The Title Gets Fancier While the Treatment Stays the Same

In the end, I never figured out why I had to accompany the torture.

It didn't seem like harassment, but… was it about being in this together?

Princess Tianis said something to the guards, and we were to move to a room first.

Princess Yupe doesn't have the best tastes.

When we returned to the room with Princess Tianis, she suddenly started undressing.

Azu panicked and dragged me out of the room.

"The water torture earlier got my clothes dirty and it felt gross. I'm not an exhibitionist or anything. I don't really care if you see me."

"I'm the one who cares, though."

"Is being too beautiful also a sin?"

"I think it's a matter of propriety… Girls shouldn't expose their skin in front of men!"

That said, Azu and the others were usually quite defenseless at home.

After she changed, we were led to a study in the back.

"Leave the door open. I don't want to have to respond to every knock."

I left it open as instructed.

This was my first time entering here, but it seemed to be a place stuffed with approval documents and reference materials rather than books.

She probably didn't have time to read books anyway.

Princess Tianis rummaged through the documents and proceeded to the back, then crouched down and pulled out some documents.

She had to reach hard to get them, then threw them toward me.

"Those are the compiled documents related to the soup kitchen. You'll need them for the investigation, right?"

"I'm doing the investigation?"

"Who else is there besides you? I need to actually do some work too, or I'd feel bad for Anatia-neesan. And I couldn't hire a maid in the end, so I need someone to take care of me?"

"Isn't that the real reason?"

"Who knows."

She grinned.

Though I felt I was being cleverly used, at this point I had no choice but to go along with it.

Fortunately, my household was all women.

I felt bad for Azu and the others, but I'd have them help with Princess Tianis.

"But wouldn't it be problematic for an outsider to read this? I don't want to get arrested for something like that."

"Don't worry. As of today, I've temporarily granted you an official government position. At least until this matter is resolved."

"My will wasn't reflected in that at all, was it? But wouldn't nobles oppose a new post like this?"

"If it's limited authority, granting it is within my sole discretion. No one is going to listen to your orders anyway. You won't be directly involved in internal affairs. And there's no salary."

"Because it doesn't need to go through the budget, right?"

"You catch on fast. From the outside, it looks like you're working for free in a useless position while humoring my whims. None of the nobles care about the soup kitchen. Neither does the chancellor."

This was the very definition of flaunting one's authority.

Even if I wanted to appeal somewhere, my opponent was a candidate for the highest authority.

Wasn't this what they called power harassment?

I sighed while flipping through the documents.

These documents had gone through official checks by multiple agencies.

The contents were probably accurate.

"I've sent messengers to have the guards search for those people's hideout. If they kept half the cut, there should be something left behind."

"They didn't seem concerned enough to destroy evidence, so that's possible."

I finished reading the relevant documents.

After getting permission, I had Orleans read them too.

At this point, it was best to get this done as quickly as possible.

The total amount spent on the soup kitchen so far amounted to fifty gold coins.

Even though the cost per meal was cheap, the sheer number of people made it quite substantial.

Since most of it had been embezzled partway through, we should assume that about twenty gold coins had been sent to the mastermind.

Hmm, this alone wasn't enough to narrow down the culprit.

For wealthy nobles, it was pocket change, but for robe nobles or nobles in debt, they'd want it desperately.

Without knowing how the funds were transferred, there were too many people to investigate.

"Your Highness, we've confiscated suspicious items from their hideout."

"Good work. Leave them there. Were there any suspicious people around?"

"We didn't confirm any, but there were signs that someone had attempted to break in."

"I see. Good thing I rushed it. You may withdraw."

"Yes, ma'am!"

The guards came and left a box.

So that's why she had kept the door open.

"Come on, investigate, investigate."

"All right, all right."

It seemed she was content to just supervise.

At least she wasn't interfering.

I opened the box and checked its contents.

They seemed to have stuffed everything in haphazardly.

Given the princess's orders, they must have prioritized speed.

At least they'd separated out the coins and papers, which was a small mercy.

"Let's start by throwing out the garbage."

"Yes, let's…"

We sorted through things ourselves and pulled out anything that seemed relevant.

Valuables would be confiscated and put toward the soup kitchen budget, apparently.

That would also lighten the culprits' sentences slightly.

Though being sent to the mines meant the hardship wouldn't really change even if the sentence was shortened…

"Sir, isn't it this?"

"Ah. That's it, no doubt."

Orleans found a bill of exchange transfer document.

They had brazenly used an official bank to transfer funds via bill of exchange, and even kept the receipt…

They truly had no awareness that they were committing a crime.

The mastermind must have been shocked by this.

This left solid evidence.

The destination was written on it too.

It wasn't addressed to an individual, but a location was specified.

"Your Highness, do you know this place?"

"Let me see…"

The moment Princess Tianis saw the location written there, she crumpled the transfer slip.

I could feel more force than necessary going into it.

Her complexion was worse than before.

"Turn right from here and use the room at the end however you like. Leave me alone for a bit."

"… Understood."

"I'm sorry."

Were those words because I hadn't pried further?

I left the room as instructed and entered the room at the end.

It was more like a spare room than a guest room.

There were multiple beds but none of them were any good.

"It's been a while since we all slept in the same room, hasn't it?"

"When we were adventuring, we'd sometimes end up in the same room."

"Once our numbers grew, splitting up became the norm."

Released from Princess Tianis, everyone stretched out as they pleased.

But Yohane couldn't get into that mood.

That expression on Princess Tianis's face.

She surely had an idea of who it was.

This was going to be troublesome.

"Master, let's rest for now. Your body won't hold up."

"You're right…"