Volume 1 Chapter 86 The Engagement Announcement Celebration
──His Highness Stefan, the son of the renowned wise King Zeere, who was praised for being fair, just, and talented, has broken off his engagement with Lyd-Lyd. Doesn't that seem strange?
──Since meeting Francois, His Highness Stefan has started acting recklessly. It's like he's become a different person.
I remembered Mx. Margaret's words.
──The red Curse of the Moon. Mind control. The magic that Eir-Eir could use. A card that denied trials, self-sacrifice, and resistance, aimed at the royal palace. The palace is filled with someone's control.
Mx. Margaret said, "I had seen this coming for a while, but I thought it wise to stay silent until a trustworthy person appears to protect Lyd-Lyd, as it could stir up trouble." She looked around at us.
What I needed to do was the same as always.
Cook and serve food.
The rain of candy was like a miracle, and wishing for it wouldn't change anything.
If that's the case, then cooking and serving food would be the best way to break the curse that might be on Sir Stefan, I concluded.
Mr. Tsukuyomi, who was listening to our conversation, said that maybe Sir Stefan wasn't cursed at all and was just genuinely a bad person.
He suggested that it could simply be that he had fallen for Francois.
But still, I thought it was worth a try.
A few days later.
──Lydia Rest is a fraud pretending to be a saint.
And both Ciel from Saintwise, who is helping me, and Lucian from Leonsroar are rebels with ill intentions towards the Bernard royal family──.
Suddenly, soldiers came to capture me at Lobelia Diner House, saying such things.
It seems they were Sir Stefan's close guards, acting on his orders.
As I ran around the restaurant, crying and screaming, Sir Ciel appeared and used teleportation magic to help me escape.
He hid me at his home, where I also met Mr. Lucian, who was being chased too.
Then, I contacted Sir Roxas.
He had been friendly to me, but Sir Roxas wasn't labeled a rebel.
The Girard family name is strong enough that he went to confront Sir Stefan, saying, "Lydia is not pretending to be a saint," but apparently, Sir Stefan wouldn't listen.
If Francois is the witch's daughter and Sir Stefan is being controlled,
then if I can somehow get him to eat my cooking, he might return to being the kind Sir Stefan he once was.
So, we prepared and infiltrated the royal palace.
I am now dressed in a maid outfit that Sir Rail stole from the castle.
He said that heroes are the type to open treasure chests without permission, so stealing clothes is easy for them.
Today, there is a celebration party in the palace courtyard for the engagement announcement of Sir Stefan and Francois.
Although their engagement was decided a while ago, it seems that a lot of preparations are needed to hold the party.
Of course, the Girard family also received an invitation, and Sir Roxas is expected to attend.
Since Sir Roxas will inherit the Duke Girard title, it seems his father told him to participate in such social events.
Sir Rail, Sir Ciel, Mr. Lucian, and I headed to the palace in the Girard family carriage.
And so, while Sir Roxas was causing a scene, complaining about the guards at the castle gate, we snuck into the palace.
After that, with the help of everyone from Saintwise and Leonsroar, we infiltrated the palace kitchen, which was busy preparing food for the courtyard party.
According to the people from Saintwise and Leonsroar, about half of their members have lost their sanity and believe that Sir Ciel and Mr. Lucian are traitors.
Mr. Leavis and Mr. Noctis were safe and worried about their friends' change of heart.
Sir Ciel said, "Those who regularly ate Ms. Lydia's cooking should be able to keep their sanity."
"It seems that King Zeere has been resting in his room for a while. There are rumors that he is ill. The soldiers are following His Highness Stefan's orders, and if His Highness Stefan says something is black, even white things become black."
Sir Ciel put the kitchen staff to sleep with magic and sighed as he said this.
Sir Rail and Mr. Lucian gathered them together and tied them up with ropes while apologizing.
They seemed to think it would be troublesome if they woke up and escaped.
The sane members of Leonsroar and Saintwise, under the direction of Sir Ciel and Mr. Lucian, pretended to show loyalty to the Bernard royal family.
It seems they wanted to minimize the number of people being hunted as traitors to make it easier to sneak into the palace.
I was unaware of all this and was living my usual daily life in Robelia, so I was surprised when the soldiers came to capture us.
Originally, we were supposed to sneak into the palace before any problems arose to have Sir Stefan taste the food or to kidnap Sir Stefan and have him eat the food.
Mr. Lucian said a bit regretfully, "They got ahead of us."
"...I hope Ms. Lydia's cooking can break His Highness Stefan's magic. If it doesn't work, we might have to take Ms. Lydia and escape somewhere to hide."
"At Kirschtein Town, the old Kirschtein territory, they would gladly hide Lydia."
Mr.Lucian leaned against the wall at the entrance of the kitchen, crossing his arms as he spoke in response to Sir Ciel's words.
He was keeping watch at the entrance.
Mr. Leavis and Mr. Noctis, who had guided us this far, returned to the party's security to avoid raising suspicion.
"Running away, huh? That sounds good. Taking the princess on the run... It might be fun to just travel around the world like that."
While keeping an eye on the tied-up chefs, Sir Rail said.
It felt really villainous to tie up the chefs and take over the kitchen.
"I told him not to say anything, but it seems Wilshark reported that a saint appeared in the Margrave family, and from there, it reached the royal family. He seemed to be infatuated with Ms. Lydia, thinking she was the real saint instead of the actual saint... Because of that, Ms. Lydia ended up being chased by soldiers. I'm really sorry about that."
"It's okay, Sir Ciel. I was scared when I was chased at the restaurant, but you came to help me. Besides, we were planning to have His Highness try the food, so it would have ended up the same way anyway."
In the end, we would have snuck into the royal palace regardless.
Mr. Lucian, Sir Rail, and I are all safe.
I don't think Sir Ciel and the others would easily get caught.
While hiding at Sir Ciel's home, I felt a little nervous, but it was also kind of fun.
I think I understood a bit of how the kids feel when they play hide and seek.
"If Sir Stefan is being controlled... and if he can return to the kind Sir Stefan he used to be... that would make me happy. I'll do my best!"
I said, clenching my hands.
Eir-Eir, who had been nestled between my arms, poked her head out and cutely exclaimed, "Pumpkin pudding!"
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