Chapter 49
“Then our Renoa can go.”
“This is the place to choose one person to attend the First Prince’s coming-of-age ceremony.”
Pascal’s words brought everyone’s movements to a halt.
Even Lowell, who had been so sure it would be him, Idella, and Florencia, who didn’t care much as long as it was one of her own children.
All of their expressions froze as if they’d heard something that should never have been said.
...Me?
Even Renoa, the person in question, was no exception.
She had never once thought she’d be chosen, and reacted only after a long, slow beat.
“Take Renoa to the imperial banquet. Think of it as a coming-of-age gift.”
“But...”
“Who knows? Maybe the prince will fall head over heels for our Renoa and court her. If we can forge ties with the imperial family, there’d be no greater honor for Edelhyde.”
The duke’s words were certainly reasonable.
But no one agreed with that cheerful assumption.
It was Lady Florencia who first shattered the ice-cold silence.
“Are you seriously saying that right now?”
The mask of elegance the lady had been wearing cracked at once. Her voice trembled grotesquely with restrained anger.
“This is the imperial banquet, where every eye and ear in the Empire will be focused. Do you mean to set a lowborn bloodline of unknown origin up as the family’s representative? Do you intend to turn Edelhyde into a laughingstock?”
“Mother is absolutely right, Father.”
Lowell could no longer hold back and rose roughly from his seat. The chair slid back and toppled over with a thud.
“My sister Idella and I are perfectly fine and wide awake. Why should some bastard represent the family!”
“Just as Lowell said. Putting a half-blood before His Highness the prince could make the whole family suffer for deceiving the imperial family.”
Idella also backed Lowell up in a sharp voice.
Unable to glare openly at the duke, blatant contempt and reproach poured onto Renoa instead.
With her gaze lowered, Renoa merely toyed silently with her knife.
“I see. So that’s what you all think.”
Pascal nodded slowly as if he understood.
“But tell me, when have I ever asked for your permission to decide the family’s affairs?”
It was only one sentence.
The warm voice from moments ago vanished without a trace, and a chill took over the room.
Florencia’s face, which had been flushed red with anger, turned pale.
Idella, who had been raging as if she were about to overturn the table, slumped back into her seat as if choked by an invisible pressure.
“If you have objections to my decision, you can throw away the Edelhyde surname and leave the manor right this instant.”
Pascal’s gaze swept over the family members one by one.
No one dared meet that gaze, holding their breath in silence.
“Anyone dissatisfied?”
…….
“Good. Looks like there isn’t anyone.”
As if nothing had happened, Duke Pascal smiled warmly at Renoa.
“Renoa, go and enjoy yourself.”
***
After the suffocating banquet ended, Renoa walked down the long corridor of the main building toward the private room.
Above the steady footsteps echoing on the marble floor came the sharp clacking of heels, as though someone were chasing her.
“Stop right there.”
A voice thick with venom.
It was Idella.
Not even having the leisure to control her expression, she glared at Renoa with a twisted face and bloodshot eyes.
“What did you do to Father?”
Idella blocked Renoa’s path and snapped at her.
It was an accusation with no beginning or end. Renoa’s steps came to a slow halt.
“What dirty trick did you pull to make that rock-solid man act like a senile old fool overnight!”
Idella’s shrill voice echoed through the corridor.
From her point of view, it was enough to drive her crazy.
Because he had suddenly handed the family representative role—and even the stage of the imperial banquet itself—to Renoa, the bastard daughter who had been left to languish all her life.
“What, did you learn some kind of love potion or sorcery? Otherwise there’s no way Father would choose you over me or Lowell!”
A scream driven by malice.
Yet the green eyes of Renoa, who took in the accusation with her whole body, were frighteningly calm.
In fact, Idella’s outburst perfectly matched the suspicion Renoa had been harboring.
Renoa herself couldn’t understand Pascal’s bizarre favor either.
She had no idea what kind of scheme he was running.
But.
“If the family head judged that I’m more suited for that seat than you all are, then that must be why he’s doing it.”
To Renoa, this was without a doubt a chance.
If she played her cards right, she could make her presence known to countless nobles. With this one opportunity, she could narrow the gap with the direct heirs.
Even if it was a poisoned chalice, she’d gladly drink that cup.
“How insolent...! What do you think a little whelp like you knows about a place like the imperial banquet? You’ll blacken the family’s name and be thrown out in disgrace!”
Idella’s razor-sharp shout tore the corridor apart.
Blue eyes tangled with shame and inferiority glared at Renoa as though cursing her.
“Thank you for your concern, sister. But I’ll handle my own affairs.”
“...Sister?”
“I’ll probably be busy preparing for the banquet from here on out. I hope you’ll pray for my successful debut from the main estate as well, sister.”
A perfunctory bow.
Leaving the statue-frozen Idella behind, Renoa turned on her heel without the slightest lingering attachment.
Soon, screams and the sound of things being thrown came from over her shoulder.
***
The imperial capital, the heart of the Empire.
A four-horse carriage bearing the Edelhyde crest came to a stop.
It was in front of the imperial palace’s main gate, where lights packed so densely they hurt the eyes brightened the night like day.
As befitting the pinnacle of imperial power, the plaza was endlessly lined with splendid carriages from high nobles who had rushed in from every territory.
Leon had already dismounted.
As the occasion called for it, today he was dressed not in Edelhyde’s knight uniform but in a black dress uniform.
-Clack.
The carriage door opened. The first to emerge was the maid Vivi.
Then Renoa stepped out.
A black dress tinged with green, along with makeup and accessories she normally never wore, had all been prepared.
Renoa’s gloved hand gently settled over Leon’s hand.
Escorted carefully so she wouldn’t slip, she stepped down with caution.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
After Vivi deftly straightened Renoa’s dress and accessories, she stepped back.
“It’s done. Please come back safely, young lady.”
Only nobles and one escorting knight may enter the imperial palace.
Ordinary servants must wait until the banquet ends in a separate waiting room assigned by the imperial family.
“Let’s go in.”
“Yes, young lady.”
Leon and Renoa began walking toward the main gate.
Leon lifted his head and looked at the imperial palace.
He had been surprised when he saw Olderin’s villa, and again when he saw the main family estate, but this was even grander than either of them.
As he stared blankly in admiration, Renoa jabbed at him from the side.
“Don’t stare like an idiot. People will think you’re a bumpkin.”
“Don’t you want to look, young lady?”
“We already did the sightseeing yesterday.”
They hadn’t arrived in the capital today. They had come a few days earlier and already finished sightseeing.
“Seeing it from far away and seeing it right in front of you are different things.”
“Then just glance at it out of the corner of your eye so you don’t stand out.”
So side glances are allowed, huh.
He marveled at his master’s magnanimity.
“I can’t believe I was summoned to the duke’s manor not long ago and now I’m even attending the imperial banquet. I’ll really live long enough to see everything.”
“Exactly.”
Though he said that, Leon wasn’t especially surprised that Renoa would be attending the banquet.
The First Prince.
Aiter Argenvalt.
One of the secondary male leads in [Lady Maker], the original work of this world, and the one who will become the heroine’s love interest.
His coming-of-age ceremony is the game’s prologue scene.
Even if he couldn’t remember every scene, he remembered the prologue exactly.
Renoa’s face also briefly appears here.
“I was wondering how a bastard living in a country villa was supposed to take part in the prince’s coming-of-age ceremony...”
Before I could even think of a method, Duke Pascal just brute-forced it.
That was that.
“The duke does seem to be the hidden mastermind...”
I still can’t figure out what kind of person he is, or what his goal is. What’s more, even in the original work the final boss was Renoa, not the duke.
And yet Renoa still hadn’t even touched black magic, even now that she was grown.
This game’s fucking trash.
They don’t even tell you something this important in-game. As expected of a game based on a trashy romance-fantasy melodrama.
“There will be a brief inspection. Please present your invitation.”
Not long after, an imperial guard blocked the two of them.
Leon took the invitation from inside his coat. In an instant, the guard’s eyes widened.
“So you’re from House Edelhyde. Confirmed. But the person beside you...”
The guard’s gaze landed on Leon’s neck. A rough metal necklace hung around his neck.
“My escort knight.”
“An escort knight... I see.”
“Is there a problem?”
“...Not at all. If the young lady vouches for him, there shouldn’t be a problem. However, according to imperial regulations, bringing weapons inside is prohibited.”
It was a natural request, since it directly concerned the safety of the imperial family.
“The weapons have already been removed. Please check for yourself.”
“Excuse me.”
The guard patted Leon down.
“It seems there are no other problematic items. In that case, both of you please put on these bracelets.”
“What are these?”
“They are magic tools that suppress the use of mana.”
The two of them put the bracelets on without a word.
“Thank you for your cooperation. You may go inside.”
The guards lowered their spears and bowed respectfully.
The two entered the imperial palace.
Renoa gazed absently at the bracelet on her wrist.
“The flow of mana is extremely strange. I can’t even use a tiny spell.”
A strange wave constantly flowed out from the cold metal surface touching her skin.
It scrambled the mana flowing through the circuit in all directions.
Whenever she tried to gather her power in one place, it was swept away by the wildly tangled turbulence and crumbled apart.
It was downright unpleasant.
“Hmm...”
Beside her, Leon, who was likewise staring fixedly at his own bracelet, let out a low hum.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, I think I can do it.”
“...You can? How?”
“Isn’t it enough to just do it?”
As if proving he wasn’t bluffing, golden mana shimmered from the knuckle of his straightened index finger.
“It does look like the threads are all tangled up in a mess... but tangled things just need to be untangled, right?”
“...”
Leon spoke calmly, as though asking what was so difficult about it.
Renoa looked at him as if he were ridiculous.
It was a magic tool that must have been crafted by dozens of skilled mages working together.
A shackle that disrupts the fundamental channels of mana and leaves the user powerless.
Even Renoa couldn’t produce something as small as a single flame right now.
Meaning Leon’s mana control ability was far above Renoa’s.
“You. You’re annoyingly smug, you know that?”
“Pardon?”
“Forget it.”
The more outstanding Leon became, the more Renoa’s standing as his master rose.
Being competent was never a bad thing.
“If those arrogant people saw this, I wonder what they’d say...”
What would happen if they found out that their magic tool had been broken by nothing more than a mere slave?
They’d probably faint from shock.
“Since it’ll be trouble if it stands out, don’t handle it carelessly.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Before long, a golden door leading to the banquet hall appeared.
Leon showed the invitation once more to the chief attendant standing before the door.
The chief attendant nodded as if confirming it. Then he shouted loud enough for everyone in the hall to hear:
“Young Lady Renoa of House of Edelhyde is entering!”