The following day, all six of us—Kira, Lord Theodore, Cain, Lady Europa, Prince Igna, and I—were gathered in the parlor of the Manilas mansion.
Yesterday, after Lord Theodore had intervened, we’d all gone our separate ways. Thanks to him, I’d slept soundly in a fluffy bed and was now in a great mood.
I mean, night before last, I was crying myself to sleep on a pile of leaves...
“I can hardly believe you’re actually the saint, Lady Evelyn,” Lord Theodore groaned from the seat next to mine.
Across from us, Lady Europa—who had been persistently sniffing at me—let out a small laugh. “Theodore, you’ve been breathing the same air as Saint Evelyn all this time and you didn’t even notice? For shame.”
“Europa, aren’t you wearing the same outfit as yesterday?”
“Ah, don’t you worry. I made sure to change out my underwear,” Lady Europa declared without a hint of shame.
Lord Theodore made a face. “That’s not the issue here. Your dress is covered in mud.”
“This is no ordinary mud! It was lawfully transferred from Saint Evelyn’s body to mine! It’s a national treasure! Never again shall I wear mud-free clothes!”
Lord Theodore’s gaze shifted sadly away from Lady Europa. Mine did too.
“I didn’t know,” Cain muttered dejectedly. “I thought Ms. Angel was a real angel...”
I bowed my head to him. “I’m sorry for lying, Cain...”
“It’s okay,” he said. “I was lying too. About being a boy.”
“Ah, of course.” Wait. “Huh?”
What was that? Had I misheard?
He lied about being a boy? Wait, that means she lied about being a boy! Cain is a she!
“And my name isn’t Cain. It’s Karin.”
So it’s not that Cain is a she! Karin is a she!
I was dumbfounded, but no one seemed to share my surprise. Apparently everyone else—Kira included—already knew.
Lord Theodore spoke up. “Karin has been a timid girl from childhood,” he said. “She looked up to me and started dressing as a boy. We have different mothers, so ours is a rather complex household, but we all get along well.”
“I’ll be honest. I was bullied at my previous school,” Karin explained. “So I thought if I could be strong like my brother, things would get better. And then I started dressing as a boy...”
“I’ll be honest. I was originally the foremost candidate for engagement to Prince Oz, not Prince Igna,” Lady Europa casually joined in, throwing out her own confession.
“I’ll be honest. As a boy, I beheld Europa traipsing through a field of canola blooms and fell in love at first sight. I told Oz, ‘Europa said she wants to wedge herself between the saint’s sole and shoe and spend the rest of her life there.’ That made him recoil in horror and he canceled their engagement,” Prince Igna added triumphantly.
What was there to be smug about?!
“You truly are disgusting, Prince Igna,” Lady Europa said.
“Ngh...! Yes, insult me! You could grant me no greater boon...!”
Stop! My brain can only take so much!
In an attempt to protect it from destruction, I fled to Kira’s seat across the table from me, shouting, “Kira, help!”
He looked annoyed but acquiesced and shifted his butt to make room for me to sit. I loved him.
“I’m sorry,” Lord Theodore said, finally noticing how spooked I was. “I couldn’t find the opportunity to explain...”
Sure, but the explanations coming all at once like that wasn’t ideal either!
“By the way, Prince Igna,” Lord Theodore said, “why are you in Semme?”
Prince Igna replied without missing a beat, “I came to see my fiancée, Europa. That’s all.”
“Truly? I heard that at the capital, the knights are out in force looking for Lady Evelyn...”
“That might be true. I can’t remember exactly. The only one on my mind is Europa.”
“I see...” Lord Theodore nodded firmly. “I understand the feeling quite well. Lady Evelyn is the only one on my own mind, you see.”
I did a double take. What did he just say?
Before I could give it any further thought, Prince Igna stood up. “Now then, I should get back to the capital. Come, Europa.”
“Huh? No, thank you,” Europa replied, brushing him off as he tried to link arms with her.
The prince didn’t seem saddened at all. In fact, he blushed. “Don’t say that. I came all this way for you.”
“Um, Prince Igna, you...seem to be laboring under a misapprehension,” Europa said, tilting her head slightly. Such an elegant gesture! Despite the, you know, mud all over her clothes. “I only came here because Lord Jackson asked me to treat Theodore’s injury. I had absolutely no plans to see you.”
“Ngh!”
“It was solely your own decision to come here. It’s absurd to think you can just whisk me away. I have no time to waste on a bloody-nosed buffoon like you. My true calling is to be here, by Saint Evelyn’s side, breathing only the air she exhales.”
“Gaaah!”
With that, Prince Igna collapsed on the carpet, blood gushing from his nose.
The knights, who’d been standing by the wall, rushed over. “Your Highneeess!”
For a moment, I thought the prince might bleed to death, but I was too scared to leave Kira’s side.
Lady Europa, paying no mind to the prince as he drowned in an ocean of blood, turned to me. “By the way, I was so excited that I got to meet you, Saint Evelyn, that I neglected to ask—why are you in Semme?”
A long-overdue question. Come to think of it, I haven’t told Lord Theodore or Cain—I mean, Karin—anything.
Or, more precisely, nobody had believed me when I tried to tell them. Either way, I decided to be honest and tell all present about everything that had happened after I was exiled from the Grand Basilica.
Lady Europa was the first to speak after I finished my explanation.
“Let us kill the crown prince,” she said.
“Yes, let us.”
Wait, Lord Theodore is agreeing?! Shouldn’t he be trying to dissuade her?!
But both were oozing murder. Unusually, even Karin had her cheeks puffed out in indignation. The parlor was suddenly awash in bloodthirst.
And then there’s Prince Igna laid out on the floor, covered head to toe in blood, which certainly doesn’t help the atmosphere...
“Calm down, you three,” I said. “He’s the crown prince. In name, anyway.”
“But Saint Evelyn!” Lady Europa protested, shooting to her feet excitedly. “I cannot let this slide! Especially after, a year ago, the crown prince—”
“You mean clown prick,” Prince Igna muttered deliriously as his knights tended to him.