Chapter 17: Citrina Has No Friends

Citrina Etoile Yellowmoon was a sweet little girl.

Her smile bloomed like a flower, her voice rang with the pleasing timbre of chirping birds, and she was a charming converser who always knew what to say. Precious and beloved, she was always surrounded by lots of people. Any appearance she made in mingling events of high society was sure to draw a crowd of adoring onlookers.

Nevertheless, she had no friends. Why, you ask? Well...

“What a surprise that was to Rina. I didn’t expect Her Highness to eat the false Belluga mushroom herself.”

At the brink between day and night, when light gave way to darkness and sun-shy wrongdoers prepared to go about their wicked ways, Citrina sat in her room having her hair combed.

Fwish. Fwish.

The rhythmic friction of teeth on strands filled the room with their faint sound. Her beautiful hair was the handiwork of her attendant, Barbara, whose deft motions bespoke her age and experience as a maid.

“Ugh, this is the worst. I can’t believe she found the salamandrakes...”

Citrina observed the combing of her hair in a hand mirror as her thoughts began to wander. Recently she’d been bathing more often. In order to approach Princess Mia, she’d gone looking for herbs that were good for baths. Frequently, she’d taken baths herself, which she did with Bel, a girl that Mia seemed to treat like a younger sister. Her frequent cleansing had imparted an unprecedented luster to her hair.

Not that it matters...

She closed her eyes and continued.

“Has there been word from father?”

“I’ve been told that the princess’s people have been posting more eyes around us lately. Correspondence has been paused as a precautionary measure, as letters may be a target of their scrutiny.”

“My, so rude! How dare they peek at private letters written to a father from his darling daughter.”

Of course, whenever sensitive content had to be written in a letter, she’d encoded the message using an ancient Yellowmoon cipher... Still, no amount of caution was too much, for they were dealing with the subordinates of the Great Sage of the Empire.

“I guess there will be no letters for Rina until father does away with these people. Ah, what a bother.”

A sigh escaped her dainty lips.

“Why did you not eliminate the princess right there and then?” asked Barbara in a voice devoid of expression.

“In that place? Are you saying Rina should have tried to kill both of them on my own?”

“With your skills, milady, I do believe that should have been possible.”

Barbara glanced at her questioningly. In response, Citrina smiled.

“I suppose so. Killing them would have been possible. But if I killed them there, people who came looking would have discovered the salamandrakes, you see? And it’d make them think of Rina as a suspect. Considering what we’re trying to do, that seems a little backward, doesn’t it?”

There was almost nothing Citrina could have done at the time. She had to stop the members of the student council from finding the salamandrakes. Failing that, she needed to keep them from learning how deadly the mushroom’s toxin was. That was the only way to ensure their act of mass-poisoning on the day of the Holy Eve Festival would be successful.

Killing Mia would be like lighting a massive signal fire. Her death would draw abundant attention. Even if her death were faked to look like she accidentally fell off a cliff, an exhaustive investigation would be still conducted on the premises. The emperor, overwhelmed with rage and grief at the loss of his precious daughter, would undoubtedly demand that Belluga dig up every last detail concerning her death, even if it meant flipping the academy upside down. In the process it was by no means impossible that suspicion would fall on Citrina...and if it did, it would mean the end of their plot.

“Given the circumstances, I didn’t see any point in killing her. Was I wrong?” she asked with an inquisitive tilt of the head.

Barbara regarded her silently.

“I see. I would have expected no less from you, milady. You were prudent in your judgment, and I stand corrected.”

The maid inclined her head. Then, without another word, she circled behind Citrina and continued combing her hair.

“This does prove, however,” Barbara said after some time, “that Princess Mia is a serious hindrance to our plans, and, sooner or later, she’s going to become a serious nuisance.”

“True. That occurred to Rina as well. We’ll have to do something about her,” Citrina responded, her voice as melodious as ever.

“Oh? So you agree then, milady?” said Barbara, her eyebrows shifting upward ever so slightly.

“Hm? Of course I do. Is that strange? She’s reforming the empire. First she stopped the revolution in Remno, and now this. She’s ruined so many of our plans that I’d be surprised if anyone didn’t see her as a problem.”

“I see. That is certainly good to hear. In that case, do you have any objections to changing our operation during the Holy Eve Festival to a targeted assassination of the princess?”

That took Citrina by surprise.

“Wow, you sure make it sound easy. And how exactly do you expect me to go about killing her? We just lost access to our poison, in case you’ve forgotten,” she said, craning her neck to scowl over her shoulder.

Barbara placed an arm behind Citrina’s shoulders, as if she were leaning in for a sideward embrace.

“By using...this.”

She tied a length of string behind Citrina’s head, then pulled away, leaving a small item dangling from the girl’s neck. It was...the troya Bel had given her as a present.

“That girl...” said Barbara. “The princess is particularly fond of her, isn’t she? I recall you saying yourself, milady, that you intend to use her. Show her then. Have her see you wearing it. Please her... Then, control her. Make your way into her heart using those sweet words of yours. We Serpents are manipulators. Smiths of the mind. Words are our tools, and hearts are our ore.”

“But—”

Citrina attempted to protest, only to be cut off after a single word.

“You’ve done this enough times before, haven’t you? This time is no different...”

As if on cue, emotion faded from Citrina’s face, and a slow, viscous smile crept across Barbara’s.

“Don’t worry. Everything will go as planned. I will make sure of it, milady,” she hissed in a sibilant whisper.

Citrina Etoile Yellowmoon was a sweet little girl.

But she, who should have been loved and adored by all those around her, had no friends. Why, you ask? Well... Because all her friends—friends her father had instructed her to make—had had their lives ruined. Sometimes, their fathers died. Sometimes, their mothers died. Sometimes, they themselves...

But Citrina wasn’t sad. Everyone she’d befriended was the same as her. They were all nobles. They should have known that every bond was a strand in a web of intrigue. Every present was given with calculation. They knew what they were getting themselves into. They had to... So, she didn’t mind, even if they were gone. She felt no sorrow. Her heart didn’t ache.

Over time, she developed a habit. Whenever one of her friends disappeared from her life, she’d throw away all the presents she received from that person.

I’ve done this plenty of times before... I’ll just throw it away again. I don’t mind.

Her hands closed tightly around the small horse charm dangling from her neck.