The targeted third prince

 
 
 ☆
 
 
 “… targeted from the very beginning? Me?!”
 
 Theo looked back at me with a shocked expression.
 I nodded, then spoke to him.
 
 “Why did the pirates kill everyone but you?”
 
 “That’s… because they could take me hostage and demand a ransom, but not for the other sailors?”
 
 When Theo replied while thinking on it, I shook my head side to side.
 
 “If that were the reason, there are two points that are strange.”
 
 “Two?”
 
 “Yes.”
 
 I nodded, and Theo bent forward, curious.
 
 “And what are they?”
 
 I took a sip of tea, and put the cup back.
 
 
 
 “The first is the ransom. ——— During this case, did the pirates make any demands for a ransom?”
 
 When I asked, Theo thought about it for a moment.
 Eventually, he murmured a reply.
 
 “… they didn’t. I haven’t heard anything like that from my Father or Mother.”
 
 “Figured. That’s why, the difference between you and those killed wasn’t that.”
 
 “Hmm… by the way, what’s the 『second strange point』?”
 
 “Why didn’t the pirates just sell the other sailors as slaves instead of killing them on the spot?”
 
 “——— oh yeah!”
 
 Theo clapped his hands together.
 
 “I heard this from others, but the Empire and the southern continent have quite a large slave market, don’t they? Your company’s sailors would’ve had some great skills, and with four-ships’ worth of sailors, that surely would’ve been a huge sum of money.”
 
 “Yeah… No, well, that’s certainly true. ——— You really do know a lot, huh.”
 
 Rather than being surprised, Theo was looking at me with an expression as though pulling away.
 
 “E-, education. It’s from my education. These days even women know various things!”
 
 With a single 『Huh』, he looked at me explaining in a fluster with a lukewarm gaze, then eventually burst out laughing.
 
 “Well, we’re already at this point. Becoming a Count at that age, I already know that Letty is non-standard in various ways.”
 
 “Geez. You’re saying it like I’m a monster…”
 
 Puffing up my cheeks, Theo said 『Sorry, sorry』 with a wry smile.
 
 
 
 “But if that’s true, then why did they attack me? Certainly, we were fully loaded with products from the western continent, but surely none of it was of such high rarity…”
 
 Placing his hand against his chin while pondering, I then said this to him.
 
 “So that’s why. The pirates’ aim 『wasn’t money』. ——— Thinking of it this way, that’s also why they didn’t demand a ransom from your Family.”
 
 “-…!”
 
 “So, why did they use no less than five ships to attack you? What could their purpose have been?”
 
 At my words, Theo gulped.
 
 “——— in other words, their aim was to kidnap me and implant 『this thing』 in me, is what you’re saying?”
 
 When he asked that, I nodded.
 
 “The enemy’s aim was to implant the spider in you, holding you hostage for a long time. Using your life as a shield, they were trying to threaten your Family. ——— They were definitely not ordinary pirates. They could be backed by a considerably large company… or perhaps, they might have been another country’s navy dressed up as pirates.”
 
 
 
 With a bang, the cups on the table jumped up and clattered.
 
 Theo had slammed his fists against the table.
 Though it looks like he held back, since fortunately, the cups didn’t fall over.
 
 “𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚝… So that’s why!”
 
 “?”
 
 I tilted my head, and Theo, though lighter than before, hit the table again.
 
 “… there was a letter.”
 
 “A threatening letter?”
 
 When I asked that, he shook his head side to side.
 
 “I don’t know the contents. The letter was put in my pocket when I fainted on the beach, and Father retrieved it while I was unconscious. ——— I only heard from my father that 『the spider would explode if you tried removing it』. I said I’d like to see it because it concerned me, but he simply refused, saying 『you don’t need to worry about it』.”
 
 “… there must have been something written in there. Something that would’ve made you feel responsible had you known.”
 
 “Tsk… that 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚢 Father.”
 
 Theo’s fists shook in frustration.
 
 Though he’s saying things like he resents his father, in truth he’s probably feeling abgry and disappointed in his own uselessness.
 
 I understand that feeling.
 Because I too have had experiences like that.
 
 On the other hand, hearing his story, I myself couldn’t remain calm either.
 
 The person who created this spider.
 
 And then, because of those who did this to Theo, I also ended up losing my life.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 I saw what was inside this venomous spider.
 
 Of course, I’m not talking about in this life.
 I’m talking about before the rewind.
 
 That time, I failed when removing the spider, and Theo was left with a serious residual impairment.
 
 He lost nearly all of his eyesight, and couldn’t walk without a cane.
 
 Even so, the 16-year-old Theobald laughed, saying 『I’m glad you examined me』.
 
 Cursing my own inexperience, I immediately dismantled the suspended spider into pieces, as if taking out that wretched anger on it.
 
 ——— at the very least, I thought I’d try to unravel the mechanism which tormented Theo so with my own hands.
 
 But the results were disastrous.
 
 Each circuit was burnt and melted by the trap, and the Mistreel was scattered about the inside.
 I could figure out where the thickest magic path was drawn, let alone read the circuits.
 
 Even so, there was just one thing.
 Something that still held its original shape, and caught my attention.
 
 That was the magic stone.
 
 At a glance, it looked like an ordinary mid-sized magic stone circulating in our country and surrounding countries.
 
 But, when I actually held it in my hand, something was different.
 My hands, which had touched magic stones some hundreds or thousands of times, by intuition, told me so.
 
 And then, I noticed it when I lined it up with other normal mid-sized magic stones.
 With nearly the same shape and size, the shape and size differed slightly.
 
 I had no clue as to what that meant at the time.
 
 However, that’s different now.
 
 Having the memories of two people^[1], and experiencing 『that incident』 as Leticia twice and helping to solve it, I understood what that something was.
 
 There’s no doubt about it.
 
 The magic stone used by the spider on Theo’s chest, and the magic stone used by the 『box』 and magic communications device that summoned the wyverns ——— they were the same.