Recuperating? – K of Hearts (Part 2) Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.
One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess n.o.ble Girl, . Honto tutorial .
Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.
You might be thinking, ‘Well, do I owe any thanks to Alphapolis the publisher?’, but in fact it is because the publishers are so willing to pick up web novels (Alphapolis in particular) that so many creative stories are being written by people wanting to make it as writers.
“Hmph, it’s hard to relax in such a needlessly sparkly room.”
Whilst saying that, Raiga arbitrarily decided to sit down on my sofa and made himself comfortable like he owned the thing. If you’re going to complain then I don’t mind you getting lost… But Raiga doesn’t seem to have any intention of leaving. For now, let’s try greeting him.
“Hey, Raiga. Is Mei healthy?”
“Yeah. Today I brought her with me to the castle. If possible, I’d like to let her go to school as much as possible, but her morning sickness is pretty bad so I think it’s about time that she starts taking time off school.”
It seems that Raiga is sweet on Mei as usual. Even his usual cold-looking face has loosened carelessly.
“Hm~mm, that sounds rough. …And so, what did you come to talk about today? Right now is my precious rest time you know?”
Henri who was standing nearby showed a baffled expression. It’s not unreasonable… At the end of the day, the one sitting here is Raiga. Right now he’s not antagonistic, but just a little while ago he was my natural enemy. When I was young I had a hard time because of his followers too.
Because of the incident with Count t.i.to earlier, we’ve gotten closer but… that doesn’t mean that I can let my guard down yet. After all, even though he owes us about Mei’s rescue, he’s acting ridiculously arrogantly right now.
“I came to tell you that I’d lend you my subordinates… Your subordinates are all theory-loving magicians aren’t they?”
“Hahh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Like I said, I’ll make it so that you can use my knight order. Honestly speaking, you don’t have enough knights after all.”
“Mm~mn, I can’t really deny it.”
It’s just like Raiga says.
At present, the knights in the castle are splendidly split into the King Faction knight brigades and the Royal Prince Faction knight brigades, based on their dispositions. And vexingly, the knights in the Royal Prince Faction… or rather, the knights under Raiga’s control are better quality. Being a muscle-head, he has his own knights.
Right now the knights in the King Faction are constantly vying for accomplishments, and there are lots of times when they don’t do their jobs properly when the time comes. It seems that the time that I was abducted was the same. Even though they should have ability, instead of training their skills they’re busy getting better at pushing the blame onto others… Honestly speaking, having Raiga’s knights go with Achille and Camille would be really rea.s.suring.
“Magicians are a bundle of individualism, and aren’t suited for physical labour either. You need knights that you can use, right?”
Certainly, having knights in the extremist subjugation would be rea.s.suring. When all’s said and done, their physical strength is on another level. Both Camille and Achille are slender, so they’re not suited for jobs that use their body…
“But why did you suddenly feel like lending me your knights?”
Raiga suddenly averted his eyes.
“Hmph, you’re having trouble aren’t you…? Both that magic idiot and that prodigy in sheep’s clothing aren’t by your side.
Could it be that because Camille and Achille aren’t by my side… He’s paying attention to me? That Raiga is? Even though he’s Raiga?
Since we were children, we haven’t gotten along. We never directly fought but even so we had problems with each other.
“Have you gotten soft because you’ve become a father?”
I suppose wonders do happen. Raiga looked at me and gave a ma.s.sive grimace. Blue eyes just like mine narrowed unhappily. But it doesn’t seem like he’s withdrawing his offer.
“I’ll be staying in the castle for a while you see… There are heaps of things to do.”
“Things to do?”
I reflexively asked him.
“The garbage that would harm Mei, I’m going to beat out all of it from the castle without exception…”
Then, isn’t that the same as what I’m doing? He wants to do something about the rotten leaders of this country, right? …What timing.
“Raiga.”
“What?”
“I’ll help you with that. At the very least, I think I can completely clean up the King Faction after all, and I’ve prepared a few things for the Royal Prince Faction too.”
“I see.”
Raiga looked like he was thinking for a little. His silver hair wavered.
“Well then, I’ll try my best to do something about the Royal Prince Faction… Be careful. My father is moving to use this extremist case to take down the King Faction that’s full of openings.”
“I thought so… Geez, Ojisama, you sure didn’t betray my expectations.”
Honestly speaking, I’m grateful. From my position it’d be difficult to make a move on the n.o.bles of the Royal Prince Faction, so it’s a great help to have Raiga make a move.
“I see.”
We decided to join forces. Our fathers quarrel without end, but there’s no reason that even we have to as well. And moreover, our interests overlap. If Raiga cooperates, then we probably won’t suffer from a surprise attack from the Royal Prince Faction while we’re busy with the extremists either. In that respect, he’s a helpful cousin.
After that, he drank up the tea that Henri brought, demanded more tea and sweets, and after completely wasting my rest time, he left the room with a satisfied expression. Didn’t he have any suspicions about poison being put in his drinks or food? Is he broad minded? Or is he stupid, or bold? …I don’t really understand this cousin of mine.
Author’s Note: Raiga-sama is clumsy, but is actually a good guy… is what this story was about (laughs) With his beast-like intuition, he can see through enemies and poison.