Chapter 18 — Safe Zone

Because I had entered the palace from the sky without following the proper procedures, Noah immediately hid me away in the Crown Prince’s residence.

After I was shown into a room and told him what had happened so far, Noah stared up at the ceiling and froze.

I decided to be quiet and enjoy the palace tea and sweets until he “rebooted.” I was relieved the tea and cookies served weren’t poisoned — his status had shown “chronic poisoning,” and I’d been worried that whoever had poisoned me might still be slipping toxins into the house after I disappeared.

“…Impossible.”

It seemed he had returned to himself; Noah turned his face back and let out a deep sigh.

“Attacked by assailants on your own estate? The head of the Second Knights’ Corps is a marquis—Arvain, isn’t it? That’s impossible.”

“That’s what I thought. It’s not something that would normally happen.”

“Well, normally someone wouldn’t poison their stepdaughter either. But… what to do now. We can’t keep Olivia hidden in the Crown Prince’s residence for long.”

“Huh? I was planning to go home after a little while,” I said.

Noah shook his head vehemently and regarded me with a puzzled look.

“What are you talking about, Olivia? Do you think I’d let you go back to a house that casually aids assassins?”

“But I have a pretty good idea it was my stepmother who helped them, so as long as I watch her movements—”

“Oh, so you mean you’ll go home after dealing with your stepmother?”

(…Deal with her?)

Noah’s smile was so fresh and innocent that the gap between his expression and the words froze me in place.

(By “deal with,” does he mean socially? Or physically? Physically?)

He looked like an angel in appearance, but this prince is extreme.

Before I could find words, Noah’s face softened and he said, “I was joking.” Prince jokes are hard; I couldn’t follow one for the life of me.

“Olivia believes the Marchioness of Arvain is behind this, but I don’t think so.”

“Huh? You don’t think it was my stepmother’s orders…?”

“No—the one who ordered the assassin might have told the Marchioness to do it, but I wonder if there’s someone above her who gave that order?”

“That would mean…”

I gaped at Noah’s neat face in surprise. He met my eyes and nodded.

“Probably the queen, Eleonora.”

Hearing Noah say that so confidently, my mind drifted away for a moment.

(Seriously? I already have the mastermind trying to kill me?)

“No one has ever liked me more than the queen has disliked me. I couldn’t say because there was no proof, but the attempt to poison me the other day was also by the queen. At the audience she seemed interested in you — perhaps she intended to make you the betrothed of the second prince, but I stopped that.”

Noah might be smarter than I’d thought.

He understood the situation, he had a handle on the enemy’s moves. I marveled again at how amazing he was for a thirteen-year-old. Knowing he’s been a target of assassination repeatedly and had to become that way made my chest ache.

“Why do you think the queen is connected to my stepmother?”

“The Marchioness is a regular at the queen’s tea parties. Your stepsister also often attends. Didn’t you know?”

So they’d been meeting openly, not conniving in secret. I’d been almost confined to the annex and had no idea what my stepmother and stepsister were up to, so this surprised me.

“That woman is greedy and cruel. If she wants something and can’t get it, she destroys it without hesitation; if it’s in her way, she eliminates it. Of course I won’t let that happen, but…”

Noah folded his arms and tapped a rhythm with his finger for a while, then finally muttered with bitterness, “It can’t be helped.”

“Call Marquis Arvain.”

◆

My father, Marquis Arvain, who had been secretly summoned to the Crown Prince’s residence, let out a sigh of defeat when he saw me sitting there having tea with Noah.

“Just a little while ago my steward informed me that Olivia had gone missing in the woods on the estate….”

“My apologies, Father.”

If my father had been informed while on duty, the Arvain household was probably in an uproar by now.

I felt bad for the trouble I’d caused and slumped, but my father, who had come to sit beside me, stroked my head.

“I’m glad you’re safe. You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine. This is serious, Marquis.”

When Noah told him that I had almost been killed in the woods, my father went pale and then began to shake as if suppressing his anger.

“A trespasser invaded my estate and attempted to harm my daughter…?”

He stood up reaching for his sword as if to find and kill the culprit immediately, so I panicked and stopped him.

“F-Father! You’re the leader of the Knights! You can’t take the law into your own hands!”

“That’s right, Marquis. We have to find out who else was involved and who gave the orders. Killing comes after that.”

“Noah—!?”

Those two who were usually so composed were being extreme in opposite directions.

“Also, Marquis, if you start executing wrongdoers, you’ll have to kill your own people if they’re involved. Do you have that resolve?”

“Noah—this conversation—”

“We can’t keep hiding things, Olivia. We need to explain the situation to the Marquis and get his cooperation; otherwise it will be hard to protect you.”

“Wh-what exactly is going on…?”

Noah then told my father everything — everything he knew. My situation, the abuse I had suffered, and the truth about the recent collapse at the palace.

My father’s face grew increasingly pale; he was speechless. That was understandable. His own daughter had been abused by his new wife and even poisoned. Even the “Ice Marquis” couldn’t remain unmoved by that.

“Could it be…Isabella?”

He hugged me and said, “I’m sorry,” with a look of anguish.

“I didn’t even notice you were going through such things…”

“I… I always thought you hated me,” I confessed.

“Nonsense! …No, the fact that I made you think that is entirely my fault. I’m sorry, Olivia. I didn’t distance myself because I disliked you. Quite the opposite — I did it because I loved you.”

My father told me that he had loved my late mother, my birth mother, truly. He spoke of how my mother had low status and to marry her he had had to rely on a noble family close to the royalists to have her adopted into nobility. He explained how, after my mother died, political necessity had forced him to take a noble-born wife from the royalist faction, and how he had kept his distance because if I was right in front of him he’d only see my mother in me.

“Olivia, you are the spitting image of your mother. How could I not love you? But I couldn’t treat Isabella and the others with contempt. If you were always with me, I’d have eyes only for you, so I had no choice but to keep my distance… I’m sorry.”

“That’s enough, Father. Knowing you don’t hate me is enough.”

“I could never hate you. I love you, Olivia.”

“Father…!”

In the life I’d had before, my father had been cold until the end; now I felt that façade slowly disappear. I thought I should have had this kind of honest conversation before being given such a hard life — but no more regrets. I’m alive now for that very reason.

As I teared up in my father’s warm embrace, Noah cleared his throat theatrically.

“I understand your familial love.”

“Yes, Your Highness. If it’s to protect Olivia, I’ll do anything. First, I will admonish my new wife—”

“Wait, wait, wait. Don’t be hasty. We mustn’t provoke the other side yet. The most important thing is Olivia’s safety.”

“And how do you propose we do that…?”

“I suspect Queen Eleonora is involved in this incident.”

At Noah’s words, my father’s expression froze for a moment.

But he soon recovered and bowed his head gravely. “The Arvain household is a collateral branch of the queen’s family,” he said.

“If the queen is involved, keeping Olivia hidden in the Crown Prince’s residence isn’t a wise move. I’ve thought of it… might we hide Olivia somewhere in the Marquisate’s lands?”