Chapter 23
The academy.
An educational institution of the Empire, located in the eastern part of the continent.
Its cadets were all either children of distinguished families or commoners who had proven their exceptional abilities.
Therefore, every cadet knew—or had to know—grace and dignity.
Even if something interesting was happening, they weren't supposed to crane their necks, gape openly, or stare.
Just a quick sidelong glance.
A furtive peek while pretending not to look.
The Imperial Academy was the sort of place where failing to do so would get you branded as someone without an ounce of dignity.
And yet.
An uproar so fascinating that even cadets who knew the rules couldn't help staring was unfolding in the academy cafeteria right now.
“…Are you seriously out of your mind?”
“Ugh… Why am I stuck with a delinquent womanizer like this…?”
Of course, the commotion involved Gilliam, Maron, and Elettra.
More precisely, it was caused by Gilliam's bombshell proposal.
Elettra pointed straight at Maron.
“You want the two of us to go out with you?”
Maron pointed straight at Elettra, too.
“You already invited me, and now you're inviting Her Highness as well!?”
Faced with the two women's protests, Gilliam said,
“Yeah.”
“….”
“….”
No.
If you just agreed to that, what did that make us?
We'd have nothing left to say.
“Then is that a problem?”
“….”
“….”
It would have been great if they could've shouted, Of course it is!
But they couldn't.
Because the dynamic between the three of them was clear: the two women were both pursuing Gilliam.
It wasn't up to Maron or Elettra to decide what was or wasn't allowed. It was up to Gilliam.
“If you don't like it, never mind.”
“….”
“….”
The two women clicked their tongues inwardly.
Wow, this guy's sneakily cunning, isn't he?
If he said that while the three of them were together, there was no way out.
What if Elettra said she didn't like it?
→Then you can leave. Maron and I will go on a date alone.
What if Elettra said she didn't mind?
→Then we can all go on a date together. You don't mind, after all.
Of course, the same went for Maron, with only the names reversed.
Neither woman was happy with the situation.
But neither of them could complain.
Because that would lead to the worst possible outcome: Gilliam going on a date alone with the other woman.
A checkmate based on game theory.
Of course, there was a “right answer” in this situation.
Namely.
To kick this nasty delinquent, who'd openly declared he was going to toy with two women at once, to the curb with a, ‘I don't need a man like you!?’
But if that had been possible, things never would've gotten this far in the first place.
“…All right.”
“…We can go together, then.”
The two women declared their surrender.
Still, they expressed a little lingering resentment in romance-fantasy-speak.
“I've wanted to get to know Miss Maron better for a while now, too.”
“For me, this is a wonderful chance to become acquainted with Your Highness as well.”
“Ahahaha.”
“Ohoho.”
“Wow, really? I'm glad you two are planning to become friends.”
“….”
“….”
They'd already surrendered.
Did he really have to trample them so mercilessly, too?
You cruel womanizer.
“What's wrong?”
…If that's what he wanted, what could they do? It was their fault they couldn't tear themselves away from that cruel womanizer.
“Sigh.”
“Good grief.”
Maron slumped over in her chair, and Elettra sat in an empty seat and flopped down onto the table.
Elettra's large breasts pressed and flattened against the glass tabletop. Near her face sat the chocolate cake Maron had been eating.
“…I want cake, too.”
“Want me to buy you some?”
He really was a bad man.
Why did he have to ask so readily right now?
“…I guess I wouldn't feel so bad if I had some.”
“Wait here, then.”
Gilliam got to his feet.
Only Maron and Elettra were left.
The two women exchanged glances as they slumped over.
“….”
Interpretation: What kind of relationship are we going to have from now on?
“….”
Interpretation: How should I know?
“….”
Interpretation: I won't give up the position of first wife.
“….”
Interpretation: What is wrong with this crazy bitch?
“….”
Interpretation: The one that crazy bitch pushed aside—
“….”
Interpretation: Obviously, I'm the first wife.
“….”
Interpretation: That was what you wanted to nitpick about?
Just then.
Elettra's brow twitched ever so slightly, and she sat up.
She had just left behind the face she showed Gilliam and returned to being the cold, icy princess.
A man's voice rang out.
From behind Maron and in front of Elettra.
“It's been a while, Elettra. Now that you've enrolled, you could've come to see your big brother at least once.”
The clear tone and crisp enunciation of someone who'd received voice training.
Elettra responded in the same kind of voice.
“It's been a while, Your Highness.”
The crown prince of the Empire.
Roderick Xantias.
Roderick, the man who would become the next emperor, was a classic romance-fantasy male lead.
Handsome and capable.
But overbearing, convinced of his own superiority, rude, and prickly.
Crown Prince Roderick shrugged at the group behind him.
“See? This is how my own little sister treats me.”
His group was made up exclusively of sons and daughters from prestigious families.
The Crown Prince faction.
They followed Roderick everywhere, bolstered his self-esteem, and took care of troublesome tasks for him, all while expecting to receive all kinds of favors once he became emperor.
They gave him exactly the answer he wanted to hear.
“Hahaha, Your Highness must have a lot to put up with.”
“Even if she is a princess, treating Your Highness that way is rather undignified.”
Roderick laughed and kept needling Elettra.
“Hahaha! Exactly. What are you so afraid of, Elettra? You enrolled, but you haven't shown your face even once.”
“…That's not something Your Highness needs to concern himself with.”
“Heh, is that so? By the way, our little Lett used to struggle with math. Has she gotten any better lately?”
He called her by a nickname she hated.
He exposed an embarrassing weakness in front of everyone.
Both were familiar forms of torment for Elettra.
Roderick was the sort of person who always had to put others down to shore up his own pride.
When they were in the imperial palace, Elettra had been one of his many victims.
Elettra's fingertips trembled. She was holding herself back from clenching her fist.
Roderick noticed those trembling fingers, and his eyes filled with smug superiority.
“Hehehe… But Elettra, even for you, getting close to someone with that Star is a bit much, don't you think?”
Maron's shoulders, which had been perfectly still, gave a small shudder.
“The Calamity Star… Rudeia, the wicked woman who ruined Orton four hundred years ago; Beth, who corrupted the king of the southern kingdom; Sateria, the Great Witch of Envy from a thousand years ago… They all bore the Star of Calamity.”
Roderick's eyes narrowed.
“Won't this woman end up the same way?”
His words cut into Maron's heart.
It hurt.
It stung.
But this was familiar pain for Maron, too.
Everything Roderick was saying was something she'd heard for a long time.
“The fate of a wicked woman.”
“A being who will deceive and throw the world into chaos….”
“And the direction her talent is taking….”
“Stay away from her. You don't know what misfortune she'll bring.”
Maron Clearias, a girl with no one in her corner.
In the end, one day during her third year, she turned the cadets who had poured mop water over her head into lumps of flesh begging to be killed, then disappeared.
She stole the entire forbidden section of the library, too.
Was Maron Clearias destined to become one of the worst witches ever?
Or was it the people around her who eagerly pushed her down the path of that fate?
The destiny she'd been born under.
The reason Gilliam was the first friend she'd ever had.
And compared to Princess Elettra, Maron was a relatively easy target.
Meaning that not only the crown prince himself, but his cronies could take easy shots at her, too.
“Heh, exactly, Your Highness.”
“Perhaps the Clearias family will become a house of traitors one day, too?”
“Hahahaha! That's right!”
Roderick burst into hearty laughter.
Elettra clenched her teeth and endured the humiliation,
while Maron desperately fought back tears.
Right then.
“Hey.”
Tap, tap.
A finger audaciously tapped the crown prince on the shoulder.
“Hmm?”
When he turned his head, Roderick saw a chocolate-colored lump coming toward his face.
It was chocolate cake.
Wham!!!
“Ubbrrgh!?”
“Your Highness!!”
“Prince Roderick!!”
The Crown Prince faction cadets panicked and scrambled about.
Roderick nearly fell backward, but just managed to keep his balance.
“Careful, Your Highness. There's cake on the floor.”
Just as Roderick was about to regain his balance, he stepped on the cake, and—
“Gah!?”
He fell backward.
Thud!!
The crown prince got hit in the face with a cake and tumbled across the floor.
Dozens of cadets, who'd already been watching, saw it all clearly.
The crown prince's disgrace would spread throughout the academy within the hour,
and after a few days of exaggeration and embellishment,
it would become prime gossip for the cadets to chew over, pick apart, savor, and enjoy come Monday.
“Grrk…!?”
Of course, Roderick knew that, too.
He groaned as he got up, his eyes blazing with rage.
“Who on earth would play this kind of ‘prank’ on the next emperor…!?”
“Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Your Highness.”
A head of silver hair suddenly appeared in his field of vision.
Cold golden eyes.
Features so handsome that even another man couldn't help but admit it.
“This is the first time we've met in person, Rorick.”
“…Everchess.”
Roderick's face twisted.
The delinquent young master of House Everchess.
The man who'd dredged up the painful ‘suspicion’ of grade tampering on the very first day of classes.
“You think you can do this and get away with it…?”
Roderick's voice trembled.
Because he actually had very few cards he could play against Gilliam Everchess.
No matter how much of a crown prince he was, House Everchess was too powerful for him to take on in an all-out confrontation.
Normally, he'd retaliate by damaging the target's reputation in high society.
But Gilliam was a delinquent.
The thing about delinquents: they have no reputation to lose.
“My apologies.”
Gilliam lowered his head.
Expressionless.
There was anger in his voice.
“Your Highness Rorick—”
“My name is Roderick!”
“Oh, was it?”
…What?
Oh, was it?
Come to think of it, hadn't this guy just spoken informally to the crown prince?
“Sorry. I forgot.”
“Grrk…!!!”
Roderick's neck started to ache with tension.
“So I'll give Your Highness the chance to personally make me pay for this disrespect.”
“…?”
“Let's duel.”
A duel.
A fight between nobles over their honor.
A male cadet named Yos, one of the Crown Prince faction, spoke up.
“Your Highness, there'd be nothing to gain from defeating a delinquent in a duel. For the sake of the Empire, you should refuse.”
“R-right. You're right.”
Roderick awkwardly tried to stand, then slipped and fell again because of the cake on his shoes.
“Argh!!”
Roderick's scream rang through the silent cafeteria.
“Grrgh…!”
He got up again.
The cake on his face fell onto his shirt.
It was an expensive white silk outfit, and it would be quite some time before it came back from the laundry.
Roderick ground his teeth and said,
“Gilliam Everchess, don't think you'll get away with what happened today.”
He tried to leave after delivering that parting threat, but—
“No, I said let's settle today's business today, didn't I?”
Gilliam thrust his expressionless face toward him.
“Why bother remembering it? We can duel right now.”
Cadet Yos shouted at him.
“Everchess! His Highness—”
“Who are you? Get lost if you don't want to die.”
“Gasp…!”
It was an insult of unimaginable proportions in a romance-fantasy world. Yos broke into a cold sweat and backed away.
Total domination.
Roderick muttered with a groan.
“…I'll let today's incident pass without consequence.”
It was effectively an unconditional declaration of surrender.
Roderick's pride had already been torn to shreds.
And Gilliam rubbed salt in the wound.
“Chicken?”
Grind.
Grrrind…!!
“You…!! I'll never…!!”
“Your Highness!”
“Please calm down, Your Highness!!”
The Crown Prince faction cadets held him back.
“Grr…!!!!”
Roderick glared at Gilliam with bulging eyes, then stomped off without another word.
In the now-silent cafeteria,
Gilliam's voice was low.
“Maron, Elettra.”
“Ah, y-yes!”
“Y-yeah.”
“I'll buy you something tastier outside. Let's go.”
“…Yes.”
“…Yeah.”
The two women quietly stood up and took their places on either side of Gilliam.
They weren't fighting.
Their faces were tinged with a faint blush of happiness and shyness, enough to make them forget their jealousy of each other for a moment.
Seeing that scene, the other cadets thought to themselves.
‘…So he went after the crown prince because he was picking on his girls.’
They drew their conclusions.
‘He's a delinquent, but he definitely looks after his women.’
‘Though he's a delinquent.’
‘And a total delinquent.’
Nod, nod.
‘He's a womanizer, but at least he does what he has to.’
‘Though he's a womanizer.’
‘A truly wicked womanizer.’
Still.
‘That was kind of cool.’
‘If it were me, could I have done that if someone picked a fight with my girlfriend…?’
‘…I can see why the girls are all after that guy.’