Chapter 172: A Brother's Secret

What a disaster.

Ever since my father was killed by that mad king of Oriana, the state of Midgar Kingdom got worse and worse with each passing day.

First off, the nobles affiliated with the secret society known as Thirteen Night Blades, a faction that has always committed heinous crimes in the shadows, denounced my sister's claim for the throne despite her being the rightful heir. All because of one incident. ONE! And nobody could even prove that Iris killed Midgar citizen during her rampage following father's death! It's pretty much lèse-majesté!

And to make matters worse, nobody defended her… not even nobles from factions loyal to the royal family. Everybody abandoned her. Eventually, due to popular vote amongst the aristocrats, Claude Normann, her fiancé, was named father's successor and she would only be his queen consort even though it's supposed to be the other way around. Highly suspicious if you ask me… but what can I do? No one else noticed, not even the biggest victim of this conspiracy, Iris herself.

At least Claude Normann is a reliable individual. Thanks to his contributions, Iris and I were able to hold this kingdom together as best as we could despite father's absence. I doubt the two of us could do it alone. Iris has the strength and I have the cunning but both of us lack respect from the aristocracy. That is our greatest weakness. Claude Normann however commands both strength and cunning and is respected by the aristocracy, enabling him to navigate through the treacherous oceans of politics perhaps even by himself. Even if I am suspicious of him, I can't deny that he is much better to have as an ally than as an enemy, which is why I tolerated and trusted him.

And… recent events suggests that he may turn against us. How did that happen?

It all started with that clown Jack the Ripper killing members of the Thirteen Night Blades one by one sometime after the death of that headache Don Jon. His first victim was Count Goethe Moono, who was found in his home with a card stuck in his head. Playing cards are Jack the Ripper's signature weapons and apparently the cards contains messages that only Pooch can somehow decipher, which is why I added him into my investigation team, something I would regret later on.

Thanks to Pooch's efforts, we were able to determine that Jack the Ripper specifically targeted the Thirteen Night Blades. Goethe's death wasn't a random act of violence but a targeted murder.

At the time I suspected that the killer clown was Claude because he has been way too secretive as of late. One night he came back to the castle soaked in blood. He said that he slaughtered an army of assassins who ambushed him and he killed two of their leaders too… and in the next day the corpses of two nobles who were members of the Thirteen Night Blades, Baron Grehahn and Count Kuzaya, were found in the noble district along with mutilated corpses of their minions. At the time there was no other explanation to me except that Claude did it.

I tried speaking with him but he denied my accusations and wouldn't listen to my warnings about using underhanded tactics to gain political advantage.

The deaths of our political enemies has indeed put us at a massive advantage… but it also made our enemies grow more desperate, leading to them working more closely with the Cult. After that clown killed three members of the Thirteen Night Blades, Claude exposed the crimes of the remaining ten members of the Thirteen Night Blades, putting them under arrest. But with the aid of the Cult, they escaped prison almost immediately.

Then… due to my foolishness of involving him into my investigation of the murders, Pooch was kidnapped by the Thirteen Night Blades. To take responsibility for my own mistake, I set out alone, straight into the Cult's trap. Naturally I was ambushed on the way by a bunch of Cultists led by Sir Willow, the academy's head librarian who were actually a Cultist, albeit reluctantly. With the unexpected help of Claire Kagenou, who appeared out of nowhere, I managed to not only defeat the ambushers but also received information from Sir Willow, who said that Pooch was being held in Count Oyano Bou's mansion. He also warned that Eliza Dakuaikan, the daughter of the Thirteen Night Blades' leader, Marquis Brad Dakuaikan, was there as well and has been supplied with a mind control Artifact meant to be used on Claude by the Cult.

I infiltrated Count Oyano's mansion with Claire in tow, not knowing at the time that Claude was following us. Just as we were about to surrender ourselves to the Thirteen Night Blades due to Count Oyano, accompanied by Marquis Jet and Viscount Shinobi, holding Pooch's life hostage, Claude appeared and not only slaughtered Count Oyano's men, he also freed Pooch from Count Oyano's grasp… using nothing but playing cards, which solidified my suspicion that he was Jack the Ripper. In fact, he truly terrified me when he slaughtered all those men.

But my suspicion was proven wrong when the real deal appeared in front of us and killed Count Oyano along with Marquis Jet and Viscount Shinobi. The clown even displayed better proficiency with the card than Claude did, pushing Claude away just by throwing a paper card. Then Claude chased after him to the depths of the underground maze underneath Count Oyano's mansion, which led to him meeting and escaping with Eliza.

According to the testimony of Christina Hope, who was held captive by Eliza after being sold off by her own father, whom I've arrested, Claude saved her from the clutches of Eliza but willingly gave himself up to her. I couldn't stop them back then because before I could reach them they've escaped into the underground labyrinth which is still swarming with Necromancer's undead minions to this very day.

The fear that he would become our enemy was realized that night.

Naturally Iris was very angry after hearing about all this… refusing to even speak to me since. To top it all off, the Thirteen Night Blades, backed by the Cult, rebelled against the kingdom, sparking a civil war… even though we should be preparing for the inevitable war against Oriana, which is now under the rule of Necromancer.

Without Claude's support, Iris and I struggled to keep the kingdom together, which is harder and harder to do with the civil war going around.

At this rate, there's nothing I can do but wait for Jack the Ripper to show up. According to Pooch, our resident expert of deciphering Jack the Ripper's message, he's gonna show up this week.

Ah… that's right. Pooch. After rescuing him from Count Oyano, I resolved to leave him alone so I don't put him in danger anymore… but at a time when I've given up on him… he actually come to me, though it was for a selfish reason as usual but… having him around makes me happy even if he just want to get away from his sister. Seriously, he's so lucky to have such a caring sister and yet…

What am I going to say to her now that I've put Pooch into danger once again? I thought letting him take refuge in the castle could at least keep him safe but… unexpectedly… he went missing since last week. Did the Cult kidnap him again? Do we have a traitor right here in the castle? If so, who is it? The maids? The Crimson Order members? And if they've kidnapped him… why haven't I received any message from the kidnappers?

My mind is filled with so much anxiousness that makes me unable to focus on my work. I've sat here on my desk for at least an hour with nothing gets done. Marco, my current bodyguard, noticed this.

"P-Princess. I think you should take a break." Marco suggests with a concerned face.

"I have so many work that needs to be done though." I say as I look at the pile of papers lying on my desk, waiting to be read and either stamped for approval or rejected. Their contents range from mundane topics such as city management stuff and tax reports, to other more unusual topics such as war logistics, reports of the war effort and surprisingly… invitations to socialize by stupid nobles who want to get close to me, ignoring the fact that there's a civil war going around.

"Apologies for my rudeness, but I don't think you're in the right state of mind to be working right now."

"Haaah… You're right." Whenever I'm stressed out, I always go to Pooch for healing. But this time… the cause of my distress is his absence.

Just as I was about to stand up to take a break, we both hear knocks on the door.

"Who is it?" Marco answers the knock without opening the door to my office.

"Your highness, Princess Alexia. You have a guest." Says the maid on the other side of the door.

"I'm in no mood for guests! If it's the nobles trying to set me up with their sons again, tell them I'm too busy!" I reply with a stern voice that can be heard even outside the room.

"B-But, your highness! The guest is…" The maid is reluctant to dismiss this guest. Who the fu-

"You've got guts trying to dismiss me, Alexia!" In comes Claude's sister, Charlotte Normann, rudely barging into my office like she owns the place. Though, considering the circumstances, I can't call her out for it.

"Welcome to Midgar Royal Palace, Miss Charlotte. Is there anything I can do for you?" I put on a fake smile as a front because I don't know how to behave towards her. I rarely interact with her as it is, especially because she always works in the background, though luckily her work benefits the royal faction as it aligns with her brother's goals.

Even Iris warned me not to offend her because back when Iris allowed her brother's arrest during my kidnapping incident, she received a severe backlash from this girl and her cronies and lost much popularity in the high society as a result. That's how scary this girl is.

"I came because you're the only one I can turn to in these times of crisis!" She says with a frown. Despite not knowing her very well, I know enough that she didn't like me or Iris very well at all due to what we did to her brother. For someone like her to turn to me for help…

"I see. Then let's get down to business. Maids! Get some tea for us and then leave us to speak privately." I decided to take her words seriously.

"But Princess!" Marco tries to argue but I've made my mind. What we're going to speak here is likely very important and I will not have it leak to the Crimson Order or the castle staff.

"I said we shall speak privately, Marco. That's an order."

"U-Understood!"

How perplexing. Normally I wouldn't even dream of turning to this bitch for help. She has always treated brother rudely since the day we met years ago and then made several excuses to avoid socializing with him even though he used to be one of her suitors. At least brother didn't have to deal with her as a result but still, that was rude, even for a princess!

But my situation is currently dire. Thanks to this bitch, brother has been kidnapped by Eliza, a bitch far worse than this princess could ever be. And I've even lost contact with Shadow Garden since last week. They've been silent for a while but I can read the room. I can decipher from their silence that they've suffered a great defeat at Oriana, which is why even with the Seven Shades present there at the time, Oriana ended up being taken over by Necromancer and started displaying flags with a skull symbol embedded on top of Oriana's rose symbol.

To top it all off, the Thirteen Night Blades decided to rebel against Midgar Kingdom at such a crucial time. Without brother's leadership, Midgar is starting to lose ground more and more. Several territories have been taken by the enemy forces and morale amongst the soldiers is at an all time low due to brother's absence.

Because Shadow Garden is currently unavailable, I have no one else to turn to for help except this princess as I don't even trust the people in my inner circle with my most important secrets. Alexia, despite all the bad qualities she has, is at least someone who shares a common enemy with me. Not to mention she is the only one with information regarding the mysterious killer clown, Jack the Ripper. I believe the key to winning this civil war is him.

I sit on the sofa facing her. On the table she has provided some tea and snacks but neither of us moves to touch them.

"So. What do you want to discuss about with me? Is it's about Jack the Ripper?" She initiates the conversation with a solemn expression and even guessed my intentions correctly. Thank Beatrix that she's taking this seriously.

"Yes. We're currently driven into a corner due to brother's absence and… my loss of contact with Shadow Garden."

"You're in contact with Shadow Garden!?" Alexia exclaims with surprise as I've never shared this knowledge with anyone before.

"I was… until last week... which is why I have no one else to turn to but you because you're the only one who's in contact with Jack the Ripper, the only one who could turn the tide of war to our favour."

"Well… calling it being in contact is an exaggeration because all we did was receiving cryptic message from this clown and Poo—Cid was the only one who could decipher it."

"Cid… Claire's brother right? Thanks to you involving him into this mess, brother has been kidnapped by that bitch Eliza." I glare at her, making her unable to look at me in the eye directly.

"Yes… It was my fault. I bet Claire is desperately looking for her right now."

"Claire… also went missing actually."

"What!?" She exclaims in surprise. Even I was surprised when I searched for her in town and was unable to find her.

"She probably went missing because she's looking for him right now. Otherwise I would've brought her here too so you would suffer the scolding of two sisters."

"Please don't. You two would kill me." Alexia didn't even retort or defend herself that I even start feeling pity for her so I'll let off the hook for now. According to my information network, she genuinely cares for Cid Kagenou at least and as a result of his disappearance she is probably beating herself up right now. Judging from the visible eye bags on her face, I'm inclined to believe that's true.

"Anyway, I'm not here to scold you or blame you or anything. Tell me what message you've received from this killer clown."

"Ahh… yes." She produces a card from her pocket, a 3 of Spades card.

"Cid received this card from Jack the Ripper after we rescued him from Count Oyano's mansion and according to him, it means 3rd week of winter, which is this week, and faith. We take it as meaning that we should have faith and that something is going to happen this week."

"Faith…" I mutter as I remember how Sherry didn't lose faith in my brother despite not seeing him for so long. Even Lady Alpha told me to have faith in him. I suppose I should do that no matter what happens.

"Then I suppose all we can do now is wait, huh." I say with a smile that surprises even Alexia, who didn't expect me to have my mood lifted.

"Y-Yeah. That's right."

"Alright. I'm gonna stay in the castle starting tonight! Then we shall meet this Jack the Ripper together! Any objections, princess?"

"None whatsoever."

"Good! Now show me the way to my brother's room!"

"You're gonna sleep in his room?"

"Err… no. Even if he's not here, doing that would invite bad rumors or even create unnecessary scandals. I just want to… see if I can find any… secrets he's hiding. Hee hee hee." I say as I chuckle mischievously.

"Hee… That sounds interesting! Count me in! I bet we can find his porn collection!" Alexia seems interested too. Having her as a partner in crime actually sounds fun so I'll allow it.

With that we left her office room with better mood than before, startling even Marco, her bodyguard who's still standing outside the door.

"P-Princess! Wait!" He shouts as he chases after us. Since it's his duty to protect Alexia, we allow him to follow, but only until we reach the door to my brother's private quarters. Beyond that is our little secret domain.

Feeling as mischievous as children, we search for my brother's secret… any secret. His secret porn collection, secret hobbies or anything embarrassing we could use to tease him when he gets back.

"Oh my. So many letters from you safely stored in this drawer." Alexia says as she found my letters. The papers look brand new even if some of them are years old. To think he would keep them safe instead of throwing them away.

"This letter is from three years ago? Aww, look how much he loved you, Miss Charlotte!" Alexia says teasingly as she held out one my old letters that I wrote since the day he left to attend school in the capital. I can only smile in response. Does he keep some letters from Sherry as well? I try to find her letters enthusiastically, only to find none. Why? Shouldn't you at least keep some letters from her, brother?

"Miss Charlotte?" Oh my. It seems that I've soured the mood. Stupid brother probably just didn't want rumors of him and Sherry spreading while he's betrothed to Iris, which is why he didn't keep any letters from her as he did mine.

"Nothing. Let's keep searching, shall we?" I smile to reassure her, though I suppose it didn't fully convince her but at least she didn't ask any further.

"Hm?" On his desk drawer I find a bunch of green colored crystals.

"What's that?" Alexia asks curiously.

"I don't know." I answer as I take one of them in my hand. Upon contact with my skin, I can feel magic power within the crystals.

"They… contain magic!" I exclaim as I immediately try to inject my own magic to the crystal, trying to see if it does anything… and do something it did.

As soon as my magic enters the crystal, my mind is immediately assaulted by visions…

"Let's get straight to the point, Lord Claude. I believe someone who killed his political rivals like you is not fit to be the king!" I hear Marquis Brad Dakuaikan's voice. This scene I see before me is… a meeting? A meeting of the great nobles which my brother participated in? I can see not only Marquis Dakuaikan but also his cronies, though there are only ten of them. This must be the scene where my brother exposed their crimes after the deaths of three of them. Not only can I see and hear but I can also feel the atmosphere as if I was there in person.

"N-Nothing! Those letters are fake!" Marquis Dakuaikan tries to deny the evidence that my brother presented whilst panicking.

"Fake? Then how did they obtain the official seal of your family?" I hear my brother's voice although I didn't see him, probably because I'm seeing this from his point of view.

"T-They were stolen! Yes! That must be!" Marquis Dakuaikan still tries to deny brother's accusations despite the proof being in presented in broad daylight. How disgraceful his conduct is. Totally unbefitting of a great noble.

"You can't do this to us!"

"I don't have to do that. You did it to yourself by claiming that these letters are fake. If we're following your narrative, then until your "stolen" family seal is recovered, your family seals will be considered illegitimate within Midgar."

My brother mercilessly put him and the rest of the Thirteen Night Blades members into a corner. Great job, brother!

"Fine. I confess. The letters… are real." Marquis Dakuaikan finally admits it.

"Lord Dakuaikan!" Count White, Marquis Dakuaikan's second in command within the Thirteen Night Blades, calls out to him, horrified at the fact that his leader is giving up.

"If we do not confess, Lord White, our families are as good as ended." Looks like the great Marquis Dakuaikan finally gave up.

"Good. Now that you've confessed your crimes, we shall now judge you as per the laws of Midgar."

"GYAAAHHH!" The vision ends abruptly as a massive headache assaults me, causing me to drop the crystal as both my hands clutch my aching head. I scream as I try to endure the pain.

"Charlotte! What's wrong!?" I can hear Alexia's concerned voice behind me… but I ignore it due to how painful the headache is… so painful that I'm starting to lose consciousness.

"Charlotte! Charlotte!"

Despite the pain, I can understand what those crystals are… they are Artifacts that my brother used to store his memories. I made that conclusion before passing out.

Author's Note:

Decided to do a brief recap of the previous Midgar arc we left behind before proceeding with the finale of the Oriana arc and starting Japan arc.

And Charlotte discovered the memory crystals! Will this lead to more misunderstanding? Find out in the next episode of The Mischievous Sister in Shadow!

Masterboy: This chapter was too short.

Answer: My chapters are indeed short usually.

Guest: So many misunderstandings happened this chapter. It feels like everything is back in order and all is right in the world of TEiS. :)

Answer: Feels like going back home, doesn't it?

Guest: Back to Midgar and nice too see gettan again and from the looks of it he's doing well and might be seeing a redemption arc, awesome chapter

Answer: Thanks. Yeah he's gonna have a redemption arc.

TheVirtualPug: Have you considered writing a fanfiction with Tetsuya in grieving souls? It's a series like Eminence where the protagonist is actually weak but everyone still believes him to be OP anyway. Poor Krai just wants to retire, but keeps somehow solving world ending plots. Would be fun to see Tetsuya pulling his hair out at this random nobody somehow stopping all of his plans without even realizing it.

Answer: No I haven't even read nor watched that series.

johan uzumaki: ya leísteel manga bibliomania

Answer: No I haven't.