* * *

"Heh heh. So that is your choice."

"If you insist, then so be it. Royal permission has already been granted. Your opposition will change nothing."

...

"I am sorry, Countess Rose."

"You may resent me. I failed to support you as I promised."

"But please understand. As Crown Prince, I have a duty to put the British Empire's glory and stability above all else."

"And I do not believe your decision would benefit the British Empire, Countess Rose."

"I can only express my regret."

...

"Will you not reconsider, even now?"

"Then it cannot be helped."

"Although matters have turned out this way, please understand that this was a difficult decision for our aristocratic faction, and for us personally."

"If you change your mind, tell me at any time. I will do my utmost to mediate with Lord Karl."

...

...

...

Rose thought that no ball since House Seaserpent's founding could have ended in such a shambles.

Despite those private thoughts, however, she spoke with perfect composure.

"Have all the guests departed safely?"

"Yes. However..."

"What is it?"

"... Most of the guests went to the party being held at the Magus Guild rather than returning home."

Lucas wore a somber expression, as though even delivering the report pained him.

Rose, however, merely nodded calmly, as though she had expected as much, and spoke.

"It seems our house will no longer be holding a ball on Walpurgis Night, starting next year."

"Surely that cannot happen."

"Sir Lucas, acknowledge what must be acknowledged."

Dismissing his protest with her customary calm expression, Rose continued quietly.

"We have fallen prey to Lord Karl's scheme."

"This hardly deserves to be called a scheme! For someone who calls himself a Monarch to commit the outrage of throwing the people into chaos!"

Lucas's anger showed openly.

As befitted the Blue Dragon Princess's closest aide, he ordinarily displayed nothing but gravity and composure. Yet Karl's maneuver had been so vile that even he could not conceal his fury.

Fabricating a false Misty hours to plunge London into chaos, then offering a solution to force people into supporting him—it was the sort of stunt a backstreet thug would pull.

But Rose shook her head.

"The fault was not Lord Karl's treachery. I was too complacent, believing I could resolve matters through dialogue without understanding his resolve."

It was very simple.

Rose had regarded this ball as a final round of negotiations at which to settle matters. Karl, however, had committed himself to a decisive battle, prepared to lose everything if he failed.

That small yet enormous difference had brought about this result.

She should have realized it when she saw Karl arrive at the ball fully armed with items, as though invading enemy territory...

No, she should have noticed as early as when he began openly meeting with Duke Robert.

Had she recognized that as a ploy to draw everyone's attention, she would have understood that Karl had never intended to persuade her in the first place.

"... This is not your fault, Your Highness. It was my responsibility to recognize that he was prepared to wage war against us."

After taking a deep breath, Lucas slowly nodded.

That did not mean his anger had subsided.

"So please, Your Highness, give me a chance to make amends for my failure."

"What do you intend to do?"

"Lord Karl... No. If that man Karl truly wants war, need we do anything more than oblige him?"

Under other circumstances, Lucas would never have made such an extreme proposal. He, too, belonged to the merciful Blue Dragon Clan.

But this time was an exception.

Karl had violated two of the three taboos the Blue Dragon Clan would never tolerate, all at once.

In that sense, Lucas's coldly burning anger represented the consensus of the Blue Dragon Clan rather than merely his personal opinion. Rose watched him silently for a moment before speaking quietly.

"I will give the matter further thought. You may withdraw for today."

"But Your Highness...!"

"I will hear no objections."

Cutting off Lucas's rare protest, Rose spoke with a cool, stern expression.

"Sir Lucas, have you finished dealing with all the unrest in London today?"

"... The chaos itself has largely subsided, but minor disturbances are still occurring."

"I understand your anger. But do not make the mistake of forgetting your duties because you have put personal vengeance first."

His lips moved for a moment at her words, as though he wanted to speak.

In the end, Lucas lowered his eyes. After a brief silence, he placed a hand against his chest and bowed his head.

"I apologize for my impertinence."

"It is all right. Now go and do what you must."

"... If that is your will, Your Highness."

He could not agree, but if those were her orders, he would obey them as a knight of the Blue Dragon Clan.

Rose gazed at the spot where Lucas had vanished across space after that courteous reply, then turned her head. She glanced around the deserted ballroom, so empty that its earlier bustle might have been an illusion, and slowly began to walk.

She did not use Teleportation. There was nowhere in particular she wanted to go.

She simply wanted to leave this place and walk alone while gathering her thoughts.

Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—being alone was easy, since most of the Blue Dragon Clan were hurrying around London to quell the chaos.

And so Rose was able to stroll through the garden alone, calmly retracing her memories.

'... If only I had thought a little more deeply.'

The more she thought, the more she regretted failing to see through Karl's ploy despite being on her guard against him.

She had excuses. Already overwhelmed by endless work, she could only do so much to investigate the witch murders while also preparing for Karl.

She had even increased her workload to the point of suffering insomnia over the past several months. But now that she had failed to stop his maneuver, all those efforts had amounted to nothing.

'I must come up with a plan quickly.'

More important than reflecting on her mistakes was finding a way to resolve this situation.

Quelling London's unrest, stopping Karl, restoring her house's standing, appeasing her furious clan so they would not turn London into a battlefield...

There was a mountain of work demanding her immediate attention.

'But what should I do?'

Despite that rational assessment, however, she could not readily settle into thought.

Karl's eyes, blazing with obsession. The nobles' eyes, gone cold. Lucas's eyes, filled with loyalty.

They all swirled through her mind, bringing the exhaustion she had barely suppressed surging to the surface.

She wished she could forget everything and get some sleep, but her immense sense of duty and insomnia denied her rest, bringing still greater fatigue.

Unable to endure that vicious cycle any longer, Rose sat in a gazebo to catch her breath and looked up at the moon. Just then—

"How are you feeling, Countess?"

Just when she had thought she was finally alone.

Rose sighed at the sight of Limon, who had appeared from nowhere and addressed her.

"What is it this time?"

"Oh, nothing much. I was just wondering how it feels to have your hand bitten by the livestock you've tended so lovingly all this time."

"Then you have asked the wrong person. I have never regarded them as livestock, nor have I been shocked."

"I asked how you felt. I never asked whether you were shocked, did I?"

"..."

Limon chuckled when Rose fell silent, apparently caught off guard.

Then he continued, regarding her with deep, somber eyes.

"Of course, there would be nothing strange about that. Normally, anyone would be shocked to be betrayed by people they'd generously shown kindness to all their life."

"But that isn't what shocked you, Countess."

"You were shocked at yourself for feeling no sense of betrayal, even after being betrayed."

"Am I wrong?"

Rose thought she must deny it at once. She could not concede such an absurd assertion.

Yet his seemingly mocking voice seeped into her with an uncanny gentleness, like a devil's whisper. His eyes, which seemed to see through her heart, reflected her with a strange clarity and stillness.

When she finally opened her mouth, she forgot all her judgments and answered without thinking.

"Yes. You are right."

When everyone had turned away from her, Rose had felt neither anger nor betrayal, neither sorrow nor emptiness.

"I was not shocked. If anything, I even felt relieved."

Instead, she had felt a lightness, as though a heavy burden had fallen away of its own accord.

To borrow Limon's expression, it was closer to relief at no longer needing to care for the livestock she had tended so devotedly all this time.

That was why Rose was shocked.

Limon's outrageous assertion—that she expected nothing from them and had merely shown them mercy as though caring for pets—was something she had never wanted to accept. Now she had realized it was true.

"It is only natural that they turned away from me. Who would sincerely follow someone who sees them as nothing but livestock?"

To give equally, expecting nothing in return.

That was certainly mercy. But it was also cruelty.

It disregarded people's abilities, efforts, potential—everything they could do and everything they could become.

The guests at the ball had known that, consciously or otherwise. That was why they had turned their backs on her without hesitation.

Calmly acknowledging this, Rose wore a dry smile.

"In the end, I was a hypocrite, and everything I have done until now was wrong."

The just and merciful Blue Dragon Clan.

As their princess and a proud noble, she had spent her life protecting and helping the weak. Yet now she had realized that her actions were no different from children's make-believe, serving only her desire for the satisfaction of thinking herself kind and righteous.

Rose turned her head toward Limon and asked,

"Well? Is this the answer you wanted?"

"Except for one part."

"How surprising."

She had not realized there were still faults left in her for him to drag out.

As Rose murmured this in a voice thick with exhaustion, Limon spoke quietly.

"You certainly are a hypocrite. Self-righteous, too."

"Yes, I know."

"But is that something to lament?"

"...?"

Perhaps the question was simply too unexpected.

Watching Rose blink blankly, Limon slowly approached. He plopped down on the empty seat beside her and continued matter-of-factly.

"Sure. You're free to believe that hypocrisy isn't goodness, and that only good deeds done with pure intentions for the right reasons count as true goodness."

Donations to save on taxes. Volunteer work to wash away one's sins. Help offered to win someone's favor.

Good deeds had often concealed ulterior motives since ancient times. Accordingly, pure goodness was revered, while goodness with an agenda was sometimes despised.

"But Countess, a guy about to fucking starve to death doesn't care whether the person giving him bread is a hypocrite or a saint."

Whether the motive was pure or not, bread given to the hungry was still the same bread.

Could saving a dying person be denied the name of goodness simply because it was hypocritical?

Conversely, if someone prevented that bread from being given because it was hypocritical, leaving a person to starve to death, could that be called right?

The answer would vary from person to person.

But Limon, at least, was unequivocal.

"If you still say a good deed was wrong because it wasn't pure, that isn't even an ideal. It's a delusion."

"... What exactly are you trying to tell me?"

"It's simple, really."

Limon shrugged.

Then he spoke calmly to the blue-haired woman looking at him in utter bewilderment—the princess of the Blue Dragon Clan, which for generations had opposed him as fiercely as any clan in the Seven Dragons Society save the Black Dragon Clan, and sometimes even more fiercely than they had.

"In the end, you're a softhearted princess, and what you've done all this time may have been hypocritical, but it wasn't wrong."