“Father…”

Mia Crowfield murmured weakly.

“Your mother... she might have instilled a desire for revenge in you. She may have told you to seek vengeance against me, Alice, or even the imperial family.”

“...”

I continued speaking as she kept her head bowed.

“But you know, don’t you? Your mother does too. If you attempt revenge, that alone would spell the end for the Crowfields.”

“That’s...”

“And if that’s the case, then your mother should have sought vengeance right after your father’s death, when there was still a justifiable reason. If she knew something, wouldn’t that have been the best time to expose it? The other nobles would have welcomed it. Even if they couldn’t kill the Emperor, it would have dealt a significant political blow. But the Crowfields didn’t initiate revenge immediately. Why do you think that is?”

“...”

“It’s because there were discussions between the imperial family and the Crowfields.”

With her head still bowed, Mia Crowfield slumped, unable to say anything.

“At that time, taking action ‘right then’ would have meant that the Emperor had cards to play. Perhaps something everyone knows but cannot openly reveal—a dreadful reason. Your mother must have needed to erase traces of that reason to seek revenge.”

“And that man…”

Alice, who had been listening quietly, interjected.

“He must have taken advantage of that. By leveraging the Crowfields’ efforts to erase the evidence, he was likely able to buy a house like this. There’s nothing more detrimental to a justification than someone who knows even a little about the past speaking up.”

A somewhat painful expression crossed Alice's face as she spoke. After all, she had spent a semester with Mia. They had even fought together, risking their lives.

She might think there was a way to simply kill the man.

But a man like him wouldn’t have threatened a lady without being prepared for the situation. At the very least, he would have put on a show of bravado.

And that man also had his own value. The place he traded wasn’t the only one. If he was the one who took the drugs, he likely sold them in some other territory as well. Later, when establishing a ‘justification,’ he might have used that as leverage to draw others into supporting him. It would certainly be an extremely ‘discourteous’ act.

Now that he was caught, he would undoubtedly spill everything.

“...”

Mia Crowfield slowly raised her hands to clutch her head.

“You... you killed our father.”

“...”

For a brief moment, I considered whether I should respond to that statement.

It was a strange feeling. Back at the beginning of the semester, on the very first day when I had a proper conversation with Mia Crowfield, I had openly stated that I had killed her father, who was a drug-addicted pedophile.

Yet, oddly enough, it was incredibly difficult to utter the same words now. It felt as if the words had turned into a physical object lodged in my throat, refusing to come out.

This must be the weight of time. I couldn’t say we had completely become friends, but still, the time we had known each other was pressing down on me, preventing me from speaking those words.

“Yes.”

So, I could only manage that one word.

What happened next was instantaneous.

“Mia!”

Alice screamed.

It was hard to breathe.

Mia Crowfield, shorter than me, had tightly gripped my neck with both hands. With all her strength. Though her hands were small, they had enough force to choke a person.

But it was just a moment.

Before Alice could rush in and pull Mia Crowfield away, the strength left Mia’s hands.

Her hands slipped from my body, falling down.

Mia Crowfield knelt on the floor. No, she collapsed face down.

With her face pressed to the ground, she clawed at her hair with both hands.

“Mia…”

Alice kneeled beside her but hesitated to touch Mia Crowfield’s body.

“You knew… you knew too.”

In a faint, trembling voice, Mia Crowfield questioned.

“You also knew, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I knew.”

I had known even before I came here.

“...Was it here?”

“It was here.”

“The children who were here, the last ones… where did they all go?”

“I don’t know.”

They might have been taken by the imperial family or disposed of by the count’s household. I didn’t know. I hadn’t returned since then.

“...How many were there?”

“I can’t say.”

The evidence must have all burned away by now. The children who had been here were likely gone, their names never even spoken.

“Ah…”

Mia Crowfield’s moan gradually transformed into a cry that was difficult to express in words.

Several knights outside the door instinctively kicked it open, freezing in place.

*

After returning to the Count’s mansion, Mia Crowfield staggered past the Countess’s side. There were no greetings, no embraces.

Without even making eye contact, she brushed past Mia Crowfield, and the Countess shot us a look of hatred before turning sharply and following her inside.

Leaving that mansion behind, we climbed into the steam car that had been prepared in advance.

Alice and I sat side by side in the back seat, but even after the car started moving, we didn’t speak for a while. With a driver present, we had to choose our words carefully, and above all… it wasn’t a mood for laughter.

“...Was it the right thing to do?”

After a long silence, Alice finally spoke those words.

And I had already prepared my answer to that.

“You did well.”

It was a sincere answer with no hidden meanings. At first, I had been at a loss for words when I heard that they had forged the Emperor’s orders… but in the end, it was something that would happen eventually.

At least it would be better for Mia Crowfield than if it had happened during the semester. She would have time to gather her thoughts.

“But…”

Alice bit her lip.

“What if what the imperial family is doing is the same as the wrongful acts of other nobles…?”

The confident appearance she had before entering that building was nowhere to be found. The Alice sitting next to me was speaking in a pained voice.

“Do I even have the right to punish such things?”

“...”

For a while, I stared silently out the window.

I had no authority to grant such rights. I, too, had once been a child in that orphanage, but now I was merely the Emperor’s pawn.

But it wasn’t Alice’s fault either. Just as the Count’s actions weren’t Mia Crowfield’s fault.

“At least,”

I carefully opened my mouth.

“At least the fact that you, Princess, considered doing such things means that you’re different from the Emperor.”

To my words, Alice was silent for a while.

“...Thank you.”

After a long contemplation, Alice’s response was that.

*

“Your identity.”

After taking Alice to her room, I immediately went to meet the Emperor. It was fortunate that Alice had much to think about. If not, I would be standing here alongside her and wouldn’t have been able to ask such questions.

“Why do you ask me that?”

Seeing the Emperor look back at me as if he found it amusing, my insides boiled with frustration, but I remained patient and asked again.

“If you brought me here, there must have been a reason. Why did you place Lucas in that orphanage?”

“I’m curious as to why you’re asking that now.”

The Emperor spoke while placing his hand on his well-groomed golden beard, looking down at me.

“I won’t force you to ask. It would be amusing to guess the reason.”

“I didn’t come here to play guessing games.”

I glared at the Emperor as I spoke, but he continued to regard me with a look of amusement.

“You already know your identity, don’t you?”

At that moment, my heart dropped.

Could it be that the Emperor had already caught on? Was there some truth I hadn’t read in the books, and he already knew that I had come from another world?

“You are my daughter.”

But my anxiety quickly faded. The sigh of relief I might have released was stifled by how irritated I felt. I was grateful for that revelation.

“So, not that kind of answer—”

“Hmm? I am speaking the truth. This is the answer you wanted.”

The Emperor spoke with a smile.

“You are my daughter. You have undoubtedly inherited my talent. Perhaps, you’ve also inherited the talent of your mother. Of course, I don’t remember what kind of person your mother was.”

So simply.

As if he were answering when his real daughter asked, “Am I a child you picked up from under the bridge?”

“...Yes?”

“You are.”

The Emperor said, leaning slightly toward me with a smile.

“You just claimed to be my daughter.”

...And that...

That must be the story about Claire.

And it would also relate to the “Emperor’s children.”

The reason the Emperor could think of his “children” as mere “children.”

“...”

For the first time since coming to this world, I was struck with a look of shock in front of the Emperor.