I, the Female Lead, Ruined the Original

“I don’t know the exact principle, but my relic can counteract Orot’s power. So, it means that the lady is safe from the saintess’s abilities.”

At Rakrensius’ assertion, the Elard family’s faces showed signs of disbelief.

“Remember the tapestry on the first floor of the mansion that the duke introduced me to?”

At his sudden remark, the duke squinted his eyes.

“Considering that some artworks from the kingdom era depict King Asmion as the opponent of the gods… It seems plausible, doesn’t it?”

Those who had been introduced to various parts of the mansion by the duke during the harvest festival banquet quickly realized what he was referring to.

“That’s quite a secret… Now we are indeed entangled with Your Highness beyond repair.” Even Peredo, who had been somewhat aloof, laughed hollowly.

“It’s not much of a replacement, but…”

Rakrensius rummaged through his belongings and pulled out a notebook. The leather-bound cover was adorned with intricate embossed patterns, and the rounded corners of the pages were gilded. It looked far from ordinary.

“This is one of my relic’s abilities… If you have something to convey to the lady, you can write it here.”

“You mean, if we write in this notebook, it will be delivered to Lea?”

“Yes. Everything written here can be comprehended by my holy relic.”

Everyone took turns examining the notebook with curiosity. In reality, Rakrensius had somewhat downplayed Di’s abilities.

Seeing the slight relief and trust spreading on the Elard family’s faces, Rakrensius began to contemplate the tasks ahead.

* * *

the sound of the door opening echoed.

“Enter.”

Selleana, who had been dragged with her eyes covered by a blindfold, was roughly pushed forward.

“

…!”

She fell forward from the sudden push and couldn’t get up immediately, crying out.

“How dare you treat an Elard like this?”

But the knights who had escorted her did not respond.

“I saw all your faces earlier, you know? You’ll be in big trouble later!”

Selleana shouted toward the door, but only the sound of the heavy wooden door closing with a thud answered her.

“Bring the person in charge here!”

The sound of locks clicking and clacking continued for a while, indicating that the door was being locked.

“Come out! I’ll tell my father everything!”

She immediately removed the blindfold and peered through the gap in the door, shouting loudly to make her voice heard far away. Despite her voice, her movements showed confidence.

“Arresting me for violating the restriction order, I’ll file an administrative lawsuit!”

The only sound from outside was the fading footsteps of the knights.

Selleana spent a considerable time kicking and pounding on the door, shouting uselessly. After enough time had passed since she got off the carriage and reached here,

[Let’s see… It doesn’t seem like there’s any surveillance magic here.]

“

, then I can stop acting now. This should be enough, right?”

[Yes. Your acting is getting better. What’s it called method acting? Some people never improve no matter how much they try…]

“Tower master isn’t bad at acting. It’s just that he’s too cute. A thirteen-year-old who couldn’t sleep without a lullaby, so adorable.”

[

, I should have kept my mouth shut…]

Ignoring Di’s grumbling, Selleana sighed and looked around the room. “There’s a bed and a place to wash….”

Being a place to detain nobles under investigation, the room was simple but well-equipped.

“But… where are we? Without the windows, it’s hard to tell. This is in the imperial palace, right? Did you see anything when I was blindfolded?”

After that carriage that brought Selleana stopped, the knights who had been sitting opposite her put a blindfold over her eyes and dragged her out of the carriage by her arms. In that state, she was led somewhere, knowing only that she had climbed a spiral staircase. Occasionally, there were wide landings, so she could tell she was on the fourth floor.

[

… This is the tower at the northwest corner of the imperial palace grounds…]

“

, the tower behind the West Palace? So this tower is used for such purposes. I thought it was unused like the West Palace.”

With her twelve years of experience in and out of the imperial palace, Selleana understood her location just from Di’s explanation.

“Then, let’s inform tower master about this location first….”

Selleana took out a locket hidden in her dress and opened and closed it once. During that time, Di, having checked the palace’s schematics, continued.

[They designed it so that those entering the imperial palace wouldn’t realize its true purpose. The windows visible from the outside are fake, placed between floors.]

“Now I see why the exterior looks so grand.”

[But this place… It’s used to detain those accused of serious crimes like treason or royal defamation.]

“…”

[…]

A moment of silence passed between them.

“So, am I… a serious criminal now?”

[

, well… hold on a moment.] Di, seemingly flustered, fell silent and began searching the imperial palace records.

Selleana, accustomed to communicating with Di, lay on the bed without much thought. The bed seemed similar in size to the one in Rakrensius’ quarters. However, as this was a place for detaining suspects, the other furniture wasn’t of good quality.

Was it the bed or Rakrensius’ embrace that was so comforting?

Lying in the same position as a few hours ago, her body, mind, and feelings were entirely different.

As Selleana absentmindedly patted the mattress beside her, checking its firmness,

[It seems there’s no official charge against you yet. The records of those detained here are all kept, but there’s no entry for you…]

“Are they treating someone who violates the restriction order as equivalent to treason or royal defamation?”

[

… In Nepelsian, restriction orders are rarely issued in the first place. No one has violated it before, and those who would dare to break it would already have other confirmed crimes, so only those charges would be recorded.]

“Are they just detaining me here out of formality, like those who were usually accused of treason or insulting the imperial family? Well, I guess it’s kind of an insult since I upset the empress.”

Selleana chuckled.

“From the start, the restriction order was issued because of diplomatic impropriety with Laten. Do you think the nobles would accept that so easily?”

[It’s hard to gauge public opinion since no special editions or anything like that have been published, thanks to whatever the saintess did.]

“

.”

Ignoring Selleana’s grumbling, Di continued to gather various pieces of information.

[Let’s see… Besides that, it doesn’t seem like there are any magical devices in this building. As for traces of divine power… Well, I don’t feel any in this room right now.]

“You can sense all that?”

[All the magic in the imperial palace was commissioned to the Magic Tower, so I just checked the commission records.]

“

, I see.”

[As for divine power… It’s an energy that repels me, so at the very least, I can sense it.] Di recalled the time Arshilla opened the rift in space-time to threaten Rakrensius.

As Di gathered information about the current situation, Selleana listened and responded.

A bundle of papers suddenly dropped from the air.

“

?”

[…Oh dear.]

The moment Di saw the roughly tied bundle of papers, Di recognized what it was.

[It seems Rakrensius sent this. So you won’t get bored while you’re here…]

“What does it say?”

[Well, it’s… the draft of the next work.]

“No way.”

It was the ‘Wilshe’s draft’ she once longed for… but knowing the author’s true identity, it didn’t excite her as much.

[It’s about a wizard who mistakenly takes a potion and develops a split personality…]

“Oh, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Did you mix something else into it?”

[

! Rakrensius left a message.]

Unable to bear her teasing, Di quickly changed the subject upon sensing Rakrensius’s message.

[He says he met your family, talked things over, handed over the notebook, and shared the situation with the wizards. He’ll sneak into the palace once things settle down. And….]

“And?”

[…He says he misses you.]

“Oh my.”

[These people… I’m not like a magpie bridge in your world…]

“Why not? Whether it’s a magpie, a crow, or you, they’re all black.”

[…]

The toothless sword growled as if baring its teeth.