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Chapter – 12
“Of course! The Shining Star of Justiny is always kind, you know! He even paid for a gift to give to the princess’s maid!”
As if a man who was the crown prince of all people could afford not to be kind.
Why were all the women in Basewater like this? April and Milligent were always singing his praises too, going on and on about the Shining Star.
This was exactly what came of lookism.
Raphael shook his head in exasperation.
“And you passed along the note without making it obvious?”
“Yes! I hid it inside the ribbon ahead of time, so unless someone opens it first, there’s no way it’ll be discovered.”
He had already given notice that he would send someone, so April wouldn’t make the mistake of letting the note be seen by others.
Only then did Raphael relax and nod.
“Thank you, Jane. Here—your payment.”
Jane stared at the few coins Raphael held out, her mouth falling open.
“H-Hiik, you’re giving me more again? This really isn’t something dangerous, right?”
“All you have to do is keep your mouth shut. The payment increases once per job.”
“Waaah…!”
Jane let out a cheer without thinking, then quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.
“I’ll come by at this time every day. If you’re lucky enough to meet April again, just pass along my regards like today. As I said before, if April doesn’t show up, you do nothing. Never go looking for her on your own.”
“Yes, Guildmaster!”
Leaving the overly eager Jane behind, Raphael turned and walked away.
Unable to bear waiting in far-off Basewater for news of April, he had packed lightly and found lodgings in the capital himself.
When he slipped a hand into his pocket, the two necklaces—one of them left behind by April—were both glowing with identical light.
“Milli… just where in the world are you…?”
Raphael could no longer trust the capital’s information brokers and had been searching the vast city on foot. For days now, he had scoured it until his mana ran dry, looking for any trace of Milligent, but found nothing.
He turned his gaze toward the direction of the imperial palace, where April was staying.
Even under the black night sky, the densely layered mana-control barrier sparkled so brightly it was visible to the naked eye.
It was a high-level deterrent meant to prevent any mage from infiltrating the palace illegally—and judging by the chill crawling down his spine, its effectiveness was undeniable.
He hadn’t felt this helpless since the day, at six years old, he had been forced to leave the orphanage and abandon April there alone.
“April…”
Murmuring her name—one he had spoken so often it now felt like his own—Raphael clenched himself and began to walk with renewed determination.
Twenty-seven days remained until the deadline of the commission.
For someone who had to reclaim two friends, even sleep was a luxury.
D-26 until the hunting festival.
In other words, today marked my fourth day in the imperial palace—and the first day I received an invitation to Vivian Hilice’s tea party.
Not that I had any intention of attending.
Ever since that first day, when she’d sneered about “the prime minister’s brat,” Vivian’s gaze toward me had been anything but friendly. And there was no reason to go looking for trouble by attending a gathering of ladies, was there?
So I ignored the various invitations to parties and games and stared instead at the small leather pouch by my bedside.
I had opened it, peered inside, turned it upside down, and shaken it out more times than I could count, but each time, not so much as a speck of dust fell from it.
Squeakball chirped at me as if I were ridiculous.
“Hey, you look pretty relaxed. Aren’t you going to work?”
Without even turning to look at him, I kept my eyes on the pouch.
“I am.”
But the next moment, Squeakball flicked the leather pouch away, forcing me to get up from the bed.
“Hey! Let me think for a second!”
I snapped, but Clementine ignored me completely, returning the pouch to its original place in the drawer and sneering.
“Thi~nk? Since when do you do all the thinking?”
“Just looking at it won’t wear it out!”
No matter how much I snapped, Squeakball paid me no heed.
“The job is to hide the pouch in the crown prince’s palace. Staring at it won’t change anything—and it’d be a problem if you damaged it beforehand!”
As if it would just break on its own!
If I could get invited to the crown prince’s palace in the next few days, that very day would be my chance to hide it.
How was I supposed not to worry?
I had to conceal a pouch that reeked of danger in the delicate crown prince’s bedchamber!
What if our sensitive Shining Star suddenly collapsed?!
Just then, a knock sounded.
—Knock, knock.
Squeakball scurried off and came back with a new letter. This one was from Nina Green.
Dear Princess,
If you do not plan to attend Lady Hilice’s afternoon tea today, would you like to share a modest luncheon with someone your own age in my room?
With earnest hope,
Nina Green
I was about to stack Nina’s invitation on top of the others when the last line made me flinch.
With earnest hope.
For some reason, I read the invitation once more before asking Squeakball,
“You said Vivian Hilice seems to be isolating Nina Green, right? So what’s going on with her now?”
Whenever I left my room these days, Squeakball would wander around meeting other ladies’ maids, gathering information.
He shrugged.
“What do you think? A young lady raised like a flower in a greenhouse can’t stand up to the rose of high society.”
“So Vivian’s crushing her competition in advance?”
“Who knows.”
Squeakball muttered in a voice devoid of emotion.
“Lady Green was never Vivian’s match to begin with. She may have pedigree, but the gap in experience and looks is just too wide.”
“Then why go out of her way to pick on a kid?”
Squeakball’s eyes widened.
“You seriously don’t know why?”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
This Mage A wasn’t so idle as to ask a fairy about things he already knew.
If I had spare time, it’d be better spent reviewing the map of the crown prince’s palace that Squeakball had drawn for me.
He sighed.
“You idiot. At this ball, Vivian’s only real rival is the Princess of Bristol.”
That was, of course, assuming the princess was real.
“But Lady Green openly took your side from the very first day, didn’t she? That alone put her squarely in Vivian’s bad books.”
Just for that?
At the unexpected explanation, I recalled Nina’s innocent face from our first meeting.
“I’m Nina, daughter of Duke Green!”
Oh, my miserable life.
I sighed even more deeply than Squeakball and headed for my desk.
He trotted after me and asked,
“Why? Where are you going?”
Article 2 of the Fixer Guild’s rules:
Debts must always be repaid.
“I’m having lunch with Nina Green.”
She had helped me once out of pure goodwill, so it was only right that I return the favor—at least once.
“Honestly, I didn’t think you would really come. I’d heard that Your Highness doesn’t go out much except for engagements with the Crown Prince.”
Nina said this only after the meal was nearly over.
I felt a twinge of guilt, but there was no trace of reproach on her face. She was, without a doubt, still a young lady unseasoned by the ways of high society.
“My Imperial language isn’t very good, so large gatherings feel overwhelming. What about you, Miss Green? Have you been attending many soirées lately?”
“I’m trying to…”
The next moment, Nina let out an unguarded sigh and lowered her head. At the tip of her fork, the cheesecake served for dessert crumbled into a mess.
“Perhaps I still haven’t earned the right to participate in such grand gatherings.”
And yet, compared to a fake like me, Lady Green belonged here far more.
“Every evening I go to the ballroom full of anticipation, only to return disappointed.”
To think that the young lady who had approached me so kindly despite my clumsy greeting had become this discouraged—
In the end, it was all because of Vivian Hilice.
“The one most disappointed is probably my family. But my father’s dream—that I might catch the Crown Prince’s eye at these gatherings—is simply impossible. Especially when there’s already a princess like you here!”
Wait, that escalated quickly.
We’ve only met twice—does this level of closeness really make sense?
I recalled the wine I’d been sipping little by little during the meal.
Good grief. For a lady, my tolerance really is terrible…
