Chapter 66: Another tea party?! No!!
Rowan! Send four of the king’s bodyguards with me,” the king said after he excused himself from the tea party with his son and Elidranthia.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I thought this passage was only known by me and you!” The king scowled as he opened the voie classée from his bedroom, the royal escape.
“The builder obviously knew. The Prime Minister, about half a dozen royal guards, and Duke Bron also knew. But only you held the complete map, Your Highness,” Rowan said. “Without a map, any intruder should face a deadly trap.”
“Tch!” The king spat. Just as he feared. People had been here. There were footprints leading to and from the royal chamber. Even if others knew, this passage couldn’t be opened from the other side. It should only be possible to open it from the castle. Did he have a spy?
A spy who had access to his bedchamber? That’s impossible. No, it’s not a spy. Somebody tampered with the unlocking mechanism so it can be opened from both sides.
“There are footsteps! The culprit is still here!” a guard with better hearing pointed to the middle path.
“Chase him! We must capture or kill him!” The king rushed to his wardrobe, where he kept his golden sword. It was mostly decorative, like Alicia’s épée de cour, but it could still be used as a weapon.
The royal guard rushed into the passage, with the king trailing behind them.
“Your Highness!” Rowan immediately tackled the king to the ground as a royal guard hit an explosive trap. The trap was hastily made, only there to slow down the pursuers. The explosion injured two royal guards. If not for their armor, they would have died there. Since this armor was mostly for decorative purposes, it had to be replaced soon. Althemer couldn’t afford to have the prestigious royal guard wearing damaged equipment.
Alas, that was the least of the king’s worries. His son was almost assassinated, and he wanted vengeance. But with his own escape path riddled with traps, which he didn’t even know about, he couldn’t just rush blindly.
So, he retreated and called up another batch of soldiers. He had no choice but to leave it to experts.
“Sir, we found out that the end of the passage leading to the sewer was forcibly opened,” Rowan reported at dinner.
“... How?”
“Probably using a chemical agent over the course of a week. The intruder then slowly mapped the entire passage over the course of a few days before entering your bedchamber, Your Majesty.”
“... Damn it.” The king cursed. “Any suspects?”
“So there really was a secret tunnel! How come that maid knew about it while I don’t?” Ludwin, who heard the report, exclaimed.
“I never told anyone about voie classée. That maid had some prophetic power. You owed her your life, Ludwin,” the king said, with several knights swarming the royal passage.
“Probably the reapers. Only that organization should have the resources to do this kind of thing.” Rowan said.
“Father! We must cleanse this country from this criminal organization!”
“How? We have been trying to do it for years. But this organization is elusive,” the king challenged Ludwin. Easier said than done. Reapers were as elusive as legends. Even their clients barely saw them in action.
“We managed some leads when Elidranthia assaulted one of their clients in the slum, but the trail had gone cold since then.”
“Elidranthia again?” Ludwin frowned. “That lower noble girl already surpassed your merit. Rowan, you should stop slacking off. We must deploy royal mages to do this.”
“It would have been much easier if we had a prophetic girl on our side,” the king smirked.
“Then we should employ her!”
“Well, Alicia was a rare breed. She was loyal not to the crown, but to Elidranthia. She said it herself right in front of my face,” the king said.
“What! That’s treason.” Ludwin was agape. As a prince, he was taught that everyone should bow down to him, obeying his orders. Not doing so was treason, and traitors should be hanged.
“Well, it might be so. But loyalty was a rare currency for royals. Learn to read the room, son,” the king smirked. “Elidranthia, her master, seemed to be against the reapers, so…”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend?” Ludwin continued.
“It’s up to you,” the king said. “The problem with Alicia’s ability is that we don’t know when her prophetic ability was activated. We don’t know what she doesn’t know, and she wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.”
“Or maybe she intentionally hides them?” Ludwin shrugged.
“...” The king turned to him. He had considered the possibility. “If that were true, then she is a very good liar. You should be alarmed.”
“Understood, Father.”
“Father! This bodyguard is annoying. Replace him! He keeps messing with my bedroom every time I go in!” Charlotte burst into the room, crying to her father. With the recent poisoning incident, the king had decreed security to be tightened even more, borderline paranoia. Guards were expected to triple-check whatever their charge was about to do ahead.
Charlotte, who felt life as royalty was tiring enough before, had finally blown her fuse.
“Charlotte. We have some security concerns. You see, your brother was almost assassinated today. There is a traitor among our midst. That’s why we must be wary,” the king said.
“Muu… Then just call Elidranthia again to clean up the castle! She is our vassal, right?” Charlotte pouted. “I don’t like men entering my room!”
“Vassals aren’t guards, Charlotte,” the king said.
“Hm… Actually, language aside, isn’t what she said kind of making sense, Father? If we ask Elidranthia, Alicia is bound to come. With the two of them, we could probably sniff out the reapers among our midst. We just need to be more polite about requesting her,” Ludwin said.
“... Hm…” The king fell into thought. He then gave a knowing smile to his son. “Well, I guess we will plan another tea party with them. But rumors would certainly fly. That’s not wise. The Slane territory would be pleased if you were to be engaged with Elidranthia. But Duke Bron and Duke Luca wouldn’t be pleased. But this reaper problem can’t be ignored. If you got killed, Charlotte would be the queen, and her groom would be a king…”
“But Margareth is arrogant, and Ronya is too meek.” Ludwin frowned. He didn’t like how Ronya always self-deprecated. It’s like she was insecure or something. Margareth was on the other side of the spectrum. Even though her father was a new duke, she behaved like a queen.
“That’s politics, son. Please try to get along with these dukes’ daughters. It’s one of your jobs as the crown prince,” the king said. His words were final.
“Just hurry up, okay! And you too, brother! Stop stealing my clothes to give them to Eli! You can’t give her used goods. That’s improper!”
“... I will ask my butler to commission a dress and jewelry posthaste. Her recent achievement needed to be rewarded.” Ludwin had no idea what to give Elidranthia . So, he chose the safe option, thinking all girls would certainly love new jewelry and dresses. He didn’t know Eli absolutely detested such spendthrift attitudes.
“Mu… This is why men are such…” Charlotte sighed. “You can’t give her a dress from the shelf. That’s improper. Only the lowborn do that! You are a prince!”
“... I guess I need to invite your seamstress to the castle then. Please help me, then, Charlotte.” Ludwin grimaced. Charlotte then cocked her hips proudly.
“Leave it to me, brother!” she said. Despite being two years younger, they were at the same height. That perception made Charlotte feel Elidranthia was her peer, not senior.
***
“Again? Argh!! Why can’t he leave me alone!” Eli raged inside her bedroom when another invitation from the royal castle came.
“Alicia has saved the prince a second time from a poisoning incident after all,” Elena said. “Alicia’s merit is her master’s merit.”
“Alicia! It’s your fault! Go attend the tea party yourself!” Eli accused Alicia.
“Eh? You know that’s impossible, right? I am not a noble.” Alicia was taken aback. She didn’t know Elidranthia was so against befriending Ludwin. “Besides, you were the one who got invited.”
“I knew that. I just want to say it!” Eli said.
“So, which dress will you wear tomorrow, Lady Elidranthia?”
“We don’t have much time. Let’s fix the dress we were about to wear during the ballroom yesterday.”
“Absolutely not. That would tarnish Shadowstep’s name, milady.”
“But we only have three dresses. I heard wearing the same dress for a royal invitation in succession would be a bad look.”
“We should go to the royal capital and buy a dress from the shelves, milady,” Elena said.
“Ugh… That would be expensive.”
“You can afford it. You also got paid for working as a mana charger in the capital, right?”
“We need money to build the orphanage and expand the farming village for the slum residents to work in Shadowstep!” Eli sighed.
“Just accept your fate, milady. You could probably broach the subject about the slum residents to Prince Ludwin. Getting an invitation to the royal palace is a great honor.”
“Mu… There is no way I can talk about the slums with him. If he thinks I am criticizing the royals, I would lose my head!”
“I am sure you can use your connection with him soon. Now, let us prepare, milady.”
“Hah… alright.”
When they arrived at the clothing store, unsurprisingly, there were no clothes that fit her. So she had to pay extra to have them adjusted. Eli handed the money to the frightened seamstress with a trembling hand. Her anger was apparent for all to see.
“Don’t sulk so much, milady.” Alicia hugged her from behind. She was so cute, just like a little sister! Alicia was an only child in both of her lives as Nathan and Alicia. “You are scaring the attendants.”
“It’s all your fault that I got a royal invitation, Alicia!”
“Ah! It’s for a sudden royal invitation, I see! Please excuse me. Our small store couldn’t cater to such esteemed guests.” Elidranthia was then kicked out of the store.
Eli and Alicia looked at them agape. They didn’t know that reputation was everything in the royal capital. A sudden invitation usually meant there was an unsavory rumor to be dealt with. If it was known that such a small store handled such a request, their business would be crushed.
Even if there were no unsavory rumors, Eli wanted to buy a dress off the shelf. Dresses for royal invitations were often custom made. If it was known that their shop gave such low-quality goods, their reputation would be tarnished. So, there was no winning solution. All they could do was reject the customer.
Before the door, Eli stood agape at the events that unfolded before her.