"She didn't want to see her own face?" Reines blinked, sounding genuinely surprised. "I would have thought that if someone possessed a face that was absolute perfection, they'd want to look at it every chance they got."
"But what if that face didn't actually belong to her?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Wayland felt a pang of regret. He glanced over at Gray; the girl's face was buried deep within the shadows of her hood.
In terms of their circumstances, Gray and Diadra were painfully similar. Both had spent their lives being molded into vessels for the expectations of others, refined into something approaching 'perfection' until their original selves were lost in the process.
"Gray."
Wayland didn't know how to comfort her, but he could at least change the subject. He offered her a warm, gentle smile. "You've spent the most time with my mentor. In a situation like this, what kind of thoughts would go through his head?"
"Ah?"
Gray clearly hadn't expected to be asked a question. The hooded girl stammered for a moment before nodding slowly. "If it were my mentor... he'd probably start using those detective terms he's so fond of. Things like 'Whodunit' and 'Howdunit.'"
"But those concepts are largely meaningless when applied to magi," Reines pointed out, shaking her head.
"I... I suppose you're right," Gray admitted.
"Perhaps so, but it's still a solid foundation for a logical inquiry," Wayland said. He looked down at the corpse that Trimmau had meticulously reassembled. It looked whole now, a macabre puzzle completed. "Based on what we see here, I've reached two conclusions. First: this Golden Princess is not the same Golden Princess we saw at the banquet."
"What?" Reines stared at him in disbelief. Even Gray tilted her head, her curiosity piqued.
"Look closely at her," Wayland said, gesturing to the remains of Diadra. "Don't you notice anything off?"
"It... looks like her to me," Reines murmured, her eyes scanning the face.
"No, there is a difference."
Lorelei Barthomeloi, who had been silent until now, spoke up. "The Golden Princess at the banquet was undeniably more beautiful,it was a beauty that verged on the Root itself. The woman in this room, while still possessing a beauty beyond the mundane world, falls significantly short of that standard."
With Lorelei's prompting, Reines and Gray performed a mental comparison. Now that it was pointed out, the discrepancy was glaring. Previously, they had assumed the initial shock of seeing the princesses was simply fading with repeated exposure. But looking closer, they realized the version of Diadra lying in this room was fundamentally different.
"My second conclusion," Wayland continued, "is that this woman didn't die this morning. She's been dead for quite some time,anywhere from two weeks to a full month."
"How can you know that?"
"I just performed a prana-scan. There isn't a single lingering elemental trace on the body. We can be certain the killer was a magus; no mundane intruder could have bypassed the magical lock. And for a magus to dismember a body with this level of precision, they would have used magecraft. If the murder had occurred within the last few hours, there would be elemental residues everywhere. The only exception would be the use of a mundane cold weapon, but even then, a magus's aura would linger. If you doubt me, we can have this verified using modern forensic science."
"Then who was the person at the banquet?" Reines' eyes were wide with shock. "And why use such an elaborate setup to frame us?"
"Think back to last night, Reines. Remember why she claimed she wanted to flee?"
"Of course. She said her father's research was going to kill her..." Reines trailed off, the realization dawning on her. "You mean... Byron's research already killed her? The original Diadra is already dead?"
"Exactly. The Iselma family has been pursuing this research for centuries, and a sudden, massive breakthrough like this was suspicious from the start. It's more likely their magic reached a dead-end, and the original Diadra suffered a fatal backlash. The 'Golden Princess' who came to us was likely a replacement. She might have truly wanted to escape, but I doubt she ever intended to join the El-Mellois. It's more likely she wanted to drag us into the mess, stir up a conflict between the factions, and use the chaos to vanish into the night."
A look of cold fury crossed Reines' small face. Because of this 'Golden Princess,' the El-Melloi family had been put in the crosshairs. One wrong move, and they could have been wiped out entirely.
She took a deep breath, her voice trembling slightly. "So... who is this 'new' Golden Princess?"
"I can't say for certain yet, but I suspect Miss Aozaki is involved."
"Miss Aozaki?" Reines gasped. "How could she be part of this?"
"In the modern world of magi, who else possesses the skill to craft a puppet,or a person,that could not only match but surpass the original Golden Princess?"
Reines was silent. The Iselmas had spent centuries to reach their current height; perhaps only a Grand-rank puppet master like Touko could replicate that result in a fraction of the time.
"Should we confront her now?" Reines asked.
"No need to rush."
Wayland smiled. He knew Atrum Galliasta hadn't even begun his assault on the towers yet.
He turned his attention to Lorelei. "I assume you're waiting for Lord Valualeta to make her move?"
"Indeed," Lorelei admitted freely. "Based on your deductions, the Bureau of Policies already has enough cause to bring Byron in for questioning. But if we can tie this back to the main Valualeta house, the outcome will be far more profitable. I know Inora; she wouldn't have come all this way just for a show. She's curious why the Iselmas made such rapid progress, and based on the 'Golden Princess' at the banquet, she surely knows the Association might issue a Sealing Designation."
"A Sealing Designation?" Wayland's eyes lit up. "Now I understand why the princesses framed us. They're not just fleeing their father; they're trying to evade the Association. If everyone believes the Golden Princess is dead, the Sealing Designation becomes moot. They set this whole stage,pulling the El-Mellois into the fray to spark a factional war,just so they could slip away while the Association was busy cleaning up the mess."
"I see it now," Reines said, the pieces finally falling into place.
"For now, we wait," Wayland concluded. "The fuse has been lit. Whether it's Lord Valualeta or the 'Golden Princess' herself, someone is bound to make a move soon."
Wayland knew the replacement Golden Princess was destined to die soon as well,in the original story, Reines was framed for that death too. But with his intervention, she wouldn't fall into the same trap twice.
"Let's head back for now," Reines said.
"I look forward to hearing more good news from you, Wayland."
Lorelei Barthomeloi was their 'supervisor,' but she was hardly the type to watch them every second of the day. Once she and Adashino had departed, the three of them,Wayland, Reines, and Gray,returned to their guest quarters in the Tower of the Sun.
***
Inside the room.
The moment they were through the door, Reines collapsed onto the bed, her poise vanishing instantly.
She lay there for several minutes, her eyes closed in exhaustion. Finally, she sat up, leaned against the wall, and reached for her eye drops, carefully soothing her strained Mystic Eyes.
"Gray, are you hungry?"
As if on cue, a quiet, adorable rumble echoed from Gray's stomach.
"Ah... I'm sorry..." Gray whispered, her face turning crimson. She quickly looked away, staring intently out the window.
"I'll have a servant from the Iselma house bring some food," Wayland offered, stepping in to save her from the embarrassment.
"Actually, it might be better to avoid their food for now," Reines said pragmatically. "There's no telling what they've put in it. Let's stick to our own supplies."
She reached into her luggage and produced a few glass jars and tins, setting them on the table. There were hard tack biscuits, preserved vegetables, and a small tin of foie gras.
"Trimmau," she called out.
"At your command, Master."
The mercury maid was a master of efficiency. One of her hands shifted into the shape of a kettle. She boiled a small amount of bottled water they'd brought with them and began brewing black tea, the room soon filling with a rich, comforting aroma.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]