“This is unforgivable! I will not let this stand!!!” Van roared in anger. His wrath reminded me of Vacherin’s when he learned of Charlotte’s death. I felt my chest tighten. Perhaps Charlotte’s memories inside me were crying out in sorrow. She must not have wanted to see him suffer like he once had. I felt that I had to live longer than he would, even if it were just one second more.
Roche continued his report. “We are currently looking for the culprit. We followed the mana trails at the scene and we found that the culprit might not be a dragonkin.”
The culprit might have commissioned an outside magician for the job. I want them to investigate that possibility too.
“Everyone, you may stand down. I want to be alone with Mille-Feuille,” Van ordered. Lady Opera looked exasperated as she stood up to leave. Parfeil read the room too and excused herself. Roche, after confirming the area’s safety, promptly exited as well.
Once we were alone, Van let out a long, deep sigh. “This is unthinkable. How could anyone assault the Dragon Duchess consort? Who would do such a thing?”
The air in the room was vibrating, possibly because Van’s mana was currently unstable. Some men could transform into dragons involuntarily and go on a rampage if they lost control of their mana. To prevent that from happening, I kept trying to comfort Van, telling him that everything would be fine.
Eventually, Van’s mana calmed down.
An explosion at the cathedral... It was hard to believe, but my premonition had turned out to be right.
“Van, wouldn’t it be dangerous to go to Diamant at a time like this?” I asked, voicing my concerns.
Van remained silent.
Right now, the safest place for me in the Dragon Duchy of Éclair was inside this room with Van’s protection. Hiding until the culprit was caught was the safest course of action. Of course, I also wanted to go on a trip and have fun, but perhaps it was best to just keep myself out of harm’s way.
That was what I thought, at least, but Van felt otherwise.
“No. I want to continue with our honeymoon plans.”
“Huh? But the culprit is still out there, and we don’t have any clue as to who it is!” I protested.
“I know, but I can’t stand the thought of this incident ruining your enjoyment. Besides, changing our plans out of fear of this attack is the same as admitting to the culprit that we are afraid. It would mean that we’re losing.”
“You’re right, but...”
I tried to come up with a plan to deal with this incident. If we went on ahead to Diamant, it was possible that the culprit would follow us as well.
“What if you go to Diamant alone and survey the region without me?” I suggested.
“That’s possible, but...”
Was he going to say that he didn’t want to leave me alone? Van’s large body hunched over, clearly expressing his sadness.
Still, this situation was out of our control. If I went to Diamant, I could expose innocent bystanders to danger.
If I weren’t the Dragon Duchess consort, this incident wouldn’t have happened.
If I weren’t the Dragon Duchess consort...
“Wait. If the Dragon Duchess consort weren’t here...” Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. “That’s right! I just have to not go to Diamant!” I exclaimed.
“Weren’t we just talking about that?” Van said, puzzled.
“We were!” I don’t have to go to Diamant as the Dragon Duchess consort. When I repeated my thoughts to him, I was met with even more confusion.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I could go to Diamant as your personal maid!”
Van looked dumbfounded for a moment before realizing what I was saying. “Oh! Yes, we could do that!” he exclaimed.
“Don’t you think it’s a good idea?”
“It’s an excellent idea.”
Being right next to Van was much safer than staying in a room protected by his barrier. Not even the foolhardiest of fools would dare attack the pinnacle of all dragonkin.
“We’ll leave your body double here and make the culprit think we’re letting our guard down. They might try to exploit that opportunity to attack us,” Van suggested.
“I’ll feel bad for the knight tasked to play that role, though,” I said.
“Don’t you worry. My knights all have excellent combat capability and are flexible enough to handle unexpected situations. They were all completely unharmed in today’s incident, remember?”
“Yes, they were. But still...”
As Van praised his knights, a certain detail stuck out to me.
“Sorry, did I hear that right? Your knights will be acting as my body doubles? Aren’t they all men?” I asked.
“That’s right. The knight tasked to be your body double today was a burly young man too.”
Apparently, they had also suspected that the culprit would see through illusion magic, so the body double also wore a dress for the occasion. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how a beefy, muscular knight would look in a dress.
“Even if your body double were in danger, he could just transform into a dragon in a pinch,” Van added. He assured me that there was no need to worry—any injuries they might sustain would be easily healed by magic while they were transformed.
“Mille-Feuille, you plan on bringing Madeleine and Parfeil with us too, right?”
“Of course,” I affirmed.
“Then I’ll prepare body doubles for them as well.”
There were no problems with Madeleine, but would Parfeil’s body double cross-dress and wear rabbit ears? I tried to imagine the three knights who would be acting as our body doubles and felt apologetic. I sympathized with their future plight.
“It seems I’ll be causing trouble for your knights this time around,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s part of their job,” Van replied.
“That’s right, but...” I made sure to ask Van to give extra pay to the knights who would be acting as our body doubles.
“We should head out as soon as we can,” Van said.
“What about your work?”
“I can attend meetings through crystals, and there are messengers who deliver messages between here and Diamant.”
Van also assured me that he had finished most of his work in preparation for heading out on our honeymoon. It seemed that he had opened up a lot of free time.
“For now, I’ll leave the investigation into the culprit who attempted to kill you to the knights. Let’s enjoy our honeymoon.”
I responded to Van’s words with a big nod.