308 - Suspicious Person is a Thief, Ghost is an Impostor
After screaming my lungs out for a good while, I suddenly grew calm. You could also say that having let out everything I had to let out, my head cooled down. As I caught my breath, my shoulders heaving, a voice came from beyond the door, sounding more at a loss for words than anything else, offering me words of concern.
"Um, are you alright? I heard some kind of incredible scream..."
"The thief talked!?"
The person on the other side was someone who had tried to break into the detached palace through the hidden passage late at night. Naturally, they couldn't possibly be a legitimate person, I figured, so I tentatively called them a thief. The one called a thief didn't seem to realize that they were the cause of my tremendous screaming.
"What do you mean, thief? I don't recall ever becoming such a person!"
"Sneaking in through the shadows in the middle of the night is what a thief does!"
Considering where the door sounds had been coming from, he might have been trying to kick the door down. It felt more accurate to call him a burglar forcing his way in rather than a thief sneaking around to steal.
...Good thing I had the locks changed right after arriving at the detached palace.
Really glad I investigated the detached palace under the guise of exploration and confirmed all the hidden passages and hidden rooms. If I'd left things untouched without thinking, I would have had this thief sneaking into the detached palace tonight. They sure got it right when they said preparedness prevents peril.
"...Why is there a child here?"
"That's my question. Why is a thief here?"
"I told you, I'm not a thief."
"Then are you a ghost? Ethelbert-sama gave me a ghost repellent talisman, after all."
The surprising degree to which the (tentative) thief was receptive to conversation gradually put me at ease. As I grew more at ease, several things came to mind. For instance, there should have been a ghost repellent talisman inscribed by Ethelbert on the other side of the hidden passage door. And then there was this intruder-wannabe who showed up in the middle of the night.
...Could it be that this person is the ghost Ethelbert-sama was talking about?
Once I realized that possibility, my wariness strangely dissipated. He was an intruder, but I got the feeling he wasn't all that dangerous.
"Is that talisman you mentioned this posted paper?"
"Yes. That posted paper."
While responding to the (tentative) ghost in a slightly louder voice, I held my breath and gave instructions to the Black Shiba (Kokumaro). Since I hadn't closed the door to the hidden passage, the Black Shiba at least should be able to go in and out easily.
"Kokumaro, go wake up Leonyaldo Big Brother and bring him here."
I didn't think he was a dangerous person, but an intruder was an intruder. He should be handed over to the proper authorities. That's what I thought when I gave the instruction to the Black Shiba, but the Black Shiba tilted his head, then plopped his bottom down on the floor. Apparently, he had no intention of moving from this spot.
"Oscar, go call Leonyaldo Big Brother."
Since the Black Shiba wouldn't move, I tried giving the instruction to the Black Dog (Oscar) instead, but his reaction was the same. The Black Shiba had sat down, but the Black Dog lay down, completely in standby mode.
...Aren't these dogs supposed to be trained guard dogs who won't do their jobs!?
As I grew inwardly flustered by the dogs that wouldn't move, a somewhat indignant voice came from beyond the door.
"I do recall dying, but I don't recall becoming a monster."
"A dead person can't be alive, so if you're there, you're a ghost."
When he said to just unlock the door, I refused flatly. My wariness was strangely being ground down, but that didn't mean I could invite someone who tried to break in through a hidden passage in the middle of the night into the detached palace. I had at least that much discretion.
"I'm not a suspicious person. I'm the previous owner of this detached palace."
"So the ghost has turned into an impostor. That makes you even more suspicious."
"I'm not an impostor. The proof is that I knew about the exit of this hidden passage."
"There were signs someone had been using this door, so just knowing about the passage doesn't necessarily make you the previous owner."
If it were just a matter of knowing about the passage, that would include Aaron and Giselle too, and Leonardo had actually walked through and confirmed the exit. Knowing about a hidden passage wasn't evidence of anything.
"First of all, the previous owner of this detached palace is still alive, and incidentally, that person is a woman."
"However I listen, your voice doesn't sound like a woman's," I shot back at the man, and then I realized.
...I see. His voice sounds a bit like Leonyaldo-san's, so I ended up listening to him.
Once I realized his voice resembled Leonardo's, my wariness welled up again. His voice resembled Leonardo's, but the person on the other side of the door was not Leonardo. If this man's intrusion had come two or three days earlier, I might have carelessly been persuaded and unlocked the door. However, having been filled up with my fill of Leonardo, even if only for one day, a voice that just slightly resembled Leonardo's wasn't enough to sway me.
"...Then the one before that. I'm the previous previous owner."
"If you keep going back like that, maybe someday the gender will match up."
I scoffed and considered his words for a moment. The previous owner was the Eighth Princess (Claudine), and before her, King Christoph's younger brother should have lived there.
...Huh? That was a male owner pretty quick.
The owner before the Eighth Princess was Christoph's younger brother, Prince Rannvald. I'd heard he died of illness five or six years ago.
"If it's Prince Rannvald, I heard he died of illness. So you are a ghost after all."
"That Rannva..."
His words became muffled mumbling midway, followed by a cough as if to restart the conversation. Apparently, the self-proclaimed Prince Rannvald couldn't bring himself to say his own name.
"More importantly, who are you? There's no one in my family line who's this stubborn and cautious."
"What kind of identification method is that?"
At the self-proclaimed Rannvald's rude remark, I reflexively shot back, then recalled the faces of Alfred, Christoph, and Ethelbert. I felt like those people might have invited the intruder in on a whim.
"...I'm from another family, but right now, I'm the owner of this detached palace."
I informed the self-proclaimed Rannvald that when the ownership of the detached palace changed, I had investigated the hidden passage and had the locks replaced. Since an actual person trying to break into the detached palace in the middle of the night had appeared, my judgment back then had been correct. The self-proclaimed Rannvald on the other side of the door probably couldn't see it, but I puffed out my thin chest as if to say, "How do you like that?"
"Changing the locks... Claudine never did that."
"You can't compare the Princess's caution and mine. Changing the locks on a new rental house is the most basic of basics."
"Calling a detached palace given to royalty a rental house..."
"I don't want to hear that from a suspicious person who knew this was a detached palace given to royalty and still tried to kick down the hidden passage door."
Even as I exchanged banter, I tried to shoo the Black Shiba away with my hand, but he still wouldn't lift his bottom, and I was starting to get frustrated. If the guard dogs wouldn't move, I'd need to go call someone myself, but if I left this spot, the intruder might disappear somewhere. An intruder claiming to be the king's younger brother should probably be captured while I had the chance.
"For now, if you're a ghost, why don't you act like one and go show your face to Ethelbert-sama, following the talisman? He's gone back to his territory now, so you'd need to go to the city of Gumons though."
"...I see, the former His Majesty the King is in his territory."
I felt a catch in the tone of his voice. I got the feeling he'd taken it in a way different from what I intended, and I tilted my head. I opened my mouth to ask what exactly he'd taken from my words, but then I thought I heard Leonardo's voice faintly from behind the passage, so I closed it again. Was I imagining things? I strained my ears and heard faint footsteps and a voice calling my name.
"Over here! A ghost appeared! Catch him!!"
I shouted loudly, wanting Leonardo to come quickly. After I finished shouting, I suddenly realized.
...Oh no!? If I'd called out when he was closer, we could have definitely caught him!?
There was no way the person on the other side of the door wouldn't notice that I'd called someone with that shout. Leonardo's footsteps approaching and the footsteps on the other side of the door growing distant happened at the same time.
...Should I unlock the door before Leonyaldo-san gets here?
If I unlocked it, he could chase after him. Thinking that, I reached for the keyhole, but my nightgown hem was pulled and I fell on my bottom.
"Ow!?"
I landed with a plop on my bottom and blinked. My body was starting to outgrow its chubby toddler build, but it still wasn't at an age where it had any feminine curves to speak of, so there wasn't any cushion to speak of. Even just falling on my bottom, it was surprisingly painful.
I turned around to see what had happened, and there was the Black Shiba, who until a moment ago had been sitting there not making a peep, now holding the hem of my nightgown in his mouth.
"Kokumaro?"
When I glared at him, demanding to know what he was thinking, the Black Shiba apologetically flattened his ears and reluctantly let go of the hem. When he made that expression, his eyebrow-like forehead mark made him look even more pathetic, which was both adorable and infuriating.
"Ma~ro~?"
When I grabbed his cheeks and pulled, the Black Shiba shook his head to escape my hands. Still, he didn't move from that spot, so he probably intended to accept retribution. As I was disciplining the Black Shiba who had gotten in my way, light washed over me from a lamp. It was dazzling and blinded me for a moment, but I knew who was approaching, so I felt no fear.
"Tina! Why were you in the hidden passage... And the ghost?"
"The ghost got away! I was trying to unlock the door so you could chase him, but Kokumaro got in the way..."
"I'm in the middle of punishing him," I said, and Leonardo's large hand strongly patted my head.
"Not opening the lock was the right call. If him running away was a feint, you might have been pushed in."
"Huh? That meaning?"
In that case, had I done something wrong to the Black Shiba? I turned my gaze back to the Black Shiba, and he blinked in bewilderment, looking back and forth between me and Leonardo. It didn't seem like he had stopped me because my action was wrong.
...If my action had been wrong, I feel like Oscar would have stopped me though, right?
I wasn't entirely convinced, but a lamp was handed to me, and in exchange, Leonardo's arms slid under my armpits. He lifted me up, but this was an emergency. I didn't point out that carrying me was forbidden.
As I was carried, I briefly explained the situation. When we came out through the fireplace of the hidden passage, the detached palace was slightly in an uproar.
"Christina-sama!"
Spotting me being carried by Leonardo, Solana let out a sigh of relief. When she'd noticed, the canopy had been open and I wasn't inside where I should have been, so she must have been searching for me.
When I was transferred from Leonardo's arms to Solana's, Leonardo immediately left the room. Setting aside Leonardo with his brute strength, I thought it would be impossible for Solana to lift me, but maids sometimes do physical labor. As a result, Solana was surprisingly strong.
Solana tried to carry me with steady steps, but first I wanted her to put me down on the floor. My dwindling pride of being 'eleven years old' was starting to feel embarrassed about being carried by anyone other than my brother (Leonardo) and my nursemaid (Kalisa).
I was starting to feel that embarrassment, but when Solana noticed I was barefoot, she repositioned me after almost putting me down. There was no way my feet, which had walked barefoot through a hidden passage that was never properly cleaned, were clean. Incidentally, I'd also fallen on my bottom there too. My nightgown was probably dirty enough that I'd be reluctant to get back into bed right away.
By the time I washed my hands and feet and changed my nightgown, Leonardo had finished giving instructions to various people and returned. Given where the intruder had appeared, it seemed only a limited number of people could join the pursuit. Since it was a hidden passage for royalty to use in emergencies, apparently only a limited number of people could even be informed of the passage's existence.
...Well, they can't let the White Knights know about it.
The White Knights had thoughtless members who would arrange night visits to their protectees. There was no way they could tell them about the existence of a hidden passage that was a lifeline for the royal family.
"So, Tina, why were you in a place like that?"
"Well... I don't know."
As I sat on the edge of the bed drinking the hot milk Kalisa had made for me, it was time for my own debriefing, which had been put off. Naturally, even if he asked why I had been deep inside a hidden passage at this hour, I didn't know the reason myself. But I had no reason to hide it, so I honestly told Leonardo what I had experienced as far as I understood.
"I couldn't sleep, so I was looking at Curry Rice's belly, and then suddenly I wanted to check the lock on the hidden passage."
I'd only meant to check the lock, but for some reason I hung the key around my neck and got out of bed. I thought if I came out from the canopy, Solana would notice, but Solana, who was supposed to be keeping watch, was dozing off. Then I thought Aaron would notice, but Aaron was also asleep. I did realize that was strange, but my body wouldn't listen, and I ended up moving to the hidden passage behind the fireplace.
"I was thinking, 'I have to unlock it,' and was about to insert the key into the keyhole, when I heard the sound of someone kicking the door from the outside, and I woke up."
"...So that tremendous scream of yours was what I heard."
"Huh? You heard it?"
Leonardo insisted it was the love of a brother, but according to Solana's supplementary explanation, there was apparently a one-way mirror for letting light into the hidden passage near Leonardo's room. The wall was thin there, so my voice must have carried.
"Because your voice came from a strange direction, Tina. Rather than going to check your room, I trusted my instincts."
Following his instincts, he'd rushed into the Spring Room and found the hidden door in the fireplace open, along with my and the dogs' footprints. Carrying a lamp, he advanced through the hidden passage and soon heard my voice. The rest needed no explanation. Leonardo rushed to my side, and the suspicious person had already fled.
"Timon-dono, Siegwald-dono, and a few Silver-White Knights including Aaron are pursuing him through the passage. There's only one exit from the royal castle, so I don't think it's impossible to catch him, but..."
"That person, he said he was Rannvald-sama. Supposedly."
"Rannvald-sama? The deceased younger brother of Christoph-sama?"
"He claimed to be the previous previous owner of the detached palace."
There was apparently a grave and I'd heard a funeral was held, so I didn't think he could possibly be the real person, but I should report that a suspicious person had made that claim. There were too many suspicious points about this incident, and the more information the better.
...Come to think of it, why did I go to the hidden passage anyway?
Could I actually be suffering from sleepwalking without realizing it? I couldn't rule out that possibility, but still, it seemed unnatural that both Solana and Aaron had been dozing off at the same time. Solana could be clumsy sometimes, but Aaron was excessively self-disciplined at times. Even if it was the middle of the night, he wouldn't fall asleep during his guard shift.
...Did something strange happen again?
I knew this was a world where inexplicable mysterious phenomena occurred. It was currently the Divine King Festival period, when the spirit world and this world were supposedly drawing closer together. Mysterious phenomena might be more likely to occur than usual.
...Wait. So then, if that was a mysterious phenomenon and it was the work of spirits, then the possibility that the supposedly deceased Rannvald-sama had appeared as a ghost... might not be impossible...?
The possibility of a ghost that had floated into my mind sent a chill through me despite drinking hot milk. I'd never seen a ghost and didn't think I had the constitution to see them, but the fact that I didn't really understand them made them scary, and I felt that too.
"Could it have been a real ghost? I feel like I won't be able to sleep tonight, I'm too scared..."
The more I thought, the more my imagination ran wild with scary ideas. I wanted to drive the earlier events from my mind, but just trying not to think about it made me think about it all the more. It was counterproductive if ever there was.
I handed the empty cup to Kalisa and clung to Leonardo's body as he sat on the edge of the bed. I was at an age where the people around me wouldn't approve of me sleeping together with him anymore, so I made the unreasonable request that he could leave the room once I'd fallen asleep, and decided to keep hugging Leonardo until I was satisfied.
...I want to go back to the city of Grenore soon.
Looking back, it felt like nothing but dangerous incidents had happened since I came to the capital. I wanted to go back to the city of Grenore, where almost nothing happened, and return to my carefree life. I wanted a life where the only maids by my side round the clock were Kalisa or Salisa, and I could move around without having to bring guards along. I understood it was for my safety, but life in the detached palace had too many people around me, and it was stressful for me too.
...Even if they fixed it up to be just like Grenore, this place is still different.
I wanted to go back to Grenore soon. Swallowing the feelings that were hard to voice, I pressed my forehead against Leonardo's body.
Leonardo's only just come back, but in the oldest plot outline, the next story would have been spring and he'd be dragged off to the Lugmilama Fortress. I think I'll let him recharge a little more with his little sister.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.