The First Prince’s statement made the entire area fall deathly silent. Looking at the faces around me, everyone wore the same expression. They’re probably all thinking the same thing. No doubt, it’s, “What the heck are you saying?”
But the First Prince doesn’t seem to notice the atmosphere around him. Taking advantage of no one interrupting, he continues laying out his opinion.
“Even though we succeeded in summoning a 【Saint】, Aira still needs to get used to subjugations. But I know there’s growing pressure to have the 【Saint】 join them soon. Most likely, to appease those voices, the knight order’s achievements were credited to a fake 【Saint】, making it look like a 【Saint】 is participating, right?”
“Your Highness, do you understand what you’re saying?”
Oh, Liz snapped. Her intense vibe even makes the guys standing behind the First Prince flinch. Thanks for getting mad for me, Liz. I kind of wanted to punch him myself. Calling me a fake doesn’t really bother me. I’d rather be a normal person anyway. But for someone who’s supposed to lead this country someday to say in such a crowded place that the 【Saint】’s feats are propaganda, what’s up with that? If it were true, that one comment just ruined everything. By tomorrow, the “truth” about a fake 【Saint】 might be racing through the palace.
As I feel dizzy from the First Prince’s nonsense, my eyes meet Aira-chan’s. Her eyes widen as she recognizes me. What’s wrong? Oh, Liz noticed me too. Then the First Prince does. He’s got this “Who’s this?” look on his face.
“Sei…”
“Uh, good day?”
Liz calls out to me, and now all the attention shifts my way. The pale faces of some civil servants in the distance aren’t my imagination. Of course, here’s the person their prince just called a fake, standing right in front of them. Some people rush off in a panic. Are they going to fetch someone higher up? I hope they bring someone who can sort this mess out.
“Who are you?”
The First Prince’s voice pulls my gaze to him. Who am I…? You don’t remember? I know I should answer, but I don’t really want to. Still, ignoring him completely would be childish, so I reluctantly introduce myself.
“I am Sei.”
I give the proper bow I learned in etiquette lessons and keep it minimal. Forgive me for sticking to the bare minimum. It’s minimal, but the First Prince seems to realize from my hair color that I’m the rumored 【Saint】.
“So you’re the fake 【Saint】 everyone’s talking about?”
“…”
I ignore his question and turn to Liz. I can tell he’s annoyed, but I’ll just keep ignoring him. That’s fine, right?
“Hey, Liz. If you’re going to argue, shouldn’t you borrow a room somewhere? This spot’s pretty conspicuous.”
At my suggestion, Liz gives a troubled smile. She probably suggested the same thing, and the First Prince shot it down. I don’t know how it started, but how heated was he to not realize this? If he thought calmly, he’d see causing a scene here could lead to all sorts of problems. Same goes for his entourage. Wait, did he do this on purpose?
“Hey!”
Lost in thought, I notice the First Prince’s hand reaching for my shoulder. Uh, didn’t they say in etiquette lessons that it’s rude for a man to casually touch an unmarried woman? Does he think being a prince excuses him? I consider brushing it off, but his hand never reaches me. The captain appeared out of nowhere and stops him.
“Knight Commander Hawk!”
The First Prince raises his voice as his hand is grabbed, but the captain calmly lowers it without a care. Then he slides between me and the First Prince, shielding me. His slightly heavy breathing is proof he rushed over here. The First Prince glares at him irritably. A moment later, someone else arrives.
“What’s all this commotion?”
“Father!”
It’s His Majesty the King. The Prime Minister’s behind him too. Maybe that civil servant fetched them. Will this finally settle things?
“These people—”
“Enough. I’ve heard what happened. To cause such a foolish uproar in a public place like this.”
“Father!”
“And I hear you were terribly rude to the 【Saint】-sama.”
“The ones being rude are them, not us!”
“Oh? I heard you called our 【Saint】-sama a fake.”
“That woman must be a fake you prepared, right?”
“…Why would you think that?”
“The 【Saint Summoning Ritual】 only summoned Aira, didn’t it?”
“Our Sei-dono here was summoned in that same 【Saint Summoning Ritual】.”
“Huh?”
“It’s forgivable that you overlooked it at first. But the civil servants reported multiple times that two were summoned in the ritual. Didn’t you hear?”
“Well… but…”
“According to Division Commander Dreves’ appraisal, there’s no doubt Sei-dono is a 【Saint】.”
Huh? Really? I glance at the division commander, but he’s bowing to His Majesty and doesn’t look my way. Oh, from the subjugation stuff, I guess that’s how it turned out? While I’m piecing it together, their conversation moves on.
“It’s not just the division commander. Knight Commander Hawk of the Third Knight Order reported that Sei-dono performed admirably as a 【Saint】 in the recent subjugation. Naturally, the Second Knight Order, who went along, said the same.”
“…”
“I understand you’re protecting Aira-dono as the overseer of the 【Saint Summoning Ritual】. So why not protect Sei-dono, who was summoned the same way, and instead call her a fake? Everyone acknowledges Sei-dono as the 【Saint】 based on her achievements. Meanwhile, what about Aira-dono? She hasn’t accomplished anything yet, has she?”
“That’s…”
“Even setting achievements aside, there’s no basis to label Sei-dono a fake. Now, shall we move this discussion elsewhere?”
The First Prince falls silent at His Majesty’s words. The king shows a fleeting look of disappointment before reverting to his usual expression, ordering the nearby knights to escort the First Prince and his entourage somewhere else. The dejected First Prince and his group follow the knights quietly. The onlookers gathered around start heading back to their posts too.
“I’d like to hear more, so would Lady Ashley, the Marquis’ daughter, accompany us?”
“Of course.”
“As for Sei-dono, I’ll report to you separately later.”
“Oh, yes.”
Looks like I’m free to go for now. His Majesty gives me a slight, apologetic look that others won’t notice, just a nod, then follows after the First Prince. The Prime Minister and Liz trail behind. It ended before I fully grasped what happened, but will this resolve the academy issues Liz mentioned? Hoping it does, I leave the scene with the captain and division commander.
Editor’s Note: For some reason, the author puts “saint” and “saint summoning ritual” in these brackets every time so the translators and I have decided to leave them in. I find them a bit annoying but it’s more authentic this way.