Malicious blade

 
 The Second Prince, who came out from the pillar’s shadow swaying, stood before us in the way.
 
 ”Well, well, well, what do we have here. If it isn’t His Excellency the Commoner Count.”
 
 Alvin sneered mockingly at us.
 
 ”——— it has been a while. Your Highness the Second Prince.”
 
 My father bowed while remaining vigilant.
 Hubert-nii-sama and I followed suit in a fluster.
 
 Honestly, he’s one person I didn’t want to come across.
 
 But we can’t possibly neglect our manners as vassals.
 I don’t want to give them a chance to falsely accuse us.
 
 ”The Lord’s^[1] son and daughter were excellent, huh. I was amazed by their exploits in the court.”
 
 The idiot prince threw a muddy gaze at me.
 
 ”Those are excessive words for my unworthy children. Your Highness.”
 
 My father bowed his head once again, and the prince’s face contorted.
 
 ”Truly, excellent. ——— fabricating false evidence, and then framing an innocent person for a crime. As befitting a parvenu^[2], it was quite sly. Thanks to you, my uncle has been sentenced to death, and Mother has been imprisoned. My supporters have all been arrested.With this, the Oswell Dukedom, the Royalist Faction, myself, we’re all done for!!”
 
 The prince shouted so with an absurd expression.
 
 His prided blonde hair, and his supposedly good looks, were already mere shadows of their former selves.
 
 
 
 ”The Lord must surely be pleased. Since the legitimate bloodline has ended, and your guys’ Senate Faction, those fake nobles, are replacing us!”
 
 The prince shouted indignantly.
 
 And my father, who’d been silent up till then, knit his eyebrows together, and opened his mouth to speak.
 
 ”Your Highness. Us Ainsworths have since old times maintained a politically neutral position, and this stance hasn’t, and will never, change. Our House serves the Heielland royal family, and the country itself. We hold no political intentions against the royal authority, to say nothing of fabricating truths and such.”
 
 A very decent claim indeed.
 But the prince didn’t take it that way.
 
 ”Shut up! If that’s true, then why did they go so far as to imprison Mother?! Mother had nothing to do with this. If you 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜 had no intention of eliminating the Oswell Dukedom, then she shouldn’t have been imprisoned!!”
 
 ”Regarding Her Highness the Queen’s imprisonment, I too am only hearing about it now from Your Highness. ——— although, I heard from His Majesty himself that, on the day of the incident, Her Highness the Queen was accompanied by Your Highness Alvin, and attended a tea party outside.”
 
 ””Huh?!””
 
 My father’s words were surprising, for both myself and Hubert-nii-sama.
 It was the first time we’d heard of that.
 
 The prince as well, he seemed to be surprised by what my father said.
 
 ”A, a tea party?!”
 
 ”Yes. On the day of the incident, His Highness, along with Her Highness the Queen, attended a tea party held at the Harnish Marquis’s mansion. ——— His Majesty seemed to be suspicious of the fact that the tea party was [decided upon by Her Highness the Queen, suddenly the day before the incident].”
 
 ”-?!”
 
 Alvin hesitated.
 
 Somehow, it seems he has some idea of what my father’s talking about.
 
 
 
 Towards the end of the corridor, people had begun gathering.
 
 Somehow, it seems they heard ALvin’s loud voice a little while ago, and came to see what was happening.
 They were glancing and peeping this way.
 
 Seeing this, father sighed, and took a breath.
 
 ”At any rate, myself, and my children too, hold no malice against Your Highness. ——— well then, we’ll be taking our leave.”
 
 My father bowed, and started walking.
 Hubert-nii-sama and I bowed in a fluster, and followed after him.
 
 We passed by the prince, who had his eyes cast downward.
 
 That face, which was probably haggard, was hidden by the shadows.
 
 ——— it was then.
 
 ”…… weren’t here.”
 
 From behind us, I could hear an eerie monologue.
 
 ”If only you guys weren’t hereeeee!!!”
 
 Shing, the ominous sound of something metallic rang out.
 
 I turned around.
 
 ”Huh?!”
 
 Standing there, glaring at me with eyes filled with loathing, the Second Prince had unsheathed his magic sword clad in red light.
 
 
 
 The prince howled.
 
 ”Diee!! You, parvenu dogssss^[3]!!!!”
 
 Alvin slashed with an enraged look.
 
 My body stiffened in fear.
 
 ””Letty!!””
 
 From behind, oof, both my shoulders jerked back.
 
 ——— but it wouldn’t be in time!!
 
 The malicious blade swung down at me, trailing its red light.
 
 That moment, my shoulder bag opened all of a sudden, and two silhouettes flew out.
 
 
 
 ””[Auto Defense]!!””
 
 Coco and Mel’s hands glowed with rainbow lights.
 
 In the next moment, the red and rainbow lights collided——— emitting a dazzling light.
 
  “-!!”
 
 Within a hair’s breadth.
 The blade had stopped, right before my eyes.
 
 ”Tsk…! The 𝚏𝚞𝚌𝚔’s this???!”
 
 Trying to take the sword back, Alvin pushed and pulled.
 
 But, the sword didn’t move in the slightest.
 
 Of course not.
 
 Since the defensive film that Coco and Mel deployed with my magic power was firmly gripping the sword.
 
 ”𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚝! Move! Move!!”
 
 His face turned red, as Alvin pushed and pulled the sword.
 
 But, naturally, the sword did not move.
 
 ”𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚝! 𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚝!! Shiiiit!!!”
 
 He already had teary eyes.
 
 Since it makes me appear like an evil demon, I couldn’t possibly look any more unsightly than this.^[4]
 
 To shake off the sudden fear and anger, I glared at the idiot prince in front of me.
 
 ”Now, it’s my turn.”
 
 I manipulate my magic power, and warp the defensive film.
 
 Crack
 
 ”Huh?”
 
 The idiot prince’s eyes widened.
 
 I warped the defensive film further.
 
 Crack crack
 
 ”Heee?!”
 
 The cracks that opened up in the sword kept widening.
 
 Crack crack crack crack
 
 ”G-, Grandfather’s magic sword!!!?”
 
 ——— I know.
 
 I twisted and turned the defensive film in one go.
 
 Crassshh!!!!
 
 ”Uwaaaaaahhhh!!?”
 
 The trash fell on his 𝚊𝚜𝚜, his face twitching in fear, as the magic sword snapped in half right before his eyes.
 
 I looked down on that idiot prince, and told him straight,
 
 ”I don’t care how much of an idiot or piece of trash you are. But if you lay a hand on my family…”
 
 I controlled the defensive film, and brought the snapped magic sword before the idiot’s eyes.
 
 And then,
 
 Crash! Crash crash crash!!!
 
 I crushed the idiot’s sword to pieces.
 

TL Notes:

[1]Alvin is talking to, and about, the father here. ↩

[2]woohoo! Instead of using upstart, I’ve found this new fancy word that basically means the exact same thing but fits the context so much more. ↩

[3]hehe, ironic that the author said he howled this ↩

[4]MTL says “… it’s not a good look for me” which makes sense in context, but no matter how I juggle the words, this translation is more accurate to the JP raws. ↩

 

The title actually translates as “assassin’s dagger” but that really doesn’t make much sense, so I twisted it based on the individual kanji.
 
Also, this chapter reminded me of an explanation of what the “tragedy” genre is meant to be like. “The right person in the wrong place”, it’s a genre where, had the character only been placed in a role more suitable, they would have been fine or even thrived. And Alvin here sounds like he’d actually make for a rather likeable foot soldier or common knight. Though he lets his emotions rule his logic, he’s loyal to those who treat him well, till the end. What a shame.