Chapter 1 - The Exile of Lady Arialein
"Arialein, your recent conduct has been utterly intolerable."
Crown Prince Eirik Nadar spoke, pointing a finger sharply at her.
The young lady at whom the finger was pointed—Arialein Hazen—showed no signs of agitation.
"And what, pray tell, do you mean by that, Your Highness?"
She responded in a quiet voice, tilting her head slightly.
The hair ornament pinned into her swept-up black hair glittered, reflecting the light from the chandelier.
Though she had a petite frame, her posture as she stood straight and faced the Crown Prince made her appear a size larger than she actually was.
"To feign innocence at this late stage is beyond unsightly!"
Perhaps irritated by her attitude, the Crown Prince's tone rose an octave.
"Your excessive harassment of Cl—Lady Nord and her friends; you cannot claim to have no memory of it!"
—I see, we aren't yet in a relationship where you can call her by name in a place like this. Officially, that is.
Arialein allowed a small smile to surface as the Crown Prince corrected himself, using a formal title instead of a name.
The Crown Prince's words did not stop.
He claimed she had sent a blade to Lady Nord.
He claimed she had sent a bird's carcass to one of the Lady's friends.
He claimed she had sent a cat's carcass to another friend, and so on.
One of the friends had reportedly fallen ill and taken to her bed.
"All of this is your doing, Arialein!
Did you think I would not find out!"
As she listened to the Crown Prince list her 'crimes' one by one, Arialein's smile gradually widened.
The corners of her mouth were now raised enough for any onlooker to notice, yet her eyes—her almond-shaped gray eyes, filled in equal measure with intelligence and reason—were not laughing at all.
"Your Highness, I have never once told you a falsehood."
Arialein answered, her words dripping with the unspoken implication of "unlike you."
"Therefore, I shall not say that I have no memory of it at all—"
"I knew it, you are that kind of—"
Arialein cut off the Crown Prince's words as he tried to jump to a conclusion.
"However, Your Highness."
It was an act of rudeness that would normally be unthinkable.
To interrupt the words of royalty was an act that could be judged as lese-majeste on its own.
However, the handsome Crown Prince was momentarily at a loss for words, and the delicate young lady standing as if hiding behind him shrank back in fright.
In the hall that had fallen silent for an instant, Arialein's voice echoed.
"Did you ask them why they thought those were my actions?"
Arialein knew the answer without needing to ask.
Because the one who had been sent a blade, and the one who had bird and cat carcasses placed in front of her house, was Arialein herself.
After carefully burying the carcasses and using her people to investigate their origin, Arialein had sent back a portion of the items to the individuals who had sent them.
To Lady Nord, who had sent the blade—a dagger—she sent the leather cord that had been wrapped around the hilt.
To the friend who had placed the bird carcass, she sent the bird's feathers.
To the other friend who had placed the cat carcass, she sent the cat's claws.
By the third time, it had become a nuisance, so she used the Shadow stationed at her mansion to place the item under the door of the person's bedroom.
The one who had fallen ill was the last person, so it must have truly been too much for her to bear.
If Arialein were to have her say, it was simply a matter of them lacking resolve and imagination.
At any rate, the unwanted gifts had ceased since then. It had been about half a month since she last sent something back.
There was no way they wouldn't understand. A portion of what they had sent without warning had returned to their own hands.
And of course, there was no way they could speak of it. Since they were the ones who had started it in the first place.
—I hadn't expected them to be shameless enough to lie and act as if they were the victims of the very harassment they failed to pull off, though.
"Does such a thing matter? No one else but you could possibly think of such insidious harassment!"
Arialein let out a small sigh.
Regardless of whether anyone else could think of it, she thought, the person who directed that harassment at me is the very lady you are protecting right now.
The Crown Prince was a handsome man skilled in swordsmanship and horsemanship, but he was neither exceptionally clever nor particularly good at judging character.
Because of the engagement decided in their childhood, Arialein had been told by her father, the Marquess, that if the Prince had any shortcomings, she must support him firmly.
Arialein had also intended to do so, studying hard and offering various pieces of advice—or rather, admonitions—to the Crown Prince since she began frequenting the court and the Government Administration two years ago.
It was about a year later that she realized this seemed to have deeply wounded the Crown Prince's pride.
Even Kings and Crown Princes are not perfect human beings. That is precisely why there are assistants, starting with the Prime Minister and the Generals.
As the future Queen, she was one of them; therefore, offering advice and admonitions was part of her duty.
Arialein believed that supporting the Crown Prince meant exactly that.
For the Crown Prince, it was not so; it seemed he felt everyone around him had to grovel before him, otherwise his authority as King could not be maintained.
Naturally, their personalities did not mesh, and Lady Nord must have been just right for such a Crown Prince.
The two, who had met a little over half a year ago, had rapidly closed the distance between them.
Arialein understood that as the Crown Prince and future King, he could not be monopolized by her alone.
If their personalities did not match, she even thought that an existence who would love and heal him unconditionally was necessary for him as a person.
However, that was only if it took the form of an official concubine or a semi-authorized mistress; to lay hands on another lady without a word while keeping his fiancée as his fiancée was something that would normally never happen.
When she had subtly asked the Crown Prince to introduce her, he had instead reproached her for doubting him, and Arialein had given up on everything.
For the past three months or so, even his escorting at parties had been negligent, and today he had finally openly escorted Lady Nord, so there was no point in even talking about doubt.
"Do you have any further excuses?"
—It's not like you'll listen anyway.
With a sigh, Arialein slowly shook her head.
"I have none, Your Highness."
"I thought as much."
Nodding with satisfaction and puffing out his chest just a little, the Crown Prince spoke slowly.
"Arialein Hazen, daughter of Marquess Mares, I hereby annul our engagement this very instant."
It was a declaration exactly as she had predicted.
"As you wish, Your Highness. I humbly accept the annulment of the engagement.
I shall inform my father of this matter as well."
Her perfectly calm response may have rubbed the Crown Prince's nerves the wrong way again.
"—Arialein, to pile up such crimes and yet show no sign of reflection or offer a single word of apology... you are not fit to be a noble of this country."
As the Crown Prince spoke in a high-pitched voice, an attendant who sensed something tried to approach, saying, "Your Highness, that is..."
"Silence!
Arialein, I sentence you to exile!"
As the Crown Prince shouted, Arialein felt a sense of hopeless despair.
—To think it would go this far.
She had no time to wallow in despair.
She restrained her retainer, who was kneeling behind her to the left and attempting to stand up, with a hand gesture and ordered him in a low voice to stay back.
"I have certainly received the order of exile.
I would like to ask for just one mercy."
She spoke in a voice that was as calm as possible. She did not raise her head.
Because she thought she must not let the Crown Prince see her current expression.
"Very well, speak."
The Crown Prince, having regained some of his composure, answered magnanimously.
"I would like to request a grace period of five days—no, three days.
If I am to be exiled, I must dismiss the servants at the mansion."
"Hmm," the Crown Prince nodded with satisfaction.
"I shall permit it.
You shall be exiled as of the evening three days from now. Let everyone here know it."
Arialein lowered her head in silence, then turned her gaze toward her retainer, who was pale with rage.
"We are going home, Arveil.
Escort me."
The retainer, who wiped the anger from his expression the moment he stood up, took Arialein's hand with a graceful movement.
Walking to the doors of the hall, Arialein turned around and gave a magnificent bow.
Then, with a flourish of her dress, Arialein exited through the doors and did not look back again until she climbed into the carriage.
I look forward to our match!
My first move is exile following a broken engagement. Does it pass?