CHAPTER 67…………….
The Black Rose Princess (1)
“Count, what are you going to do about this?”
Count Altine rubbed his face dryly and looked at Count Stenel.
“At this rate, if word reaches His Highness Erebos—”
“Calm yourselves, all of you. So, the princess turned out to be more precocious than expected. And what of it?”
Count Stenel shrugged as if it were nothing.
Objectively, nothing had really changed.
“The fact that she never showed her strength to the end proves that the Belled incident was an exaggeration.”
But at that moment, the tea party stirred.
Because of the party now greeting the princess.
Whispers spread through the garden.
“Even the Nestor family came?”
“What business would they have here, all the way from the capital…?”
Count Stenel snapped his head around.
At the princess’s tea table stood a tall man and two young girls.
Being of the same formal rank didn’t mean the families were of the same stature.
Though Counts like Altine and Stenel, House Nestor boasted a history twice as long.
And they were known for their stubbornly frank remonstrations to the Demon King.
In other words, they were not the type to flatter a young princess.
Unlike the blind loyalists of House Epicus or House Ismenios.
Count Nestor bent deeply to the princess, who barely reached his waist.
“Greetings to the Princess of Tartarus, Your Highness.”
“Sir Nestor, it’s been a while!”
“Thank you for welcoming me so warmly.”
“It must have been a terribly long journey from the capital…”
“But of course I had to come.”
Count Nestor bowed even lower.
“As a representative of the families Your Highness saved in Belled.”
At those words, stifled gasps echoed throughout the garden.
For Count Nestor, a high official of Hades Palace, to say such a thing…
Count Stenel bit his lower lip in silence.
This tea party had tilted completely in the princess’s favor.
…I’ll have to change tactics.
He couldn’t let the Bloodstone Mines be shut down.
It was his greatest source of income—how could he give it up?
I’ll just have to cling to that little princess instead.
Even if it meant severing ties with House Altine, he would win over the child’s favor.
Count Stenel quietly began plotting.
I gave Count Nestor a sheepish smile at his greeting.
Both Lethe and Mint were pretending not to care.
It does feel a bit embarrassing, but…
I had invited House Nestor to dispel the ridiculous rumors about me.
And the Count responded in exactly the right way.
With this, no one will doubt me anymore.
Better for a high noble from the capital to spread the word than for me to go around saying it myself.
Fortunately, the Count’s horns were still firmly attached, and his two daughters looked well.
I smiled first at Selina.
Since she was seated in a plush chair, she was the only one I could look down upon.
“Lady Selina. Have you been well?”
“Y-yes! Your Highness!”
“No lingering pain?”
“No, thank you!”
Selina clasped her hands and gazed up at me with starry eyes.
Next, Theia greeted me with elegant poise.
The last time I saw her, she had been a tear-streaked mess, but now she had returned to her proud young-lady demeanor.
“Greetings to Your Highness the Princess. Have you been well?”
“Of course. Wasn’t it tiring to come all this way?”
“Not at all!”
With great flourish, Theia snapped open her fan.
Her eyes blazed with a strange sense of mission, making me instinctively lean back.
She whispered rapidly.
“My father told me what happened here. How could I find the journey difficult, knowing that?”
“Uh… what?”
“That these country bumpkins dared doubt Your Highness, the Princess!”
Her coral-colored eyes glittered with growing menace.
From behind her fan came a rapid, almost threatening hiss of words.
“How dare they! Who do they think they are, to speak so presumptuously about the one and only Princess of Tartarus! Honestly, the old saying is right—ignorance makes people bold. Just because they didn’t witness it themselves, they question you? They must be out of their minds!”
“Lady Theia… um…”
“So while we’re here, I’ll make sure they learn their lesson!”
“……”
I had thought she was articulate when we first met, but she had only gotten stronger.
From beside me, Ares muttered softly,
“…Wasn’t she the one who caused you the most trouble at first?”
“Ares, hush, hush.”
“Hmph.”
Let bygones be bygones.
At that moment, Selina whispered shyly,
“Your Highness, when I told Laocoon we would be coming here today, he said he also wished to greet you.”
“Huh? Laocoon?”
My eyes widened.
Of all places, to hear that name here?
Theia reluctantly nodded.
“We traveled alongside the Creusa Merchant Guild. They said that once they crossed the lake, they could return to their homeland.”
She pointed toward the lake beyond the garden.
From here it looked small, but there was a proper port along its shore.
If I recall, from the middle of that lake onward is Iliod Kingdom’s territory…
I smiled at Theia’s prim expression.
“You’ve become close with Creusa, haven’t you?”
“We simply talked enough to understand each other.”
“So you did become close.”
“N-no, Your Highness!”
Theia snapped her fan wider and snorted.
“It’s only because she is worthy of joining the Black Rose Tea Party!”
“…The Black… what?”
Wait.
Did I just hear something ominous?
“Black… Rose? What’s that…?”
“Why, that’s you, Your Highness!”
Theia declared proudly, her face free of even a trace of shame.
“The royal family’s color, black! And the king of flowers, the rose! Who else could embody that but Your Highness?”
I didn’t know who else it could be, but my fingers curled in on themselves.
With a dazed look, I barely managed to ask,
“…This ‘group,’ who exactly…”
“Oh, I founded it after our audience with you!”
“……”
“It is a most refined society, gathering those who have either received your aid or admire you.”
…My fingers trembled.
What on earth did a twelve-year-old mean by a ‘refined society’?
I felt I ought to know, yet violently didn’t want to.
My mind reeled worse than when I was given that cursed rabbit doll.
“…Pfft.”
“Khmm…”
I heard muffled noises behind me.
When I turned, Ares was gritting his teeth, and Callion had his head bowed low.
But both of them were trembling in their shoulders.
“Black Rose… pfft—”
“Don’t… laugh… snrk—”
The two bit their lips harder, quaking.
“…Ares. Callion.”
“Khff—yes, yes, Lady Sion.”
“Don’t laugh.”
How dare they laugh when their elder sister was mortified?
Then Selina, who had been quiet, opened her hands.
“Your Highness, Your Highness.”
“Ah, yes? What is it?”
“I’m also a member of the tea party. That’s why I have this brooch!”
“……”
I stared blankly at her palm.
A small brooch: a carved black rose with a thin golden ribbon.
I thought it was just a fashion ornament… but…
Looking closely, Theia was wearing the same brooch too.
Seeing my bewildered gaze, she quickly spoke up.
“Please forgive us for matching them among ourselves first, Your Highness.”
“No, that’s not really the prob—”
Did she think I was angry because they hadn’t given me one first?
Theia explained with all her might.
“We wanted to give Your Highness only the finest, so the work has been delayed.”
“Ah, no, you don’t have to—”
“Please be patient just a little longer! Once the most beautiful rose in the world is ready, worthy of Your Highness, we will present it to you!”
Her eyes blazed once more with that incomprehensible sense of mission.
And in that moment, I realized.
Sometimes, pure goodwill can deal a greater blow to the mind than malice ever could…
