Midnight as the moon is darkening
A girl slips away from the ongoing evening party.
The girl, Julianna, stands in front of a horse carriage engraved with the House Lewis's crest of the lion.
The Marquis House Lewis
Its ancestor, Leon Lewis, was a close friend and confidant of the Hero-King Abel Rowlands.
Since the founding of the country, House Lewis has continued to be a loyal retainer, serving the king alongside the other two of the Royal Family's Three Pillars, the Duchy House Inglot and the Duchy House of Olcott.
It is said that House Lewis has many excellent descendants, with access to connections and intelligence from various regions. The present head of House Lewis holds the post of prime minister and has sworn fealty to the current king.
A maid alights from the carriage.
"Welcome back, my lady. Was everything fine at the evening party?"
"Indeed, I have fulfilled my duty to sufficiently maintain father's reputation. Let's go home for today."
"Understood. My lady, your hand please."
Taking the maid's hand, Julianna got into the carriage.
Giving a signal to the coachman, they headed towards the Lewis estate.
"Fui-, I'm so tired."
In the carriage, the maid raised her eyebrows at the exhausted Julianna.
"My lady, those who are ladies must not make unladylike sounds in carriages."
"Isn't it fine, Marie? I'm properly performing "the Perfect Lady" outside anyway."
"If you are performing, then please continue to always perform."
"If I was always performing, then that wouldn't be 'performing', but just who I really was."
And then it wouldn't be fun, Julianna continued, to which the maid sighed and shook her head in despair.
Marie is my personal maid.
She is a beautiful woman with caramel-coloured hair and black eyes that seem to draw you in.
A top-grade maid with terrifying combat skills contrary to her appearance.
And I, Julianna, the eldest daughter of the Marquis House Lewis, am the mistress who has made a maid like her sigh.
In public, I am called the Perfect Lady, but it is nothing more than me acting as the Perfect Lady.
Everything is fabricated. That fabrication is my hobby, and my enjoyment.
It all began when I started reading aloud books to my younger brother who had a weak constitution.
At first, it was only adding accents to my voice. Next, I completely became the characters by imitating voices.
Thereupon, my brother liked these, and I began raising my acting ability each time to make my brother happy.
Year after year, my brother got healthier and then he turned ten, and entered a boarding military school.
Thus, as someone who had lost their audience, I turned my eyes to the outside.
The next time, I decided to 'perform' outside.
At times a merchant's daughter, an innkeeper's daughter, a blacksmith's son, the third son of a farmer, a maid, a fallen noble, a street performer and so on, et cetera, I acted as a variety of people, and acted, and acted in my acting spree.
There are roles that I stopped after acting one time, and there are some that I continued in for years.
At first, each time I sneaked away from home and got caught, I would be scolded harshly, but now, because of the extensive intelligence network I have from my roles, I am tolerated so long as I don't neglect my position as a marquis' daughter.
Although unintentional, under the pretext of this side effect, I am enjoying my acting.
Dozing off, I arrived at a certain estate of House Lewis in the capital.
"Welcome home, my lady"
The servants' voices resound throughout the entrance hall.
"I want to quickly take a bath and sleep."
"Preparations have been made."
While wondering, "Which bath salts will it be today?" I headed towards the bathroom with Marie at a quick pace.
"Haa? A letter of summons from the second prince, Edward? Are you certain, Marie?"
"My lady, those who are ladies do not use ill-bred language like 'haa'. It is indeed a letter of summon from the second prince to personally addressed to my lady."
"To me personally…"
Two days after the evening party, while I was doing work on the terrace, Marie told me something unexpected.
Drinking a mouthful of the black tea Marie steeped, my heart calmed down.
Right, let's pretend we didn't hear anything!
Decision made, I returned to the unfinished paperwork on flood control in the march.
Trying to escape from reality, I wanted to start the construction early since this year's abundant harvest meant that there were plenty of emergency food reserves. Then Marie called out 'my lady' to which I acknowledge, and then she presented to me the letter of summons.
I can see a dark aura…
I took the letter of summons before Marie could start her lecture.
The contents said, "I have important things to discuss so I want you to come to castle tomorrow." From the second prince, to me.
"Perhaps the rumours are true."
"The second prince Edward is meeting with many daughters of nobility to decide on a fiancée, apparently."
"Yes, although it seems that it does not necessarily mean 'meet'. To be spoken to by the second prince, or to be stared at by him, and the like. Some daughters of nobility were boasting about this at yesterday's evening party.
"Boasting? Is my lady jealous of those daughters of nobility?"
"Not at all. Why must I be jealous?"
The second prince, Edward Rowlands.
Born as the prince of the queen consort, he is the first in the line of succession to the throne.
A beautiful appearance, with a calm and kind personality.
To me, the prince dubbed "the Ideal Prince" is a third-rate actor.
What "Ideal Prince"? It's true that his looks are good, but saying he has a calm and kind personality is a lie. With his kind words and calm face, he leads people in the direction he deems correct without fail.
We're definitely not the same!
"Well, it is an official letter of summons… A position like that of a marquis' daughter can't disobey royalty."
"Then I will reply with my lady's acceptance to his highness tomorrow."
"Thanks."
I returned to work in a melancholic mood.
I am, at present, in front of the second prince's office.
Honestly, I want to run away.
The second prince's maid who had kindly guided me and didn't know about my feelings opened the door to the office.
And there were three men.
At the back of the room, sat the second prince Edward, a shady smile on his face and resting his chin on his hands at the desk.
To the prince's right stood his chief of staff, Lord Silas Inglot.
The heir to the Duchy of House Inglot, one of the Royal Family's Three Pillars.
Emerald green eyes and glossy black hair arranged at his back, he is a man whose noble and refined bearing makes you want to take a closer look.
It seems that he is called "the Cold-Blooded Chief of Staff" in the shadows.
To the prince's left stood the knight captain of the third order of the royal guards, Lord Kiel Maybrick.
The third son of the Earl House Maybrick, the best swordsman in the kingdom, and the youngest captain of the royal guards.
Red hair cut short and amber eyes with a large build, he is strong and strikes a fine figure of a man.
It seems that he is called "the Muscle-Brained Lion" in the shadows.
Hold on a second, the lion is House Lewis's family crest though.
They looked at me, Chief of Staff Silas with a sharp look that seemed to see through me, Captain Kiel looking at me as if seeing something interesting, and Prince Edward with his shady smile that hadn't changed.
What the three men had in common was how they seemed to look right through me.
Why must I be evaluated like this… I thought hostile thoughts internally as I made a perfect's lady's courtesy.
"Good day. I am visiting because of Prince Edward's letter of summons. I am the eldest daughter of Marquis Lewis, Julianna."
"Yes, we have anticipated your arrival, Lady Julianna. Could you sit there?"
What Prince Edward pointed at was the sofa in the middle of the office.
It must have been placed there for the purpose of small talk.
I was guided by the maid and sat down on the sofa.
Then Prince Edward sat down opposite me, with Chief of Staff Silas sitting next to him. Captain Kiel stood behind Edward, guarding him.
"Don't be so tense… is an impossible ask I guess."
My apologies, your highness. Please, it is my first time receiving a personal letter of summons from a member of the royal family so… I am very nervous."
"Even nervous, your courtesy before was flawless."
"My, even though it might not have seemed so, but I was shaking from nervousness and made an utmost effort."
"If the men of nobility knew that I had made the rumoured "Perfect Lady" Julianna nervous, I might be knocked down by them."
"Well, that would be impossible. Me too, if the daughters of nobility knew that I had been summoned by the rumoured "Ideal Prince" it would be a terrible scene."
I chatted with Prince Edward as I internally thought in irritation, when will we get to the real issue?
The maid placed black tea and pastries onto the table.
I thought we would continue dragging on this pointless conversation, when Chief of Staff Silas opened his mouth for the first time since I entered the room.
"His highness and Lady Julianna have important matters to discuss. You maids leave the room."
The maids in the room obeyed.
The maids started to leave the room.
Maybe she liked to gossip, but one maid reluctantly looked back.
I also want to leave the room with them.
"What important matters, your highness?"
"Indeed, what I mean by important matters is: Lady Julianna, you are 'Lia" aren't you?"
"'Lia'… is that some sort of official's position?"
"It's not an official's position. 'Lia' is a name."
"A name… As your highness is aware, my name is Julianna. My nickname also isn't 'Lia', but Anna. Which is why I don't think I am who your highness calls 'Lia'."
Prince Edward held out a scrap of paper to the me who was denying everything.
This piece of paper was crumpled and old.
"A 'I will do anything you say' voucher written in bold writing, signed at the bottom right with the name 'Lia.'
Edward, who gazed at the scrap of paper, started talking.
"This scrap of paper, seven years ago I received it when I was 14 from a certain girl. Her name was 'Lia.'"
"This girl… 'Lia', did she look similar to me?"
Nervously, I asked Prince Edward who replied plainly.
"You're not similar at all."
Puzzled, my facial expression changed to one of surprise.
Putting the surprised me to one side, Prince Edward continued to talk.
"At that time, she was 11. Her appearance was of bronze hair and chocolate eyes. She said she was the daughter of an innkeeper in the capital."
"That… I don't think she and I have any points of resemblance."
"That's right, there isn't even a single point of resemblance. Which is why I think you are Lia. You see Julianna, I have continued searching for Lia for seven years. To begin, I investigated every innkeeper's daughter in the capital. Well, I wasn't expecting anything, and indeed there wasn't a girl called Lia. Next, I investigated daughters of nobility. Because in my conversations with 'Lia', I discovered the possibility of her being a daughter of nobility was high. That was the biggest hint she gave me. I searched through the daughters of nobility who were the same age as her but didn't find her. Next, I searched the daughters of nobility who had the same hair and eye colour as her… but even with that I didn't find her. Which is why, Julianna. I decided to look for her in the ladies who didn't have similar features to 'Lia'. And then, watched them from afar, talked to them, personally met them to check. And, Julianna, there wasn't a lady who I thought was more like 'Lia' than you."
Like that, Prince Edward talked on and on in one breath.
His manner of speech became casual and he stopped referring to me by title.
It seems as if his highness's real nature is showing and while I was a little startled, I drank a mouthful of black tea which calmed me down.
"I am… Julianna, your highness."
"That's right. But if you aren't 'Lia', then next I'll have to search for her in men. Right now, there are rumours I am looking for a bride, but next there will be rumours about my homosexuality."
"――――！？ Um… Why does your highness want to find 'Lia' to that extent?"
It seemed like I was going to be forced to be 'Lia' so I shifted the topic.
"I want her, Lia that is. Because she is the only woman who has bested me. Aa, but right now I'm having doubts she could be a man."
While saying this, Prince Edward held out a card to me.
On the card was written, "To father, happy birthday. From Julianna."
It's the card I send to my father on his birthday when I was 10 years old.
Why is such a thing in the prince's hands? - While thinking this, I was informed by the prince with intense words.
"From the handwriting analysis, 'Lia's' handwriting and Julianna, your handwriting, are the same. The analysis was done by the chief of the official records from the records department."
Speaking of the records department, it is the department that records the Kingdoms of Rowlands' histories. The expectations of the royal family are that it leave behind the truth of history, uninfluenced. If I denied judgement from the head of this department with such strong neutrality, it would be the same as denying the Kingdom of Rowlands itself.
"Now then 'Lia', I have also taken off the mask of the Ideal Prince. Why don't you also stop acting as the Perfect Lady?"
High-handedly and wearing a smile of true enjoyment, Prince Edward said bluntly.
The second prince who was said to be the 'Ideal Prince' no longer existed.
T h i s b l a c k h e a r t e d p r i n c e ! !
At least as some form of resistance, I cursed at him internally.