Beatrice, growing desperate, rushed over to the window and leaned her upper body out.
It wasn’t as though doing this would allow her to know the exact number of dolls set up throughout the Marquisate, but Beatrice currently had no peace of mind to care about such things.
The current situation in the Marquisate was akin to having several hot ovens on the verge of exploding installed inside a room with the doors locked!
“Lady Ria?!”
“Whoa, whoa! What do you think you are doing right now!”
Ignoring the startled shouts of the people entirely, Beatrice yelled at the Marquis with a grave expression.
“You have to collect the dolls right now!”
“What did you say?”
Beatrice panted heavily as she delivered the conclusion she had just reached.
“Those dolls are explosives that could go off at any moment! If you delay and those dolls explode, the Marquisate will be ruined!”
A chilling silence spread through the meeting hall.
Beatrice stood there, fidgeting anxiously, as she scanned the faces of the people in the room.
From the decision-maker, Marquis Downer, to Aide Sharon, and finally, Clyde.
Clyde’s blue eyes and Beatrice’s light green eyes behind her glasses met in midair.
“…Ria Kruger, could you first calm down a bit and offer a slightly more detailed explanation?”
Though they were words requesting an explanation, his tone was not cold.
Beatrice nodded quickly and rapidly put into words the properties of Orichalcum, the current situation of the Marquisate, and the disaster that could be brought about because of it.
As her story continued, the complexions of the people present turned increasingly pale.
In particular, the Crown Prince’s aides, who possessed a higher understanding of magic than most in the Empire, took on even more serious expressions.
They had quickly realized that Beatrice’s words were not mere groundless worries.
Just as the meeting hall was beginning to buzz with noise, Archduke Alec lightly raised his hand to draw everyone’s attention.
“There is one thing I wish to verify. From what I have understood, it seems the ‘collection’ you proposed does not simply mean gathering the dolls, but rather destroying the Orichalcum inside them, correct?”
“…Uh, it’s not as if there are no parts to be careful about regarding that at all, but yes. Essentially, that is correct.”
“I see. First, I hope you do not take what I am about to say the wrong way.”
Archduke Alec, starting with a soothing preamble, gazed at her steadily as he continued.
“Can you prove that what you say is true? Although we stopped the interrogation halfway due to Sir Dalton’s guarantee, Lady Kruger, you happen to be the individual who was brought here under suspicion of damaging the dolls.”
“That is……”
“Sir Dalton’s words are logical and valid. However, that doesn’t mean there are no loopholes here. Lady Kruger, you could easily escape suspicion even after committing the crime—provided you were not the sole culprit.”
Archduke Alec drove the point home with a regretful expression, as if he were sorry to have to say such things.
“Lady Kruger, you need to prove that what you have said is not part of some insidious plan. For the sake of Sir Dalton and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who both spoke for you.”
The Archduke’s golden eyes stared at her as if piercing through her.
“Lady Ria.”
Hearing Aide Sharon’s cautious voice, Beatrice clenched her fists slightly.
Nothing the Archduke said was wrong. His manner of pointing out suspicious parts was also impeccably gentlemanly, fitting for a man who was once the most popular person in the Empire.
It was definitely like that, but….
‘…Why am I so annoyed?’
His voice, laced with faint apology; his gestures, restraining others from cornering her; and his gaze, staring at her as if focused—it was all annoying.
‘Is it because he resembles Valoa Crawford?’
Strictly speaking, it was Valoa Crawford who resembled Archduke Alec, but anyway.
Beatrice calmed herself, telling herself this was just misdirected anger, and glanced at Clyde before taking action.
Judging by how he was focusing on Archduke Alec while pretending to listen, he seemed to be organizing the situation by comparing the information he had just heard with the Archduke’s words.
Perhaps he was also keeping an eye on the Archduke, whom he hadn’t fully figured out yet.
‘Mmh, well, that should be fine.’
Confirming Clyde’s expression, Beatrice decided to clear complex issues—like her true identity, stance, and objective for coming to the Marquisate of Downer—entirely out of her mind without worry.
She felt that he would surely handle things well, and…
‘Even if I end up in a disadvantageous situation because I couldn’t do that, what can be done? People’s lives are on the line.’
Besides, to be honest, she wondered if trying to pull the wool over their eyes at this point wasn’t a bit much.
‘Honestly, if a maid suddenly said the Marquisate would fall or that Orichalcum was an explosive, even I would ask what was up with her.’
Thinking she might as well finish this properly since it had come to this, Beatrice called out to Marquis Downer.
“Marquis.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll apologize in advance, and if necessary, please charge the expenses to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. For safety, please step far away from me.”
“For safety? You, what are you planning to do!”
“What do you mean, ‘what am I doing’? I’m proving it. Proof of what kind of destructive power Orichalcum displays when it explodes.”
Of course, she couldn’t actually fill real Orharcon with miasma to make it explode, so for now, she intended to trigger a typical mana clash.
Beatrice pulled a tiny shard of Orharcon from her pocket and tossed it to Aide Sharon.
“Aide, there’s nothing wrong with it, right?”
“Pardon?”
“Just in case someone says I pulled a trick on it. Please pass it around to the other people here as well.”
“Ah, yes!”
The shard placed in Astrid’s hand passed through the hands of another aide, a knight, the nobles, and the Marquis before returning to Beatrice.
Having received verification from everyone, she held the fragment of Orichalcum in one hand and approached the torch hanging on the wall.
“They say every natural object has its own unique energy, and that energy is manifested as a phenomenon through a neutral medium called mana.”
“And?”
“And so, I intend to use myself as the medium to continuously cram the fire energy from this torch into this Orharcon shard. Until it can no longer endure it and goes bang.”
Ah, right.
“I’m telling you in advance, I’m not the only one who can do this; anyone who knows how to use even a little bit of mana will get the same result.”
“….”
“If you don’t believe me because I’m the one being tested, another way is to ask His Highness at the gateway. The Crown Prince knows how to use mana, so he can do exactly what I’m doing.”
Blocking any potential complaints in advance, Beatrice began to channel the fire energy into the shard.
The shard, which showed no difference at first, gradually turned red like the color of the torch and then began to tremble violently.
‘As expected, since the fragment is small, it happens quickly.’
At this rate, it would explode smoothly soon.
Infusing energy into the Orichalcum up to the very limit of its limits, she took a light breath and threw the fragment toward the window with all her might.
Watching the shard fly through the air, Beatrice quickly began to run in the opposite direction.
To avoid being caught in the shard’s explosion, she had to put as much distance as possible between herself and it.
‘…It hasn’t dropped yet, has it?’
Just as Beatrice turned back to check the state of the shard, someone pulled her arm roughly.
“Huh?”
Losing her balance in an instant, her body collapsed right into someone’s embrace.
Suddenly, the cool, woody scent of bergamot brushed against the tip of Beatrice’s nose. It was a scent she knew well.
‘This is….’
Before she could even grasp the situation, bang! With a dull sound of explosion, the window shattered into pieces.
Fragments flew in all directions and thick dust covered the entire meeting hall, but Beatrice alone was completely unaffected.
For the person holding her tightly shielded Beatrice from all that danger.
“…Are you okay?”
At the low voice that fell from above her head, Beatrice’s eyes widened slightly.
Comments (0)