Chapter 25

Victoria’s role in Onee-sama’s plan was simple - she was to stir the fires without ever saying anything definitive in order to let false malicious rumours grow.

She would become ‘friends’ with Lady Anastasia’s inner circle and be convinced to take part in this condemnation of her, all to upend the enemy’s case against Onee-sama.

However.

“Lady Victoria’s words may have been misunderstood, but I believe there are some truths to her words,” Lady Anastasia said. “Likewise, it does not change the truth of your true nature, Lady Raena.”

“Oh~?”

“I had suspected you’d been mistreating Miss Yuri for quite some time and tried to look into her background. Strangely, despite going to multiple private investigators and reputable journalists, there wasn’t anyone who could find anything about her, as if she’d just suddenly appeared one day or.” Lady Anastasia’s eyes grew cold. “As if someone had intentionally wiped all records of her away.”

Now, this was a valid argument, one that we’d anticipated would come up, but we couldn’t explain the real truth.

So, naturally, the curious and malicious would go looking for her. When they couldn’t find anything, theories would surface, and they would make the Arminas look bad.

But we’d planned for this.

“How unkind of you, Lady Anastasia,” Onee-sama said.

“What?”

Onee-sama laughed. “I think it’s most unbecoming of a stranger to bring up someone else’s traumatic past they’d best like to forget.”

I and others saw Yuri become physically uncomfortable, and I knew she wanted to run.

Fear held her down.

Love kept her by Onee-sama’s side.

Doubt made her suffer.

…I knew it. We should have included her in our plans from the beginning.

“You insinuated earlier that I had wiped all traces of Yuri Nakamura from our world for the sole purpose of controlling and bullying her.”

“I said no such thing.”

“You very strongly implied such things, no? Or?” Onee-sama smirked. “Are you contradicting your own stance?”

Lady Anastasia said nothing and quietly observed Onee-sama’s expression. Lady Perlica and Estelle were looking a little nervous.

“I had rather wished to avoid bringing this up in such a public setting, but I have no choice,” Onee-sama said. “Yuri and her family lived in a remote village in the Armina duchy which was sadly ransacked and brunt to ashes by vile bandits. At that time, Lord Michael Wessex had been in the area as part of a routine patrol and dispatched the bandits.

“My father and his knights had also been nearby on one of his monthly hunting trips and found the wounded, near dead, Yuri among the village remains. Together, he and Lord Michael search tirelessly for survivors and any remaining brigands that needed dispatching. Alas, they found no one else alive.

“When Yuri came to my household, she was fragile and deeply scarred by the horrors of that day. We took her into our care and-”

“Why was such a terrible event not widely reported?” Lady Anastasia challenged.

“Yuri had suffered enough without having the whole country’s pity on her shoulders. Can you imagine how unbearable and suffocating the pressure would have been for her? Well.” Onee-sama gestured to the uncomfortable looking Yuri. “You can see just how poorly she’s responding to tonight’s events.”

It was true - Yuri was under what felt like the whole world’s pressure was on her shoulders.

How would she endure this after today?

If Onee-sama’s story was true, then it’d mean keeping this hidden was for Yuri’s sake.

Of course, the story was a lie.

Father and Lord Michael would testify it as a true story, so Lady Anastasia and her allies could no longer use Yuri’s past as a weapon.

That was now 2 attacks and 2 defeats thrown at-

“Are you sure that this isn’t just using Miss Yuri’s trauma as an excuse to cover up the gaps in the Armina duchy’s security for its people?”

Lady Perlica has either become emboldened or irrational, though her question was a fair one if inappropriate for her to ask a ducal household’s heiress.

“Of course not, Lady Perlica.” Lord Michael stepped forward. “It was only to hide the pain Miss Yuri suffered that day.”

Lady Perlica was forced to retreat.

It would be one thing for I or Onee-sama to counter her; with Lord Michael, who had once been at odds with Onee-sama, to come to her aid, no one could refute this argument anymore.

"...Then, what Lady Raena, do you say in response to the reports of bullying and harassment Miss Yuri has had to endure whilst at our academy?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know or because you’re playing dumb?”

“E-Excuse me?”

“Did I misspeak? I thought I’d asked a rather reasonable, straightforward question. Maybe I was wrong. Oh, but that can’t be right. After all, Lady Estelle was very dedicated in gathering evidence of her own misdeeds to claim them as my own.”

A shocking counter accusation.

More murmurs with the mood shifting against Lady Anastasia and her allies.

“I-Wh-? What nonsense is-?”

“Well, it’s the truth, isn’t it?” Onee-sama asked almost innocently, mocking Lady Estelle openly. “In order to try and muddy my name and reputation, you conspired with Lady Perlica and Lady Anastasia to rope in - or force - lower ranked ladies to harass Yuri and lie, under oath and before the Gods, that it was I who did this.

“As for the evidence, hmm~ where should I begin~?”

For the first time tonight, Lady Estelle looked well and truly worried.

There’s no way.

We covered our tracks properly and left evidence of ‘your’ actions.

Did someone talk and betray us?

No, it was none of the above.

“Yui.”

“Yes, Onee-sama.”

It was my turn to show my role in our grand plan.

“I’m sure you’re all familiar with my dear sister, Yui Armina. Yui, please could you tell me what I had been asking you to do for the past few weeks?”

“Of course. I, Yui Armina, swear before all of these witnesses and the Gods, what I am about to tell you is the truth.” I stood proud, unfaltering, unmovable. “Per my Onee-sama’s orders, I have been investigating Lady Perlica, Lady Estelle, Lady Anastasia and those closest to them on suspicion of corruption and for attempting to sew dissent into the ranks of the nobility attending our prestigious academy.

“In collaboration with my allies, I have uncovered all of their crimes and have definitive evidence to prove that they have maliciously schemed against my Onee-sama and bullied Miss Yuri severely.”

This was our trump card.

And we hadn’t revealed everything yet.

“Let the shock and horror of your words sink in. Lay on the accusations soak and fester before we reveal the Royal Decree Prince Cain oh so kindly gifted me.”

Onee-sama was right to caution me this way.

Where there had been murmurs before, now there was loud, uncontrolled outcry.

Lady Perlica and Estelle, and the lower ranked nobles they’d collaborated with, were ghost white and sweating.

Lady Anastasia, however, remained calm and collected.

Though she was smiling at Onee-sama, it was one that seemed to say, “It’s my loss.”

Did she know what else we’d prepared?

Or is it just because they’d fallen for all of our traps?

“Silence!” Lord Michael’s commanding voice silenced the room. “Lady Yui, is what you’ve said true?”

“Yes.”

“This is a serious issue and accusation, but is it just bravado? Or is there something more to give your words weight?”

“Naturally, it’s an official order. No, in fact.” Onee-sama giggled. “It’s a Royal Decree.”

She unveiled the scroll she’d been hiding in her chest (an extra provocation she’d prepared) and unrolled it.

There it was, in all its royal glory, and then, and only then, did Lady Anastasia concede.

However, as I’d anticipated, she’d covered her tracks far too well to link her directly to the harassment or bullying against Yuri or Onee-sama.

Indirectly? Of course.

Conjecture? We had plenty, tonight being a prime example.

But the cards had been stacked into the deck in a very careful order.

Lady Estelle and Lady Perlica would fall tonight, as would many of the ladies who’d followed them.

Lady Anastasia would trip over their bodies but remain on her feet.

In all likelihood, she’d no longer be a political or social princess, and it’d be quite hard for her to become Prince Cain’s queen now.

With the Royal Decree presented, it was my time to shine.

Watch me, Onee-sama!

Except she was gone.

As was Yuri.

“I guess it was too much for her,” Victoria mused, coming to my side. “Yui, shall we share the last dance for this evening’s condemnation?”

I smiled. “This time, I’ll happily be your partner, Victoria.”

Onee-sama, don’t worry - we’ll finish things up here.

Please, make sure that Yuri’s okay.