Published at 20th of December 2020 06:01:46 PM
Chapter 84
“This way, please,” says a kind looking maid, guiding me . She’s wearing an embroidered blue dress that looks absolutely lovely on her . Considering its quality, I think she must be hold a pretty high ranking position within the servants here .
Speaking of which… . what am I even doing here? Right now, I’m walking through the king’s estate…… the royal palace .
What could the king have called me here for I wonder? It never seems to be a good thing when His Majesty pays me a visit, and now he’s actually summoning me .
He couldn’t be thinking of telling me to become Liz-san’s slave this time, right? … . . I’d definitely have to decline that sort of request .
Regardless of what he called me for though, it’s interesting to be able to see what sort of place the king of this nation is living in . It’s almost too extravagant .
The ceilings are dizzyingly tall, the hallways are too long to be convenient, and everywhere I look there are so many high-end paintings, sculptures, and other collector’s items that I can’t even look at them all . I’m becoming tired by the mere sensory overload of it .
“Here we are,” the maid announces, stopping in front of a pair of double doors that are each easily three times my size . In front them, two stern looking guards stand sentry .
I’d really like to ask them why they decided to make these doors so needlessly large . And also, why are there guards here? For this room to be so tightly guarded and to have an entrance like this, could this room be… . . a dragon’s!?
“Then, if you’ll please excuse me,” the maid continues . She executes a perfectly manicured curtsy, gracefully bowing her head to me, and then she turns on her heel and starts walking smoothly back the way we had just come .
Ah, don’t leave me . Take me with you… . I don’t want to be here either!
I already know that the thing waiting for me behind this door isn’t a dragon . I know it’s actually the king . I know that… . But I wish it was a dragon . A dragon would be a hundred times better .
The two guards each grab one of the doors and they slowly pull them open .
Seeing how sluggishly the doors are sliding, they must be quite heavy . Just like the weight bearing down on my chest right now .
I take in a big breath to try to calm my heart, readying myself for what’s to come . And then I don’t think about it anymore .
“Excuse me,” I say, bobbing a light curtsy before stepping through the doors .
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Once through, they slowly shut behind me, but I don’t even notice . I’m too focused on the ridiculous sight before me .
Just how big is this room? You could hold a 50 meter dash in here with plenty room for spectators on both ends . And there’s a table so long you must have to shout in order to be heard on the opposite side .
At the head of that ridiculously long table sits the king . With its current orientation, he has his back to the interior of the room, so he’s looking directly at me . Next to him on either side of the table sit the five heads of the top noble families as well as… . . Liz-san!?
Why is Liz-san here?
And she’s sitting next to Duke-Sama? As a commoner, shouldn’t she normally be at the opposite end of the table?
She’s completely disregarding my brothers, Gayle-Sama, Curtis-Sama, Eric-Sama, and Finn-Sama and throwing social etiquette out the window by sitting there . As expected of the heroine . Only she would have the audacity to sit next to a prince in the royal palace as a mere peasant .
But, that aside, what exactly is going on? What sort of meeting are we having here?
“Alicia, there’s something that I want to ask you . ”
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… . . No . Don’t wanna . Judging by the current atmosphere, I’m sure nothing good will come out of this for me .
If only Gilles was here . At least then I’d feel much more at ease . But I was clearly told to come alone… .
“Duran’s economy collapsed,” the kings says in a low, dignified tone . Although he didn’t speak loudly, his words still feel like they resound throughout the room .
Duran’s economy collapsed? That’s not really what I was expecting to hear, but that’s great . Just as I had predicted .
“How did you know this was going to happen?” Johan-Sama asks, his gaze fixated on me .
… . . I don’t believe I’ve mentioned thinking that their economy would collapse before . So how did he know? ……Can he read my mind?
“Isn’t that what you wrote on the blackboard three years ago? You know . The blackboard in the academy’s old library? That day, you wrote down a method for us to subjugate Ravaal, and one of the steps was to buy out Duran . That’s why we figured that Ali-chan must have already predicted that Duran’s economy would collapse,” Curtis-Sama kindly explains to me .
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Oh, so that’s how he knew . Phew . Just knowing that Johan-Sama isn’t someone that can read people’s minds makes me feel a lot better .
This seems like a golden opportunity to freely show off my villainess skills in front of all these bigshots .
“Well? How did you know?”
Oh Johan-Sama, must you always be so demanding when you ask me things? It’s quite scary . I’m just a thirteen-year-old girl, you know?
Instead of further trying to intimidate me, I wish you’d recognize just how much bravery I had to muster to come here on my own .
I take in a quick, deep breath before answering .
“That’s because there was a discrepancy between their productivity and their purchasing power . ”