Rosemarie sat upon the bed and vacantly stared at the moonlight flooding in through the barred window.
It was her second day in the high-class prison in the nook of the castle grounds. The piece of paper Claudio had handed to her, wrinkled from the many times she had read it over, lay on her lap.
(It gives me a little relief, but...)
Essentially, it said she didn’t need to worry, and to sit tight since he had calculated that something to this effect would happen.
After the assault at the evening gala with the Crown Prince and Princess of Rivera, she had been anxious with the knowledge that Claudio had been hatching a plan. She’d never expected it would end up getting her wrapped up in things as well, though.
(The next time I see Prince Claudio, maybe I should give him a piece of my mind.)
If he knew thing would come to this, he should have given her a chance to prepare herself for it mentally. She figured this was a situation that was safe to get angry at. As always, Claudio failed to give her an adequate explanation.
Seeing as how Claudio couldn’t come here, Fritz would come every morning to check up on her, but that still didn’t ease the burden in her mind.
With a small sigh, she turned her eyes toward the door.
The thick wooden door was secured not only with a heavy-duty lock from the outside, but also with a Spell of Locking cast by a sorcerer. Thus, she was told never to touch it. The window was apparently the same, meaning touching it would result in a nasty burn on one’s hand.
(But what if it dispels at my touch?)
Her trait was stealing mana, after all. So perhaps she could absorb the mana powering the Spell of Locking, like when she’d siphoned off the mana from that broom. However, even if that were possible, it wouldn’t do much to change anything, given the current predicament she was it.
As she sat staring at the door, relieved at how surprisingly calm she was keeping, it gave a click and popped ajar.
“Huh...?” How had the door moved without her laying a finger on it? All she’d done was look at it. Disturbed, she started to get up for a closer look. However, before she even could, the prison door opened without a sound.
“...?!”
“And how might we be doing, Crown Princess?” Appearing in the doorway was the Archbishop with the half-melting lizard face—Kastner. He may have had a gentle smile across the human side of his face, but his appearance was monstrous and more frightening than anyone else.
(It’s okay, it’s okay, Prince Claudio told me to have faith and wait for him.)
Rosemarie glared resolutely at Kastner, holding back the urge to vomit due to the pungent smell drifting through the air.
“Goodness gracious, I would have never expected you to poison Prince Claudio. Women can be ferocious under those docile faces.”
“I did not poison him.”
“Oh, my, you do not seem to know when to give up. The witness was a doctor who has been a presence in this castle far longer than you. Whose statement do you think will be more believable?”
Rosemarie frowned in frustration. What Kastner said wasn’t incorrect. As far as credibility went, the doctor had her beat.
“If you truly were trying to poison him, you were quite close to doing so. Then again, at the moment it doesn’t matter whether you poisoned him or not. —Take her away.” Kastner turned back around and gave a signal with a jerk of his chin. The knights who had been waiting behind him, wearing rather unfamiliar uniforms with gold embroidery, entered the room. Before the shock could even settle in, both of Rosemarie’s arms were wrenched behind her back.
“What are you doing?!” Try as she might to squirm her way into an escape, she wasn’t budging. Another knight then forced a gag in her mouth. With a guilty expression paired with a slight frown, the knight tied her hands behind her back. Suffocating and confused, Rosemarie pointed her tear-stained eyes toward Kastner. The Archbishop’s lips curled into a grin.
“Prince Claudio has been devoting quite a lot of attention to you. It would be quite cumbersome if you were, by some off chance, already bearing his child.”
(Bear... a child...?)
Claudio had wed her to retrieve his mana, not because he wanted an heir. However, obtaining an heir would have been the usual reason. She knew the situation she was in, but she could feel her cheeks flushing in shame. The girl furiously shook her head, to which Kastner raised an eyebrow, surprised.
“I can’t say I would expect you to deny that. Well, even so, you shall be seeing your way out of Prince Claudio’s life. You see, I want to make sure there is next to zero chance of anything going awry. In order for our candidate to become crown prince, that is.”
She turned her attention to a loud thud coming from the entrance and saw an uncaring knight carry in a wine barrel.
(Are they going to kill me...?!)
Were they going to kill her, stuff her inside of that barrel, and bury it out in the middle of nowhere? Had Claudio managed to account for this, too?
Her breathing started getting erratic as her blood curdled. She spurred her shivering body in order to shake off the knight’s hands, but their powerful arms lifted her up.
“...?!”
They crammed her into the wine barrel, causing her to slam her rear inside. She bore the pain, and looked up to find that the lid was being placed back on the barrel. The knight held the lid, not saying a single word and biting his lip. Seeing that made her believe that this probably wasn’t something he wanted to do.