Chapter 11 ─ Tea Party

In one of the offices of the royal palace, the prime minister was eating a banquet.

A large number of luxurious dishes and expensive foreign drinks were on his table.

He ate in his office to keep anyone from disturbing him, but he always excused that it was so as not to inconvenience anyone.

With one hand he would clutch a roast leg of pork and with the other he would grab a document to read.

"I'll pass."

"It doesn't do me any good if taxes on commoners go down, to give me these banquets I need a lot of money."

"After all, this money comes out of your pocket while mine is safe."

"Only a very smart human being like me looks for the easy way to accomplish things."

He laid the document on the table and signed it with his pen.

A little oil fell on the paper, but he didn't care.

"Only great ministers like me work while they eat."

"I should get a bigger raise for this."

*Chew*

While he was enjoying his moment of relaxation, giant footsteps were heard which burst into his room.

The prime minister was surprised, but after a few seconds he became angry.

"Insolent, daring to enter the prime minister's office without knocking is a felony for which your head would roll."

"I'm very sorry, but you must hear this!"

◇◇◇

"What's did you say!"

"Eli was attacked at the academy!?"

Alfred had gone to Sigurd's room to explain what happened an hour ago.

The academy was huge, so it would take a while for the gossip to show up.

The prince was ordering his books for the next class, when his friend burst into his room.

The expression on his face upon hearing that his sister was taken hostage was one similar to hearing that a family member had died.

He quickly wanted to leave the room, but Alfred stopped him.

"Calm down. She's fine, the knights on guard informed me what happened."

"Quickly summarized. Some weird guy jumped the academy walls, the princess was in the garden watering the plants as she always does after asking permission from the academy."

"She was not accompanied by Emma or Nadine due to the fact that they were getting everything ready for the next class."

"Then, the guy fell out of the sky and caught Eli."

Sigurd clenched his fist in such a way that it would start bleeding soon.

Alfred understood what he was feeling, but the prince couldn't be thrown madly to find out his sister's situation at that moment.

"I understand, and how they stopped it? I want to thank the knight or knights who stopped him."

"It was no knight... yes it was someone from the academy, but he was not a vassal or a servant or a teacher."

"Then... you say he was a student? If so, I'd like to thank him anyway, who was it?"

"It was..."

The name that came out of Alfred's mouth, made Sigurd sweat.

◇◇◇

"Ahhh."

*Chew*

In a fancy room for social gatherings, a tea party was going on.

"How is it?"

"It tastes tasty, but a little salty."

"Wow, you don't like salty things?"

"It's not that, in foods like meat or fish it's okay to be salty, but in desserts it's very rare."

"I see, since I've always eaten these desserts I never thought other people wouldn't like the taste, my bad."

"It's okay, it still tastes very tasty."

"Glad to hear that, hehe."

A table full of snacks was where Rei was enjoying a pleasant moment with none other than Princess Elicia.

On one side of the room were two women, looking at the situation with complicated faces, while Rose, who had only recently arrived, stood behind Rei with a very mischievous expression.

She didn't say anything, but her face perfectly said something like.

"I'll make sure you tell me everything, absolutely everything."

"Try this one please, it's caramel walnut."

"Let's see..."

Rei took the dessert Elicia gave him and in one bite ate it.

"It tastes really good, it's great."

"I'm so glad."

The princess's smile lit up the room more than the artificial light itself.

That peace and quiet was erased by the hurried footsteps of someone, the prince who opened the door violently.

"Elicia, are you all right?"

The princess who was wiping Rei's mouth became aware of her brother's presence.

"Ara, onii-sama, good to see you, do you need anything?"

Her brother came over and hugged her.

"I'm so sorry Eli. I swore to protect you, but I failed once again."

"You don't need to apologize, onii-sama. In any case, it's a good opportunity, let me introduce you to him."

Elicia removed her brother's arms and moved to take Rei's arm who was now eating a lemon pie.

"He is my prince, his name is Reidel-sama from Redblade Household and... uh, ah yes, he is the new duke!"

"So young and he's already the head of his house. Isn't that amazing?"

Sigurd's expression was complicated for him as he was grateful, but at the same time he did not want his sister to be related to a Redblade.

"First, I thank you deeply for saving my younger sister, I will have the royal family send you a letter of thanks with a gift."

"And second... please don't ever come near my sister again."

The expression of everyone in the room changed to a serious one, Rei's gaze focused on Sigurd.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Rei said in a very hostile tone to the prince.

Alfred was behind the door in case there was a sign of danger.

Sigurd was serious when he spoke.

"I'm sorry, but it is well known that for years the Redblades have not been what we would call a family or nobles that one would want to be related to."

"There have been cases reported to the palace about corruption, arms sales and other serious crimes such as kidnapping children of low ranking nobles like barons."

Rei just listened to him, instead, a new dessert popped into his mouth.

"That's it?"

He replied with his mouth full, Sigurd felt that Rei was teasing him.

"For all that, and besides the folly of declaring yourself a duke, your father being still in good health who would still be the duke."

"It makes me think very badly of you. Even knowing that your grades are low, the tabloid does not lie."

"For all that, I would not like you to go near my younger sister. Again, I appreciate that you will save her, but don't get involved with her."

When he finished talking about Sigurd, Rei finally had his turn.

"Hey, crown prince, are you retarded?"

That word echoed throughout the room, Alfred came out when he heard that grave insult.

"You, do you know what you're saying?!"

"Who the hell are you, ponytail, huh?"

"I'm talking to the idiot prince."

"Listen well, you stupid prince."

"Please, Reidel-sama, don't call my big brother stupid."

"Your brother is, so I'll tell him why he is."

"Tell me what news you're basing that on."

"Of course, it's all on the basis of research conducted."

"By whom?"

"Palace officials."

"And these officials are trusted?"

"What do you mean? They are palace officials because they were chosen by the ministers."

"Corrupt ministers, right?"

"...!"

Sigurd still didn't understand what Rei was referring to, then he waved his hand to an empty side of the room.

"Empty Storage."

A magic circle manifested on the floor and a large pile of documents appeared out of nowhere.

"Where did all that come from!!?"

"Ah. So that's where you had them hidden Master."

Rei reached over and grabbed a document.

"Viscount Mason Ferguson, he has a farm where he conducted organ sales and smuggling. He was a diplomat for the kingdom."

"...!"

"Count Jerry Stinger, minister, liked to go to the village to find the married women and force her husband to watch what he did to them."

"Knight Paxton Chamber, assisted in the sale of children to nobles five years ago."

"That last one how do you know!"

Sigurd reacted to what Rei said about the children.

"Why shouldn't I know? If it was me who killed them all that day."

"Isn't that right Rose?"

Rose without hesitation answered.

"Yes. Five years ago we watched as the chief knight of the Redblade territory handed over a bag of money to some mysterious men, while some larger leather bags containing children were brought up in a carriage."

At that moment, Elicia clutched her arms and perspired in a hurried manner.

"Princess!"

Her maid and attendant came to her aid.

Rose unblinkingly said.

"From Princess' reaction, I can understand that she was involved as a victim in that incident... Master, back then a girl called you 'my prince', remember?"

"Ah... then it was you."

Rei pointed at Elicia, who was still trembling, but after a while she stopped to answer by showing her smile.

"Yeah... back then our bodies and faces looked different, I asked your name, but you didn't answer me for some reason."

Hearing her say that, Rei apologized.

"I'm sorry, back then I really wasn't interested in listening to you."

That surprised even Rose herself.

"It's okay, I was still shocked, so it was just an impulse."

Sigurd listened to Rei's every word, Rei himself went straight to a red-colored folder and then handed it to the prince.

"This is the folder containing the most important document, the Redblade has done nothing of what you say, it was all the work of bastards which I killed with my own hands since ten years ago."

"My parents are idiots, so I have no concern that they did anything wrong. My other family doesn't matter since, if they do something wrong, it's their problem, but if it gets to me, I'll wipe them out."

Sigurd then decided to tell Rei something.

"Five years ago, the how it happened about Eli, it's something I will never forget..."

◇◇◇

In a ballroom of the royal palace, the birthday party of the prince and princess was taking place.

The king and queen were receiving congratulations from the guests.

While Elicia was at the snack table accompanied by a servant girl.

Leaving Prince Sigurd alone at the mercy of the adults.

"Your manners are first rate, Prince Sigurd."

"No doubt for such a small boy he is very polite, unlike my son."

"As expected of the future king in a few decades."

Despite Sigurd's smile, in his mind he was thinking otherwise.

(Even if they are congratulating me, they might actually be saying something else.)

(Adults really are the worst.)

When he finished greeting the guests, he went to find his sister to sit with her until it was time to open the presents.

"Eli."

"Where are you?"

"Eli..."

He found Alfred in the crowd that had come for his birthday.

"Hey, Al, have you seen Eli?"

"Sorry, but no, I just got here, but I don't think she's far from here. She'll probably be hiding out eating some candy."

And so, thirty minutes passed.

The servants even set about looking for her.

The party stopped as Elicia did not appear.

It was there that Sigurd found an open window.

Normally the windows would be closed to keep the cold night air out, so this was strange.

He thought Elicia was out there. But as he opened the window further, he came to one of the balconies.

There was no one there, but on one of the balcony balusters was a rope tied.

Sigurd approached it and saw that the rope was long and stiff enough to support the weight of several people.

He began to sweat and then went straight to his father.

◇◇◇

"Princess Elicia!"

"Where is she?"

"Answer me princess!"

The palace was in chaos.

Knights, servants and nobles were searching all over the place for the princess.

The queen fainted when she heard that her daughter did not appear.

The king instead ordered to search around the palace, it could be that the princess was playing hide and seek.

It was not the first time that something like this had happened, but the strings gave a very bad sign.

When an hour passed and no one could find her, finally the king said the worst.

"The worst has happened!"

"My beloved daughter Elicia, she was kidnapped!"

"Close the capital and investigate everyone who has left the palace and the capital right now!"

"Yes sir!"

And so, the search for Elicia began.

◇◇◇

A week has passed since that.

The health of the king, his wife and son is bad.

Elicia has been missing for days now.

The worst they don't want to think about.

The prince was with Alfred in his room playing games, but the prince did not want any games.

"Sig... I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do."

"Al, it's okay, it's not your fault."

"Eli... hopefully you're safe."

Said the prince looking out the window on that cold night.

But then, the next morning.

◇◇◇

"Your Majesties!"

"We finally found her!"

Sigurd was asleep on the floor, Alfred stayed with him in his room, he fell asleep in the chair.

He heard a knight shouting something.

"Huh? What did he say?"

"The princess has appeared!"

Sigurd quickly upon hearing that went to where the one who was shouting.

The other servants were running as well.

After a while, he arrived at the feast hall, standing there, with her dirty clothes and hair, was Elicia.

When he saw her, the tears came down.

His parents arrived a little later.

Elicia seeing them started to cry and then... the four of them ran to hug each other.

It was an emotional reunion that brought everyone to tears.

"My little girl is safe!"

"I missed you so much Eli, thank the god of light you are safe!"

"I'm so sorry Eli, I should have watched over you more so this doesn't happen!"

"Hehehe, it's okay. I was saved by the black-haired, red-eyed prince."

"Prince? I don't understand what you mean, but he sure is a wonderful person to thank, right father?"

"Yes. I want to meet the brave man who brought our daughter back to us, is he in this place?"

A knight came up to notify something unbelievable to everyone.

"I'm very sorry, but, we were called by an elf girl who along with a cavalry told us to follow them, then after a while of arriving we found a group of children and the princess."

"The children informed us of a place they were sent to, it was Countess Edmundfree's secret mansion near the Redblade duchy."

The queen said something that made everyone become serious.

"Is it possible that the countess and the Redblade family are in cahoots?"

"The countess has high probability since we found a bunch of corpses and the countess's own lifeless body."

"As for the Redblades, the knights who accompanied us left in that direction when they finished sending the children home."

The king was still hugging his daughter, but his tone of voice indicated that he was upset.

"I will not tolerate this to remain like this, I want whoever kidnapped my daughter found and hanged."

"Yes, sir!"

There were many candidates, but no evidence.

◇◇◇

Turning to Sigurd, he had already heard the truth of that day.

"So, you saved Eli and those children?"

"Apparently I did, though I did it more to eliminate the pests that would do harm to my territory."

"That's why I went to kill all those nobles and that old hag."

"Master, don't say you went to kill them, say you went to punish them."

"But I killed them anyway. And if I didn't leave them alive they would undoubtedly be alive doing their thing."

Alfred interrupted Rei.

"I heard what you said, and even if it's true. What you say about killing nobles is something that should be investigated, you could be a dangerous individual."

"Shut your mouth, all the ones I killed were trash who wanted to hurt my territory or my family. So I was right to kill them."

"That's why you, prince."

Rei pointed at Sigurd and the next thing he said was revelatory.

"The princess is very pretty, she's my type. You don't need to do anything from now on, I will protect her since she will be my wife."

"Oh, honey! Such a sudden statement."

Elicia placed her hands on her rosy cheeks.

Sigurd was still with his head bowed as Alfred said.

"Huhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

◇◇◇

Royal Palace.

In his office, the prime minister was throwing a pile of documents on the floor.

"Damn!"

He was very irritated, apparently, the man who attacked Elicia, was the same man who kidnapped her years ago.

Why was the prime minister angry?

That was because─

"The very idiot almost revealed that he kidnapped the princess for me!"

He was the one actually responsible for the kidnapping.

In the game, the kidnapping event did not exist, but it was because the prime minister had a peculiar taste in women,

Because of that peculiar taste, the developers deleted that information.

To make matters worse, they also deleted the information that he was a Calvinist.

A traitor to the Kingdom who wants the current royal family to fall and the crown prince of the principality to take over the Kingdom.

For that reason, came the kidnapping.

Having kidnapped the princess, depression would come to the king and queen.

To the point of having them weakened, then, the Calvinists would take over the palace and thus the Kingdom would be at the mercy of the principality.

But thanks to Rei, both plans were stopped.

"That day I couldn't go to the auction as it would be too suspicious of my move!"

"But then I found out that they were all dead... and, moreover, they were killed by the Redblade brat!"

Using magic power, he sent the desk flying.

"Damn you Redblade, I swear I'll kill you with my bare hands for ruining my plans!"

"Besides ruining the chance to have tasted an undeveloped princess! I swear I'll destroy you before March comes!"

And so, the wrath of the prime minister fell upon Rei.