Chapter 51

“This is absurd.”

Helena swept back her red hair.

She felt like collapsing in surprise, but she didn’t show it in the slightest.

Instead, she spoke in a somewhat angry voice.

“Did you think I would fall for it if you just spouted any nonsense?”

“I told you to stop wasting time.”

I said, as if growling.

I had no intention of pretending to be a child anymore.

In truth, I wasn’t angry, but since Helena had started her act of being angry, I continued with an even more high-handed attitude.

“The Special Operations Unit is all over the outside. We have to leave this city at once.”

“We’re just an acrobat troupe, kid!”

“Ah, I told you to stop! Even if you don’t know the situation here……. No, that’s right, you wouldn’t know, so it’s understandable that you would.”

I covered my face.

Then I let out a deep sigh.

The worn-out atmosphere, unbefitting the handsome child’s face, fueled her bewilderment.

“I understand, I understand, Helena. Since you wouldn’t know anything.”

“……”

“But please, understand. We can’t speak unless we’re asked, can we.”

Helena’s gaze softened slightly.

The West took several magical measures when sending operatives into the Empire.

One of them was the ‘Vow of Unasked, Unanswered’.

Very important secrets could not be spoken of one’s own accord.

One could only answer when asked by someone with the proper authority.

Knowing even such a deep secret, she couldn’t help but think, ‘perhaps’.

“State your authority and ask your question, Helena. I will answer with all my heart.”

“…I’ll fall for it.”

Helena put a finger into her left eye socket.

She took out the artificial eye and showed the back of it.

Then, when she tapped it a couple of times with her finger, a strange crest emitted a faint light.

It was the crest that proved she had been delegated the authority of the captain of the Juet Acrobat Troupe.

“Helen Pel. Acting captain of the Juet Acrobat Troupe, high-level management authority.”

The one-eyed woman asked.

“Suspicious kid, state your identity.”

“I am Zionis.”

“Zionis… Zionis?”

Helena, who had been nodding, hastily raised her eyes and looked me up and down.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, about ten years old, a handsome, girlish appearance…….

Her one eye widened.

“The fifth son of the Great Emperor Continua.”

***

“What.”

Helena’s tongue faltered.

It was because an unimaginable truth had struck the root of her tongue.

I was quite pleased.

“I feel relieved now that I’ve said it.”

Hearing the snickering, Helena continued to observe him.

She realized the reason why she had felt a certain sense of déjà vu.

It was the Fifth Prince Zionis, just as she had heard!

Looking at her, who was so surprised she couldn’t continue, I gestured with my chin.

I had no intention of letting her realize my intentions.

“What are you doing? Continue your questions. Otherwise, I can’t answer.”

“…If you are Zionis, if you are the fifth prince of the Empire……. Why are you here?”

“Ah, I requested asylum in the West. They accepted it quite readily. Because there was no reason to refuse.”

Because it was obvious he wouldn’t win the Succession War.

I chatted.

I mixed lies and truths indiscriminately, but that’s what made it more plausible.

Helena listened as if enchanted.

To think that the Fifth Prince Zionis was here, she had no choice but to.

“They had hastily prepared a unit to grant me asylum. They even prepared a look-alike double. But a problem arose……”

“……”

“I was left alone and the Special Operations Unit was everywhere. I had no choice but to come to you. Because I want to escape to the West safely.”

Helena bit her lip.

Her one eye never left me.

No matter how she looked, he was undoubtedly the Fifth Prince Zionis.

It was a matter of course.

Because he was actually him.

That’s why she couldn’t believe it.

She couldn’t believe it.

She endured the dizziness and said,“…I can’t understand. He is dead. He died in the Sobel mountain range with the Fourth Prince Nebulo.”

“I am here.”

“Then the Cordis Imperial Family, the entire Empire was deceived? It’s absurd! No, but, then……”

Confusion.

Was the kid in front of her the real prince?

Or was he some kind of person trying to deceive her?

Either way was plausible, and either way had more than enough to refute.

Truth and lies were mixed into a mush.

It was as I had intended.

“…Why, here? Why my name, so easily……”

He smiled.

When you live as a secret-keeper, you are bound to learn a few skills.

Especially, deceiving the opponent was something he was so used to that a certain refinement now emanated from him.

Look, the Fifth Prince Zionis had just revealed that he was the Fifth Prince Zionis, yet wasn’t she unable to believe it and suffering?

He said brazenly.

“I don’t know what the problem is. I’ve answered everything with all my heart.”

“You don’t know what the problem is……!”

Helena asked back in a drained voice.

“Some kid came and said he’s the dead prince. He even looks the same.”

“It doesn’t seem to be a problem.”

“But, an eleven-year-old prince knows everything about our side’s situation. Even secret codes and the alias I used! How am I supposed to interpret this?”

“It’s a simple matter.”

The regressor’s blue eyes quietly blazed.

“Ask the question.”

“……”

Helena barely managed to suppress the desire to ask what question she should ask and blood flowed from her lips.

Otherwise, that foolish question seemed as if it would burst out like a sneeze.

It was worth it, and she was able to force out one question.

“Are you……”

There was no conviction in her voice.

I gestured lightly with my chin.

My tone was as if telling her to continue.

Helena slowly continued.

“…Whether you are the real prince or not, is it not important?”

“As expected, Helen Pel!”

The regressed prince clapped.

“You weren’t as dull as I thought!”

He was in a good mood.

Helen Pel was a comrade from the Western Alliance before his regression and he couldn’t help but be glad to see her astuteness again.

So he put his gladness into his lies and kicked them into high gear.

“Just because it’s a fact doesn’t mean they’re all the same. There’s an order and a hierarchy. Just by twisting that a little, a lot of things change.”

He was a secret-keeper.

He was skilled in lying, but he was even more skilled in deceptions that did not lie.

“Whether I am the real prince is not important. What’s important is that the Fifth Prince Zionis requested asylum and that a child who looks exactly like him actually went to the West. Whether it was the double they had prepared or what, who knows?”

“……!”

“Of course, this body is the real Fifth Prince Zionis, though.”

A lie that ended with the truth had a certain completeness.

He was quite satisfied with himself.

Helena would now never be able to think of him as the real Fifth Prince Zionis.

She put the artificial eye back into her eye socket with a trembling hand.

“…Who are you, really?”

“That’s something I can’t answer with just a high-level management authority.”

The eleven-year-old prince smiled innocently.

“But this is troublesome. You want to know more information than you’re allowed to, and I have to humor you to get your help.”

He took a few steps, feigning nonchalance.

Somewhat slowly, to make her anxious, even stroking his chin.

Helena’s eyes never left him.

I whispered.

“What should I do to gain your trust, Daltur Denoebang?”

“!!!!!!”

In the end, Helen Pel, no, Daltur Denoebang, collapsed as if she were falling.

The tall woman fell, knocking over some furniture.

A loud noise was made.

However, the ‘Concealment Lamp’ prevented the sound from leaking outside.

“That name, how……!!”

It was her real name.

It was an old name that was hard to even remember when it was last called, living as an operative.

I had called it out nonchalantly.

I knew because I had crossed 19 years of time.

Daltur Denoebang, soon to be Helen Pel, was on the floor, her hands even trembling.

“If you still don’t believe me, shall I recite your school grades? Or should I convey my regards to your father?”

“…No, I believe you. You are wicked.”

Helena bowed her head deeply.

She was convinced that I was a very high-ranking person from the West, perhaps even a member of the Dawn.

Otherwise, there was no way he could know the name Daltur Denoebang.

It wasn’t entirely wrong either.

The Shion Pollinglight from before the regression was the Vice Commander of the Western Alliance.

“…You’re not the age you look, are you, sir.”

“What are you talking about. I’m the Fifth Prince Zionis.”

“Yes, I will understand it that way.”

She asked cautiously.

“If no directive has come down, is it a purple case?”

“That is a question I cannot answer.”

“Yes, I will not ask.”

She bowed her head even more deeply.

It was only right for someone who knew the name Denoebang.

“What should I write in the regular report?”

“It will be enough to write that the son of a dead operative came and was taken in as a porter. Tell the other members the same.”

“Yes.”

I was completely acting like a superior.

However, to Helena, who had let go of her suspicion, it felt very natural.

“What exactly do you want?”

“There are people waiting for me in Gentium. I have to avoid the eyes of the Special Operations Unit until then.”

“Yes, I understand. And……”

Helena cautiously opened her lips.

“…What did you say I should call you?”

“Shion.”

***

I became a member of the Juet Acrobat Troupe.

As befitting those who had spent a long time as spies in the Empire, it was not difficult to pass the inspection of the Special Operations Unit.

As we were leaving Penren, I whistled.

‘This turned out to be easy.’

The skills of the Juet Acrobat Troupe were the best of the best.

Unless the fortuneteller Amethus himself came, they would not be able to find me.

And I had no intention of being caught.

When I glanced sideways, Helena gave a small bow.

‘I’ve completely deceived her into thinking I’m a big shot pretending to be a prince. Even though I’m the real prince.’

Helena and I were alone in the captain’s private carriage.

Because I had joined in a hurry, there was no room in the members’ carriages and Helena had caught me as I was about to squeeze in among the luggage.

She asked questions from time to time.

It seemed that suspicion had arisen again after she had come to her senses, so she asked me about the West.

However, since I had really been a person from the West before my regression, I didn’t fall for any of her questions.

Helena became even more convinced that he was a big shot in disguise.

“I’m relieved.”

“Don’t use respectful language. The members will be suspicious.”

“Huhu, it’s alright. They won’t hear.”

Helena touched her scar.

Still, her neat features were not hidden.

Well, the Denoebang brats were all handsome, after all.

I muttered softly.

“Which city are we going to next?”

“Tenes. We’ll be performing for a short time.”

“It would be more natural if I performed as well.”

“Are you alright, Shion?”

“A simple thing is fine.”

I stuck my head out the window and glanced behind.

I could see the following members.

Henry Horbi with his pipe, the wolf with the perfect imperial accent, the ten twin boys, and so on.

Though their attire was comical, they were all the best operatives from the West.

“Where should I stay?”

“Considering your apparent age, the twins’ side would be good.”

“Alright, let’s do that.”

A gentle breeze blew.

The thought that the capital, Lutilium, the Cordis Imperial Palace, the damned Ferbias and so on were getting further away made me feel good.

Approaching one’s destiny was always refreshing.

“By the way, Helena. We’ll be together for a while, but it would be better not to pry too much.”

I slowly raised my hand.

Helena’s gaze followed.

I, Shion Pollinglight, then raised my index finger and placed it on my lips.

“Because I have many secrets.”

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