“Estelle, you’re pale as a ghost. Are you unwell?” asked Arcrayne.
Before Estelle knew it, she’d begun to tremble, and the prince must’ve noticed it.
“Oh, I am all right...” she replied.
“Your complexion says otherwise. Why don’t you go now?” said Truteliese. Her tone was overbearing, but her mana suggested she was concerned for Estelle.
Estelle must’ve perceived the queen’s actions as favorable because of the conjectures she’d just made.
I have to ask, she felt impulsively. If she missed this chance, she would surely never get to talk to Truteliese again.
“Lady Truteliese... There is something I would like to ask you...”
“No need for the formal address. I’m a criminal. Your position is higher than mine, as it’s a fact you’ll be a crown princess soon.”
Estelle shook her head. Truteliese was still royalty on paper, so Estelle felt the bare minimum of respect was due.
“Was this rebellion your and His Majesty’s doing?” asked Estelle with a do-or-die spirit.
Truteliese looked caught off guard for a moment, then burst into laughter. “And here I thought you had something smart to say... Arcrayne, is your fiancée an aspiring writer, perchance?”
Estelle almost lost courage, but stood her ground and continued. “Things have come to a rather smooth conclusion. Too smooth, if you ask me. So I thought you did this to give Lord Arc the throne after getting rid of his political enemy,” Estelle said hesitantly.
Truteliese burst into laughter again. “You’re not suited to be a detective or a writer, Lady Estelle. I can’t imagine where you got such strange ideas... Are you tired, maybe?” She gave Estelle a look of pity.
Arcrayne’s mana darkened in an instant. He opened his mouth to say something back, but before he could, Estelle grabbed his elbow to stop him, and resolved herself to ask the next question.
“Um... Lady Truteliese, are you...fond of Lord Arc?”
Both Arcrayne and Truteliese stared at Estelle.
The queen was the first to recover from stupefaction. “What gave you that idea?” she asked.
Estelle was lost for words, as she couldn’t say that her power let her see these things.
“I’m not sure if there’s a problem with your eyes or with your head... Arcrayne, you might want to get yourself a different fiancée before it’s too late.”
“Estelle is an Awoken, stepmother,” cut in the prince after a pause. “Her power lets her see people’s emotions. So if this is what she says...”
“What’re you talking about all of a sudden? What do you mean, ‘see emotions’...?” asked Truteliese, looking confused and staring at Estelle’s face.
The gaze of a woman who’d been a queen for a long time was intense. Estelle froze up like a mouse under a cat’s stare.
After a few moments, Truteliese spoke up again. “If you claim to be an Awoken, can you tell me what I’m thinking about right now?”
Estelle looked at Arcrayne, not knowing how she should reply. She hadn’t expected him to reveal her power, which he’d previously asked Estelle to keep a secret from everyone.
“Estelle’s power doesn’t let her read minds. She can only see the general direction of people’s emotions.”
“The direction...?” Truteliese looked confused.
“She can see if you’re happy or angry, if your emotions are positive or negative.”
Truteliese’s cheek twitched. “If what you say is true, then why hasn’t she announced it to the public? And don’t act like she—as someone born into nobility—wasn’t aware that Awoken are regarded as national treasures.” Her relentless gaze shot through Estelle.
“That...” mumbled Estelle in hesitation.
“It’s because she thought that people would be revolted by someone who could see their emotions, even if she couldn’t perceive the details,” explained Arcrayne on her behalf. “And in addition, if she’d let people know she was an Awoken, she would’ve had to leave her home. Estelle told me she didn’t want that to happen.”
“Are you saying her whole family kept it a secret?”
“My family has nothing to do with this!” said Estelle in a hurry. “I Awoke to my power at the age of fourteen, when I contracted scarlet fever. There was an epidemic in the north that summer. I managed to recover without aftereffects, but my parents...”
“That epidemic from six years ago. I remember.” Truteliese lowered her eyes.
“My brother had to inherit the earldom in haste and worked desperately to put the domain back on its feet, especially considering how many of our people had died. I could not possibly tell him, given the ongoing situation. In the meantime, my engagement to my old fiancé was arranged. I loved Lyle—my former fiancé—and I loathed the idea of moving to Albion, so could not tell anyone about my power.”
“So that’s how it was... I suppose it would be difficult to tell anyone in such a situation,” said Truteliese.
“I found Estelle in November of last year—thanks to the snake you people sent to Marquess Rogell’s mansion at that time.” Arcrayne’s words made Truteliese twitch. “I was the one who told Estelle to keep her power a secret, later that night. Some people were quite persistent in aiming for my life, and I wanted Estelle as an ace up my sleeve—a walking alarm.”
“If you go so far as to insist she’s an Awoken who can see emotions, I would like some sort of proof,” said Truteliese, looking provocatively at Estelle.
“On our first meeting, when you invited me to a tea party at the Leo Palace...” began Estelle, “you hated me, did you not? Even if you acted friendly toward me... You found me unsatisfactory as Lord Arc’s fiancée, yes? Since I was less suitable than Miss Rainsworth, who was said to be the main candidate for the role of his fiancée at the time.”
Truteliese didn’t reply and only directed a stern look at Estelle.
“I noticed your emotions toward me change when we went to see the opera together,” continued Estelle. “I know not why, but I felt that you had come to approve of me.”
The queen’s expression turned blank.
“Also, although you said spiteful things to Lord Arc at the time, you bore negative emotions in the process. It looked to me as though, in truth, you did not want to say such things.”
Truteliese remained silent.
“Since you don’t deny it right away, can I take it as an admission?” asked Arcrayne. “But that can’t be right, can it? You always sought to bring me down.”
Truteliese’s eyes wavered for a moment. “You won’t get the truth from me,” she finally said.
“What...?” uttered Arcrayne.
“No man or woman shall be forced to testify against themselves regardless of the circumstances.”
Truteliese had recited the part of Rosalian law that granted the right to remain silent.
“Do you really think that will work in this situation?” asked Arcrayne.
“Oh? Is Rosalia no longer a constitutional state?” Truteliese gave a bewitching smile and didn’t say a word.