“Have you found your mother?”
I was handling student council duties alone after school when Regulus entered the room and asked the question point-blank. I was speechless. Following my father’s orders, I hadn’t searched for that woman for two days. What on earth was my father thinking?
“I don’t recall giving the Academy detailed information about that,” I replied.
“The day before yesterday, I took Lady Robur and Heinz out for a slightly personal extracurricular activity.”
What did “slightly personal” even mean? I had to hold back the urge to demand a concrete explanation of what “slightly” actually meant.
“That’s where the lady made plans with Heinz to head to her atelier this weekend,” he added. “And I’m the head supervisor, yet I’m left out in the cold. What if improper relations ensue?”
I wished he’d stop glaring at me with those bloodshot eyes and radiating that dark, ominous aura. “Don’t let your jealousy run wild,” I told him. “And don’t abuse your authority, while you’re at it. So you investigated?”
“I searched for the atelier’s location the moment I heard. I used every bit of my authority. Then, coincidentally, a report came in that Duchess Robur and a lady blessed by the sacred beast Drogolena were spending time together amicably at a certain noble’s villa.”
“What kind of coincidence does your jealousy induce? Does my father know about this?”
“I did report it, more or less.”
Finally, I understood why father had ordered the search for that woman called off. I couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. I wish he’d at least told me about it sooner.
Under normal circumstances, I’d want to confront him about how such a coincidence could happen—probably because he had Duke Robur’s household under constant surveillance. But Regulus was likely telling the truth. It was a waste of the prince’s authority.
Faced with the former duchess’s dangerous temperament, I ought to be worrying about my sister’s safety. But my brotherly heart was also torn by the information about her holed up in that place she called the atelier with Heinz. And I wanted to ask Regulus what he expected me to do about it.
When I asked about the atelier’s location, it turned out to be in a noble villa district adjacent to some fairly impressive mansions. It was apparently a bit more run-down than it used to be, but she’d set up this atelier in a place like that?
Sis, I really don’t know what to do with you, I thought. With graduation research meetings leaving me no time to tend to my sister, why did the Robur family have to be like this? For the past three days, I’d been holed up in the Class 4A research lab, barely squeezing in time to handle the mounting student council president duties. And, for the record, I was the vice president, not the president.
Honestly, was it okay to lament that this was happening now? But since I’d taken on the role of compiling all the data, I absolutely couldn’t back out. And the student council president’s duties weren’t the kind of thing I could just hand off to somebody else.
I was worried about my sister, especially since it involved that woman, but now, with Regulus looking this dangerous right in front of me, and Heinz suddenly becoming suspicious, I was so confused about what exactly I was worried about that I felt dizzy and lightheaded.
I’d asked my butler, John, to ensure nothing happened within the mansion, but my sister wasn’t like other noble ladies. She truly soared in the outside world... What should I do? This was beyond my control.
Why were that woman and Miss Faltan involved in the first place? Even the church had its eye on my sister. It was all a mystery to me.
The only saving grace was that Heinz had changed his attitude toward my sister. Come to think of it, I’d seen them talking a lot lately, and Heinz was, after all, in the knight course. If they were together, she probably wouldn’t be falling behind. If anything, my sister would be the one bossing him around. It would be fine...right?
“Right now, as royalty and head supervisor, I wouldn’t mind discreetly handling the student council president’s duties,” Regulus said. “The burden on a single student is heavy, and as the older half brother of the one who suddenly took a leave of absence, I feel responsible. This weekend, perhaps I could personally escort you to that particular atelier?”
Anxiety began to gnaw at me again at this whisper from the devil...