To the Orphanage with the Prince

She had barely caught her breath after the tea party when another letter arrived from the royal family.

"Oh, come now. What is it this time, desu wa?"

"It seems the prince is going on an inspection and would like his fiancée to accompany him."

"An inspection? Where to?"

"The orphanage in the royal capital, most likely. Will you go?"

The orphanage. Koleha had nothing against commoners or orphans.

After all, her maid Summer was an orphan too.

"The capital's orphanage might be a good reference for the orphanage in our domain. I'll pop over."

"… Well, I don't think you'll find it particularly instructive."

Marquis Yarkot muttered, but she decided to go anyway.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

And so, Koleha accompanied Harks to the orphanage in the royal capital.

"My. It's rather dingy, isn't it."

"Hey, Koleha. Don't say things like that."

He'd previously called her 'kisama', but thanks to re-education, Harks now addressed her by name.

She didn't recall giving express permission, but it was far better than 'kisama', and given they were engaged, she let it slide.

Incidentally, he'd even stopped referring to himself with 'sama'. The new tutor seemed to be doing a good job.

Be that as it may, the royal capital's orphanage had a somewhat grimy air.

The ill-fated atmosphere made Koleha want to hum, but she held back.

"Listen, Koleha. Places where commoners live —"

"I'm comparing this to the orphanage in our domain, you know?"

"… I see. That is, um… But they do clean here, you know?"

"My apologies. However, are the donations being used properly? We'll have to see the ledgers. Is that the kind of thing an inspection allows?"

"The ledgers!? W-well, if we ask, I suppose they'll show us?"

"Yes, if they have nothing to hide!"

They probably won't show us because they do have something to hide, Koleha predicted.

In fact, she remembered an event like that in "Face☆Meet" — exposing wrongdoing at an orphanage. If so, it was certainly shady.

She recalled the recent tea party. The tutor sentenced to real punishment had worn a wonderful expression.

Thinking she might get to see that again made laughter well up, but she suppressed it. Not yet. It wasn't time to laugh yet.

… Her instincts and surface decorum grappled, ultimately producing a refined smile — no doubt thanks to House Nyarlathotep's education. Or perhaps the folding fan she'd recently received.

"Koleha. You were comparing to the orphanage in your domain. Do you go there often?"

"Yes. They're surprisingly useful, you know. I have them do fieldwork."

"… You have children work?"

"But of course. They make fine, helpful workers in many ways. Ah, and we pay a daily wage and only work with volunteers."

The herb fields were thriving; she could never have enough hands.

So, using Summer as a foothold, she secured the orphanage kids.

Furthermore, if they wished, a route had been set up for them to get employment right after graduating from the orphanage.

"We also give them servant training. Then we can sell them to merchants."

"… Human trafficking?"

"Don't make it sound so sinister. It's job placement."

"Right. I'm starting to get it."

With one wrong step, it could certainly be construed as human trafficking, but Koleha was the marquis's daughter of the Nyarlathotep domain, and this was legitimate vocational training and placement by the proper, lord-led public institution.

They did take a broker's fee, nominal though it was.

"I think the reason the orphanage in your domain is so clean is thanks to that servant training. Even with scheduled cleaning, knowing how to do it properly yields vastly different results."

"Indeed. Come to think of it, they were lamenting that there's nowhere left to clean for practice."

Harks figured that was obviously the reason.

"Wouldn't there be more demand for that in the capital?"

"Hm. You're not wrong… but isn't it bad to have children work?"

"Naive! Too naive, Your Highness!"

Koleha thrust a finger at Harks.

"The children here have no parents. That means they must be stronger than those who do in order to survive! And you would have them just play because they're children? Then throw them out when they 'graduate' at adulthood? That's even less responsible than owning a pet!!"

In that case, you'd show more responsibility by keeping a pet for life.

"What we rulers ought to do is make orphans into people who are useful to society! In other words, provide education! Kids can play on their own, but without teachers, education is impossible!"

"Guh! That's not just right… that's twenty kinds of right!"

Harks wore a vexed expression. Koleha reveled in taking the upper hand over him.

"That said, even in our domain, it's only been like that recently."

"Oh?"

"Yes, because I wanted more labor to work to the bone. There's clerical work too."

Harks gave her a suspicious look, as if to say "are you serious?"

"Ah. And the whip alone won't move them, so you need a carrot. Summer."

"Yes, Lady Koleha."

Koleha handed a small pouch to the maid.

"What is that?"

"Fufufu. Inside is a highly addictive white powder. With this bait, getting the orphans to do as you say is easy as pie."

"… D-don't tell me it's some suspicious drug—"

"Permission to speak, Your Highness. That was Ojou-sama's joke. It's just sugar."

"The way you say it! Dammit, you're teasing me, aren't you!?"

"Oh my, I told no lies, did I? Ufufu."

Granted, there had been a degree of intent there, so she hid her grin behind her folding fan.

"Have the children make some simple baked sweets."

"Yes, Ojou-sama. And those who work hard get a bigger reward, correct?"

"Exactly. I'll be eating some later too, so keep a close eye on them so nothing strange gets put in."

"As you command, Lady Koleha."

And thus, Koleha set her maid upon the orphans.

Given that Summer had been an orphan herself, she would easily bond with the children — or so Koleha intended.

… As Marquis Nyarlathotep had said, this inspection would likely yield little of reference, thought Koleha.

"… You'll eat the same things as the children, then."

"? Your Highness, perhaps you forget, but we ourselves are still children, you know? We won't give them delicious treats while having none ourselves, and of course we should eat what children can eat."

"That's not what I meant…"

Harks shrugged, exasperated.

"Hey, maid. Is Koleha always like this?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Ojou-sama's embarrassment-hiding is the best…!"

"Embarrassment-hiding… is it? Hmm?"

While they chatted, the carriage arrived at the orphanage.

Leaving the maid to look after the children, Koleha took the prince and his guards to the director's office and checked the ledgers, where wrongdoing was promptly discovered.

The orphanage director was arrested for embezzlement.

"Did you think a little girl wouldn't notice, hm? Oh-ho-ho-ho! This was even sweeter than the cookies we had the orphans bake!"

"… No, but how did you notice the wheat price was calculated at ten times the normal?"

"Eh!? Your Highness… do you not even know the price of a staple food? Seriously—!"

"No, that was being masked by the ledger math, wasn't it!?"

Bad people become unhappy just by being reported — how pathetic! Koleha laughed gleefully.