"Your Majesty, I know who the culprit is!" I recognized the lady who was supposed to be my ally.
As soon as we entered the arena, the audience cheered. The Emperor and the chief consorts had removed their blindfolds.
"Please step aside. I will listen to every one of you. First, all the ladies who saw the box assemble to my left and all who didn't, to the right." He ordered. We lined up on the respective sides. There were four ladies on the other side who had seen the box. It was good to see that Daneliya was not fidgeting.
"Now, the ladies on my right, start speaking one by one." He allowed.
The lady went first and bowed. He nodded.
"Your Majesty! I am the consort who came at number six. And the culprit was my partner. I waited for her to come and make me her ally, but she never came to me." She bowed again. I smirked.
It was show time!
I stepped forward and bowed. I was not sure if I saw the Emperor smirking but I definitely saw him nodding his head.
"Your Majesty, I was the other number six and I admit to have stolen the box." I smiled and said. The audience gasped. Even the consorts flinched. My blatant admission to guilt would be the key point of my performance today.
Because I knew, His Majesty was intelligent. And I was counting on that.
"Oh my, it seems there are no conflicts at all. You are admitting this so easily?" He asked. I bowed and made a confirmation. And then, Consort Catherine stood up, not disappointing me.
"Your Majesty, I am sure Consort Regina is not the culprit. This whole situation is so fishy. If Consort Regina was indeed the culprit, why would she be foolish enough to not take her partner as an ally?" She insisted. Consort Adeline stood up.
"I agree, Your Majesty. I feel like this might be an act to distract us from the true culprit." She said. I half expected Consort Scarlett to stand but maybe she hadn't been useful in the past rounds and gave up on this round altogether. Consort Eliza stood up.
"Your Majesty, may I speak my mind?" She asked for permission.
Indeed, Lady of Elegance she was! She lived up to her title. The Emperor nodded.
"Your Majesty, I feel that Consort Regina is the ally, rather than the culprit. And Consort Briella might be the culprit." She said. I controlled my face. I didn't smile.
Yes, please go on. I encouraged mentally.
"Why do you think so?" He asked.
"I feel that the whole act is their intention to mislead our decisions. While Consort Regina is the bait for us, Consort Briella is trying to achieve the image of ally. I am sure both of them are allies, but the culprit must be Consort Briella. Why else would she claim such a story about Consort Regina not using her as an ally? It must be to misle us. I am confident that this act is executed because Consort Briella is the true culprit and Consort Regina is her ally." She said.
Yes. Please use this much of intelligence. This is enough for me to win. I chanted in my head.
After a while, the Emperor too claimed that it was the best possible explanation. No one paid attention to Consort Briella's protest and it only made them more sure about their decision. To no one's surprise, Consort Briella was declared the culprit. I was giddy with excitement to see everyone's expression when the box would come out of my room. We handed in our keys and to everyone's expected surprise, I was the culprit.
"Explain." The Emperor ordered. I didn't try to decipher the meaning behind his smirk.
"Your Majesty," I bowed and started explaining, "I knew that the lady who was my ally would be indeed the best choice if I wanted to cover up my identity. However, it was natural that we would be suspected regardless of my ally because everyone saw the box disappearing when two ladies came up. To make sure that it seems as if Consort Briella's truth was an act, I revealed my identity knowing she would be suspected as the culprit and I would be suspected as the ally." I smiled.
"Then why didn't you make her an ally and tell her to do the same act?" He questioned.
"To make it more natural, of course. Infact, we were asked to randomly choose a room. I made the consort in the tenth room my ally." I said.
After a moment of silence, he asked me again.
"Choosing an ally who came before you was not useful. I didn't see any defending either." He stated.
"Your Majesty, anyone who is defended would naturally be the culprit and the defendant would be the ally. Hence, I asked the consort to maintain her silence." I said. By this time, the whole audience was silent. This must be the first time that their ruler had lost today. And so, it surprised me greatly when he started laughing.
"Thanks to your intelligence, this match has been the most interesting one. I look forward to your achievements today." He smirked and left with the chief consorts. I saw Consort Catherine glaring at me and Consort Eliza approving.
At least, the first war had been won. It had immensely boosted my confidence. And I hoped that the Emperor wasn't kidding when he said that he would look forward to my achievements today. Because I would go all out today.
Attack was the best defense, after all.
Once the first event was over, the rest of the day passed by in a blur. The system got triggered a few times as I slowly started understanding its mechanisms. Except the characters who were designed by the author personally, I could almost influence everyone and do background checks. The dagger and the elixir were stored in the storage capsule that Tweet gave me. I got a lot of EXP points due to the rising experience, reputation and favorability of characters. I remained the irreplaceable shining star of the day who excelled in all events. I didn't expect anything but the second rank when it came to riding horses, archery and sword fighting because of Consort Adeline. But I was surprised when I wasn't exhausted physically. Stretching my muscles and doing intense exercises should have taken a toll on this body, but I remembered Regina being and adventurer. It felt great to have a bonus point I hadn't considered.
Though Consort Adeline was great in all military stuff, she still couldn't beat me with guns and horse riding. We definitely tied at the latter, but the first one was another factor I hadn't known. Guns weren't supposed to be in this world. The author had never described Merasia events. But maybe it was written somewhere in the war scenes. The guns were heavy and recoiled badly. I almost hurt my face with it. But I hadn't expected Consort Adeline to be poor at it. That made me the champion.
I was overwhelmed when I had to play the final round of chess with Consort Eliza. Because it wasn't normal chess. It was a chess with live humans dressed as the chess pieces. I couldn't concentrate initially because of the ridiculous costumes they were wearing but afterwards I took a lead and won the match. Consort Eliza accepted her defeat with grace and it made me like her a bit more. She sure had been a very reliable source of information for me and had done no direct harm or whatsoever. Yet. But it would be foolish of me to drop my guard.
Better safe than sorry.
I stayed out of Consort Catherine's events like polo and golf, even if I was good in the latter. I also didn't interfere with beauty contests, dancing, singing and embroidery where Consort Scarlett leaded. Though she lost to Daneliya in embroidery, that marked the end of events for Daneliya. She didn't wish to participate in more. And she clung to me for the rest of the day.
I appeared again in city squares where there were brain puzzles, math problems and riddles to solve. The whole city had now turned into a fair. I stuffed myself with all the delicacies I could find. There were also the local gambling stores for playing cards and the ball in the cup. I used Tweet to make my winning probability higher.
And soon in the evening, the streets got busier with people and the bell to conclude the celebration was rang. We returned to the palace on our horses and this time we gathered inside the Hall of Fame. There were no more military troops but nobles gathering for the ball. I couldn't rest for a moment because I was surrounded by everyone's congratulations and wishes for my speedy recovery. If the real Regina had been here, she would have been glad. But it was me. And I knew the reality.
People wouldn't have paid me attention if I had lost the games today. I was just a rising popular figure they wanted to butter up to earn favors from later. That was how society worked.
And since I had successfully attracted the Emperor with my usefulness, I was sure that I would rise up to my goals. A more strengthened social status and security.
The Emperor arrived with the General and the Earl this time and there was no feminine presence around him. It was then that I noticed all Chief Consorts who had slipped into the hall without gaining attention. The evening started with the declaration of all the winners in all categories. And slowly the rewards were delivered personally to each winner. Boxes of jade, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, pearls and rare gems along with gold and silver ingots got piled up. But I never realized that the evening was nowhere near the ending.
It was only the beginning of stardom when the Emperor asked me for a dance. The system materialised in front of my eyes again as I changed the whole plot in one day.
𝚂𝚈𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙼 𝚃𝚁𝙸𝙶𝙶𝙴𝚁!
𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 101 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚓𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎. 𝚂𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚖 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐...
𝙾𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍...
𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎. 𝙾𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍. 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 101 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐...
𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 101 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙽𝙿𝙲 𝚝𝚘 𝙼𝙲.
And then, I could do nothing but watch my emotions crumble when I realised what it meant.
I had been reckless. The world I never belonged to was my home. And the world that was my home was nothing but...
Word count: 1991