“With Kratos currently making suspicious movements, interfering with the relationship between me, the Dragon Consort, and His Majesty is enemy action.  Whether it be man or woman, this conclusion won’t change.  Even more caution will be necessary if this is a woman.  The goddess can control women who are fourteen years old or older, after all.”

The barrier set by Dragon Consort to block the goddess, the magic shield of the Raika mountain range, was gone.  Should the queen’s enthronement be true, then her current vessel was likely occupied.  Also, for some reason, Jill felt that the goddess of love would face her directly due to her pride.  In the end, however, that was nothing more than her intuition.

The possibility that she might act without regard for her appearance should always be kept in the back of her mind.

Camilla, having settled herself down beside Lutiya, crossed her legs as she also fell into thought.

“That’s… yes, it could be.  Even if the person in question doesn’t have such intentions, certainly.”
“Well then, to start, how about staking out the flower field and uncovering the sender’s identity?”
“Not happening.”

Natalie smoothly returned the letter to the table.

“I too think this love letter is a trap.  There are many reasons.  First of all, wouldn’t you say the writing is strange?”
“Eh, the writing… is strange?”
“Probably because it’s written under the assumption that Jill-sensei has been meeting with the sender.”

Lutiya cut in without turning to look at them.  “Yep,” Natalie responded.

“There’s more.  The place.  The field of flowers where dragons are laid to rest.”
“Ah, that’s right.  Where is this place?  Sieg and others said they don’t know.”
“It refers to a flower field in the Dragon Consort’s palace and is in one corner of the inner palace.  On top of that, it has another meaning as well.  It’s a euphemism for where lovers meet during an affair.”

As might be expected, cries of surprise rose.  Lutiya, for example, openly frowned.  Then, while Jill wondered if Frieda should be hearing about such a topic, Natalie remained fully composed.

“To bury dragons, in other words, a metaphor for a place where reason is dead.  Originally, it was a flower field where the Dragon Consorts mourned the dragons they fought alongside with, a so-called dragon graveyard.  Some dragons even seem to have chosen it as their place to die.  But now that it is no longer maintained and has fallen into complete disrepair, it has come to be used as a place for secret meetings.  That meaning has come to be what it is more known for.”

“…A flower field… where white flowers bloom… all year.  It’s beautiful… and yet…”

Natalie and Frieda, as imperial princesses, were not part of the inner palace.  They had, however, originally lived there with their mother who was an empress.  Hence why they were familiar with the place.

“It’ll be bad whether the sender actually appears or not.  It’s the inner palace.  Those who can enter and leave are limited.  To begin with, men are basically barred from there.”
“In other words, Seig and Camilla can’t enter.  I’ll be fine even if I’m by myself.”
“Which is why this isn’t such a simple issue.  If you don’t properly arrange a reason and follow the procedures, there’s no telling how your visit might be exploited.”
“But I’m the Dragon Consort.  At least entering—”

“…I think… someone… might… end up… dying…”

Jill froze at Frieda’s unexpected words.  She continued, lowering her fingers one by one as she did.

“…Jill-onee-sama will… go to the flower field… because of this letter.  She will encounter a man… who can enter the inner palace… and then tomorrow she will have had an affair…”
“In a situation like that, couldn’t the rumor be prevented by catching whoever comes to the flower field?”

Seig’s muddled words were meet with a nonchalant response from Natalie.

“And before you know it, you have a corpse.  The guy might even confess to having an affair with the Dragon Consort and then commit suicide.  Afterwards, we’ll be left with a Dragon Consort-sama who kills in cold blood to protect her position.”
“Sca-ry…”

Alongside Lutiya’s muttering, Jill shuddered.

“Hades-nii-sama will believe Jill, but her reputation will absolutely take a hit.  If that were to happen, a chaste consort who can gather the public’s favor will become necessary… it’ll be something like that if they’re going for the classical approach.”
“There are other patterns too!?  Wh-why go that far now of all times?”
“Of course they’ll make a move.  Right now, the Three Dukes are in the imperial capital, right?  That means they’re going to formally recognize Hades-nii-sama as emperor.  However, the ones currently in the inner palace are the former emperor’s consorts.  There’s no benefit for them to side with Hades-nii-sama or you.  At present, the only one being backed by Hades is Listeard-nii-sama’s mother, the Eighth Imperial Consort.  She’ll probably become an ally if she judges it to her advantage.”

If she’s Listeard’s mother, than that also makes her Frieda’s mother.  When Jill glanced at Frieda, she noded back.

“Mother-sama… is probably… alright… but also strict…”
“At any rate, even if we can’t make them into allies, we shouldn’t turn them into enemies.”
“Th-that’s quite cautious…”

It’s not that I want to turn them into enemies, but something just isn’t clicking with my sense of caution.

Natalie furrowed her brows as though in thought and then spoke.

“Actually… my Father-sama is in the inner palace.”
“Your Highness Natalie’s father… you mean, the former emperor!?”

Natalie gave a grave nod at Jill’s surprise.

“Yes, his health has been deteriorating since he abdicated… there was talk that the Three Dukes would care for him, but the political situation was what it was.  Vissil-nii-sama said, ‘It’s just right,’ and pushed him into the inner palace together with the imperial consorts.  When it comes to the inner palace, there are plenty of girls who dream of caring for such people, after all.” 
“Dream…?”

“The dream of returning to the throne as emperor once more.  How absurd.”

Despite the cold tone Lutiya spoke with, the former emperor was still his biological father.  However, as he had returned to Laika with his mother when he was a baby, that man was probably no different than a stranger to him.

“But, the former emperor abdicated of his own volition, right…?”
“Yeah.  Even now, he still hasn’t emerged from the inner palace, and no one knows where he is in the inner palace.  It’s been years since I last met him either.  From what I heard, even among the imperial consorts, only two or three can meet him.  His presence wasn’t felt even during the false emperor disturbance.  He’s on bad terms with the Three Dukes and doesn’t have much power.  —But, he is still the former emperor.”

Natalie, perhaps out of pity for her father, placed a hand on her chest after a slight pause.

“…One thing, and this is something I think with self-admonition as well.  The thing about royalty, we can’t just stop of our own accord.  It’s a matter of course, really.  Being able to wear such fine dresses and live such a comfortable lifestyle is only possible because when the country falls, we fall together with it.  —And for the Dragon Emperor, this is even more so.”

Natalie gave a wry smile as she looked her garments over from head to toe.

“The common people can escape during a crisis, and if it comes down to it, can even switch their lord.  Granted, it isn’t easy.  But if they decide the Dragon Emperor is no good, they can abandon him.  They have the option of submitting to a queen.”

Each has its own hardships, but Jill understood what Natalie was trying to say.

“His Majesty will be checkmated if he doesn’t have many allies, is what you’re trying to say.”

Which was why Natalie acted with such excessive caution.

“Yes.  Hades-nii-sama cannot stop being the Dragon Emperor.  nii-sama, on a gameboard where territory is switched between black and white, is the one person who until the end, can absolutely never change color.”

Natalie put the letter back into the envelope and placed it on the table.

“As it says, ‘Come to the flower field where dragons are laid to rest,’ then the inner palace might also be involved.  I think it would be best not to take any action on this matter until all the information about it can be gathered.  If you really must insist, then act together with me or Frieda… or Sufia-sama.  That woman, she managed to survive as Hades-nii-sama’s tea friend after all.  Right, Freida?”

Freida raised her eyebrows slightly but remained silent.  She then intentionally sat down, took a sip of tea, and set the cup down before giving a solemn murmur.

“…If you introduce her as my private tutor… there won’t be any problems.  I’ll also inform Mother-sama.”

She spoke with a voice that suppressed emotion to the point of sounding rather cold.  Camillia whispered to Jill.

“Isn’t Her Highness Frieda unusually strict only with Sufia-chan?”
“In any case, having a man charge into the inner palace is no good.”

Camilla raised both hands at Natalie’s firm declaration and theatrically made a joke.

“Waa, a complete denial of our existence.”
“If you want to burden Her Highness the Dragon Consort by dying an honorable death in a consort’s bed, I won’t stop you.”

In a sign of agreement, Camillia shrugged her shoulders as if in surrender at the overtly specific threat.  Seig also gave a reluctant nod back.

Jill took a deep breath, set the letter back into the envelope, and held it out to Camilla.

“Hold onto this for me.  It’ll get troublesome if His Majesty finds it.”
“Leave it to me.”

Camilla closed an eye as she held it between her index and middle fingers.  Seig crossed his arms.

“If it gets discovered, we’ll be able to somehow bluff our way through by claiming we haven’t given it to the captain yet.”
“Ara, not a bad plan for a bearman.  Al-right, let’s go with tha—”

“Jill!”
“““Wa————————————!!”””

Jill and everyone else screamed out loud together at the door being throwing wide open without warning and Hades appearing.

---

T/N: Before anyone says anything, the letter was put back into the envelope twice.  First by Natalie and then by Jill. 

1: ナターリエは手紙を封筒に入れ直し、テーブルに置いた。

2: ジルも深呼吸して、手紙を封筒に入れ直し、カミラに差し出した

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