Octavia just shrugged and smiled. “I really don’t mind. I’ll lose one place to live, but things will work out fine. With that, I wonder if we might consider the matter closed?”
“N-No, wait!” shouted Edward. “The problem in the first place was that you took an heirloom of the House of Reine with you. Until you return it, nothing will be resolved!”
Octavia only smirked. She couldn’t return what they sought. She was the only one who could make use of Hat. The Heirlooms Octavia’s grandmother had looked after in her mansion had all been registered. Even if she were chased out of the mansion, she wouldn’t have any problems, although she would feel a little bit sad to have the house her grandmother left to her stolen from her.
All the same, she knew that her grandmother would laugh at such sentimentality, calling it a trifle. She surely would have said that there were more important things to protect. After all, Octavia had Hat and the other tools.
“Father, before you finally throw me out, would you strip me of the very clothes on my back in pursuit of these lost heirlooms? I can’t say that the thought pleases me, but if that’s what it will take for you to be satisfied, I will accept it.”
“What did you say?”
“But that is where it will end.” Still, Octavia felt the need to draw a line. She raised her head slowly, and everyone at the far side of the table took a collective gasp. “I will not allow any further interference in my affairs. If you can commit to that, I will withdraw. That is the offer I came to make today.”
“What are you saying?” her father stammered. “Why should we...”
“Swear it,” Octavia commanded coldly.
Silence spread through the room. Octavia’s father looked at Edward and Octavia in turn. Jessie clung to Edward, hiding behind his back.
Edward recoiled, as if feeling the pressure of Octavia’s gaze, but he soon opened his mouth again. “Who would listen to what you have to say?”
“Silence, Edward. What are you unhappy about?” It was Henry who quickly interrupted Edward, having listened to the discussion so far in silence. “This girl has said that she will relinquish the peerage, the mansion, everything. In that case, the matter is settled. Would you really have me waste my time...” he grumbled. “Eliza hasn’t said anything on the matter, either.”
Goggling at Henry in astonishment, Edward shut his mouth. He had snapped back at Octavia reflexively, without thinking too hard about it. Perhaps he hadn’t realized what Henry was so concerned about, either.
“She said it herself. I will continue with the necessary procedures. The outdated letters patent, or whatever it was you made such a fuss about, can also be annulled at this point. Now then, I will take my—”
“Outdated...letters patent?” came a soft voice. It was like a tiny pebble dropped into a pond, but nonetheless sent out ripples across the room. “I think I know who it was that framed that document.” Her tone was almost like a young girl’s. In some respects, her voice resembled Eliza’s. But it was lighter by far than even Eliza’s voice, with a dreamlike quality.
The queen’s speaking voice sounded almost like a song.
“To violate that,” she went on, “to take away her rightful claim, the license she was granted, to try and steal these just because you were told that you could, is barbaric. This act—without a shred of the dignity that befits the royal family—is not one I will permit.”
“Y-Your Majesty.” Henry probably hadn’t thought that the queen would chime in. Turning to face her, he continued, “But she herself said...”
Thump, came the sound of something striking the floor. Behind the curtain, the queen had brought down her staff.
“I shall make that determination.”
That voice would brook no further objections.
Henry quickly bowed his head. “But please...”
“We shall conduct this matter as we did with the previous Earl of Reine.” She was referring to Octavia’s grandmother.
This time, the queen rang a bell behind the gauze curtain. Two doors opened on each side of the room, and men in pure white military uniforms entered through them.
Seeing the star-shaped badges gleaming on their lapels, Octavia quietly gasped. Inquisitors. Troops under the queen’s direct command. Though they were human, they possessed magic and were charged with the recovery of Demonic Heirlooms. These were clearly still very junior inquisitors; they wore few stars on their uniforms.
“S-Sister. What is it that you intend to do?” said Henry.
“When the previous Earl of Reine inherited her title, her older brother spoke up to challenge her, saying that he was the one worthy of the peerage. To repel this challenge, she chose instead to call herself a detective.”
“W-Wait one moment, Your Majesty. Surely you are not saying that she inherited the peerage even though she had an older brother?” asked Edward, needing confirmation.
The queen replied indifferently, “That is correct. The House of Reine also allows women to succeed as the head of the family. I needn’t remind you who granted them that exception.”
Looking as though he had been stabbed, Edward shut up. However, Octavia had not known that her grandmother had also had competition for the head of the family.
Her interest piqued, Octavia inquired, “Just how then did my grandmother obtain the peerage?”
“She faithfully executed a request of mine. That request was to aid me in finding imitations of the Imperial Heirlooms, which experienced something of a boom at that time. I asked her whether or not each Heirloom was genuine.”
So, in that fashion, Octavia’s grandmother had shown her fealty to the queen and had managed to go on living, hiding herself with confidence. Octavia clenched her fists tightly.
“On this occasion, I have a request.”
Two inquisitors, who had come to stand beside Edward and Octavia, each took out an envelope. They did this with precisely the same timing and movements.
So from the very beginning, she had already decided what she was going to do. The queen had always been frantic in her search for the successor to the imperial throne. Octavia chided herself for having been too wary of that fact, and also for underestimating the queen as a stateswoman.
“Open them.”
Octavia opened her envelope. A photograph fell out. Octavia’s mouth curled up in a smile as she looked at it.
I really did underestimate her. For a moment she thought that this had been Eliza’s doing, but this felt different. That was because Henry, sitting beside Edward and looking at the same thing, turned pale for a moment.
Perhaps the queen had been aware of what was going on this whole time. The photograph was of a little girl with black hair, hugging a soft toy rabbit to her chest. Even the inscription on the back, “Successful Subject,” was the same. She must have produced an exact copy of Eliza’s picture.