Chapter 27

“Princess, a similar smell is coming from that direction.”

Suō pointed toward the garden with one forepaw. Thinking they might be able to discover the cause, Princess Kana started that way, but old Clarence stopped her and said that he would go instead. Together with Suō, he opened the door leading into the garden and stepped down from what looked like a terrace.

“There are several sources of the smell, but the nearest one seems to be this way.”

Princess Kana watched the old man walk deeper into the garden, guided by Suō as he traced the source of the smell. She felt that someone ought to accompany them as backup, but unfortunately the extermination force was resting in another room some distance away, and only Burley was nearby. Given that poison was involved, she could not imagine Burley leaving her side.

With no other choice, she was about to ask Ashton, who still had not fully grasped the situation, to send someone to guard and reinforce old Clarence when—

“Aaaaaagh!!”

A scream rang out from the garden.

“Kaō!”

“At once, Princess!”

Princess Kana immediately mounted Kaō, burst through the same door Suō and Clarence had used, and raced outside, with Burley hurrying after her.

At the same time, people came rushing out from all over the estate to see what had happened. Ashton, Callahan, and the others also seemed to snap back to their senses and hurried into the garden.

The princess reached the source of the scream almost instantly. There she saw Bryne sprawled on the ground and old Clarence standing frozen in place as though protected by Suō. At the old man’s feet lay what appeared to be an animal trap.

“Saintess-sama, forgive me for startling you. It happened so suddenly that I couldn’t properly hold back…”

The old man spoke the moment he noticed Princess Kana. From his words and the scene before her, she could easily imagine what had happened. Bryne was writhing in pain, his longsword lying nearby, while a dagger was buried deeply in his wrist. It had presumably been thrown reflexively by old Clarence.

Though judging from the faint smile on Suō’s face, there was little doubt that he had made a small adjustment to either its trajectory or force.

“I thought you were plotting something, but truly, what a pathetic fool.”

Without even descending to the ground, Princess Kana spoke in open exasperation. Apparently hearing her, Bryne looked up at her with a glare and crawled closer.

“It hurts! Hey, it hurts! Heal me! You’re a Saintess, aren’t you?! Heal me right now! Please, I’m begging you! I’ll pay you! I’m going to become a knight! So please!!”

His plea sounded more like an order than a request. However—

“No.”

“Then hurry and… what?”

“Did you not hear me? I said no. I already showed you mercy once before. There will be no second time. Burley, troublesome though it may be, stop the bleeding. An injury of that nature will not kill him.”

She addressed the captain of the extermination force, who had just caught up. Burley quickly assessed the situation and immediately began examining Bryne’s wound, but just then Bernetta suddenly emerged from deeper in the garden, shouting loudly.

“If you’re really a Saintess, how can you refuse to heal someone who’s suffering right in front of you?! You really are a fake!”

Bernetta stood beside Burley as he prepared to stop the bleeding and glared at the princess, yet showed no sign whatsoever of trying to help tend to her brother.

“What you think of me matters not in the slightest. But cease trying to use others whenever it suits you. Why should I have any obligation to help someone who tried to harm my precious guest and Suō? The fact that he remains alive is already more mercy than he deserves.”

“But you can heal him, can’t you? Then—”

“Hmph. What that boy needs cured is his rotten nature, not his injury.”

Their exchange must have served as a guide, because Ashton and the others finally arrived at the scene. They too seemed to understand at once what had happened. Their faces turned pale and twisted with dismay. Amid the suddenly oppressive atmosphere, the first to speak was the Count of Owsley.

“Clarence-dono, forgive me, but would you explain what happened?”

“Ah, certainly. First, it appears this was the source of the smell Suō-dono detected.”

The old man nudged the trap lying at his feet with the tip of his shoe as he began explaining matters to Callahan and the others.

Suō had said that there were several sources of the smell and guided him to the nearest one, where they found the trap. Clarence had been about to carry it back so they could inspect it when Bryne suddenly leapt out with his sword drawn.

“At the time, I had no idea who he was, so I instinctively moved aside to avoid the blade and threw my dagger at the same time. I never imagined it would turn out to be your son…”

As he spoke, Clarence looked toward Bryne, who was sitting on the ground receiving basic treatment from Burley, and sighed. Callahan, having heard an explanation that matched what he had already suspected, could do nothing but sigh as well.

“After I warned him so thoroughly, why…”

Ashton’s strained murmur escaped him. Then the sound of many hurried footsteps approached. Turning toward it, they saw several soldiers accompanied by a woman who appeared to be the lady of the house, running toward them with her hair in disarray.

The woman rushed toward Bryne, who was still half-supported by Burley, and practically snatched him away before clutching him tightly.

“Oh, Bryne! My poor boy! Darling, Count, summon a priest immediately!”

Even as she spoke, she glared at old Clarence and began complaining about how cruel it was to do such a thing to a child.

As Callahan tried to admonish his wife, the soldiers began explaining what had actually happened. Apparently, the Countess had seen Clarence throw the dagger from her room upstairs. When she saw her son collapse, she had hurried into the garden with soldiers. Furthermore, she had ordered them to arrest Clarence because “a suspicious man is trying to kill my son.”

Hearing that, Callahan shook his head slightly and decided that he would act not as a father, but as the lord of the territory.

“No. There is no need for a priest. You there, carry Bryne to his bedchamber immediately. And summon a physician!”

The Countess’s eyes widened at his words. Healing by a priest could close the wound instantly, whereas treatment by a physician would take several weeks.

Moreover, pain and fever during that time would be unavoidable, and there was also the possibility of lasting aftereffects.

“But then it will take so long to heal!”

“That’s right, Father! So order that Saintess to do it immediately! If you, the count, command her, that’s all there is to it!”

Apparently believing that even if the Saintess refused the request of a young lady like herself, she would obey the word of her father, a count, Bernetta cut in as well. Only then did the Countess seem to finally notice Princess Kana’s presence. She turned bloodshot eyes toward her and pushed Bryne forward from her arms.

“You, are you the Saintess? Then heal him. That’s an order. If you heal him right now, then I’ll overlook what happened this time—”

At his mother’s words, the corners of Bryne’s mouth curled upward. He apparently believed that if the Countess ordered her in front of his father, the count, the Saintess could not possibly refuse. However—

“Truly, the entire family is shameless. I already told you before: I refuse.”

What came back was a rejection that sounded almost mocking. And the one who dealt the finishing blow to the three of them as they stared in shock was none other than the count himself.

“Enough! Just how badly do you intend to spoil him before you’re satisfied?! Mirabel, do you even understand who he attacked and what he did?! If House Caradine presses charges, Bryne could even face execution! Why can you not understand that?!”

“Of course I realized that gentleman was Clarence-sama once I came here! But the one who was actually injured was Bryne! If anything, we are the victims—”

“That is merely the result! It does not change the fact that this fool pointed a sword at Clarence-dono! And he did so in the cowardly manner of drawing a longsword against a guest armed only with a dagger!”

Callahan picked up the longsword that still lay on the ground and pointed its tip at Bryne.

“On top of that, you failed to recognize your opponent’s skill and clearly looked down on him. I thought that taking the knight order’s entrance examination would finally teach you your own level, but all you ever did was obsess over recommendation letters and look for the easy way out. You never even realized the soldiers were deliberately losing to you. This is what your arrogance has brought you!”

Bryne bit his lip bitterly but could offer no rebuttal. Callahan hauled him to his feet, removed the scabbard from his waist, and sheathed the sword.

“This is confiscated. You will no longer need it. Now take him away! And from now on, aside from cases I personally authorize, no one except the physician is to enter his room! Lock the door from the outside!”

His father’s words seemed to wound him more deeply than the injury itself. Bryne hung his head and trudged heavily as the soldiers led him away. He showed no sign of hearing his mother’s desperate attempts to comfort him as she followed beside him.

Old Clarence also returned to the estate accompanied by Ashton, who insisted that he should at least be examined by a physician.

Princess Kana watched them go with Callahan and Audra. Then she shifted her gaze toward Bernetta and asked,

“Leaving that aside, why were you here?”

Bernetta faltered for a moment at the princess’s words.

“W-Well… I heard the scream, so I came to see what happened…”

“That is not true. I saw you come from deeper inside the garden. If you had been in your room, you would have arrived from behind us like the Countess. Yet you came from directly ahead. That is why I am asking why.”

“Ah, um…”

“Bernetta. Don’t tell me you were with Bryne…”

Callahan’s brow furrowed deeply as he questioned his hesitant daughter.

“I wasn’t with him! I just…”

Bernetta immediately denied it, but naturally, she had no way to continue. As a result, Callahan’s expression grew increasingly severe by the moment.

Audra, meanwhile, nervously hovered between them, desperately trying to mediate, when a slightly amused voice joined the conversation.

“Oh, Princess. This girl smells like something similar to Mafeisan!”

At Kaō’s unfamiliar term, Burley tensed, thinking it was another poison, but Princess Kana raised a hand to stop him and explained.

“Mafeisan is a medicine that robs a person of consciousness and renders them unconscious. It is said that no matter how powerful a warrior may be, once given this drug, they will sleep helplessly like an infant and fail to notice even if an arm is cut from their body. Now then, girl. Was there someone you wished to put to sleep?”

The princess asked with a malicious smile.

“This is something I use to help myself sleep…”

“Oh? Then why would you carry such a thing around the garden? Normally, one would keep it beside one’s bed. After all, if you accidentally spilled it, you could collapse on the spot.”

“Bernetta, I don’t know what you’re carrying, but hand it over right now!”

Her elder sister held out a hand with a worried expression. Irritated both by Audra and by the princess, who Bernetta was certain knew exactly what she had intended yet was deliberately pretending otherwise, Bernetta clenched both fists tightly, stamped her feet, and screamed.

“Ahhh, enough! Shut up, shut up, shut up!! What is wrong with all of you?! You’re a Saintess, aren’t you?! Then stop doubting every single thing people say! A Saintess is supposed to smile like an idiot and obediently believe whatever people tell her! And when she’s told to heal someone who’s sick or injured, she should just shut up and do it! But you keep acting so high and mighty and talking back all the time!”

Even after screaming, her anger apparently had not subsided. She breathed heavily and continued glaring at the princess. She looked ready to lunge at her at any moment, but there was no possibility Princess Kana would be intimidated by something so trivial.

“You keep declaring that because I am a Saintess, I should be this way or must do that. But who decided any of that? Besides, the Saintess you describe sounds like nothing more than an idiotic slave bound by goodwill. I have not the slightest intention of lowering myself into such a pitiful creature.”

Laughing merrily, she signaled the white foxes with her eyes. Their forepaws traced circles before stamping down.

“Bind!”

“Strip!”

In the next instant, Bernetta was wrapped tightly in ropes, unable to move, and dragged down onto the ground. Moreover, the clothes she had been wearing were somehow now in Princess Kana’s hands.

“Here.”

She handed the clothing to Audra. Confused, Audra rummaged through the area covered in many folds and eventually pulled out a small bottle. She looked sadly toward her younger sister for a moment before handing it to their father.

“If it is truly something you use to sleep, perhaps you would like to smell it right now?”

From the way Bernetta’s face drained of color at the princess’s words, Callahan became certain which of them was telling the truth. He ordered the soldiers to confine Bernetta to her room, then bowed to Princess Kana and walked back toward the estate. His shoulders sagged, and from behind he suddenly looked much older. Audra hurried after him.

Meanwhile, as a soldier hauled the teeth-grinding Bernetta upright and tried to hoist her over his shoulder, a tree root had somehow, through remarkably bad luck, happened to protrude directly beneath his foot. The moment he took a step, he tripped and dropped her.

“Gya-bweh!”

A strange sound escaped her, apparently because she struck the ground face-first. The soldier hurriedly picked her up, but her face was in a miserable state.

(That… may have broken her nose.)

Princess Kana watched Bernetta being carried away with her eyes rolled back and blood pouring freely from her nose. She did not miss the faint smile at the corners of Kaō’s mouth, even as he pretended to know nothing about what had happened.