Chapter 10: So Happy to Be Loved by You
“I would have gladly been the one to bathe you…”
“Stop it, Cynthia…”
Siraiya had gotten cleaned up and was currently tucked into a bed at the Rhuddlan manor. A doctor had already finished Siraiya’s examination. Tomorrow, royal knights would come to question him about the incident.
“More importantly, I need to speak to your parents… I got their beloved daughter wrapped up in something awful…and now I’m using one of their beds…”
“Don’t even think about that for another day, at least. Mother and Father told me they wouldn’t intrude on you until tomorrow. That’s because they want you to recover well, not because they’re avoiding you. So please get some rest.”
“I see… Thank you for everything.”
Well, they would also be too busy lecturing me to go and speak to Siraiya. But I decided not to tell him that part.
I alone executed this plan to free Siraiya. His Royal Highness wasn’t involved at all. He just happened to be there when it all went down.
“I should probably leave you be, too… But could I stay here just a bit longer?”
“Yes, I want you to stay, Cynthia. I’ve been dying to hear your voice again. I really thought we might not ever get a chance to talk again…”
“Siraiya…” I crawled into bed next to him and stroked his gleaming silver hair. “It’s all right, Siraiya. There’s nowhere in the world I wouldn’t go to rescue you.”
“…You’re so cool, Cynthia. The whole time I was locked up, I was wishing on a star that I would get to see you again. I’m so glad it came true.”
“Wishing on the stars at night? How romantic.”
“No, I meant this star.”
Siraiya reached up and touched the twinkling star on his earlobe. That was when I realized how our matching stars had been giving him strength all this time. Thank goodness. I’m so glad he wasn’t alone.
“But how did you pull it off? Those were royal knights who wrenched the attic door open, weren’t they? Not even the crown prince should be able to order an investigation of a duke’s home without a good reason. Besides, few nobles will take pity on me, even now that they know how I was being treated. But worst of all, His Royal Highness is going to be criticized for searching a nobleman’s manor without any warning. He could even lose his right to inherit the throne if he gets too much backlash. How could he not understand that…?”
“There’s no need to worry. His Royal Highness was fleeing from a swarm of honeybees and nothing more.”
When he heard that, Siraiya’s eyes went wide as saucers. It was adorable to see the expression on his usually mature face.
“A swarm…of honeybees? No, that would be too convenient…”
“There were many witnesses between the knights and the manor’s servants. Besides, this incident will cause two of the most influential dukes to give His Royal Highness their full support, therefore ensuring he maintains his claim to the throne. I don’t foresee any power struggles breaking out before he succeeds the king, either,” I said.
“Two? I know one of them is Duke Gridimore, since His Royal Highness is engaged to his daughter. But who’s the other?”
“Duke Brooke, of course.”
Siraiya raised one of his shapely eyebrows. As much as I loved seeing his amusing expressions, I knew his face was going to turn pale when he heard what I had to say next.
“Are you…going to blackmail my father?”
“No, because he’s already been arrested by the royal knights. There’s no chance of him escaping punishment now. Abusing a relative alone wouldn’t amount to much, but Duke Brooke made the mistake of lying to His Royal Highness, too. Therefore, his title will be stripped and passed to the next in line of succession. The knights also determined that Duchess Brooke was involved in your confinement and abuse, so she’s been apprehended as well and cannot serve as your father’s proxy. That would make the eldest Brooke son the next in line to take over the dukedom. However, both of your brothers have been investigated and found to be unfit to succeed your father. Siraiya, you are going to receive the Brooke family’s title and become the next duke.”
“…Huh? …What do you…?”
It took some time to process my words. But then suddenly, Siraiya shot up out of bed, his face as white as the sheets he’d been lying on.
“Are you joking?! I’m going to be a duke?! No, that’s impossible…!”
“But it’s the truth. As the third son of Duke Brooke, you’re already legally considered a nobleman, and it isn’t as if you aren’t his blood descendant.”
“They’ll deem me unfit and remove me, too. I’m sure of it. Then they’ll pick whichever one of my relatives is most suited for it…”
“That’s not true. Not only do you have your grades, but you’ve already been in charge of managing your family’s territory.”
When he heard that, Siraiya couldn’t hide his shock.
“How do you know that…?”
“I started looking into the Brooke family when you stopped showing up at school. That was when I noticed something strange about documents that involved the duke. Paperwork ‘written by the duke’ had the same handwriting as that credited to his aide, his eldest son. But I recognized it from the notebook you gave me. It was a perfect match. I submitted everything to the handwriting analyst employed by the palace, so when the time is right, his results should be made public. The examiner will be able to declare that you, the third son, were forced to manage the duke’s territory instead of his eldest son. His Majesty will make the final decision, but he would never ignore a verdict from an examiner. It’s all but decided that you’ll be given the duke’s title in the near future.”
Siraiya crumpled on top of the sheets, utterly dumbfounded.
I was overwhelmed with emotions when I found a signed document from Duke Brooke—written entirely in Siraiya’s handwriting. It not only proved that Siraiya was still alive, but it also assured that he wouldn’t be killed any time soon.
The duke had grown lazy. He wasn’t going to throw away the one person talented enough to do his work for him. After all, Duke Brooke was loyal to his own greed and nothing else.
Unexpectedly, it also proved where Siraiya was being kept. The crown prince had requested an urgent report from Duke Brooke to be delivered before the end of the day. What arrived at the castle from the duke’s manor was, of course, written in Siraiya’s handwriting.
We knew his location. All that was left was to carry out the honeybee plan.
Honey was the specialty product of the Rhuddlans’ territory.
I’d hidden some hives from the bees that made said honey in the back of the crown prince’s ornate carriage. Duke Brooke might have heard them if they were making any noises in the hives, so I used a natural resource from our territory—carbonic acid gas—to put them to sleep.