What Happens When the Second Male Lead Powers Up - Chapter 187: Not Baker Street just a Bakery (3)

– Clack, clack……

Five horses left the Imperial Palace with their masters on their backs.

The large black door went ‘Thunk!’ It closed behind us.

I turned my head to see knights standing at attention saluting us.

I slightly bowed my head and then focused forward. ‘Act naturally!’

“Like I came out to play.”

I mumbled to myself. I could feel the Imperial Crown Prince looking at me.

I thought that I grew from a regular homebody to a magnificent palace body, but going out in a new world was always exciting.

I was a bit nervous as well, as I was revealing my full body, unlike being in a carriage as usual.

I could smell the gentle aroma of winter in the clear and cold air.

“Oh, my goodness!”

“My goodness! Your loyal subject greets our esteemed Royal Highness.”

“We greet Prince Jesse Venetiaan.”

Some of the nobles who saw the door to the Imperial Palace open bowed to us on the streets.

Crown prince Cédric didn’t even pretend to look at them.

It must be rare for him to go inspect the Imperial Capital with his friends as the first people to see us reacted quite excessively.

People who noticed the halo of our male lead from a distance were quickly approaching as well.

The ladies all had flushed cheeks.

The most handsome man in this world truly seemed to be different.

“Prince Jesse!”

“Hello.”

I greeted them and the bowing ladies folded up their fur fans and rubbed their cheeks.

The way they avoided my gaze did not seem very positive.

I felt embarrassed and awkward so I just smiled.

I still did not know fan etiquette yet and wondered if that was something I should learn as well.

“Too slow.”

The crown prince let out a short grumble. I looked at him and let out a fake cough.

‘I was just thankful that such beautiful ladies were talking to me, you little punk.’

I was having a staring contest with him despite knowing I would lose when the white horse started moving faster.

‘This girl is very smart.’

“Your highness, we are heading to the tavern I was at last time first, right? To meet that Baroness?”

Christelle clearly asked from the back. I immediately nodded my head.

“Yes, Dame Sarnez. You heard the Baroness complaining there, and the Baroness is supposedly a regular at that place so I think it would be great to hear directly from a victim.”

I responded.

Christelle mentioned meeting Modeste Bacary of the Fleur-de-lis in a tavern not too long ago.

She even wrote me a letter saying that he lost his memories about the prophecy.

The thing she added on during our strategy meeting was information that was useful to this incident.

‘I was there with my mother. I heard a Baroness talking about it at the table next to us. He said that the storage rooms of the Lord’s Castle were looted so he needed to make up for it during the Harvest Festival.’

‘It might have been Madame Victoire.’

‘Yes, your highness. The person who was with him asked if it was the work of ‘that thief.’ I do not go to that tavern very often, but I see him every time I go so he must be a regular.’

That was why we were first heading toward the fancy tavern, Blois, that Christelle visited every so often.

The names of the nobles who were harmed by Victoire were already given to us in the Imperial Guard’s reports.

However, most of them did not give very sincere statements and refused to interview with the < Biweekly Riester >.

The first victim, Baroness Savanier, and Marquis Cissé, the one who had the holy artifacts stolen, were the exceptions.

I was wondering why these nobles were so passive about it, but I learned it was because of face.

They did not want others to know that a thief stole their wealth.

They did not want to mention it because of shame and humiliation.

“He should talk if he’s been drinking. His voice was quite loud at that time too.”

“Yes, Dame Sarnez. His Royal Highness is with us as well so he probably wouldn’t dare to keep his mouth shut.”

Vice Captain Élisabeth, who was in the front opening up a path, answered.

The crown prince and I were behind her with Sir Johann and Christelle in charge of the rear.

The young Countess was holding the reins with one hand as she turned to look at me.

“Your highness, you wanted to go to the commoners area after that?”

“Yes, Vice Captain Élisabeth. Henriette will only appear once I show that I am easy to approach.”

“Do you really think that Henriette is the culprit, your highness?”

Sir Johann asked in a quiet voice. We both looked toward him.

The nobles were following us with a bit of a distance behind Gerrit’s father.

There seemed to be at least one hundred people already.

I could see commoners all around the city bowing down while sneaking looks at us.

‘This is totally, what did they call it? Guerilla Date was it?’

“I’m not certain either. However, she is the only one who seems like she might be the culprit.”

I commented. His mint-colored eyes gently curled up as if he was cheering me on.

Christelle puffed on her pipe as she added on.

For reference, this was not a real pipe but a candy pipe.

The blue smoke that puffed out was supposedly blueberry flavored.

“I agree. The only people who heard that you might go to the Harvest Festival were Serge the Clever and old lady Pomme, but Serge and Victoire are very different in physique. He also does not specialize in vocal mimicry. Since old lady Pomme has passed away, her granddaughter Henriette seems to be the most suspicious.”

Furthermore, all of these were things I confirmed as the truth through a confession.

The fact that the granddaughter left the troupe and seemed to have disappeared was suspicious as well.

“The fact that Henriette is a woman in her late twenties is also an important clue. The Victoire that his highness described seemed to be in her twenties to her thirties as well.”

Vice Captain Élisabeth added on.

Clack, clack. Peaceful clacking of hooves were the only sounds for a while.

It was a nice and relaxing silence. I turned back toward Sir Johann again when…

“Holy Almighty God. I wish I could caress that snow white hair just once!”

“Sir Geens, didn’t you say that your son needs a new mother?”

……An extremely active fandom seemed to have appeared.

Ladies wearing beautiful dresses and attires were flirting hard with Sir Johann and asking for his attention.

I could even see some older ladies as well.

I quickly turned my head, worried that I might make eye contact with them.

I heard the Holy Knight’s gentle voice.

“It is not my style to approach unfamiliar people. Thank you for your concern, madam, but Gerrit seems quite happy these days.”

“Oh my, are you playing hard to get? You are such a bundle of charm.”

‘Wow, he’s able to respond to them? I would not be able to say anything.’

Christelle watched and started whistling. Sir Johann did not seem fazed at all.

“Finding you in the crowd despite you being disguised.”

The crown prince suddenly spoke.

I turned to the side to see his orange eyes as close as the winter sun.

I tilted my ears to his side out of reflex. The two horses got closer to each other.

“The thief probably remembered the appearance of your attendant. Young master Callamard would not be hard to spot.”

“Do you really think that was the reason, your Royal Highness?”

I seriously nodded his head at my whisper. ‘We agree for once.’

The reason that the thief was able to aim for me despite having disguised myself with black hair and blue-gray eyes…… The only possible answer seemed to be that she recognized Benjamin and Ganael.

Young master Ganael Callamard’s bright sky-colored hair and gold eyes were quite rare.

Once she spotted the young boy, it would not be hard to find me as I was always by his side.

Despite the colors being different, my ears, eyes, mouth, and nose were the same. Anybody who knew what I looked like would be able to easily spot me.

“It must be someone who knows the faces of the attendants of Juliette Palace as well as got information from Serge or old lady Pomme. Serge proclaimed that he did not share the details of my travel with anybody, so it narrows down to Henriette once again. There is no way that a staff member of the Imperial Palace or their associates are the culprit.”

The crown prince sent a gaze of agreement.

Vice Captain Élisabeth heard our whisper and quietly chimed in.

“We will soon receive information from the Bellang Baronessy.”

“Yes, Vice Captain Élisabeth. Thank you for taking care of that.”

I answered.

Not long after I transmigrated into this world, my life was threatened by assassins who disguised themselves as attendants.

The Bellang twins who were murdered by those two assassins, their territory was Henriette’s hometown.

We decided not to have any major military movement so the Vice Captain of the Imperial Guard only sent a few subordinates to the Baronessy.

If they found someone named Henriette, they were to immediately arrest and transport her to the Imperial Capital. If they did not find her, they were to gather any and all relevant information.

“Mm.”

I quietly fell deep into thought.

Now that I thought about it, Baroness Bellang and his wife had been the ones to auction off Julite’s headdress at the Haas auction house as well.

I felt as if our relationship was oddly continuing for different reasons.

I had been frequently donating money to them after hearing that they used the money I sent them for funeral expenses to build an orphanage, but……

I couldn’t help but hesitate when thinking about going to see them.

‘I feel like the two of them would find it even more difficult if they were to see me.’

“We are here. I can see the sign of the tavern over there!”

Christelle raised her voice. I jerked my head up.

I could see a pretty luxurious and clean building.

In front of it was a wide wooden sign sculpted with flair.

‘Blois – Drunken Chatter’

“……It does not seem to be a place with much constructive discussions.”

“Indeed.”

I shared a short remark and the crown prince agreed.

Christelle and Vice Captain Élisabeth started laughing with excitement.

Even Sir Johann chuckled.

Our main character even said that I seemed like an extremely devout Archbishop at the moment . She seemed quite happy as she said that.

The people following us seemed awestruck by Christelle’s bright smile despite not knowing what she was laughing about.

‘Did I seem too much like a boomer?’

“Hahaha, then shall we go in?”

The young Countess barely managed to calm herself as she spoke.

Nobles rushing out of Blois spotted us and jumped in shock before quickly bowing.

I then noticed that the carriages in front of the tavern were quickly leaving the area. ‘Did something happen?

‘……Well, it’s good for us since it gives us a lot of places to rest our horses.’

*

“Over here please. Thank you for working so hard in the cold.”

“T, thank you for your divine benevolence, your highness! Please leave it to us!”

A young errand boy bowed deeply.

They were going to take care of our horses and even promised the highest-grade fodder, so I handed over a large sum as a tip for everybody’s valet parking.

Percy pulled a silver coin out with his beak while in my clothes and the crown prince sent a gaze that seemed to be saying that he had never seen this sort of currency before.

Honestly speaking, he seemed a bit spoiled and annoying.

– Click, screech……

The eldest looking young boy carefully opened the door.

There were loud chatters and music playing inside.

“W, welcome to Blois, your Royal Highness. Please enjoy your stay.”

– Bang! Boom!

There were sounds of a table falling and chairs breaking inside.

The crown prince and the Vice Captain of the Imperial Guard immediately grabbed their swords as soon as I flinched.

The errand boy looked extremely anxious but the pushed door was extending out with no signs of stopping.

What we then saw in front of our eyes……

“Hey! Get back here now!”

Clang! A middle-aged noble jumped on a table and shouted.

The noble she pointed at squinted at her.

“What? Hey? Hey you, Lord Baroness! Did you sell off all your dignity as a noble? Let go of me!”

– Clang!

The enraged man used psychokinesis to throw a bottle at the wall. He was a mage.

The wallpaper that ended up as the target was drenched with alcohol. The clothes and hair of the two individuals were quite messed up.

Ripped cravat, fallen cufflinks, all sorts of brooches and a hat were rolling around the floor.

There were quite a lot of people fighting one another. ‘Wait, this…

‘How is this a Drunken Chatter? Is this for real?’

“Over there, please stop them! Please stop this person first!”

The person pointed at another individual who angrily shouted, “Who are you to give me orders?! I’m someone who has received a medal from her Majesty!”

It was still early in the evening but they all seemed too drunk to think straight.

The spilled alcohol and empty alcohol bottles made everything smell like alcohol in here.

This was neither a drinking party nor a fighting ring.

It was just a giant shitshow.

– Step.

“No, please hold back. No matter how stupid they are acting, you cannot kill people, your Royal Highness.”

“……”

I barely managed to stop the crown prince from stepping in. His eyes were burning with rage.

The errand boys were already bowing at his feet while shaking in fear.

Christelle mumbled about what a mess this was before clicking her tongue and her whip at the same time.

I agreed with her.

Seeing this pandemonium in front of me made me almost forget my reason for coming here.

It was at that moment.

“Your highness, that person unconscious on the ground seems to be Captain Modeste Bacary.”

Sir Johann spoke in his usual tone. I urgently looked toward where he was pointing.

My eyes then opened wide.

Bloodied dark blue hair and eyebrows, dripping double bloody nose…

The inside of his mouth must have been busted as well as there was lots of blood in between the twenty year old kid’s lips.

He seemed to be in the worst condition of everybody in there, but nobody was looking after him or helping him up.

My jaws automatically dropped at the shocking sight. My instincts were telling me.

‘……The fight broke out because of him. But he’s on his own.’

I clenched my fists. I instantly got upset and angry.

[Everybody stop! Shut up and get down!]

– Paaaaat!

I shouted loudly.

The entire room filled with a bright golden light.

—

Translator’s Comments

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