The King’s honest words prompted Suimei to lift his head once more. From his expression, it was clear that he felt it wasn’t a matter of who was to blame; either way, he felt the commotion caused by his actions had been inappropriate. This was apparent from the awkward look on his face.
With this, the preamble to their conversation had ended.
Suimei spoke next, “Might I ask what you called me here to speak about…?”
“Yes. There are things that I wish to ask you.”
“…I understand.”
Suimei’s acknowledgment revealed his confusion, and his slightly pale face was colored with puzzlement. Considering for a moment whether the look Suimei showed now were his true thoughts revealing themselves, the King followed up with a question.
“There are a few things I wish to ask you regarding Felmenia.”
“Felmenia-san…? If I remember correctly, she’s the one who’s been teaching Reiji and Mizuki magic? What about her?”
“That is the one. She mentioned to me that she’d seen you wander around the palace a few days ago.”
Faced with Suimei’s pretense at having only a superficial knowledge of who Felmenia was, the King brought up what he had heard from her.
Those words brought a weak, bitter smile to Suimei’s face, as if something unpleasant had been discovered about him.
“Ah… hahaha. Yeah, I’d heard that we were free to roam the palace, so I’d gone for a walk to settle myself. Was I somehow incorrect about that?”
“No, there was nothing inappropriate about that. Indeed, I’d given explicit orders to that effect. No, it’s not that incident that concerns me.”
“Then what, might I ask?”
“This.”
“?”
Confusion was written all over Suimei’s face. It must be noted, however, that that expression was not born of his true feelings. Having mentioned Felmenia, but having said nothing about her, it was clear that he had understood from the very beginning the purpose of this line of questioning, but fully intended nonetheless to play dumb. Indeed, from the very moment he’d been summoned for questioning, he’d begun this show of ignorance. To have been summoned at such a time would undoubtedly give rise to some misgivings. If the King were Suimei, he’d have made some preparations beforehand. Given his powers, he would likely have readied himself to make a forceful escape if necessary. Since the other party was a mage who had defeated Felmenia, it wasn’t like there was much the King could do; escape should be simple for Suimei.
With that in mind, the fact that he had not done so seemed to show that he thought he could wrap things up nicely by simply playing the fool.
Accordingly, though he knew that continuing would be dangerous, the King had no choice but to press forward.