－－－－－What a farce.

Right now, I’m in the middle of the graduation ceremony at the Royal Lemaire Magic Academy. Although he’d started by talking about how he’d enjoyed his time as a student, he suddenly began hurling loud accusations that were not at all suitable for the occasion.

Sadly, the culprit was Christophe Lemaire, the Crown Prince of this kingdom.

…Isn’t this useless in a room where national and international heavyweights have gathered???

According to His Highness, his fiancée, Irene, the daughter of Duke Dilaver, had harmed Maria, the daughter of Baron Rouge, who was standing next to him.

Looking at this scene, I hid the laughter that threatened to escape my lips using my fan. The duke’s daughter vs. the baron’s daughter (LOL). When I looked around, I realized that a majority of the young ladies present were also hiding their faces behind their fans. I felt a sense of solidarity.

The perpetrator (the duke’s daughter) and the victim (the baron’s daughter). No matter how you look at it, the victim can’t compete. Rather, the victim (Maria-san) is rather pitiful, isn’t she?

What is His Highness trying to do by saying such things? But, really, His Highness is also pitiful.

Irene-sama stared down His Highness with an icy look as he tried to desperately counter. I sympathized with him a little.

Indeed, His Highness has been so affectionate with Maria-san that Irene-sama had accused him of being unfaithful. He originally brought Maria-san to parties, even though he had a fiancée, and at school she was in Irene’s shadow (not the other way around, sadly).

Irene-sama telling Maria-san to be mindful when with other people’s fiancés is completely valid.

But, that fiancé isn’t beside her…

As expected, when you look behind Irene-sama, you can see a number of high-ranking noblemen from our kingdom and abroad glaring at His Highness with eyes communicating that they wanted to murder him.

Well, it’s a famous story after all.

The rumors about His Highness’ unfaithful behavior (though, rather than rumors it was more like the truth) were pretty recent but since Irene-sama was a child she has been very, very friendly with these noblemen and royals.

In addition, though Irene-sama is amazingly beautiful and clever, her behavior to His Highness has always been cold. It is said that she often asks to break off her engagement with him.

She was surrounded by excellent and handsome lords, while she hated her fiancé. Even if you were not His Highness you would definitely want to run away to somewhere else.

With that said, couldn’t you have done this in secret? Ah, I want to go home already!!

“Moreover!! You’ve pushed Maria down the stairs!!” His Highness shouted loudly enough for all to hear.

Ahーーare you serious? If you can prove that, then it doesn’t matter if she’s a Duke’s daughter or not. Aristocrats have to maintain their reputation after all. If one commits heinous acts then they will be punished: if one rebels, for example, their territory will be taken away, they will have to return their title to the kingdom, and they will become a commoner.

It’s a hard world, after all. Well, this would only be if someone could ‘prove’ it without a reasonable doubt.

His Imperial Highness (the prince of a neighboring state), a margrave, the head of the kingdom’s knights…there were many of them, but anyway, the point is that Irene-sama – who is famous for being supported by such individuals – has no reason to risk it all by making such a mistake.

By the way, the law of our kingdom is ‘we do not punish with mere suspicions alone.’

I wonder if he is going to be disinherited. My sympathies to His Highness, the prince.

“Daughter of Count Talbot, Rururia!!”

“Eeh, yees??!”

Huh? What, what? I let out a strange noise because I had been called out to so suddenly.

Hello, I am Ruruia Talbot. What is it???

As His Highness was calling me for some reason, I had no choice but to go towards the stage.

“Rururia-jyou! Now, please tell me everything honestly!!”

In this kind of atmosphere, it’s not like I could say that I didn’t know anything. For now, let’s say something ambiguous to try and evade the situation!

“Y-yes…”

“There’s no need to hold back because Irene is a Duke’s daughter. You can tell me the truth.”

Huh? What?? What ‘truth’ was he talking about exactly?? Even though you’re on the verge of being disinherited. What am I supposed to say here???

“That’s right! Didn’t you see Irene-sama pushing me down the stairs?”

Maria-san looks up at me with tears in her eyes. I’m a woman though…no that’s not what’s important!!

N-NICE!! Maria-san!!

I see now, I’ve been called here to give eyewitness testimony!

Eh? But I haven’t seen anything though?? When exactly are you talking about??

“Last month, didn’t you see it happen at the eastern tower?”

Eeh!! Can Maria-san perhaps read my mind?!?! What a scary child!!

However, I really don’t remember anything…but I can’t say that after all, can I? That’s because…His Highness is looking at me with an amazing glint in his eyes from behind Maria-san.

Even if it’s a rotten dragon…rather, even though he’s probably going to be disinherited after this, he’s still this kingdom’s prince after allーー.

I wonder how long this will take to wrap up. And I mean, really, just how opportunistic were these people?

Wow, wow, wow.

I’ve never felt such killing intent since I was born. It’s scary!! This was the look I was getting from the captain of the knights! He’s doing this even though I’m a lady! I feel like I’m going to be murdered!

Apparently, whether he’s a knight or not, he’s just a man in front of the woman that he loves. *Sniffle*

I swallowed my scream and apologized to His Highness.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness, I didn’t see anything.”

Yes, I’ve wrapped this up quickly. I’m sorry, Your Highness. That person is way too scary.

“D-don’t lie!!”

“Your Highness, if I had witnessed such a thing then I would have immediately reported it to the school,” I replied rather indifferently.

Oh, the murderous look has weakened a little bit. I was really scaredーーー! Father, Mother, Big Brother, I want to go homeーー!

“T-that’s a lie!! Irene must be threatening you!!”

Maria-san, your act is falling apart. Abandoning it is definitely a bad move.

“Even if you say something like that…”

“Because! When it happened, I was worried and we went to the infirmary together!”

Huh? The infirmary? With Maria-san? In the east tower…

“Ahーーーー!!”

I’ve remembered! Ah, I feel really refreshed!

For some reason, Irene-sama seemed startled by my shout and her face had turned blue.

Why???

In contrast to Irene-sama, Maria-san nodded with a big smile on her face when I seemed to have remembered.

Yes, yes! I feel refreshed as well! So, I answer with a smile.

“We’re talking about that time when Maria-san fell down, right?”

“Eh?”

“Hah?”

“Aah??”

That was Irene-sama, His Highness and Maria-san, in that order. Oh my, Maria-san’s totally let the cat out of the bag.

“I’ve remembered! That was mean, Maria-san. You said Irene-sama pushed you down the stairs, so I couldn’t remember what you were talking about at all.”

Maria rushes towards me, who is all smiles.

“T-that’s the time I mean! That’s when I was pushed down by Irene!”

“Eh? Were you with Irene-sama at the time? Unfortunately, I didn’t notice.”

Maria-san stared at me blankly for a moment before deciding to go through with the rest of the act, “Perhaps she couldn’t be seen, but it was certainly Irene who pushed me down the stairs.”

“That’s impossible.”

When I responded rather straightforwardly, Maria glared at me, her face filled with anger…Eh, is that an okay expression for a maiden to make??

“That’s because I was walking behind Maria-san, so it’s impossible for Irene-sama to have pushed you down the stairs without me seeing her.”

No matter how hard they tried, it was useless. Both His Highness and Maria-san lost their will and it seemed that their souls were escaping their body via their mouths.

With that, this farce was promptly over.

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