Jessie was, understandably, unsure how to answer her father. Octavia chanced a furtive glance at Edward, who had his back turned to them, his fists clenched and his face downcast. A fierce, quite tangible aura of rage emanated from his back. If anyone made a poor attempt at apologizing to or comforting Edward, it would likely have the opposite effect. Even Octavia, who was ignorant of the finer points of human interaction, could tell that much. She sat down next to Raven, who had already taken his seat, and gave him another warning.
“No matter what you say now, he’ll resent you.”
“You know, I like the sound of that.”
“I can’t believe that you continue to say such things. You’re dealing with a prince here! You should have more concern for your own—”
“He spoke to me with a look on his face like he knew everything about you,” Raven interrupted, voice irritated. “It’s almost as if he thinks you belong to him.”
Octavia could only blink in surprise.
Raven glared at the other end of the round table, where no one was yet seated. He said bitterly, “This is uncomfortable for me.”
Sighing, Octavia gently placed a hand on Raven’s head. She began tousling his hair.
Naturally, he was unable to ignore this gesture. He raised his voice in reproach. “Stop that. I’m not of an age where I would be pleased to have my hair stroked.”
“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. It’s only—looking at you just then, I felt like a mother watching her child about to run out into a dangerous street.”
“That’s awfully specific. I’m not pleased to hear it.” Raven fixed Octavia with a censorious glare.
Octavia shrugged and smiled in response. “But just a moment ago, you were concerned about me, weren’t you? Thanks. I guess you are my assistant.”
Raven stared at Octavia, then asked, his voice quieter than usual, “Why didn’t you get angry? Can I ask you that?”
“Hmm. I suppose I just don’t see why I should have been angry. I guess I just wasn’t interested.”
“Not interested. That’s pretty harsh.”
“I mean, it’s someone else’s affair. We can’t do anything to change others, so I don’t think we should try.” From the moment she had left home, Octavia had considered her connections to Edward, Jessie, and her father severed. This was regardless of what they thought. “I must seem quite a cold person.”
“Octavia, that’s not—” started Hat.
“In that case, this Crow—the Phantom Thief—must be special to you,” Raven pointed out.
Hat shut his mouth.
It took a little while for Octavia to react. “Why should that be the case?”
“I mean, you’ve been extremely angry with him. With me, too. In your attempts to change me, you’ve issued me all sorts of warnings.”
“Hmm. Hmmm?!”
“Hadn’t you noticed?”
Raven was only pointing this out teasingly, but now Octavia was stunned. She held her head in her hands.
“This isn’t the time to be worrying about that. It can wait until later. Don’t even think about it right now! Just forget it,” hissed Hat.
“But somehow,” said Octavia, “I feel like I’ve just realized something extremely important!”
“Her Majesty the Queen and His Highness, the queen’s brother, have just made their entrance! Refrain from speaking!”
Octavia gasped in surprise. From the doorway beside the shrouded dais, a severe-looking man appeared. His cloak swayed in time with his bold footsteps. He had no wings. He looked for all the world like nothing more than a regular man in middle age. But his cloak bore the crest of the royal family. He was probably concealing his wings.
So that’s the queen’s brother. The one said to have made imitations of the Heirlooms...
After a delay, a silhouette appeared behind the thin curtain on the dais. On the far side of the table, Edward leapt to his feet, as if repelled by some force. He was followed by Jessie and her father. Learning from their example, Octavia and Raven also rose.
The very moment that the silhouette, with her thin outline, gently sat down in the very center of the dais, Edward raised his voice. “It is in high spirits today, as always, that we greet Her Majesty.”
“Edward, desist at once. You have not been granted permission to address the queen directly.” The queen’s brother cut Edward off. Stepping away from the shrouded dais, he approached the table. “You are indeed before Her Majesty the Queen, but for the purposes of this audience, I, Prince Henry Di Angelus, have been instructed to take charge of proceedings. You may all be seated,” said Henry, the very moment he was himself seated at the end of the round table nearest the queen.
As Octavia returned to her seat, Hat snorted above her head. “Hmm! High and mighty as ever. Though I seem to recall him trembling behind us when we struck down God.”
“From this point on, I will permit you to address me directly,” Prince Henry went on. “I believe we are gathered to discuss the matter of some lost family heirlooms, which should have been inherited by the Earl of Reine. Am I right so far, Earl of Reine?”
“Yes, Your Highness.” With an air of composure, Octavia’s father rose to his feet. “I submit the following. That misguided daughter of mine—the one who is sitting right over there—said herself that she had no intention of inheriting the peerage before leaving my household. Yet now she seems to be concealing heirlooms that are the rightful property of the Earl of Reine. More specifically, these heirlooms are thought to have been stored in the mansion that was the personal property of my mother, the previous Earl of Reine.”
“Is that right? Though it is my understanding that that daughter of yours is, like the previous Earl, acquainted with my niece Eliza, is she not?”
At a sharp glance from Henry, Octavia sighed. She had heard that Eliza, the Princess Royal, and Prince Henry were struggling with one another to be the next to inherit the throne. It seemed that this audience was, for Prince Henry, less about interceding on Edward’s behalf and more about curbing Eliza’s influence.
“Indeed. It appears that my grandmother and Princess Eliza were close friends. But that has nothing to do with the matter of the line of the Earl of Reine. With regard to that title, please handle it however you please.”
“Hmph! Of course I will. You left, after all,” grumbled Octavia’s father.
“And if you would like to take the mansion from me, too,” Octavia went on, “I invite you to do so at your pleasure.”
Octavia’s father’s nostrils flared, and he opened his eyes wide in indignation. Edward and Jessie, whose expressions had been calm, also looked at her in surprise. Why did they always look so shocked when she obliged them?
“Octavia, are you sure about that?” asked Raven, frowning.