This Princess is an Extra-Chapter 43: Little Tricks

Eli rolled her eyes, "And how, precisely, did we humiliate him?" she replied, lifting her chin. "He was the one who brought such disgrace upon himself. We were mere spectators." and she smiled, a small harmless smile.

Hearing that when the dukes’ lashes fluturred open, he couldn’t hide the hint of anger that crossed his features for a fleeting moment, seeing that Eli finally relented after letting out a sigh. "Lord Baldwin has been harassing our maids."

Instantly the anger in him melted, as he stood there with wide eyes, "Harassing...?" Then, almost immediately, his gaze dropped in shame. "Princess, I... I beg your pardon. I should not have questioned you so sharply. Had I known such a vile thing was occurring under your roof, I would never have uttered a word of reproach."

"Oh! No, no, my lord...you did nothing wrong. You could not have known. That sly bast—, I mean, that noble was far too cunning for anyone to notice." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Then... Princess," he said carefully, "Why did he behave in such a manner today? To appear like that... before everyone?"

"Oh! About that...."

"I sent him a letter in someone else’s name inviting for a bit of... spiced amusement." She lowered her voice, leaning closer as if sharing a scandalous secret. "With the special condition that he was to wait in nothing but his birthday suit." She reasoned to see him smile.

"Well... that explains it." Then his expression darkened with seriousness. "Lord Baldwin hails from my lands, so the weight of his misconduct lies with me. Be assured, Princess....I shall see that he is disciplined with the severity he deserves."

"Thank you, my lord." After some thought, she asked him, "My lord... you have carried that bouquet from the moment you arrived. Might I ask whom they are intended for?"

"These are for you," he said extending his hand toward her. Behind Eli, her maids couldn’t help but gasp aloud in unison and she herself went wide-eyed and blinked in surprise as she stared at the roses then back at man in front of her.

Realizing what he had just implied, the duke’s composure cracked and a faint flush rose to his ears before he abruptly straightened and cleared his throat. "Please forgive the misunderstanding, Princess. Allow me to clarify...Leo overheard your plans and informed me of the situation. He was most insistent upon aiding you, and I was compelled to send him back, for his presence might have rendered the situation... unnecessarily troublesome."

"He crafted these himself and wished for you to have them. Thus... I merely carry out his request. Please accept them, Princess." The man’s gaze remained fixed on her, as if he was unable to pry his eyes away.

Eli huffed a small laugh. "Yes... that truly would have become a problem. Thank you again, My lord, for handling it." she said accepting the roses.

And just like that, night settled over Elarion, quiet and uneventful, save for the spectacle that had unfolded earlier. By nightfall, Crown Prince Callisto, his envoy, and the young duke had all departed on their journey.

Meanwhile, Drayce who had now returned to his capital descended the stone stairs. Lanterns that were fixated on the wall burned quietly letting light only around them but not reaching too far towards the corridor and cells that were left in dark. His cloak trailed behind him like a shadow given form and the guards standing watch stiffened instinctively, greeting him.

At the bottom, in one of the cell, five men seemingly nobles knelt in chains, bruised and starved. Their faces were now hollow and drained of any color.

Marvyn stood beside them, his hands clasped neatly behind him and expression unreadable. He was a man in his fifties, the long scar that cut from his left cheek to the corner of his lips pulled ever so slightly at his resting features, turning even his calmest expression into something quietly intimidating. When Drayce approached, Marvyn stepped forward and bowed his head in measured acknowledgment.

"What were your findings, Prime Minister?" Drayce asked as his eyes swept across the prisoners. "I am quite curious!" Then he looked at his side, towards a guard, who, without a word stepped forward, unlatched the iron cell door with practiced familiarity, and brought a heavy wooden chair, placing it directly before the prisoners.

"As you may have already suspected, Your Majesty, the fire in western building was no accident." Marvyn reported, "The best crime experts in the empire came together and narrowed down the cause to be a foreign substance sneaked in the building inside water containers. The fire was spread increasingly by that substance that had property of ignition when submitted to room temperature. This foreign substance is called phorus and can only be found in Gailand, a country beyond the west sea."

"How malicious of House Roland, to include a friendly nation in their plans!" Drayce’s voice remained devoid of any semblance of warmth, each syllable carved from ice and void of emotion.

Then Drayce lowered himself into his seat and he leaned back in relaxed posture. "Any explanation, Lord Rowan? I will listen." His lips were held up in a cold smile.

"Y-Your Majesty, i-it is true that we... approved the sneaking of the foreign substance in western building—b-but we were never told of its real nature! We were deceived! They informed us it to be nothing more than distilled mint-water...." he saw Drayce nodding his head, " I-it was meant to replace the silver-tempering liquid reserves in the treasure foundry! I-isn’t that right Lord Franz?!"

"Of....of course. We are loyal subject of this empire, why would we do something so absurd as of burning the records? We shouldn’t and wouldn’t, do such a thing."

"That’s quite interesting, Lord Franz," Drayce said tapping his armrest, "Are you telling me to believe, you accidently burned down the state records and treasury by deliberately or mistakingly, in your words, replacing the empire’s silver-tempering liquid with a foreign substance?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. I’m speaking the truth." Lord Franz looked up at Drayce with hope.

"Tell me then, is this your defense? Trading one crime for another, hoping the lesser will wash away the greater?" He added, now serious as if the man has spoken words that were utter rubbish, which made Franz gulp.

"Have mercy, Your majesty...of course it was our mistake!!!"-"Your Majesty, we beg you..." all five pleaded in unison.

Drayce tsked, "So noisy!!" and he lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers. At once, the guards moved instantly, and within moments iron gag-frames were brought forward which was forced between their teeth.

"Mmh—! Why...?"

"Your Majesty—mmph—!"

Meanwhile, Drayce sat breathing deeply, he closed his eyes, his head resting against the high back of his chair. Only when the last gag was locked did he open his golden eyes.

"Good, if I didn’t did that, you would have bled my ears to death. " he murmured, as he looked over them, "What’s this? Are you scared, Lord Rowan?" he queried the visibly shaken noble, who was now whimpering. "I haven’t even begun yet."

Drayce rose slowly from his chair and the chains of the nobles rattled as if in answer to his movement. "It would have been... extremely interesting," he mused, pacing slowly to and fro in front of them "to drag the truth out of your guts myself."

"But you know, I strongly do not believe that the fire was born out of merely your incompetence." he smirked, as he turned "No. It burned because I chose not to stop what you had already set in motion." Lord Rowan’s eyes flew wide open, as Drayce finally confessed.

"You did not assumed your emperor to be an idiot... did you? I played along with your little scheme, ....for I knew everything." he gave a chuckle as he disclosed that, "For months, you swapped the silver-tempering liquid, and we simply watched along to catch you in your own game. You see, we possess a few tricks in our sleeves too. I imagine the stolen silver was smuggled beyond our borders, despite the imperial ban. Am I correct... Lord Franz?" Drayce had circled them and was standing behind them, intensifying their fear.

"Haah....so many crimes you must be punished for, why ever did you people insist on making more work for the administrators? Hmm?" Said Drayce without waiting for a response from the Lord Franz. "I trust you will keep my little trick a secret. Do me a favor, won’t you?" he said dropping his voice and making his regular round behind the nobles making them flinch in regular intervals.

"My godfather has a particular hatred for those with loose tongues and you would not wish to earn his wrath. " With that, he gestured toward the man standing silently at the edge of the room. "Given your crimes, your presence in the capital will be... limited and accidents are quite prone to occur in faraway estates, wouldn’t you agree, Lord Franz?!" Lord Franz who had long been responsible for arranging assassins for their faction stiffened. Everyone present there knew it was not the Prime Minister they should fear from.