I Don’t Need Them Anymore — Abandoning the Family That Never Loved Me, I Find Happiness in a Neighboring Kingdom - Chapter 14

According to Lady Edith, who took over from my brother’s account, the pirates confessed they’d been asked by someone to give false testimony about attacking my sister. They were told the knights would capture them and announce their execution to the public, but secretly instruct them to escape.

The reason they confessed so readily was probably because they didn’t want to make an enemy of the Rofeus Kingdom.

For Father and the others, it should have been a problem solvable with money, but with the Rofeus Kingdom involved, their plans fell apart.

“Don’t believe what pirates say!” Father shouted.

Lady Edith deliberately tilted her head. “With that logic, wouldn’t that mean we shouldn’t believe their confession about attacking Lady Ramula either?”

“That’s… that’s not what I meant…”

“Since we’re currently cooperating with the Yusers Kingdom, I’ve asked Prince Rix to handle the procedures to transfer investigative authority to the Rofeus Kingdom.”

“Wh-what!?”

My brother answered Father’s protest. “Since we’re dealing with pirates, I think it’s better to ask the Rofeus Kingdom for help. To catch the criminals who did such terrible things to our sister, we should use every available resource. Don’t you agree?”

“That may be true, but…”

Father made a frustrated face and glared silently at my brother.

My brother and Lady Edith seem like such a well-coordinated team. Watching them, I felt very reassured.

“Once investigative authority is transferred to us, we’ll contact you immediately when we identify the perpetrators. Also, I think it would be better to replace Lady Ramula’s attendants and maids.”

“Attendants and maids?”

When Father asked back, Lady Edith lowered the corners of her eyebrows. “When their master is attacked, ordinary attendants would try to protect their master even at the cost of their own safety. While it’s good that the attendants suffered no harm, it’s questionable that they didn’t call for help.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

This time my sister asked Lady Edith. She looked anxious, probably because she didn’t want her trusted attendants and maids replaced by strangers.

“If they said they were too scared and ran away, that would be understandable. But not calling for help is strange, don’t you think?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. We haven’t heard any testimony from them about being captured themselves, and not going to call for help is indeed strange.”

My brother nodded at Lady Edith’s words and turned his gaze toward my sister’s attendants. They had turned pale and were opening and closing their mouths as if trying to say something.

They must be torn between telling the truth or waiting for Father to rescue them. Even if they want to speak the truth, they can’t say anything with Father right there.

My sister’s guards, being supposedly severely injured by the pirates and recuperating, hadn’t come to the castle. That’s probably why Lady Edith didn’t mention them.

“Regarding the attendants matter, since it’s not something for foreigners to interfere with, I’ll leave it to Prince Rix.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh right. Dahlia, you had something you wanted to tell Prince Rix, didn’t you?”

“Y-yes! Um, there’s something I’d like to ask of you, Brother!”

As I approached my brother, Father shouted.

“Dahlia! Don’t say anything unnecessary! You know what will happen if you do!”

“…”

He’s right. This isn’t something I should discuss in front of Father. When I fell silent, Lady Edith gently patted my back.

“I see. My apologies for lacking consideration.”

Lady Edith seemed to have guessed what I wanted to tell my brother. After whispering in my ear, she spoke to my brother.

“Speaking of which, Prince Rix, there’s something I’d like to ask of you.”

“What would that be?”

“About Nana, whom you’ve been keeping – since she apparently served as Dahlia’s maid, I’d like to take her back to the Rofeus Kingdom on this occasion.”

“That’s fine with me.”

“H-hey, Rix!”

Father looked panicked as my brother watched him with a puzzled expression.

“I believe you entrusted Nana’s disposition to me, Father. Is there some problem?”

“N-no, well, I did entrust it to you, but making decisions arbitrarily…”

“Since you entrusted it to me, I’m making decisions based on my judgment?”

“Rix! You!”

Realizing he was clearly being made a fool of, Father’s face turned bright red with anger as he glared at my brother.

Then Lady Edith turned to face Father.

“Then let me ask Your Majesty instead. I’ll take Nana back with me. There’s no problem, is there?”

“Eh? Ah… well, originally she was forced upon us from your side anyway.”

“Thank you. Also, regarding the maids and guards who served Dahlia…”

“I won’t allow it! I absolutely won’t! They’re citizens of the Yusers Kingdom!”

“I’m aware of that.”

Lady Edith nodded with a composed smile at Father’s agitation.

“Since they treated Dahlia well, I’d like to give them a reward from me. Could you tell them not to resign until then? If they absolutely must, please contact me first.”

Hearing Lady Edith’s words, the maids who had been kind to me looked both honored and confused, while my sister’s maids looked envious.

“Why do we have to go through such troublesome procedures!”

Father, realizing he could no longer use the maids as hostages, refused, but my brother raised his hand.

“Since Father objects, I’ll serve as the contact person.”

“Much appreciated.”

“Don’t act so presumptuously! This is completely disagreeable!”

Father, finding the situation disadvantageous, shouted those words and left, leaving my sister and mother behind.