Arcadia Arcana walked into the room while stretching her arms. Her attendant, Rosie, timidly followed behind, apologising to anybody she saw.
"Sorry...! Sorry...! Sorry...!"
That also included the two unconscious men.
"You can't just waltz into the Queen's throne room!"
Aindeau shouted.
He materialised his bow of mana, aiming it at the red-haired giant. Rosie turned and rushed toward Aindeau. In a single movement, Rosie smoothly passed him, grabbing his hand and kicking the back of his knees.
Aindeau fell to his knees.
"Aahhhh!"
Rosie pulled his arm with her foot on his back.
"It's fine, Rosie. I don't know what has you on edge but you know that wouldn't have hurt me."
Arcadia said with a baffled look.
"I know but I just want to vent my frustration as YOUR aide!"
"What? Come on, tell me, about what?"
"I'm so frustrated because I'm YOUR fucking aide! You do whatever you want without restraint and don't even think about the consequences! When you killed that wyrm three weeks ago, I had to pay thousands to repair the street! Then there's the serpents that we just killed! Greenwich is a mess!"
Rosie shouted before exhaling. She smiled.
"Ah, that feels better."
She said, kicking Aindeau into the ground and standing up.
"So, if I may, Your Majesty, what is this?"
Rosie seemed to want to know what was happening just as much as Arcadia. Alice and Arcadia had a friendly relationship. She thought that it wouldn't hurt to tell her.
The Queen hit her sceptre against the ground.
"Ayato Kyouya is a traitor."
"Oh, is that it then?"
Rosie accepted that fact easily. (Well, she was scared of asking a monarch to elaborate. It was something beyond a normal person.)
"Explain."
The red-haired woman blurted out. It sounded like an order.
"Arcadia!"
"No, it's fine."
The Queen stopped Rosie.
"Morgan told me about Ayato Kyouya knowing the location of Ashley Renthral despite it previously being unknown. He even admitted to such."
Joker nodded.
"He's a traitor. That's already known. He then tried to coax me into believing him by calling Morgan the real traitor. As if I'm supposed to believe that. I also heard that you came into contact with two enemies but didn't attack them and talked instead. Seems like you were not careful enough."
Ayato winced as he received a pitiful look. Arcadia looked at Ayato.
"Who did you talk to?"
She asked him, curious. There was no point in hiding anything else now.
"Some jesters named Greed and Wrath. They didn't receive the location but they managed to work it out for themselves."
"..."
"More lies won't help you. I'm sure you know that."
Alice declared, walking up the stairs and sitting on her throne. She set her sceptre beside her throne.
"Judging from the bleeding nose, you used the sceptre?"
"Yes, it was by accident but there's no way to fix that now. There's no point in a death sentence so he'll probably die from blood loss eventually."
She told Arcadia.
"One final question."
She announced.
"Why do you think that Morgan, the most loyal member of the elite forces, is a traitor?"
"Because Pride told me so."
"Enough!"
Alice Ilistria shouted, banging the arm of her throne. She was the most furious she had ever been. Even Aindeau was surprised by her insistence.
"Tell me where Ashley Renthral is so that we can support Morgan. Tell me now."
"...Sure..."
Ayato was resigned to his fate. He didn't have any mana to use and he had a forever bleeding injury. Alice believed him to be a traitor. There was no way of persuading her. And so, instead, Ayato accepted his fate. Rather than fight back, help as much as he can.
"Ashley is un—"
"No need for that."
Arcadia interrupted him. She stood in front of him with a nihilistic smile which was unlike her usual persona.
"Arcadia?"
Alice voiced.
"I get it now. Ayato Kyouya is innocent, Alice."
The Queen narrowed her eyes. She wasn't pleased. She grabbed her sceptre.
"I'm losing my patience with you, Arcadia. Even if it's you if you turn against me..."
"That's fine. I'm turning against you."
"Huh?!"
The others in the room exclaimed. Nobody would readily admit to the Queen that they were going against her.
"Why?"
"Because he's not a liar. If Pride looked into Morgan and found that she was a traitor, then it must be true. He doesn't tell others things if he's unsure."
"You know Pride...?"
Ayato asked. Rosie shivered. She anticipated something was going to happen.
"Arcadia! Don't!"
"Yeah, of course, I would, since I'm the leader of the Court of Jesters after all."
The boy's jaw dropped open. To some in this room, that name didn't ring a bell, but to Rosie, Mao Zhao and Yu, it did.
"You're... the Court Jester...?"
"Yeah."
"The leader of the evil organisation, the Court?"
Mao Zhao was speechless.
"Evil? No, no, no. We're not evil. We solve evil in a way that you guys at Anti-Magic could never."
Arcadia said.
"What?! You guys commit crimes all the time?!"
"We clean up the shit that you can't reach for yourself. Although they do whatever they want, I order them to never commit crimes. The jobs they take are something that is their responsibility. I'm not their parent, I'm merely their guide."
'I'm pretty sure that Greed attacked me out of nowhere and Wrath exploded some of the school building the first time we met.'
Ayato had superfluous thoughts.
"Stop me if you want but you can't. You know that."
"...!"
Mao Zhao bit his lip, bitterly. Arcadia sighed before looking back at the Queen.
"Arcadia, you..."
"Sorry, Your Majesty but I'm going to work with the kid. I've wanted him on my side for a while now. The Joker and the Night together, I think we'll go and prove our innocence to you, Queen."
Arcadia addressed Alice, who was in a state of anger and confusion. She took a deep breath and exhaled, calming herself down.
"Elite Guard!"
She ordered.
Aindeau ran toward Arcadia and Ayato, pointing his bow at them. Arthur came running and his sister followed.
They surrounded the two, pointing their weapons at them. Arcadia smiled.
"You're so kind, Queen Alice."