Chapter 5: It’s Finally Open Season
“FIONA, we’re going to the palace,” Charles announced as soon as he walked into his office.
She started preparing right away. Today, she was working on administrative tasks in the Temple, and now, she wondered if something had happened.
“You as well, Your Holiness? Was our ruse about the fake saint discovered?”
Despite the extenuating circumstances and lack of malice on her part, her scheme involved deceiving the king, pretending to be a saint, and stealing the budget. There was no way to get out of this without punishment.
“If anything happens, don’t worry about me, and take care of yourself.”
“As if I’d ever do something like that. Besides, His Highness would never allow it.”
Just because Linus was the crown prince didn’t mean he could protect her from everything, not to mention she hated the thought of causing trouble for him in such a fashion. When push came to shove, Fiona was determined to be the only one who would be punished for their fraud. She would tell the king she had deceived them, threatened them, whatever it took for her and her alone to take the blame.
“Furthermore…you are, in fact, not a fake saint.”
“Huh?”
“Right, off we go. I have a carriage waiting for us outside.”
She hurriedly picked up her coat and left the room with Charles.
When they arrived at the palace, they were led to the same audience chamber as last time. They waited patiently there, and before long, the king, prime minister, and Linus appeared. Fiona and Charles bowed their heads respectfully. With a wave of his hand, the king told them to lift their faces as he sat down on his throne.
“I heard you not only solved the problem of the abnormality in the lake, but you cleansed all the monsters, too. You don’t disappoint, Saint of Cost Performance. Cost performance truly is a magnificent thing, eh?”
Fiona bowed her head in thanks at the king’s smiling, satisfied aura, but privately, she thought that nothing she’d done had any bearing on cost performance anymore. The concern she’d had on her mind for ages about the country’s future under a daydreaming king surfaced again. For now, though, it seemed her fraud hadn’t been exposed, and she had escaped punishment for another day, which relieved her. She would take the small victory.
“The whole thing is strange to me, frankly, considering I heard that packs of monsters rarely appear these days. Not to mention they charged directly at Fiona.”
“Very strange indeed, Your Highness. Perhaps the saint has some special power that draws them to her.”
Linus smiled politely at the prime minister, his gaze boring into him. In response, the prime minister turned his face away from the prince.
“You know what else I heard? That we can trace the magic back to the source from the string remaining of the mysterious object we found in the lake.”
Linus commented without looking away from the prime minister. Charles took that as his cue to step in.
“By your leave, Your Majesty, if I may interject. His Highness is correct. It is possible to do that. I detected remnants of magic belonging to the individual who set the trap in the lake and conducted my own investigation into the matter.”
It was understandable when the prime minister’s eyes widened in shock. The ability to follow the trail of magic left behind in something was a rare one. Although it might seem useful, it consumed a lot of power, so out of consideration for his own well-being, Charles had not made its existence known to the general public.
“And what were the results?”
“I checked again and again. The trail always led to the palace.”
The prime minister’s shoulders flinched at Charles’ words. If anyone in the palace had anything to do with the incident at the lake, it would be a serious problem. So she wasn’t surprised to see him grow pale.
Linus smiled, his eyes never straying from the prime minister. Though his smile was beautiful and gentle, for some reason, it felt cold to Fiona. Perhaps that could be attributed to her nerves.
“Probably because I touched the string. I mean, it’s preposterous to think anyone in the royal palace would do such a thing, right?”
“S-Spot on, Your Highness! Of course, there’s no such person here.”
The prime minister’s eyes darted everywhere. He was likely just terrified because he normally didn’t deal with monsters and corrupted objects.
“Can you investigate further?”
“It will take a little longer to trace magic other than His Highness’. If you have no objections, Your Majesty, I can get started right away. What do you say?”
Charles shifted his attention from Linus to the king, who nodded with such dignity one would never know he was a whimsical man in his prime.
“By hook or crook, we need to suss out the criminal who polluted the lake. I don’t care how long it takes; just get the job done.”
“Yes, my liege. I will present to you the culprit and proof of their wrongdoing without fail.”
Charles bowed his head deferentially to the king, then smiled at the prime minister. Fiona was impressed by the pontiff’s insight and thoughtfulness. He had seen through the prime minister’s fear of filth and smiled reassuringly at him.
“As for you, Lady Saint, brava. I heard you performed your duty splendidly. I’ll have to think of a proper reward, eh?”
The king’s smile resembled Linus’, as only a father and son could. Perhaps then that was why her tension eased, why she felt close to him. Normally, anything the king offered was to be accepted, but she desperately needed to tell him something.
“I’m honored to receive such praise from you, Your Majesty. However, I did not work alone. His Highness and his knights defeated the monsters, and a local priest contained the spread of the pollution at the lake, keeping the damage to a minimum.”
“Fair point. Even if the knights and priest were simply doing their jobs, they still did them well. It won’t be much, but I shall make sure they’re rewarded, too… I trust there are no cost issues with this?”
As the king, he could do whatever he wanted, so she found it charming that he would ask her for permission with his head tilted thoughtfully. A middle-aged man with dreams was truly formidable.
“Of course not. I think lauding those who do their utmost is just as important as punishing those who do wrong.”
“Agreed. Then, Lady Saint, as for your reward…”
“No, thank you.”
“You said it yourself just now, did you not? Besides, it would be odd if you were the only one I didn’t reward. Or are you saying there’s nothing in particular you want?”
When she nodded affirmatively, the king rested his chin on his hand and fell into a contemplative silence.
“By the way, Lady Saint, do you have a man you favor or a lover?”
“No, I do not.”
Though perplexed by the sudden change in topic, she still answered honestly. Linus scowled, and Charles pressed his lips together tightly like he was containing himself. She wondered what in the world was wrong with the two of them.
“Excellent. Then let us discuss the engagement between Crown Prince Linus and the Saint of Cost Performance.”
“I…what…?”
That was all she could blurt out, unable to grasp the meaning of the words the king spoke with a smile. If this was another flight of fancy for the daydreaming man, then a crisis was upon her. But how exactly was she supposed to interpret his announcement?
“Isn’t that premature, Your Majesty?”