Gilles suddenly gasped and said, “No, that’s not it!” with a frantic look on his face. “Kreis is just concerned for my health, that’s all. But I’ve been cooped up in my room for so long I... I just thought today would be all right. It’s all my fault.”
The fact that he was trying to play this off like I’d locked him away was incredible. And Claude fell for the bait right away, because he glared at me.
“Isn’t it a bit too much to keep your brother confined to his room?” he asked.
“Gilles has very weak health,” I explained. “It’s in his best interests not to overexert himself.”
“In that case, I’ll stay with him. There’s no problem with that, is there?”
It’s a huge problem! What are you, a doctor? Can you treat him if he gets sick?
I wanted to lash out and say that, but I kept those thoughts to myself. He was still the prince, after all. I kept a smile glued on my face and had no choice but to respond, “Then please look after him.”
“Shall we go?” Claude asked.
“Y-Yes, thank you.”
As I watched the two of them gazing at each other like they were in their own little world, I thought, “Just go and take your romantic tension somewhere else already. Preferably straight into the afterlife.”
Claude reached out his hand, and Gilles hesitantly took it. Then the two of them walked off together, looking quite sweet to anyone else watching, but meanwhile I just felt a quiet gloom settle over me as I watched them go.
“Is Gilles really that sick?” Siegfried asked.
“Yes, his health is very fragile. He’ll cough up blood if he pushes himself too hard. That’s why I urged father to make him stay in his room to recover for now,” I replied.
“That’s worrisome. Have they found a cause for his illness?”
That was the problem. In the original timeline, the story went that Gilles’s body was being consumed by the “corruption” of the kingdom, with that message being delivered by a divine revelation. It was said that Siegfried was the cause of this corruption, as traces of his magic had been found in Gilles’s body. That was all it had taken for both Kreis and Siegfried to be sentenced to death.
But now that I was living as Kreis, I knew there was no such evidence that Siegfried was causing any kind of corruption in the kingdom. At the time, Siegfried hadn’t denied the claim, because they’d been using Kreis as a hostage to blackmail him. He’d stayed silent because he felt he’d needed to.
“We’ve consulted every doctor we can find, but no one knows what’s wrong,” I said.
“I see. You must be so worried.”
“Yes...”
Even if Siegfried truly was the cause, I still wanted to save him, but something about all this still felt odd to me.
Why had traces of Siegfried’s magic been found in Gilles’s body? What did “corruption of the kingdom” even mean? Honestly, I hadn’t written anything explaining it in the original story, because the assumption from the beginning was that Siegfried was to blame. But now that I was inside the story, nothing really added up, and last time around, Kreis had been killed off before he could ever really learn the truth.
Since Gilles was the target of my revenge, I wouldn’t shed a tear if he ended up dying of this so-called corruption. I could live without knowing the root cause.
“The Noble Sun who lights up our kingdom has graced us with His presence once more!”
As soon as Claude left the room, nobles began to gather around Siegfried as if they’d been waiting for their chance. This was the perfect time for me to slip away unnoticed. If I stuck around, he’d just keep pulling me into conversations, and mingling with nobles was exhausting for me, especially when they were so desperate to suck up to him. No thanks.
“If you’re going to go get snacks, bring me back something!”
“Glutton. You’ll be a pig before you know it,” I said to Professor.
“I will not! I’m a divine beast.”
Professor trotted behind me with his tail swishing when I stepped out into the hallway. It was time to grab the pastries I’d stashed away earlier.
I returned to my bedroom, and it was as musty as ever. I cracked a window to let out the mildewy smell. I’d been so busy lately I hadn’t had time to clean, and it looked like a complete disaster.
The new servants had no idea this was how I lived. Albert had forbidden anyone from entering my quarters.
He lived in the largest and most comfortable room in the estate, and the second largest (the one that used to be mine) had been given to Gilles. The rest weren’t even close in terms of size or quality.
Albert was terrified of Karina finding out. He didn’t want her to point out how shameful it was to give the heir of House Louboutin such an appalling room. But at the same time, if he was that worried, why didn’t he just give me a better one? But no, he couldn’t stand the idea of me thinking he’d backed down out of fear of Karina. Prideful men like him were so irritating.
“Oh, right... I should leave this here too.”
I placed the jeweled box containing the sorcerer’s stone I’d received from Siegfried on the desk. I might lose it if I kept it in my pocket while wandering around the estate. I reached down to caress its surface. It was truly a treasure. It was small enough that I could probably have it made into a pendant I could wear all the time.
I decided to hide it under the bed later. I touched the box one last time and sat down on the bed with a thump.
“Where’s the snack? Do I get my snack now?” Professor sniffed impatiently, resting his chin on my knee. I reached out and grabbed a pastry from the basket on my nightstand and held it up.
“Just one,” I said.
“What?!”
“Don’t ‘what?!’ me.”
These were meant for Siegfried, and I already felt like my little gift of pastries didn’t come close to repaying the extravagant outfit he’d given me, not to mention the sorcerer’s stone. Even though I knew these were his favorite, not even the whole batch would come close to making up for it.
“Just one more! Just one!”
“No.”
“You’re so mean!”
Professor and I were arguing back and forth when I heard someone lightly knock on the door.
“Yes?”
“May I come in, Kreis?”
Gilles? I blinked in surprise. I hadn’t expected him to show up. He was supposed to be avoiding my room, keeping up appearances that he didn’t know a thing about my living circumstances, so what was he doing here now?
“Kreis...?”
“Come in.”
I’d assumed he was busy cozying up to Claude, so I really had no idea what he was doing here.
The moment he stepped inside, Gilles wrinkled his nose at the mildewy odor, but he quickly recovered and said brightly, “I came here to ask you a favor. Could I have some of your pastries?”
“My pastries?”
“Yes, when I said they were His Majesty’s favorite, Prince Claude said he’d love to try them for himself.”
Why should I give any of the pastries I made especially for Siegfried to him? I might as well poison them. I can kill two birds with one poisoned pastry and solve everything! No, no, no. That’s a bit too extreme. And obvious. I’d definitely be the first suspect...
“I don’t have much left,” I said.
“Don’t lie. There’s plenty right there.”
“Those are for the king.”
“You’re just being petty because you don’t want Prince Claude and me to get close.”
“I never said that.”
“Liar. You’re just jealous of me.”
“Gilles.”
“You’ve always been jealous of me. You’re so stupid. Father’s always loved me, but you try so hard to win his affection. And you’re lying through your teeth if you say you don’t need it. You only gave up because you knew you could never have it. Just admit it.”
Ahh, so he’s already showing his true colors.
In the first timeline, Gilles had kept up his innocent act until the end, so the fact that he was revealing his true nature now could only mean one thing—my change in behavior had made him panic.