Copy Skills with Affinity! - Chapter 32

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

◈ Copy Skills with Affinity! ◈

Chapter 32: Pursuit

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Only silence filled the courtroom.

When the Minister of Administration had spoken earlier, the silence had clearly rested on some behind-the-scenes agreement and prior warning. This time, it was plainly born of pure shock.

After all, what kind of madman would say something this insane to royalty?

“...”

What they had not expected was that the Prince, who had heard those words, showed no particular reaction.

He merely slowly opened the eyes he had kept closed while sitting silently until now, looking at Aiden with an expression so blank it showed not even a trace of emotion.

“Mr. Aiden, this is lèse-majesté.”

Even the words he spoke in a soft voice were not far from the expected response.

“You should consider whether you are prepared to take responsibility for your actions.”

Still, there was such a chilling coldness in his voice that even Aiden stopped moving for a moment.

“You are free to oppose and obstruct my intentions. But do not insult me. Do not insult the imperial authority. Doing so is no different from insulting the Empire and its subjects, whom I bear upon my shoulders.”

“...”

“As the next ruler, how I am treated is tied to the dignity of the Empire. Do not forget that.”

Every phrase carried his pride and confidence in representing the Empire.

These were not words spoken for himself, but as someone speaking for the group he carried.

It was an unmistakable warning.

If they were going to trade moves, they should do it behind closed doors.

Not in a way like this, with scandal and extremity that disrupted the Empire's order.

That was the line he had drawn so they could, as they were now, “fight peacefully.” Do not cross it any further.

If Aiden acted this aggressively, the Prince would have no choice but to respond in kind.

‘Honorable. Principled. Incorruptible. Ruler. Patriot.’

Aiden turned over the keywords that described the Prince in the original work and gave an inward, humorless laugh.

What a gentlemanly warning.

He used dirty tricks, yet there was something strangely honest about him in certain matters.

His next words proved it.

The Prince pursed his lips.

Then, in a voice low enough for only Aiden to hear, he whispered.

“I respect you. Not only you, but every member of the Empire.”

“...”

“So please do not make me harm you. Let me return you safely to your former life once this is over.”

What I want is not your ruin, but the position of Lionheart's husband that you occupy. So do not go any further. Let me continue respecting you.

‘... Here comes the saintly ruler.’

What refined hostility.

“We will hear your rebuttal to the Minister of Administration's accusation later. Return to your seat now...”

“False accusation is quite severely punished under Imperial law. Severely enough that even royalty cannot escape it.”

The problem was this.

Aiden had no intention whatsoever of being dragged into the game the other side had prepared.

“... What are you talking about?”

“I am not the one receiving a warning, Your Highness. I am giving one.”

“...”

“Stop picking these pathetic fights. Before I return them to you twice over.”

This time, the Prince's blank expression twitched.

After a brief silence, Aiden spoke in a faint growl.

“Aiden Kellermain, Lionheart's husband, files charges against the Prince. You are the ones falsely pinning crimes on Lady Noel.”

Aiden made certain everyone in the courtroom heard him clearly.

It was a declaration explosive enough to freeze the courtroom even more thoroughly than before.

“...”

Then Rad and the Prince's faces stiffened.

They must have instinctively understood the meaning of what he had just said.

This was an open declaration of war. Aiden was saying he had that much confidence.

Of course, only a lunatic would do it. If he failed, he would have to offer up his life at once. Defying royalty to this extent carried that sort of weight.

But precisely because of that...

What Aiden had said now carried both public interest and credibility. Enough to blunt their attack, which had been meant to spread scandal and ruin her reputation.

The social attack they had carried out against Noel here had lost all meaning because of what Aiden had just done.

‘That bastard...!’

As Rad ground their teeth inwardly while glaring at Aiden, a voice fell into the quiet courtroom again.

“Set a separate hearing date. I will expose everything there.”

“...”

“You asked earlier whether I was prepared to take responsibility for my actions, didn't you?”

Aiden stared directly into the eyes of the Prince, whose face had gone rigid.

“Have you checked whether you are prepared to do the same?”

▣

That had happened yesterday.

Aiden had picked a fight with the Prince, putting even his own neck on the line.

“... Wow.”

Walking beside him, Katia let out that admiring sound as she flipped through the newspapers in her hand.

She had picked up papers from several different outlets, but every headline was the same.

It was about what Aiden had done in court yesterday.

“That is incredible. The entire Empire is watching.”

“... Thankfully, anything about me personally was cut.”

It was probably thanks to Noel's connections, and perhaps even the Emperor's. Any details concerning Aiden himself had clearly been removed somehow.

At least he had avoided becoming a celebrity beyond imagining.

Thank goodness there were newspapers and television but no internet. It meant he could maintain some privacy, at least...

‘... More importantly.’

Aiden sighed inwardly and summoned the system window before his eyes.

-Quest Info

▶ Failure in the events listed below will incur massive penalties!

◈ Fake Marriage (Important!)

▶ You have been chosen as Lady Noel's spouse. Maintain your contract with the other party to the end!

▶ A related event will occur soon. (D-?)

▶ This is an event of utmost importance. It holds the value of a “Main Quest”!

▶ Upon completion, your relationship with the target will change drastically!

It had been updated after yesterday's incident.

The “subjugation battle” marked in the Main Quest still did not say when it would happen, but this part had been updated.

It probably worked in tandem with the Lord Protector's situation, just as before.

“...”

What bothered him was the phrase saying that their relationship would “change drastically.”

Katia had previously been the subject of a similar notice. She had once growled as if she wanted to devour him, but now they called each other friends.

Compared to before, that certainly counted as a drastic change.

The problem was...

‘... Isn't Lady Noel already extremely favorable toward me?’

Honestly, it would not be an exaggeration to say that she went beyond favorable and was almost blatantly overprotective.

He understood that she felt responsible because she had brought him here and put him in this position, but even so, she sometimes made him flinch.

If it changed “drastically,” she would surely leap even further in a positive direction. How was she supposed to act then...?

“...”

Honestly, he was a little worried.

Yesterday, immediately after he had caused that incident, was proof enough.

‘... I got chewed out badly.’

The moment they returned to the government building, she had sat him down and lectured him for hours.

How was he going to deal with the consequences? If he acted like this, there was no telling what might happen. From her position, wanting to return him safely to his family, this was truly difficult...

Of course, he could not say a word because he could keenly feel that she was scolding him so fiercely it brought tears to his eyes, all because she was genuinely worried about him.

“Thank you.”

... Come to think of it, had she not said that at the end?

“Anyway, you did it for me.”

“I... didn't know you would go that far.”

With those words, Noel had fled back to her room as though running away.

Telling him to let her know if there was anything she could do to help.

... Her face had been bright red too.

‘Hmm.’

He had heard her thank him once before when she was very drunk, but this was the first time he had heard it while she was sober.

And, sorry as he was.

He appreciated that she wanted to help with anything, but he could not bring her here.

“Why?”

“Because what I'm about to do is something only Katia can do.”

At those words, Katia, who had been walking beside him in quick little steps to match his pace, flashed a grin.

“... So it's something only friends can do together?”

“Something like that?”

It did not seem worth denying, so he agreed. Katia, wearing her hood low, giggled and pressed herself against Aiden.

She clung tightly to one of his arms as if claiming it for herself, evidently very pleased with his answer.

‘... Is this normally how close friends are?’

The question naturally came to mind.

Well.

He had always thought she had trouble defining relationships, but sometimes even he was confused about what exactly “friend” meant in her mind.

More precisely, he did not know what she thought of him.

It clearly did not seem romantic, but it was not ordinary friendship either. So what was it...?

‘... Anyway.’

He would need to spend more time thinking about how much more attached Katia was than he had expected.

Before that, there was something else he needed to do first.

‘The immediate goal is...’

To reveal that the Prince was attacking Noel through incitement. That required three steps.

First, proving that the unapproved weapons brought into the Imperial Capital had nothing to do with Noel. Then, proving that the attack on the Imperial Capital military headquarters had nothing to do with her either.

“...”

Fortunately, both objectives could be brought drastically closer through a single action.

He only had to find one thing.

The organization behind the operations, the point where all three incidents intersected.

He had heard a clue about them before.

“If even I can't find them, whoever's backing them is at least a high-ranking noble. You want me to dig into their backer? Are you trying to get someone killed?”

Billy Hagan had said that when Aiden had previously asked him to investigate who was smuggling weapons into the Imperial Capital.

There was an organization with someone backing it, to the point that even such a capable information broker had stepped away after saying that.

‘The weapons brought in, including the Hell Bomb. The Suppression Pillar used to kidnap Katia. The roots needed to create a dimensional rift...’

None of those were things that could be acquired through normal channels. If so, there was a very high chance that an organization existed to manage such matters as a whole.

And if such an organization existed, it would possess plenty of evidence showing that the Prince and the Minister of Administration had commissioned those acts.

At least, that was the natural order of illegal work Aiden had seen while working as a con artist.

“Ah, so we're here to find their lackeys?”

Once he explained his goal, Katia nodded as though she understood.

Though she was royalty who had stayed outside everyone's attention, she had still lived inside a royal palace thick with intrigue. She apparently already knew how this sort of thing worked.

Bringing such items into the Imperial Capital without word spreading required swift work by the smallest possible number of elite personnel.

Dangerous, secret work required assembling the fewest possible people with the greatest ability.

And the place Aiden was walking through now could be called the natural habitat of such people.

‘... Here we are again.’

The Imperial Capital black market.

It was the ideal place to begin the investigation.

A breeding ground for crime, a place beyond the law, and a place overflowing with nearly unlimited information.

He almost felt glad to be back.

Come to think of it, was this not where he had first met Katia?

“So how are you going to find them? Even if they are somewhere around here, we don't have any information yet.”

“It is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

These people had hidden themselves so thoroughly that even an information broker could not gather anything on them. The comparison was not at all inadequate.

“So...”

Aiden gave a quiet laugh.

Even he found the method he had thought of amusing.

“... Shall we remove all the hay? Then the needle will fall out too.”

Somehow, he felt more reckless than usual whenever he was with Katia.

Maybe her tendency to chase the strongest stimulation first because she wanted to feel something was rubbing off on him.

“What does that mean?”

“Katia.”

When Katia tilted her head and asked, Aiden answered as if it were nothing.

“Life has been a little boring lately, right?”

“...”

The moment she heard that.