"So, you there. Your name? Your title?"
The second prince, Aster, had appeared at the party without warning.
The first person he turned his gaze to was the man who had been desperately begging Katia for a marriage arrangement moments ago.
"Y-Yes! Karl von Hartnet, at your service! I hold the rank of Count!"
"I see. And you — what were you just about to say?"
Having listened to the name he'd asked for with undisguised disinterest, Aster then stepped closer to the Baron.
"That I broke off my engagement with Katia — surely even you wouldn't — what was that?"
"H-Hhhhk!"
"I'd like to think not, but...
...are you suggesting
that breaking the engagement
...was a mistake?"
"N-No, n-no, no, absolutely not!"
Cold sweat dripped from the Baron's face as he shook his head so violently it made an audible sound.
"Then why did you try so desperately to arrange a marriage with her? A woman I declared worthless? What reason could you possibly have for pursuing her so? What value did you see in her that warranted such effort?"
"I — I couldn't help but think it, Your Highness!"
"Think what?"
"Rumor has it that Lady Katia overcame her greatest flaw — her inability to use Bloodline Magic! So I thought, if she has truly become a flawless Duchess, then perhaps —! Please, please, I beg your mercy!!"
Consumed by fear, the Baron prostrated himself, trembling from head to toe.
Looking down at the sight with cold eyes, Aster snorted through his nose.
"……Hmph, fine. Unlike me, you lot are easily swayed by short-term results. That's exactly why I came here personally—to set you straight."
Though they had no idea what he was talking about, Aster let his tone and demeanor carry a hint of leniency. Sensing hope, the Baron raised his face.
"Th-then…!"
"However."
But immediately after, he wrapped himself in a cruel aura once more.
"You committed a sin. You let yourself be deceived by that rumor and were about to say that my annulment of the engagement was a mistake."
"This is a misunderstanding, Your Highness! You could never have made the wrong judgment!"
"No, you were going to say it. In other words—"
"From the bottom of your heart—"
"that's what you truly thought—"
"—"
"all this time, you—"
"must have been doubting me all along."
""
Even Ermes, listening from the sidelines, could only think the latter half was nothing but a baseless accusation. However,
"Th-that is absolutely correct, Your Highness!"
"For some time now, that man has made numerous remarks questioning Your Highness's actions!"
"There must have been treacherous intent—there's no doubt about it!"
The nobles who had been listening nearby latched onto Aster's words without a shred of doubt.
"I-I can't believe this! You people—!"
"Just as I thought. My eyes can't be fooled."
"Y-Your Highness! This is a misunderstanding, it truly is a misunderstanding, please—!"
"I'll pass judgment in due time. Take him away."
With a smug curl of his lips, Aster casually ordered the soldiers who had been guarding the party. Though bewildered, the soldiers could not defy a royal's command, and they led the count away as he begged for mercy.
Judging by the count's behavior, that "judgment" was unlikely to be a light one.
The second prince, Aster, who had just determined someone's fate over the most absurd reason, turned around to face this way.
"Well then. It's been a while, Katia."
"...Yes, Your Highness Aster."
"You've been getting rather full of yourself—
even going so far as to seize
the power
of a counterfeit—
was the seat
of being
my fiancée
really that precious to you?"
(...Eh?)
Ermes raised a question mark in their mind.
It was the same as before. Things that were clearly wrong from Ermes's perspective, Aster would declare with absolute confidence and not a shred of doubt.
"...With all due respect, Your Highness. That one is a fraud—"
"Ha! 'With all due respect'! That's always what you do—twist your words around and twist everything to suit yourself!"
"..."
"But too bad for you, because no matter how hard you struggle, I will never renew my engagement to you!"
He cut Katia off mid-sentence and bulldozed ahead on his own.
"Because I've already found her! A lady far more worthy than you—one whom I can truly lavish my affection upon! ...Come now, step forward. Sara."
"...Yes."
Having delivered his grand proclamation, he turned his gaze toward the back. From the crowd, a girl roughly the same age as Ermes stepped forward.
She had pale blonde hair and large, deep-set emerald eyes that gleamed with intensity. Long lashes and plump lips framed a youthful beauty that gave her an overwhelmingly gentle impression.
Covering a figure that was remarkably well-developed for a girl her age was a white dress like a layered gossamer wing, its thin fabric overlapping in ethereal folds.
If Katia could be called a fairy, this girl looked like an angel—staggeringly, breathtakingly beautiful.
"Sara von Hartmann. She is my new fiancée."
The hall erupted in murmurs.
Judging by that reaction, this was presumably the first time the news of the engagement had been revealed here.
"The eldest daughter of the Baron Hartmann family. Her family's standing is certainly low, but such things are trivial. She possesses beauty and grace that Katia could never match, and above all—a talent for magic that Katia cannot even begin to compare with!"
"...Sara."
Paying no attention to Aster's introduction, Katia looked over at Sara.
Her gaze was not hostile in the least. If anything, it carried a tinge of concern.
Curious, Ermes asked.
"Do you two know each other?"
"……Yes. We were in the same class at the academy."
"Ah... K-Katia, my lady."
Whether or not she had noticed Katia's gaze, Sara raised her head and approached.
She looked their way with an expression somewhat tinged with guilt.
"Lady Katia, um, I..."
"Sara. Are you truly sure about this?"
For her part, Katia deliberately hardened her voice into a stern tone, even as traces of worry lingered, and pressed the question.
"Becoming His Highness's fiancée—a royal consort. It's not the shining honor everyone around you makes it out to be. Do you have the resolve to accept all of that?"
"Th-that's..."
"Stop it, Katia!"
Just as Sara was about to answer, Aster cut in with a protective gesture, stepping between them.
"Hmph, what an incorrigible woman. — Did you see that, noble lords!
At the academy too,
she was
like this!"
And with that, Aster pulled Sara close and proclaimed in a booming voice meant for all to hear.
"She was jealous of Sara's magical talent despite having none of her own, and used her position to carry out insidious, repeated bullying! She thought she'd hidden it well from everyone around her, but I saw right through it! ...Right, Sara, isn't that so?"
As though seeking her testimony, Aster called out to Sara in a gentle voice.
"I... I..."
"It's all right. You don't need to fear any retaliation. I'll protect you."
Sara hesitated, her words trailing off as if wrestling with something, but at Aster's whispered encouragement, she shut her eyes tight.
"...Y-Yes, Your Highness... it is... as you say."
She said it in a voice so faint it seemed on the verge of disappearing.
"...Sara."
"You've spoken the truth, and I thank you for it. This is the true nature of that woman, nobles of the court!"
Aster's shout drowned out Katia's sorrowful murmur.
"I was the first to see through this nature of hers—I annulled the engagement and had her expelled from the academy! And yet, here she is once more, clawing desperately to the very end!"
"..."
"Wake up, you foolish nobles. A woman who has been called the Flawed Lady, branded as incompetent by my own judgment—suddenly awakening now? It's impossible. She must have used some underhanded trick."
"That is... certainly..."
"All we know for certain is
that an Ancient magical tool
was brought back. That is the only confirmed information we have."
"If that's all it takes, anyone could do it with a bit of luck. We may have been deceived..."
And so, following Aster's grand speech, the nobles' reactions gradually began to shift.
And then—as though timed to coincide with that very moment—
"Th-This is terrible!"
A guard burst into the great hall, his voice cutting through the murmuring crowd.
As all eyes in the venue turned toward him, the guard shouted with a face drenched in sweat.
"A-A large Monster has appeared just outside the venue!"