Chapter 264 – The Memories of the Princesses

Carrying the secret letters, I head from the inn room to the underground hidden room. First, I need to check the contents of Princess Adriana’s secret letter.

We gather in the underground hidden room from our respective guest rooms.

“I shall excuse myself. Regardless of the actual circumstances, Her Highness Adriana would not wish for the letter’s contents to reach me.”

After Elliot said this, Marquis Zilbolt also nodded.

“I see. In that case, I too should probably excuse myself.”

Thus, Elliot returned to the inn and Marquis Zilbolt returned to his separate residence. How dutiful of them.

“Here you go.”

I hand the secret letter to Princess Stephania.

“Thank you.”

Princess Stephania smiles as she receives the letter and begins reading it.

Her expression as she reads through the text… seems to show strong confusion about something.

“…There are many metaphors. I don’t want to misinterpret anything, so I’ll let everyone hear it too.”

After saying this and looking around, Princess Stephania reads the secret letter aloud. The letter begins with greetings. The problem comes after that.

“…As is customary for royalty, you must be feeling constrained with many eyes watching your every move. However, since there are many capable individuals around my brother, if they are protecting him, your stay should be peaceful and safe. I too feel somewhat constrained, but I accept this as the fate of royalty.”

Pausing there, Princess Stephania lifts her face.

…I see. Indeed, these are metaphors. Even if the secret letter were stolen, the content could be defended as mere small talk.

“This seems difficult for me to understand… but in terms of meaning, can we interpret this as saying Zadias has surveillance in place?”

When Tephra tilted her head and spoke, Marlene nodded as if affirming her words.

Marlene hardly speaks either, but she was born into royalty. Both of them are following the conversation well.

“Well, if we take the text at face value, there’s no need to be so cautious.”

“Then, the part about ‘I too feel somewhat constrained’ means that Her Highness Adriana herself is under surveillance and cannot act freely?”

“Probably. And the part about ‘peaceful and safe’ might also mean there’s no danger as long as we behave quietly?”

When Grace tilted her head, Rosemary nodded.

“Or it could also be interpreted as peace and safety from Zadias’s perspective.”

“…It doesn’t clearly state for whom it’s peaceful and safe. Perhaps it applies to both meanings. That as long as we don’t take action, we’ll be safe for the time being.”

In response to Ashley’s words, Claudia covered her mouth with her hand as she answered.

It’s highly likely that Zadias is plotting something, but if we don’t cause any disturbances, there shouldn’t be any problems. Well, that’s probably it.

Princess Stephania nodded and said, “I’ll continue reading,” then proceeded further with the letter.

“I too have been spending quite boring days, but when I heard Stephania was coming to Vinesdora, I’ve been looking forward to when we can meet again. Writing this letter reminds me of old times. Do you remember when we were little? We can’t behave like that anymore due to our positions… but sometimes I think it might not be bad to return to our childlike hearts occasionally. Peace is also something precious, so I can’t say that adventurous days like treasure hunting or monster extermination are unconditionally good. Well then, let’s meet again at the royal castle.”

…After reading up to that point, Princess Stephania places the letter on the table. That appears to be the end of the text.

“…This part is also metaphorical?”

“Probably. But… it might be something we wouldn’t understand.”

Sheila and Irmhild exchange glances.

Hmm… Indeed, unlike the beginning, this part is difficult to interpret. It could also be taken as conveying something only Princess Stephania would understand.

“She mentions peace again toward the end.”

Seraphina, riding on Lavigne’s back, mentions what she noticed.

“…Could it mean she wants our cooperation but doesn’t want us to force ourselves?”

Grace speaks while pondering. Considering the meaning of the first part, that would make sense. If the meaning of peace applies to both interpretations, this could also be taken to mean it would be inconvenient for Zadias.

“…She’s probably asking if I’m prepared. That she won’t blame me if I refuse.”

Princess Stephania closes her eyes.

“Do you have any idea?”

“…Probably. Long ago, I played in the orchard owned by Adriana and His Majesty Eberhart. There was a sapling that Adriana planted in the orchard… We would play treasure hunting games, hiding treasures at the base of the sapling and searching for them. We’d make riddles about which sapling it was and guess the location.”

…That’s it. She probably hid the real purpose there. If the destination is the orchard, Zadias would be less suspicious, meaning she has that much freedom of movement.

“…After sunset, I’ll send Caduceus. Do you remember the location of the fruit tree Her Highness Adriana planted?”

“Yes. I remember that… but is it alright if I don’t go?”

“I don’t think going alone would be a problem… but it might make Zadias suspicious. If it were just one of you, it probably wouldn’t have been a problem, but Her Highness Adriana went to the orchard after learning of Your Highness Stephania’s visit, right?If they visited in quick succession, even separately, it would likely raise Zadias’s vigilance. Besides, there should be no need for her to go in person if Caduceus alone can handle it.

“I’ll create a model of the orchard using earth magic based on Caduceus’s visual information. Please guide us.”

“I see… How convenient.”

After sunset, based on the map received from Marquis Zilbolt, we send Caduceus to the orchard. Once night falls, it’s Caduceus’s domain.

Upon arrival, he immediately begins creating a model of the orchard from one end using earth magic. The orchard is well-maintained. It has the atmosphere of a walled garden.

“This is the main gate.”

“Let me see…”

Many years have passed. Princess Stephania traces her memory while following the model with her finger.

“This way… no. Yes. Up these stairs—. It’s ahead there.”

We advance Caduceus according to Princess Stephania’s guidance.

“Third from the right. This tree. It’s grown much larger than I remember, though.”

“Let’s check the base.”

We have Caduceus examine the soil at the base.

“…Found it.”

From beneath the soil emerges a small wooden box. When I report this, Princess Stephania’s expression brightens. Let’s have him retrieve it and return.

Soon after, Caduceus returns. With the wooden box, without doubt.

“Well done, Caduceus.”

I take the wooden box from Caduceus and hand it to Princess Stephania.

“Thank you. I’ll open it now…”

With a slightly tense expression, Princess Stephania opens the wooden box.

Inside—there’s another letter. This must be the real one.

“I’ll read it.”

Princess Stephania reads the letter aloud for us again.

“You remembered the old times. Thank you, Steph. And I’m sorry for involving you.”

The letter begins with such an opening. The writing style is more casual than the first letter.

The letter states… that Zadias is searching for magicians from the Sages’ Academy. We already knew that much.

Princess Adriana had been hiding one of the magicians Zadias was searching for within her territory.

And—that magician apparently passed away some time ago. He was apparently elderly to begin with. At that time, he had entrusted something to her.

But Zadias has been continuously tracking the magician’s whereabouts.

There’s no guarantee that information won’t leak by some chance. It’s also unclear how Zadias will treat others with royal succession rights after he becomes king.

Therefore… she wants Stephania to take custody of what the magician left behind. She wants it stored in Verdgar until the time it’s needed. That’s what was written.

“…What was entrusted by the magician is an incomplete spell formula. That itself is the fragment of magic that Zadias is searching for… apparently.”

“An incomplete… spell formula?”

The content of the letter Princess Stephania was reading aloud struck a chord with me.

Could that be… the half-complete magic circle mentioned in Mother’s notes…?

Whether it was under development or something else. Compared to other items, there was less description, and I thought the full form of the spell formula would be revealed if we deciphered the codes on other pages—but.

“…This is it.”

Drawn on the second sheet, which was finely folded, was a half-complete magic circle. —Like a puzzle piece fitting perfectly, it formed a complete spell formula in my mind.

“I’ll continue. …The cornered elders sealed their own memories with their own magic. By doing so, they invalidated torture and all other means of extracting confessions, preventing the leakage of secret techniques. A hope to recover the sealed memories someday—after the tyrant has passed. They divided this and entrusted it to their comrades. And this spell formula is one part of that. I know this is a selfish request. When true peace returns to Silvatoria someday, could you deliver this magic to Vinesdora? …That’s the end of the letter.”

After finishing reading the letter, Princess Stephania closes her eyes and exhales deeply.

A spell formula to release sealed memories… I see… So this is the magic of Mother’s that Zadias was searching for.

…No, probably not just this. If she was entrusted with guarding the memory release spell formula, she must have been highly trusted by the elders, and likely possessed other secret techniques of the Sages’ Academy too.

And if Zadias understands the situation, he cannot carelessly kill the academy’s elders either. So that’s why… Mother left the country to protect them.

In that case, they’re probably imprisoned somewhere—deep within the academy or another location. If we eliminate Zadias, shouldn’t we be able to restore their memories using the completed spell formula?