I was hit squarely with a pillow, causing me to roll backward and hit the back of my head against the wall.
"Ow! My head!"
My face hurt, and my head hurt. As I lay there, writhing on the spot, wondering why this had to happen to me, Elna closed the door. Before long, Anna and Sebastian arrived with tea and snacks.
"What happened? Al? Did you remember some embarrassing past?"
"It's not that! Elna and Fine were changing clothes inside and attacked me!"
When I told Anna, who was acting as if she had no idea, she gave a rather unconvincing response.
This woman...!
What does she want? This woman.
"I thought you were going to take a bath... Oh well. How was it? Elna? Did you feel any charm at all?"
"Not really, and I felt a killing intent before any charm..."
Why does she brush it off so easily? Is she crazy?
If it hadn't been a pillow, I could have died.
I rubbed my still stinging face. If it had been something hard, who knows what would have happened.
As I shuddered, the door was flung open. Of course, it was Elna.
"Al~? Good that you didn't run away. I'll praise you for that. So, I'll give you a chance to explain. Explain the peeping!"
"Hey! That's a practice sword, right? It's not a real one, right? Calm down! It's Anna's fault!"
"It's not my fault! It's your fault for not knocking!"
"You don't knock when you enter my room either, do you!?"
"I'm fine!"
"Unreasonable!?"
Elna swung the sword, and I rolled to avoid it. Even though it's not a real sword, a practice sword in Elna's hands is still a dangerous weapon. If I got hit, I might not die, but I could lose my memory.
"Elna, that's embarrassing."
"Mom! But Al—"
"It's fine. It's just underwear. We used to take baths together, didn't we?"
"That's in the past! We're both adults now!"
"Then be more calm as an adult."
Elna glared at me after being told this.
Why am I being glared at...?
The word "unreasonable" kept popping into my head. This is how it felt when we were kids. I always thought it was unreasonable when I was with Elna.
"Let's have tea, shall we?"
Anna smiled and entered the guest room. Elna followed, slamming the door loudly. That woman...
I was left with Sebastian.
"What a disaster..."
"Hey, Sebastian..."
"What is it? Oh, by the way, I didn't notice anything. I didn't expect you two to be changing clothes in the room. I thought something was up, but—"
If you thought something was up, you should have told me, I wanted to say, but I swallowed it.
This has been the case since we were kids. Sebastian doesn't say or do anything unnecessary unless there's a danger.
"I'm surprised... I'm glad I grew up straight."
"Straight? What a funny joke."
"Just saying."
I glared at Sebastian lightly and entered the guest room. This time, I didn't forget to knock.
■■■
"I'm sorry, Al. I didn't think you'd be changing clothes in this room."
"It's okay... It's fine now."
"I'm sorry... It's my fault."
"It's not Fine's fault. It's all Al's fault."
Fine apologized, and Elna acted superior. Their personalities really show.
To summarize: There are many guest clothes here, so Elna and Fine stopped by to choose Fine's clothes before the bath. They started a fitting session and lost track of time.
Naturally, Anna, thinking we had already gone to the bath, led me to this room.
And then the tragedy happened.
It doesn't feel out of place, but it feels deliberate. Why did she lead me to this room? It seems intentional. But pursuing it would be futile. I can't win against Anna with words.
"Well, you paid the price for the eye feast, so it's fine. Elna."
"Can you forgive it with just that? A daughter about to get married was peeped at! And it's the daughter of a Duke and a Marquis!"
"Then you should take responsibility. I'm fine with it."
"What!?"
"EEEEEE!?"
"Hmm..."
Anna calmly dropped a bomb, Elna turned bright red and was speechless, and Fine became flustered.
This woman...
"Even Kleinert would probably be fine with it, don't you think?"
"Would... would... such a thing... I'm a knight, and such talk is..."
"If you can't forgive the underwear peeping, it might come to that. But the problem is that it would involve the Kleinert family. You're popular, Al."
"Indeed, we should inform Fine's family."
"Wh-What? Contact my father? That... that..."
"Don't try to decide my life so casually. I'm not planning to marry anyone."
"Will you take responsibility?"
"No, I won't."
"Oh, what a pity."
Anna said this and took a bite of a snack.
Elna, finally realizing she was being teased, turned bright red and looked away.
Fine, realizing it was a joke, also turned red and looked down.
"Al, let's get to the main topic. You didn't come here just to play, did you?"
As expected of Mrs. Amsberg. She knows what's going on.
I refocused and turned to Anna.
"Though it's a bold request, can you keep Fine here for a while? And let her stay with Elna as much as possible."
"Is this related to the imperial succession? Then it's impossible. Our family is the Marquis family. We don't get involved in the imperial succession."
Of course.
I understood her predictable answer.
It would be one thing to hide Fine for a day, but keeping her here for a while could be seen as our family supporting us. That's not something they can do.
But...
"Princess Azure is the Emperor's favorite. If something happens, it would anger the Emperor. Isn't it unnatural for the Marquis family to protect her?"
"Oh? You're taking it that far?"
"If I don't, you won't accept it, will you?"
"Even without that, I would have accepted if you had asked for my favor. You're still bad at appealing to emotions. You'll lose out."
Anna said this nonchalantly.
In other words, she will accept it.
This ensures Fine's safety until Zandra's offensive stops. As long as the Marquis family is involved, nothing will happen to her.
"I'll remember that. Thank you. I'm grateful for your help. I'll repay this favor someday."
"Sure. I'll collect it someday. But... how time flies. To think you're involved in the imperial succession... In my mind, you're still a crybaby, but you've changed."
"I can't keep crying forever. Fine, stay here for a while. It should be over in a few days, so don't worry."
"Yes... But, is Al-sama not in danger?"
"I'm sending you to the Marquis family because it's dangerous to be with me. If Zandra, who is acting on impulse, attacks me, it could be dangerous. She probably wants to kill me right now."
Zandra is cruel and has a bad temper. As this offensive shows, there's no one in her camp who can control her. At least, no one is close to her.
This makes it difficult for us to control the situation.
These few days will be extremely dangerous. In a few days, Gordon will attack Zandra's camp, which will weaken the offensive against us, but even Gordon will wait a few days.
Whether we can hold out until then is the key to winning.
"Then, shouldn't Al-sama hide as well?"
"If I hide, Leo will be targeted. To keep Zandra's attention on me, I can't hide. She might send an assassin once or twice."
"Such a thing!?"
"Don't worry. Sebastian is here, and I have backup if needed."
Fine finally backed down, looking worried. I appreciate her concern, but I won't be assassinated.
They might think they can get to me if they get past Sebastian, but I have my own defenses. As long as they don't realize I'm a Silver, assassinating me is impossible.
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