Kays Translations

Chapter 8: Unnatural

I made a U-turn to the training area and after making sure that no one was around, I faced the cronies.

The girls looked uncomfortable and were restless.

They’re probably worried because they don't know what we’re going to do to them.

It's not like I’m going to eat them alive, so they should relax a little more......  Well, you can't blame them after they've been questioned by Clarissa.

“In the meantime, can I see that letter you were holding earlier?"

When I offered to check the evidence, the girls looked at each other and pulled a letter out of their uniform pockets.

“Here…”

They muttered while handing me the letters.

After thanking them and receiving the three letters, I checked the sender's name and the sealing wax.

It's true that the sender's name is "Scarlett Rosa Meyers". The wax seal is also in the shape of my sister's favorite rose... No wonder the girls thought it was from my sister herself.

But ──── my eyes can’t be deceived. We were never close sisters, but I'm her sister. I can tell at a glance if this letter is real or not.

Staring at the opened letter, I narrowed my eyes and took out the letter head from inside.

I checked the contents of all three letters and found that they were all the same.

“Charlotte is cheating. We need your help to punish her. ......"

I read out the short sentence, which was less than fifty words long and let out a sigh.

The text is abstract and lacks concrete explanations, and I'm inwardly dismayed. Did these kids believe this ......?

Even still ──── I was now certain that the sender of the letter was not my sister.

First of all, the handwriting is slightly different. It looks like whoever planned this did her best to mimic my sister's handwriting, but the way she writes "y" and "a" is a bit unnatural. It's not my sister's handwriting.

Secondly, the number of petals on this wax seal.... rose is a little low. The real wax seal that my sister uses has two more petals. It's quite similar in mood and design, but it's far from an exact match.

And the most unnatural thing of all is the blatant nature of this letter.

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that the mastermind is Scarlett. ...... It's so unnatural.

My sister is emotional and impulsive, but she is usually a more careful person. She doesn't leave evidence like this.

She wouldn't write the name of the sender, let alone send a letter. Sealing wax is out of the question.

Even if she had written the letter on impulse, it would still be strange. Even if the name of the sender is convincing, sealing the letter with wax would be too much work. If she’s losing her cool, it's even more ...... difficult for my sister in such a situation, because she would want to deliver this letter as soon as possible, even if it's just for a second.

I twisted my head at the suspicious things I noticed because I know my sister Scarlett's personality well.

No matter how I thought about it, this seemed like a ploy by a third party to entrap my sister.

"Just for the record, was this given to you directly by my sister herself?"

There was a possibility that my guess was wrong, so I asked my cronies for confirmation.

As I was putting the letterhead back into the envelope with the help of His Highness Grayson, the girls opened their mouths in a hesitant manner.

“No, it's wasn’t. It was......."

“The ...... letter was in my room when I woke up this morning.”

“I think it was let in through a crack in the door.”

The girls looked unhappy as they whispered to themselves.

I chuckle at Emilia-sama's cronies who shrug.

To be honest, I wasn't too angry about what had happened, because depending on how you look at it, the girls were victims of their own involvement. More importantly, I'm not a child to get angry over a little water splash.

“I'm going to pretend this never happened, so please leave it at that. I'll keep this letter with me. Also, please don't tell anyone about this matter.”

After putting away the three letters I received in the subspace storage, I let the girls go scot-free.

Then, the girls looked up in surprise.

They looked at me quizzically and I shrugged my shoulders.

“I'm the only one who suffered damage this time and I wasn't injured. I can't keep blaming you for something as simple as splashing water on me. In addition to that, I was lucky to be able to take a dip in water because I had just finished practicing and was sweaty.”

──── Well, I had used purification magic to remove the dirt before I was sprayed with water.

I smiled while saying this.

I really don't want this to get out before we can find out the truth, but I didn't dare talk about it here.

In addition, my sister's reputation is related to the honor of the Viscount Meyers family. If it's something that she hasn’t done, I don't want my sister's or my parents' reputation to be ruined by someone else's trickery.

I put together a list of plausible reasons, but the truth was that I was just worried about my sister.

No matter how terrible my sister is, she and I sisters by blood.

“Oh, thank you ...... and I’m sorry. I should have thought of a better way to suspect Charlotte-san of wrongdoing.”

"I just couldn't believe that you were better than Emilia-san..... I assumed you were a cheat. I'm really sorry.”

“From now on, as a noble woman, ...... and as Emilia's friend, I will try to act without shame. I'm really sorry about today.”

The girls apologize verbally, and their shoulders slump.

I smiled gently, my cheeks relaxing at their attitude of remorse and regret.

“I accept your apologies. I really don't care about this incident, so please don't feel too down about it."

I told the girls as gently as I could ...... to wipe away their guilt.

The cronies nodded and left the place in tears.

As I waved to the girls, who repeatedly looked back at me and bowed their heads, I relaxed my shoulders.

I let out a relieved breath, relieved that I was finally at peace.

It looks like there's no need to worry about information leaks. With the way they were acting, they won't tell anyone about it. More importantly, such a thing would not lead to their benefit. In fact, it would be a disadvantage.

As I was stroking my chest after I managed to prevent a third party scheme, I was called out.

“──── Why did you dismiss the case itself?"

At the sound of a familiar voice, I looked up and smiled at the beautiful young man with black hair who looked at me suspiciously.

From the point of view of His Highness Grayson, who had no knowledge of my sister's handwriting or sealing wax, my actions would have been inexplicable.

But he didn't interrupt me in the middle of the conversation because he surely trusts me.

I knew there was more to this case than meets the eye.

I didn't have anything to hide, so I confessed honestly and His Highness Grayson's eyebrows twitched.

"Behind the scenes?"

“Yes. First of all, that letter did not belong to my sister Scarlett. The handwriting and the shape of the sealing wax were slightly different, so there is no doubt about it.”

His Highness Grayson frowned at the statement that overturned the root of the incident.

Then, after thinking about it for a while, he came to the same conclusion as I did: 'It's certainly unnatural that it's even sealed with wax’.

"So Scarlett-san has fallen for someone's trickery and was about to be framed ....... But who in the world would do such a thing ......?"

His Highness put his hand on his chin and thought about it, his gaze wandering as if searching for an answer.

He then looked towards the school building and stopped moving for a moment. Apparently, he had the same person in his mind as me.

"Is it that woman...... Clarissa, from earlier?”

“Yes, because she probably has the most to gain from this whole thing.”

“Speaking of which, the timing of her appearance was oddly good.”

His Highness Grayson looked at me, who nodded without pause, and muttered.

Now that I think about it, Clarissa-sama's actions were inexplicable.

Not many students are out and about at this time of year, with the test period just around the corner. It would have been different if there were special circumstances like ours, but most of the students were studying in their dorm rooms or in the library.

It's hard to imagine them hanging around a place like that. ......

As for Clarissa-sama, I guess she wanted to get rid of my sister, the so-called Shadow candidate for the Crown Princess and ingratiate herself to me.

Even though she’s not an official candidate for the Crown Princess, the woman who is closest to His Royal Highness Crown Prince Leonardo is definitely my sister. There's no better way to get rid of her.

And she probably thought that if she could ingratiate herself with me, who might become a great mage, she would be able to gain an advantage in the selection of a candidate for the Crown Princess.

I can't help but press my forehead as I sigh at what a careless person she was.

“I never thought that I would be involved in the issue of a candidate for Crown Princess....”

It's not confirmed yet, but the fact that it's as close to black as possible makes me lament.

His Royal Highness Grayson gave me a sympathetic look as I let out an unusually weak cry.

But I guess he can't get involved in the power issues of other countries, so he won't take the easy way out and say he’ll help me..

Huh..... I can only smell trouble. I had considered the possibility of being involved in a power struggle, but I never thought I'd be involved in one like this.

“...... For now, we'll just have to wait and see.”

I muttered to myself and let out a deep sigh.

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