Mattheus was glad he had Vincent sit with the driver during the carriage ride to the palace when Brunilda pointed out his connection to the royals might not be the Crowned Prince at all but rather the Princess. He had ended up flailing at the implications of being a potential suitor to a sixteen-year-old girl before the cat showed him mercy.
"It's a joke." Brunilda ended his misery. "Mostly."
'Not a funny joke.'
The idea of not only having been a traitor to the country but also the future Prince Consort made Mattheus nauseous. Just the potential damage of having someone betraying the country being part of the royal family of said country?
What an awful thought.
Mattheus shook his head, hoping to toss the ominous potential of the idea aside. Instead, he looked at Brunilda, wondering if she could access her skills and what they'd be like now that she was a cat. He vaguely recalled her mentioning something about manually triggering them?
Verdant green eyes stared back.
A feminine huff was transmitted. "You know, I can't actually read your mind like that, right?"
Mattheus clicked his tongue. He glanced toward the front of the closed carriage, where the driver and valet would be.
Not wanting to chance being overheard, especially since Vincent had caught him in off moments that might have made the valet sensitive to Mattheus's actions, his eyes darted around as he tried to figure out a way to convey what he wanted to ask.
After a moment, pale eyes lit up and he brought up Brunilda's Inventory. The woman used to keep a journal where she recorded and studied the abilities granted to her from the System. It had been sensitive information she didn't want to share, which was why it was written down on paper and kept safe in her Inventory most of the time.
He took out the relevant Apica notebook after finding it (why did she have a stationery store's worth of notebooks?), flipped through to make sure it was the right one. Finding the coded writing in a mixture of English, Italian, French, and some language(s) with diacritics, he flipped back to the first page.
There it was in English:
Title: Guardian of The Scales
Weighing of the Heart - Passively increases the ability to read another. Actively summons and makes Judgment if the balance of good and evil deeds are not equal.
"The Only One Who Sees, Everyone Else is Blind" - The ability to manifest blindfolds against the willfully ignorant or blind. Immunity to sight-based shortcomings. Passively increases perception speed.
Justice is Swift and Final - Summons the weapons "Ma'at" and "Isfet." Passively increases physical strength and speed.
A Lady's Regalia - Summons the Robes of Prudentia and Armor of Iusticia.
Reading the specifics again made Mattheus Crown internally shake his head. His friend really was the true overpowered one. It was a good thing Brunilda Avis had a strong set of morals, though he could also argue she wouldn't have gotten the Title and subsequent skills if she didn't possess a sense of fairness.
Flipping the notebook around, he pointed at the list of skills and tilted his head pointedly. A silent question implied.
"Hm? Oh, are you wondering about the skills? It took a bit before I figured out how to use them without access to the System but thankfully I was familiar with the sensation of them activating because of my experiments. I'm not sure about the active skill for Weighing of the Heart since I never tried it in the old world but I theoretically can do that one too." Brunilda nodded. "Pretty sure."
Mattheus pursed his lips. That wasn't really what he wanted to ask. "Actually, I—"
"Did you need something, sir?" The slightly muffled voice of Vincent came through.
"No, just thinking out loud. Ignore me." Mattheus replied with a raised voice before looking annoyed.
In the end, Mattheus decided to point at the weapons summoning skill again since he recalled Ma'at and Isfet being short blades. And Brunilda currently had cute paws for "hands."
"Oh, are you asking about how I'm communicating with you?" Brunilda asked before Mattheus could silently convey his question. "Yes, I am utilizing Weighing of the Heart to do this. It's pushing the passive ability to read others to an active skill? Hard to explain but the end result is I can convey my thoughts to you. This is also why you should believe me when I say that you have no need to feel guilt since your soul is untouched from what the original Mattheus Crown has done as a traitor."
Silver eyes widened in shock. The question he wanted to ask completely disappeared from his mind as he was overwhelmed by Brunilda's casual admittance of his innocence.
There was a sense of relief as the sense of shock faded. As if a weight pressing down on him—body and mind—was abruptly lifted.
What the Original did was still very wrong, he was not going to change his mind. But maybe, just maybe, he was still Theodoric He where it mattered. He could feel empathy and sympathy for the victims, but there was no reason to feel guilt when the Original had been a stranger.
…
"Mattheus, you're here." Edgar was there to meet his younger brother.
The nineteen-year-old was unsurprised to see Edgar as he glanced at the visible guards, wondering if the palace security was normal or increased. Considering the eldest Crown sibling was a Captain of a royal military order (Mattheus couldn't recall the specific name at the moment since they all sounded similar; downsides of cramming), it wouldn't be surprising Edgar was part of the investigation.
"Brother."
Edgar looked a bit surprised as he registered the cat in Mattheus's arms. "Did she follow you back? Sorry, we should head to the General who is waiting for us. He wants to ask a few questions before you meet with the Duchess."
"I understand," Mattheus replied as he fell into step with his older brother. "Is he well?"
"The General is already up and walking." Edgar had a rueful expression. "He has also taken over the investigation over what happened to him the previous evening."
Wow. That was kind of hardcore.
The older of the two flagged down a servant with clothes that suggested her position was higher up in the complex hierarchy of household staff. Edgar exchanged some words with the female servant who was doing a decent job of hiding that she was affected by the dashing figure of the Knight-Captain before Brunilda was handed off to her.
The siblings then continued to meet with General Grant.
Mattheus was just slightly nervous over meeting someone that almost died because of the Original. He was no longer feeling as guilty but it wasn't as if anyone would be able to differentiate the Original's actions and his own when he now occupied the body of Mattheus Crown.
He hoped the General never found out where his like of mushrooms and allergy to shellfish was spilled from.
General William Grant was a rather fit middle-aged man with a neat goatee. He stood with a military straight back and looked rather well for having nearly died last night.
Well, of course. Mattheus had healed everything but the shock.
"Professor Mattheus Crown. I must thank you for your actions the previous evening. You saved my life."
"It is a pleasure to meet you under less dire circumstances, General Grant. And I only did what anyone else in my shoes would have done."
The General's eyes glanced to Edgar before meeting Mattheus's again. He smiled slightly. "The Crown men are certainly living to their upright reputations," he praised. "I'm sorry Professor to cut pleasantries short but I must ask you some questions about last night and am aware you must meet with her Royal Highness soon."
"No need for apologies, General. This is an important investigation."
Mattheus spent the next few minutes answering the expected questions before having to quickly excuse himself.
A butler escorted him to a sitting room to wait for the Duchess.
He only waited for a short while, just enough time for the tea to cool enough to drink before Duchess Sophily arrived.
Setting the cup down back on its saucer, he stood up and somehow managed to not mess up the greeting as the woman offered her gloved hand. Mattheus bowed his head over her hand and said the words one would to a member of the royal family.
"Well met, Sir Crown."
Mattheus straightened up before they moved to sit down. He tried not to overly stare at the Duchess, who did look like how Brunilda appeared as a human even if she was much paler and darker-haired.
"I heard you brought back Tsavorite?"
That was the name the Duchess had given to Brunilda as a cat.
He smiled winsomely. "Yes, she kept me company in the short time after healing the General and leaving the ball, your Grace. I was surprised when I found her on my balcony later in the night."
"Did she follow you home? I wonder if she hid on your carriage…" Her fan fluttered in thought. "I wonder why she did that? She is rather well-behaved so it was a surprise when no one could find her. We thought she was frightened from what happened last night and went to hide somewhere inconspicuous in this rather large palace."
Mattheus still had a smile on his face, though he was a bit embarrassed as he commented. "I think she likes me. I did spend a large amount of the time complimenting her pretty appearance."
If one could count him constantly pointing out Brunilda was a cat as "complimenting" anyway…