Chapter 133
Uwaaa!
I forgot while having delusions about the future, but the villa I entered was the Noble Faction's Hideout!
No wonder! No wonder!
This person walked into the Noble Faction's suspicious Hideout way too confidently, like a landlord!
Uwaaa!
No! No!
They say even if you enter a tiger's den, you can survive as long as you keep your wits about you!
But a human's den isn't a tiger's den, so maybe I can't survive even if I keep my wits about me?
Gasp, a bad realization.
Pastel turned pale.
"First, I do need to verify if you've properly converted to the Republican Faction."
Duke Nastasya smiled brightly.
"Personally, I don't want to pressure you that much! It would make me a very bad adult to act coercively toward a friend's child, wouldn't it?"
Ah!
Mom's friend?
Discovering a lifeline of connections, Pastel brightened.
I love you, Mom!
"Are you friends with my Mom?"
"Blossom? I was talking about your Father, but I suppose that's true too?"
It was a somewhat subtle nuance.
The reason was immediately explained by Duke Nastasya with a bright smile.
"Blossom was a one-time romantic rival I fought with over your Father, so calling her a friend hurts my pride a little, even though I lost in the end."
Smile.
A one-time romantic rival.
Blossom was walking along with a train of admirers, and Duke's Daughter Nastasya was biting her handkerchief while watching her.
Mom, what did you do?!
Pastel became uncomfortable in this seat for a different reason.
An unsolvable trial for me.
I only half-love you, Mom...!
Pastel hurriedly looked for an escape route, then saw Duke Nastasya's girlish figure and attempted a quick change of subject.
"You look incredibly young for your age!"
Between the paint-splattered artist attire and your actions and atmosphere, there's something so girlish about you that it feels like you live youthfully!
"I know. I didn't expect to stay exactly the same into my thirties either."
Duke Nastasya laughed.
"When I confessed to your Father, he rejected me saying he'd feel like a thief if we dated, and it seems his worry was right."
Father...!
Pastel screamed internally.
Dad is of no help to my life!
Really, really none!
"Though that's also a thing of the past."
Duke Nastasya organized her art supplies. Then she picked up Pastel's portrait, examined it, and nodded.
"The portrait came out well. Take it with you when you go, okay? Don't forget."
"Ah, yes."
She sneakily checked the portrait. A sparkling, radiant Pastel was drawn on it. Even though not a single petal was painted, it had the aura of cherry blossoms in full bloom.
Wow, do I look like this?
I think I know why I'm so popular!
Duke Nastasya dusted off her hands.
"Speaking of which, I can't get in touch with your father. Do you know what he's been up to lately?"
"My father?"
He joined the Church for Mother's Resurrection and is working hard on evil deeds. I even heard from his own mouth that he'd be in the Demon Realm, so I should come find him if I wanted to join. A totally bad Dad.
It was extremely difficult to say that.
"I don't really know either."
While answering like that, Pastel suddenly came to her senses.
Oh my.
Wait a minute, is this a situation where a woman who confessed and got rejected in her youth is trying to contact a man who lost his wife?
Did I just unknowingly prevent an affair?
Phew~.
Mom! I'm such a good child!
Even though Dad abandoned his kid and is entirely absorbed in Mother's Resurrection, an affair probably isn't even on his mind!
Pastel doesn't know if a Dad like that is a good Dad or a bad Dad~.
"It seems your tension has eased, so shall we get to the main point?"
Duke Nastasya brought a chair to the spot in front of Pastel. She sat down, crossed her legs, and spoke calmly.
"Our Republican Faction welcomes the joining of all nobles, but we don't go so far as to accept a spy. Especially a Family with a clear Royalist Faction history."
Uwaaa.
My tension hasn't eased yet.
It probably won't ease for the rest of my life, though.
Pastel twiddled her fingers.
"I have a question."
A questioning gaze fell upon her.
"Are the Noble Faction and the Republican Faction different?"
An important question.
She thought it was the Noble Faction's Hideout, but she was bewildered because they called it the Republican Faction upon arriving.
However, Duke Nastasya's expression turned serious, as if she had taken this question to mean something else.
"You're more serious than I thought. Some people call us nobles rather than a republic, but they are the ones who are wrong. How can one discuss change without even distinguishing between Ochlocracy and Republican Politics?"
Her brown eyes gazed off somewhere in the distance.
"Education might be the answer to not falling into daydreams, but before making claims, it would be better to check the literacy rate of the subjects first. When the system precedes, the institutions follow, and the culture comes after, a daydream becomes reality."
Pastel shrank back at the sudden out-of-context argument.
"Th-that's not it, I was just wondering if there were a separate Noble Faction and Republican Faction in High Society."
"Huh? What?"
"Yes?"
"Huh?"
Duke Nastasya was dumbfounded.
"Do you literally mean: are the Noble Faction and the Republican Faction separate?"
"Yes!"
Finally, they were communicating!
Duke Nastasya thought for a moment before forming a troubled smile. Her finger rubbed her mouth, then pointed at Pastel.
"Setting aside my position to give some private advice to a friend's child, I would say that feigning too much ignorance isn't good for political activities. Ambiguous reliability will earn you unnecessary suspicion even from your allies."
Gasp, such good advice.
Lately, Ellie's suspiciously observant gaze has been burdensome, no matter what she did.
What did I even dooo!
But a really, really important fact.
I really don't know!
Are the Noble Faction and the Republican Faction different?!
Pastel felt wronged.
"It's not acting. I really don't know. I'm just the Frontier Pastel who used to idle around on Sky Island."
Duke Nastasya looked troubled.
"You want me to believe you came without even researching High Society? To the point of not knowing that the Noble Faction and the Republican Faction refer to the same thing?"
"That's, that's."
I researched High Society.
I definitely did.
It was just about asking Lord Demon in the hospital room about the political structure.
At that time, Lord Demon just explained it as a conflict between the Royalist Faction and the Noble Faction.
But upon arrival here, the name was the Republican Faction, not the Noble Faction.
Oh my, are the two different then? That was all she had wondered.
"You're still clumsy, but the blood runs thick."
Duke Nastasya switched her crossed legs. Then she smiled and rested her chin on her hand.
"You might have fooled people in the Frontier with that appearance, but here, there are plenty of people who will stab you with a dagger while smiling. Who would fall for it when someone who even received a governorship from the Emperor yesterday is pretending to be innocent?"
Gasp.
The governorship was definitely awarded quietly in the hospital room, but the information had already been passed on.
More importantly, you were interviewing me to verify if I was the Emperor's spy, but behind the scenes, you already knew I received a Royalist Faction commemorative gift?
What?! What?!
So scaryyy!
Pastel trembled.
I joined the Royalist Faction, but I don't want to fight with such a scary person eitheeeer!
"Is it wariness born from a lack of experience?"
Duke Nastasya pondered, pressing her lips together. Then she smiled.
"You don't need to hide it so much. The purpose of this meeting is to clearly confirm your ambiguous stance. It is to distinguish friend from foe."
Pastel became like a mouse in front of a cat. The only difference from an ordinary mouse was that she had a cherry blossom ribbon on her head.
Escape! Escape!
She gathered all her brain resources to seek an escape route.
Task: Flee to Sky Island without becoming hostile with the Republican Faction.
The method is, the method is...
Pastel decided to evolve from a mouse into a hedgehog after agonizing over it.
In other words, she was raising her quills and bluffing.
Haaap-!
Kraft Mode...!
Her body, which had been openly trembling, gradually calmed down. Her pink eyes calmly looked straight at the Duke.
Then her Pink Eyes curved, and her body twisted slightly. A soft whine formed asking to be let off the hook. It was a slyness that walked the tightrope of the parent-friend relationship.
"But I think it's difficult to show sincerity to someone who won't let go of the leash in their hand. Respect is beautiful when it's mutual respect, isn't it?"
Duke Nastasya's mouth fell open slightly.
"The blood runs thick."
Her crossed legs uncrossed.
"Yesterday, we prepared to pressure the Emperor, who caused the Marquis to faint by mishandling the banquet preparations. Since the Kraft Family seemed to be testing the waters for conversion, there was also the intention to make you take the lead and nail down your conversion."
Duke Nastasya rummaged through the corner of the art studio. Colorful paint bottles clattered.
"First, we bring up the story of the Former Tyrant to make the political atmosphere hostile. Then Marquis Pastel, the culprit of this issue and still a loner in the Central Political Circles, would find it difficult to return to the Royalist Faction right away, wouldn't she?"
Duke Nastasya stood up.
"At that time, if we showed this real piece of evidence and forced you to choose between completely converting to the Republican Faction or facing a pincer attack from both the Royalist Faction and the Republican Faction under the charge of framing the Emperor while being a loner in politics, you wouldn't be able to walk the tightrope between factions and would have to convert to the Republican Faction."
In Duke Nastasya's hand was a Magic Stone Pepper Shaker. It looked exactly like the one Pastel had.
"But seeing the Marquis receive the governorship split our opinions before we even made a move. Did you have your heart set on the Royalist Faction from the beginning? Or did you have another intention? There were many opinions on the latter, but..."
Duke Nastasya smiled warmly.
"We cancel the scheme and use persuasion on the Emperor to dismantle the weakness applicable only to this issue first."
She approached and handed over the Magic Stone Pepper Shaker.
"A foolish person only thinks of the success of a scheme, but an excellent person considers the flexibility of the scheme."
Just as one must calculate the aftermath rather than the success of a betrayal.
"The blood runs thick."
"Well."
The girl calmly received the evidence back.
"This much is in the realm of common sense."
Her pink eyes curved softly.
"Now that things are fair, shall we talk business, Duke?"
Duke Nastasya's mouth fell open.
"Even I wasn't like this at this age."