She is currently watching the opening ceremony of the Trial of the G.o.ddess from the VIP section. The first row of this section is occupied by, in order, Natsume, Alexia, and Rose. There are many more VIPs seated behind them, but the organizer is very blatantly putting the three of them in an obvious place so as to gather more partic.i.p.ants. But she's fine with that.

There are two things that is actually responsible for her current mood.

Firstly, she finds Acting Archbishop Nelson, who is currently self-importantly giving his greetings on stage, thoroughly irritating. She had talked with him in regards to the death of the archbishop yesterday, but he had refused to grant her permission to investigate the incident.

He had given her some bulls.h.i.+t logic like 'The person you came to investigate is dead, so there's nothing left for you to investigate.' She tried to say 'my investigative target died so of course I now have to investigate all the more you r.e.t.a.r.d' in a more indirect way, but after that Nelson only continued insisting that she apply again for permission to investigate.

Even if she returns back to the royal capital in a hurry, it would still take 3 days. Then it would require about a week for her own higher ups to give permission for the investigation. Then 3 more days to get back to Lindwurm. Then she would have to wait for Nelson to process the request, which can take as long as he wants it to. Based on her judgment of his character, he would probably get around to it after a week. But with that much time loss, naturally all evidence and witnesses and of course the culprit would be long gone.

But with that said, as a representative of the country, she cannot push too forcefully. The Church spans the entire continent, so if Alexia antagonizes the Church, the surrounding countries would definitely come to pressure Midgar Kingdom. Above all, she, and the royal family by extension, would lose the citizens' support. Religion is extremely convenient as an ally, but makes for an extremely troublesome opponent.

While glaring at Nelson, who is enthusiastically given his speech, Alexia mentally berates him for being a baldy who is not mourning as he should be. Even though the archbishop's death has yet to be publicized. By the way, yes Nelson is actually bald.

(T/N: When Alexia calls him a 'baldy' the first time she meant it as an insult (for some reason, calling someone a baldy in j.a.panese is an insult). Thus the follow up clarification.)

Alexia sighs, then takes a sidelong look at Natsume-sensei at her right.

Natsume is Alexia's second point of irritation. Natsume is sitting with perfect manners, smiling in response to the crowd's cheers. She has silvery white hair, blue cat-like eyes, and a well-featured face that includes a mole under an eye that increases her attractiveness.

With perfect actions, Natsume is both smiling and waving her hand in thanks, gathering the love of the crowd with her beautiful looks.

Alexia is only thinking 'she is shady as heck' while watching on.

She is being called a genius novelist with talent that appears only once in a thousand years or something, but Alexia has never even heard of her name until today. It is true that Alexia doesn't have even a speck of interest in the arts, but as a princess she at least knows of anyone famous for anything in her kingdom. Which would mean that Natsume is a newbie who had only debuted recently.

This much presence and bearing and popularity despite being a newbie? Every single detail just screams shadiness.

This is not jealousy. If she really had to put a name to it, she would call it 'hatred for someone similar to herself.' Alexia also acts perfectly in front of the ma.s.ses. She represses her inner self to put on a performance as the perfect princess, that is how she lives. Those who stand above others all do this to some degree or other, but very few take it as far as she does. And it is a given that those who repress themselves that much further are actually that much blacker inside.

"Thank you for all your support, everyone!"

So says Natsume to the crowds. The sight causes Alexia to silently click her tongue.

That voice that sounds like a cat's purr is revolting. That excessively deep neckline is guileful. Don't lean forward and press up your b.o.o.bs, you fox. Stop acting all cute and s.h.i.+t.

In that manner, Alexia continues to spout venom inside her heart even while smiling and waving to the ma.s.ses herself.

But the reaction of the crowd is markedly less heated than it was with Natsume. The smile on Alexia's face stiffens for a brief instant, then she crosses her arms. By crossing her arms, she 'inadvertently' pushes her b.r.e.a.s.t.s up, then she leans forward a little bit.

The volume of the crowd's cheering increases a little. Just a little.

W-, well, she's not wearing clothes that expose her cleavage after all, is how Alexia comforts herself while settling back in her chair.

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A brief glance to her left shows her Rose with a blissful smile on her face. She's been like this ever since this morning.

Then Alexia peeks at her right, just in case.

That instant, Alexia sees it.

Natsume has one corner of her lip raised in a smirk. She is f.u.c.king smirking.

Alexia thinks she hears the sound of something snapping inside her heart.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

How irritating, thinks Beta inside her heart while maintaining the act of Natsume the novelist.

There is only one thing that is responsible for her current mood: Alexia Midgar, who is currently sitting at her left. This woman is a harmful insect who is abusing her ident.i.ty as a princess and as a cla.s.smate to get closer to her beloved master.

She cajols the crowd with her revolting voice that sounds like a cat's purr, she waves her hand while smiling the shadiest smile ever, and even her 'perfect princess' act is shady as heck. Though Beta doesn't think in the slightest that her master would fall for such a cheap-looking woman, but there's always that one in a billion chance.

Even without all that, this woman is a mere interloper who isn't worthy of being in Beta's 'The War Chronicles of Shadow-sama.'

The time when Beta heard that Shadow-sama had saved this woman in that princess abduction incident, Beta was absolutely livid. That role was supposed to be hers... well, no, but... yes, she was furious that such a cheap-looking woman had troubled Shadow-sama to move personally. This is not jealousy.

In order to quell her anger, Beta described the rescued princess as a cute elf with silvery white hair and blue eyes and a mole under her eye, then kept on reading that part over and over again, deep into the night.

If this woman continues appearing in The War Chronicles of Shadow-sama, then that would be a grave problem indeed. Even though Beta herself is more powerful and more beautiful and loves Shadow-sama so much more, why does this cheap-looking woman keep on b.u.t.ting in. Why can't you just f-, f.u.c.k off.

In that manner, Beta continues to spout venom inside her heart even while semi-automatically responding to the crowd's cheers.

When she takes a sidelong glance at her side, that cheap-looking princess is, of all things, emphasizing her cheap-looking b.o.o.bs and trying to curry favor with the crowd.

Ahh, how sickening.

And the volume is hers is even markedly less than Beta's own. Alexia's is only normal sized.

So I win in even this area, thinks Beta as she looks down at her prided deep cleavage and smirks.

Oh oops, did she catch that?

Beta opts to feign ignorance, but that instant, a sharp pain runs through her left foot.

"Ou-...!?"

Suppressing her voice, Beta looks over, and sees Alexia's high heel stepping on her left foot.

Beta thinks she hears the sound of something snapping inside her heart, but she presses it down, and calmly speaks up.

"Alexisama, can you please move your foot..."

Alexia pretends to only just notice it and gives Beta a nonchalant look before finally removing her foot. Then without even apologizing, she, of all things, smirks.

THIS f.u.c.kING b.i.t.c.hHHH!!!!!!

But on the edge of completely flipping out, Beta recalls her loyalty to her beloved master Shadow-sama and to Shadow Garden, and barely manages to hold herself back.

The operative word being 'barely.' Like, right-on-the-literal-edge level of barely.

Blood drips down from the corner of Beta's lip.

The entire time, Rose is just smiling blissfully.