Slow Prison Life

Chapter 16 - Noblewoman Does Volunteer Work

Noblewoman Does Volunteer Work

Sykes was going for a walk when a group of children being led by a priest crossed his path.

“Onii-chan, hello!”
“Ah, hello!”
“Oji-chan, hi!”
“I’ll beat you to death.”

As the procession left, he had a thought though.

Hm? Why are a bunch of children from an orphanage walking around inside the royal castle?

In retrospect, all of the children had entered a single door. The all-too-familiar door leading to the dungeon that Rachel is currently residing in.

“………Oi, she’s starting something again.”

♠

In response to Sykes’s report, an emergency dispatch was once again issued, and Prince Elliott rushed down the dungeon stairs. And there was…….

“A long time ago, in a certain place. There was a small country known as the Flower Kingdom.”

Rachel was reading a picture book to all the children sitting around in front of the iron bars.
The dim light of the sun inserted itself inside the cobblestone room. With a girl holding an open picture book in hand while sandwiched between a mountain of wooden crates and a gorge mural, a dozen toddlers were excitedly looking on.
And with a set of iron bars inbetween them.

“What is with this space!?”

The children all looked back at Elliott who had involuntarily begun shouting, and after putting an extended index finger to their lips, unitedly told him to, “Be quiet!”

“…….am I in the wrong?”

Elliott asked George who was standing next to him with a downcast voice, but even if he asked, George didn’t have an answer.

“Somehow, it’s like a slaver’s storehouse.”

Elliott hated how Sykes carefreely allows whatever idle thoughts pop into his mind to come out of his mouth. In this supposed idea Elliott would be the slave dealer, while Sykes would be the management cum muscle, and you could probably call George the head clerk?
Either way it meant Elliott was evil and Rachel was the protagonist in a tragedy. Such a story was unacceptable.

However since this was a situation where what was exactly going on wasn’t clear, it wasn’t like the men were going to be able to figure out the answer. So beating back the boo’s from the children for interrupting their fun time, George asked Rachel directly.

“………Sis, what exactly is going on here?”

Towards her stupid little brother who hates to listen, Rachel cheerfully answered looking like a Holy Mother.

“Oh dear, I honestly didn’t think you would ask me. No I, you didn’t know about my weekly visit to the orphanage for charity? But because of my future welfare inside here, I had no choice but to cancel…….until to my pleasure, the children came to visit me here.”

The Prince’s group were then subjected to a combo strike of implied accusations like, “What do you see your own sister as!?” and, “Isn’t it because of the Prince that our charity has stopped!?” and, “He’s robbing a group of innocent children!”

Leaving the men to themselves, Rachel turned back to the children with a saintly smile on her face and once again began reading from her picture book.

“There once was a Prince in the Flower Kingdom.
A beautiful Prince with blonde hair, all of the girls were crazy about him.
But, the Prince assuredly looked cool………however he was a big idiot who couldn’t help but to love women.
No matter what his retainers said to him, the Prince refused to study or do any work.
He was a fool even to the citizens, yet the Prince staggered from one extramarital affair to the next.
He kept doing nothing but chasing pretty girls every day to play with.
A Prince who doesn’t work. All of his retainers were extremely troubled.
All his retainers and his citizens looked down on him with cold eyes, but the sex-obsessed Prince didn’t understand.
Finally the Prince was caught by the angry citizenry.
Everyone lectured him, but still the Prince remained indignant.
The Prince who didn’t know what he had done wrong, finally his retainers abandoned him.
Now, what was the fate of this Prince?”

Towards Rachel’s question, all of the children who had been listening had their eyes sparkle all at once.

“The Prince’s head rolled! The Prince’s head rolled!”

All of the children’s voices united in a happy chorus, and Rachel watched on smiling.

“That’s right, the Prince was dragged out into the city square and had his head chopped off! The Useless Prince was killed by guillotine!”
“Yaaaaaaaaaaay!”
“Hold onnnnnnnnn!!!!”

Elliott began banging on the iron bars, stepping inbetween Rachel and the group of children.

“What kind of book are you reading!?”
“Is there something strange about it?”
“How can you think it’s not strange!? It’s full of miserable content! Moreover the insinuations that the book’s contents are making……….”
“Oh my”

Rachel made a knowing smile.

“Don’t tell my Your Highness, are you perhaps sympathizing with the character?”
“Ku……..”

Rachel’s smile showing that she had clearly seen through him was coupled with the suspecting faces of the children who clearly didn’t know what was going on. It was impossible for him to start making accusations or insults in front of a pack of children who didn’t understand what was going on, so he instead menacingly pointed at Rachel through the bars.

“This isn’t about me! About this book, it’s bad for the education of children no matter how you look at it! Isn’t there a better book for this!?”
“Oh my, but aren’t I not reading a fairly common story book?”
“A common story book!? It has affairs and guillotines, there’s no way this content was made with children in mind!”

Rachel turned over the book in hand. Any way you looked at it it appeared to be a picture book made for children.

“Isn’t it pretty ordinary? Isn’t the purpose of fiction to depict good being rewarded and evil being punished? It is a good subject for children to read.”
“This is a choice of clear ill will! No matter how I look this is clearly supposed to represent me!”

While Elliott was angrily bleating, Rachel was leisurely laughing.

“Well Your Highness, does that mean you have been having some affairs yourself? I suppose it’s the guillotine for you then.”
“You, how dare you impudently…….maybe it’s because you were harassing Margaret in the first place! Feel some remorse, witch!”

The blood had rushed to his head, and the Prince had finally begun shouting. Rachel responded to Elliott’s yelling with a small sigh as the children began crawling away from behind him.

“This onii-chan, his yelling is making me feel bad.”
“He looks like the Prince from the book.”
“Now that you mention it isn’t this onii-chan also blonde?”
“Is he also a cheater who likes to flirt?”
“Theeeeeeeen neck chop”

There were probably no bad intentions in the children’s words. They were just saying what came to mind, but their chatter cut deep.

“Damn!? You brats, don’t you know I’m working properly!? I don’t gallivant about!?”
“You’re making excuses to children……….”
“I’m not making excuses! It’s the truth!?”
“Onii-chan, so impatient~”
“Is onii-chan going to have his head chopped off?”

Being completely pushed away by the air, Elliott’s group took a step back. They couldn’t afford to do anything while there were children here.
The children meanwhile surrounded Rachel once again to continue enjoying their picture book, having fun while enjoying some big biscuits that were passed around.
Why is it that a person who is currently in prison is able to leisurely pass around supplies, were the vague thoughts Elliott were left with.

It would be wrong to say something in front of children. That was what Elliott and the others decided before resolving themselves for a retreat.
They were all allies of justice themselves after all. Kicking out a bunch of kids in front of Rachel would only increase their reverence towards her.

While Elliott was irritatedly making his way out however, Rachel decided to hand over a picture book to him.

“Since Your Highness’s friends don’t usually read books, perhaps you could use this to practice your reading and writing?”

The sarcasm in the following, “Are you off to do some work?” could be plainly felt, but since Elliott didn’t want to be exposed in front of a group of children he begrudgingly took the book and left the dungeon.
When he arrived at his office, Elliott finally began to violently curse.

“Damn you Rachel! Each and every single time your sarcasm rears it’s ugly head! Dragging out the fact that I don’t do any charity work in front of children………..”
“We can’t get angry if there are a bunch of children there…….Your Highness, ‘You’re so cool!’”¹
“Noisy!”

Standing aside as Elliott berated Sykes, George took a look at the picture book.

“I have never heard of such a fairy tale before……what country is this story from?”

Flipping through the pages, an imprint soon came into view.

Was the story interesting? With love to Prince E
Written and Drawn by R • F

“This, it was done up by my sister……..”
“Fuck, how is this a common story!? How was this not about me!!!”

The howls of a lost dog echoed in the castle’s backyard.

1. The person saying this is using a childish way of speaking, so they’re just pretending to be one of the children.