The Banquet Begins (2)
Clack. Clack─
The sound of someone walking the long corridor of the imperial palace echoed through the air. The heavy, unyielding strike of a shoe heel against stone. It wove into the laughter ringing out from the banquet hall and melted into it.
"Yaaawn... the sooner this banquet gets started, the sooner I can finish my own work... hrk—!"
"...Hard at work, I see."
By the time the owner of those footsteps finally came to a stop just outside the banquet hall, every gaze in the room had begun drifting toward the entrance of the ballroom.
"D-Duke Reinhardt is entering!"
And it was a name that deserved such fanfare — the owner of those heavy footsteps.
Clack. Clack─
The sound rang out once more. That heavy, hollow clack of a heel.
"D-Duke, you've come... hahaha...!"
"Duke, about that... arrangement between our houses — might I ask how you feel about it..."
"My, my... if it isn't the Duke himself...? What brings you all the way out here─"
No matter how many strange rumors drifted through the world, he was still a Duke. And not just any Duke — head of one of the four families that stood for the Empire itself. And what did that mean? Simply that his power was not so frail as to be shaken by a single rumor.
"Duke, as we have always been, our house follows and supports you and you alone!"
"Duke, my father has said as well that our loyalty to House Reinhardt remains unchanged... so please, do keep us in mind."
Look at them, even now. The nobles swarming toward him like a column of ants, utterly indifferent to the rumors spreading through every street and salon.
'Haha, rumors like that blow over soon enough anyway...!'
'...If you're thinking about what comes after, you have to pile up goodwill now, while there's still time.'
'True or not, there are precious few people alive who could say a word against him...!'
That was likely what most of those gathered in the hall were thinking. Indeed, countless eyes kept darting toward the man walking in from across the room. They merely hesitated to approach — a rumor was, after all, still just a rumor.
But even those holdouts would close the distance before long. For now they were simply too busy watching one another. It would be far too great a loss to sever one's ties to the Ducal house over a single piece of gossip.
"Haha, Duke... by the way, might you grace our territory with a visit sometime..."
"Oh come now, what are you saying...? The Duke has already promised to call on our trading company..."
"Duke, I trust the Duchess is keeping well...? If I may, we have a certain specialty from our lands that..."
Should he call it predictable? Nobles swarming like a pack of dogs. By now, even the pretense of watching one another seemed to have been cast aside entirely.
"Duke, if I'm not overstepping, might I have a word about─"
'...Pathetic. Not one of them has a shred of dignity or honor left.'
A noble flung back his extravagantly curled mustache and spoke up, brimming with confidence. Watching him, the word that surfaced in Duke Reinhardt's mind was impudence.
Creatures who had discarded all grace and refinement, too busy preening their own shells. To whom family honor meant nothing — who would count themselves lucky just to keep their own bellies full. In truth, this was his verdict on the overwhelming majority of the nobility.
It was an assessment that said plenty about how rotten today's nobles had become — and yet it also meant Duke Reinhardt's judgment was brutally harsh besides. For he genuinely believed that, save for a very select few, his fellow nobles were nothing but a disgrace to the name.
"...You're late again, I see. All on your own, too?"
"H-hrk—!"
"D-Duke...!"
Perhaps it was thanks to his frame, unmistakable even from a distance. From far across the hall, she appeared.
The head of the family renowned as the finest practitioners of magic among the Four Great Families — no, among every family in the Empire. One of the women who had been drifting toward him, slow and unhurried, from the moment he set foot in the banquet hall. Duchess Renuel.
"...My, but you look well. Quite unlike the rumors making the rounds."
"...What was that?"
Of course, her reason for seeking him out had nothing to do with romance. If one had to name her purpose... it would be mockery and reproach. She hadn't the faintest idea how things had come to this pass, but she had certainly come to tell him what a splendid sight he cut.
"What, is there something wrong with what I said?"
"...Melissa. That's far enough. Any more, and I won't be able to hold my temper."
His mood curdled, and he let a thin sliver of killing intent bleed out toward her — but she, refusing to be outdone, brought her mana to a boil in answer.
"Since when were we close enough for given names, Reinhardt?"
"...."
"You'd do better to simply call me Renuel. Hearing you use my given name... it makes my skin crawl."
At her reaction — rubbing her forearm over and over as though genuinely revolted — his fist clenched tight once more. But he soon let out a long, slow breath and smothered the rising heat. Fighting any further would only drag both their families' names through the mud.
"...Hah. What's got you spoiling for a fight today, of all days? My mood is rotten enough as it is, so unless you're eager─"
"Hah...? Do you truly not know? Is that why you're asking?"
But she seemed to have no intention of backing down — if the mana still climbing another notch higher was any indication.
"...?"
"Whether the rumors about you circulating through the streets are true or not, I couldn't care less."
"...."
"Though as a fellow parent, I did think it was a bit much — but at the end of the day, that's someone else's affair."
"...Is that so?"
"It is. So long as it does my house no harm, what business is it of mine?"
It was the truth. Melissa — Melissa Quinn Renuel in full. A woman holding the headship of a Great Family in her own right, she truly had given the rumor little thought. In a world where womanhood came shackled to a hundred constraints, she had her hands full simply defending her own house.
But if the rumor proved true, there was one thing she would have to settle with him. Decisively, at that.
"If that rumor turns out to be true, you had best brace yourself."
"...Why? As you said yourself, this is a matter that happened within my family, not yours."
"Isabella's engagement is my family's business."
In that instant, the Duke's brow twitched — barely, but it did. And her eyes, sharper than most, did not miss that minute movement.
"If the rumor is true, then you meant to make that boy into such a creature from the very beginning, didn't you?"
"...."
"To make it seem, from the very start, as though the boy had problems with both his character and his ability."
"...That's right."
"And then you meant to betroth a boy like that to my daughter?"
The volume and density of mana pouring off her climbed yet another degree — enough that the nobles nearest her began quietly edging away.
"I did think something was off. I should have caught on back when that boy did something he would never have done."
"...."
"Well, perhaps you had your reasons, so I won't pass judgment on the method."
"...."
"But if you intended to raise that boy as a delinquent all along, you should never have pushed for his engagement to my daughter..."
"...."
"No wonder... she was so dead set against marrying 'that big oaf,' swearing she'd die before she'd allow it..."
"...."
"You meant to spend him like a card you were throwing away — to forge a tie with my house. Was that it?"
"...."
"The gall... an old man who doesn't even know his place..."
As her words ended, her eyes flooded a deep, glacial blue. It meant she was a breath away from unleashing her mana.
The instant those blue eyes appeared, a blade slid from his scabbard without a flicker of hesitation — at a speed that suggested he had been waiting for exactly this moment.
"To bind your family and mine together, wasn't that much sacrifice called for?"
"...What a glib tongue you have."
"Don't state the obvious."
Flames seemed to writhe in both their eyes, and as though to settle it in a single stroke, each gathered their power. On one side, a crimson sword-aura brimming with mana; on the other, the deep blue of mana itself.
"E-eep...!"
"W-we need to run. Now, while we still can...!"
"T-they wouldn't truly fight... here of all places...? Hahaha..."
While the other nobles traded wary glances, dreading being caught in the aftermath, someone began walking — slowly, deliberately — straight between the two, who until now had done nothing but glare at each other.
"That's enough, you two."
A man with pink hair and a pink beard — the sort that brought a certain someone to mind. A middle-aged man of thoroughly ordinary build, neither too large nor too small.
"...Stay out of this."
"Quite right. This is a matter between families."
Naturally, these two were hardly the type to stand down just because a man asked them to. But he possessed more than enough force to make them stand down.
"...And what exactly do you think you're doing?"
"Hm? If you two won't stop on your own, then I'll simply make you stop — by force, if need be."
"...Look here, Charlotte. I've no idea why you're butting in all of a sudden, but this is─"
"I have every reason to butt in."
With that, he tipped back his wineglass and, in the same motion, stretched out a finger. And pointed — toward the grand staircase rising high at the far end of the hall.
"His Majesty will be arriving any moment now. We can hardly let him witness such a disgrace, now can we?"
"...What do you mean by─"
"His Imperial Majesty has arrived!!"
At the thunderous announcement, nearly every head in the banquet hall bowed — toward one person, and one person alone.
"Haha, it's been a while, everyone. Though I did see some of you only the other day."
"We greet the Sun of the Empire!!"
The ruler of the Empire, bearer of the Sun's noble blood. Siegfried Frabel had at last revealed himself.
"...."
"Hey, what's the matter with you?"
"Are you out of your mind?"
And behind him, he was leading a boy whose hair was black as the deepest night.