Fish Don't Know About Water - Chapter 17

“And one more thing! How is it my fault that things turned out this way?”

“If you had acted more cautiously, His Highness and the Little Lady would never have crossed paths.”

“Hmph. If it’s my fault that Phenelity was standing in front of the bakery that day, is it also my fault that the Crown Prince tried to assault her at night?”

Hinler silently glared at the arrogant marquis’s daughter.

After founding the secret organization Aisad, he had nurtured many outstanding agents along with the organization’s executives. Among them were numerous young nobles and ladies from prestigious families.

Cecilia Rosti, the marquis’s daughter, was one of the most skilled. Her assassination and espionage abilities were exceptional, and her loyalty to the organization was strong.

Because of her loyalty, he had assigned her the role of Viett’s fiancée, and because of that same loyalty, he had ordered the breakup. He wanted Viett’s future wife to be a virtuous woman who prioritized her husband over the organization.

“As always, you talk a good game.”

Hinler looked at Cecilia lighting a new cigarette with disdain.

“You said you were an academy classmate of the Little Lady?”

“We shared a dorm room until graduation. Though we had different majors, we always took common classes together.”

“So you shared a room in Costonia as well?”

“What else could I do? No one else wanted to share a room with her. I had to be her roommate.”

Cecilia shrugged lightly and leaned back comfortably against the backrest.

“Honestly, it was fun appearing in the novel as ‘the protagonist’s spirited and kind friend.’ You know I used to be quite a popular supporting character, right?”

Seeing her enjoy being a character in the novel was astonishing. He wondered if the mask of ‘a frivolous young lady who loves fame’ was actually her true self.

“It’s fortunate that there’s an agent who knows the Little Lady inside out. Organize all the information about her into a document and submit it.”

“I already did.”

Cecilia pulled out a file from her pink handbag and waved it.

“I prepared it as soon as the scandal broke out. I’m still useful, right?”

Minister Hinler snapped his fingers lightly. The file flew from Cecilia’s hand and landed on his desk. Cecilia clicked her tongue in annoyance as she watched the file being taken away.

“Can’t you give me a compliment?”

“Well done.”

Hinler replied curtly and opened the file. As he quickly flipped through the papers containing basic personal information, a photo clipped to the pages caught his eye.

Hinler paused as he looked at the photo. It was a picture of a male student in an academy uniform with Phenelity Cochrun.

The male student had a gentle expression, and the Little Lady was smiling shyly. They were sitting side by side on a bench, having a conversation, but the innocent emotions between the young boy and girl were evident even in the photo.

“Who is this male student?”

He pointed to the male student smiling brightly in the photo. Cecilia craned her neck to look at the picture.

“Hilias Law. He’s from an immigrant family in Costonia but lost his parents early. He entered the Royal Academy with the support of the medical council, became the dormitory leader, and was highly respected for his excellent grades.”

Detailed information flowed from her plump lips along with the cigarette smoke.

“He was the most popular among the upperclassmen because he was handsome and athletic. Phenelity probably had a crush on Senior Law for a while. He majored in magical healing at the academy and completed additional general medical courses at the Royal Medical School after graduation. He was then hired as the Cochrun family’s personal physician.”

“Is he still working as the family’s physician?”

“Yes.”

Cecilia nodded lightly.

Hinler flipped through the file to check Hilias Law’s personal information. Despite being an outstanding talent, he was also a man who aroused suspicion. Hinler stared at Hilias Law’s ID photo and muttered.

“A personal physician… Quite an unambitious man for a genius who graduated at the top of the Royal Medical School.”

“It was quite the scandal in the social circles at the time. A young doctor with a guaranteed path to success volunteered for a mere position as a personal physician. Many suspected a relationship between him and the Little Lady.”

Hinler’s expression hardened, prompting Cecilia to quickly add.

“Of course, it was all baseless speculation. As you can see from reading ‘Pepe,’ Phenelity and Senior Law were not in a romantic relationship.”

“Does the Little Lady still seem to have feelings for this physician?”

“I’m not sure…”

She trailed off, looking a bit embarrassed.

“I tried to ask her about Senior Law several times while sharing a room in Costonia, but that chatterbox never gave me a chance. After the so-called ‘one-week hiatus incident,’ she became a scatterbrained tomboy.”

“She became one, meaning she wasn’t always like that?”

“Yes. Before the hiatus, she was a quiet and timid young lady. It was clear she had been living under the strict and frightening Count Cochrun, completely subdued at home.”

Cecilia shrugged lightly. Though she explained it nonchalantly, her slightly crumpled expression hinted at some pity for Phenelity Cochrun.

“A one-week hiatus…”

Hinler flipped through a few more pages. Clipped inside the file were scrap pieces of newspaper. They were pages containing the serialization of the novel <Pepe>. However, the serialization section was blank, and there were seven pages in total.

“These are the newspaper serialization pages from when ‘Pepe’ was on hiatus.”

Cecilia, who had approached the desk, pointed to the dates marked on the newspaper pages.

“As you can see, the novel wasn’t published for a week starting from Phenelity’s nineteenth birthday.”

“Did you find out the reason for the hiatus?”

Hinler rubbed his wrinkled forehead irritably as he asked.

“You shouldn’t ask me that.”

Cecilia pouted as she perched on the edge of the desk.

“Supervision of the Little Lord system is the responsibility of the Ministry of Magic. Didn’t you personally order the hiatus?”

“If that had been possible, would this mess have happened today?”

Hinler retorted curtly as he flipped through the newspaper pages.

“Although it’s wrapped in the plausible term of being under the Ministry of Magic’s jurisdiction, it’s actually a system where my opinions are not reflected at all. I couldn’t even voice my thoughts during the process of selecting the Little Lord in the first place.”

“Really? I thought you personally chose Phenelity as the Little Lady, Minister.”

“As far as I know, the magic typewriter randomly selects Little Lord candidates.”

Of course, there are conditions. Superior lineage of the parents and outstanding appearance.

I don’t know why the latter is important, but there have been quite a few good-looking fools among the past Little Lords. Most readers seem to consider beautiful appearance as a virtue a Little Lord should possess.

“The typewriter that writes the novel moves on its own thanks to a spell cast by the first Minister of Magic during his lifetime. That device doesn’t allow a single lie in the novel. However, there are a few rules.”

“I know that much.”

Cecilia’s expression turned slightly haughty. She continued, counting on her fingers.

“No overly explicit acts, no depictions of cruel acts that pose a high risk of imitation. Right? ‘Pepe’ is a novel enjoyed by children in Westenia.”

“Include state secrets as well.”

Hinler added in a harsh tone.

“And it’s not just about omitting descriptions. Any day that includes these three acts is completely deleted from the novel, leaving only blank pages in the serialization section.”

He flipped through the clipped newspaper novel pages. All seven pages only had the subtitle ‘On the 69XXth day since birth’ in the serialization section.

“The problem is that none of these three categories apply to Phenelity Cochrun.”

Cecilia crossed her arms with a dissatisfied look.

“Explicit, cruel, state secrets. None of these were related to Phenelity at that time.”

“She might have been enjoying a secret affair with her lover for a week.”

Hinler chuckled. Cecilia’s eyes widened.

“A secret affair?”

“In fact, among the past Little Lords, there was one who induced a hiatus by spending every night with a courtesan. Though the flaw was that he died of overindulgence.”

“I’ve never heard such a story.”

“It’s about the fourth Little Lord. It’s such an ancient story that a greenhorn like you wouldn’t know.”

Hinler shook his head as he looked at her wide-eyed expression.

“As I mentioned earlier, it was deemed ‘overly explicit,’ so the story of the fourth Little Lord’s death… that is, the final episode of the novel, was not published in the newspaper.”