“You’re trying to bring me down, is that it?! You had your fall from grace, and now you’re trying to take me with you. You devil!”
Cara shouted at Rachel, but she was anxiously glancing at her comrades on either side of her. If they would just keep quiet, she could smooth this over. Unfortunately for her, all of them had already been trying to steal Prince Elliott from Rachel and become crown princess themselves. They were rivals, and not amicable ones. With the threat of Rachel gone, it was hard to imagine them protecting one another.
I have to deny Rachel’s allegation and feign innocence! Cara decided.
Rachel shook her head, seemingly troubled. “Oh, goodness, no. I didn’t mean it that way... I was simply curious. You were boldly declaring that you were going to be that count’s son’s first. John of the House of Taylor, right? They tell me that if you can just seduce him, his will be the fifth cherry you’ve popped and the group will grant you the title of hunter. It’s a rare honor among you aficionados, isn’t it? So isn’t it only natural for me to wonder if you’ve succeeded?”
The young ladies were speechless. Not only did Cara attend these indecent parties, but she was also so depraved that the other attendees viewed her with awe and respect! If others knew, almost no man of title would consider marrying her.
“I-I-I-It’s all a lie! The hosts are very careful to make sure no information gets out, okay?!”
“Oh, but I thought you had never heard of these gatherings before?” Rachel asked.
“Urkh?!”
That slip of the tongue drew everyone’s suspicious eyes toward Cara. Understanding that Rachel had just dealt her a fatal blow, Cara couldn’t muster the strength to deny it any further. Instead, she slumped to her behind on the hard stone floor.
“Moving on...” Rachel said with a smile.
The group shuddered as she began searching for her next prey. Who is this?! they all thought. What happened to the “midday moon”?! This monster wearing the mask of a cheerful young lady chilled them to their cores.
Still, one of them found the courage and, in a trembling voice, asked, “H-Hasn’t your personality changed a little too much?!”
Still smiling, Rachel tilted her head to the side. “Oh, I’ve always been like this. It’s simply that in my position as the prince’s fiancée, I had to prioritize being polite.”
Rachel looked at the group of awestruck girls and chuckled.
“It’s amusing, isn’t it? All the people who made light of me would happily babble on, as if I had no mouth of my own, bragging about themselves and gossiping about others. Why did you think I wouldn’t talk? Hee hee, it’s so silly.”
They all flinched, and the blood drained from each of their faces. They’d all done what Rachel had said to one degree or another. In order to demonstrate their superiority over their rivals, they’d sometimes intimidate them by bragging about their own accomplishments. And when it came to nasty rumors about the others, they were even more eager to talk.
“There are a lot of people furious that I’ve been jailed... I’m grateful to them. They’ve been going around, investigating anyone involved in the incident.”
There was no blood left in the ladies’ pale-white faces.
The first suspects concerning Rachel’s imprisonment were obviously Elliott and Margaret, but if you considered who the next most likely culprits were...
Since the girls seemed ready to faint, Rachel clapped her hands together and, with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, said, “Oh, yes! That reminds me! How are you all for time? I’d dearly love to continue this fun conversation, but you must all be so busy compared to me. If you have lessons scheduled for today, it’s a shame, but I’ll have to let you go.”
They perfectly understood what Rachel was saying. “If you want to continue this, I’m ready to keep going until somebody hangs. But if you want to back down, I’ll let you go, okay?”
“U-Unfortunately, I do have lessons! O-Oho ho ho ho... Good day!” Agnes said quickly. She was the first out the door.
“It’s a shame to say so, but I must be going too!”
“Toodles!”
The others all said hasty goodbyes before following Agnes out. They didn’t want to be here another second. If their name was the next out of this monster’s mouth, they would be ruined that very instant.
Working their aching legs as hard as they could, they hurried to get out of Rachel’s sight. Staggering up the steps, they reached the ground level, and...the door wouldn’t open.
“It won’t open?!” Agnes tried pushing, and she tried pulling, but the door wouldn’t budge. Some of the others tried to help, but it would only move a little, not enough to suggest they could get out.
Rachel, who’d already picked out her next book, smiled. “Oh, my... It seems you do have time after all.”
“N-No! That’s not it!”
“Th-The door won’t open!”
“Really now. That door doesn’t lock, so it should open, you know? Lady Margaret always pops in as she pleases whenever the guard isn’t around.”
Rachel laid down her book and straightened her chair back to its upright position. Resting an elbow on the armrest and tapping her cheek with her fingers, she crossed her legs like the demon lord of legend.
“Now then, ladies, we have a lot to talk about. Let’s have a pleasant chat for as long as time permits.”
“N-Nooooooooo!!!”
Margaret, who was resting outside the prison door, let out a sigh.
“I guess that bunch of uglies was no match for her...”
There was no one else around. The replacements for the knights standing watch outside the prison hadn’t arrived when it was time for the shift change, so Margaret had offered to watch in their place for just a little while.
As she waited for her replacement, Margaret kept the door shut with a technique she’d learned living downtown. An amateur would’ve piled stuff up in front of the door, but the truth was you didn’t need to completely cover the door to keep people in. Instead, Margaret had inconspicuously propped a few thin stone tiles against the door, fitting their corners into gaps between loose tiles in the stone floor. That was all it took. If the door was stuck at the bottom, it wouldn’t open even if the remaining ninety-nine percent was unobstructed. It was like propping a bar against the door.
Of course, there was the chance that they’d be able to force it open with brute force. If it were Sykes inside, that would be one thing, but these sows couldn’t do it. And if she made up some plausible excuse for their screaming, the knights who showed up for duty would never guess the door was stuck and wouldn’t rescue them. When would they get out, then? That was up to their luck.
Margaret had set the young ladies on Rachel, hoping that they’d take each other out, but...
“It was totally one-sided. Looks like I’ll have to get Prince Elliott and the others to do something about her after all.”
Their only talent was trying to trip others up. They’d been as useless as she’d expected. Still, Rachel likely hadn’t imagined that they’d get stuck inside the prison, so those buzzing flies would serve to irritate her at least.
One of her plans had failed, but Margaret wouldn’t give up. She would just have to come up with another. If someone messes with you, mess with them right back—that was her policy. More importantly, those ugly jerks were all finished now! All the harassment she’d faced had actually been from them! Good job, Rachel!
Margaret greeted the knights as they finally arrived for their shift, and then she skipped off back to the palace.