The person who followed Elsa onto the balcony was the Minister of Industry, Delite Domus Hanks.
"Why are you here?"
Elsa gave her face a firm wipe as she asked the question.
"Well, my office happens to be right next to this balcony. I heard the sound of someone running down the hallway, so I took a peek and saw it was you."
He explained that since people rarely ran through the palace halls, he had looked out to see if there was some kind of emergency.
"...How embarrassing."
Elsa looked down, her face flushing crimson. Delite gave her a slightly puzzled look, but his voice remained gentle.
"It's already evening, and the breeze out here is cold. You likely have your reasons, but for now, why not step into my office?"
Having calmed down slightly, Elsa took him up on his offer. While she entered the office of the Minister of Industry, Edgar stood guard outside the door, ready to alert Jin if he came looking for her.
A chic table set sat by the window, and Delite gestured for Elsa to take a seat.
"I’ve just reached a good breaking point in my work. Please, sit."
"...Thank you."
Elsa sat in the chair by the window. The balcony was visible just outside. She felt a brief flash of shame at the thought that her distress might have been witnessed, but she was relieved to see that a wooden box blocked the view of the balcony from this angle.
"Now then, I shall brew some tea....Don't worry, it isn't poisoned."
Perhaps hoping to bring a smile to Elsa's troubled face, Delite made a lighthearted joke about the poison.
"...Take a look; these are my assistants."
"...Oh."
Minister Delite's assistants were two golems. One had the build of an adult male and was currently preparing to brew the tea. It appeared to be a general-purpose model.
The other was a burly golem standing over two meters tall, likely intended for heavy labor. It stood motionless in the back of the room.
"I rely on Gren in the back for heavy labor like moving cargo, while Leker here handles my daily needs."
"I see."
Elsa found herself watching the golem named Leker. She was impressed by how refined its movements were; it was quite a high-quality construct.
"Here you are."
He served a herbal tea that smelled of roses, possessing a delicate acidity beneath its sweetness.
Elsa took a sip and let out a long, slow breath. Delite drank the same tea and smiled.
"Has that helped you calm down a little?"
"...Yes. Thank you very much."
"I am glad. I owe you a debt for saving my life, after all. I would be happy if I could repay even a fraction of it."
Delite took another sip of his tea before speaking again.
"...Since an opportunity like this is rare, would you mind if I spoke with you for a moment?"
"Oh, yes."
Faced with his polite tone, Elsa replied almost reflexively.
"...This country is already falling apart," Delite said, his tone suddenly turning somber.
"...The King is ill, the nobles prioritize their own profit, and even the heavens have forsaken us with this weather."
"..."
"You are from the Shouro Empire. I would like to hear your candid opinion....Do you think this country has a future?"
It was a terribly heavy question to ask her.
However, Elsa was not the person she had been two years ago. She had traveled with Reinhard, seen various nations, and gained vast experience alongside Jin. She was able to answer.
"I think... there is."
It was clearly not the answer he expected; for a split second, Delite's eyes widened in surprise. However, he quickly regained his composure.
"Oh? And why do you think that?"
Elsa chose her words carefully.
"A country is its people. There may be some among the ruling class of the Klein Kingdom who are failures. But there are also people trying to rebuild. And the commoners are living with all their might. This country isn't dead yet. I don't... think it will die."
"..."
"............"
Delite closed his eyes as he listened to her.
The unexpected nature of the questions and the conversation had cooled Elsa's head. She felt that Delite genuinely believed the future of the country was bleak.
As she spoke, various events from the past few days began to connect in her mind. Though still slightly incomplete, the pieces of a puzzle were clicking into place.
His position as Minister of Industry, the weak poison, the King's illness, the food shortage, the Successor...
A few pieces were still missing, and the full picture remained obscured.
While she thought, Elsa aimlessly scanned the room. Suddenly, her gaze stopped at the windowsill.
A simple vase sat there, holding a bouquet of flowers. They were purple, with several blooms shaped like long, narrow helmets. However, they had no leaves attached.
"Aconita?"
At that word, Delite’s eyes snapped open. They were slightly bloodshot.
"You recognize this flower, Elsa-san?...I didn't think this grew in this area... no, I didn't think it was even found in the Shouro Empire."
"...Yes. I know a fair amount about plants used for medicines and poisons."
Elsa slowly turned her gaze back from the vase as she spoke.
"...The poison you drank the other day, Delite-san, was likely the leaves of this plant."
"..."
"Delite-san, why are there no leaves attached to these flowers?"
Driven by a desire to find the final piece of the puzzle, she had accidentally said too much.
The moment those words left her lips, Delite’s entire countenance shifted.
"...I see. So you've figured it out that far."
"Eh?"
Jin was searching for Elsa.
He questioned a knight in the corridor, who informed him that she had crossed the hall and headed toward the stairs.
Jin reached the stairs. Had she gone up or down? He paused to think, realizing he couldn't afford to waste time.
Even though she had run off, Maron and Plum of the Secret Mobile Unit (SP) were guarding her while hidden by Invisible magic. Edgar was with her as well.
Because of that, he could find out exactly where Elsa was immediately if he went through Laojun.
The only reason he hadn't done so from the start was because he wanted to find her himself without relying on Reiko or the others, but there were limits to what he could do alone in this palace.
"Reiko, ask Laojun where Elsa went."
"...Understood."
With a slightly dissatisfied expression, Reiko contacted Laojun. The answer came back instantly.
"...It appears she is in the office of the Minister of Industry, Delite, on the floor above."
"Why would she be there...?"
Just then, Princess Lieschen arrived.
"Jin, how goes the search? I thought it might be difficult for thee to search the Royal Castle alone, so I followed... Hast thou found her?"
"Lies....Yeah, we just did. Apparently, she's in Minister Delite's room."
"Delite's? I see. Let us go, then."
Guided by the princess, Jin began to climb the stairs.
"...Now that I think on it, I recall that Delite is also from the Celuroa Kingdom. I heard long ago that he married into House Hanks. His wife passed away several years ago, and I believe he lives alone now."
Hearing that, Jin suddenly remembered a comment the Minister of Industry had let slip earlier.
(Come to think of it, he called Elena an automata... Did he say he'd seen her before?)
He didn't think Elena would have talked about herself. And he didn't think Minister Delite was skilled enough to simply see through her nature.
That meant he must have seen Elena somewhere in the past. Jin felt a sudden chill of apprehension.
"The second floor is where we were just now; the third floor contains the offices of the various ministers."
At that moment, Reiko interrupted their conversation.
"Father, Elsa-san is in danger."
"You are excellent. Quite excellent. If it were possible, I would have liked to persuade you to join me."
"Wh-what are you talking about?"
Delite stood up and moved to block the door, cutting off Elsa's only exit.
"You've realized it, haven't you? That the poison incident was a farce?"
"...I know that people don't die from aconita poison alone."
"Exactly. If everyone present had collapsed from poison, your credibility would have been destroyed. If that happened, the King wouldn't have lasted long either. That was my plan. I never expected you to recognize the aconita—I assumed no one here would know of it."
"That poisoned tea caddy... you were the one who brought it?"
"...How clever. Taking you with me as a souvenir should more than make up for my failure to carry out my instructions."
"Instructions?"
A cold dread washed over Elsa, and she stood up from her chair. Edgar was still on the other side of the door.
"This country won't last much longer. It will go the way of the Kingdom of Franz. In that case, it is better to be absorbed by the Celuroa Kingdom and let them handle the governance."
Delite’s voice had changed completely; his eyes now held a glimmer of madness.
"...I think you're wrong. If the Celuroa Kingdom occupies the Klein Kingdom, they will treat its people as inferior to their own."
Elsa had seen many countries. Just recently, she had dealt with the arrogant siblings from Celuroa and had a terrible experience. She had heard similar stories from Stearena and Vivienne.
No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't believe they would govern fairly.
"...Hmph, the commoners don't matter. What's important is whether we—whether I—can obtain a better position than I have now....Leker, do not let that girl escape."
Obeying Delite’s command, the golem Leker began to approach. Elsa instinctively put the table between them as a shield.
"Hmph, a futile effort. Will you not cooperate quietly? I truly have no desire to be rough with you. Farce or not, you are the benefactor who saved me from the poison."
"...Do you think you can really get away with this? If I make a noise, someone will come running."
"Heh, is that stall for time your only plan?...Gren!"
At his shout, the large golem in the back began to move.
"Golems identical to this one are guarding the hallway. No one is coming."
"Even so, there's no way you can escape the castle."
"Hmph, do you think I'd be so careless?...What if I told you I have a hot air balloon?"
"...No way."
"The technology of the Celuroa Kingdom is magnificent. In exchange for three hundred tons of wheat, they provided me with one hot air balloon and five golems."
"...You diverted precious food supplies?...You're the lowest. Selling out your own country..."
"You are young; it seems you don't understand how alluring power is. You don't understand the glory of being able to move a country as you wish. Besides, my motherland... is the Celuroa Kingdom."
"...I don't even want to understand. Power is just... a nuisance."
Having been influenced by Jin's own philosophy, Elsa dismissed Delite's ambition with a look of disgust.
"A nuisance, is it? You truly are a woman. To not understand the joy of ruling over others..."
"I’m a man, and I don’t understand that kind of joy at all."
"What!?"
"Jin-nii!"
The door to the room was pried open from the outside, and there stood Jin.