“Alright, Riley, explain to me in detail what happened.”
I asked Riley what was going on as I looked at everyone around the round table (I went to the trouble of reshaping the desk myself.)
“Yes, ojou-sama.”
“-What’s with this farce……”
“Shut up, brat. I don’t remember allowing you to speak up.”
I silenced Sujata by slamming the desk. Then, with a wink, I urged Riley to begin.
“Ojou-sama. It happened earlier this morning. This morning, the marquis’s daughter, Hendra Rickson-sama – who I’ll refer to as Victim H from now on – Victim H was visiting a small flower garden near the border of our Akaido Kingdom.”
“-Why’s this maid in such high spirits?”
“Shut up, brat. There won’t be a third warning.”
On a blackboard that a trembling novice maid was holding up for me behind me, I wrote “this morning,” “Victim H,” and “flower garden near the border.”
“Victim H seems to have been attempting to pick flowers in order to make a bouquet for Prince Heathcliff. The leader of Rosewood ojou-sama’s bodyguards, Iris – has testified so as Witness A.”
“Mmm. Then, it’s for certain. Continue.”
“–……”
“After Victim H trampled the flower garden thoroughly with her overly high amount of muscle ma.s.s while picking flowers, she got on a horse-drawn carriage. It seems that the horses she had to use were the type to compete in contests.”
“–……”
“Then, Witness A felt something was suspicious, and followed her on foot. She followed their tracks. Then, she found the carriage stopped in a dim alleyway. Then some brawny men – well, less burly than Victim H, but a lot of brawny men appeared.”
“–……”
“Kyaa, and with a single swing of her arm, Victim H sent about ten people flying, and while protecting the flower bouquet, overpowered twenty-seven brawny men before she was captured and put on another carriage.”
“–……”
“Then, Witness A thought this. That she should tell Rosewood ojou-sama about this incident as soon as possible. And so she stopped acting on her own individual judgement, and since she couldn’t take on the remaining forty or so burly men on her own even by ambushing them, she escaped from them and returned to here as quickly as possible.”
“–……”
“This is…… Uh, evidence from Witness A that she obtained while escaping successfully.”
Riley carefully took out and opened a box.
What was in it,
was a bunch of wigs.
“What, what’s this!?”
“Onee-sama, this is, um!”
Even that Marie raised her voice higher than usual. Then, Sujata raised his hand.
“What is it, brat.”
“-There’s so much I want to say about all of this as the only sane person here, but leaving that aside, what’s with these wigs? They only seem like normal wigs to me.”
“That’s right, b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you’ve only just become a n.o.ble recently. These wigs are – produced in the neighboring country’s Sunradea region as one of their prize products.”
“But all I can see are greasy wigs.”
“And! That region! It’s the region under control of that muscular prime minister from the neighboring country!”
“–Muscular…… So that guy became the prime minister.”