward.”
Seeing Christina’s eager expression, Alexia froze for a moment before nodding. She didn’t pay much attention to Christina’s odd behavior. She simply stood up and moved ahead to lead the way.
“What is it?”
“I need to find my pet. That little Cid actually dared to ignore me and run away. He’s been getting disobedient lately, so I’m going to catch him and put a collar on him.”
Alexia complained in an irritated tone while speaking with the kind of confidence that openly declared ownership. Of course, she genuinely meant it. Heaven only knew how she had felt when, after finishing her briefing with Christina and going to settle things with Cid, she discovered he had already slipped away.
“…Princess Alexia, you really know how to joke. Cid is a person. You can’t put a collar on someone and turn him into a pet.”
“Does Pochi even deserve to be treated like a person? That two-faced, ungrateful bastard forgets his old master the moment he finds a new sponsor, and he’ll throw away his dignity for a few gold coins. He has no human rights! It’s time for me to exercise my supreme authority as Princess of the Kingdom of Midgar!”
“…I have to ask. Does Cid suffer from some kind of psychological problem? There probably aren’t many people in this world who would willingly give up their human rights.”
“He doesn’t. But listen carefully, Christina. I am Pochi’s absolute superior. That is simply the natural order of things. A pet betraying his master and throwing gold coins off the ground into my face is something that should never happen. And even if it does, sooner or later he’ll come crawling back to me on his knees, begging me to forgive his foolishness. Then I, as his master, will generously forgive him with a heart as vast as the ocean, in the name of my status as the Second Princess of the Kingdom of Midgar…”
Thinking back to meeting Cid on the ship and all the infuriating things that had happened since returning home, Alexia grew angrier the more she talked. Then she suddenly shuddered.
“Strange. The weather’s perfectly clear, so what was that? Is someone plotting against me?”
Alexia glanced around suspiciously, but no matter how she looked, she couldn’t find any danger nearby. In the end, she simply blamed it on not feeling well.
“Wait, Pochi!”
Just as she was about to look away, her gaze happened to sweep across Cid, who was strolling idly down the street. Judging by the direction he was walking, he had probably just come from the Mitsugoshi Café, but that wasn’t important.
“Christina, wait here for a moment. I’m going to catch my pet and teach him what happens when he defies his master.”
Completely oblivious to Christina’s darkened expression as she stared at her without a trace of emotion, Alexia announced her intentions and hurried toward Cid without looking back.
“Get over here!”
Cid had only just parted ways with Eta and Beta when he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard a familiar voice beside his ear. Before he could even react, his vision lurched, and he was dragged into an alley.
“Seriously, how do I keep running into you everywhere I go?!”
After regaining his balance, Cid stared at Alexia, who had dragged him into the alley. For the first time, he regretted returning to the Kingdom of Midgar. This damned walking disaster kept dragging him into the spotlight regardless of the situation. At this rate, he was going to become a background character permanently tied to Alexia, doomed to appear whenever she did.
“You should be asking yourself that question. I’m starting to lose patience with you, stupid Pochi.”
The woman, seemingly in the middle of a Chuunibyou episode, glared at him and spoke in a gloomy voice.
“Are you crazy?”
“Shut up. When you went off looking for someone else to be your master, I was willing to assume you’d lost your mind for a moment and gotten tricked by someone. But now you need to explain why you’re living at Christina’s house, and how you dared to defy my orders. Instead of leaving like I told you, you actually stayed!”
Alexia slammed her fist into the wall beside Cid’s head with a tremendous bang.
Cid glanced at the small crater her punch had left in the wall, thought for a moment, then hesitantly spoke.
“Well… the reason is a little hard to explain, but basically, I wanted to save people. Quite a few of the missing people come from my family’s territory, after all. I can’t just ignore them because…”
“Do you really think I’ll believe that?”
Trouble.
Cid stared at Alexia with lifeless eyes while his brain raced at full speed, desperately searching for a way out. Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of a single one.
Everyone in this world lived behind a mask. Even those who claimed to be completely true to themselves were still wearing one. The only difference was whether it was their last layer.
And Alexia… she simply knew Cid too well. She would see through any righteous, noble-sounding excuse immediately. There was no chance of fooling her the way he had fooled that obsessive lunatic Christina. Alexia was far too sharp when it came to things like this.
“Alexia, I don’t care whether you believe me. I believe myself, and as long as everyone else believes me too, that’s good enough.”
If a mistake couldn’t be corrected, then the solution was to ignore it. Just brush it aside. Besides, what did his choices have to do with Alexia? He could do whatever he wanted!
Stand your ground, Cid. You have money now. You don’t need to curry favor with this useless Second Princess who has nothing going for her except money. Cut yourself off from that shameful chapter of your past once and for all!
The moment he decided to cut ties, the whole world suddenly seemed brighter.
“…I haven’t seen you for a few days, and your skin has gotten considerably thicker, Pochi. No, ‘heartless and ungrateful’ would be more accurate. Do you think I told you to leave because I wanted to hurt you? I was doing it for your own good! I’ll tell my sister. Now get out of the royal capital immediately! This place has become a vortex that someone at your level has no business getting involved in. Your sister Claire might be able to handle it, but you can’t!”
Cid’s words had angered Alexia so much that she laughed. Seeing him stubbornly refuse to budge, she suddenly lost all interest in pursuing the matter of him disobeying her orders by remaining in the royal capital, or even moving into Christina’s house. It was probably another private matter involving someone he couldn’t talk about.
Cid clearly had no idea what kind of powder keg the royal capital had become. This was no joke. People could genuinely die.
Right now, Alexia only wanted to drive Cid out of the royal capital and keep her only friend alive. This was not the time to mess around.
“Stop treating me like I belong to you. Whether I stay here is my decision, and I know exactly what risks I’m taking. My business has nothing to do with you. Besides, our gold-picking relationship is already over. You don’t have the right to put yourself above me and order me around.”
How did you deal with an unreasonable person? Cid’s answer was simple. Be even more unreasonable.
Since Alexia had already given up on listening to his excuses and was openly trying to force him around, he might as well stop pretending too. He had money now. Acting like a dog for money when he was broke was one thing. If he still acted like a dog after getting rich, then what had all that earlier humiliation been for?
“You… What did you just say, Pochi? Someone may have gotten into your head, so you’re probably not thinking clearly right now. I suggest you think very carefully before you keep talking to me.”
“You’re the one who needs to think carefully! You’re the one who can’t recognize your own attitude. You’re arrogant, unreasonable, and convinced that being powerful gives you the right to trample on other people’s dignity whenever you please! But I respect the human rights of every person in this world. If I want to stay here, then I’ll stay here. I have absolutely no reason to obey you!”
Arguing felt amazing!
Seeing Alexia left speechless by his rebuttal, lowering her head and grinding her teeth in frustration, Cid couldn’t help feeling immensely satisfied.
A true powerhouse shouldn’t merely be capable of winning effortlessly on the battlefield. He also needed to be skilled enough at verbal combat to argue his opponent into complete silence. Otherwise, who knew when some enemy might suddenly start yelling about friendship, bonds, and the future before rushing him and somehow killing him in one hit?
Of course, Cid wasn’t about to get arrogant or lower his guard just because he had defeated a mere Alexia in an argument. Beating the Second Princess, who had spent her whole life under her older sister’s thumb and couldn’t even express herself honestly, didn’t even qualify as a warm-up.
It had been effortless. Nothing more than crushing a weak opponent.
“Ah… Pochi, you’re absolutely right.”
Alexia let out a long sigh and tilted her head toward the sky, her long gray-white hair obscuring her expression.
Cid froze.
He hadn’t expected Alexia to actually agree with him. Could he really be some kind of genius? Had he argued Alexia into such a profound epiphany that she had finally seen the truth, achieved enlightenment, and decided to completely change her ways?
“Those in power can trample on other people’s dignity however they please. I was only talking before, but now it looks like it’s finally time to exercise my unlimited authority as Princess of the Kingdom of Midgar!”
Good news. She had achieved enlightenment.
Bad news. She had achieved the exact opposite kind of enlightenment.
Cid met Alexia’s darkened gaze and forced out an awkward smile.
“Pochi shouldn’t have human rights in the first place. I’m putting a dog collar on you and locking you up!”
Alexia spoke viciously, brimming with determination as she stepped toward Cid.
If she caught him now, she really might put a collar on him.
Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing was best.
The situation had completely gone off the rails, so he needed to run. Once Alexia calmed down, she would naturally realize he had only been joking. The important thing now was not to let her actually catch him. Otherwise, once she came to her senses, she might realize she had already crossed the point of no return and decide she had no choice but to see it through to the bitter end.
Then Cid might be forced to go on a killing spree to silence everyone involved.
He really would do it.
Heh…
“Princess Iris, you saw that! Save me!”
“Onee-sama! Listen to me…”
Alexia reflexively spun around, already opening her mouth to explain what she had just said to her sister.
But the alley entrance was completely empty except for Christina.
When Alexia turned back again, all she saw was Cid’s rapidly retreating figure.
“Heh heh… Pochi, I’m definitely going to catch you and lock you in a doghouse!”
With two deranged chuckles, Alexia immediately pushed off the ground and shot after Cid without the slightest hesitation.
Thus began a chase through the streets.
“Ah… Alexia, I’m utterly disappointed in you. So everything you told me back then was a lie. You’ve truly disappointed me…”
Behind them, Christina had watched the entire confrontation from a distance. She had seen their argument intensify until Cid finally fled with Alexia chasing after him. Although Christina hadn’t deliberately eavesdropped, Alexia had made no effort to lower her voice, and the fragments she heard had been enough for her to piece together what had happened.
Convinced she had now found a mountain of evidence, Christina started after them as well.
No matter what else happened, she had to protect Cid first. He was a man driven by conviction, someone who genuinely cared about this country. She could not allow a noble man who carried the burden of others to be reduced to a humiliating pet by a heartless princess willing to trample on another person’s human rights for the sake of her own desires.
With that thought in mind, Christina circulated her Magical Power and accelerated, intending to strike first and knock some sense into Alexia before she committed an unforgivable mistake.
Three figures streaked down the street at astonishing speed, each chasing another. Pedestrians hurriedly scattered out of their path to avoid being caught in a collision.
At the roadside, another figure noticed one of the people involved in the chase.
Her brows furrowed.
Then she stopped.