Volume 3 Chapter 5: Everything Ends (2/2)

That’s right – the true identity of the master of disguise of the Ministry of Magic, Lahna Smith, is actually Suzanna Randall, the fiancée of the First Prince Geoffrey.

The only ones who know of this fact apart Geoffrey are a few higher-ups in the Ministry.

To explain why I’m going as far as to disguise myself and use a fake name, if I worked in the Ministry as ‘Suzanna’, I wouldn’t be able to move as freely as I can now.

Well, thanks to my secret identity, I can conveniently take on Geoffrey’s requests from the shadows.

Geoffrey was the one who requested that I investigate the House of Mason due to the kidnapping incident – or to be more precise, after noticing their suspicious behaviour. Thanks to his request, the case was quickly closed.

Geoffrey Stuart is a man who, contrary to how he looks, is not only pretty good at his job but is also secretly doing a lot in the shadows.

So then why would he let a man, rumoured to be secretly doing terrible things, into his faction? The reasoning is simple – Geoffrey purposefully let him into his faction to get him moving, so he could then push him to ruin after gathering plenty of evidence of his misdeeds.

Based on that reasoning, he herds a lot of people like that into his faction, purposefully preventing them from joining Ian’s faction. Thus, there’s many ne’er-do-wells in his faction. And yet, he doesn’t care – he’s happy with that.

That’s right – he doesn’t really want to ascend the throne at all.

There’s only one thing on his mind.

“Hm, but most importantly, that bastard Mason – I really can’t forgive him for going after Ian and Jared behind my back. Looks like I’ll have to crush him into dust,” he says once I finish my report on the main details of the case.

Geoffrey smiles oh-so-very evilly. His expression makes me think that Mason is done for.

If Mason had just done some small-scale misdeeds, he would’ve gotten off with a normal punishment… but to go after Geoffrey’s brothers… I have no doubt a punishment that greatly exceeds his expectations is awaiting him.

“Ah, but I’m glad all’s well that ends well. Were my wonderful brothers doing well?”

“Yes, they were fine.”

“Thank goodness!” Geoffrey says, jumping up from his chair. He runs to the wall and throws open some curtains on the wall.

“Ah, my brothers are really wonderful,” says Geoffrey.

He stands by an oil portrait of his three brothers, hung securely on the wall. Normally, it’s hidden by the curtains.

That’s right – Geoffrey Stuart is in reality a pervert who loves his brothers to an abnormal extent. (On a side note, only a few people including myself know of this fact.)

And so, fighting with Ian for the throne is all an act. While pretending to fight for the throne, he’s secretly keeping an eye out for any strange or dangerous people and helping Ian out by preventing them from joining Ian’s faction.

He’s also always watching out for his twin little brothers as well, making sure that no weird people come near them.

There’s only one thing on this mind – to make sure that the brothers he so loves can live happily.

To accomplish his goal, this perverted prince will do absolutely anything.

When we first met, I greeted him by telling him that I had no interest in anything other than magical research and that I had no interest in being a princess. In response, he told me that he had no interest in anything other than his brothers and that he had no intention to ascend the throne. It’s a nice memory.

We’ve ended up getting along fairly well since that first meeting ten years ago. And so we continued our everyday life of pursuing and punishing evildoers, I for the Ministry of Magic, him for his brothers.

However, I do appreciate this pervert for being largely the reason why I can avoid the topic of marriage as I do as I please in the Ministry.

“Oh, these eyes, they’re just like mine,” says the pervert, lost in his thoughts as he gazes at the oil painting. I don’t understand what he’s saying.

He probably won’t return to reality for a while, so I help myself to some tea that had been prepared in his room. Mm, it’s delicious – little wonder from tea prepared for royalty.

But anyways, Katarina Claes really is an amusing girl.

She first caught my attention at the twin princes’ birthday party. Normally, I don’t really have much interest in others.

I was standing in the corner, a little tired of dealing with people. That’s when she came along and began eating the food at great speed. She then proceeded to chug down the wine before flopping down, drunk.

I was surprised to see someone act like that at a party held at the castle – she immediately caught my interest.

Then, the more I investigated her, the more amusing the rumours made her seem. Even though we hadn’t even met once, I really took a shine to her.

Just when I was feeling sad because I wasn’t able to talk with her much despite finally meeting her again at the festival, amazingly, she appeared during my infiltration mission. And so I was able to talk a lot with her.

After talking with her in reality, I learnt that she was even more amusing and wonderful than I had expected.

Ah, I want to put Katarina Claes in the Ministry of Magic and have her by my side.

I didn’t realize that my expression as I fantasized mirrored Geoffrey’s as he gazed at his oil painting.

************

With the incident over and done with, I return to my dorm room.

I had some kind of weird dream right after the incident and so my memories are a bit hazy, but Keith explained what had happened afterwards.

I’m sure that I had that weird dream because of sleep deprivation during the incident – that’s right, that has to be it. Well actually, oversleeping may be the real reason…

Anyways, apparently the case is closed.

The mastermind behind the incident was apparently a Marquis named David Mason. He had apparently executed his plan to place Geoffrey on the throne, but Geoffrey himself had no knowledge of Mason’s plans.

This was a bit off from my deductions, but I’m glad that it wasn’t a sibling fight.

On a side note, supposedly Rufus was sobbing his eyes out over at the Ministry of Magic as he revealed everything of Mason’s misdeeds, crying about how he did everything on Mason’s orders and that he had no choice.

Thanks partly to his sympathetic childhood, he wasn’t arrested for the crime and was instead taken in by the Ministry of Magic like Rafael.

To be honest, when I talked with him, he didn’t really seem that sympathetic and he didn’t seem that likely to start bursting into tears… but I guess he pulled it off well.

However, Keith and the others were lamenting that Rufus got off light. They’ve basically never met and yet they’re treating him like an enemy. Why?

The thing that surprised me the most after returning to the academy was that I was chosen for an Outstanding Achievement award.

At the very end of the school festival, students would nominate their favourite performances and other such student-made creations for the award – a few among the nominations would receive an Outstanding Achievement award.

Apparently my performance in the student council’s play was one of the things nominated for an Outstanding Achievement award. Supposedly, it was greatly praised for being so good it sent shivers of terror down everyone’s spine.

On a side note, Maria’s sweets were also very well received and were also chosen for an Outstanding Achievement award. As expected from Maria.

The award is just for the prestige and doesn’t have any prizes associated with it, but putting Maria aside, it’s pretty impressive for me to receive an award considered to be a great honour in the academy.

After all, no matter what I did I couldn’t seem to get it right – I was a stereotypical noble girl villainess. The next time I go home, I should bring along my award certificate.

Apparently my father had been pretty busy with his work so both my parents weren’t able to come to the school festival after all, so I’m sure they’ll be very happy if they see my certificate.

And so, though there were a few small surprises along the way, I returned to my everyday school life…

But I feel like Keith’s suddenly become overprotective.

He comes along with me no matter where I go. Not only Keith, actually – all my other friends too. They cling to me so tightly it makes me wonder what’s happening with all their student council work.

Well, I do kind of think it can’t be helped considering how much I worried them when I was kidnaped… but I also feel like it’s overkill even considering that.

Naturally, wanting some time alone, one day, I sneak out of the dorms and head to my field.

There stood a man who, in direct contrast to everyone else, barely showed his face in front of me since that incident.

“Jared-sama.”

“Ah, Katarina – we finally meet again,” says Jared, smiling beautifully.

I grow a little nervous as he nears, thanks to that weird dream I had right after the incident.

In that dream, for some reason, we had kissed. I have no idea why I had a dream like that… maybe I have so little experience with romance that my desires grew out of control? How embarrassing.

However, I had completely forgotten about the dream since I barely ever saw Jared for some reason since the incident. But seeing him standing in front of me makes me recall the dream, making me nervous.

But paying little attention to my internal turmoil, he draws near and holds me around my shoulders.

Not that I care or anything, but now that I’m more aware of him, Jared really likes touching me, doesn’t he?

Is it because he’s a prince? Is that why I grew frustrated and had such a dream… ugh, it’s all his fault.

“Since then, thanks to all the people getting in my way I wasn’t able to see you. I was really lonely, my beloved princess.”

His last words were word-for-word the line he said to the heroine Maria during that play. They’re sugary sweet, but they aren’t really that different from the things Jared says normally. Jared drops lines like that on a regular basis. It’s not unusual for him to whisper them in my ear like this too.

That’s right, this is completely normal… and yet, for some reason, his voice reverberating in my ear sounds a bit seductive and my face heats up.

Thanks to my dream, I’m way more aware of him and what he’s doing now. Even though he’s acting just the same as usual, I just can’t see him normally and it’s embarrassing.

Jared’s eyes glint for some reason on seeing my flustered state.

“Oh? What an unusual reaction – did you finally start paying attention to me after you-know-what?”

Huh? What does he mean by ‘you-know-what’?

“Hm? Ah, no, I just had a strange dream after the incident…”

“Dream?”

“Yes, a dream where you and I… um…”

It’s no good, it’s so embarrassing I can’t even say it out loud. My voice trails off.

My face grows even redder and my tears prick at my eyes.

In both my previous life and this one, I’ve had zero romantic experiences – I’ve never even talked with my friends about the people I like. If this was 2-D, then things would work out, but in 3-D, I can’t casually drop the word ‘kiss’ in front of a handsome guy like him standing so close to me!

And if I talk about a dream like that, I’ll be so embarrassed if he thinks I’m creepy for having such a dream because my desires are unfulfilled…

Jared looks incredibly pleased considering how agitated I am. His cheeks seem slightly flushed as well.

Huh, why? Did my agitation spread?

“Hmm… was that dream something like this?”

Just like in the dream, Jared closes in with an incredibly happy face and brushes his lips to mine.

This is!

Our lips make a soft noise as they part. Jared laughs cheerfully.

“So you thought it was a dream? It’s not a dream – both this time and last time.”

“W – why…”

I’m just a shield he uses to ward off other noble ladies – Jared should actually like Maria… but he kissed me… is this a joke? Was Jared that kind of person?!

“Why kiss you? Why, because I love you, of course.”

I’m lost for words. L – love? If he loves me, then that means…

Jared places a hand on my cheek, a lovely smile spreading across his face.

“Ha ha, you’ve finally realized? I’m very happy.”

When Jared makes to kiss me again in my complete confusion, someone interrupts.

“Stop right there – don’t get any closer to my sister.”

“Move over. Keith-sama, I’ll deal with him with magic.”

“Wait a second Mary, what are planning to do?”

“No no, Mary-sama, I’ll step in here…”

“S – Sophia-sama, please calm down. Throwing something like that is dangerous. Please pick something that would cause injuries I could heal with my magic.”

Everyone runs over at once.