323 - The Book with the Blue Spine
Staring at the blue-spined book Anselm held out to me, I plastered a lady's smile onto my face. Even I could tell, reluctantly, that this was not something I should let my true feelings show about.
...Absolutely no good. It is all just dangerous poisons and stuff that is bad if you mix it, everything I found.
Whether he wanted to convey the danger, the title was long regardless. As if even writing all that was not enough, at the end was one more line. "I will write countermeasures too, but do not touch it in the first place."
...Then why did you leave such a dangerous thing behind, I wonder?
Thinking that if he had not left it as a book, it would have vanished into darkness along with its author's death, I noticed something else. Why did a child like Anselm have such a dangerous book?
...Come to think of it, this was strange from the very beginning, was it not?
Anselm suddenly mistaking me for his older sister or niece and barging into the detached palace was unnatural too. Anselm told me he was prompted by the Second Prince, but considering that, there was a possibility this book itself was planted by the Second Prince.
...In other words, I should not be foolishly honest and read it, and I should send Prince Anselm, who might be connected to the Second Prince, away quickly, or perhaps entrust him to Felicia-sama.
It pained me to deceive Anselm, who looked up at me with hopeful eyes, but I knew I should not decide on my own, so I hardened my heart. I switched my mindset to treating this as a lesson in ladyship education, and dealt with Anselm.
"I am terribly sorry, Prince Anselm. This book appears to be written in a language from some foreign country, and it seems I cannot read it."
I apologized once more for not being able to meet his expectations. In truth, it was not that I could not read it, but that I must not read it.
Pretending to confirm, I silently read a few pages without voicing the words. Since I was pretending I could not read it, it was a pity I could not read it thoroughly.
"So even Christina cannot read it. Father told me that Christina makes it her job to read difficult books, so I must not interfere with her work."
"Oh my, so you were aware that you came to interfere with my work, Prince Anselm?"
"Th-that is not it! I heard Christina reads difficult books as her job, so I was taught by Big Brother Chadwick that this would also be work."
...Big Brother Chadwick again, is it.
It seemed Anselm was heavily under Chadwick's influence. I had better separate them quickly. The flustered Anselm insisting he had not come to interfere with my work was adorable, but this was definitely something I should report to either Alfred or Felicia.
...I have never met him, but I have been sensing his presence around lately, Prince Chadwick.
Thinking I had never met him, an image briefly caught in my mind. I had never met him, but I felt like I had at least seen him somewhere.
...When was that? I feel like I have caught a glimpse of someone who looked like him?
Since he seemed to have strong influence over Anselm, I must have seen him near Anselm. I had only met Anselm twice. Today and at last year's martial arts tournament. Today he seemed to have come alone, but at the tournament, there was a nurse maid attendant. A maid is a maid, not Prince Chadwick. So I thought it might be my imagination, but then I remembered seeing Anselm one other time.
...When I was called to the Consort's detached palace, I caught a brief glimpse.
Back then, Anselm should have been with someone. A man with golden hair, and since I did not know Elvis's face at the time, I think I assumed he was the First Prince. The Elvis I met later was a different person, and I had not been interested in the first place, so I forgot about it.
...Huh? Back then, did not Leonyaldo-san block my view...?
According to what I heard from Alfred, Second Prince Chadwick was not just a troublesome person, but a downright nuisance. Knowing that, I would not want someone so bothersome to know of my existence. Someone like me who can read Japanese would be too valuable to lose to some thrill-seeker killing me for fun.
Back then, Leonardo had not blocked my view, but rather hidden me from the Second Prince's sight.
"Prince Anselm, where did you obtain this book?"
"It was on Big Brother Chadwick's bookshelf."
...Yep, bingo, too perfectly.
Smiling brightly, I returned the blue-spined book to Anselm. The elements were too neatly lined up, and I understood that keeping this book any longer would be dangerous.
...So Prince Chadwick knew I made it my job to read difficult books, steered Anselm to come to me, and the suspicious book also came from that prince's bookshelf.
It would be more unreasonable to say "do not be suspicious."
I sent Rebecca to Felicia, and while keeping Anselm company, I drew out information. The honest Anselm seemed completely unaware of my intentions, and without any information to hide, he answered everything I asked.
According to Anselm, taking a book from Chadwick's bookshelf came about because Chadwick said he would give him any book he wanted as a birthday gift. Chadwick provoked him by saying there were difficult books and asking if Anselm could read them, then smoothly guided him to choose the Japanese book.
...Prince Anselm, I think you are even easier to deceive than I am!
I felt that such an honest child should not be left near a thrill-seeker. For better or worse, children grow up influenced by the adults around them. I did not want the honest and adorable Anselm to become a thrill-seeker who brought chaos to those around him in the future.
After drawing out as much information as I could, since his escort had not arrived yet, I told Anselm a story. He seemed to know more stories of this world than I did, so I secretly demonically modified a Japanese fairy tale. Anselm, who had brought me a book to read, seemed to enjoy my demonically modified Japanese fairy tale. When he urged me to continue with "And then, and then?", I got a bit carried away myself. Being believed so honestly was scary because I felt like I could almost understand why the troublesome Second Prince felt compelled to whisper all sorts of things into Anselm's ear.
"Christina-sama."
Just as Momotaro and Kintaro joined hands and boarded a turtle-type giant robot to rescue Kaguya-hime (male) who had been kidnapped to the Dragon Palace, Ulrika gently called out to me. The fact that she spoke to me even in front of the prince might mean Anselm's escort had arrived.
"You have a visitor, Christina-sama."
"...Who might it be?"
I asked the visitor's name, thinking I had not scheduled any appointments today. Between Anselm and this visitor, neither seemed like the attitude of people who would normally visit a detached palace.
"Well, it seems Prince Chadwick has come to pick up Prince Anselm..."
The fact that she was being evasive might mean Ulrika also knew about the Second Prince's conduct. When asked what we should do, I lowered my gaze to Anselm. Anselm was no longer interested in the book with the dangerous title, and was absorbed in my demonically modified nonsense fairy tale. However, he seemed to sense that our time was coming to an end, and looked like he was about to cry.
"...Prince Anselm, your escort has arrived."
"But the story is not over yet. Did Kaguya-hime safely return to the mouse groom's home?"
Anselm pouted with a face that clearly showed he did not want to go home until he heard the ending. I had added random arrangements to entertain him, but it had completely backfired. Having demonically modified it too much, the story of Momotaro, which any Japanese person would have heard at least once, had already transformed into something beyond recovery.
"Then let us do this. Next time, please visit the detached palace after making a prior appointment according to proper etiquette."
I will tell you the rest then, I said, and added one more push.
"You must not tell this story to anyone, okay?"
"Why not?"
...Because the Second Prince, who seems to be manipulating you, might say he is curious about what happens next and use that as an excuse to barge into the detached palace.
I could not say that even though I thought it, so I simply impressed upon him, "Just because." I also lightly threatened that if he broke his promise, I might forget the rest of the story, so if the honest Anselm would keep it, that would be fine.
"Christina-sama."
Ulrika, who should have gone to send Anselm off to the entrance hall, returned and called my name with a troubled look. When I asked what was wrong, it seemed the Second Prince was calling for me.
"He says he wants to apologize directly for Prince Anselm causing you trouble."
"I left the sending-off to a lady's maid precisely because I did not want to meet him, though."
But this confirmed that Anselm's actions today were due to Chadwick's scheming. Until now, I had only been wary of the possibility, but from now on, I wanted to actively avoid him as a person of concern.
Just as I was worrying about how to send him away, Felicia came out of the guest room led by Rebecca.
"I will handle Chadwick. Christina, return to your room."
"Yes, Henrieta."
Grateful for the reliable Felicia's appearance, I took her up on her offer and returned to the summer room that served as my personal chamber. Exhausted, I sat down in a chair and reached for the tea Kalisa had brewed, when I felt a gaze on me.
"...Wah!?"
I spotted the owl-headed boy Dietfried pressed flat against the window, and froze involuntarily. Come to think of it, Dietfried should count as a suspicious person or intruder, but the two guard dogs were completely ignoring him. They probably knew he was not worth their time.
"What in the world?"
The moment Dietfried realized our eyes had met, he leaped away from the window and ran off at full speed to somewhere. If we were talking about someone I had been catching glimpses of lately, Dietfried was also one, but I had absolutely no idea what he was up to.
...Well, at least he is not harmful, so that is fine.
As I took another sip of tea and breathed a sigh of relief after Dietfried had gone, Felicia appeared, having apparently succeeded in chasing off the Second Prince. I had tea prepared for her, saying "Thank you for your hard work," but Felicia pulled me into her ample chest before even drinking it.
"Christina made a good judgment today. Let me praise you for not carelessly going out to welcome that person at the entrance hall like you usually would."
Felicia was holding my head and stroking it, but I could not help being distracted by her too-ampleness and too-softness. My cheeks were being pressed by her breasts going poyang-poyang, and it was a little hard to breathe.
"Regarding the Second Prince, I had heard unpleasant things from Alfred-sama, so I was on my guard."
"Oh my? Alf actually told you about that? I will have to praise him later too."
I think praising him is fine, but I wish she would not use this method of praise. Having one's face buried in the cleavage of a beautiful woman in risque clothing while being patted on the head must surely be a form of ascetic training for an adult man. If someone like Felicia, with her goddess-like beauty, did that, even if she were their real sister, they would have all sorts of thoughts.
"It seems Prince Anselm was instigated by the Second Prince to come to the detached palace."
I had to report this while I still remembered, so I lifted my face from Felicia's chest. When I tried to put a little distance between us, Felicia's hold on me loosened.
"What do you mean by that person instigating Anselm?"
"Yes. It seems the Second Prince told Prince Anselm that I might be his older sister or niece."
I relayed to Felicia exactly what I had drawn out from Anselm. That he was invited to take any book he wanted from the bookshelf as a birthday gift, guided toward the Japanese book, and then told that if even he could not read the book he had chosen, I might be able to. Anselm, who had been told by his father beforehand that reading difficult books was my job, initially hesitated to interfere with my work. But the Second Prince instigated him by saying there was no such thing as interfering with work when visiting family, and suggesting based on hair and eye color that I might be his sister or niece. I did not know where the Second Prince had gotten the information that I could read Japanese, but there was no doubt I was being targeted for some kind of mischief.
"...Also, regarding the book Prince Anselm brought."
From what little I had seen of its contents, it was exactly as the title suggested. Rather than a book, it was closer to research material rebound into book form. The contents were memoirs. And I recognized the handwriting in those memoirs.
"From the handwriting, I believe it belongs to Saint Yuuta Hiraga."
I could not say for sure without comparing them directly, but it was a familiar idiosyncratic scrawl. The author of that book was almost certainly Saint Yuuta Hiraga.
"How would Chadwick come to have such a thing..."
"I do not know that, but if Prince Anselm is to manage it, I think it should be confiscated, or disposed of before it returns to the Second Prince's hands."
"...To say that about Saint Yuuta Hiraga's book means you read its contents, did you not?"
"Just a little."
Just a little, but I understood well enough that it was a dangerous book.
It was exactly as the title suggested. "Absolutely No Good. Just All The Dangerous Poisons and Stuff That Is Bad If You Mix It I Found." "I Will Write Countermeasures Too But Do Not Touch It In The First Place."
The book contained prescriptions for medicines that become poisons when handled incorrectly, prescriptions for antidotes to those poisons, combinations of secret arts that must not be used simultaneously, how to make water that produces poisonous gas, how to make gunpowder discovered by accident, and many other things that made it very clear why it warned "do not touch it," even from just a brief reading. The reason he left such a book behind was also clearly written. It seemed he recorded it with the wish that if someone else accidentally discovered the same combinations and used them for assassination or poisoning, others could quickly notice and counter them. While the book's contents mostly consisted of harmful things like poisons, that blue book was created with the purpose of saving lives. It should never, ever fall into the hands of someone described as a "thrill-seeker."
"...Leave that book to us."
"You must not approach Chadwick, Christina," Felicia said, her white fingers stroking between my eyebrows. It seemed I had been furrowing my brow without realizing it. As she stroked between my brows repeatedly as if to smooth out the wrinkles, my mood lifted a little.
...That is right. No matter how dangerous the contents written in that book, as long as I do not read it, the prescriptions cannot leak out. So it will be fine, right?
In the initial plot, this was going to be a story where Tina met the Second Prince through a somewhat forceful method called kidnapping. But as I actually wrote, Tina's surroundings became so full of guards that kidnapping became difficult, so I took a day off and corrected the direction.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.