When Claudio heard the news from the mole-bearing clergyman, he abandoned any hope of comprehending the implications.
“Wait, Your Highness. Where are you going? You can’t very well go into the Forbidden Forest,” Fritz said reproachfully, which allowed Claudio to realize that he was leaving his quarters without even thinking. That was when rage seethed from deep within his core. A growl rumbled from his throat.
It was early morning on the day of the inquiry when Fritz came running into Claudio’s room with a look of dread on his face. He dived into the room as he was finishing up yet another sleepless night.
“...Damn that repugnant Archbishop!” Those same words that he’d spat out were coming right back to bite him. He had calculated that he might have abducted Rosemarie off somewhere, but...
“And he abandoned her in the Forbidden Forest of all places? The cretin!” That was no better than a gradual death sentence.
Without mana, one was bound to go missing in the Forbidden Forest. Some said it was because you would go out of your mind. Others said the Sacred Beast was still very much alive in the forest, and those who got lost there became a sacrifice to it. And since no normal human has ever tried going in and coming back, it wasn’t clear what would happen in the forest.
“I wasn’t careful myself. Doesn’t matter how busy I was running around with preparations with the inquiry, I should’ve done a better job sticking around her. At the morning service, one of the paladins that keep to the Archbishop was looking strange, so I pressed him for info and that’s when I heard the shocking news that they dumped her off in the Forbidden Forest...” Fritz said, his face looking downcast in a rare display. Claudio moved his eyes away from him and swiftly sat down on the sofa.
“...Rosemarie has my mana. I don’t know how the forest will discern that, but if it recognizes her as having mana, then I think she’ll be able to navigate her way out of the forest, but...” He put a hand on his forehead and racked his brain. Fritz knitted his brow and looked toward the forest.
“With my piddling mana, all I’d do is get lost... Is Master Edel still cooping themselves up?”
“Yes, caught up in analysis of the Kaola. For the inquiry, we’ve prepared it so Master Edel will endow their mana using that branch as a medium, but...” He pointed to a small yew branch atop the desk. The yew tree was not only a ward against evil, but also carried mana, albeit in miniscule amounts. Claudio had been concealing it in his pocket and using it has a medium, giving the illusion that he had been using magic and casting spells.
This was altogether different from the time that Edeltraud tricked him into thinking that Rosemarie was missing. Back then, it was clear that guilt was the emotion that won out in the end. This time, though, emotions like panic and loss were coming and going through his heart, culminating in rage. That rage made his hands tremble and clench tightly into fists.
“In any case, Your Highness, don’t you move. If you don’t make it to today’s inquiry on time, then they’ll think that you’re absent because you don’t have any mana. Got that? I won’t approve of you relinquishing the throne in disgrace on top of being accused of faking that you have mana when you don’t.” Fritz warned Claudio in a deep tone. His normally laid-back attitude had taken a back seat, and bits of his prestige as a clergyman reared their head.
“—You’re an idiot, you know that?” Serving under someone that was as much of a handful as Claudio of his own volition—he had thought this since the very beginning, but that in itself was idiotic.
“I think of a lot of things, being the idiot that I am, sir. And I don’t want to see Her Highness in tears, either,” Fritz said, shrugging his shoulders. It was a sight that calmed Claudio’s nerves a tad.
“Rosemarie ended up safe even though she wandered into the Forbidden Forest as a child. However, the same can’t be guaranteed this time around.” Claudio didn’t want to be so irresponsible as to stop caring about the loss of his position as crown prince. If that were to happen, Rosemarie herself would undoubtedly be sadder about it than anyone.
In attempts to quell the vortex of panic and rage in his heart, he shut his eyes. Then he took a deep breath.
“—Let’s prepare for the inquiry. Once we’ve squared that away, we will do whatever it takes to search for Rosemarie.”