Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 26: Disgraceful Valor (2)
After calming Chelsea and hearing what had happened, Kevin straightened and faced Crown Prince Alexis and his fiancée, Amanda, seated across from him.
“Your Highness, Lady Amanda, thank you for helping Chelsea.”
“There’s no need to thank us. As I told her, however, our reason for coming here is in one respect similar to those men’s.”
Kevin’s expression hardened.
At Alexis’s instruction, one of his escorts laid several documents on the table.
“What are these…?”
Kevin and Chelsea paled at the promissory notes bearing Flora’s signature and listing various sums.
“Please remain calm. Several have already been exposed as obvious frauds perpetrated by careless fools.”
“Unfortunately, such fools are everywhere. The problem is this one—and its enormous sum.”
The debt on the note Alexis indicated far exceeded what any commoner could repay from ordinary earnings.
“That must be the sum those men mentioned. But I can’t believe Flora would borrow so much…”
Chelsea’s voice trembled with tears. Alexis and Amanda nodded reassuringly.
“Rumors circulated that Flora borrowed money to live extravagantly. We know those are false. If she bought expensive jewelry, for example, some jeweler must have sold it to her. Such claims can be investigated.”
“The problem is that the signature on this note matches Flora’s handwriting…”
Alexis smiled at Kevin and Chelsea’s alarm.
“The truth becomes clear once the documents are placed together.”
He arranged several notes side by side.
“The handwriting, the size and width of every letter—everything matches perfectly. They’re exact copies. But that’s apparent only when they’re compared. Given a single note with no other information, recognizing the forgery would be difficult.”
Kevin nodded, but he also expressed his doubts.
“But an investigation would reveal it eventually, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes—provided you possessed the means and time.”
Kevin lowered his gaze. Only the crown prince’s authority allowed him to gather and compare the notes. Only Amanda’s status as a marquis’s daughter had enabled her to investigate the rumors of lavish spending and disprove them.
Kevin, Chelsea, and Flora were commoners. Their status would make proving their innocence anything but easy. That very day, Chelsea had nearly been taken without any effective means of defending herself.
“Who would do this, and why? Would anyone benefit from framing Flora?”
Kevin muttered in bewilderment.
“We’re investigating who arranged the loans and for what purpose. At present, however, we can make an educated guess about how the notes were intended to be used.”
After this preface, Alexis looked Kevin in the eye.
“For example, the first thing you did today was thank Amanda and me for saving Chelsea.”
“Chelsea, although you may have recognized us, your relief at escaping danger also made you less wary of us, did it not?”
Kevin and Chelsea both nodded in agreement.
“Hypothetically, what would you think if we had planted those men beforehand?”
Kevin frowned.
“I see… The forged note would merely be a prop created to earn our trust.”
“As I said, this is only conjecture. But some people have political reasons for keeping the Holy Knight close and may have regarded his wife as a means to that end. A vast gulf separates nobles and commoners. Approach normally, and commoners may recoil in fear or suspect an ulterior motive.”
Amanda continued.
“Imagine finding a promissory note you don’t remember signing, written unmistakably in your hand. You occupy a vulnerable position and can’t prove your innocence. Then a powerful person appears and rescues you. Flora seems as decent as both of you; she would likely feel grateful and trust that person without suspicion.”
Alexis and Amanda’s reasoning implied involvement by someone among the ruling class.
“But nothing like that happened. I visited Flora every day, and I think I would have noticed anything strange. I learned about this note only today…”
Alexis smiled and nodded at Chelsea, who looked unconvinced.
“I suspect the architect of the scheme changed plans partway through. In fact, this forged note reached Holy Knight Elliot six months ago without ever passing through Flora’s hands.”
“What, ……?”
Alexis gave a wry smile to Kevin, who looked dumbfounded.
“It was created about nine months ago, when the Holy Knight’s fame had spread throughout the kingdom. Some time afterward, a new rumor reached the capital—that another woman had grown close to him.”
Kevin frowned broadly.
“…So they learned of the situation and changed their plan?”
“Well, we won’t really know until we ask the person who planned it.”
“Do you suspect anyone?”
Alexis answered Kevin with a vague smile, then murmured so quietly that he could scarcely be heard.
“I hope it wasn’t my… father.”
Unable to tell whether Alexis was sincere, sarcastic, or making a terrible joke, Kevin grimaced and pretended not to hear.
—They would never tell a common-born, low-ranking knight that much in the first place…
“Still, I’m glad we came today. We found a lead, however small.”
Amanda smiled with faint amusement. Kevin privately wondered what kind of interrogation awaited the men.
“We came because certain people have suddenly begun searching for Flora again.”
“If their objective changed as Your Highness suggested, they should have no further use for Flora, should they?”
Alexis nodded solemnly in response to Kevin’s question, and Amanda continued speaking.
“They have caused a great commotion over the last few days. After forging the note, they made no contact with Flora at all. For them to act so abruptly now suggests something has changed.”
“Can either of you think what it might be?”
Kevin and Chelsea exchanged glances but could think of nothing. When they answered honestly, Amanda gave them a gentle smile.
“We’ll handle the rest of the investigation. Be assured that we’ll proceed fairly and cause you no further trouble.”
Hearing this, Kevin looked up and straightened his posture again.
“Your Highness, please look after Flora.”
“…You don’t look down on me, even though you belong to the Royal Order of Knights?”
Alexis asked the question after Kevin bowed deeply.
“I know what the Order calls me. Yet you have treated me with such sincerity today…”
His royal bearing usually made Alexis seem older than his years, but embarrassment now restored the appearance of a boy his age.