"That said, if we're talking about trustworthy family, there are a few."
Reinhard smiled as he spoke, and two figures emerged from inside the estate, stopping before the front doors to offer the group a polished bow.
"Welcome, Lady Felt, and all of you, to the Astrea household."
An older couple, both somewhere around sixty. The man wore a crisp black tailcoat, his gray-white hair combed into perfect order. Everything about him radiated discipline. The woman beside him was warmer, her expression gentle and kind. The greeting had come from her.
Reinhard turned back to the group. "Allow me to introduce Carol and Grimm. If you need anything during your stay, don't hesitate to ask either of them." He paused. "Grimm's throat isn't what it used to be, so he rarely speaks. Please don't take it personally."
The couple had already drawn open the doors. Everyone followed Reinhard inside.
He led them to a dedicated reception room where Grimm and Carol served piping-hot tea. Reinhard had even thought to request an extra plate of sweets for Gojo.
Once everything was laid out, Reinhard turned to Felt.
"Lady Felt, shall I continue answering your earlier question?"
"Go ahead." She said it distractedly, because she was busy guarding her pastries. Gojo had two plates of his own, and yet the moment her back was turned, he'd started eyeing hers. She hadn't even taken a sip of tea.
"Fourteen years ago, something significant happened in the Royal Capital. The king's younger brother had a one-year-old daughter who was stolen. My grandfather, serving as Commander of the Royal Guard Knights at the time, led a lengthy investigation that turned up nothing. The scandal, compounded by evidence of noble corruption, led to the disbandment of the Royal Guard Knights for a period. They were only recently reformed."
"Wait." Felt held up a hand. "You're saying I'm the king's brother's daughter?"
"Yes. Barring extraordinary coincidence."
"That's quite the identity to stumble into." Gojo used the gap in Felt's attention to swipe her pastry plate.
"Good thing you hadn't been identified the first time we met. Otherwise I'd probably be rotting in a cell right now."
"Stop making jokes about this." Felt reached for her plate, found it gone, and hurled the empty saucer at his head. He caught it without looking.
"But this isn't the same thing I asked you before, is it?" She turned back to Reinhard, refocusing. "Why pledge yourself to me specifically? If you wanted to support a Royal Candidate, even Emilia, the least favored of the five, has better credentials."
She couldn't make sense of his reasoning.
"The Royal Guard Knights exist to protect the royal family. Years ago, it was the knights' failure that allowed you to be stolen. Now, after the order has been rebuilt, the royals have all perished..." Reinhard began.
"In short: his grandfather's old regret, guilt over failing to protect the royal family, and the fact that you're the person the Royal Guard Knights should have been serving all along. Put it all together, and that's why he's pledging to you. Am I right?" Gojo cut in, condensing the explanation to its bones.
"Yes." Reinhard nodded without hesitation.
"Then here's a follow-up, Reinhard. If that's the logic, shouldn't the other knights in the Royal Guard support Felt too?"
Felt stared at Gojo, lost. Where had this pivot to the knight order come from?
Reinhard considered the question, then shook his head with a rueful expression. "These are my convictions alone. The others will most likely follow the Divine Dragon's guidance, wait for a new monarch to emerge, and pledge to whoever claims the throne. There may be exceptions, but I can't guarantee anything."
"Fair enough." Gojo nodded, then tipped his chin toward Felt.
"You followed all that?"
"Do I look stupid to you? I don't need your commentary to understand a conversation."
"As expected of Lady Felt, with royal blood in her veins. Such wisdom..."
"Reinhard, if I accept your loyalty, beating this guy senseless wouldn't violate your principles, would it?"
Felt drew a deep breath and turned to Reinhard, seething.
"It would be my pleasure."
Reinhard winked at Gojo, then knelt before Felt on one knee.
"Then... I accept your loyalty..."
"Old Man Rom, come to think of it, we haven't had a proper tour of the Astrea estate yet. How about we step out for some fresh air?"
Gojo had already vaulted behind Rom's massive frame, wearing an expression that said come and get me.
Felt lunged, fists swinging.
"Old Man Rom, don't hold me back. I'm teaching this idiot a lesson today."
"Old Man Rom, don't hold her back. I want to see her try."
Rom, caught in the crossfire, felt his head begin to throb.
"Will you two show some respect for the elderly?!"
One enormous hand closed around each of them, hoisting them off the ground like a pair of squirming kittens. The sight broke everyone. Laughter filled the reception room until the walls practically shook with it.
The matter of Reinhard's allegiance was settled in principle. What remained were details: further verification and the like.
None of it posed much difficulty. As Reinhard explained, the combination of golden hair and crimson eyes was staggeringly rare due to the royal bloodline's unique characteristics. Among the hundreds of thousands living in the Royal Capital, you'd be hard-pressed to find a second person matching that description. Factor in Felt's age, and the conclusion was all but certain. She was the stolen royal child. Any remaining tests were formalities.
But that was between Felt and Reinhard. Gojo had no part in it, and he was perfectly content with that arrangement. Given the choice between royal genealogy and creature comforts, he knew where his priorities lay.
Speaking of which, it seemed to be a universal quirk among nobility. The Astrea household also employed a pair of young maids, apparently even younger than Rem and Ram. They were Carol and Grimm's granddaughters, and under Reinhard's arrangement, both had been assigned exclusively to attend Felt.
Compared to Emilia's treatment at Roswaal's mansion, Felt had it even better here.
Reinhard proved efficient, too. By nightfall, the verification was complete. Felt was confirmed as the last surviving member of the royal family.
Which meant the one thing she'd lacked most, open and legitimate backing, was now hers.
Night fell.
In Gojo's room, Meili sat on the bed, swinging her legs and yawning.
Gojo was perched by the window, watching the grounds below, waiting.
A knock.
Felt's voice, clipped. "Open up."
"Coming!" Meili perked up, hopped off the bed, and scurried to the door.
It swung open to reveal Felt in an oversized nightgown, looking like she'd been through a war.
"My, my. Lady Felt, looking a bit worse for wear." Gojo grinned and held out a cup of warm milk.
Surprise flickered across her face. She took the cup, tipped it back, and drained it in one go. Only then did she wipe her mouth and groan.
"I never knew being bathed by other people could be this exhausting."
She flopped face-first onto the bed and let out a contented little sound, somewhere between a sigh and a purr.
"Reinhard says the assembly's coming up and there's a mountain of preparation. Starting tomorrow, Carol's drilling me on etiquette. Tonight, her granddaughters, Flam and Grassis, scrubbed me head to toe. Like a pig at the slaughterhouse. Then it was measurements for formal wear, shoes, accessories, a whole parade of things..."
She rambled on. One evening of aristocratic grooming had drained her completely.
"Hey! Are you even listening to me?"
No response. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked over.
Gojo was turning a coin purse over in his hands, fishing Holy Gold Coins out of it one by one.
"Get your hands off my money!!"
Felt was instantly, violently awake. She launched off the bed and charged him.
"What do you mean your money? There's some of mine in here too." He extracted five Holy Gold Coins, planted one hand on top of her head to hold her at arm's length, and smiled.
"Liar! That's the money you owe me!"
"Never said I was paying you back right now. Besides, it's only five Holy Gold Coins. Don't be stingy. There'll be plenty more once we start earning."
Felt struggled and grabbed, but with his palm pinning her forehead she couldn't close the distance. She watched, helpless, as the coins disappeared into his pocket.
"Alright." He tossed the purse back to her. "You didn't come here this late to chat about nothing. What's on your mind?"
He'd known she would come. Someone like Felt wouldn't let her coin purse out of reach, not even in pajamas fresh from the bath.
"Who says I have something to tell you? I..."
She clutched the purse to her chest, aching over the missing coins.
"If there's nothing, then I'm heading out. Meili."
He beckoned and stood, already moving for the door.
"Where are you going?"
The coins were instantly forgotten.
"To check in on our old friend, obviously. She's working for us, after all. When we were broke, we couldn't do much, but now that we've got a bit of spending money, it's only fair we send some her way."
Felt glanced at Meili by Gojo's side and understood at once. He meant Elsa.
"You're going to see her now? What about Reinhard?"
After the afternoon's line of questioning, Felt had a much clearer picture of who Reinhard was. Given his principles and temperament, if he ever discovered that Elsa was part of their operation, "colleague" or not, he would absolutely move to arrest her. No exceptions. A wanted criminal was a wanted criminal.
"Why do you think I've been sitting here waiting this whole time?"
Gojo shrugged as though the answer were obvious.
"I should never have come over here!"
"If you hadn't, that would've been the strange part."
"Fine. So tell me what you've learned."
Felt glared at him, grumbling internally, but pressed on. "I tested the waters at dinner, asked about the Astrea family's situation. Brought up the topic of supporters, too."
"And?"
"Reinhard said he can't help with that."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
The response caught Gojo off guard. On this point, his thinking and Felt's were aligned: treat everyone the same, keep the focus on making money.
Reinhard's pledge of loyalty boiled down to identity. Not just Felt's identity as the last royal, but Reinhard's identity as the current Sword Saint.
While Felt had been whisked away for her evening of preparations, Gojo had pulled Old Man Rom aside and gotten a broader picture. The Sword Saint's Astrea Family had served the royal house for generations. Failing to protect the monarchy was, to them, a stain of the highest order. Given all of that, whoever carried that royal blood, regardless of who they were as a person, Reinhard would have ended up here. It was destiny baked into his name.
That made him fundamentally different from the rest of them. Gojo, Subaru, even Rom: in Felt's eyes, they were companions. People who shared her goals. Reinhard was someone drawn to her identity, not her cause.
Once Felt had sorted that distinction, her next move was obvious. She'd brought up the matter of supporters with Reinhard directly.
Roswaal was backing them in secret. They needed someone doing it publicly.
But Reinhard had been blunt: he didn't control the Astrea household.
...
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