‘You absolute fool!’
I had been called by Анже and was kneeling in seiza with my head bowed.
Ливия and Ноэль also stood around me.
‘Leon-san, you went too far!’
‘I was shocked. Really, it was cringey! I imagined something milder, but going that far is not okay!’
They were angry about the duel with Elya — angry that I made everyone cringe. Or rather, that I’d lowered my own reputation.
Анже let out a sigh.
‘Don’t disgrace your name more than necessary. You didn’t have to go that far.’
I gave a small laugh.
‘I’m not hero material, so being a little disliked is just fine for me.’
‘Leon-san, that wasn’t a little. Everyone was cringing.’
Ливия gave me a look like what are you talking about? and warned me.
Ноэль folded her arms.
‘Well, in the end, maybe it was good?’
Erika spoke her feelings out loud.
That was the biggest gain right now.
‘But the real busy part starts now. Her Majesty the Queen will definitely make a move.’
It’s like we shook off the hand Lady Mirene offered.
Анже tells me we should act immediately.
‘Let me confirm once more. Leon, you won’t help with the usurpation, and you won’t get any closer to the Royal Family than necessary. Is that the plan?’
That was a harsher choice than siding with either.
But it’s for the sake of my adorable niece.
I’ve made up my mind to do it.
‘I’m already prepared. — Луксион!’
Луксион, floating near my right shoulder, explained in a listless way.
‘We plan to fully support Erika’s marriage into the Fresa house while making it look like our stance leans toward the Kingdom. Dealing with Mirene will be difficult, though.’
‘Eh, really? If I apologize, won’t she forgive me?’
Saying that it would be troubling if Lady Mirene stayed angry, the three of them gave me utterly exasperated looks.
‘Leon, what do you want to do with the Queen?’
‘Leon-san, no!’
‘No, why are you so fixated on a married woman?’
It’s simply a matter of taste.
Анже looked a little pleased.
‘From now on, I can’t rely on my family either. The Queen most likely won’t help. We’ll have to get through this situation on our own.’
Ливия watched Анже with a worried expression.
‘Анже, aren’t you looking like you’re enjoying this?’
‘Does it look that way?’
Seeing Анже’s smiling face, Ноэль shrugged.
‘You look really happy. So, what do we start with?’
Анже placed her hands on her hips.
‘—We’ll revive the engagement between Lady Erika and Elya. Actually, we already have permission.’
The one who gave permission was Roland.
That bastard apparently said that if Erika wouldn’t marry me, he’d settle for Elya.
No matter how you look at it, he’s a piece of trash.
◇
In the capital, at the mansion of the Дом Редгрейв.
In the office, father and son were together.
Винс received a report about the разрыв помолвки between Leon and Erika.
Гилберт looked happy.
‘You’ve shaken off the Queen’s hand. Father, this is as good as Leon declaring he’s on our side.’
But Винс tore the report into pieces and threw it away.
‘Father!?’
Agitated, Винс muttered Анже’s name.
‘So you defy me, Анже.’
‘W-what is wrong? Why would Анже defy you?’
Винс shot a sharp glare at Гилберт.
‘The after-the-fact report is more than enough proof. It’s as if they’re saying they don’t trust us. And it seems they forcibly pushed ahead with sending Lady Erika to the Fresa house.’
‘Did the Queen approve it?’
‘It was His Majesty. That good-for-nothing only moves fast at times like this.’
Винс could see Roland grinning.
Infuriating.
He may play around normally, but he does have some ability for what he is.
‘Shall we summon Анже?’
‘Even if we call her, do you think she’ll come waltzing in? Even if we try to drag her back by force, she’s protected by the Marquis. It’s a move made knowing we can’t oppose her now.’
The situation is that they’re rallying allies of the faction, using Leon as their figurehead.
If we oppose them, the faction cannot be maintained.
These are allies gathered under Leon’s name.
If we oppose them, they will certainly leave.
Гилберт narrowed his eyes.
‘I’ll arrange a meeting for discussion.’
‘Before that, find out what Анже’s objective is.’
The Дом герцога Редгрейва’s movements had become suspicious.
Винс muttered.
‘What meaning is there in keeping the current Kingdom alive?’
Since the war with the Principality, Винс had thought the current Royal Family had no future.
A new Royal Family would be necessary.
Анже should have understood that as well.
Винс gave a small smile at his daughter, whom he thought was on his side, but who apparently now stood against him.
‘—Let’s see what you’ve got.’
◇
There was a woman burning a report.
In the office of the Royal Palace.
With an expressionless face, burning the report about sending Erika to the Fresa house was Mirene.
‘So… you won’t take my hand. That’s what you want to say, isn’t it, Leon? Or no, is it Анже?’
From Mirene’s perspective, forcing Erika to marry Leon was overbearing but necessary.
Just how critical the situation was.
‘Everyone is leaving me, aren’t they?’
Not only Анже, whom she had hoped for, but she was also betrayed by Leon, whom she had looked after.
And her own children, Юлиус and Erika, were the same.
At this most crucial moment, Mirene had been betrayed by everyone.
‘You want to see that much blood, don’t you? Then, do as you please.’
Mirene could see the collapse of the Королевство Холфарт.
Leon’s actions, showing an attitude of not taking sides.
The movements of the Дом герцога Редгрейва.
Movements at home and abroad.
Rebellions will break out everywhere, and the land will be stained with blood.
The feudal lords will quarrel, and the independent factions will fight fiercely.
While that is happening, neighboring countries will surely intervene.
The Королевство Холфарт will surely be destroyed.
Getting through this situation is now nearly impossible.
‘—This is what you wished for.’
With the light gone from her eyes, Mirene murmured that.
◇
The boys’ dormitory at the Академия.
The ones I called to my room were Erika and Elya.
‘—An engagement ceremony?’
While Erika was surprised, Elya was as stiff as a board with tension.
‘I-I need to buy a ring! And arrange the ceremony venue!’
Мари smacked Elya with a paper fan.
‘Calm down!’
The smacked Elya said ‘Y-yes!’ and deferred to Мари.
But since Мари currently doesn’t have a proper status, she’s not in a position to speak so strongly to Elya, though.
When I looked at Анже, she explained in my place.
‘We’ll push it through during summer break. Once the engagement ceremony is held, it’ll be impossible to interfere with their marriage after that.’
After I went through with my engagement ceremony, you can see how forceful it was for Lady Mirene to push her daughter Erika onto me.
‘Lord Elya, I think you understand, but Leon will take care of this engagement.’
It seemed Elya understood what that meant.
‘D-does that mean I have to join the Marquis’ faction? I-it’s fine. The Fresa house was part of the Queen’s faction until now. B-but, because of the matter with Erika, that’s been muddled. Although, we’ve been on the decline originally, and there are no other nobles I can introduce to you.’
Being on the decline means other houses won’t deal with you anymore.
Or rather, is it okay to be under me when we have the same rank?
‘Is it okay for Elya to be under me?’
‘Of course there are problems. But right now we want to expand the faction even a little.’
Юлиус, who had been listening, explained it to me in an easy-to-understand way.
‘Bartfort, in this world numbers are important. If you can show there are nobles supporting you, even the Royal Palace can’t ignore you. Well, Анжелика’s aim is to chip away at the Дом герцога Редгрейва faction, though.’
‘Eh, really?’
Анже nodded in agreement.
‘We need to whittle down Father’s faction enough to make them give up on usurpation. On top of that, we’ll show domestically and abroad that Leon fully supports the Royal Family.’
However, there seemed to be a problem with that.
Юлиус looked embarrassed.
‘But, at this moment, no one is in the position of Crown Prince. Even if we say we support the Kingdom, honestly, it just means a succession conflict is waiting.’
If there were a clear Crown Prince, we could just pledge loyalty to that person.
But no one holds that position now.
I held my head in my hands.
‘Damn iiiit! If only I hadn’t punched the Second Prince!’
Юлиус looked at me with sad eyes.
‘I can’t say much about others, but why don’t you think a little further ahead before acting?’
But there’s no point in worrying forever.
If I’ve decided to do my best for my niece, then I should stand up and act at once.
‘Then, let’s talk to Jake. If that doesn’t work, we can just make one of the other princes the Crown Prince.’
Анже’s cheeks were a bit flushed.
‘Leon, I like that part of you.’
Мари shook her head.
‘That way of thinking is just not there. Preparing a Crown Prince? How does that even work?’
The position of Crown Prince isn’t something I can decide on my own.
But there are any number of ways.
Beside Elya, who looked troubled and couldn’t speak, Erika hung her head.
‘You don’t have to go this far. I-I…’
Мари put a hand on Erika’s shoulder.
‘Leave it to me. Big bro—Leon will manage.’
When Erika nodded slightly, Анже turned her gaze to Луксион, who had been listening.
‘Well, we have Луксион as our trump card, after all.’
Луксион was his usual self.
‘As for me, I would like Master to take the throne just like that. It would be the easiest.’
—No joke.
‘Rejected. I don’t want to become king.’
Анже, who heard Луксион’s joke, pondered things like If we can, that would be good but… and Юлиус seriously fretted, If Bartfort becomes king, will I be able to become a skewer grill chef?
—You, Юлиус! Where the hell are you headed!?
If you had been more dependable, I wouldn’t have had to struggle so much!
‘Well then, first— Oh?’
Just as Луксион was about to talk about future plans, a visitor came to my room.
◇
‘Goodness, Prince Jake.’
‘Don’t say that. I only say this sort of thing to you.’
‘You’re saying that again.’
‘Heh, this feeling is a first for me.’
In a deserted courtyard of the Академия.
Aare-chan and Prince Jake were chatting happily.
Prince Jake was trying to impress the graceful Aare-chan by offering one topic after another.
Hiding in the shadows, me and Finn watched the scene, breaking out in a cold sweat.
‘—No way.’
Never did I imagine Prince Jake would get this serious.
I thought he’d realize the gender and come to his senses midway.
‘Hey, what do we do! The male Цель прохождения are all wiped out, aren’t they!’
Jake — aiming for Aare-chan.
Classmate — already married and not at the academy.
Aaron — turned into Aare-chan.
Underclassman — has a fiancée.
With the situation of one male Цель прохождения targeting another male Цель прохождения, I was speechless.
I looked at Finn.
‘There should still be Oscar.’
‘Your sisters are after Oscar!’
‘Eh? No, he’s also good-looking, so other girls would go after him too. More importantly, were Finley and the others seriously after him?’
I thought that even if those two went after him, they wouldn’t be able to get close to Oscar.
But Finn, who had been watching from close by, was more knowledgeable about Oscar’s love life.
‘No, there’s no way other girls would go after the guy Finley is after.’
‘Why?’
‘Because she’s your sister!’
Finn raised his voice while getting angry at me, Why don’t you understand!
In short, Finley is the sister of me, who became a hero of the Kingdom.
Thanks to the consideration of those around her not to interfere with the love life of such a person’s sister, things are progressing smoothly with Oscar?
‘Ah — this one’s also dead-ended.’
‘There’s no reset button in real life! What are we going to do? What are we really going to do!?’
I told the panicking Finn to calm down.
‘W-wait, there should be an event where Mia-chan’s health gets better. If we check that, it’ll be fine.’
‘S-sorry, but I don’t know. I just heard some stuff from my sister. I don’t know the details. The old Emperor didn’t know either, that’s why he sent us to study in the Kingdom.’
‘Leave it to me. We have Мари, who pointlessly played that otome game. If we ask her, we’ll find out right away.’
Hearing that, Finn breathed a sigh of relief.
‘I-is that so? Thank goodness.’
◇
‘Huh? I played it, but I didn’t clear it.’
‘What?’
We had called Маri out, but what we heard was an unbelievable story.
‘Well, I bought it sure, but I didn’t play it to the end. I just watched the later half as gameplay videos.’
This girl dropped it halfway through.
Finn frantically confirmed.
‘Th-then, do you remember any important event concerning Mia? Any small detail is fine.’
Мари folded her arms.
‘Even if you say that, it was a long time ago. Um, if I recall — there was a setting where she’d become energetic upon entering a Подземелье.’
—What kind of setting is that?
Finn seemed to recall it too.
‘That’s it! A-anything else?’
For Finn, who was desperate for Mia-chan’s sake, I told Мари to remember.
—While pulling out a wad of cash from my pocket, that is.
‘Here, I’ll give you this, so remember.’
‘Yay, I love you, big bro!’
Watching Мари take the wad of cash and immediately stash it in her own pocket made me sad.
Finn also made a complicated expression.
‘Your sibling relationship is awful.’
‘Even though she’s my sister, it’s just pathetic.’
‘No, you’re awful too. Handing a wad of cash to your sister is messed up!’
Perhaps because Finn was there, Маri made an embarrassed face, something she usually doesn’t care about.
It was the face she makes when she’s pretending to be good.
‘N-no, it’s not like that. It’s hard earning living expenses for everyone.’
Honestly, living expenses for eight people are tough.
Because quite a sum disappears every month, Маri, who manages the household finances, is always looking for money.
‘I see. I’m sorry.’
As Finn apologized, I informed him.
‘That’s not it. She aimed for a reverse harem and ended up having to support five guys, so it’s her own fault.’
‘Why are you telling him!’
Watching Маri grab onto me, Finn hid his face with both hands.
‘Please, just tell me the important information about Mia.’
Then, Erika appeared from the shadows.
‘I know about it.’