Happy Friday!
How did you….
I was impressed.
How could you, find such a place to hide in this kind of tasteless place. Did we go somewhere else, there was clearly more trees and bushes than when I came here last time. Over there was Dia, and on that side was His Highness Prince Romeo, etc., I knew of everyone's hiding places beforehand, so if I carefully looked around, I would be able to find them. Somehow.
On top of the cloth that was spread out, we put multiple baskets down, I had Yurii-sama eat and I also ate.
「This is the tastiest.」
「Ara! Ara ara ara! You said something nice, Prince Yuriel! I made that.」
「Really? Matilda can cook?」
「Erika can do it tooo.」
「Don't lie. Erika and I are completely hopeless t it.」
「That's not truee. If I try my best, it would sometimes turn out welll. Ne-, Mirabell-chan.」
Erika was talking to me who was spaced out, but I wasn't listening to what they were talking about.
「Eh? What?」
When I tilted my head in confusion, Erika pouted.
「Mou-! Listen properlyy.」
When I apologized, Erika slightly lowered her eyebrows as if she was sad.
Aah, even though Eika was also difficult, if I'm careless, it won't be good.
「But, buttt, as expected, it feels like it tastes better than normal when we eat outsidee.」
「Is that so. Mira, here, eat this.」
Ara ara ara.
「Let's try eating our vegetables, even if it's just a little, ok, Yurii-sama?」
He did well to only have a leaf left. I also wanted him to have a little more protein if he ate that.
Pouting, Yurii-sama began to eat the lettuce bit by bit. I could see his entire face scrunching up together, was that an optical illusion.
He was praised a lot by everyone, so he ate somewhat more than normal. Un, how admirable.
After he finished eating, Yurii-sama talked about medicinal herbs today as well and surprised those around him. Because he was revealing knowledge that none of us knew, you definitely wouldn't think that he was a six year old child.
Even the herbs growing around here had proper names, and can turn into both medicine and poison. Rather than the herbs, everyone was watching Yurii-sama who was absorbed in explaining in a daze, the time passed extremely calmly.
Aah, if only this moment continued on forever, or something.
If I had realized various things a lot earlier, perhaps it would've ended with a lot less people who would be sad. However…it's, already too late.
「Because I will give you the medicine that I compounded when you guys are sick!」
Everyone all pressed down on their chest. Mou, he's so adorable. And kind.
「…u…um.」
Melissa, called my name as if she groaning, and looked back and forth between both Yurii-sama and I. Matilda furrowed her brows and stared doubtfully at Melissa. Erika, unlike usual, hugged Yurii-sama with an awkward smile.
「…um…. No…no, thing….」
Matilda shook her fist up and down at Melissa, who, in the end, shut her mouth.
「What, you're a girl who doesn't say things properly. Spit it out.」
Giving Matilda a fleeting glance, Melissa frowned, and her eyes became wet.
「What happened? Does it hurt somewhere? Matilda! You shouldn’t have said it like that.」
Separating himself from Erika, Yurii-sama went in between Matilda and Melissa. He stood there as if protecting Melissa. And then, he patted Melissa's arm as if comforting her.
Widening her eyes, Melissa, suddenly raised her voice and cried.
「Wro…, wrong… it's wrong. Wrong, wrong….」
When Yurii-sama patted Melissa who was sitting down on the head, Melissa crouched down again and cried.
Perhaps she thought that she had made her cry, Matilda looked bewildered as she sat down like Melissa in a fluster.
「W, what… I'm not criticizing you or anything! C, certainly, my way of speaking may have been harsh, but….」
「You're wrong…, Mati, you're wrong…. I, …I…, did something, wrong….」
Aah, anymore than this, wouldn't be good.
「Yurii-sama, His Highness Prince Alan and Dia are over there. Please, run over there quickly. Can you do it?」
When I whispered this into Yurii-sama's ear, Yurii-sama shook his head.
「Melissa is, crying.」
Sorry, even though he's such a gentle child, I deceived him. I did not want the small and pure prince to know that, this entire picnic was a trap.
「Please. Please. This is Mira's request of a lifetime.」
「…no.」
「Prince Yuriel. Please.」
「No!!」
Glaring at me as if he was about to cry anytime, after taking a deep breath, Yurii-sama raised his voice and shouted.
「Don't look down on me! Everyone, it's everyone!! I know that 'm a child! Even children can think, even children can understand it!! Everyone, don't look down on me!!」
Those eyes were, looking around at all of our surroundings.
I felt dizzy.
Aah, what a smart child. This child, when did he notice it. And since when, did he start acting as if he didn't notice anything.
「There's, definitely a reason for this. I hate you guys who tried to lure her into a trap without confirming it!!」
Hugging Melissa, Yurii-sama gently put his hand into her pocket and took the silver knife away.
Matilda’s eyes widened, and Erika turned her head away. Yurii-sama was the only one who was looking directly at Melissa.
「I don’t know why Melissa would try to kill me. However, you only brought this knife here today because I said that I wanted to see it. If there were some other instances where I had been in danger until now, I had Melissa do all of that. I was bored every day, so I asked it of her because I wanted some kind of thrill. That’s why, Melissa Everett is completely blameless!」
Biting her lips and shaking her head, Melissa repeatedly apologized to Yurii-sama.
「You’re wrong, I, Prince Yuriel, I….」
「If that's what I said, then that’s what happened!!」
Turning around to look at me, Yurii-sama’s eyes told me that he wouldn’t accept anything other than a positive answer.
「Mira’s the witness. Whenever I told Melissa to do something, Mira was with me.」
Of course, Yurii-sama had never told her to send an assassin for himself, not even once. However, if the person himself said so, then that’s all there was to it. No matter how much a third party accused her of being guilty, they wouldn’t be able to change anything.
Not only that, if there was even a witness, then there wouldn’t even be a case.
It must be remembered that you have been entrusted with my protection, you must respect my wishes. Yurii-sama seemed to be saying that.
「…yes.」
What caused me to doubt Melissa was, the person who infiltrated the school, the assassin who was defeated by Dia.
I did not think that a high-ranked noble would hire that kind of, assassin-for-hire who was, at most, a commoner. Even if, they weren’t working together with their parents, even if the opposition, a student, or teacher from the school that the children from families of high social standing attend was using their own power, the people were too ill-prepared.
Melissa’s otousama was a noble who did not have a rank. Attorney Everett was, extremely popular, was famous for being an attorney who had never lost, and his salary was also the highest, but it could not be compared to the income of the parents of the students who attended our school.
Having said that, Melissa did not have any enemies within the school. This was because Attorney Everett was a noble who used to be a commoner and he helped a lot of people.
If, for argument's sake, the daughter of the number one attorney who was not a noble, Melissa, hired someone with her own pocket money, wouldn't they be around the levels of the assassins that were sent this time.
Of course, I wasn't confident because of that.
It began when, we headed to the Alwick estate.
Only Matilda, Erika, and Melissa knew that I went to Alwick House. I thought that if it were the three people who knew that I did not want others to know that I was close with Alfonso Alwick, they wouldn't tell others.
And, I had previously told them that I was going to the Alwick estate, and on the appointed day, we purposely, with much effort, took a detour to the Alwick estate.
The original path that we were supposed to take was where Pascal-sama and the chivalric order headed to, and sure enough, they suppressed the enemies that were lying in wait. Pascal-sama came to visit me at the Alwick estate because of that report.
As expected, the enemies that were suppressed there were incompetent, they easily disclosed their employer's identity.
And, the number one deciding factor.
What Erika said when she came to visit me on the day that she had a dispute with Cain.
「Please, Mirabell-chan. Together with Erika, help Melisschan.」
Erika, who probably came over intending to tell me everything, told me everything she knew without hesitation.
「I heard the conversation between Alfonso-sama, and Cain-sama. I had an appointment with Alfonso-sama, and when I arrived at the courtyard, Cain-sama started talking to Alfonso-sama.」
You too, have started looking into Melissa Everett, haven't you. It seems that Cain, asked Al this.
It seems that Al, feignied ignorance by saying that he didn't know what he was talking about, but from Erika's point of view, it was obvious that that was a lie.
After Cain left, Erika, who pretended to have just arrived, did not ask Al. Because she did not think that Al would honestly tell her.
She even snuck into Al's room, who, using his personal connections, occasionally made progress on the investigation. Before long, she was confident that Melissa was planning on killing Yurii-sama.
Not learning his lesson, Cain had also continued to extort Al for a long time, so thinking that it was a misunderstanding since he was so doubtful, Erika also didn't stop investigating, she even borrowed Melissa's personal belongings (mainly official papers) without her knowing.
「Please, Mirabell-chan. I know that it's something that I shouldn't do. Erika also knows that Erika covering up for Melisschan doing something that she shouldn't do is not right. I don't want Prince Yuriel to get hurt. I'm mad at Melisschan who tried to hurt him. But, but, for Erika, Melisschan is also important.」
I realized that, Al too, after confirming, planned on telling Erika and I after obtaining more concrete evidence.
I saw Al comforting the despondent Erika, and I somehow knew that she was the life partner that Al was talking about the other day.
And then, His Highness Prince Romeo made the proposal of entrapping Melissa, and I immediately told Erika about it.
Melissa will definitely give up on it. Both Erika and I believed that. However, right now, I even felt ashamed.
Somewhere in our hearts, we still doubted Melissa. Something like how she might go into a frenzy and do something unexpected. Because of that, we cornered her to this point where there was no escape.
But Yurii-sama.
Yurii-sama, who should've been the most heartbroken, hugged her while knowing that she was targeting his life, and extended a helping hand.
It would be good if I could become a kind person like this child.
I, and surely Erika as well, though that.