Chapter 57
“I’ll go see who it is.”
When Hilda opened the door, an elderly maid was standing outside.
A red ribbon was pinned to her chest—the mark of a first-rank maid.
“Oh, Hilda. You were here as well.”
“Head Maid? What brings you here?”
“The Dowager Duchess is requesting the teacher’s presence.”
“The Dowager Duchess wants to see me?”
Ailesia, who had already approached the doorway, blinked in surprise. The head maid bowed respectfully and continued.
“I know this is improper at such a late hour, but she hopes you can spare a moment. She said she has something to discuss regarding what happened earlier this evening.”
That was fast.
Thermion was fairly decisive himself, but this was on another level.
Since she was directly involved, it was awkward to make excuses. And unlike last time, Thermion wasn’t here to relay messages in her stead.
Still, I should refuse once.
Running over the moment she was summoned would look bad. Besides, she needed time to think about what to say.
“I was in the middle of something. I’ll come as soon as I’m finished. It’s a little past nine now, so… no later than ten?”
“And what might that ‘something’ be?”
“You do know I’m a ma-gi-ci-an, Head Maid?”
She emphasized each syllable deliberately and smiled brightly while meeting her gaze head-on. The head maid stiffened and hurriedly apologized.
“My apologies.”
It was taboo—an absolute taboo—to pry into or interrupt a magician’s research. As the head maid serving the renowned magician Iolene, she couldn’t possibly be unaware of that.
“I’ll have Hilda guide me, so there’s no need for you to come back.”
“Very well. I’ll inform the Dowager Duchess. She’ll be expecting you in her office by ten.”
After the head maid withdrew, Ailesia calmly returned to the sofa and continued enjoying her tea. The one growing anxious, however, was Hilda.
“Um… Teacher. Will you really be all right?”
“All right with what?”
“I’ve heard the Dowager Duchess isn’t someone to take lightly. And if you say you were ‘busy,’ she might think it doesn’t add up, considering you were just here with me…”
It would’ve been fine if Hilda hadn’t opened the door. With it only cracked open, there’d have been no way to tell who was inside.
But Ailesia merely snorted dismissively.
“I was busy. This is a rare, leisurely tea time—why would I just throw that away?”
“…Huh?”
“I don’t lie. Is a magician not allowed to drink tea?”
…So that was what she meant by being busy? Then why emphasize the word magician so dramatically earlier?
While Hilda stood there with her mouth hanging open, Ailesia lightly shook her already empty teacup.
“The tea you brew is the best, Hilda. Go on, pour me another cup.”
“…Are you really sure this is okay?”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m confident I’d win no matter what if I got into a fight with the Dowager Duchess. I may not look it, but I’m really strong.”
“…Pardon?”
At this point, Hilda had completely lost track of where the conversation was even going.
* * *
With the table between them, Iolene remained silent for some time.
There was no sense of pressure or intimidation. She wasn’t scrutinizing Ailesia from the corner of her eye either—if anything, she simply looked deep in thought.
Clink.
Only after setting her teacup down did Iolene finally meet Ailesia’s gaze.
“I apologize for summoning you so late, Teacher. Thank you for coming.”
“Not at all. I’m grateful for the invitation.”
“Did you enjoy your meal?”
“The tavern food inside the city was excellent. It felt even more abundant than the capital—I quite liked it.”
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Iolene went straight to the point. It was exactly as Thermion had described—direct and unhesitating.
“I summoned the chief butler and head maid earlier and took action. Not only the servants who were directly rude to you, but also those who stood by and did nothing will all be receiving pay cuts and reassigned posts.”
“You mean the people who were in the kitchen?”
At the question, Iolene’s eyebrow twitched. Her gently curved lips hardened in an instant.
“There was quite an interesting recording on the phonograph.”
“Right? I was just looking for Hilda to invite her to dinner, and I ended up seeing something rather entertaining.”
“…The voice saying you’d ‘let it slide quietly’ was unmistakably yours, Teacher.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean everyone has to stay quiet, does it? And besides…”
Ailesia lifted her teacup with an unhurried gesture, deliberately pausing.
Until she took a sip and set the cup back down, Iolene didn’t move an inch, her eyes fixed on her.
“Baron Beighton. His backer was never identified in the end, was it?”
“…Are you suggesting using the maids as bait?”
“Bait only matters if the fish actually bite. Do you think something that small would be enough?”
After the traitor Noid from the Tigel Knights was uncovered, Thermion and Kubera had reacted cautiously.
Just because the receiving location of the communication magic tool they tracked turned out to be the imperial palace didn’t guarantee the culprit was imperial. But Ailesia, who knew the original story, already had the answer.
“The maid named Sophia wasn’t afraid at all, even while picking on Hilda. At first, I wondered just how powerful a figure she was relying on.”
“And?”
“But what if she wasn’t recruited after joining House Lettis? What if she infiltrated from the start, with her identity thoroughly falsified? As for me—she was just overwhelmed by the moment.”
Even Baron Beighton hadn’t dared to openly touch Eleonora. And that was despite his considerable influence within the house and his own faction.
To dismiss the Grand Duchess as ‘just a child,’ regardless of her age, meant she’d already dealt with people far more powerful than the Lettis family.
“And the assassin who infiltrated the capital’s town house was definitely in contact with someone in the imperial palace.”
“…Are you saying the imperial family is targeting House Lettis?”
“Who knows? I wouldn’t know. I’ve only been living in Lettis for barely two months.”
As if.
She knew perfectly well that the First Empress was using dark magicians to scheme—and that it was all to put her son, the First Prince, on the throne.
But she couldn’t exactly blurt out the plot of the original story, so the best she could do was present it as speculation based on circumstances.
“Does Thermion know all this?”
“He’s being cautious. There’s no concrete evidence yet, and we don’t know exactly what they’re aiming for.”
That much was true. Even in the original story, House Lettis constantly clashed with the imperial family—specifically the First Empress—but the precise reason was never made clear.
The Second Prince, born of the Empress, lacked supporters, and the Third Prince had no interest in the throne. Even doing nothing, it would’ve been enough for the First Prince to inherit the crown.
The only real connection was that the First Prince eventually set his sights on Eleonora…
Causing all that chaos just to take the woman he wanted as the future empress? That didn’t add up either.
The First Prince wouldn’t fall for Eleonora until more than ten years later—after she formally entered high society. Only then did his obsession begin.
Yet the First Empress had already been launching all kinds of schemes against Lettis, starting with Eleonora’s disappearance.
Even Ailesia, who knew the story, couldn’t grasp their true intentions.
“The only thing we’re certain of is that they’re using dark magicians. Even the drake we captured today had been altered by demonic energy.”
“You captured a drake? Today?”
“Yes. We had quite the fight earlier. Fortunately, there were no casualties, but Thermion was injured.”
“…What did you say? Thermion was injured?! What does that mean?!”
Ah—right. I forgot the most important part. I should’ve started with this before talking about conspiracies.
The calm composure she’d maintained until now vanished. Before Ailesia could finish, Iolene’s face turned deathly pale.
She leaned forward as if she might leap up at any moment—her expression beyond concern, bordering on desperation.
…Are you sure he’s not actually her real son?
At this point, it’d be easier to believe Thermion was her own hidden child rather than her husband’s illegitimate one. Had this turned into some kind of full-blown melodrama on top of mass tragedy?
Letting her imagination run wild for a moment, Ailesia pulled a large mirror out of subspace.
“Please calm down. Why don’t you speak with Thermion directly? Thankfully, he’s been treated well, and they said he’ll be able to move again after resting for a few days.”
“…Was he injured so badly that he can’t even move?”
…Yeah. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.
Ailesia twirled a lock of her hair around her finger, then lightly brushed the mirror’s surface.
[ …Dowager Duchess? ]
“T-Thermion…!”
