The Villainess Is Being Doted on by the Crown Prince of the Neighboring Country 54 - Ring of the Sky
"Grail!"
"…Aquasteed, it's been a while."
Aquasteed's voice sounded rough as he stepped foot into Grail's domain. Grail greeted him with a laugh. Aquasteed realized that he must know a lot already, and he sighed.
Grail's domain, the sky temple.
Keith's castle was in the forest, Pearl's palace was at the bottom of the sea. Grail's temple was up in the sky. Even if you knew where it was, normal people would have no way of coming here.
Currently, Aquasteed was the only person who had been blessed by the Fairy King of the sky, and he alone could visit.
"Hard times."
"You could have come to help, if you thought so."
Unlike the female appearance he had until recently, he now had a low voice and short hair. The king who now wore men's clothes said, 'No.' And laughed coldly.
He brushed his blue and white hair over his ears and closed the book he was reading.
"I was waiting here. It's impressive, really."
"…I am grateful."
He sighed internally. Grail wanted Aquasteed to praise him for waiting in the temple.
It wasn't the gentle voice he had when dressing as a woman. The air around them now felt cold. It was surprising that he was able to act so different compared to his usual personality… Aquasteed thought.
He was usually in Queen Pearl's palace. He stayed there all the time ever since Pearl fell into her sleep. Perhaps none of this was surprising then, considering that he rarely came here anymore.
"There are two things that I would like to know. The reason that Tiara will not wake up, and about this prison that Olivia is supposed to be in."
"The reason that Tiararose will not wake up, is because the ring was forcefully taken from her. That ring requires time for it to become a part of your body."
"So it is the ring…"
Aquasteed clenched his fists tightly upon hearing this.
He hated himself. None of this would have happened if he was stronger. Grail saw Aquasteed like this and said, 'you were just unlucky.'
"That butler…Levy. He is strong. But if you fought with everything you have, you would be the stronger one."
"There is no point, now that it is in the past."
"Well, that is true."
Grail chuckled and continued.
"We Fairy King's all have our own rings. They hold power, and bless whoever carries them."
"Rings of the Fairy Kings…"
The ring of the Fairy King of the forest promised fertility to the country.
The ring of the Fairy King of the sky allowed you to manipulate the vibrations in the air and make your voice carry much farther.
The ring of the Fairy Queen of the sea nullified any liquid poison.
Grail laughed and said that these rings were desired by all, but that none had ever acquired them.
"But didn't Tiara have the ring of the Fairy Queen of the sea?"
Clearly, he was wrong in saying that no one had ever acquired them. But Grail said, 'no,' quietly.
"The ring takes a while to become a part of your body. So Tiararose is not the true owner of the ring yet. Besides, she is not even conscious."
"I see."
Indeed, these were rings with immense power. It was not all that strange, now that he thought of it.
"But…"
"I don't know why Tiararose and Levy knew of that place."
This was almost too unexpected for him.
Should I have had Tiararose monitored daily? Grail said jokingly.
Of course, he would never do such a thing, as Aquasteed would not be pleased.
But for now, they decided that the best course of action would be to try and retrieve the ring.
"So, the prisons…then."
"She doesn't seem to be in any of this country's prisons. But I don't think it is likely that she is in a foreign country either. Do you know any places that humans can't enter?"
Grail put a finger to his lips and thought.
A prison that humans didn't know about. To be frank, yes, there was. But this was a place that no human had ever known about, and Grail himself had not visited that place for a long time.
And so it was not possible-or so he wanted to say.
"Things that are abnormal happen as if they are normal with Tiararose."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Oh? Tiararose is mysterious. The fact that she was blessed by Keith means that she is no ordinary girl. But you know that, don't you, Aquasteed?"
Tiararose was the only woman in the whole country who was blessed by the fairies of the forest.
That was surprising in itself, but then the Fairy King of the forest became captivated with her. There was nothing that was more abnormal.
"O wind, tell me the current situation of the board prison…"
Grails voice called to the wind and trailed off. He had been expressionless up until now, but his eyebrows suddenly narrowed.
-Bingo?
At least, it seemed to be, by his reaction. One of their problems were solved now.
"She was there?"
"…Yes. But how did she get in there? Only us three are supposed to know how to get in."
"What if the others told someone else?
"Impossible."
Grail denied it without pausing for a second.
"That prison is not so easy to enter. It was made so that even a Fairy King would not be able to escape if they were imprisoned there."
"King?"
"…Let us go take a look for now. It seems that this Olivia Ariadale is quite weak."
He wanted to know more about this board prison, but Grail didn't seem to want to talk about it.
Besides, this news about Lady Olivia's health was worrying.
-I guess it is not surprising that the butler was so desperate.