Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival [WN] - Chapter 29.3
“Aria, although your surveillance mission is still only to assist us, from now on, you will also serve as a communication agent. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“And now that we are in a room, I will disclose some additional information: Elena-sama is one of the royalty of this country, and the other one is Clara-sama, the daughter of Lord Dandol. These two will be under surveillance, but Elena-sama will have the higher priority when it comes to guarding. Make no mistake.”
“Yes.”
“And now that the two have entered the mansion, we have received reports that people have begun to appear to monitor their movements from other factions that dislike either or both of the targets. I don’t think they will take direct action, but if they do take any steps, you, who are nearby, are to protect her highness at least.”
“Yes.”
“And since you were personally referred to by her Highness, please address her as Elena-sama and not as Her Highness, and for Clara-sama, please address her as Young Lady.”
“…Yes.”
I nodded slightly as Sera confirmed the long, sober change and returned to the side of the surveillance target, who had begun strolling around the garden with Sera.
That didn’t mean there was anything in particular to do. Since I didn’t have to do anything at that time, I could just watch [from a child’s perspective] to make sure they didn’t suddenly disappear while weeding and doing chores, but now that I had a room, my new job was to stand behind the other maids while checking my surroundings.
“Aria, come here.”
“…Yes, Elena-sama.”
But Elena didn’t seem to let me just do my duty. I didn’t know what she liked about me, but she kept me by her side, not letting me serve or anything.
When I approached, the lady of Dandol distanced herself as if frightened, and when I called Elena’s name, the maids, who are not allowed to call her by name, looked at me with hatred filled eyes, and Elena, having noticed everything, felt amused as it could be seen by the mild smile.
…She was a good-natured lady.
“Aria has quite a nice personality. I wonder if she has a personality that doesn’t care too much about what others think of her?”
“…I’m afraid so.”
It seemed that Elena and I were very similar.
Of course, our personalities were different, but if there was a connection between us despite her being an aristocrat, there must have been an event that made her a little more relaxed around me. I found the way things were a little more agreeable.
The maids and the maids of honor stayed away unless they had something to do.
The lady of Dandol would sometimes leave the place when I was there, so after a few days, I was often the only one near Elena.
“In general, your mother is too weak-minded. She is a good person, but she is only a baroness without a queen’s education, and without her mother, the second queen, the government of this country will not work properly. You should have established yourself there, at home and foreign lands… don’t you think?”
When I was the only one nearby, Elena would complain in a voice that only I could hear. …Is she really a child like me?
The young lady from Dandol also had a mature attitude and speech, but unlike Elena, she really gave the illusion that she was talking like an adult who has been through a lot.
I heard that Elena’s mother gave her an unusually strict education, since she was a gifted child from birth. She must have struggled hard to survive with all the knowledge she was stuffed with.
“I don’t understand.”
“Aria is really cold, but you’re cool like that. Tomorrow I’m going shopping in the city, and you will accompany me.”
“Okay.”
When it was just the two of us, Elena didn’t mind if I used sloppy language.
But we were not Friends. She did not lose her position as the master to the maid, and I did not step in more than I needed to.
I would never serve her. But I didn’t hate this atmosphere, which I could feel around her.
Slowly…quietly passing time, Elena sipped tea at a white table on the terrace, occasionally turning her attention to the clear blue lake.
I wondered what she had seen and felt with the same knowledge that I had. And what was reflected in her eyes now?
I stood diagonally behind her and looked at the same view. We stood like that there in silence for a while, and then suddenly Elena opened her mouth.
“Aria…what do you see?”
I slowly opened my mouth to answer Elena, who asked this while staring at the scenery, with my eyes fixed on the lake.
“Probably…the same thing.”
The next day – a week after Elena entered the castle – we decided to go shopping in the city where Dandol Castle was located.
Still, since she was not here on official duty, the escort would be made up of Sera’s connections in the city, and only three knights would be the visible guards, and the rest would take only two maidens and two butlers each, and four maids.
I was one of those four maids. However, Sera and the senior butler were not among the maidservants and butlers.
There was a reason that neither of them could leave the castle, but the main reason was Elena’s refusal to allow the two nagging maids to tag along.
But I was told that the senior butler would be monitoring the castle among the citizens, so he should not have to be present personally with Elena unless something terrible happened.
The Lady of Dandol, who should have been with her, was apparently absent because of poor health (upon hearing that I would be accompanying them).
“It’s indeed a big city, second only to the royal capital. It looks like we are in a clothing-related store that even a commoner can afford. Aria, can I get you something, too?”
I shook my head quietly at Elena, who looked out of the carriage window at the cityscape and said.
“Yes, Aria. It suits you to get what you want on your own.”
We arrived at one of our destinations, a high-end clothing store.
One of the knights went around the back, one stood by the entrance, and one accompanied her inside.
The store was rented out that day solely for Elena, and there were no other customers. I probably have been checked out many times, but besides the owner, there were only three female clerks, and I could not detect any other signs of anyone else in my detection.
“Thank you for coming in today. Please don’t hesitate to look around.”
“I will do so, sir.”
We exchanged a few light words with the shopkeeper, and Elena looked around at the fabrics and ready-made scarves.
I wondered if someone heard that Elena was going to buy something for me. The maids who could not come in the carriage with me looked at Elena greedily, but it was the job of the maidservants to follow around with her, so the “four” maids, including myself, had no choice but to watch from a distance. The maids were not allowed to look around with Elena but….
“Where did one of them go?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
When I noticed that one of the maids was missing, a maid from the aristocratic fringe, who had been hostile to me, turned to the side with a twitchy look on her face.
No matter how many of them there were, they wouldn’t just disappear on their own. Feeling bad, I finally detected that there was no sign of Elena, who had entered a private room to take her body measurements.
As I hurried to the door of the measurement room, I was stopped by one of the knights.
“I don’t care how much you know. I won’t allow you to enter without permission.”
“I can’t feel Elena-sama’s presence. Check inside immediately.”
“What are you…?”
“Then I will confirm it.”
One of the attendants, who had been waiting outside, knocked, probably having heard about me from Sera, and after confirming that there was no answer, opened the door.
“Your Highness!”
I entered with that knight leading the way, but Elena, who should have been inside, was not there, and one of the knights who had entered with her was lying on the floor.
“Where is Her Highness…?”
“The waitress who went in with her is gone too!”
“There’s a hole over here!”
The butler’s voice was heard, and when he peeked out from behind the knight, he saw a hole in the floor that a child or a slender woman could fit through.
“They went underground!”
“Where are the stairs?”
“I’ll chase after them.”
I slipped between them as they began to search for the stairs, and with a single command, I jumped into the hole with my skirt folded up.
I landed a few meters down, using the elasticity of my strengthened legs. I immediately looked around using my night vision, felt a slight disturbance of magical elements from the back of the room, and called out to the ceiling where the hole was located to head back.
I raced to the back of the house, expecting the higher-ups to catch up with me as soon as possible, but instead I found not Elena but a stunned maid, a member of the nobility who had disappeared, slumped over.
“What are you doing here? Where is Elena-sama?”
“…I didn’t know. I… they said that if I gave out some information, the clerk would give me some money… but I didn’t know that this was going to happen…”
“What about Elena-sama?”
“Hiii!”
I lightly intimidated her back to sanity, and she pointed to a small side hole in the basement’s corner, shaking from the fright she received.
“…”
The shopkeeper was the main culprit… With the charcoal I had been supplied with, I scribbled down the necessary information for the knights who were moving after me on the plaster walls, then entered that small side hole and followed the leads to the kidnapped Elena.