“Leon, are you really going to duel Elya of the Freyzer house?”
The next day.
When Angelica asked me after barging into the boys’ dorm, I smoothed my messy hair with a hand comb and answered.
“The guy over there tossed a white glove at me.”
“I heard that. But the Freyzer family guards the border. If we fight the heir, Elya, and leave a grudge, it’ll become a hassle. Even now the kingdom could betray us at any moment.”
The Freyzer house had its engagement to the royal family broken off.
Just that alone makes me furious, and now they might turn the duel into a farce—who knows what they’ll do.
“There’s a lot of unrest domestically right now. They’re on the decline, but making the Freyzer house an enemy would be trouble.”
“I get it, but isn’t it a bit late to start pretending now?”
“Y‑yeah, that’s true, but—”
Angelica looked pretty panicked.
That says a lot about how precarious things are in the kingdom.
Speaking of which, Luxion and Claire’ve been busy lately, too.
What are they scheming now?
Angelica lowered her head, looking sad.
“Leon, I kinda understand where Elya’s coming from.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“So please, handle this in a way that saves face. It’s a request from me.”
If Angelica’s asking, I can’t just beat him up like the other five.
“Got it.”
◇
I showed up at the academy, and during break Marie called me over.
“What’s up?”
“Bro, it’s about Elya.”
“Again with that story?”
Everyone’s been talking about Elya since morning.
Rumor of Elya challenging me to a duel spread through the whole school.
Some idiots even tried to start betting, but it looks like the bet can’t be placed because it wouldn’t be a fair match between me and Elya.
Elya isn’t exactly a top‑tier student, after all.
“I’ll make it a duel that looks good on both sides. I’ll end it without any hard feelings.”
“You say that, but I don’t trust you. Oh, wait, that’s not it!”
Marie started telling me about Erica and Elya’s relationship.
“Erica actually doesn’t hate Elya.”
“Huh? Why her? There are plenty of better guys out there.”
“After their engagement was set, Erica apparently visited Elya’s lands a few times. Elya was spoiled, so at first he was kind of a jerk.”
In that otome game, Erica’s a nasty girl and Elya’s just her lackey fiancé.
So Erica never really liked Elya.
“Huh? He’s the one she likes? What’s so great about him?”
“But Elya apparently fell head‑over‑heels for Erica at first glance. So Erica—”
She’d been giving Elya advice on how to be a good lord.
Elya tried hard to show his good side to Erica.
Hearing that, I’m like, what the heck should I do?
“So what?”
“Probably Erica wanted to marry Elya. She talks about him all excitedly, but she’s terrible at voicing her own feelings. She’ll never outright say she wants to marry him, but you can tell she does.”
I always thought she was just too patient.
Turns out even my mother‑in‑another‑life, Marie, noticed that.
I didn’t think she’d catch on.
“You’ve been watching closely.”
“Because that kid became more patient after I messed up. I… I feel responsible, you know?”
So it’s my fault after all.
“What do you want me to do about it?”
Marie dropped to her knees in front of me.
“Please make Erica and Elya get married!”
“…Whoa.”
Another troublesome request.
It’s basically the same as telling me to smear mud on Milène’s face, right?
Well, I figured that’d happen eventually.
Am I not already picking fights from every direction?
I could go after Roland, but I’m hesitant to start something with Vins or Milène, who owe me favors.
◇
After school, I was alone on the roof when Claire came up to me.
“Oh, look at you, unusually troubled.”
“Idiot. I’m always troubled.”
“I know. But it’s rare to see you actually look worried.”
I poured my thoughts out to Claire.
“I get that Erica likes Elya, but do you think that’ll make the kid happy?”
“Huh? From our side—Luxion and I—we want you to have kids with the Master. Erica’s got a lot of Old Humanity genes. If she has a child with the Master, we’d be thrilled. Though she’s been a bit under the weather because of that.”
“Is that so?”
Erica hadn’t shown up because she was wondering if she should even get involved in this world. But mostly it was her health.
‘She can’t stay in constant bed rest, but she couldn’t push herself too hard either.’
“What does the Old Humanity thing have to do with anything?”
“It’s the ambient magic particles. They’ve thinned out. Remember the Republic’s Sacred Tree went berserk? It sucked up a ton of magic particles. The balance was delicate, and now the particles are sparser.”
The Sacred Tree’s rampage lowered the magic particles in the air a bit, and Erica seemed to recover.
Hearing that lightened my heart a little.
“If she’s better, that’s fine.”
“So let’s have Erica and the Master make a baby.”
“No way. My niece isn’t a target like that. You AI can’t understand a parent’s protective instinct.”
“Now you’re not a stranger! Get your hands on her, you wimp!”
“Don’t forget it’s because of you that Aaron turned into Are‑chan! And you made Jake go after Aaron!”
That was after the tea party. Jake’s been chatting up Are‑chan a lot lately.
—Jake’s no longer a conquest target.
Royal guys are all trash.
“—So, Master, what do you want? You don’t want to marry Erica, but you can’t accept Elya either. Are you planning to keep her from marrying? Isn’t that cruel? Are you thinking of keeping her close and… something twisted?”
“—No, that’s not it. That’s why I’m stuck. Should I look for a better guy than Elya?”
“Do you think Erica would be satisfied? Oh, I just remembered something. There’s a lower‑class male student who’s a conquest target, but he was already engaged before entering the academy.”
“What?”
“Women are the surplus these days. Your brother’s been going on matchmaking dates daily. Having an engagement before enrollment isn’t unusual now.”
Things have changed since I entered.
“I wish I could be a first‑year again.”
How do I explain this to Finn’s guy? That’s the problem.
“But now more boys are being abusive toward girls.”
“Really?”
“Positions have shifted, and old grudges are bubbling up. Some guys use engagements as bait, then dump the girls.”
I’m not jealous—well, maybe a little.
After girls, now boys get cocky.
It’s like a seesaw.
Someone needs to balance this.
“—If those guys get close to Erica and the others, deal with them however you like.”
“Sounds good! Yay! Master, love you!”
Even hearing “love you” from that guy doesn’t make me happy.
What the heck do I do?
Claire, who’d been happy, suddenly melted into the background and vanished.
Someone else showed up.
Noel appeared on the roof.
“Leon, we’ve got a visitor.”
He brought not an academy staffer but a soldier.
The guy bowed to me.
“Uh, who?”
Noel laughed and introduced the inconvenient person.
“A knight from the Freyzer house. He’s Elya’s tutor.”
A serious‑looking, bearded man in his thirties stood upright before me.
“The Marquis has a matter to discuss.”
—Noel, who the hell did you bring?
“Is it about the duel?”
“Yes.”
“If that’s the case, we won’t make a farce like Julius did. Relax.”
“No, that’s not it.”
“What?”
“Marquis, we’d like you to understand Elya’s feelings.”
—What is he on about?
“Feelings?”
“Yes. Elya hasn’t been exactly admirable up to now. But after meeting Erica, he’s changed. He’s become aware of his duties as a lord and started caring about his domain. —This is a crucial moment.”
They want Elya to become a proper lord, so they can’t have him break down.
“What do you think about the broken engagement with Erica?”
“—It’s infuriating, honestly, but we can’t just betray the kingdom.”
From my side, Claire whispered unseen.
‘I’m not lying.’
I looked at Elya’s tutor, confirming what “receiving his feelings” meant.
“So you want me to take him seriously? Or to go easy on him? By the way, is Elya even strong?”
“Elya’s skill is below that of an average knight.”
Straight‑up servant talk.
“However, he’s been training hard lately, improving his armor‑piloting. So we’d like you to fight him seriously, but only to the point where he doesn’t get injured.”
“That’s… tricky.”
Noel leaned in, sensing my dilemma.
“What are you going to do? You don’t actually want to kill him, right?”
“Obviously not.”
Why would I have to risk my life in a school duel? That’s not a thing anymore.
Noel’s gaze was earnest, worried.
“—I’m not planning to kill him or leave lasting injuries. That’s fine, right?”
The tutor thanked me and left the roof.
Then Claire reappeared.
‘Here we go again.’
“Claire, you’re here too. I haven’t seen you around, got worried.”
Noel said that, and Claire tossed a quip back.
‘Even I’m busy. I don’t have time to sit around like the Master, whining.’
Why did she bring me into it?
Noel laughed and came beside me.
“Leon, aren’t you going to marry Erica?”
“No.”
“If you love her, just do it. Angelica and Olivia wouldn’t mind.”
“I do like Erica, but it feels more like a familial affection, you know? So marriage feels off.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. I want Erica to be happy, but I have no clue how to make that happen.”
“Got it. Then—”
I listened to Noel’s suggestion and decided to test Erica.
◇
The academy’s arena.
Nix, who hadn’t shown his face in a while, grabbed a popcorn and settled in to watch the duel.
He’d been on endless matchmaking dates, and today he fled using Leon as an excuse.
He’d forced his way out of a match‑making session because his brother was dueling.
(Upper‑age forty‑something, lower‑age single‑digit—this is messed up.)
Next to the tired‑looking Nix sat Jena.
“Ugh, this brings back bad memories.”
“You rigged a bomb into Leon’s armor. As a family, that’s just gross.”
“Shut up! Did you think I had any other options?”
Jena was irritated, but she’d been enjoying a break in the capital—shopping, reuniting with friends.
Her marriage hunt, however, was going nowhere.
“Damn! If only I could use Leon’s legend, I could marry a noble in the capital right now!”
Nix rolled his eyes.
“Because of that attitude, your parents will oppose your marriage. If you change your mind, they’ll consider it, but you never change.”
“Treating women like slaves is wrong!”
“So you’re turning men into slaves? You never grow up.”
If Jena married a noble who wanted to get close to Leon, things would only get messier.
That’s why Jena hasn’t used Leon’s legend for her own marriage.
“Now that you’ve enjoyed sightseeing in the capital, go marry some Koko’s kid.”
“Never. I’ll never give up.”
Jena snatched Nix’s popcorn and started binge‑eating.
Next to them showed up Finley.
“Oh, you two came to watch too?”
Behind Finley was a mountain of snacks carried by Oscar.
“Are you an acquaintance of the Bartfort family?”
“Yeah. He’s my brother and sister.”
Oscar looked a bit rough but was good‑looking—tall and muscular.
When Jena dropped popcorn, Nix covered his face with his hand.
(Oh, she’s the type Jena likes.)
“Finley’s always looking out for me. I’m Jena, his sister.”
“I’m Oscar. The Bartforts always help us out.”
Jena suddenly went all cutesy, making Nix and Finley stare in disbelief.
“Jena, don’t be so clingy.”
“Sis, you’re the worst.”
Finley didn’t seem that into Oscar.
But he was definitely not okay with his sister targeting him.
“Don’t go after younger guys.”
“Finley, chill. Just because I’m more attractive as a woman doesn’t mean you have to put yourself down.”
“What the—! I never said that!”
Sparks flew between them—Nix could actually see the illusion.
Oscar looked flustered.
“You two are beautiful, honestly.”
“Gee, Oscar, you’re blunt.”
Jena clung to Oscar’s arm without a care.
Finley’s eyes widened, glaring.
(Hope this doesn’t become a hassle… —huh?)
Feeling watched, I turned around and saw a cleaning staff member from the academy.
The young man wore his cap low.
(He looks familiar…)
When Nix faced him, the guy fled as if scared.