Chapter 34 – Extra Story — A Girl Who Had Longed To Be A Part Of It  

「I need you to be a witness to the harassment that the Star Maiden was undergoing.」

It was an unexpected request from a friend with a thoughtful expression on her face.

「I don’t remember anything about the case that I can testify about…?」

「Wrong. Look, I’m not asking you to lie. I just want you to be on my side so that that person in trouble won’t be at a disadvantage.」

After school, I was invited to a private room at a cafe on my way back to the townhouse. I had noticed that I had been dismissed at some point, so I waited in silence, wondering「what they were going to talk about,」and I felt as if I had swallowed something heavy and cold in the pit of my stomach when I heard what they were going to say.

「It’s not that I’m lying. All I can say is that on the 28th of last month, after school, I saw the Duchess Graupner behind the school building near the first drill field.」

I let out a thin sigh unconsciously, as if I wanted to let out some of my bad feelings.

.

No matter how you change the words, the meaning is the same, isn’t it? You mean you want to ask me to perjure myself, don’t you?

I think we were more than just childhood friends, since our family estates were adjacent to each other and we shared the same hobby of reading books. But I never thought that this girl… Cecilie would be the one to come up with something so outrageous.

Perhaps thinking I was about to refuse, she instantly became more talkative, a sharp change from the silence she had maintained earlier.

「But, you know it right, Jessica!? How outrageous Duchess Graupner’s behavior is. You say that you are good friends, but you presume evilly on the relationship between His Royal Highness the Prince and the Star Maiden!」 「…It’s just a rumor.」

Yes, I only heard the gossip. There are some things that you just can’t help but hear even if you don’t want to hear them. Her belongings were found with signs of deliberate damage, or an assignment that was supposed to have been turned in was missing. As a book-loving baroness with nothing outstanding about her, I was not the type to actively listen to gossip, so I only heard about it as「rumors」on the spur of the moment.

So I didn’t know about the extreme stories she told about「bribing the cafeteria waiters to put bugs in the star maidens’ meals」or「burning them where they couldn’t see them in their uniforms.」

「That’s right! Isn’t she terrible!? Just because His Highness’s fiancee for fer favor was turned against the Star Maiden…」

「So Cecilie, did you see it? Where Duchess Graupner committed a criminal act, as rumored.」

「I didn’t see it… but I know a lot of people who did!」

「Then why don’t you just testify as those people saw it? Instead of making me lie.」

「We have proof! A letter of summons sent on letterhead watermarked with the ducal coat of arms, and a handkerchief that a friend of the Duchess testified「belonged to Remilia-sama,」were found at the scene.」

「But perjury is a crime.」

「Harassment is a crime too! I thought it was strange. It’s absolutely strange that she could do everything like that and be so well received by everyone. I’m sure she’s been venting her frustration in a discreet place so that no one would ever know. So, her reputation… she was only good on the outside.」

When did I become the kind of person who decides people are guilty based on such uncertain information? And, when did I become such a person who judges people to be guilty based on such uncertain information? The other person is a duchess of higher status than us something, even though she is the fiancée of our country’s prince. How to end this early and return to the townhouse was the only thing occupying my mind.

Because not long ago, rather than me, Cecilie seemed to be a more ardent follower of Duchess Graupner.

「The Star Maiden is a very poor person. She was born into a poor family and had an unfortunate childhood. After entering this school, she was loved by His Highness the Prince and his entourage, but because of their jealousy, she was harassed and tormented. But she says「she wants to be friends with Remilia,」too. She’s always with a friendly smile on her face, undeterred by torment, but sometimes careless and very pretty. And she always smells sweet and flowery.」

And yet now she’s looking at the Star Maiden with the same eyes. What has changed in her?

Once last year when we were in an elective class together. Even though Cecilie told me many times how happy she was that Duchess Graupner had praised her after class. The future Queen took the trouble to stop me and tell me that the poem I submitted in class was wonderful. I can only imagine how happy that made her.

Whenever she talked about that time, I would say to Cecilie,「That’s a great thing to do,」while secretly envying her. Later, when I heard that Duchess Graupner was praising those who had achieved good grades and outstanding achievements in various subjects such as music, magic, alchemy, etc., I thought,「What a lot of other people,」but I also wished I had been asked to speak to her.

I’ve always been jealous of Cecilie because we were in different grades, so unless we were lucky enough to overlap in elective class placement, I didn’t even have a chance to catch her eye. In a lighter tone, she said something like,「I wish I could have such a wonderful experience,」but she meant it from the bottom of her heart. Because she isn’t just the future Queen, she’s a genius inventor who has developed various products that have spread to the common people. She was the top in her academic and magic exams, and the top female in her martial arts exams in her grade. She was also active in welfare before I was old enough to still attend the school, and I know that thanks to Duchess Graupner’s involvement, the literacy rate of the commoners has improved and their lives have changed thanks to her. I am sure that the opportunity to be praised by such a wonderful person is only possible while you are still in school.

I was trying my best for the time when someone would take notice of me someday, but I was too embarrassed to tell anyone about this goal. As I began working on a large piece of embroidery, determined to do what I does best, I prayed,「I hope she will see it at the school festival.」I even fantasized about the future, saying,「If she can win the hearts of her future subjects like this, she’ll be a wonderful queen.」

Unfortunately, such a happy school festival with my modest wish did not come.

I don’t know much about the Star Maiden. But I noticed that I started hearing rumors about the Star Maiden being oppressed, along with the bad reputation of the Duchess Graupner.

There is no way that I would have any association with a royalty who would be my caretaker, and since we are in different grades, I haven’t even had the opportunity to hear anyone say that they have had a direct conversation with her. The first time I heard the topic of「Star Maiden」there was bad news about the one I admire, so I have to admit that the Star Maiden… My personal liking for Pina-san became very low. Even now, that hasn’t changed. No, in fact, I think it’s lower than it was at first.

I have been following her with eyes filled with longing to one day receive her compliments, and I don’t believe that the Duchess Graupner is the one to do such a thing.

But I couldn’t raise my voice because I weighed the danger of such a claim in the current school against myself. The witness Cecilie refers to,「a friend of Remilia-sama」…must be a person of appropriate status as a schoolmate of Remilia-sama. If even such a person says so, I don’t see how my assertion that「I don’t think she is the one to do such a thing」is valid.

But this time, because of this story, the story that the Star Maiden was being harassed has all at once become discredited. Because there is no guarantee that other witnesses are not also being asked to perjure themselves in this way.

But there is also no evidence to support the claim that「Duchess Graupner is innocent.」

All I can do is speak the truth.

「I can’t believe… you’re asking me to do this. I would never help you perjure yourself. You know that my family is in the judicial business.」

「…」

Cecilie looked unhappy and made no attempt to reply. I tried to end the conversation to get this out of the way.

「Of course, it’s not limited to the Star Maiden. If I come across a crime scene of any kind, I promise to testify to the truth, no matter how trivial it may seem. Whether it is theft or slander.」

「…Will you swear to me?」

「Yes, I swear. I swear I will testify as I see and hear it.」

I answered carefully, so as not to take any verbal cues that might suggest I was cooperating with perjury, and rang the bell to call the clerk to get up from my seat.

It was here that I ended up calling out to my childhood friend, Cecilie, that she shouldn’t act strangely.

「I don’t think we should be doing this anymore. Look, Cecilie, I’m worried about you. These other witnesses… are they real?」

「!! I’m doing this on my own! Don’t blame Pina-sama!!」

The words she uttered as a warning that if one person perjured herself, others might look at her as if she might do so, seemed to have caught her off guard.

I walked out of the café like I was fleeing, without even saying goodbye, as if I had been insulted by my parents or siblings.

「I failed…」

I had lost one friend, I thought sadly, muttering to myself in my private room in the townhouse.

However, I feel bad for Cecilie, who seemed genuinely interested in helping the Star Maiden, but facts are facts and I have to tell the story my father told me today. In order to fulfill the duties that I was told to do as the daughter of a family in the judicial business, I wrote a letter to be given to my father via House Stewart and left it with my own lady-in-waiting.

I didn’t think that the actions of the day would make Graupner… No, I had not the slightest idea at the time that after the triumphant return of「Saint of Salvation, Remilia,」I wouldn’t only be thanked in person, but would be honored with an award.