NOVEL NEXT Chapter 34
The moment my eyes met Crowfield, one thought popped into my mind:
Dun dun dun!
How much does he know?
Considering the Emperor’s personality, he might have completely revealed his involvement in the matter. After all, ‘showing off’ is the Emperor’s style.
Ba dum tss!
“I dealt with your husband. So if you want your daughter to be okay, do as I wish.”
In this era, a recording device is excessively cumbersome, and its performance is lacking. While magic stones can serve as an energy source by themselves, fully replacing the rest of the recording device is impossible. So even if the Emperor openly says such things, collecting evidence will be impossible.
Womp womp!
Magic isn’t all-powerful. At least not while I was playing the game; devices like listening devices never appeared, despite the ongoing political and legal situations.
Bzzzt!
“…….”
Both Alice and Charlotte can sense their enemy’s killing intent. That notion of killing intent and aura seems to be commonplace in this world, just like how it might be portrayed in Japanese manga or anime. The moments of surprise like ‘how can there be such killing intent?’ or ‘how can you hide your presence?’ pop up free-flowingly.
Gasp!
…I can’t feel any of it at all.
Not knowing how to use magic or feel someone’s presence or killing intent? Honestly, if I had been able to sense it, my expression would have shattered ages ago. Lucas toyed with me using his killing intent too. He probably stopped upon seeing that my eyebrows didn’t budge.
Eek!
But the truth is, I simply can’t feel it.
Ding!
“…….”
All eyes turned towards me. It seems Mia Crowfield is radiating killing intent towards me now. She isn’t a character that normally wields a sword, so while her killing intent might not be overwhelming, it’s still fascinating how I’m not panicking at all in the face of such an atmosphere.
“Dun ta da!”
“Crown Princess, are you involved in student council activities?”
She asks me clearly while looking me in the eye.
In the original work, Mia Crowfield was a very quiet character. She knew that the Emperor, Alice’s father, had killed her own father but didn’t send unnecessary killing intent towards Alice.
Clink!
She probably wouldn’t have thought that Alice did the killing herself. After all, that was Claire’s action in the original work. Later on, she did try to take Claire’s life but got easily subdued and screamed on the way.
Whoosh!
“I’m curious as to why you are asking me that.”
I quietly asked while gazing at Mia Crowfield.
…It’s not that I have no guilt at all. After all, my actions led to the collapse of a family.
Still, I don’t think I should have refrained from doing that. I don’t know if justifying it this way is right, but at least I had no intention of killing unless there was ‘no reason to do so’.
Yet, I saw that Count Crowfield was with a child who barely seemed eight years old on the bed.
Both the child and Count Crowfield were under the influence of opium.
Shiver!
‘When I had killed him’, that situation was certainly different, but had I let that man go, it’s obvious that it would definitely have happened in the future.
Since then, such dealings within Count’s Territory have been strictly prohibited. It wasn’t because it was immoral. Countess Crowfield cut off all business dealings later, fearing she might be caught red-handed again.
Dum dum dum!
Did that lady feel disappointed in her husband when she learned of the Count’s identity?
Well, looking at the Mia Crowfield in front of me, it doesn’t seem like she felt that way.
Uh-oh…
“I…”
Realizing that everyone’s gaze had shifted back to her, she seemed a bit flustered. A moment ago, her expression of sending killing intent towards me crumbled a bit, looking around in confusion, showing that she’s actually not that bold of a character.
Gulp!
That might be the same as in the original work.
“Did you mean that you killed my father?”
“……Uh?”
The atmosphere in the student council room turned tense in an instant.
The previously loosened atmosphere tightened as if it would snap any moment. Even I, who can’t feel killing intent, felt like the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.
Eek!
Someone in this room might have heard the rumors, but nobody would openly confirm it like this. After all, it’s better for assassination to not be found out.
“Y-You…!”
“Yes, I did. I set a bomb in the carriage. Twelve died.”
Boom!
“What are you talking about…?”
Alice’s face turned pale as she looked at me.
“I’m talking about when I assassinated Count Crowfield. Did you not know?”
Alice shook her head.
She probably had some suspicions. Even with that answer, she wouldn’t have thought that I killed Crowfield myself. After all, I was only twelve at the time.
Dun dun dun!
“……What do you mean? You killed someone?”
“Even when escaping the orphanage, I already killed someone.”
When I answered Claire’s statement calmly, everyone around turned even paler.
“If you join the student council… what do you intend to accomplish if I find out that you killed the Count?”
I asked again, looking at Mia Crowfield.
“……Why?”
Yet, Mia Crowfield looked blankly at me without answering.
Was it the sudden revelation of doubts that left her unsure of how to respond?
Maybe it was because she was unarmed that she didn’t show any inclination to kill me yet.
Thud!
Suddenly, Mia Crowfield’s legs seemed to give way as she knelt right there.
No one tried to support her or help her up.
They merely looked at me with eyes as if they were staring at a monster.
Gulp!
“Did you not come with a clear understanding? Isn’t that the reason you were looking at me as such?”
“…….”
Mia Crowfield didn’t answer.
“……You.”
As I quietly observed Mia Crowfield kneeling on the floor, a cold voice echoed from the side.
Charlotte, having set down her teacup, glared at me as if her gaze alone could freeze ice.
“Are you saying that the Emperor of the Empire killed one of his own nobles?”
In such a situation, could it be that Charlotte was courteous out of her extensive etiquette training?
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“For the Emperor’s power.”
Alice’s face grew even paler.
I had already made it clear to Alice that I supported her. Even if I was pointed out as the next Emperor instead of her, I would only support Alice.
In Alice’s eyes, knowing this, my reason for killing the Count might appear as grounding her power base.
Uh-oh
“…So you believe that everything’s permitted for the sake of power?”
Charlotte looked at me, genuinely disgusted.
“It also involved my personal judgment.”
“Personal judgment…”
Claire echoed my words with a whisper.
“…What do you mean by personal judgment?”
Her eyes were those of disgust, yet Charlotte didn’t interrupt me, asking once more.
Even in this situation, the princess was trying to view me fairly. Maybe she didn’t fully believe what I was saying. After all, while I did kill, there was no evidence. The Emperor might have ordered me, and that thought could fit the situation.
“The Count was dealing in opium. There were mines in the Count’s Territory, and a brothel operated inside that used opium and underage children. Even if the Count were not the main trader, he was clearly a customer of that brothel.”
“……Proof?”
“I saw it with my own eyes.”
“…Investigation and trial—”
“Were impossible.”
If they could have, such things wouldn’t have occurred in the Count’s Territory in the first place. No matter how powerful the Emperor is, the highest authority in the territory is the Count. The Emperor could, of course, make a direct visit and wield power there. And that’s exactly what the Emperor did — got rid of the Count using the power of violence.
Boom!
“Would it be possible in the Kingdom?”
“…….”
When I questioned, Charlotte fell silent.
The expression of someone looking at a monster seemed to be gradually changing. What that emotion could be was hard to discern precisely.
“…Dad? Why…?”
Mia Crowfield, having heard my story, murmured to herself.
“Mia Crowfield. I still haven’t gotten an answer.”
I looked at Mia Crowfield and asked again.
“What did you plan to do if you joined the student council? Were you planning to kill me the moment you realized I was the one who killed the Count?”
“…….”
Mia Crowfield seemed at a loss for words for a moment.
After staring at me blankly for a while, she finally spoke,
“I…will kill you.”
She said that.
“I will kill you!”
“Even if your father was such a man? If he sacrificed countless children?!”
“I don’t believe it! I don’t believe you!”
“Crowfield!”
At that moment, the student council president finally regained her composure and jumped to her feet because Mia Crowfield seemed ready to charge at me.
“You mean to say that you believe I killed your father, but you don’t believe he committed such vile acts?”
“You… I will kill you with my own hands!”
Seeing the president jump in, the surrounding noble ladies rushed in to stop Mia Crowfield.
“Wait, Crowfield! Calm down…!”
“…Understood.”
I quietly replied, and once again, the entire student council room stiffened.
Dun dun dun!
“So that’s what you think?”
“Wait a moment, my lady.”
Seeing Mia Crowfield glowing with killing intent, it’s clear she has no idea how to sense killing intent, and thus she surely doesn’t know how to radiate it either.
Most likely, I could only stare at the opponent with all my might.
But I might have assessed that there was something more than that.
Realizing that I was a being who had killed people without changing my expression since I was twelve, they probably thought something felt off. Maybe they even wondered if I’d attempt to eliminate Crowfield right then and there.
Claire, who had already half-risen from her seat, was looking at me.
Perhaps she felt that this needed to stop? At least the look in Claire’s eyes wasn’t filled with contempt or disgust. It was filled with concern.
“C-C-Claire.”
Alice stammered, attempting to intervene.
“Everyone, let’s stay calm. We don’t know if all of this is true or not.”
Alice tried to wrap herself around my words in whatever way she could.
Leo looked completely frozen, while Charlotte remained in a state of confusion.
Suddenly!
Well, yeah, that’s how everyone would react.
I slowly scanned the faces of everyone in the student council room and committed their looks to memory as best as I could.
And then—
Ding!
“The conclusion is still undecided.”
I spoke to Mia Crowfield in a calm voice.
“The Crown Princess… no, I will do as Alice wishes. What would you like to do?”
“Uh? A-Um, okay.”
Alice, glancing between Mia Crowfield and me, seemed a bit flustered when she responded.
“I’m… positively considering it.”
“If that’s the case, then I’ll positively consider it too.”
I answered and took a little sip of milk tea.
“…Then I would like to positively consider it too.”
Mia Crowfield, still glaring at me, said that.