Chapter 17: Villainous Princess in Motion

After that, when Princess Victoria noticed my gaze, she immediately walked away.

But the next morning, it suddenly happened.

Dahlia’s screams woke me up from my sleep and I jumped out of bed.

“Dahlia, what’s…what!?”

And I was appalled at the scene in front of me.

Because on top of the bed I was sleeping on, there was a lot of dead rats and lizards on it.

“What is this…?”

I was stunned and reached out fearfully to the dead rat.

“No! Cecilia-sama!”

I heard Dahlia’s scream of restraint, but I could see from my eyes that she was clearly terrified and unable to move from her spot.

So I decided that I had to check this myself, and I plucked that rat’s tail.

“……hmm? Huh? Could this be…?”

I muttered, and this time I grabbed the rat’s body firmly.

“Ahh! Lady Cecilia!”

“…Dahlia, it’s a rubber toy.”

“…What?”

“Yeah, and so is this lizard.”

I grabbed the body of the mouse I was holding and grabbed the body of the lizard as well, but it was clearly hollow and rubbery to the touch.

Hearing my words, Dahlia terrifyingly approached and took the toy mouse from me with trembling hands.

“Well, it’s true.”

“Maybe it’s a surprise toy for kids.”

“Speaking of which, I remember my nephew having a toy like this.”

“I see. But still I’m sure I didn’t have anything like this before I went to bed…”

“Yes. Before Lady Cecilia went to bed, I checked the room thoroughly, and there was no indication that anything like this had been hidden.”

“Then…while I was asleep, someone…”

“I will inform the guards right away!”

When Dahlia said this, she was in a hurry to leave the room. But I grabbed her arm and held her back.

“Wait a minute, Dahlia!”

“Lady Cecilia, why are you stopping me?”

“Please. Can you please keep this matter between us?”

“What? Why?”

“I have a few thoughts on the matter and…”

“But—!”

“Dahlia, please!”

I grabbed Dahlia’s arm and looked at her with serious eyes. Then Dahlia looked at me, let out a small sigh, and nodded.

“…I understand. If it’s Cecilia-sama saying that much, I’ll do it then.”

“Thank you!”

“So, I’ll just get rid of these things before the others find them.

“Please.”

And so I sat still and thought about everything while looking at Dahlia, who was quickly cleaning up for me.

…I think there is only one person who would most likely do this…

I was convinced of that in my head.

***

Starting with that prank in the bedroom, all sorts of things had started happening around me.

“La-Lady Cecilia! Oh, it’s terrible! The new dress you were supposed to wear to the ball today has been tattered to pieces!”

With that, Dahlia showed me the dress that had been cruelly chopped up.

“Well I’m sorry, but please cut off the usable parts of it and  we can use it for something else. I don’t mind wearing that yellow dress for today.”

“What? You’ve worn that once before, haven’t you!?”

“I wore it before, but that was months ago. And I’ve only worn it once.”

“But…”

“I don’t mind at all, so it’s fine. More importantly, Dahlia, please keep this one confidential.”

“…Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter.”

I smiled at a bewildered Dahlia.

On another day, the hairpiece I often used was lost and eventually found floating in the pond in the courtyard.

As expected, the castle guard found it, so I explained that I had dropped it while I was walking around the pond.

This went on for several days, and as expected, Dahlia spoke to me with a worried expression.

“Cecilia-sama…why don’t you talk to Prince Kaiser at least? I’m sure he can help us, right?…If you don’t feel comfortable speaking about it, I can go ahead and speak for you?”

“Nope. You don’t have to tell Kaiser. Rather, if I report it, it might make things more complicated…”

“Complicated?”

“Yes. For now, I’ll take care of things this time, so don’t worry.”

I smiled at Dahlia, who was confused, to reassure her.

But having said that, no concrete solution had come to mind, so I was walking alone down the castle corridor, wondering what I was going to do.

Just then, a foot came out of a bend in the corridor and tried to catch my foot.

“Kyaa!”

As expected, I was walking around thinking, and I couldn’t avoid the foot, so I caught my foot and almost fell down.

However, I quickly opened my legs wide and stepped forward to keep myself from falling.

That kept me from falling down, but I had to step widely with my feet, which was a bit shameful.

I heard the sound of footsteps running into the distance in my ears, and as I turned my head to the side in that position, I saw the dark purple hair that rippled at the end of the corner where the foot had just come out, disappearing into the corner of the corridor.

…I knew it was her. But you’re running out of material if you’re taking direct action.

I smiled bitterly as I looked at the end of the corridor, which I could no longer see.

“Well, what in the world are you doing?”

“What?…A-Alexel!”

Suddenly, I was called out from behind, and when I turned around in surprise, there was Alexel standing there, looking at me with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

“I’m asking what you’re doing in this corridor alone…looking like that.”

“What? Looking like that…”

I didn’t understand what Alexel was trying to say, and I checked myself, confused, and realized what he meant.

I was stuck in that wide open stance, not moving.

Realizing this, I hurriedly closed my legs with a shy smile on my face.

“Uh, this is a little stretch…”

“In a place like this?”

“I was walking alone when I suddenly felt the urge to stretch my legs inexplicably, so…”

I laughed and fooled myself as I made that excuse, but Alexel was looking at me strangely the whole time.

So I managed to part with Alexel and walked down the corridor alone again, thinking.

Hmm, that thing just now….it was definitely Princess Victoria, wasn’t it? If that’s the case, then all the harassment up to now has definitely been Princess Victoria, too~. Well…back at that time, Princess Victoria was quite angry.

I was remembering Princess Victoria, who was looking at me in the form of a demon while thinking that.

But…honestly, this situation isn’t very good. It’s because Princess Victoria’s current situation is like a villainous young lady…no, a villainous princess herself. And when you think about it, in that way, the worst is likely to happen. In that case….there’s no way he won’t do anything about it. No! If I don’t do something about this sooner rather than later…

With that thought in mind, I hurriedly walked off to my destination.

***

“Cecilia! It’s very unusual for you to come to my room. I’m very happy.”

With that said, Kaiser welcomed me into the room with a happy smile.

“I apologize for my sudden visit. I would like to talk to you for a little bit, if you don’t mind.”

“Don’t talk to me only for a little bit, talk for a long time! I don’t mind, you know?”

“No, that’s not really possible…”

“Well, come on in, please sit down.”

I was urged by Kaiser to sit on the couch, and Kaiser sat down next to me naturally.

Then he had his handmaidens prepare tea and asked them all to leave.

“So, what do you wish to talk to me about?”

“Let me ask you a straightforward question. Is there something going on behind the scenes?”

“What?”

“Since it’s Kaiser you know about my current situation, don’t you?”

“…”

I asked as I stared into Kaiser’s eyes. Then Kaiser’s smile disappeared and he looked at me intently.

By the way he looked at me, I was convinced that my idea was correct.

“…Then Cecilia is here because she came to ask me for help, right?”

“No, it’s the opposite.”

“What?”

“I’m asking you to do nothing.”

“Why!? As far as I know, she’s done some pretty bad things to you, hasn’t she!?…That Princess Victoria…”

“…I’m sure she’s gone a little too far…but it’s still not that big of a deal.”

“But…”

“Rather, I’m more concerned that Kaiser will go off the rails and do something to Princess Victoria. For example…condemnation and then imprisonment…or execution…”

“…how did you know that…”

“’I knew it…please! Could you not do that, please!”

When I found out that Kaiser was working behind the scenes to do exactly what I had been thinking, I pleaded to him with a serious look on my face.

But Kaiser did not shake his head.

“Kaiser!”

“No matter how much Cecilia wishes for that, I can’t listen to it.”

“Why?”

“It’s simple. Because I can’t forgive that she is harassing my beloved Cecilia. It’s unacceptable!”

“Kaiser…”

Then suddenly, Kaiser turned his body towards me and held both my hands with a pseudo-smile on his face.

“But…if you tell me that you will be my fiancée again, I will not do anything.”

“What?…Kaiser, what are you talking about?”

“It’s true.”

“It’s true…think about what you just said! I am now, albeit reluctantly, Alexel’s fiancée, you know? And Kaiser has a fiancée, Princess Victoria, as well!”

“Such a thing…all Cecilia has to do is say ‘yes’ and I’ll do whatever I have to do.”

With that said, Kaiser smiled at me, but somehow, the smile felt very dark.

Seeing Kaiser like that, I instinctively had a feeling that if I said ‘yes’ here, I would never be able to escape.

“Ah, no! No, it’s fine! I’ll do something about Princess Victoria myself!”

As soon as I shouted that, I snatched my own hand back from Kaiser and hurriedly got up from my chair and walked quickly towards the door.

“Cecilia!”

“Excuse me!”

I heard Kaiser’s voice calling me from behind, but I didn’t turn around at all and quickly left the room.

But as I left, I ran into Princess Victoria at an inopportune moment.

“…You, why did you come out of Prince Kaiser’s room?”

“Well, that’s…”

“Prince Kaiser is my fiancé! You’re an eyesore! Get the hell away from us!”

Princess Victoria yelled at me with a wrinkled look on her face, and I bobbed my head with a troubled look on mine, before quickly walking away.

But Princess Victoria’s piercing gaze kept poking at my back until I turned the corner.

A few days had passed since I announced to Kaiser that I would do something about it, but in the end, I couldn’t do anything, and my impatience was getting the better of me.

One day, when I was walking down the corridor, Princess Victoria appeared.

“I want to talk to you about something. Could you come with me?”

“Talk to me?…Okay. I was just wanting to talk to Princess Victoria in person myself.”

With that said, I moved from my spot Princess Victoria.

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T/N: Uhhhh no! Cecilia, why are you so defenseless!!

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