Chapter 196
Early morning.
Because it was the morning of the ceremony, the castle was much busier than usual.
The bustle had woken me, so I was taking a walk around the castle for exercise.
"Brother Al...?"
"Christa? You're up early."
When I heard a voice from behind and turned around, I found Christa there.
We were halfway up the castle, in the area with the plaza.
"You're up early too, Brother... What are you doing?"
"Taking a walk."
"Then you're with us."
"You are?"
When I asked, Christa nodded quietly and turned her gaze toward the plaza.
There, a blue-haired elf and Rita were walking around cheerfully.
"The elven princess, huh? Looks like you've gotten pretty close."
"Yeah. She's nice."
"I see."
It was rare for Christa to take to someone.
Many of the insular elves looked down on humans. But if Wendy were that kind of person, Christa wouldn't have taken to her, nor would she be walking happily with Rita.
But there was a problem.
Whenever I looked at her, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
When she came to the castle, I ultimately couldn't identify the source of that feeling.
There was something about her.
As I watched her carefully, she noticed my gaze.
I gave her a deep bow, and she bowed in return before approaching me.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Arnold, the Seventh Prince. You must be the elven princess."
"Please don't call me princess—it makes me blush. I'm Wendy. I came from the elven village."
Wendy's polite greeting gave off not the slightest hint of anything ominous.
Her friendly smile held no trace of a lie, either.
Yet my sense of unease remained.
"Are you close with Princess Christa, Prince Arnold?"
"Yeah. Brother Al and Christa are good friends."
As she said this, Christa hugged me.
With a wry smile, I stroked Christa's hair without taking my eyes off Wendy.
I felt as though I was just about to figure something out.
As I was thinking that, Rita hurriedly stepped between Wendy and me.
"Ah, Al-bro! It's about time Rita and the others got going!"
"Y-yeah! We need to get back!"
The way Rita and Christa were hurrying seemed strange.
The two girls took Wendy by the hand and tried to leave.
At that moment, I thought Wendy's form blurred for an instant.
It was such a slight change that I might have dismissed it as an illusion, but I was used to seeing that sort of phenomenon.
"Illusion magic."
At my words, Rita and Christa stopped and began to tremble.
Bingo.
Unlike them, Wendy herself remained calm.
"As expected of the Empire's royalty. You all have keen eyes."
"Did Christa notice it too?"
"Yes. Would you mind if we spoke in my room?"
"Of course. You must have your reasons."
With that, I went with Christa and the others to Wendy's room.
■■■
"First, please accept my apologies for deceiving you."
"That's all right. What concerns me is why you're using illusion magic."
In answer to my question, Wendy nodded once and dispelled the illusion she had cast on herself.
Wendy's body glowed faintly, revealing her true form.
Wendy, who had appeared to be a slender adult woman, was now the same height as Christa.
In other words, she was a child.
"I see. So it would have been discourteous for a child to serve as the representative?"
"Yes. Few elves wish to travel to human countries. Among those few, I was the only one with sufficient standing to serve as an important envoy. However, some felt it would be rude to send a child as an envoy to the Empire, a great power, so I had no choice but to use illusion magic to change my appearance."
"If you'd told me beforehand, I could have made arrangements, but... well, there's nothing to be done about it now."
Once we'd told a lie, we had no choice but to see it through.
Given the circumstances, I didn't think Father would be angry even if the truth came out, but it would be less trouble if we could avoid being found out.
I glanced at Christa and Rita, and both looked terrified that they would be scolded.
I placed a hand on each of their heads.
"If you're going to keep a secret, do a better job. You were acting suspicious."
"...You're not... angry?"
"Of course not. You're in charge of entertaining our guest, and you're doing a fine job. Rita, too."
"Rita hasn't done anything..."
Perhaps because she was upset that their lie had been exposed, Rita's shoulders drooped.
She must have felt inadequate as a guard. She probably wanted to at least help keep the secret, but I'd exposed it.
I felt bad.
"Princess, please look after these children. If you run into trouble, come to me and I'll help."
"Aren't you going to tell His Majesty...?"
"Even if I did, Father has no time to deal with it. It would be better to keep up the charade than add to his workload. Besides, he isn't the type to make an issue of it if he found out, so relax."
At my words, Wendy let out a relieved sigh.
She must have been tense the entire time.
Elves stop growing once they reach a certain point. Until then, however, they grow at the same rate as humans. In other words, Wendy's childlike appearance meant she was definitely a child.
She must have felt alone in a foreign land. The reason she'd been able to endure it was probably that Christa and Rita had become her friends.
"Have you told Fiene?"
"No... not yet."
"Then tell Fiene. If anything happens, let me or Leo know. We'll handle it. If necessary, Mother can smooth things over."
Father was indulgent toward Christa.
Naturally, he was just as indulgent toward the woman serving as her mother.
If Christa asked Mother for help, Father would undoubtedly forgive her.
But even if Father forgave them, there were bound to be people who would try to make an issue of it. Some in the Empire disliked elves, while others valued proper etiquette.
I hated to burden Father with silencing people like that when he was already so busy with preparations for the ceremony.
"Even so, try not to let anyone find out. Be careful of the imperial family's scrutiny. If I was able to notice, then it's possible that anyone else could notice too."
Still, few people would notice that something was off and try to get to the bottom of it.
That wasn't the problem.
The problem was that there was a pervert for whom Wendy's appearance was a perfect match.
"For now, stay away from Brother Trau. Got it?"
"Yeah, got it."
Christa nodded with a serious expression.
It seemed Christa thought it was dangerous too.
Wendy was exactly the "lolif" Brother Trau had been looking for.
I had no idea how that man would react when he saw Wendy. I couldn't even begin to predict it.
"That covers the main points, I suppose. I'll be going, Princess."
"Ah, Prince Arnold. Um... thank you."
"No need to thank me. Enjoy the Empire while you're here. That's what you came for, isn't it?"
"Yes! I'm interested in humans and human countries! I want to see the festival too!"
"Rita's looking forward to the festival too!"
"So am I."
"Tell Fiene that. She should be able to arrange it."
With that, I left the room.
When I closed the door, Zeke was leaning against the wall.
"Did you get close to the Saint's room again?"
"Nope. I'm just sleepy from guarding your sisters."
"I see... Sorry for dumping this troublesome task on you."
I'd arranged for Zeke to stay as close as possible to Christa and Rita.
He had probably realized Wendy's true identity in the process.
It seemed he was guarding them carefully so no one would find out.
"It's fine. It's part of the job. I can manage things here. How about you?"
"I can't say it's going smoothly. At worst, a commotion could break out. Both Christa and Wendy could easily be targeted. I'm counting on you, all right?"
"Hah... Who do you think you're talking to? The great Zeke is guarding them. They won't suffer so much as a scratch—"
"Oh, Zeke's here."
In the middle of trying to look cool, Zeke was picked up by Christa and carried into the room.
I figured she'd turn him into a toy again, and then I heard a scream from inside.
"Owwwwww! Don't pull meeeee!"
"...Well, he'll just have to accept it as part of the job."
Feeling a little sorry for him, I left.
Today was the day of the ceremony.
I had plenty to do.