Chapter 25: Villainess

Villainess

「We should arrive at our destination soon, Elena-sama.」

「I prefer the downtown though……」

Going back slightly in time, inside the carriage that was heading to the lake shore castle which was one of the guest houses owned by Dandall House. Two girls with attire and attitude of a daughter of a noble……a very high ranked noble at that were having a conversation.

The red haired girl was Clara, the princess of Dandall House because she was the biological and legal daughter of Margrave Dandall. Even though she was still a child, the intelligence in her eyes and her calm atmosphere gave a hint of the beautiful look like a flower that she would grow into in the future.

The girl who was addressed respectfully by that Clara was a blond haired girl with beautiful face that wasn’t inferior at any way compared to Clara, but her face was displaying dissatisfaction. It made even Clara who was a friend and also a cousin of this first princess Elena to smile wryly.

The first princess Elena idolized her big brother the crown prince Ervan. Because her behavior was getting too much, she got sent to Dandall territory that belonged to the family of her mother the second queen. There she was supposed to “recuperate” by keeping distance from her big brother temporarily so she could cool her head.

However although Elena was selfish she wasn’t a fool. Elena only forgot herself when it came to her brother, outside that she would always display a dignified appearance of a royalty. Her physical condition became unhealthy due to her mother’s special education that was like torture, but that education had granted Elena an intellectual mentality that was unthinkable for a seven years old.

That Elena wasn’t showing a princess’s dignity but dissatisfaction in her face even if only slightly because there was only Clara who was her cousin and also her friend in this place. She must have dissatisfaction that she couldn’t meet with her brother, but she understood that she was making her father the king and the first queen worried for her.

Clara looked like she wanted to say something seeing Elena’s behavior. She let out a faint sigh.

(How should I broach the topic here……)

Making one of the villainesses Elena to remove the heroine. Other than wanting to have a talk with her cousin after so long, Clara also had that kind of intention when she arranged to make Elena and her to be alone in the carriage from Dandall’s castle until here.

In the otome game, Elena was jealous with the heroine who caught the attention of the crown prince. She would send complaints to the heroine and also played some pranks to her, but as the story progressed and the heroine entered a romantic relationship with the crown prince, she approved the heroine and became her ally in the end. At this stage, Elena wouldn’t become the ally of the heroine who hadn’t become the crown prince’s lover, but it also would be difficult to direct Elena’s hostility to the heroine who wasn’t in contact with the crown prince.

If she made a poor lie, the clever Elena would immediately notice that something wasn’t right. That was why she needed to bring up this topic very carefully.

(But there is still time. If I can make her harbor ill feeling for the heroine during this recuperation……)

While she was thinking something like that, Elena looked at her as though she could hear the voice of Clara’s heart.

「Clara? You are really quiet today. Do you have something weighing your mind?」

「……No, it’s nothing at all.」

The carriage kept running toward the destination as the two stayed quiet for a while inside it. The two of them got along really well with each other like true sisters before, but since Clara recalled her previous life, a slight gap was starting to form between them.

Elena looked outside the window inside that awkward atmosphere. She raised her voice when she saw the lake that was coming into view.

「Clara, is our destination that castle?」

「Yes, that castle is the guest house where Elena-sama is going to stay.」

Clara remembered her standing when the castle came into view and she observed the surrounding from the window. They were cousins and playmates since they were small child, but she was also shouldering the role as a margrave daughter welcoming the first princess.

As the castle was gradually approaching, the servants who were prepared by Dandall and the prime minister were lining up orderly along the path from the gate to the house entrance. The palace and Dandall were also dispatching their personnel, but as expected they had to depend on other noble houses to reinforce the insufficient number of maids and servants. Many among the relatives of the nobles who filled the spot as servants here wished to work in Dandall House or the palace, so sometimes they would act in an overly motivated way……or putting it in a bad way, they would act ambitiously.

(……Eh?)

A boy with light brown skin color who seemed to be a Cruzian was standing quietly at a nook of that line so that he wouldn’t stand out, but he still caught Clara’s eyes. She was familiar with his face. Seo Leyton……he was still a child but, that boy when the heroine enrolled into the sorcery academy, he was a 『capture target』 who accompanied her as her butler.

His true identity was a knight of the dark side who protected the heroine who was a princess of Melrose from the shadow. At first he wouldn’t do his duty to protect the powerless heroine diligently, but he got inspired by the way the heroine put in effort steadily, and after going through several events, he would go through an awakening for the sake of the heroine who he fell in love with.

She never thought that she would encounter him in this kind of place, but she could also understand why if he was related with the dark side.

But what truly shocked Clara wasn’t just him. At the opposite side of him who was a butler apprentice, at the end of the line for the maids, she saw the 『pink blond hair』 that she had seen many times in the game and gulped.

(Don’t tell me……the heroine!? No, there’s no way that’s the case. The heroine should still be in the orphanage right now. And that maid is also still a child but, she is around ten years old, surely it’s just some kind of mistake……)

「Clara……? Is there someone here who caught your eyes?」

「N-no, it’s nothing at all.」

「H~mm?」

Elena sharply noticed Clara’s strange state and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She looked across the sight that Clara was seeing from the curtain’s gap and the corner of her lips rose slightly.

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「Come, it looks like we have arrived. Clara, I’ll count on you to show me around.」

「……As you command, Elena-sama.」

And then Elena got down from the carriage. With her power of observation she found a girl at the direction where Clara was looking at and said that she wanted her.

The blonde haired girl who I should be observing from the shadow said that she 『wants』 me.

From my perspective, I could somehow understand her getting interested with someone around the same age with her, but Sera and others who had noble common sense seemed to never imagine that a noble would want a person who couldn’t do any work. Sera and those two high ranked butlers were continuing to try to persuade the blonde haired girl.

「That person is still in the middle of training. Even here she will only be assigned with menial works. There is no way she can be entrusted with a very important work like serving as your highness’s personal attendant.」

「If she manage to finish her training and we judge that she has the aptitude, we promise that we will send her to the palace to work as a maid apprentice there. Until then I beg your highness to rethink whether she is really necessary for your highness’s need or not.」

「Even children at the street will begin their apprenticeship starting from ten years old correct? I too am not planning to suddenly make such young maid to carry out the role of a handmaid. However that girl’s appearance pleases me. She can at least standby nearby and convey my message to the handmaids right?」

In one of the living rooms inside the castle, I was told to stand at the corner of the room while waiting for them to decide my position.

The other handmaids and butlers inside the room also listened to the conversation without any change in their expression, however there were also maids from good family who wanted to form connection with the royal family and the margrave house waiting at corners of this room too. They were glaring at me with eyes like ogre.

I didn’t feel anything at this point of time even if I was glared by some young ladies who didn’t even have any battle experience. More importantly, they called that girl 『her highness』. Did that mean she was a royalty? I still wasn’t strong enough to be able to run away to other country by myself, so please spare me from something troublesome like this.

After that the exchange continued back and forth many times before the high ranked butler let out a sigh of resignation.

「This person is still just a child who can’t even speak in polite language yet. If your highness still doesn’t mind even knowing that, then I shall assign her as one of your highness’s room attendants only during your highness’s stay in this castle. That is the greatest compromise that we can possibly make.」

「Of course, I don’t mind that. And then if by some chance I take a genuine liking to her instead of just a whim, send her to the palace after her education is over to be an official handmaid apprentice there. That is also the biggest compromise that I shall make here.」

「As your highness command.」

「……Aria, come here to give your greeting.」

It seemed that my position had been decided without taking my own wish into account at all. I mentally prepared myself to run away if I ever got into danger even if I had to become a wanted person at the end because of that. Right now I should just accept the situation positively. This way I would be able to do my monitoring duty easily. With that I obeyed Sera and stepped forward.

The current me was not only unable to match Sera and the high ranked butler, I wasn’t even a match against one of the knights protecting her. I swore in my heart that I would catch up to them one day as I bowed my head in front of the blond haired girl just like how I was taught.

「I am a maid apprentice Aria. Please treat me well.」

「Aria……hm. Call me Elena.」

.

▼ Elena Race : Human ♀

【Magic Power : 120/120】【Stamina : 33/35】

【Overall Combat Strength : 50】

.

This was the first time I saw a child with higher magic power than me who had learned light sorcery and darkness magic.

From her stamina point, she didn’t look like she had close quarter combat skill, so most likely she had multiple sorcery type skills. She was speaking in a haughty way which was typical to noble that was in my “knowledge”, but her tone wasn’t as severe as her words. However, the red haired girl behind her wouldn’t approach me any closer while sending me a sharp gaze that was like a glare.

「Aria, your monitoring duty is still just for supporting us in the end. There is no change to that, but I’ll have you act as our contact personnel too from here on. Do you understand?」

「Yes.」

「Also I will give you additional information now that you have become a room attendant. Elena-sama is one of the royalties of this country. The other person is the young lady of Dandall House, Clara-sama is her name. These two are our monitoring targets, but Elena-sama’s safety has higher priority. Remember that well.」

「Yes.」

「And then there is a report that with the two of them staying in this castle, people from a faction that doesn’t harbor pleasant opinion toward one of the targets or perhaps both of them has appeared to observe their activity. We don’t think that they will try anything overt, but if by some chance they play some kind of hand, you also have to act to protect them or at least her highness because you will be nearby.」

「Yes.」

「Also, her highness has personally permitted you to call her name directly, so remember to call her Elena-sama instead of her highness. As for Clara-sama, address her as Ojou-sama.」

「……Yes.」

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Sera nodded slightly after she finished confirming the plainly long list of change with me. Then together with Sera we returned to the garden where the monitoring targets were starting to take a stroll.

Nevertheless, it didn’t mean that I had anything particular to do. If this didn’t happen, I would be doing weeding work or chores while considering from a 『child’s perspective』 if there was a chance the girls would suddenly disappear or not. That’s all, but by becoming a room attendant, standing still and watching behind the other maids became my new work.

「Aria, come over here.」

「……Yes, Elena-sama.」

But it seemed Elena wouldn’t allow that. I didn’t know just what about me pleased her, but she placed me at her side even though I wasn’t able to wait on her like waitress or anything else.

When I approached, the young lady of Dandall moved away as though she was scared to be near me. And when I spoke Elena’s name, the other maids who weren’t allowed to do the same directed their gaze at me with emotion that was close to hatred. Elena noticed that and her lips formed a smile of delight. ……She had quite the twisted personality in her.

「You have a very nice personality aren’t you Aria. Is it your personality to not be bothered by other people’s opinion?」

「……Embarrassing as it is, it’s as Elena-sama say.」

It seemed that Elena and I were two of a kind. Of course our personalities were different, but just like me, she seemed to have a guts of steel to carry her on in the carnage of noble society.

Her behavior wasn’t like a kid. That kind of child must looked odd from the perspective of adult, but that way of living made her just slightly more likable for me.

The maids would leave the room when they finished their business. The handmaids also wouldn’t approach more than necessary unless there was business to take care of.

The princess of Dandall sometimes would also leave the place when I was there, so after several days passed, often I would become the only one who was staying nearby to Elena.

「Really……Okaa-sama too is too weak hearted. The person who became the first queen is a kind persona, but in the end she is just a viscount daughter who never received education to become a queen, so without my mother the second queen, the government of this country won’t be able to function properly you know? She should just use that opening to create her own power base inside and outside the country……don’t you think so?」

When there was only me nearby, Elena would start expressing her complaints with a small voice that only I could hear. ……Was she really a kid like me?

I heard that Elena was given an abnormal gifted education from her mother. It made me thought that she too was using the “knowledge” she had accumulated to struggle desperately in order to survive.

「I can’t give any judgment about that.」

「You are really cold Aria. But, you really resemble me by acting that way. I’m going to the city tomorrow for shopping, so you come along too.」

「Roger.」

When it was only the two of us talking, Elena wouldn’t scold me even when I used casual way of talking. A clever person like her also matched my way of talking for me. But we weren’t “friend”. She never removed her standing as a master interacting with a maid toward me, and I too never closed my distance with her any more than necessary. Surely I would never serve her. But, I didn’t really dislike this atmosphere that we had between us right now.

Elena was enjoying the aroma of tea on the white table placed at the terrace as time was passing quietly. Sometimes her clear blue eyes would turn toward the lake that had the same color with her eyes.

I wondered what she had seen and felt until now with her accumulated “knowledge” that was just like me. What was currently being reflected in her eyes right now? I too was standing diagonally behind her as I turned my eyes toward the same scenery. As the two of us stayed like that silently for a while, Elena suddenly opened her mouth.

「Aria……I wonder what can you see from here?」

Elena asked me that while staring at the scenery. I kept my gaze fixed at the lake as I slowly formed a sentence.

「Surely……it’s the same thing like you.」

.

A week had passed since Elena arrived in this castle. She left the castle and went to the castle town of Dandall Castle. Even so her presence here was kept secret from public, so she only had three knights guarding her at the open. Other than them there were only three handmaids, one butler, and four maids accompanying her. I was also included among those four maids, but I didn’t see Sera and the high ranked butler among the handmaids and butler.

The reason was because the work in the castle would stagnate if they left the castle unattended, but the biggest cause was because they knew that Elena would feel annoyed if two nitpicky people like them came along. So the high ranked butler suggested that he would blend in the crowd to protect Elena secretly. With his strength, there would be no problem even if we came under attack. Not only that, several of Sera’s colleagues were also blending with the crowd and acting as security, so I shouldn’t have any part to play as long as nothing major occurred.

Originally the princess of Dandall had to participate in this outing too, but it seemed that she felt under the weather (when she heard that I was also coming) and she was resting.

「As expected from the biggest city after the capital. There are a lot of shops selling clothes in the price range that even commoners can afford. Aria, how about I buy something for you too?」

I silently shook my head at Elena’s offer. In respond she looked at me and narrowed her gaze smilingly.

「I guess so. For Aria it’s more fitting for you to obtain what you want with your own strength.」

.

We arrived at one of our destinations, a high class boutique.

One of the knights circled around to the back of the shop, one took position beside the entrance, and the other one went inside to accompany Elena. This boutique had been reserved for today and there was no other customer. Perhaps this boutique had been investigated many times. Other than the owner, there were only three other female staffs inside. Even my search skill couldn’t feel any other presence inside.

「It’s a great honor to receive your visit today. Please take your time having a look at what we have.」

「I’ll do just that.」

Elena exchanged some trivial greeting with the owner before looking around at the displayed fabrics and scarves.

Perhaps someone overheard Elena’s offer to buy me something. The maids who were unable to ride together with Elena in her carriage were looking at Elena wistfully. But, it was the handmaids’ job to look around together with her, so the four maids including me could only watch from some distance……but,

「……One of isn’t here.」

「I don’t know anything.」

I noticed that one of the maids was gone and asked the others, but another maid who was a relative of a noble and treated me with hostility looked aside standoffishly with that reply. Her attitude was bad, but even they should know better than going off somewhere as they pleased. I got a bad feeling and tried to search with more attentiveness. Then the presence of Elena who entered into the dressing room for measurement vanished.

I hurriedly moved toward that room’s door, but one of the knights stopped me.

「Even you who are permitted to serve as her highness’s attendant isn’t permitted to enter inside as you please.」

「I can’t feel Elena-sama’s presence. This is an emergency. Also there is a weird smell.」

「What are you……」

「Understood.」

One of the handmaids who was standing by outside might have heard about my ability from Sera. She immediately moved and knocked the door. She then opened the door when no reply was forthcoming.

「Your highness-!」

When I entered inside behind that handmaid, a faint scent of drug pierced my nose. Elena wasn’t inside the room. There were only two handmaids collapsing on the floor unconscious. They had no visible wound. They might have been drugged.

「Where is her highness-」

「The staff who entered inside with them is also not here!」

「There’s a hole on the floor over here!」

The butler’s voice said that. I turned over there and peered from behind a knight. There was a hole opened in the floor. A child or a slim woman would be able to pass through a hole of that size.

「Underground!」

「Where is the stair!?」

「I’ll go ahead.」

Everyone began to search for a stair. I slipped through between them, folded my skirt like an umbrella, and then I jumped into the hole in the floor.

I dropped down for several meters. I used body strengthening and landed while using my legs like a spring to absorb the impact.

I immediately checked the surrounding with night vision. I saw disturbance in the magic particles at the corridor ahead and moved to that direction. I didn’t find Elena even there, in exchange I found the noble relative maid who was gone from her post.

「What are you doing here? Where is Elena-sama?」

「……I, I didn’t know anything. I, ……that staff said that she will give me money if I just leak a bit of information to her……but I didn’t know that it will become like this……」

「Where’s Elena-sama?」

「Hih」

I lightly pressured her and she returned to her senses. Even though she got scared, she pointed at a small tunnel at the corner of the underground room.

「…………」

So a boutique staff was the culprit……. I used a charcoal that I was supplied with to write the necessary information for the knights on the plaster wall, then I entered that small tunnel and chased after the kidnapped Elena.

Stay safe……Elena.

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