Summer Vacation Second Half – Q of Hearts (Part 2)

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The library room was in the eastern wing of the castle.
And speaking of the eastern wing, it’s a place where many of the King Faction members live. In contrast, the western wing is a building crawling with the Royal Prince Faction.
Why is the library in a place like this? Even thought it would’ve been fine to place it in the central wing. Because the Royal Prince Faction stay away from the eastern wing, it feels a bit unfair.
That’s why nobles of the Royal Prince Faction who possess and monopolise important books like Raiga are neverending.
The book “Forbidden Magics – the Complete Collection” that I got from Raiga… It was a book that was not just a little dangerous. They’re appearing, they’re appearing, various brutal magics that turn away from the path of a human~ The editor too is quite the piece of work, putting together that many dangerous forbidden arts.
Forbidden arts in and of themselves are things that can’t be used by normal people, but if a skilled magician was in possession of a book of forbidden arts, and on top of that, put the forbidden art into practice, that would be quite a threat.

Because the number of people who can use the library are limited, it’s quiet.
I occasionally use this place as well. And I’ve occasionally intruded on the forbidden arts corner.
Once Royce-sama starts walking, the people in the corridor all give him way without exception. He’s like Moses, or maybe like those head doctors that I saw in the dramas in my old world.

“Camille, today we’re properly using the key, so don’t pick the lock, okay?”

“Royce-sama! Even I don’t just constantly, constantly, go around picking locks, you know?”

After descending the library’s spiral staircase, we head through the door to a room at the end of the very lowest floor.

Lined up inside this gloomy and dusty room are the shelves of the forbidden magic books.

“This is the first time I’ve seen it, but there sure are a lot of books aren’t there.”

“It seems that we will be breaking our backs to find the spell cast on Miss Claire, doesn’t it?”

Certainly, unlike when I was browsing through the magic books on a whim, searching for a certain magic is quite a bothersome job.

“Hm? This… The dust is wiped off strangely.”

On a dusty shelf, Royce-sama discovered the tracks of one place alone with dust wiped off.

“Truly. The trail of a finger or something has been left behind. Camille…?”

“Y-, You’re wrong! It wasn’t me! As if I would leave behind such an obvious trail!”

How rude. If I left behind that kind of trail when I looked at the forbidden magic books, wouldn’t someone start saying stuff like “There was an intruder guyyys~”?

“Meaning, that someone else broke in?”

“The possibility for that seems high, doesn’t it?”

Who was it anyway? For someone other than me to have broken in here and read the books.

“But really, it is because people keep breaking in here as they please that I think it would be better to change all the keys in the palace.”

What Achille said was completely right, so I took the chance to get onboard.

“I’m with Achille! The locks and defence in the castle is too lax!”

“…Camille the past offender is saying it, so that really is the truth, huh…”

It seems that my existence is playing the role of good proof.

“Aren’t the books around this finger trail suspicious? It does not seem to be the trail of a book being taken, after all.”

At Achille’s words, we all took a book from around the finger trail.

“It doesn’t seem to be the trail from a book being stolen, but… let’s have the librarian confirm it later.”

“Yes, I think it would be better to check the identities of the people who use the library as well. Well, if they ignored the formal processes and just intruded, it would be useless though, huh?”

They chat as their recognition of me as a criminal continues to strengthen in their minds. When it comes to this troublesome topic, it doesn’t seem like I’ll get a chance to speak. For now I’ll do what I can.
I obediently go through the magic took, and look for magic related to Miss Claire.
Magic to force the criminal to confess… nope. Magic to read the target’s mind… nope. Magic to enslave the target… nope, and how scary.
Still, these spells really aren’t anything decent.

After flipping through the pages for a while, I finally catch eye of a familiar symbol.

“Ah-… This is the one that was on Claire’s neck.”

The mysterious forbidden art that was written over the top of the magic for amplifying hatred. Let’s see…

“Forbidding them from speaking…?”

I continued reading the page.

“What the heck is this?”

What was written there was revolting enough to make you sick.

“Camille?”

“Did you find it?”

“…I found it.”

Mouth-sealing forbidden art. A magic to absolutely prevent inconvenient knowledge of the caster to be spoken.
The moment somebody under the influence of this spell attempts to speak even a single fact about the caster, they will immediately lose their life. This is the case even when they speak with good intention, as well as the case when it is not so.

“…It’s heartless huh?”

Peering in on the book, Achille frowns.

“Did Miss Claire speak anything of the incident?”

“Nah, she’s silent like she’s had her strings cut, so she hasn’t said a thing.”

Thank goodness, if she hasn’t said anything then she’s still alive.

“I’ve understood how to remove the spell on her.”

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<Supporting Character Introduction>
Déborah Jade
A viscount’s daughter (eldest) who has inherited her father’s light blue hair, and her mother’s red-tinged eyes.
A slightly plump build.
She’s a vain and pushy, stereotypical noble’s daughter, but possesses a sharp eye for observation.
She also has a side of her that is good at looking after her younger brother and sister. Her taste in fashion is a little bad.

Désirée Jade
A viscount’s (second) daughter who has inherited her father’s light blue hair, and her mother’s red-tinged eyes.
A slightly skinny build.
She also has a side of her that judges everything calmly. Her taste in fashion is a little bad.

The two sisters get along very well.
The two of them are distant with their mother and older brother.
Though they are attached to their father who takes other women as mistresses, they regard him coldly, however they treasure Achille who was born of a mistress.

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