That Moment
Siana’s Side
Siana and Violet had come to the royal castle and were digging through records to find out what Elizalina had been doing without their knowledge.
“According to Florence, Elizalina-neesama has been approaching nobles mainly from ducal houses, so I thought we might find something if we looked through the records around that area… but there’s nothing left at all.”
“Yes. If it were mediation or something similar, it would be different, but if the reason for her contact was Elizalina-sama’s own decision, she probably assumed there was no need to leave any record of it.”
“If nothing is recorded, then I suppose we have no choice but to go ask the nobles of the ducal houses themselves.”
“That’s true… but if we do that, we might end up causing the nobles of those ducal houses to become suspicious.”
If Siana were to say, “Have you met with Elizalina-neesama recently? If you have, please tell me the reason for it.”
The noble from the ducal house who heard that might start to wonder why Felisiana was asking such a thing, or whether she didn’t know what Elizalina was doing, or why she was investigating alone now.
When Violet pointed this out, Siana paused for a moment before speaking.
“You’re right… and if we consider the possibility that the nobles have been ordered to keep silent by Elizalina-neesama, then the risk is far too high.”
Since the Third Princess Felisiana couldn’t surpass the authority of Elizalina, the Second Princess, as she had learned from the past, if they had been silenced, it would be difficult to force them to talk.
“It ended up being a wasted effort, but shall we head home for today?”
“Understood.”
When Violet replied, the two of them stepped together out of the archives and into the corridor of the royal castle. Right then,
“Ah! Felisiana and Violet! I knew you’d be here!”
When that voice rang out, Elizalina, the very person at the center of everything, came toward Siana and the others from the far end of the corridor outside the archives.
“…Elizalina-neesama.”
“It’s good to see you are well, Elizalina-sama.”
“Yep! I’m doing super great!”
To Siana, the fact that Elizalina seemed this cheerful only felt eerie, but there was something in her words that caught Siana’s attention, so she decided to ask about it.
“By the way, what exactly did you mean by ‘I knew you’d be here’?”
“Ah, that. Just a bit ago, I heard from a soldier that Felisiana had returned to the castle, so if Felisiana came all the way to the castle after leaving Lux’s side, I figured she must have caught on to what I’m doing… and if she caught on to what I’m doing, then the first place she’d come to look into it would be the archives. That’s all.”
Elizalina said it casually, but her accuracy made Siana feel slightly impressed despite her being her own sister.
Yet she didn’t show it on her face. Since things had been exposed to that extent, she spoke as if resigning herself to it.
“I see… then let me ask. What exactly are you trying to do by approaching the nobles?”
“I can’t tell you that yet. Besides, when the time comes, you’ll find out whether you want to or not, so there’s no need to rush.”
“…”
“To think my little sister would look at me with such a scary expression. Your big sister is shocked. But, I can give you one promise right now, so I’ll at least tell you that.”
With her bright mood suddenly shifting to a calm tone, Elizalina stepped closer to Siana and whispered in her ear.
“I’ll be the one to make Lux happy, so Felisiana can relax.”
“What! Don’t you da—”
“Ah! I need to get back to my duties! See you two later!”
Pulling away from Siana, Elizalina said this in a cheerful voice and walked off with a lively step.
Although Elizalina had left Siana in a foul mood, Siana knew there was no point dwelling on that now, so she shifted her thoughts and spoke.
“…I don’t know the specifics of what Elizalina-neesama is plotting, but from the sound of it, it is definitely something for the sake of tying herself and Lux-kun together.”
“It seems so… what shall we do?”
“For now, we’ll figure out when this ‘time’ she mentioned will arrive by following indirect signs like the nobles’ movements and rumors. Once we pinpoint it, before that time comes, I’ll use any means necessary to stop Elizalina-neesama’s plans.”
“…Understood.”
Violet understood what Siana meant by “any means necessary” and quietly nodded at those words.
The one who will make Lux-kun happy is not Elizalina-neesama or Florence. The one who will make Lux-kun happy is me.