Each time Delight took a step, the surrounding air grew heavier.
Before I knew it, he approached and personally picked up a hairpin that had fallen on the ground.
“You gave this to my daughter as a gift.”
Delight asked as he examined it closely.
A mage of his level would have immediately recognized what this item was.
“…Y-Your Majesty.”
Lianne had already turned pale since the moment Delight appeared.
“Why is everyone acting so strange? I came here because I was told you were all waiting for me.”
Initially, everyone was indeed waiting for him to arrive.
But now the situation had changed.
Everyone was busy avoiding eye contact with him.
“Dad! It’s been so long!”
At this moment, I stepped forward.
Delight narrowed his eyes at me, but before long, he smiled widely.
“My darling daughteeer! It’s been so long!”
Despite being the one responsible for the tense atmosphere, he hugged me and rubbed his cheek against mine, completely oblivious to anything else.
Ugh, ease up a bit, will you?
My face was being squashed from the pressure against my cheek.
“I missed you so much, I thought about you every night and couldn’t wait to come back.”
“Then why did it take you so long?”
“Well… there were some unavoidable circumstances.”
He sighed deeply, as if truly upset, and explained.
“Do you know how much I’ve grown in the meantime?”
“Now that you mention it… you’re speaking so clearly now.”
Delight looked me over carefully, realizing this with a smile.
“You were so cute when you spoke without knowing what you were saying.”
“Are you sad about it?”
He should be overjoyed at my growth—there’s no time to feel sad about it!
“Of course not. I’m just proud of how much you’ve grown.”
It hadn’t even been a full year.
While there had been changes, they weren’t so dramatic as to make me unrecognizable.
But that alone was enough for Delight to feel genuinely moved, and I was happy to see him marvel at my growth.
I couldn’t help but giggle to myself.
“But what to do? I have so much to talk about with my Ollia, but there’s some work I need to take care of. Can we catch up later?”
“Of course!”
Now that Delight had returned safely, I gladly stepped back like a good daughter, making way for him to handle the important matters.
Delight’s smile had vanished at some point.
“You gave this hairpin to Ollia as a gift.”
Delight carefully removed the enchanted artifact of temptation that was cunningly embedded in the hairpin.
“Ollia, how did you know this was a magic stone?”
Damn. He must have overheard everything I said at the door.
“Well, that’s…”
Explaining how I knew everything about this plan was the biggest issue.
There was no other choice.
“The truth is—”
“I told her.”
Just as I was about to answer, a servant who had been attending to the banquet removed his hat and stepped forward.
Delight raised one eyebrow, recognizing him.
“…Why is Prince Serdin dressed like that?”
The servant was none other than Serdin, dressed in disguise.
“They wouldn’t let me enter, so I had to take on this appearance for a while.”
Serdin briefly explained the situation.
“After the princess received that hairpin, it seemed strange that she suddenly became so attached to this woman, so I investigated. I suspected it might be an enchanted artifact of temptation, so I discreetly warned her.”
Serdin’s explanation seemed convincing. Then, he glanced at me.
“I’ll help you. I’ll be there for you when you need it.”
Back when Lianne tried to block Serdin from approaching me, he had secretly come to me and asked what I planned to do, promising to help with anything.
‘He really kept his promise.’
It seems that Lianne tried to stop Serdin, but he snuck in by pretending to be a servant.
He even came up with an excuse to help me out of this difficult situation.
“You’ve helped the princess again, haven’t you?”
Delight looked at Serdin with a peculiar gaze, then shifted his attention to Lianne.
“Were you trying to brainwash the princess to secure the position of Empress? How audacious.”
It was then that Lianne, who had remained silent until now, suddenly started to plead her case in a trembling voice.
“I only did it for the princess and the empire…!”
Lianne offered an absurd excuse.
“I was supposed to become Empress! The Empress who took my place is no longer in this world, so I just wanted to reclaim my rightful position!”
But she seemed to genuinely believe what she was saying. Her voice, filled with bitterness, made the veins on her neck stand out, and her eyes were bloodshot.
Her appearance was filled with an incomprehensible sense of sorrow.
However, Delight didn’t seem to think she was worth his time. He merely furrowed his brows and turned away.
“Duke Shanen.”
Instead, he called out to Lianne’s father, Duke Shanen, in a heavy voice.
The duke, who had been hiding in the corner of the banquet hall, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible, had no choice but to step forward.
“Your Majesty, my daughter acted foolishly out of greed.”
Reluctantly, the duke came forward, throwing himself flat on the floor and begging for forgiveness.
Delight, on the other hand, did not change his expression as he coldly looked down at him.
“Where did she get this item?”
“I do not know. Lianne acted on her own.”
“Father!”
“Silence! After committing such a foolish act, what more could you have to say? I will not forgive you either!”
“Haha. You two don’t seem to have a very good relationship as father and daughter.”
“.. ….”
“How disappointing.”
Delight’s voice sank even lower.
This was his true sentiment, directed at Duke Shanen, whom he saw as an irresponsible and selfish father.
“There’s no way your daughter could have obtained this on her own.”
His tone was filled with certainty, as if there was no need for an investigation. It was clear that he already knew the situation before arriving.
“This item was sold at an underground auction.”
Delight’s words caused a stir.
“What? Is that true, Your Majesty?”
“The underground auction? That’s a forbidden place in our Promian Empire.”
“I thought it only remained in Ilnord. How did they even get there…?”
“His Majesty strictly prohibited any underground dealings or slave trades through auctions.”
“Everyone seems well aware of that.”
Delight glanced at the murmuring crowd as he spoke.
At once, they fell silent again.
“Duke Shanen. Do you have anything to say to me?”
“Your Majesty, I swear I did not acquire this from an underground auction! If I had known it came from such a place, I would never have traded for it!”
“…….”
“It’s true that we committed an unforgivable sin by using the enchanted artifact of temptation, but that’s not how it happened!”
As Delight remained silent, Duke Shanen grew more desperate and attempted to explain himself more fervently, but his words were to no avail.
The colder Delight’s reaction became.
“Are you aware that just beyond the border where I visited recently, there’s an underground auction?”
“…What?”
Duke Shanen’s eyes trembled with fear.
“Do you remember when the princess was much younger, and some impudent maids tampered with the magic stones in her room?”
As he gazed directly into Duke Shanen’s eyes, Delight spoke calmly.
“At that time, we discovered fake magic stones during an investigation. We traced them back to a noble within the empire, but the trail went cold after that.”
“…….”
“Whoever it was didn’t leave even the smallest clue. It was quite impressive, really.”
Delight looked at Duke Shanen intently, as if seeing through him.
“The Shanen family doesn’t own any magic stone mines, do they? Mostly gemstone mines.”
“…Hrk.”
At this remark, Duke Shanen let out a choking sound as though his breath had been cut off. It seemed that Delight had hit the mark.
“It seems I missed something. The family distributing the counterfeit magic stones within the empire was none other than the Shanen family.”
So, they were involved with counterfeit magic stones as well.
Delight had been continuously investigating whether someone was distributing fake magic stones inside the empire.
I, too, had been watching closely, ever since Lianne gave me the enchanted artifact of temptation that could only be obtained at an underground auction.
As I suspected, my guess was correct.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
“You’d better start thinking of more excuses. I’m not sure if any of them will work, though.”
Though Duke Shanen shouted desperately, Delight ignored him completely.
“I ordered an investigation as soon as I arrived. The results should be coming in shortly.”
Duke Shanen had no fight left in him.
“As of today, all rights of the Shanen family are revoked. Furthermore, you are no longer considered nobles of the Promian Empire.”
Delight’s declaration was resolute.
The people in the banquet hall fell silent, unable to utter a word.
“This concludes the meeting.”
With those words from Delight, the nobles, who had been watching warily, began to hurry out, as if fleeing.
They left without making a sound, not even caring if they bumped into others or if their hair got disheveled.
In no time, the banquet hall became empty.
Delight’s voice echoed toward Duke Shanen and Lianne.
“You know what the investigation will reveal, don’t you?”
The investigation was merely a formality. What mattered now was how well they would cooperate and confess.
“Think of your time in prison as a vacation.”
Duke Shanen and Lianne were dragged away by the knights.
“Oh, I almost forgot to mention something.”
Just as Duke Shanen had left the room and Lianne was about to exit, Delight called out to her with a meaningful tone.
“You said the Empress’s seat is vacant.”
“……..”
Lianne’s face drooped, as though her spirit had been drained.
Whether it was because she didn’t want to accept her situation or couldn’t endure it anymore, she seemed to have given up.
It didn’t seem like anything Delight said would truly reach her.
Still, Delight twisted the knife further with a sharp grin.
“The Empress’s seat isn’t vacant. That means it was never yours to begin with.”
“…!!!”
Her head, which had hung low like a broken branch, snapped up.
Lianne’s lifeless face was now filled with shock and disbelief.
“Y-Your Majesty! What do you mean? Why isn’t the Empress’s seat… Your Majesty…!”
But she wasn’t given the chance to ask any more questions.
Her voice gradually faded, and then, there was nothing.
