The Small Ball K Shot Up # The Foiled Kidnapping
The newspaper article that K had launched created quite the stir. Below the bold headline “The Foiled Kidnapping?” lay a detailed account of the attempted abduction during author K’s fan signing event. The culprits caught red-handed by K herself were described as nothing more than local thugs or low-tier assassins from some guild. While the mastermind wasn’t named outright, K had once again referred to the incident as the “external pressure” she’d mentioned before.
Even Sophia, whose head usually ran in circles, understood perfectly. Back at the palace, that bitch K had looked straight at her and uttered the words “external pressure.” It was a roundabout accusation, pointing the finger at Sophia without saying her name. Worse, further down the page were quotes from several nobles speculating that House Holpert might be the true culprit behind it all.
Were newspapers always this vicious?
In this world, newspapers had never been particularly advanced. At best they were stiff bulletins announcing major state affairs. But ever since Milene began insisting on printing real news, they had rapidly evolved into proper instruments for delivering actual information.
Sophia stared at the article in horror. She had ordered them to storm the fan signing and kidnap the woman, but just how incompetent were those useless fools to get caught so easily? She swallowed hard. How in the world had that bitch K managed to stop trained assassins from a guild?
At author K’s recent fan signing, several assailants attempted to abduct the writer. The perpetrators—identified as local thugs and suspected assassination guild members—were swiftly subdued by K herself. When questioned, the author referred to the incident as the same “external pressure” she had previously mentioned. Based on testimony from attending nobles, many now suspect the Holpert family may be connected to the plot.
“I-I, um… that is…”
“Are you truly uninvolved? Speak honestly. This could become a matter that endangers the entire family.”
The implication was clear: stay silent and there would be hell to pay. Still, the way Duke Holpert calmly lifted his teacup to his lips suggested he wasn’t completely enraged yet.
“I… I simply wanted to teach that author K a lesson for daring to disrespect the young lady of House Holpert.”
Crash!
The teacup shattered in Duke Holpert’s grip.
“How could you commit such a brainless act?! We already don’t know what will become of Prince Schwald!”
“What do you mean? Why would Prince Schwald—”
“You know everything else, yet you haven’t heard the rumors circulating in the palace? They’re saying Prince Schwald is gay! At this rate he has no chance of becoming the next king!”
“That can’t be… It’s a lie, right?”
Schwald, gay? Impossible. Prince Schwald was a man who grew visibly excited by Sophia’s own alluring body. How could someone like that be gay?
“It is no lie! Read the bottom of the newspaper! It means the situation is that dangerous, yet you still don’t understand the gravity of this?”
Although unconfirmed, the article did indeed mention rumors of Schwald’s alleged homosexuality. To Duke Holpert, whether Schwald was actually gay didn’t matter. The mere existence of such scandal was the problem. And now they had tried to kidnap this author K on top of it. The conclusion was obvious.
“S-still, I won’t say anything.”
“Whether you speak or not is no longer the issue! You are already under suspicion. For now, the engagement with Schwald must be considered null and void.”
Taking Schwald as a son-in-law was no longer feasible. Though he loved his daughter dearly, sending her into the royal family amid such chaos was impossible. Things had gone terribly wrong.
I should never have cast Milene out back then.
Why had he driven Milene away? Maintaining her on the surface, at least, would have been better for the family. Instead, he had lost his mind and helped Sophia without considering the consequences.
“What are you saying? Then what about us—”
“Is that what you’re worried about right now? The fate of our house is at stake. The royal family has even announced they will reinvestigate the previous judgment day. This is serious! For the time being, you will be sent to the villa. Stay there!”
This was necessary to protect Sophia. If things went any further south, he would be unable to shield her. Should Sophia be implicated, it would bring the entire family to ruin. House Holpert had endured for generations. The moment they showed weakness, countless nobles would swarm like vultures. And every last one of them would bring up Milene.
“F-father? Father, I was only—”
“I will call for you once the situation improves.”
Right now, protecting the family came first. If they insisted Sophia was simply staying at a distant villa, even the royal family would find it difficult to act. At least until Milene appeared in person. In the worst case, they could always bring her back into the family. There were rumors she had been adopted by Roen, but Roen could be suppressed by Holpert’s influence.
After the previous attempted kidnapping, quite a few things had changed. The biggest transformation was the newspaper itself. Originally, newspapers in this world were basically just announcements. They only listed national policies or other truly significant events in bullet-point format. I’d even wondered why they existed in the first place. Maybe that was also because of that author Parkuri. Still, they had now reached the level of newspapers from my original world. In my old world, internet articles had largely replaced traditional papers thanks to advances in communication technology. Though those trash reporters were always causing problems.
“Well, anyway, this is all thanks to me.”
Think about it. When people reincarnate into a medieval European-style fantasy world, what do they usually do? Develop soap, invent cosmetics, that sort of thing while going “Wow, this is so cool.” But no one ever focuses on literature. This is all my doing. Who would have dreamed that literary culture would flourish in a fantasy world like this?
“But that’s not the real issue here.”
What remained was Sophia. Unlike that fool Schwald, she seemed to have slipped away rather cleanly. For now, Schwald was essentially finished. He was incompetent to begin with, and now the gay rumors had spread everywhere. I needed to drag Sophia down somehow, but the opponent was House Holpert. If Roen went all-out and declared a territorial war against them and won, it wouldn’t be impossible. But would it actually work? It wasn’t impossible. From what I’d seen, plenty of families held grudges against Holpert. If they joined Roen’s side and the royal family looked the other way, it could happen.
But that would be a civil war. The Empire would probably hit the like button. The Demon King would hit the like button. It could easily turn out that way. Glacia was the land of the hero, but one hero couldn’t guard the entire border. In the worst case, the Empire might decide to invade before the Demon King arrived. Or the Demon King might decide to strike before the hero could appear. The news simply hadn’t reached us yet, but the Demon King had definitely revived. It was even in the newspaper.
Signs, my ass. He’s definitely already back. I need to change my approach.
I had to find a way to bring Sophia back into the spotlight. Yes, there was one surefire method. I would brand Sophia herself as a cross-dressing man. Perfectly timed, the girl with the flat chest and nonexistent hips was none other than Sophia. Unlike my own perfect body line, she was a plain stick figure with the same flat front and back.
“Hmm. Shall I borrow the power of the novel once more?”
The knights who interrogated Villia were shocked. In truth, Villia had been a man disguised as a woman. The revealed truth about Villia caused everyone mental anguish.
Something like that. I’d set it up so that Villia was actually a beautiful boy who cross-dressed. That way, people would start wondering if the Sophia they associated with Villia was also a cross-dressing man.
The only problem was that if I went this far, I’d probably get absolutely roasted by readers. The women might like it, though. After all, during the fan signing they had begged me to write a gay spin-off for Prince Houston. Of course I refused. No matter how much money they offered, my pride as a man wouldn’t allow it. Making Villia a cross-dressing guy would be even worse. Above all, it would turn the protagonist Anastasia into a woman who lost her man to a cross-dresser, making her seem completely unappealing.
Oh well. It would be better to let it spread as a rumor instead. Maybe I should discuss it with my editor. If the rumor started from K’s own editor, it would be perfect. I could just casually tell Tiana something like “What if I wrote it this way~” and it would spread on its own. There was no way my number-one subscriber, who was dying to read my manuscripts before anyone else, could keep her mouth shut. Even if it naturally leaked as gossip, that would be fine. I planned to bring it up.
As they say, a word without legs can travel a thousand miles. Just look at the Schwald gay rumor. All I needed to do was toss a small stone into the lake and watch the ripples spread. Or roll a single snowball.
“I suddenly had a thought, Tiana.”
I casually called out to Tiana, who was once again checking my manuscript for typos today. Jerry was back at the publishing house reviewing my drafts, so it felt like I had proper subordinates. Very reassuring.
“Yes? What is it?”
“Fortmus has quite a deep connection with the royal family, doesn’t it? Honestly, from the royal family’s perspective, I’m just some writer and Portmus is just some publishing house.”
I laid the groundwork first. This is serious, so please don’t take it as a joke.
“Yes, that’s true. And it’s largely thanks to you, author K.”
“That’s why I want to repay them with a perfect story. I was thinking of dropping a bombshell about Villia this time.”
“What is it?”
Tiana lifted her teacup to her lips as she asked. She was drinking while I was about to say something outrageous. This was going to be spectacular.
“The setting that Villia is actually a cross-dressing man.”
“Pffft—! Villia is a cross-dressing man?”
She sprayed tea everywhere. Disgusting. But that wasn’t important right now.
“I’m speaking hypothetically. If something like that came out, how do you think readers would react?”
“Hmm. Opinions would probably be divided. Personally, I think I’d be completely shocked.”
“I see.”
“You’re not actually planning to write it that way, are you?”
“No, of course not. Even I have limits.”
As a man myself, I felt instinctive revulsion. Even if the protagonist was Anastasia, turning the main villain into part of a BL couple was just ridiculous.
“Tiana, could you possibly ask around among your acquaintances? I mean the fans who read my novels.”
Tiana was the romance department editor, and I’d heard her friends were all similar, so she probably had quite the network.
“I don’t mind, but… it might create some strange rumors.”
“Even if rumors spread, I can just prove it in the novel later.”
After all, the villainess story was written to push Schwald and Sophia together. Now that the purpose was lost, it wouldn’t matter much even if some readers dropped off. Besides, the rumor alone probably wouldn’t cause too many to leave. If anything, people who liked that sort of thing might flock to it asking if it was BL.
“Understood.”
Having planted the seed, the readers’ reactions—as expected—were nothing short of dramatic.