Chapter 5
Before Viscountess Lorschua arrived at the Béarn townhouse,
Eleonore had asked Sophie about the tutor who was coming to the estate.
“Sophie. What’s that viscountess like? The one who’s coming here?”
“The viscountess?”
“Yeah. Viscountess Lorschua.”
But only a little while ago, milady hadn’t seemed interested at all.
Sophie, who had been tilting the teapot over the empty teacup, paused and looked at her young lady.
The freckled girl soon began turning the question over in her little head.
Eleonore took the teapot from her and gently poured tea into the empty cup.
Just as the reddish tea began to brim in the teacup,
the freckled girl, having finished thinking, lifted her little red lips.
“Hmm…. She’s very impressive. And elegant. So full of grace, too. You know, milady? They say the viscountess was quite famous in the capital even before she married.”
“I-is that so?”
Faced with such an unexpectedly simplistic answer, Eleonore looked thoroughly disappointed.
At her young lady’s darkened expression, Sophie didn’t know what to do.
Instead, a voice in a stiff tone came from behind her.
“Viscountess Edelweiss Lorschua was the second daughter of the Marquis of Brouagne, a house that had produced numerous renowned scholars for generations.”
Adjusting her square glasses, Manuela approached Eleonore, who was leaning comfortably against the sofa.
The freckled girl sprang to her feet as her superior came closer.
Sophie picked up the teapot Eleonore had set down and disappeared somewhere, leaving Manuela to take her place.
“Is that so?”
Manuela would surely give her a clear answer.
Eleonore’s sky-blue eyes began to glimmer faintly.
“Since her maiden days, she was well versed in a wide range of academic disciplines. She was just as accomplished in dance, music, and the arts. She was also skilled in etiquette, and was known in high society as an exceptionally talented young lady.”
Manuela’s voice, listing one compliment after another, sounded no different from usual.
But Eleonore could sense it.
That stiff voice was filled with an unnameable admiration.
That was probably the sort of young lady Manuela wanted her to be.
I’m sorry, Manuela. The original Eleonore might have managed it, but Juha just can’t.
Eleonore inwardly tried out an absurdly cutesy way of addressing someone as “you.”
“She’s really that accomplished?”
Manuela gave no answer.
She only nodded.
“But why would someone like that be going around noble households now, teaching their daughters?”
Eleonore asked, tilting her head slightly.
In a world with this sort of setting, capable women had found their way into all sorts of positions in society.
Even in the newspapers Albris read every day, women officials’ faces sometimes appeared in huge photos beneath the front-page headlines.
And among the people who visited the mansion to discuss official matters with Albris, the gender ratio was 6:4—almost evenly split.
So Eleonore’s question was a natural one, not an attempt to disparage her.
Manuela, however, did not look pleased to hear it.
With her black eyebrows knitting slightly in bitterness, Manuela began to answer her young lady’s question.
“She fell in love. At first sight, no less, with the utterly unremarkable Viscount Lorschua.”
It seemed she truly found it heartbreaking.
Even in front of the young lady she served, Manuela let out a deep sigh.
“Though the Marquis said he would disown her, the viscountess went through with spending the night with Viscount Lorschua. Afterward, the marquis took a dislike to her, and that’s how she ended up like this.”
What? Our author really is a romance-fantasy writer through and through.
Even the passing characters have such dramatic backstories!
Manuela continued.
“The viscountess doesn’t visit just anyone to begin with. Unless a young lady has a promising future, she’d refuse even if offered a fortune.”
“And that Marquis of Brou… whatever his name is, doesn’t stop his daughter from tutoring?”
“Educating the children has always been the mistress of the house’s responsibility. Even the marquis can’t interfere with that.”
At Manuela’s answer, Eleonore nodded slightly.
So she really was that talented.
Since things had turned out this way, I should pry some information out of the viscountess.
Watching her young lady wear a sly smile,
Manuela began to worry that Eleonore might cause a scene in front of the viscountess.
#.
“Hehe. Has our Eleonore decided to wake up from playing the dreamy young lady with her head in the clouds?”
The look in her eyes changed in an instant.
It was different from before.
Eleonore froze under that gaze, as though it could see right through her.
But unlike that gaze, the voice that slipped from her lips remained as gentle and lovely as ever.
Lorschua soon glanced behind her.
She smiled brightly at the maid standing behind the sofa with her hands neatly clasped.
“Hey, dear. Could you bring me yesterday’s newspaper? Le Capital, I think it’s called. If you can’t read the words, bring the one with a picture on the front page of a black-haired man with short hair and dark eyes.”
The maid left the drawing room at a brisk pace after hearing the viscountess’s request,
and by the time Lorschua turned to face Eleonore again, her gaze had returned to its usual gentleness.
“Eleonore. You know the Young Duke of Vallatiere is the emperor’s illegitimate son, right?”
“Yes, I know.”
Her platinum-blonde hair swayed slightly as she answered in her delicate voice.
“You know, things are getting pretty interesting in the capital right now. Power struggles have been an eternal pastime throughout human history—oh, thank you.”
The maid, who had already fetched the newspaper, respectfully offered Lorschua the stack of gray pages in her hands.
Lorschua smiled faintly at the maid,
and at that bewitching smile, the maid blushed and hurried back to her original spot.
Of course the crazy lesbian would be like that.
Her flirting with women was no joke.
Lorschua flipped through several pages of the newspaper she’d been handed and pointed to the large photograph beneath the headline.
“This man here is Lieutenant General Karnat, currently in charge of military operations on the eastern front. He’s a commoner, and they say that even if you know nothing else about him, he’s quite capable when it comes to strategy.”
Eleonore shifted her gaze to where Lorschua’s slender finger was pointing.
In the black-and-white photograph, a veteran general with a head of white hair glared at Eleonore with a stern expression.
“Lately, there’s been a sharp increase in pirates targeting the trade ports in the southeast. They even come ashore and plunder the surrounding villages.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Well, I suppose it’s not a very interesting story to the young ladies of the capital.”
Speaking somewhat cynically, Lorschua moved the finger that had been pointing at the photograph.
Her finger now indicated the tiny print beneath the picture.
“And here. Read the part I’m pointing to.”
Lorschua smiled brightly and held the newspaper out to Eleonore.
Eleonore’s sky-blue eyes began to skim over the strange letters her slender finger indicated.
- Under the devoted command of General Karnat and Young Duke Julian de la Vallatiere, the Imperial Army has brought stability to the Barsea Strait in the empire’s southeast ~
As the finger pointing to the article disappeared, Eleonore raised her head and looked at Lorschua.
Lorschua wore an utterly serious expression.
“The capital is currently divided into two major factions. The old nobility, who support the First Princess, the legitimate eldest daughter of the late empress, and the maternal relatives who support the Second Prince, the current empress’s son.”
Eleonore said,
“A succession… struggle?”
“That’s right. A succession struggle. The emperor, as always, stands back with his hands clasped behind his back.”
As if she had some personal grudge against him, Lorschua continued, placing heavy emphasis on the word emperor.
“And Julian… Well, he has plenty of ambition and ability, but for now, he’s out of the race.”
Lorschua tapped the veteran general in the photo with her finger, as though he were Julian himself.
“Even if he is the emperor’s son, he’s still illegitimate.”
The hem of the yellow dress bobbed up and down.
Lorschua crossed her legs and leaned comfortably against the backrest as she looked at Eleonore.
“But whether it’s some scheme cooked up by the Duke of Vallatiere or not, Julian’s popularity has been suspiciously rising among the commoners lately. And the commoner-born General Karnat I mentioned is a staunch backer of Julian, too.”
As the explanation dragged on, Eleonore closed her eyes for a moment.
Just hearing about politics made her head spin.
It had been the same in her previous life, and it was no different here.
Seriously! Isn’t this supposed to be a romantic fantasy world? Don’t the male and female leads just meet and get together? Why is everything so complicated?!
It’s not as if I wrote a 5,700-character comment.
And there was no way the author could hear her just because she complained to herself like this.
Whether or not she knew what Eleonore was thinking,
Lorschua simply enjoyed this conversation, which was opening the eyes of a young lady who knew nothing.
“That’s why Eleonore’s actions this social season are important.”
“Me?”
“Yes. If Eleonore enters the ballroom holding Julian’s hand, it’ll be a great boon to his faction.”
“But what am I supposed to be….”
Lorschua lifted herself from the backrest where she’d been lounging and moved closer to Eleonore.
“Of course, Eleonore is just a young lady who’s only just made her debut in society and has nothing to her name, but House Béarn is different. Since the emperor ordered the abolition of the provincial nobles’ private armies, House Béarn has been one of the empire’s two powers with its own independent military force.”
Huh? House Béarn was that powerful?
At this unfamiliar information, Eleonore tilted her head slightly.
She had been living as the youngest daughter of House Béarn for two weeks now, but no one had brought up the family’s affairs in front of her.
Of course, they hadn’t done it out of malice.
They simply hadn’t had the time to explain complicated real-world matters to a young lady who had just risen from her sickbed and lost her memory.
“I suppose you really have lost all your memories.”
Lorschua looked at Eleonore with pity.
Before losing her memory, Eleonore had been a young lady with her head in the clouds, like many noble daughters in the capital.
Still, she knew why she was in the capital, away from her parents, and that she was a hostage.
That was why, while learning etiquette and the arts, she would sometimes ask Lorschua about real-world problems.
Lorschua had thought Eleonore more charming than the other young ladies for that very reason.
“Well, you can hear about your family from the young count himself. Even if the Young Duke of Vallatiere is currently out of the race, he has quite a few accomplishments under his belt compared to the princess and the prince.”
“The Young Duke?”
“Yes. While the emperor’s sons and daughters were scheming against each other within the imperial palace, the young duke was out in the real world, honing his abilities. And the emperor is devoting all his energy to that vixen instead of his own family.”
Perhaps her throat had gone dry from the lengthy explanation, because Lorschua tossed back the cold tea that remained at the bottom of her teacup.
“In this situation, if House Béarn takes the young duke’s side, he’ll gain the strength to join that ruinous race.”
Clink.
The sound of the teacup hitting its saucer filled the space between the two women.
“To put it simply, during this social season, your father, Oberth Raoul de Béarn, Margrave of the Marches, has become a kingmaker.”
Lorschua lifted the corners of her eyes slightly at her serious-faced pupil,
“And you, Eleonore, will be the one to stamp the document deciding who becomes crown prince.”
As if bewitched by those alluring violet eyes, Eleonore nodded.
So that was what Albris meant.
When he said the empress was looking forward to my debut.
“Then the prince might approach me, too, not just the Young Duke of Vallatiere.”
“Oh my. Do you think only a prince would approach you? Rumor has it that every day, the maids’ sweet moans can be heard from the princess’s chambers.”
No, seriously. This crazy lesbian married woman!
Why are we suddenly going there again, right in the middle of this!
Stop swerving into yuri!
Lorschua giggled at Eleonore’s thoroughly flustered face, then continued.
“After the empire’s internal affairs stabilized, imperial marriages shifted from matters of domestic policy to matters of diplomacy. The private armies were abolished, so there’s no military force left that could threaten the emperor, and the borders around the empire are still unsettled.”
Lorschua paused to catch her breath.
Then she covered Eleonore’s small, white hand, resting neatly on her pale-blue skirt, with her own.
“So if a princess or prince sets their sights on you, it won’t be Eleonore they’re after, but Margrave Oberth.”
At those words, Eleonore let out a sigh of relief.
It was the most reassuring thing she’d heard in her entire conversation with Lorschua.
Julian was already trouble enough, but if a prince or princess started making moves on her too…
Ugh. She didn’t even want to imagine it.
Wait a second. She said imperial marriages were diplomacy.
Then if Julian is adopted as a prince, wouldn’t that mean he no longer needs me?
At the thought that suddenly occurred to her, Eleonore met those violet eyes once more.
“I was wondering… If my relationship with the Young Duke of Vallatiere progresses and he then rises to a high position, wouldn’t that be a problem in its own way?”
“I suppose so. It would be a problem. The imperial family’s laws forbid divorce and broken engagements.”
Her grip on the hand clasped in hers tightened.
Lorschua gazed intently into Eleonore’s sky-blue eyes and moved her lips slightly.
“But, Eleonore. That doesn’t mean remarriage is forbidden, too.”
And that gaze was sorrowful, like an older sister looking worriedly at her beloved younger sister.
It was that sort of look.
“Considering everything the Young Duke of Vallatiere has done up to now, I think it’s entirely possible.”