"Ah…"

As Cain raised an impatient voice, I finally remembered he was here.

"S-Sorry… I just…"

When I hurriedly lowered my head, Cain said in exasperation.

"I don"t really mind by now. But at least spare me it when I just came back. You flirted all the time when I wasn"t here anyway, right?"
"… By now."
"Nn? I"m not really wrong, right?"
"… Y e s."

When he questioningly tilted his head, I hung mine. Uu, I can"t deny it.
In this state, Freed stroked my head.
It felt very good, but noticing like this it will just be the repeat of before, I twisted my body.

"Freed, let go… I want to talk with Cain."
"… Got it, here."

When I asked, Freed let go of me with a wry smile. Finally being able to talk, I took a breath.

"Welcome home, Cain. Umm… How was Sahaja? Wasn"t it unpleasant?"
"Not really. Aah… That"s right. Here, a souvenir. The doc.u.ments with Sahaja"s a.s.sa.s.sination plans. I guess they won"t be useful anymore though."
"… a.s.sa.s.sination plans."

I received the doc.u.ments from Cain and handed them to Freed.
Even if I look at them, I won"t understand them well, so it"s better if I let Freed judge.

"Is it okay?"

Freed received the doc.u.ments and asked me. I nodded to him.

"It"s okay. Cain, you don"t particularly mind either, right?"
"Princess, I"ll follow your judgement. If you say it"s okay, I don"t particularly mind."
"You heard him."
"Got it."

Freed dropped his eyes and flipped through the doc.u.ments. After reading through a part of them, Freed made a convinced face.

"I see. Since Cain brought this back, Prince Maximilian expressly declared, "There was a plan to a.s.sa.s.sinate Wilhelm"s royalty, but I stopped it." Even if this was thrust at him now, it wouldn"t hurt him much."
"That prince said such a thing, huh. Aah… No wonder. So that was why Scheat said to do as I like with those doc.u.ments. s.h.i.+t. It was a waste of time."
"Scheat?"

When I tilted my head at the unknown name, Cain said while scratching his head.

"Princess, I talked about him before, right? The Black"s a.s.sa.s.sin I met in Wilhelm."
"Err, if I remember correct… That"s right, Apostate."

When I said that while recalling when I"d been kidnapped by Andre, Cain"s eyes widened in surprise.

"Eh? … Princess, you know Apostate?"
"Yup. We"ve met. We only talked a little though. Cain, he"s the man wearing priest clothes slightly older than you, right?"

An a.s.sa.s.sin with an inverted cross rosary, bob cut, and an unpleasant smile.
I didn"t understand what he was thinking. He had such an unpleasant feeling about him.
While still staring at me in wonder, Cain oohed.

"That"s right… I"m glad you"re safe. Weren"t you targeted?"
"I and Freed had been targets, but not anymore… He said something like that. His target was… another person there. That too was stopped by Freed though."
"You stopped him? You staved off that Apostate"s attack? … Haa. You really are out of norm."

Cain turned his eyes to Freed in amazement.
Like it was nothing, Freed said.

"I couldn"t let him kill a citizen of my country before my eyes."
"No, of course. But to prevent his attack… Well, whatever. It"s like Princess"s safety has been proven. Yup."

It"s rea.s.suring, Cain laughed, but on the contrary, Freed"s eyebrows lowered.

"… Unfortunately, I can"t agree. Because Sahaja had kidnapped Lidi."
"Ha?"
"Of course, I won"t let it happen again."
"Eh? You let them? You"re kidding? Kidnapped? What do you mean?"

Cain"s face turned harsh in the twinkling of an eye.
I hurried to defend Freed.

"F-Freed wasn"t at fault. It was my carelessness… Besides, Freed immediately came to my help, so nothing happened to me!"
"Lidi. I should"ve been more careful. I"m the one at fault."
"But…!"
"First of all, can you explain what happened?"

In response to Cain"s urging, we talked about what had happened. At first Cain was listening with an angry face, but before long he pressed down his temple.

"… It"s just like Princess, or rather… Of course he couldn"t do anything. The Crown Prince isn"t at fault. If anything, I shouldn"t have left. I"d definitely not miss Sahaja"s a.s.sa.s.sins… My bad."
"Why are you apologizing, Cain…?"

I don"t get him. But Cain"s eyebrows lowered, and he said.

"The evidence I brought with trouble turned out pretty much meaningless, so it would have been better if I"d stayed at your side, Princess… I"m reflecting a little."
"Cain. In the end, what were you doing over there? Did you just go to collect the doc.u.ments?"

When Freed asked, Cain gave me a fleeting glance. Realizing he wanted a confirmation, I nodded.
Upon receiving my consent, Cain spoke.

"Since I easily found the doc.u.ments, I wondered if I could do anything else. So I sneaked into Sahaja"s Rebellion Royal Palace and talked with the King."
"Eeh!?"

It was my turn to be surprised by the unthinkable story. Freed too was blinking his eyes.

"Did you go to the Royal Palace directly? That"s s.h.i.+nigami for you…"
"It wasn"t a big deal. It was after they went to war, so there were hardly any soldiers. And――."

Hearing that he negotiated with the King, made the soldiers retreat, and had the a.s.sa.s.sination order on me and Freed cancelled, I raised a hysteric voice.

"What"s with that!? Didn"t Prince Maximilian declare he did those himself? Eh? What does it mean?"
"… He took credit for what Cain had done. Then we should a.s.sume the King was killed right after Cain left the Royal Palace."

Unbelievable. Did Prince Maximilian go that far?
While listening to Freed, I shook my head in disbelief.

"He unashamedly said that it was himself who had withdrawn the soldiers and cancelled the a.s.sa.s.sination order? Even though it was different in reality? … Haa. His audacity is scary."
"He knew he could say that. He understands we"re unwilling to officially disclose Cain"s existence, so he must be confident we won"t question him. We"re talking about that man. He was probably watching Cain"s and the King"s exchange from a hidden room somewhere."
"… But still…"

Astounded, I couldn"t say anything.

"… I wonder if he thought I would kill the King."

While I and Freed were looking at each other, Cain said, sounding a little surprised.

"… I"m not really opposed to killing. I don"t have any problem with killing nuisances. It"s a coincidence I didn"t kill the King back then."
"But Cain, you didn"t do it, right?"

When I asked, Cain nodded, "Yeah," with a serious face. Yup, then there"s no problem.

"Cain, if you say you didn"t do it, I believe it. Isn"t it obvious? Right, Freed?"
"I do, for another reason that Lidi though…"

When I sent Freed a glance, with a wry smile he told Cain.

"It"s simple. If you did it yourself, there"s no way that that man wouldn"t use it. It was announced that the King died from a sudden accident. There was no announcement about the detailed cause of death. I guess the cause of death was difficult to blame on someone. Just supposing you killed him, I think Wilhelm would be blamed for it. Because your master is Lidi. You were correct not to take advantage of the situation."

As I deeply nodded to Freed"s explanation, Cain made a face as if he had swallowed a bitter bug.

"… Granny said that too."
"The witch did?"
"Yeah. That I was correct not to kill the King. Really, Granny is smart… Ah, that"s right."

Cain sighed, then his eyes met mine.

"Princess. Word from Granny. She said to visit her soon. She has something to give you."
"Ms. Delris did? Err… Of course, I want to go, but… Freed?"

Thinking that it might be bad to act as I please, I pulled the hem of Freed"s clothes. While making a resigned face, he said.

"… Cain has come back, so there"s no problem. It"s much more relieving to have him as your escort than just any knight, Lidi. Besides, I have the telepathic communication contract with him, so we can contact each other."
"Thanks!"

When I happily hugged Freed, he said while returning the embrace.

"It"s a direct invitation from a witch after all. To tell the truth, I wish you"d wait a bit longer, but I"m also indebted to her."
"That"s right."

I recalled Ms. Delris"s medicine being used on Andre. It"s better to report that Ms. Delris just in case.
While still clinging to Freed, I turned my gaze to Cain.

"Then, let"s go together."
"Of course. I won"t go to Sahaja anymore, so I"ll be your bodyguard, Princess. I won"t leave it to others."

As Cain hit his chest, Freed said in a serious face.

"I can"t move as easily… Take care of Lidi."
"She"s my master. I don"t need you to tell me that."

Cain grinned, and Freed returned a strong nod.
While watching their rea.s.suring exchange, I let out a breath of relief, happy from the bottom of my heart that Cain returned safely.