Chapter 92
The huge mansion stood in a prime location in the Imperial Capital.
In one of its rooms, Gied was feeling deeply uncomfortable.
"Gied... What did I tell you?"
"F-Father... I-I, um..."
"Answer the question. What did I tell you?"
The ducal house with the second-longest history in the Empire.
The current head of House Holtsvart.
Rolf von Holtsvart.
He was a middle-aged man distinguished by his long brown hair, tall stature, and composed air.
Yet his eyes were fixed coldly on Gied.
"T-To join Prince Leonart's faction..."
"His Highness."
"T-To ingratiate myself with His Highness Prince Leonart's faction..."
"That's right. For the sake of House Holtsvart, I wanted to ingratiate myself with Prince Leonart's rising faction. That way, no matter who won, House Holtsvart would retain its influence. And what did you do in response?"
Rolf said quietly, prompting Gied with a look to answer.
Gied wore a frightened expression and shook his head.
"It couldn't be helped! Arnold suddenly lost his temper and wouldn't listen to me! It's all his fault!"
"Gied... Don't disappoint me any further. Answer my question. What exactly did you do?"
It was a gentle, calm question.
Yet beneath it lay pressure that left no room for argument.
Gied shrank back and spoke, averting his eyes.
"I-I made Arnold angry..."
"His Highness. Why do you never learn?"
"He's a washed-up prince! Just a lazy good-for-nothing! He's been beneath me since we were children! I can't call someone like that 'His Highness'!"
"And when that good-for-nothing you considered beneath you glared at you... you fell flat on your backside in disgrace?"
"I-I didn't think he'd get angry!"
"Attacking another person is dangerous. They may strike back. So when you attack someone, you must anticipate retaliation. Yet when attacking a prince of higher rank than yourself, of all things, you failed to anticipate a counterattack. There's no way to describe that as anything but foolish."
"F-Foolish!? Me!?"
Gied looked shocked, as though his pride had been wounded, and glared at Rolf, but when Rolf narrowed his eyes slightly, he quickly looked away.
Then he kicked the floor as hard as he could, over and over, as if taking his anger out on it.
"I knew you were bullying His Highness Arnold. You must have been building up frustration from your rigorous daily lessons. I understand that you disliked the carefree prince. Bullying him to vent it was one way to deal with that frustration. But do you know why I didn't stop you?"
"I-Isn't it because he's an insignificant prince...?"
"You are even more foolish than I thought. Listen. I wanted you to learn. I wanted you to take it as a lesson—that attacking others means suffering for it. But you never had the chance to learn, because His Highness Arnold never fought back. I was disappointed. After that, you all grew up. With all those followers around you, I thought you had matured somewhat. But you hadn't matured at all. You were even more childish and foolish than I had imagined."
"I-I'm already a fine adult!"
"A fine adult would at least keep up appearances. He is the Emperor's son. If this were a discussion between adults rather than children's play, showing proper courtesy would be a matter of course. You did not. And then His Highness struck back at you. At a crucial moment—one with grave consequences—you provoked that retaliation. If you insist it was all His Highness's fault, then I suppose that is true. Had you suffered a painful lesson as a child, this would never have happened. His Highness Arnold was mature enough from childhood that you grew physically while remaining arrogant and childish. It is deeply regrettable."
Gied bit his lip at Rolf's words, which sounded almost as though he were praising Al.
Even while he was being humiliated, Gied could not bear to hear Al praised.
"That guy's an adult!? What makes him an adult!? He never did anything!"
"That's right. And you did everything."
"Exactly! I worked hard, while he didn't!"
"And that is what you have to show for it. As a result of your hard work, you failed my request and exposed your disgraceful self to all manner of nobles. Meanwhile, His Highness Arnold achieved such a result without making any effort. I would rather have a lazy wise man than a hard-working fool, but... what do you think?"
Gied raised his hand to strike something, as if he could no longer endure it.
But at that very moment.
A sharp voice rang out.
"Don't move."
"!!!??"
At the sound of Rolf's voice, Gied's tantrum subsided.
Then Rolf spoke gently, but cruelly.
"I entrusted your education entirely to your mother. She doted on you, so I refrained from interfering more than necessary. But that appears to have been a mistake. Return to your room. You need to cool your head."
"F-Father! I..."
"I dislike repeating myself."
Silenced, Gied's helpless anger flared up again as he stormed out of the room.
Soon afterward, the sound of something breaking came from somewhere in the distance.
Hearing it, Rolf let out a deep sigh.
"Excuse me. Father, may I come in?"
"Come in, Rainer."
The next person to enter was a boy somewhat younger than Gied.
Like Gied, he was tall, but more leanly built, and unlike Gied, he did not wear flamboyant clothes. With his easy smile, he looked every inch Rolf's son.
The boy's name was Rainer von Holtsvart. He was the second son of House Holtsvart, sixteen years old that year, and its heir apparent.
Rainer did not resemble his mother as much as Gied did, so she did not dote on him as much. As a result, Rolf had taken an active role in Rainer's education.
Consequently, the two brothers had such different personalities that one might doubt they were brothers at all.
"My brother was making quite a scene?"
"As usual."
"He was even more agitated than usual. I imagine being glared at by His Highness Arnold really got under his skin."
"It was entirely his own fault. Every bit of it. But it was my fault for entrusting this to him. We must resolve this situation."
Leonart's faction had become involved in the struggle for the throne.
He had sent Gied to curry favor with Leonart's faction, but instead the boy had only angered them.
It was obvious just by watching that Leonart trusted Al. Angering Al meant Leonart must think the worst of them.
"To be honest, I don't think we can join forces with Prince Leonart and the others as long as my brother is around."
"I agree. His Highness Arnold is not the type to dwell on longstanding grudges, but Gied said enough to make him furious, despite all the years Arnold had let everything Gied did slide. We can no longer hope to repair our relationship."
"I can't go in his place, either. So what should we do?"
"If necessary, we'll have no choice but to crush them. If Prince Leonart becomes Emperor, we will no longer be able to wield the influence we've enjoyed until now. Though we will be respected as an old ducal house, we will be kept far from power. Our plan to avoid that has failed."
"Yes. But I fear this will be difficult."
Rolf nodded at Rainer's words.
The two of them watched Al, who had fixed Gied with a hard stare.
Most people thought Al had suddenly lost his temper and Gied had been taken by surprise, but the two men saw it differently.
That was unmistakably the gaze of someone who possessed power.
If they were right, their enemies would be a heroic prince riding high on his success and a wise prince who had kept his claws hidden for many years.
If possible, they did not want to make enemies of them.
However, their foolish son had taken the first step toward doing just that.
"I should have reined Gied in sooner..."
"Even if you had, he'd only have given you the right answer in the moment. Even I was surprised, though. Who goes to ask a favor while acting so overbearing? That's simply his personality. There's no fixing it."
"Do you think we can win while saddled with Gied?"
"Everything depends on how you use him. If it comes to it, we can disown him. If Mother objects and chooses to leave, then let her. She can marry another nobleman."
"That is true. Very pragmatic. We may be able to make use of Gied's tendency to cause trouble by having him do something. If we disown him beforehand, it won't hurt us."
As Rolf and Rainer considered this, they laughed.
The smiles they wore as they plotted were both cold.