“There is no way the Prince Consort is aiming for your life. If he does not want a war, that is.”
Empress Frédérique suddenly continued.
My eyes opened wide at the sudden ntion of Werner Venetiaan.
It was quite an unfriendly statent to add to the Imperial Decree for us to play detective, but I clearly understood what she ant.
That was the reason I had requested a nobility title in the first place.
“Your Majesty, you must be saying that he does not dare to touch because I am the Marquis of the Empire.”
“Yes. I can no longer feign ignorance if he tries to harm you. The Queen has also regained her sense of reason.”
She responded.
She ant that Prince Consort Werner was probably not the mastermind behind Mada Victoire trying to abduct .
The Empress seed to believe that these series of thefts were the actions of an attention seeker within the Empire.
In that case, that was probably correct.
I heard that she tended to be correct about these kinds of things and I was certain that she probably saw and heard a lot more information than I had. However……
“This is very presumptuous for to say, but your Majesty.”
“What is it? Are you not confident?”
She smirked as she looked at . Her cherry-colored eyes did not show any signs of anxiety.
“It is a pity for you youngsters to only stay in the Imperial Palace and your hos. Back in my days, Alexandre and Aurélie went around the entire Empire causing trouble.”
“Frédérique, you and I were the troublemakers. Alexandre was in charge of dealing with things once we ran through.”
Cardinal Boutier put down her coffee cup and answered with a complicated look in her eyes.
I finally felt as if I could understand the Empress’s ntality.
She had lived a long ti as the ruler of this Empire.
There were too many reasons she could not roam through the Imperial Capital with her friends to cause mischief or go on new adventures.
The duties and dignity of the throne held her back and did not let her go.
To her, we were just snotty kids.
She seed to be saying that she would live vicariously through her son and his friends acting like fools.
‘Almighty God, my goodness, seriously?’
“As long as this prince doesn’t blank out and follow strangers, it should be quick to find the culprit. Isn’t that right, Hervé?”
“……Prince Jesse is the first to see Victoire up close and engage her, your Majesty. We were also unable to discover, in past incidents, any clue about her being part of a circus troupe.”
Once the Empress and the Captain of the Imperial Guard finished their conversation, Christelle and the Imperial Crown Prince stared at .
Sir Johann was smiling brightly as well. I felt my ears turning hot again.
‘Oh co on, people can make mistakes from ti to ti.’
“The heir to the throne, the little girl who will carry on the most famous house of the Empire, and a Royal Priest. There is also a punk who has learned the sword of the Margrave and a Cardinal-level Holy Knight. What are you all lacking that you can’t catch a simple thief?”
“Please let raise a glass to your extrely astute statent, your Majesty!”
Marquis François Duhem played along and raised his teacup high into the air.
His light pink eyes were sparkling as if he was about to roll over onto the ground in laughter.
‘Please shut up if you are not going to help us!’
“……Mm.”
Well, technically she was correct.
Our party had Divine Power, wealth, strength, governntal authority, bloodline authority, and intellect.
‘I’m fine but my friends are all busy people. Will we really be okay?’
“……”
“……”
Christelle and Crown prince Cédric had been riled up by the Empress’s words and their eyes were sparkling with competitive spirit.
They looked like fraternal twins. ‘I was worried for nothing.’
“Then I guess it has been decided.”
The Empress cheerfully comnted before picking up her teaspoon.
Her eyes were looking right at .
“I am officially commissioning the case to you, Detective Prince. Go capture that criminal.”
“……I will do my best, your Majesty.”
I could not go against an Imperial Decree.
I nodded my head and finished the remaining bouchée à la reine in one bite.
I needed to eat well starting now since it looked like I would be putting my body through a lot of work.
It was true that I wanted to capture that attempted abductor and have them be punished.
I had done all sorts of nonsensical things since coming here and now that would include being a detective.
‘I’ve never even seen a detective in real life!’
*
‘……But since I’m in charge of it, I should do it properly.’
I felt the heavy weight of my responsibilities as I stood in front of the group of people.
Christelle, the crown prince, Vice Captain Élisabeth, and Sir Johann were here in Juliette Palace.
We were gathered in the largest reception room to discuss our plan.
After that, we were going to call the circus troupe to interrogate them.
“Your Royal Highness, there is sothing I would like to request before we get started.”
His orange-colored eyes imdiately turned toward .
The crown prince was seated extrely relaxedly with his legs crossed as if Juliette was his house.
The red pandas, who were plopped down on the ground looking like pancakes on the soft carpet, perked up their tails after hearing my voice.
Percy was plopped over on the crown prince’s head as usual while Tithé was dozing off in Christelle’s arms.
“You are going to ruin your back sitting like that, your Royal Highness. Please uncross your legs.”
“Is that your request?”
He scowled and elegantly uncrossed his legs.
‘Do you really think that is it?’
“No, your Royal Highness. Do you rember the fortune teller we t in front of the Legault Central Comrce Center last sumr?”
“……”
His handso face instantly stiffened. I knew he would recall the person right away, but he was still full of repulsion.
Christelle raised her hand into the air.
“I rember her. You are talking about the old lady who said that I was the closest to the center of the world, right, your highness?”
“That is correct.”
I responded. That was already five months ago.
I had been trying to stick Eva, who had just been a young lady of the House of Blanquer at the ti, with the main character couple, and the crown prince had chosen shopping.
He had even done the weird thing of renting out the entire Comrce Center for the whole day.
Thanks to that, Eva gave a gift and we had a fun ti, but it was an extrely unexpected person who ended that day.
I would call it the ‘fortuneteller cliche.’
‘Please accept my deepest apologies, your Highness. This old lady is a street fortune teller……’
I recalled the awkward look on the Comrce Center employee’s face.
‘Sir, you are not from here.’
‘Excuse ?’
‘And it looks like our esteed sir will lose a connection once again. How pitiful…….’
The old lady’s subtle voice was still vivid in my mind as well.
The fortune teller had spoken as if she knew that I was from outside QNW.
The crown prince simply called her words nonsense, but I could not get rid of that eccentric feeling.
I added on.
“I would like to know how that old lady is doing. Would you be able to ask around for , your Royal Highness?”
“The reason?”
“Because of Captain Modeste Bacary.”
The crown prince squinted after hearing quickly respond.
His gaze seed to be saying that this was unexpected so he was willing to let explain.
I took a sip of Laurence’s special tea, apple juice boiled with cinnamon, cloves, and sugar.
The sweet and warm liquid instantly cleared up my mind.
“It is not related to this incident. I had forgotten about it for a while, but seeing the old ladies in the alley selling stuff yesterday suddenly made recall it. It has also been weighing on my mind that Captain Bacary made a prophecy in the Blanquer Duchy and lost his mories. She is the only one aside from him who made anything similar to a prophecy in front of us, so I wanted to check on her.”
“She is just a lowly scamr.”
The crown prince growled.
His ether must have started going wild as Christelle gasped and went over to sit on the couch.
She then consoled Tithé, who was woken up from his nap, with a water bubble.
This reaction was to be expected as the old lady made an uncomfortable and rude prophecy regarding the crown prince.
I released a lot of ether in the air to calm him down. ‘It’s partner duty ti!’
“I understand how you feel, your Royal Highness. I am also not saying that what the old lady said is true. I am simply curious about her recent well-being. I will also stop giving her any attention if she goes around telling anybody such things without any reason. Then she would really be a fake.”
“……”
I calmly explained. He settled a bit down after hearing that.
I couldn’t feel the power of a Holy Knight, but Christelle’s quiet sigh let know what was going on.
We were only exchanging glances for a while when the young Countess broke the silence.
“Please leave that to , your highness. I will look into it for you.”
“Élisabeth.”
The crown prince called out her na in a low voice. She did not budge.
“Your low growling doesn’t work against . Your highness, I should be able to get so information for you quickly if I send two or three Imperial Guard mbers. I will get you so information soon.”
“Thank you very much, Vice Captain Élisabeth.”
I smiled. The young Countess said it was nothing and sipped her tea.
The crown prince seed discontent but did not say anything.
Sir Johann, who was sitting there quietly like a shadow, finally said sothing.
“How do you plan on catching Victoire, your highness?”
“That, I do have sothing I’ve thought about. I would like to request all of your advice and cooperation.”
I cautiously comnted.
I thought about it on our way back from the Empress Palace but there were not many thods we could use against an elusive commoner bandit.
The Empress said that she did not want to noisily send the troops to capture her.
She believed that that kind of interest and attention seed to be what Victoire wanted.
I agreed with her to an extent.
It would be a lie for a bandit who left an advance notice for her cris and perford magic on scene to not enjoy the attention.
“……What if I show my face and use myself as bait?”
“Excuse ?”
Christelle asked in a shocked voice. I gently smiled and explained.
“I know it is difficult to trust right now. I followed the thief, so there is really nothing I could say even if I had ten mouths. However, what is clear is that Victoire is aiming for and actually tried to take away. In that case, I would be the best bait we could use without getting the troops involved. At least thinking about it in reverse, that is what I ca up with.”
“……”
“I think that the first step is to take the ball out of her court. The citizens will naturally focus on Victoire’s movents if it is known that I am roaming around the Imperial Capital. She would feel the pressure to do sothing. If the days go on without anything despite her advance notice, people will lose their illusion of her.”
The other four were silent. I could hear Benjamin and David, who were standing by the door, letting out deep breaths.
I already felt apologetic since I would be making these hardworking attendants worried.
I wet my lips with the tea and cleared my throat.
“It would be great if she shows up to capture . She may disguise herself as Da Sarnez again, but I will not be fooled twice. I did think from the beginning the other day that sothing was weird.”
“Your highness.”
Christelle called out to as if telling to stop lying. I smiled and explained.
“Da Sarnez never used her strength toward like that. She never grabs by the arm or wrist because she is worried that I will be hurt. You even control your strength when you hit while laughing, don’t you?”
“……”
“I’ve never felt pain because of you, Da Sarnez. That was why I felt sothing was off when I was with the fake.”
Christelle’s face turned extrely odd.
Her chin wrinkled up like a walnut, then her lips looked like chicken gizzards……
“Hehe.”
Then smiled brightly as if she could not hold it in any longer.
Tithé must have felt sothing in her arms as well as he cried ‘Aarf!’ with joy. .
Christelle got up from the couch and quickly walked over before plopping back down at the chair by the table.
It was the seat closest to .
“I’m fine with it, your highness.”
She announced.
That must have been entertaining as Vice Captain Élisabeth punched the crown prince on the shoulder and started laughing.
His face turned even more vicious that he looked more like the main villain than the male lead.
I thought that I was pretty close to this punk now but I had no idea what was going through his mind at tis like these .
Only Sir Johann remained calm as he spoke.
“It is not a bad idea if you have a guard near you, but I think you will need secret codes. The enemy is skilled at disguise and mimicry.”
“That is a good point. I made a request for that reason……”
I turned around.
Ganael and Pierre, who had been waiting for to summon them, walked over with a wide wooden board.
This was the item I was going to use as a chalkboard today.
“Thank you. I think it will be good to put our secret codes on here and co up with a short plan. I also prepared so writing equipnt as I thought it would be needed. Please feel free to give your suggestions.”
Benjamin handed everyone so ink, quill pens, and paper.
The young Countess seed to be enjoying herself, talking about how this reminded her of her ho tutor from her youth and wanting to work in Juliette Palace.
I could only smile brightly as I had no words.
I didn’t know how to be a proper detective, but I felt as if we would be able to put our heads together, co up with a plan, and put it into action.
“Would you like so more tea? It is made with apples from the old lady vendors, and they put so much care into growing the apples that it is delicious. There is also toast with pogranate molasses.”
“Are you talking about the old ladies we t in the alley?”
Christelle’s eyes opened wide at my comnt.
“Yes, I felt like they lost a day’s worth of sales because of …… I bought all of the vegetables and fruits they were selling.”
The crown prince scoffed while Sir Johann shook his head in disbelief.
I quickly added on.
“I did so with my personal funds. Of course I made sure to get them tested for poison, so please feel free to have them without worry.”
The Vice Captain of the Imperial Guard suddenly plopped down on the table.
Christelle did the sa, looked at her, and chuckled.
Ganael leaned his head in and asked, “Vice Commander Moutet, are you really going to request a transfer to Juliette?”
He seed really excited at the thought.
‘……Will we really be able to pull off being detectives? We should be able to, right?’
—
Translator’s Comnts
Thanks for all your guesses but I guess the title gives it away now…
Reviews
All reviews (0)