#13. On a Night Like This, When the Stars Twinkle (9)

The kidnapping of Lady Béarn, which had set the capital of Lutèce ablaze for a time, swept through high society—but just as quickly as it had flared up, it died away without a trace, pushed aside by the Founding Festival now just around the corner.

The fading embers, however, were not due to the Founding Festival alone.

When it came to scandals in other houses, it was simply in their nature to rush in and pick them apart, savoring every last morsel.

Besides, this was no trifling matter like the fraud and adultery that happened all the time. It was a kidnapping—a grave incident that could leave a lasting stigma on a noble young lady’s life.

To make matters worse, the tragic heroine of the story was the youngest daughter of House Béarn, the family that held the West in its grasp.

Even with time having passed, it was still a fat-laden bone, a tempting morsel to them. There was still plenty of meat left on it for the story to fade away just yet.

And yet the story had died down so quickly for one reason in particular: the nobles’ own peculiar interests.

At present, the nobles of Lutèce were divided into two broad factions over the succession to the throne.

One supported Princess Dominique.

The other supported Prince Felix—and, by extension, Empress Anneliese and her birth family, House Edmund...