Chapter 332: Strictly Confidential
Elizalina’s Side
After finishing her discussion with Felisiana, Elizalina left the conference room and walked alone through the corridors of the royal castle.
“…Haah, even so, I really got outplayed this time~”
To begin with,
Elizalina had absolutely no intention of participating in the Royal Exchange Gathering together with Felisiana this time,
And had planned to attend alone as a royal.
Even in that case, the troublesome figure named Floria Florence would still remain, but in a setting like the Royal Exchange Gathering, where many royal affiliates would be present,
Just like during the Second Royal Exchange Gathering, when she invited someone who wished to speak with Floria Florence and used that to separate her from Lux,
She believed she could handle things however she pleased, so at least within the confines of this gathering, she did not consider Floria Florence much of a threat.
“The real problem in this setting is still Felisiana… though it cuts both ways, even in that earlier discussion, we could only include a small number of royal affiliates who are easy to influence, so we can’t really do much using the setting as a whole.”
And on top of that, Felisiana has a highly capable collaborator in Violet.
For someone like Violet, even if she isn’t invited to the Royal Exchange Gathering as a royal affiliate, infiltrating the venue would be easy,
And she would likely be able to act flexibly in accordance with whatever plan Felisiana devised.
“Seriously, there’s a lot to think about…”
But when I think that beyond all this lies a happy life with Lux, then even all this thinking doesn’t feel like a burden~
As she murmured that inwardly and Lux’s face came to mind,
Elizalina’s mood began to lift as she continued down the castle corridors.
“Hm…?”
From the throne room at the edge of her vision, a single soldier stepped out.
If he came out of the throne room, then it must have been a summons from Father.
However, while that wouldn’t be unusual for nobles,
It was rare for the king, her father, to summon someone who appeared to be an ordinary soldier into the throne room,
So, feeling a bit curious, Elizalina approached the soldier and called out to him, intending to probe a little.
“Hey.”
When the soldier turned at her voice—
“!?”
He let out a startled sound and immediately straightened his posture.
“S-Second Princess Elizalina-sama! Do you require something of me!?”
“It’s not like I have any particular business, but since you were in the throne room, you were summoned by Father, right? What was it about?”
“M-my apologies, I was not told the reason, but I have been ordered by His Majesty that this matter is not to be spoken of…”
“Not to be spoken of, even to me, the Second Princess?”
“Yes, I was instructed not to inform even the three princesses under any circumstances…”
“…I see.”
At that, Elizalina let a brief line of thought run through her mind,
Then spoke to the visibly intimidated soldier in her usual tone.
“Then that’s fine, you can go now.”
“Y-yes! E-excuse me!”
After bowing his head, the soldier left Elizalina’s side.
“…Judging from that soldier’s reaction, it’s probably not something direct yet… but still, it seems things are moving behind the scenes after all.”
Facing the doors of the throne room, Elizalina murmured quietly.
“Out of all the ways this could unfold, there’s only one worst-case scenario. Anything else, I’ll treat as just a game, but… if it turns out to be that one…”
Without finishing that thought,
She cast a brief, cold glance toward the throne room doors,
But soon turned forward again, her mood lifting once more as thoughts of Lux returned, and resumed walking through the castle corridors.
And then… within the throne room in the direction of Elizalina’s gaze, upon the throne itself,
The king curled his lips into a smile and muttered to himself.
“Elizalina… before you realize it, I will uncover the true identity of the man you favor… and in the end, you will come to regret defying a great king…”