31

 

I’ve finished my preparations, so should I go take a look at the audience hall, too.

“Leon-sama, may I go see the audience hall, as well? I want to confirm the actual state of the revolt army.”

“Aah, understood. The door that appears soon after turning around this corner. It will open when you slide it to the side. Contrary to it’s appearance it will move quite easily.”

I turned around the corner on my own and then slid open the door as told.
It really was easy. Considering that this passageway shouldn’t be used except in emergencies it was amazingly easy.
Without making even a sound the door slid open to the side a bit.
From the gap I tried observing the audience hall.
The door wasn’t located in a conspicious position, hidden behind a massive curtain, so no one noticed me.
Except a single person that is ..

Rachel-sama was looking over here.
It must have been because she knew of this place from the beginning.
Seeing my face she showed a faint smile.
Because it would have been bad if the revolt army had found out, it was only to that degree.
Rachel-sama moved her mouth.
‘We’re alright’
Alright, if Rachel-sama says it’s fine it’s surely fine.
It may have been part of the Queen training I hated but I was glad I had mastered the art of lip reading.

I briefly made sure of the surrounding situation as well.
Indeed, there were around 15 soldiers in view.
It’s just, that seemed like a bit few.
Perhaps there were more still in other parts of the castle?
In reality, 5 people had come to Leon-sama’s room before.

Ah, come to think of it, wouldn’t the Duke grow suspicious why those 5 haven’t returned yet?
Maybe he dispatched backup to them because of that.
I do think the hidden passage won’t be found out though since we properly closed it behind us.
On that note, where is the Duke?

Focusing my eyes it seemed he was giving some important talk to the assembled soldiers.
What is he talking about, I wonder?

“What? The Prince wasn’t in his room, you say! Did he manage to escape .. There was no one else either? .. is that so. Alright, search ever nook of the castle. The gates are closed so he couldn’t have escaped outside.”

Arya, it was found out.
But, since it didn’t appear that the hidden passageway got discovered, if I can just have Leon-sama continue hiding in there it should be fine.
By the way, there were many soldier-like people here, but I couldn’t see any accomplices of the Duke.
Weren’t there any other nobles?
For now I ascertained all that I could here.
Let’s head back once.
But before that let’s look over at Rachel-sama once more.

Rachel-sama let echoing the tapping sounds of her favourite fan.
They may have been captured but weren’t actually restrained.
Scary .. probably even the soldiers that were keeping watch over them close by couldn’t manage to meet her eyes ..
Yoshi, let’s save them quickly!
I formed the words ‘I’ll save you as soon as possible’ with my mouth towards Rachel-sama.
Seeing that she smiled cheerfully.
I understand, I will do my best!

Since I quickly returned to the passageway the two of them made surprised faces.

“Wh-what’s the matter? Did something happen? To hurry back like this ..”

“Not at all, there haven’t been any movements as of now. However, let’s quickly rescue them! Rachel-sama seems angry.”

“M-mother is angry? Well, thinking about it normally .. right? Are you sure she isn’t afraid?”

“Yes! To the extend that the soldiers keeping watch around her couldn’t even meet her eyes because of her fan.”

Leon-sama briefly answered ‘I see’ with a cramped up face.
Now then, I get the feeling it would be better for me to go alone, but Leon-sama probably wouldn’t assent to that.
But, it would be troubling if anything happened to him.
On that note, what about Aren-sama?

“Aren-sama. From here on I’m thinking of going to save the King and Rachel-sama, but what do you want to do regarding the Duke? Since you came to warn us about the revolt does that mean it would be fine to think of you as an ally?” ⁽¹⁾

“I am .. Ririina-sama’s ally! Truth be told I have no interest in that stupid Father. He just appeared in the middle of our lifes forcibly took me and Anjiu in to the Duke’s household. Despite that the Duke already has a male successor so he had ignored us so far. Anjiu must have been the true target, I think. In order to make her, who happened to be his daugther, the bride of Leon. That’s why I’m thinking that that idiot of a father who would cause a revolt like this can’t be helped. However, if you would allow me to make an excuse, our Brother of a different mother should have nothing to do with this uproar. That person is a way to good a person.”

The son of the Duke .. if I’m right that is the Vice-Commander of the chivalric order.
My Brother’s assistant ..

“A-ano~ isn’t Aren-sama’s elder brother the Vice-Commander of the chivalric order?”

“Yes! He acts as the assistant of Ririina-sama’s elder brother!”

“I-is that so. That must be tough .. rather, I must apologize.”

I apologized from the bottom of my heart.
How truly troubling, this isn’t the place to be doing a revolt, is it, Brother? ^[1]
Somehow the tension dropped.

Let’s fire ourselves up again

“Leon-sama, we are going for the rescue from here on but I want you to promise me something. That you will absolutely not put yourself in danger of your own volition. I say this knowing it is rude, but I am stronger than you. However, it appears the revolt army doesn’t know about that. With that said, I want to attempt making use of their negligence. I realize you are worried for your parents but please stay calm.”

I declared something that should be rude.
But that’s because it would be bothersome if Leon-sama got caught as well.

” .. I understand. I have known that you are stronger than me ever since that time. I know only too well that you are an existence difficult to even catch up to. Still, no matter how strong you say you are, you are still a woman. I can’t let you fight alone.”

It’s come to that, after all.
I’d very much like you to forget that I am a woman on this occasion.

“Ririina-sama! I have been training ever since Ririina-sama saved me. I don’t know how much I can do against human opponents, but even if only a little I want to be of help!”

Aren-sama declared his intent to join the battle as well.
Hm? There’s a small point of unclarity in what he said.

“Ano, Aren-sama. What do you mean ‘against human opponents’? What did you face off against during that training of yours then?”

“Eh, of course, following Ririina-sama’s example, against monsters! I have become good at fighting them. At first it was difficult on my own, but currently I can fight them even by myself.”

Just what example did he follow?
Doesn’t that make him quite powerful, then.
Alright, in that case I’ll have him protect Leon-sama. That should be good.
I told him so only he could hear it:

‘I will be fine so please protect Leon-sama. That way I will be able to focus better.’

‘Understood. It is a request from Ririina-sama. I will protect him without fail.’

Aren-sama readily consented with a smile.
Seems like that will be fine then.
Leon-sama made a displeased expression looking at us whispering.
Let’s pretend I didn’t see that!

Once again we headed to the door leading into the audience hall.
We confirmed the situation by opening it a bit.
We could hear a voice.

“Saa, King, please do not disappoint me any further than this. I will have you and the Queen step back and return the royal family to proper order. Prince Leon will be found any moment now, as well. It’s alright, please don’t worry. I will redo his education from the very beginning. Throughoutly, that is. As the Queen I will place my daugther Anjiu. She may be the former, but Prince Leon’s eccentric behaviour started when she was made his fiancee. It’s good that he broke that engagement off.”

Fumu, bad mouthing me and Leon-sama?
I do have to wonder about making Leon-sama’s eccentricity my fault.
I want to make a firm opposition to that.

 

 

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Author’s notes

I wrote before in the section for impressions ^[2] that I would finish this part off in a bit, but .. sorry, it’s not ending yet (cry).
I am very sorry. My  outlook was too naive.

 

 

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Translator’s notes

Somehow this chapter was much more exhausting to translate than usual.

Well, colour me surprised. The instant I uploaded these they had already been added to novelupdates. Didn’t happen with any of the chapters previously.

[1] Probably understood this wrongly : 大変だよね、反乱なんてやってる場合じゃないよねお兄さん。
[2] Comment section perhaps? Not fully sure.

(1) Would you really answer ‘No’ in this situation, faced with someone powerful as her in a hallway you can’t escape from?