“Enough of this, Marquess Ach…Clément! End your vain struggling!” I yelled.
“Vain? I think not, child. You may think you had me cornered, but it is you who has been placed in checkmate.”
We were naive. We’d thought simply finding evidence and making his guilt undeniable would be enough, but of course, he wouldn’t go down so easily. Clément was prepared to flee—and with King l’Ausseil’s head if he could. It wasn’t hard to imagine who he might present King l’Ausseil’s head to.
“Clément, you’re working for the Empire, aren’t you?!”
“Don’t be silly. The Empire is nothing more than a useful tool to me, just like Barlier. I do not work for anybody.”
“Miss Claire, please get back!” Rae shouted.
“Let me go, Rae! I will not stand by and watch as His Majesty is put in danger!” It wasn’t just King l’Ausseil we had to worry about. The concert hall was filled with prominent people, many of them political figures. This was no time to even think about capturing Clément anymore.
“Your Majesty, please leave this place to me and flee.” Up in the gallery, Thane encouraged his father to leave without him.
“Thane?”
“You must remain safe, for the good of Bauer. You are meant for greater things than to fall to the likes of Clément.”
“Thane, you—”
“Go now. Quickly.”
“…Very well.” The majority of the few knights accompanying them left with the king. It appeared Thane was prepared to fend for himself.
“Oh, goodness… Master Thane can be so gallant!” I exclaimed.
I lightly charred the private soldiers of Clément who approached us, a wry grin on my face. Thane probably knew the rumors concerning his parentage and had his own doubts about his origins—which was to say he suspected King l’Ausseil might not be his true father. But even so, he prioritized the king’s safety. His respect for the king ran deeper than blood ties ever could.
“Meanwhile, this man’s as despicable as they come!” Clément had taken the musicians on stage hostage and was watching the chaos unfold as if it were a show, while his private soldiers did all the work. He was probably forcing his men’s compliance with threats, like he’d done with Patrice Barlier. That was the only reason I held back on my fire magic at all.
“You girls are persistent,” he said in a low voice. “But it ends here. You’d do well to pay attention too, Prince Thane.” I looked over at the stage to see he was holding a dagger at Loretta’s throat. “Nobody move or I’ll kill the girl.”
“Just try it. I’ll burn you to a crisp the moment you do,” I said.
“Can you? Alongside her?”
“…You’re scum.”
“I prefer ‘shrewd’ myself.” The folds of his face deepened as he smiled. He looked monstrous.
Loretta was a strong girl who would normally not have allowed herself to have been made a hostage, but she was unarmed now. It’d be one thing if she could have snuck a wand through inspections, but alas. As the organizer, Clément likely had no trouble sneaking his dagger in.
“Miss Claire, don’t worry about me. Just do it,” Loretta said.
“Don’t be foolish!”
“I mean it. I’m willing to die if it’s for your sake.”
“Don’t say that, Loretta! I swear I’ll save you, so just be quiet!”
“No!” she shrieked with grief, making me flinch.
“I see you’re still no more than a child, daughter of Melia,” Clément taunted. “You can’t even understand what the Kugret girl is trying to tell you.”
“…And you’re saying you can?”
“How could I not? The girl is trying to tell you she has feelings for you. It’s a mystery how you can be so dense.”
“Wha—Loretta, you…?”
“I’m sorry, Miss Claire. I have no right to fall for you. But the thought of you being harmed terrifies me, so please…” She cast her gaze to the ground, shadowing her face. I saw something glisten as it fell from her face to the carpet.
“Surrender, child,” Clément said. “I’ll be gracious and call this a draw, for now. You’ve trumped me in the scheme of things, at least where this country is concerned, but our real showdown has yet to take place.”
“Do you think we’ll just let you walk out of here?” Rae said.
“I do, commoner. And there’s not a single thing you can do about it.”
“Is that right? But I don’t care what happens to Lady Loretta. Or to Master Thane or King l’Ausseil, for that matter.”
“Rae?!” Eyes wide, I gawked at her.
“Ah, yes. Your top priority is the François girl there, isn’t it?” Clément said.
“Correct. I’m surprised you pieced that together, despite your senility.”
“But if that’s the case, stopping me at the cost of the François girl’s friend will only make her lose all faith in you.”
“…Damned old coot.”
“Again, I prefer to be called ‘shrewd.’”
Even Rae seemed to be in the palm of his hand. Wasn’t there something, anything we could do?
“All of you stay right where you are,” Clément said. “Soldiers, chase after l’Ausseil. I’ll be—”
“You think that’s enough, Pepi?”
“I’d say so, Loretta.”
Just when it looked like all hope was lost…
“Angelic Howl!”
A sound—of great volume, but so low in pitch I could feel it reverberate through me—made everyone present, including us, fall to our knees.
“What…is this?!”
“This is checkmate, for good this time! Right, Loretta?”
“Yeah.”
Before he could stand—much less understand what had happened—Loretta seized Clément and tied him up with one of the strings of a nearby bass.
“Y-you, Barlier girl! What was that?!” Clément shouted.
“Are you familiar with Hateful Cry, Master Clément? What I did was recreate that with an instrument. I didn’t think it’d be so powerful and widespread, though.”
Pepi grinned broadly as she revealed her secret. Hateful Cry was a type of intimidating roar used by monsters. Hearing it without protection left one unable to move for a brief time. Ralaire’s mother, the giant water slime, had used it before—and apparently, Pepi could replicate it with magic.
“…Then that instrument there is a magic tool?” Clément asked.
“That’s right. I disguised it a little, though.” Pepi stuck her tongue out impishly, like a child after a successful prank.
“I…I was defeated by such a parlor trick?”
“That you were. It’s over, Clément.”
“This cannot be! Soldiers, what are you dawdling for?! Stand up and do something already!” he ordered.
Not a single person obeyed. After observing Clément be captured, his private soldiers turned themselves in one by one. The man who could only threaten his way into being obeyed was rendered toothless the moment he was captured. A pitiful end, indeed.
After recovering from Pepi’s magic, I ran over and hugged her and Loretta. “Well done, you two!”
“Ow, ow, ow! You’re hurting me, Miss Claire!” Loretta said.
“Oh, you can bear this much. I can’t believe you went so far with your act. I was worried, you know?”
“Act…?”
“You know, that thing where you pretended to like me,” I said, assuming it was all an act. For some reason, Loretta released a terribly grandiose sigh. “Loretta? Is something the matter?”
“You have my sympathies, Lady Loretta,” Rae said.
“Yeah, this seems hopeless,” Loretta groaned.
“You’ll be fine. You have me, after all,” Pepi said.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
Just as the seeds of yet more chaos were being sown, the king walked back in. “Everyone, you’ve done well.”
“Your Majesty!” We all kneeled.
“At ease. You all handled the situation wonderfully. Especially you two, Lady Barlier and Lady Kugret. You both deserve to be rewarded appropriately.”
“Not at all!”
“Such kind words are wasted on us!”
Pepi and Loretta remained humble before the king.
“Claire François, Rae Taylor, Lilly Lilium.”
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes?”
“Y-yes?”
“I remember your report called for House Barlier’s punishment to be reduced?”
“That is indeed the case, Your Majesty,” I answered.
“I will consider it. Expect a favorable answer soon. In the meantime, I ask that you continue your work in the Secret Service.”
“As you wish.”
He gave an approving nod and left the concert hall with his soldiers in tow.
“…That was kind of a close one with Clément there, huh?” Rae said.
“Indeed. Not even you knew what to do, for once,” I said.
“Yeah. It’s because he and I are alike in a way, I guess.”
“Wh-what do you mean?” Lilly asked.
“We both do whatever it takes to achieve our goals.”
“A-ah…” Lilly seemed to understand.
“I disagree. I don’t think you two are alike at all,” I flatly said.
“And why’s that?”
“Because your goals would never be anything so malicious.”
“…See that, Loretta?” Pepi whispered.
“It’s not fair. They’re practically on the same wavelength,” Loretta groaned.
“Whatever are you two talking about?” I asked.
“Not a single thing!”
“Just talking about how you can be really dense!”
“Pardon?!”
As we shared a moment of conversation and laughter, I spotted someone at the edge of my vision. I excused myself and followed them.