MEANWHILE, without any inkling of Marcus’s predicament, Cesia finally reached the document storage room that housed the Second Division. She had been asked for her identity multiple times along the way, but Maria’s ID had stood up to scrutiny each time, and she had been allowed to pass.
Even if it’s legitimate, they think I’m Maria, and I only have different-colored hair, Cesia thought. Anyone could steal an ID and pass themselves off as another person. The trick probably has something to do with this red hair, which Marcus colored. I can feel a trace of some sort of magic energy.
In this world, everyone could cast magic at some level or another. Nobles tended to be more magically powerful, and because of that, there were even times in the distant past when marriage between family members had been promoted. However, the continued existence of commoners born with high amounts of magical power meant that, at present, there was considered to be no link between lineage and ability. Additionally, in Emeroade, a country with prosperous international commerce, one’s magical power was not seen as all that important.
Cesia didn’t know how the IDs were made, but she assumed they corresponded to the unique hue of each individual’s magic, and it was with that that a person could be identified. However, it’d be suspicious if Marcus and Maria had the same magic color, so Maria’s ID had probably been modified somehow. It might be said to be a type of mimicry. If Maria’s artificial color covered Cesia, she could mimic Maria.
She didn’t think she was far from the truth, but just thinking that a prince of her own country could make a fake identity made Cesia anxious.
“This is definitely not allowed…” she said to herself, shivering. Marcus was no less cunning and methodical than Juliette was. Cesia was thankful that he chose to use his wits for good.
Cesia placed the empty box she was carrying in a corner where it wouldn’t get in the way, then knocked on the door of the Second Division’s headquarters. She worked there, so she normally wouldn’t knock, but seeing as she didn’t know who was inside the room, she moved carefully, just as Marcus always cautioned her.
Keith opened the door, and he widened his eyes in surprise upon seeing Cesia. Then, he smoothly invited her in as if she were an ordinary servant. He closed the door, said, “Cesia, you’re okay!” and gave her a big hug.
This time, it was Cesia’s turn to widen her eyes in surprise. “S-Sorry, Keith, for causing so much worry!” she hurriedly apologized.
Keith let go of Cesia and patted her on the head. “I’m glad you made it. I was waiting,” he said, smiling happily.
Cesia felt her chest tighten as if someone had squeezed her heart in a rigid grip. She had been afraid of returning. It would cause the Second Division trouble and hinder their investigation. She had worried that if they had treated her even a bit coldly, or if anyone had said to her that she was in the way, the strength she had wrung out of herself and used to force herself to keep moving forward would have evaporated away, leaving her unable to even stand on the two feet that had taken her so far. But the members of the Second Division, heedless of her anxiety, warmly welcomed her back into the fold.
“Cesia, you’re okay! I’m so happy!” Roy said, on the verge of tears as he held both of her hands.
Felix pursed his lips and poked her forehead. “Don’t worry me so much, you idiot.”
“I don’t want an idiot like you calling me that,” Cesia instantly, unconsciously, replied. Roy and Keith sighed in annoyance, but just when the bell that always signaled the start of their frequent verbal bouts was about to ring, they were interrupted.
“Cesia!” Mavis shouted. She rushed to Cesia and hugged her.
“Lady May!”
“What were you thinking? It was so high up! How could you j-jum— Just don’t do it again!”
Tears spilled from Mavis’s large, jade-green eyes, and Cesia keenly felt how much she had worried her. She felt ashamed that she had doubted her for even a second, and the corners of her eyes started to feel hot. So many people care about me here, she thought.
“My apologies, Lady May.”
“Promise me you’ll never be so careless with your life again! If you don’t, our friendship is over!” Mavis threatened, sobbing.
A certain word made Cesia pause. “We’re…friends?”
Mavis’s face turned bright red. Then, still blushing, she defiantly crossed her arms. “Y-Yeah, we are! We’re already friends! Right?!”
Cesia tearily smiled and said, “Yes, we are.”
Mavis smiled, relaxing, then hurriedly made herself look annoyed. “We’re f-friends, so if you break your promise, I won’t talk to you anymore! If you don’t like it, then value yourself more highly!”
What an incredible, cute friend, Cesia thought. She gently took Mavis’s hand, and making sure not to hurt her, she grasped the princess’s hand tightly. “I promise. I don’t want us to not be friends, after all.”
“That’s right! Take care of yourself… Don’t forget it!”
These small, elegant hands have never washed dishes or held a sword, but we’re still friends, Cesia thought. She wanted to keep her promise, not as an order from a princess, but as a vow with a dear and beloved friend.
As the two held each other’s hands and smiled awkwardly, a hard-to-describe, peaceful air settled in the room. However, the atmosphere was shattered when Layne came out from the division chief’s office.
“Oh, you’re back, Cesia.”
“Layne!” She turned her head to look at him. Mavis squeezed her hands once as a show of support, then let go, nodding at Cesia and going back to the couch she had been sitting on. Grateful for Mavis’s gesture, Cesia stood before Layne. “My deepest apologies.”
“You did what you could back then. I’m glad you’re back in one piece,” Layne said. His expression had softened when he saw that Cesia was safe, a marked difference from the stern look he had often worn recently.
Seeing that even Layne had been worried about her, Cesia felt like she was about to cry again. “Thank you!”
“Also, sorry, I know you just got back, but I have a job for you,” he said, looking into the division chief’s office.
Following his gaze, Cesia gulped when she saw Anita tied up in a chair. “Why is she—”
“It might’ve been her only option, but when Her Royal Highness took the teapot you rewound away from the crime scene, it made it something that could have possibly been fabricated, and it lost its evidentiary value. The Security Bureau had no reason to arrest Anita, so we had to do it instead.”
Still, if the teapot had fallen into someone else’s possession, it was doubtful whether they would’ve understood from it that Anita was the spy. It would’ve been the same even if Cesia had returned to the castle to testify afterward. At the very least, the current state of affairs where Marcus, the Second Division, and Mavis knew the identity of the spy was the best she could’ve hoped for.
They were unraveling the mystery step by step and driving Juliette into a corner, but Juliette seemed only ever to draw the cards she needed. They weren’t taking any losses, but Juliette was always one step ahead of them.
When that thought crossed her mind, Cesia felt uneasy. Juliette had so blatantly revealed the existence of her spy to Cesia; would she really sit by quietly and let them catch up to her?
“Layne, what is Juliette doing right now?” Cesia asked.
“She shut herself up in her room from the terror of being attacked by you, or so she says,” Layne replied. Then, he raised his face with a start. “You don’t suppose…”
“She’s known our next move the entire time. I don’t think she hasn’t accounted for this,” Cesia said definitively.
Layne turned to face the rest of the Second Division. “Keith, check to see if Princess Juliette is still in her quarters! Make sure you have someone who knows her face!”
“Understood,” Keith replied, then swiftly exited the office.
Layne continued, not missing a beat. “Roy! Send a message to Prince Marcus. Tell him to come back here as soon as he can.”
“Yes, sir!” Roy replied. He dashed over to the window and used magic to deliver a message. His magical ability made his messages much more precise than Cesia’s, but even then, sending a message was faster and more reliable when next to the outside air.
Cesia entered the division chief’s office and faced Anita. “Anita…”
Anita paused, then said, “So you made it out okay.” She smiled. Her smile was the same as it had always been.
Enduring the difficulty of the situation, Cesia sat in a chair in front of her. “Where’s Juliette?”
“Is she not in her quarters? They’re for noble guests, and she is a princess, after all,” Anita replied calmly. She spoke as if she hadn’t understood what Cesia meant.
Cesia shook her head. Juliette had been a step ahead of them the entire time; they would lose if they didn’t start with the assumption that they were missing something. “No. The fact that you’re so calm is evidence of that. You’re trying to make us think that she’s still in her room, unaware we captured you… You’re a decoy, and you’re going to sacrifice yourself for her,” she said firmly. Anita’s smile grew wider. Taking that as confirmation, she continued. “Why are you so devoted to her? She is, objectively speaking, not worthy of someone like you serving her. Either as a leader of a criminal syndicate or as a mistress.”