Anoseka Volume 2 Chapter 12

This is MTL. So, I cannot guarantee that the translation 100% contextually accurate or appropriate.

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Chapter 12 "Stephanie's End"

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Part 1

On that day, the royal palace was noisy.

After all, the Inquisition of the Count Offley will take place.

Even though it is an inquisition, it is a formality, and with regard to the house, it has been decided to be demolished.

Their territory has already been taken away, and their accumulated wealth has been confiscated in the royal palace.

To put it simply, it is a demonstration to condemn the Offley family, who were connected to sky pirates and behaved in a way that was inappropriate for a noble.

The royal court also hoped that this would make those who had been bitterly treated by the Offley family feel better about the situation.

Therefore, a large number of nobles have been flocking to the royal palace since morning.

Among them was Angelica.

She is wearing her school uniform and is approached by Deirdre, who appears in front of her as she walks down a corridor in the royal palace.

"Angelica, you've been so helpful this time."

"You've made quite an outrageous show of it. Thanks to you, the country will be in an uproar for a while."

The two walk down the hallway side by side.

Deirdre opens her fan to cover her mouth and thanks Angelica.

"I thank you for putting me in touch with the queen."

"Then I wish you could have settled the matter more peacefully. It was too hasty, even if you did it. I can't imagine how the aftermath will turn out to be."

Defeat the bad nobles and that's the end of it! It will not be like that.

If the Offley family is demolished, those involved will be caught up in the commotion.

From now on, it will be necessary to investigate the extent to which the people involved in the case were involved in the misdeeds of the Offley family.

With no time to prepare, the royal palace officials will likely continue to be extremely busy for a while.

Deirdre smiles and closes her fan.

"It wasn't the Roseblade family who was in a hurry. It was Bartfalt-dono —— no, Leon-kun who was in a hurry."

Angelica frowned at Deirdre, who affectionately called Leon's name.

"I haven't heard of any talk of making a connection with the Bartfalt family."

"It was an offer from the other party. There is no reason for us to refuse."

Angelica had not been informed that the Roseblade family would eventually become tied to the Bartfalt family.

But if the Bartfalt family relied on them, it was inevitable.

(I should have had him meet with His Highness earlier. Should I give up on taking him in if he has become so strongly related to the Roseblade family?)

She was thinking of inviting him to join Julius' faction, but she hesitated because of his ties to the Roseblade family.

(If this would be the case, I should have acted sooner.)

Angelica was surprised at how much she regretted not being able to win over Leon.

The Roseblade family is not part of the Redgrave family faction.

They aren't enemies right now, but depending on the situation, they can be rivals.

If she forcibly pulls Leon away, it will become a source of conflict.

This is more than enough reason to reconsider pulling out of Leon.

Deirdre opens her fan to cover her mouth.

"I'm sorry, Angelica. You were after him, weren't you?"

"Don't be so blunt when you've known all along. Anyway, the time for the former Count's Inquiry is approaching. You're going to see it anyway, aren't you?"

When Angelica checked, Deirdre was smiling.

That smile is the kind that would appear on a ferocious beast.

"Of course."

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Part 2

By now, the former Count Offley's hearing would have been in session.

In a room in the royal palace, I was attending another inquiry meeting with Marie.

I was asked to participate in the testimony —— it was Stephanie who was being interrogated.

She is too small to be as ostentatious as the Count.

However, the matter could not be left alone, so an inquiry was held in a separate room.

The reason for this is that the officials want to end the hearing as soon as possible due to the collapse of the Offley and Lafan families, or something like that.

I don't know the details.

Stephanie, who is shackled, is attending an inquisition in what appears to be a conference room.

Marie and I were watching that.

The chairman announces.

"It is unacceptable behavior to use the power of one's family to commit numerous crimes against students in the school, a place of learning. Furthermore, it is out of the question that you lead sky pirates into hiding in the royal capital and use them for your own purposes."

Stephanie's charges are announced.

There are shouts of abuse from the onlookers.

"This traitor!"

"It's not proper to expect noble pride from a merchant, but this is just too much."

"Display her beheaded head!"

Unable to protest the abuse from those around her, Stephanie just turned her head down and shivered.

Her previous attitude had disappeared, and now she looked frightened.

Her eyes wandered and her body trembled.

She is like a different person.

She is now in a situation where she can no longer rely on her parents' home.

In this case, Stephanie would be just a schoolgirl——no, just a woman.

She will not be attending the academy anymore.

Marie tugged at my sleeve and spoke to me in a low voice.

"Say, maybe the sky pirates of the royal capital are"

"Brita and the others gave their witness testimony. They cooperated with me hoping they could return the favor to you."

"Those girls?"

Marie can't believe it, but I actually asked them to help.

Was it persuasion? They were reluctant, but in the end they promised to cooperate.

The chairman reads out Stephanie's charges, and then concludes.

"Normally, it would be appropriate to execute you, even if you were a female student at the school —— but we have prepared another way for you. From now on, you are exiled from the kingdom. You are not a noble, you are not a citizen. You will be a woman who belongs nowhere. This is your punishment."

Let's just say, they threw Stephanie out of the royal palace and that was the end of it.

It would seem a very light punishment, but when Stephanie raised her head, the blood drained from her face.

"N-No——I don't want it! Let me die as a noble! I don't care if it's an execution or whatever, just don't exile me!"

Seeing Stephanie crying, half of the audience looked like they didn't understand.

After all, most of them are students at the school.

They gathered to see how Stephanie would end up.

However, the adults seem to understand.

Some of the men are smiling, so I guess they probably are aware of what awaits Stephanie.

Marie tugged at my sleeve again several times.

"S-Say, is that supposed to be punishment? They're just gonna exile her, aren't they? On the contrary, isn't it dangerous?"

I guess she was thinking that —— maybe she could come for revenge.

But Stephanie can no longer be a threat.

She is not a noble of the kingdom or even a commoner.

She has become a person who has no rights whatsoever.

She is a being with no laws to bind her, and no laws to protect her.

Stephanie became a woman with no rights in the kingdom of Horfalt.

Moreover, rumors of the misdeeds of the Offley family have spread throughout the country.

There is no decent place for Stephanie anywhere in the kingdom anymore.

"The people that she used to look down on as poor are now an existence above clouds. Also —— after they throw her out, no one will blame anyone for what they do to Stephanie, because they can't be blamed for anything."

"That's"

Marie also seemed to have guessed.

People who have a grudge against Stephanie are free to take revenge.

From now on, Stephanie won't be able to ask anyone for help.

The kingdom will not help —— because she is not a citizen of the kingdom.

——If she could die easily, maybe it would be a blessing.

As Stephanie cries, the female knights on her side slam their fists to silence her.

"You're making too much noise. Shut up!"

"Ouch!? It hurts, please stop! Someone please help me!!"

"Help? Who is going to help you! Don't you see how the participants are looking at you?"

The female knight grabs Stephanie by the hair to make her look around.

Then, most people glared at her —— or mocked her.

Stephanie, who has fallen from her position as a daughter of a Count and has become not even a citizen of the kingdom, is made to look like a spectacle.

The female knight appears to have a sadistic smile on her face —— could she be harboring a personal grudge?

It doesn't look like there is any connection.

"No one seems to want to help you."

Stephanie's face contorts in fear.

"Noooo."

A faint voice echoes through the hall —— but I'm more taken aback by the roughness of the female knight.

Isn't the male knight being outshone by her?

The chairman stops the knight's assault while proceeding with the inquiry.

"That's it. Now, let's start digging into the names of the people involved. Stephanie, you were close to some of the students at the school, right? How many of them had close ties to the sky pirates?"

Is this more a playing field than an interrogation here?

They do not expect her to be honest with them, and in fact, the less people involved, the happier the chairman would be.

——Because there will be less work.

I mean, haven't they already checked out that the children of the knight families who were cronies were not deeply involved?

Even if the cronies were connected to the sky pirates, it was through Stephanie.

There is also the situation that the daughter of a dependent parent could not disobey the orders of the godparents.

There will be a punishment, but it won't be as severe as Stephanie's. ——Maybe.

The chairman asks Stephanie.

"We've interviewed all of you and found that a female student named Kara Fou Wayne has a close relationship with you and may be connected to the air pirates, correct?"

When Kara's name is mentioned, Stephanie's attitude changes.

Her body twitched, and then, after a while, she turned her head down——.

"——S-She doesn't know anything. She was just being pushed around."

Stephanie defended Kara.

The chairman has a wicked smile on his face.

Apparently, he is not a person who can be described as having a good personality.

"Is that so? Indeed, they all said they were just doing as they were told. They said it was painful for them to follow you. They were fussing about how their pride was hurt when they were forced to flatter a merchant's daughter. ——It seems that they disliked you a lot. They all said abusive things about you."

Stephanie was shedding tears.

My eyes widen at the unexpected sight.

I thought Stephanie would have said something nasty about the cronies who had betrayed her.

And so Stephanie defended Kara —— until the end.

"Like I said —— Don't make me say it again. That girl was more clever than the others, so I just kept her by my side and used her. I don't entrust her with important work. From the beginning —— I-I never trusted —— anyone"

Stephanie was shaking and looked very sad.

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Part 3

"Why didn't she just tell me the truth about Kara?"

I muttered as I descended the stairs leading to the underground prison.

The one who answers is Luxion, who shows up.

[Kara Fou Wayne—she was Stephanie's closest entourage of schoolgirls. She must have been more knowledgeable about the affairs of the Offley family than the others. She neglected her duty to report to the kingdom, so her crime was more serious than the others.]

"That's it. Why would Stephanie cover for her? That girl would just take her down with her for her abusive comments! I thought she was gonna talk like that."

[However, Stephanie's testimony will not significantly change the punishment. The hearing you just had was just for show.]

"——Right"

When the conversation with Luxion was over, Marie was stunned by us.

"You guys didn't notice it"

"Huh?"

[Did Marie notice something?]

Marie, who is aware of Stephanie's feelings, tells us.

"She——Stephanie, I guess, maybe she just wanted a friend."

I immediately deny it because it sounds too good to be true.

"No, that's not true. It's absolutely not possible. What could possibly make you think that Stephanie wanted a friend?"

[The process of making friends is wrong.]

Marie, perhaps expecting our reaction, calmly explains.

There's anger at Stephanie, but is it sympathy? Marie also has some thoughts on the matter.

"That's why I prefaced it with maybe. Stephanie doesn't have any friends in the first place."

"With that attitude, I can't blame the others."

"That's what I thought at first, too. But in this world, things are complicated, aren't they? There are a lot of people who won't even take you seriously because of your family background."

I too started to understand what Marie was trying to say.

The Offley family is a house that was taken over by merchants. The merchants came to a failing house and took it in the same gray way. They call themselves nobles, but inside they are merchants.

Then they showed their business prowess and rose to become Count —— naturally, they were not well-received.

The setting of that otome game was that she was shunned by most of the kingdom's nobles.

Certainly, this is a big disadvantage when it comes to making friends.

"—— I don't think they'd like to get close to her. It was only among the nobility that she was disliked, right?"

If not a noble, she could have made friends.

Marie lets out a big sigh in response to my answer before replying.

"What she wanted was a noble friend."

"She has a bad personality."

I don't think it's right for people to say that anyone other than nobles is not their friend.

"I think the environment you grew up in had a lot to do with it. If you're like that from childhood, it's no wonder you grew up twisted. I don't feel sorry for her. No, I do feel a little sorry for her. What she did is unforgivable. But it's also true that the environment around her was bad."

If only the environment had been different, would Stephanie not have strayed from the right path? To Marie's question, Luxion gives a cold reply.

[Even so, it was Stephanie herself who created this situation. If she had been a good person, her crime would have been less serious than it is now. I admit that the environment is the cause, but there is also the problem of her character.]

"But——"

Luxion does not allow Marie to say anything back.

[If it's a bad environment, Marie is no different. Still, Marie has —— well, she has caused a lot of problems, but they are all minor compared to Stephanie's. There is no need for Marie to be burdened with heartache because of Stephanie.]

When Luxion finishes, Marie begins to speak.

"I saw it at her parents' house. Stephanie always had Kara by her side. Kara was kind of annoyed. But Stephanie seemed to be happy about it. She's not good at making friends. She's so clumsy that her favors don't come across at all."

"I still can't believe it."

I can't believe Stephanie wanted a friend —— moreover, she's so clumsy that she's hurting people around her and causing nothing but trouble.

However, there are some moments that come to mind for me as well.

It is an act of harassment like power harassment. It is an act of using one's position or relationship with a subordinate to push him or her away, but sometimes the person doing it says things like, "I'm doing it for his/her own good."

Like, violence is also a greeting.

Or the idea of imposing impossible tasks is to make them grow.

Even if the act is unbelievable to a third party, it is justifiable in the person's mind.

From the perspective of the person doing it, it's the right thing to do, but whether or not it's accepted by the public is another matter.

In other words, Stephanie wants to have a noble friend and acts like that —— no, she doesn't.

Apparently, Marie is not positive about Stephanie either.

"She actually had a terrible personality. I wouldn't want to see her face again either. But, you know, I think there's a reason why she became like that. ——Don't you think it's too heavy for the fluffy setting of that otome game?"

Luxion seemed interested in Marie's question.

[That it was the result of poor communication skills and the wrong approach? This is interesting, but the punishment for Stephanie has already been handed down. There is no point in fixing Stephanie's problem.]

Marie lowers her gaze.

"That's right. It's too late to think about anything now. But you know, I worked at night in my previous life, so I've seen people like that. I wonder if she could have changed her life if she had realized it a little earlier."

When I saw Marie depressed, I let out a small sigh.

Why is this girl so worried about Stephanie?

"You're the one who's imagining things about friends, right? That's why we came all the way out here."

When we reached our destination, Luxion disappeared.

When we come to the underground prison, a guard notices us and approaches us, so we explain the situation.

Then he led me to a prison.

Kara was there.

She is sitting on the floor, dressed in a dirty outfit and looking very worn out.

When we arrived, she looked up.

"——What?"

Through the grid, Marie tells Kara the results of the inquiry.

"Stephanie's Inquiry is over. They're going to take everything from her and exile her."

Hearing that, Kara seemed to have guessed it and started laughing.

She looked really happy with a dark smile on her face.

"Is that true? Serves you right. After all the trouble she put us through, she got us into this mess. It's a natural result, isn't it? ——A~ah, I also wanted to see his pitiful appearance at the hearing."

When we were silent, Kara was laughing out loud.

It appears to me that she is desperate.

"Still, it's a great turn of events to have everything taken away from her. After all the times she has made fun of and disrespected others, don't you think it's ironic that she is being punished? Now she's going to be the one who will get treated like crap by everyone around her!"

Marie tells Kara, who is very happy, about what happened at the hearing.

"Stephanie was the one who insisted to the end that you guys —— especially Kara had nothing to do with the sky pirates. She didn't sell any of you cronies out."

When Kara heard that, she was speechless as if she was surprised.

As Marie and I leave Kara's prison, I hear her mumbling to herself.

"Why is she not selling us? After all the trouble she put us through —— and now you're covering for us!? Why? ——Be more arrogant and nasty."

She seems to be in quite a shock.

Is she tired enough to be confused?

If she were in a calm state, she might say, "Do you expect me to let you off the hook using that attitude after all this time."

Then, when we passed in front of a certain prison —— Marie's father was there.

"Marie! Isn't it Marie!? H-Help me. Intercede with Baron Bartfalt. I am innoceent!"

Marie furrows her brow at the former Viscount Lafan, who reaches out to her with tears in his eyes.

She turned away and left the underground prison, but looking at her back, it seemed that she was having mixed feelings.

Since she has nothing but resentment toward her family in this life, it would not hurt her heart to abandon them here —— but she seems to feel some kind of guilt.

I scratch my head.

"She shouldn't have to worry about it, but isn't that girl carrying too much on her shoulders?"

I was talking to myself, but Luxion picked up on it and responded.

He showed up even though we were in front of the former Viscount Lafan.

[I agree. But still, Master and Marie have many similarities. I would judge the compatibility to be excellent.]

"Oi, why did you show up?"

Former Viscount Lafan is surprised, but he probably realizes that it's something that shouldn't be seen right away and starts negotiating with me.

"Baron Baltfalt! I'll keep this a secret. So, please! Please help me! If you don't —— I'm afraid I'm going to start talking about you having suspicious figures by your side."

When I'm annoyed with former Viscount Lafan, who smiles at me with a dirty smile, Luxion responds in a rare way.

[You are mentally unstable now. No one will listen to your testimony. Therefore, such negotiations are meaningless. ——Now, Master, it's time to go over to Marie.]

"——Right."

Luxion and I ignore former Viscount Lafan and leave the underground prison.

I heard a voice from behind my back, "Help me! I don't want to die yet!''

Compared to Stephanie, who showed her determination at the very end, Marie's father is too small a man.