Days passed, and the more I learned about Princess Sonia the more I felt like I was sinking to the bottom of the ocean. As we uncovered more and more evidence, I became sure of one thing: all along, Her Royal Highness had been waiting for an opportunity to get back at the royal family and everyone else who’d neglected her.
If only the people around her had been just a little nicer to her. Maybe then, she wouldn’t have had to think like that. She had allies, few that they were. If only she had more. If only they had treated her with a little bit more respect.
But that hadn’t happened. It just hadn’t.
Even saying that, though, wasn’t going to be the end of the story. It couldn’t be. But unfortunately, I wouldn’t be the one to close the curtain.
“Your Highness, I hadn’t expected that you would go to the trouble of traveling here yourself.”
When enough time had passed to gather sufficient evidence and testimony, the boss of my boss, the third prince of Brigandia, Prince Alphonse, arrived in Sylvario’s royal capital.
I’d figured he might come, but the fact he really had... I wished he’d value himself a little more. I could only imagine the mental exhaustion His Royal Highness Prince Artur and his guards felt, since they must have wanted to stop him. There was probably no one who could understand that mental exhaustion better than me, after all!
Even though I considered myself quite skilled in keeping those thoughts to myself, Prince Alphonse probably knew. There was no helping that. It was a waste of effort to try to win against him.
But putting that aside, I needed to focus all my energy on work.
“Good work, Ark. Are these all of the documents you’ve collected so far?”
While His Royal Highness had been on his way here, I’d sent him as many interim reports as I could through my men. From their contents, he probably understood the meaning of what I gathered, which was why I replied with a slow nod.
“Yes, this is all of the intel I’ve gathered with the assistance of Count Eisendarque here,” I said. “I will refrain from sharing my opinion now, Your Highness. I request that you review the documents without any preconceived notions.”
“I see. All right.”
Prince Alphonse’s response was light as he began scanning through the intel. First, he skimmed through them to grasp the overall picture. Then, just when I thought he’d gotten through the huge pile of documents rather quickly, he began to flip back to the important points for a more careful readthrough.
It was deeply unsettling just how perfectly His Royal Highness, from a single skim, understood the gist of the intel.
The most important thing to me was how carefully he reread the documents. His ability to discern what was most relevant through a single glance was terrifying. All told, His Royal Highness could process data in a way that I would never be able to match.
And so, not even a half hour after he began reading, Prince Alphonse lifted his head.
“Ark, you do realize what you’ve put together is riddled with bias, right?” he asked.
“I cannot deny that, but neither can I confirm it. After all, there were only two types of people involved: those who are unspeakably awful, or maids and attendants who sympathized with her from the bottom of their hearts.”
“I see, I see. So you’re saying that I can take this info at face value.”
“There’s no way I could pull a fast one on you, Your Highness. You’d definitely notice.”
Oh, damn, I’d slipped back into the casual attitude I had with him back in our school days without even noticing. I must have been tenser than I’d realized, and his arrival probably relaxed me a bit.
“Whatever. You show everything through your face anyway, though you seem to think that you’re hiding it,” responded Prince Alphonse, speaking informally as well.
Ahh, dammit!
It seemed I was still pretty immature if I found that a bit reassuring.
Once he was finished reading, His Royal Highness smiled, an expression so pure and benevolent it made you think he couldn’t even harm a fly. Which meant that Sylvario was screwed.
But, keep in mind—we were still in the very center of enemy territory, and the battle was just beginning. We couldn’t relax for a moment.
I took a slow, deep breath in. Then, on the exhale, I pushed every shred of fatigue and weakness out of my body. Of course, this mental exercise didn’t actually have any tangible effect, but it convinced me that I’d restored the energy that I’d lost. I’d trained myself for it to work.
“Understood. While it may be fine for you to read my expression, Your Highness, I must not let the Sylvarians do the same. I shall brace myself once again.”
I was pretty sure I managed to look pretty good saying that, but Prince Alphonse stared at me for a moment before asking me, “Hmm? Is something wrong? Did you eat something weird?”
“Okay, you cannot say stuff like that when I just finished pumping myself up!” I shouted without thinking. As frustrating as it was, it was also true that it calmed me down.
And so, having read through everything, Prince Alphonse said the obvious:
“From the looks of it, it seems Sylvario used this opportunity to pawn an unwanted, undesirable princess off to Brigandia. Can you claim otherwise?”
His tone was quiet, yet sharp, as if he was sliding a knife across their throats.
Since I’d known him since we were students, I knew he wasn’t letting his personal feelings get in the way of reason. He was indignant that Sylvario had made light of his kingdom. They’d used us to get rid of a thorn in their side, after all, even though they were the ones who lost the war. They probably thought they could use us in a few other ways too.