Chapter 107
＊ Charlotte=Phrase ＊
The Phrase marquisate went unnoticed.
In aristocratic society, a marquis house was unquestionably high-ranking, yet House Phrase was utterly inconspicuous.
At balls, no one invited her to dance, and even when she attended tea parties, no one included her in the conversation. Then, in the letters that followed, people would write things like, "It seems no one from House Phrase attended. It is a shame we could not meet."
Thus, from a young age, Charlotte, daughter of the Marquis of Phrase, made up her mind.
"I am me! I will blossom in aristocratic society!"
She even researched how to laugh.
"Ohohoho!"
But perhaps because the maid coaching her had terribly outdated tastes,
"My lady, place the back of your hand against your chin and let loose a resounding 'O~hohoho'!"
"O~hohoho!"
"Once more!"
"O~hohoho!"
"Marvelous, my lady! Next, makeup!"
She veered further and further in the wrong direction. She put on makeup and even curled her strawberry-blonde hair into spiral ringlets.
Still, she certainly stood out in a bad way, so whenever the children of nobles gathered,
"Oh my? Why ever are you wearing such a dowdy outfit?"
(What I really mean: If you came over to my house, I could pick out some fine clothes for you!)
Her high-handed manner made everyone recoil.
The only one who remained was
"We only have things like this where I live. Merchants don't come to the frontier."
Mira of House Mule, the Margrave's daughter.
Mira had been raised freely in the frontier and was weak to anything shiny. Even Charlotte, whose childish makeup was an utterly mismatched sight, looked dazzling to Mira.
"Oh, I-I see. How unfortunate... No, that's not what I meant. O~hohoho! Then I shall send House Phrase's official merchant to the Margrave's domain!"
"Really? You will!?"
"That will be child's play!"
Charlotte alone was cackling. When the official merchant heard about this later, he went pale. That was how far away the Margrave's territory was. However,
"What, you don't want to? Are you planning to make my daughter a liar?"
The Marquis of Phrase doted on Charlotte dearly. After he stared down the official merchant, the man began making the journey to the Margrave's territory in tears.
This brought a new flow of goods to the Margrave's territory and eventually ushered in an era of great development through the influx of adventurers and dungeon exploration—but that is a story for many years later.
Charlotte's "adult debut," the "New Sprout and New Moon Banquet," ended in what she considered a "complete failure."
"I couldn't stand out at all!"
First, some terrifying masked people attacked, and then someone started talking about poison or something before she was escorted from the venue for her own protection.
"I barely got to speak with Kurvshrat-sama!"
Charlotte cried. She cried until her makeup ran.
But she still had a chance. A tea party was held afterward—though Kurvshrat did not attend. Even so, it was good to form a connection with a ducal house. The Six Great Ducal Houses held immense power in the Holy Kingdom—and that was precisely why the marquis houses beneath them were so inconspicuous—but if she kept company with them, she could stand out as well.
"Nnng..."
However, there was one problem: Eva, daughter of House Syries, was clearly more conspicuous than Charlotte.
"...How can I outshine that girl...?"
"What is it, Charlotte-jō?"
"Mnyaa!?"
She let out a strange noise.
The one standing there was Mira, one of her few friends.
"D-don't sneak up on me!"
"Sorry, sorry."
Charlotte sighed as she watched Mira smile vacantly. The girl was so carefree that she had gradually stopped holding back even when talking with Charlotte. On top of that, she had fallen in love at first sight with Eva-jō. Charlotte wanted to believe it was not deep affection, but seeing how much Mira adored her was making her lose confidence—and she was beginning to eye Mira warily as a potential enemy.
"You really need to get a grip. Your father has already returned to the frontier, hasn't he? You won't stand out at all just standing around by yourself!"
"Oh, you knew about Papa? Thanks for worrying about me! But I'm strong even on my own!"
"That's not the kind of thing I'm worried about! I'm saying that the frontier's most conspicuous symbol—the over-the-top representative of your family—isn't here!"
"Haha. I'll tell Papa that Charlotte-sama complimented him."
"I wasn't complimenting him!"
Charlotte was growing frustrated because Mira simply would not understand what she was saying.
"...You don't seem to have any lingering shock from what happened at the ceremony."
Mira's quiet remark seemed to go unheard by Charlotte.
The incident at the Talent Jewel Award Ceremony had left the children who attended it traumatized. This year's ceremony had been canceled, so the children received their Talent Jewels individually at home.
Incidentally, Mira had 【Melee Combat★★★★】, while Charlotte had 【Beautiful Hair★★★】. Their parents' tastes were quite clear. 【Beautiful Hair】 was an extraordinarily rare Talent Jewel, and the fact that it had been imported from another country showed just how much of a doting father the Marquis of Phrase was. Thanks to it, Charlotte's strawberry-blonde hair was glossy as ever, and her ringlets bounced like springs.
"Hm, what's that?"
The two of them were in the lobby of the meeting building in the "First Holy District." An announcement was about to be made regarding what had happened at the recent Talent Jewel Award Ceremony—and, according to rumors, some kind of disturbance had also occurred within the Six Great Ducal Houses. The children were not ordinarily supposed to hear such matters, but since they had been involved in the ceremony, Charlotte and the others had been summoned.
Charlotte noticed Eva, daughter of House Syries, and what was presumably its head, Victor, standing at the end of the meeting building's hallway, partly hidden behind a pillar.
"Oh, Eva-sama. Let's go talk to her—mmph!"
"Hush. Let's sneak over."
"Eeh... Are we eavesdropping?"
"Watch your wording. We just happened to overhear them while walking without making a sound."
"Isn't that exactly what eavesdropping is...?"
Fortunately, Charlotte and Mira's guards were engrossed in conversation with one another. Infuriatingly, the guards got along very well. Charlotte's guards had been hired for their looks and were rather effeminate, but they were skilled conversationalists, so the other guards were laughing heartily with them.
As they approached Eva, they heard voices.
"—Father. So the records concerning the 'Child of Calamity' go back hundreds of years... and its distinguishing feature is 'black hair and black eyes,' correct?"
"—Yes. There were even countries that perished in the past, and..."
"—I understand. Thank you."
"—Let's continue investigating. Is that all right?"
"—Yes, of course. Oh?"
Having noticed Charlotte and Mira, Eva turned toward them and smiled softly.
"!"
It was a smile that made even Charlotte herself flutter in spite of being a girl. Mira, of course, was completely dazed, her vocabulary reduced to that of a one-year-old: "C-cute... so cuuute..."
(W-what is with her all of a sudden?! She's acting so mature! D-don't tell me she's fallen for someone...!? Otherwise, there's no way she'd suddenly become this mature!!)
Eva exchanged a quiet farewell with her father and walked over, while Count Syries moved away with a lingering look on his face. Having a father who was apparently competent—and handsome to boot—was another source of jealousy for Charlotte.
"Good day, Eva-sama."
"Good day, Charlotte-sama, Mira-sama."
"Cute..."
Since Mira was always like this, the two of them had developed a strong tolerance for simply ignoring her.
"Your whole aura has changed quite a bit, hasn't it?"
"? ...Has it?"
"Have you perhaps fallen for someone!?"
Charlotte had gone straight for the question, hoping to see Eva's face grow flustered. Contrary to her expectations, however, Eva merely gave a small, troubled smile.
"If only I could say that... But I'm still far from good enough to stand beside that person."
It was practically an admission that she had someone special, but Charlotte was even more surprised that Eva had said she was "not good enough."
At that moment, a small bell rang: chime, chime.
'—Attention, everyone assembled. An explanation by His Majesty the Holy King's representative will now be given. We respectfully ask that you proceed inside.'
Several priests appeared and began guiding the nobles along as they rang the bells.
"Oh, it looks like it's time. Well then, shall we all go?"
"Ah, y-yes... Oh, Eva-sama."
That was when Charlotte noticed that Eva's bodyguard was a heavily muscled old man—Captain Maxim.
"Your bodyguard has changed."
Eva then replied with an exceptionally pleasant smile.
"Yes—for now, at least."
The contents of the explanation given to the nobles that day sent shock waves not only through them, but throughout the entire Holy Kingdom.
The duty of the Holy King's family—the fact that they had been offering human sacrifices—was revealed.
Next, it was announced that the current Holy King would step down from the throne and henceforth be known as Duke Grangeed. The First Holy Princess would succeed him as the next Holy King, while the First Holy Prince and the other princes would retain their rights of succession as before and continue to be called Holy Princes until the First Holy Princess had a child.
Finally, the Riviere ducal family, one of the Six Great Ducal Houses, was to be dissolved. Its territory was far too vast, however, so it would first be placed under the direct control of the Holy King before eventually being distributed among nobles without lands of their own. The reason given was that the Duke of Riviere had requested the abolition of the ducal family, but no noble took that explanation seriously. The members of the ducal family would become ordinary citizens. Since they had established a business in sea transport, it seemed that House Riviere would continue that business. However, the current marriage engagement to the ten-year-old Third Holy Prince had been annulled, prompting many nobles to begin courting the Holy King's family, seeing it as a chance.
Chief among them was Charlotte=Phrase herself—but whether this love(?) would bear fruit remained uncertain.
The Phrase marquisate went unnoticed.