Volume 1 – Following the Maze Drawn With Lines of Blood
Mary left the medical office in the workshop to get some fresh air outside.
Members of the Liberation Front were gathered around a window in the corridor.
They noticed Mary and all bowed in unison.
Mary then approached the members and spoke.
“Thank you for today. Your hard work is the reason we were able to win.”
“My princess, no, please don’t bow your head. We weren’t that useful!”
“Just accept the damn compliment.”
The female member was cursing as usual.
Jaysam admonished her.
“I can’t do that! Listen to me princess, we have a relationship of mutual benefit. You saved our lives, and that’s why we put them on the line for you.”
“Does the fight with Wheel of Fortune count too?”
“Of course, we would all be killed if it wasn’t for you.”
“That’s right. And the princess saved us this time as well. So, we’re going to put our lives on the line and help out next time as well.”
“That’s a good attitude, just what I’d expect from Majoram’s employees.”
The voice of a woman coming from behind Mary interrupted the conversation.
It was Cutie, who was laying down up until a moment ago.
“Miss. Cutie, are you okay now?”
“Don’t underestimate our medical technology. As you can see, I’m lively and – uagh!?”
Cutie almost fell down when she got ahead of herself and jumped.
Mary frantically supported her body.
“C’mon, that was dangerous!”
“Ahaha…… Sorry Mary, it looks like I’m not back to normal quite yet.”
“Ain’t that obvious? I heard a few of your internal organs were crushed, y’know.”
“That’s not enough to put me down, employee. Because we’re starting again before the evening.”
“Do you mean Dugan’s hideout?”
Cutie smiled, ‘Of course’.
The Liberation Front’s members started making noise.
“So we’re finally going to kill that damn Dugan! I’m just itching to fight!”
“We, the Liberation Front, will of course participate in the battle too, right?”
“Of course. You will just be a part of another huge group, though.”
“Have you secured such a large fighting force?”
“Most of the Slava Army obeys my father’s commands.”
“Phew, that’s what I’d expect from Majoram’s president.”
“Hey, stop joking around. Where’s General Defale? With someone of overwhelming charisma like that, there’s always a risk of betrayal.”
Cutie anxiously put her hand on her chin after Jaysam’s question.
“……He’s missing. He killed a few soldiers who were trying to seize him along with the butler Platy, and escaped.”
“I’m surprised to hear that general killed soldiers.”
“That’s just it. I smell intrigue. We’re going to have a discussion about how to deal with that, so you should go to the conference room. My father is already waiting there.”
“Face to face with the president? We’re moving up in the world.”
“Stop joking around. Let’s go, everyone!”
The members of the Liberation Front accompanied Jaysam to the conference room.
Mary and Cutie were the only ones left behind.
“Now…… That was a pretty tough fight earlier, huh? Good work, Mary.”
Cutie relaxed her expression and spoke to Mary.
Mary reflexively smiled.
“You did great too, Miss. Cutie. Is your body really alright?”
“To speak the truth, it’s definitely not. I’m far from back to normal.”
“I knew it…… Please rest.”
“My body will heal in time. The important thing is to care for the heart.”
“So talking with me is comforting for you?”
Cutie thought Mary was making fun of her for a moment, but Mary’s facial expression was completely pure.
That made Cutie feel intensely embarrassed.
“N-no, that’s not it, but…… I just want to say that boredom is the greatest enemy of the heart!”
“I have fun when I chat with you, Miss. Cutie.”
“Enough!”
“Hehehe!”
“Good grief…… I’m impressed you can laugh at a time like this. Weren’t you shocked to learn that you’re a homunculus?”
Cutie looked discontent as she leaned back on the window and asked Mary, but she also appeared worried.
“I was hurt. But compared to how much my sister’s death hurt, it was just a scratch.”
“You can’t compare things like that. When something is painful, just say it’s painful.”
“You’re right…… It’s painful.”
“See?”
“But, going past that, I just don’t understand right now. I wasn’t a normal human being, there was a monster who called himself Angel, I’m able to absorb an arcana user’s powers when I eat them…… And because of that, I learned that my sister was an arcana user.”
“……Huh!? Really!?”
“Really. I was randomly hearing my sister’s voice, and seeing her in a ghostly form. I decided by myself that this was my sister’s will, but the thing guiding me was the arcana of Star taking my sister’s form.”
“A power to guide…… They said she was smart enough to guess the future, but she could actually see it? So that’s why she saw through everything when it came to me.”
Francis was also very smart, of course.
But with these powers, Cutie could never be a match for her.
“Still, I’m impressed she managed to hide it.”
“My sister used water sorcery.”
“Arcana occupies mana storage limits, right?”
“I suppose there are exceptions as well. Because it seems like it’s an arcana that isn’t directly related to fighting power.”
“Hmm…… Your father would have been really happy to learn she was an arcana user.”
“I think that’s why she hid it. Because my sister refused to inherit the throne.”
“Ah, I get that. I can see how she would think it’s annoying and reject it.”
“That’s exactly what happened.”
Francis was always superior and had the ability to take action, but she was someone who easily rejected anything she did not like.
Inheriting the throne was one of those things.
Perhaps Star had made that decision.
“So they wanted to make Francis the queen?”
“Yes, until my father married again, me and my sister were the only ones who had his blood.”
“Prince Edward was born from his mistress, right? He must have had quite the inferiority complex……”
Cutie suddenly looked through the window far into the distance.
“Miss. Cutie……?”
Mary tilted her neck after this sudden change in Cutie’s emotions.
Then, Cutie started speaking with a lonely expression on her face.
“I’m not actually a daughter of the Majoram Family.”
“Huh? But-”
“I’m a war orphan. I lost both my parents before I can remember, in a battle in the border zone, and…… that’s when my father took me in.”
“Oh, I see……”
In short, Mary was right when she felt that Cutie and her father did not resemble each other.
“My father also lost his wife right before taking me in. On top of that, she was also pregnant…… That’s why he really doted on me when raising me.”
“I don’t think that’s the reason. Mr. Noted is just a really kind father.”
“I suppose. I can’t help but think that way, though.”
Cutie knew the depth of Noted’s love.
Despite that, no matter how much she tried to convince herself, ‘that’ still remained.
“I’m a replacement for the family he lost. I can’t be his real daughter. I know it’s wrong, but that thought is always in my head somewhere.”
“……Wait, is that why you underwent such a dangerous surgery?”
“I’m not even a sorcerer. I thought that…… if I could at least be an arcana user, I could be of use to Majoram.”
Then, Cutie’s shoulders started to shake as she suddenly started laughing in a self-deprecating manner.
“Hehe!….. At the time, my father was really angry when he found out. That was the first time I saw him like that.”
“That’s natural!”
She had undergone a life-threatening surgery, in secret to her father.
On top of that, the surgery was done by Majoram’s employees, who were only going on stolen information.
Mary could imagine Noted’s face, as he must have thought that this was a very foolish thing to do.
But when she imagined her father like that……
“It’s…… It’s normal for a parent…… to worry about their child……”
Mary was at a loss for words.
This ‘normal’ did not exist when it came to Mary’s family.
“Sorry, talking about this doesn’t do either of us any good.”
“……I think you and Mr. Noted are great as a father and child. Even if you don’t share a blood connection.”
“Maybe it’s precisely because we don’t share a blood connection.”
Mary’s father was cold, and Ami’s father was warm.
The former were trying to kill each other, and the latter were trying to find a way to be closer as a family.
The more she thought about it, the more this vain comparison made Mary suffer.
“Sorry to derail things.”
Cutie apologized again.
Mary tried to smile and make her feel better, but her expression was weak.
“No, I’m glad I learned more about you, Miss. Cutie.”
“Are we that close?”
“Of course. To me, we’re already friends.”
“You’re pretty gentle. This is just a give-and-take relationship, is it not? Being friends with a princess is bad for business.”
“You’re not being honest.”
“At least call it stubbornness instead.”
Cutie poked Mary’s head and the two loudly laughed.
“……So, things got derailed again, but what were we talking about?”
“About how my sister was hiding the fact that she was an arcana user.”
“Yeah, that’s right. We were talking about succession.”
They reset the heavy mood and returned to their main topic.
“Yes, even if my brother had the official right of inheritance, the truth is that my sister was more popular. Some of the cabinet ministers wanted to elevate my sister. If she had revealed that she was an arcana user then……”
“Things would get worse, right? It could even lead to a civil war.”
Civil wars over succession were not that rare in history.
But, it would have been a terrible timing for it right now, while there was a third force who would profit from this fighting.
“But, that’s a pretty appealing possibility.”
“Hm……”
“It’s too late now that Francis is dead, though. But maybe we should inform the public that the ones who killed her are Prince Edward’s faction. Then, you will stand and aim at becoming the queen instead of your dead sister. I’m sure you would gather the support of the people.”
“Hnn…..!”
Mary’s cheeks puffed out like balloons because of Cutie’s idea to utilize Francis’s death.
“Hehe. I’m joking, don’t pout.” It’s just, I’m sure some people have similar ideas. There’s still only a few people who know about Francis’s death. Many newspapers are treating it as a missing person case. I want to make the first move before someone else uses this.”
“I have no intentions of poking my head into a war.”
“I think you should at least have the backbone to utilize this. I know you’re not that kind of person, though.”
“My sister hated this stuff too. But, in her case, I’m sure she would have conducted things better than anyone else.”
“That wisdom is precisely the source of her popularity.”
“It’s not because of her beauty?”
“I think it’s because she’s wise.”
“I think my sister has the charm to mesmerize everyone.”
“That’s because you have a sister complex. She is beautiful, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Didn’t she mesmerize you, Miss. Cutie?”
“Like hell she did!”
“She definitely mesmerizes me to the bone!”
“You’re so proud of her……”
Mary always became unnecessarily proud when talking about her sister.
Francis was an ideal person for her, she was a dream, and someone to be respected.
“I’m sure this is a spell that can’t ever be undone.”
“It’s like a curse.”
Mary looked happy, even after Cutie said that.
“I don’t care if it is a curse. If that’s what my sister left behind, I’ll happily accept it.”
“……Well, as long as you don’t ignore the people who are still alive, I think that’s fine.”
“The people who are still alive?”
“Look, there she is.”
Footsteps approached at high speed.
The moment Mary turned her gaze towards them, Ami jumped up and leaped into her chest.
“Siiiis! Booop! Buuuump! Rub rub!”
“Whoa, Ami! What happened?”
“I wanna be spoiled!”
“I see that. I’ll hug you, then.”
“Yaaay! I love you sis!”
“You make a lot of noise when you’re feeling better……”
“Did you want Mary to hug you too, Cutie?”
“No! And you should use ‘miss’ when talking to me!”
“Heheh, but I’m the princess’s sister now.”
“Don’t push it, commoner.”
“Don’t disrespect royalty!”
“Come on now, please calm down, you two.”
Like cats and dogs – rather, the two were playing around in different manners.
They spent a moment of peace before the fighting.
They healed their bodies and hearts, and prepared for the final fight with Dugan.