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Chapter 46: Activity and Subterfuge
“Haa…”
Edmund, a man who served as a secretary in the Myrstia Kingdom, let out a sigh without trying to hide it.
He couldn’t help but sigh when he thought about the fact that he had to report to the king he was serving.
He was currently climbing the stairs, but he might as well turn around and request a vacation for a while.
He had worked enough, even too much. It was only right that he take a break, and no one should interfere with that.
He was so depressed that he was thinking about such things.
However, Edmund didn’t have the courage to run away from here. Even if he rebelled in his heart, his feet continued to walk without stopping.
He sighed again at himself.
There were many rooms in the royal palace, each with various purposes. Edmund was heading to the king’s office on the second floor.
As he approached, his already darkened heart seemed to become even darker.
“…It’s Edmund.”
After knocking a few times, he raised his voice slightly so that it could be heard through the door.
“Come in.”
The voice gave permission to enter. To Edmund, it was nothing but a voice that led him to h**l.
“Excuse me…”
After taking a moment to dispel the gloomy feeling of not wanting to enter this room from the bottom of his heart, Edmund slowly opened the door.
Normally, there should have been only a few people, but to Edmund’s eyes, there were many people. The king, Mengis, and over ten extremely talented subordinates were present, as well as the twin magic knights, Harry and Tucker, who were close aides and guards in whom the king had complete trust.
They were all gathered around the huge table placed in the center of the room and had apparently been discussing something until Edmund arrived.
The scattered materials left casually around the room were evidence of how heated their discussion had been.
As for the content, it was none other than the recent attack on the Aslan Magic Academy.
However, the prospects for the academy’s reopening, including the review of security measures, had already been established.
What was troubling those present the most at this moment were the factional problems.
The problems that were supposed to arise as a result of the attack, particularly those related to the nobility, had been nearly single-handedly resolved by Gilberts, the head of the noble faction.
This was not good news, as it increased his power and caused some nobles to switch from the king’s faction to the noble faction.
Many influential nobles’ heirs attend this academy, so the complaints and dissatisfaction from the nobility about the recent attack were expected to be significant.
However, Gilbert managed to calm things down incredibly quickly, almost like magic.
This greatly increased his popularity, and there are still those who praise him as a saintly person.
In other words, the power balance between the royal faction and the noble faction, which had maintained equilibrium for many years, was now crumbling. Naturally, as a king, he could not overlook this.
This was the main topic of discussion at the meeting. However, no satisfactory solutions had been proposed yet.
Although no one mentioned it, there was an indescribable atmosphere of frustration in the room.
Secretary Edmund keenly felt it and became even more depressed. Nevertheless, he had to speak up.
“Edmund, you’re back. Let’s hear your report. It’s not bad news, is it?”
“…”
The king’s gaze pierced through Edmund.
At that moment, he felt as if a heavy burden had been placed on his shoulders.
(…I want to go home.)
As he searched for help with his eyes, he noticed that many people had stopped working and were looking at him, perhaps because they had found the current situation to take a break.
“Yawn~”
On the edge of the room, Harry, one of the twin magic knights, lay on the sofa looking bored and yawning.
(How dare he lie down and yawn before the king?! He may be a knight, but he’s just a commoner! Damn peasant!)
Edmund vented his frustrations that he usually kept to himself as a form of escapism.
“Ah, we received a report that someone has tamed an Elemental Dragon of the Attribute Dragons…”
“Really?! An Attribute Dragon! That’s amazing! Are they a member of our country’s magician corps? If they belong to the king’s faction, it’s even more delightful!”
“…”
Edmund thought to himself, “Why did I end up in this job?”
He studied desperately to prove himself to his parents who favored his younger brother and had no expectations for him. He lowered his proud head, groveled to powerful aristocrats, and finally landed the job of a secretary.
When he was appointed, he was happy. He was very satisfied with his income and honor.
But sometimes he wondered, “Am I really happy now?” It was a correct but busy day of work, work, and work.
He just fulfilled his given duty without any emotional attachment.
Could he really say that he was happy?
As Edmund pondered such things, he announced in a monotonous voice,
“The name of the person who tamed the Attribute Dragon is ‘Luke Wizaria Gilbert’… he is the son of the Marquis Gilbert.”
There was a moment of silence. And then…
“Those Gilberts again, Haaaa!!!”
The King, Mengis, shouted in a voice that seemed to spit out blood, echoing throughout the castle…
──The headquarters of the 2nd Magical Division, Royal capital.
“… Professor Yolande.”
“Oh, you came! Sorry for calling you out of the blue. Were you busy?”
“N-no…”
In a certain room where Yolande was seated, a purple-haired girl entered with an anxious expression.
Yolande had a faint smile on his face, the kind that would make most women feel entranced by it.
The girl left her attendant waiting at the entrance, so it was only Yolande and the girl in the room currently.
“Sit down however you like. Um…is Citrica okay? From Barony Hausen?”
“Y-yes, that’s me.”
“A first-year student at Aslan Magic Academy, and my sister’s classmate, right?”
“Yes, that’s right…Um, Professor Yolande. About the talk…”
“Ahaha, don’t be so tense. It’s not that big of a deal.”
Yolande smiled happily and flipped through some documents on his desk. But he soon put the documents on the table in front of her and turned to face Citrica.
“It’s you, isn’t it? The one who orchestrated the attack on Aslan Magic Academy.”
“…Eh?”
It was too sudden.
“Your family is on the verge of bankruptcy, right? Maybe someone is taking advantage of that weakness. I would do the same if I were them. And yet, what an incompetent family. You’re only still alive because they were blessed with someone like you.”
“Uh, um…”
Until just earlier, the atmosphere remained calm as usual. However, the words spoken were completely different and sharp as blades.
“Yeah, your ‘sleep’ attribute is also convenient. You know, it’s you. I gave you instructions, right?”
“W-what do you mean all of a sudden?! D-do you have any evidence!?”
Citrica stood up vigorously, causing the chair she was sitting on to fall to the ground.
“I have a lot of friends, you know. Based on various pieces of information I’ve gathered, I’m sure it’s you. Also, it seems like you have a misunderstanding. I don’t care who the culprit is to be frank.”
“…What do you mean?”
“What’s important is that you’re the one who’s convenient as the culprit. This document is evidence that I fabricated, claiming that you’re the culprit that I prepared.”
“T-That can’t be allowed–“
“It can be allowed. Who do the people of the kingdom believe? A noble on the verge of ruin, or me?”
“…”
“And, my dear little sister is being suspected a little now. Alice can produce all kinds of ‘poison’ at will, you know.”
“B-but, that’s not—”
“Still, you don’t understand?”
Yolande’s atmosphere changed completely. The eyes that were directed at Citrica were chilling and emotionless.
“I really don’t care at all. Humans like you, who have no value to me, can go to h**l for all I care.”
“…”
For some reason, Citrica understood from the bottom of her heart that it was sincere. She had come to understand it.
At that moment, everything fell away from her heart, and all that remained was deep despair.
(This person… really doesn’t care about anything…)
It’s over. Everything has come to an end.
The pitiful face of her mother, who said she was relying only on her while crying, came to mind. Something cold then ran down her cheek.
“Hahaha. Sorry, did I scare you too much?”
“… Eh?”
Yolande’s dark atmosphere dissipated. Citrica’s emotions were in turmoil, and she didn’t even know what expression she was making now.
“Think about it. I wouldn’t call you just to say something like this, would I? If I really intended to frame you as the culprit, I would do it more secretly.”
Yolande laughed very happily.
“Then what’s your purpose?”
With an anxious expression as if wandering in the darkness without light, Citrica asked. However, Yolande’s answer was very simple.
“You’re my pawn from now on.”
“…Huh?”
She was unable to understand what was said immediately.
“I understand that you have no right to refuse, right? From now on, you must obey my orders absolutely. For now, it’s okay as you are. After all, you don’t know anything, do you?”
“Uh, umm…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll find the mastermind through you. You can relax.”
“…”
She couldn’t tell if it was okay to relax anymore. She could only understand that the man in front of her was evil, and that for now, she could continue living her everyday life as usual.
(… Haha, it seems that Luke and I have a different understanding of domination. You can dominate the mind, create devotion, and turn them into true pawns—)
But that was okay with Yolande.
He had achieved his immediate goal.
In fact, the attack had caused Yolande great fear. His enjoyable future had been destroyed. He wouldn’t repeat the same mistake again. He would surely find the mastermind and kill them, causing all the pain and suffering that existed in the world.
Yolande thought of such things without breaking his smile.
At that moment, a knocking sound was heard at the door.
“… Um, come in.”
“Excuse me.”
“… Huh.”
For Citrica, the scene was incredibly abnormal.
It was Goldova who came in. He was a man who had made a name for himself as the leader of the Second Magic Division.
It was no wonder she was confused, as Goldova was bowing deeply to Yolande.
Goldova walked a little faster and headed towards Yolande.
“I have something urgent to tell you. Actually…”
Because he was whispering, Citrica couldn’t hear what he was saying.
“What did you say!? Ahahahaha!! You’re the best, Luke!! Of course, I’ll definitely attend that party!! Oh, right! You should come too. I’ll introduce you.”
“……Huh?”
Citrica had to obey Yolande’s orders absolutely. She had no right to refuse.
── “Citrica Di Hausen”
It was natural that it would be discovered later in the story that she was a traitor.
The original plot was for Citrica to confess the truth tearfully after deepening her friendship with Abel, completing many events together, and getting deeply involved in the story.
However, the crazed story had many different branches, and she had already become one of Yolande’s pawns at this point.
[TLN- Actually in the first-year rankings, it wasn’t Poppy but Citrica, since the author confirmed this mistake, I’ll be correcting those.]