The Duke of Ashtar
The sky was clear and the birds were noisy. But were those even birds? They were incredibly loud. Just those damn birds were enough to piss me off, but now some crazy bitch was blocking my path.
“Are you listening, sister?”
It was Lily, with her pink hair tied in twin tails and a truly pathetic figure on full display. She’d come to bother me first thing in the morning. Hadn’t she said she was taking theology or something? I only had to show up for the exam, but just looking at her screamed I can’t study. The smell of incompetence practically wafted off her. It would be better if she at least pretended to study.
“Yeah. So today’s breakfast is grilled orc fish?”
Grilled orc fish was something special. It reminded me of that intelligent orc chef who used to drink with me back in the day. He really knew how to grill fish. If you brought him a sea dragon, he’d fillet the meat perfectly, setting aside only the parts good for stamina.
But this pink-haired idiot completely ignored what I said and got angry instead.
“What kind of dish is that? And I told you to stop trying to get His Highness the Crown Prince’s attention!”
What the hell was she suddenly talking about? When had I ever tried to get that guy’s attention? Beating up nobles? What kind of attention was that?
“When did I ever do that?”
“You’ve been causing a huge stir in the academy these past few days, haven’t you?”
Ah, that. The nobles. Seeing why she came to me, maybe the expelled nobles had clung to Lily. Or maybe it was the Crown Prince.
“That’s just how life works.”
“Isn’t all of that just you trying to seduce His Highness?”
“Sorry, but I hate men. Especially the Crown Prince.”
If I really had no abilities and only this body to rely on, I might cling to someone to survive. But with my current situation, there was no reason to latch onto anyone. Noble ladies and women might dream of becoming empress or queen, but that just meant giving birth to children and never leaving the palace. What kind of life was that?
“What’s wrong with our Crown Prince?”
What the hell did she want from me? I clenched my fist tightly.
“Lily. A person’s fist isn’t just for decoration.”
“Hiiik?”
“My fist can smack you in the face without hesitation anytime.”
Had she heard of it? Gender equality punch. I didn’t care if it was a man or woman—if someone annoyed me, I beat them up.
“Hic… Hiccup. As expected, sister is tormenting me again!”
Was this girl paranoid? Or was she really acting like this because of everything she’d suffered? Either way, I didn’t like it.
“Want me to really torment you?”
“Eh?”
“Should I really torment you?”
“W-what are you suddenly saying?”
“I’ll smooth out every wrinkle in your brain.”
When I flicked a spark of electricity from my fingertips, her pink hair trembled violently.
“N-no thanks! I only came to deliver a message!”
“What is it?”
“Father is here! He’s looking for you in the dean’s office!”
Right now I was Olivia Lapa Ashtar. My father was Duke Ashtar. In other words, the Duke of Ashtar had come to the academy looking for me…
Fuck. This crazy bitch should’ve said that first.
The Duke of Ashtar was a strict man toward his children. I had expected him to come eventually, but this bitch had brought up something else first. I stared directly at my idiot sister’s chest. I had to get revenge somehow, right?
“Sister? Why are you staring at my chest like that…”
Looking at it calmly, this body had no hope of growing bigger breasts. Even setting aside size, if they were too small it would be hard to breastfeed a child. Tsk tsk.
I didn’t need to do anything fancy. Just hit her with the facts.
“You. You’re probably going to have a washboard chest for the rest of your life.”
“What?”
“My curses always work perfectly.”
After all, curses were a type of magic.
“Then what about you, sister?”
Lily’s eyes moved to my chest. Yeah. What did you think you’d see? Sorry, but these breasts are as full as ever. Cyria and Ella would probably be jealous if they saw them. Honestly, it didn’t matter if I had them or not, but after a few days as Olivia I’d grown quite used to it.
I curled the corner of my mouth slightly toward the pink-haired idiot.
“Sorry, but my chest is already plenty big.”
“Grrrr!”
“If you’re jealous, you should’ve grown them.”
Leaving behind Lily, who was looking down at her own miserable chest in rage, I headed for the dean’s office.
The dean’s office I entered without thinking was like a sheet of ice.
A blond man who appeared to be Duke Ashtar stood with his hands behind his back by the window, while maids stood in orderly lines along the wall. They were probably combat maids. The maids didn’t spare me a single glance. The duke, who had been staring outside for a while, turned his body to look at me.
Hmm. No particular reaction even after seeing my appearance. No matter what, shouldn’t he react to his daughter’s changed looks? Was I really a discarded child? Well, considering how coldly he’d broken off the engagement with the Crown Prince, the answer was obvious.
Anyway, I didn’t know how long I’d keep the Ashtar name, but for now he was my father. I had to treat him with proper respect.
“I hope you have been well, Father.”
I bowed as politely as I ever had in my life.
At my words, he approached with an expressionless face, then—
“It seems I look quite well to your eyes.”
Slap!
He struck my cheek. It definitely hurt a bit. But if I backed down here, Duke Ashtar would clearly abandon me.
“…Even if I am a discarded child, is there any reason for you to raise your hand like this?”
“Did you think you’d receive praise after smashing up the nobles?”
Not exactly. But I had my own justification. I had to push through with force somehow.
“Then are you hoping the name of Ashtar will fall?”
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly as I said. Though I have committed many faults, they still dared to look down on me while I carried the Ashtar name. I personally punished those who disgraced our family.”
Nobles weren’t just prideful—they lived and died by justification. If their reputation was tarnished, the family’s honor would plummet to the ground. They had to retaliate or endure. That was why I had fought. If I framed it that way, it would be enough.
“Do you not know that because of your presumptuous clowning, the heads of each family have come to me with protests?”
So that was how it went. Faster than I thought. As expected, the empire’s communication technology was more advanced than the kingdom’s.
“We are the empire’s greatest family. Are you afraid of mere minor nobles?”
“Yes. That’s right. Those bastards can’t even be called nobles compared to Ashtar. However, they are the Crown Prince’s close aides! They will become the future emperor’s close aides! You want to make them your enemies!”
Uh, um… If he put it that way, I had nothing to say. Think, Noah. You have to live as Olivia now.
Hmm. Just do it and see?
“Wrong things must be corrected. Your words are correct, Father. However, even if I grovel before them, would they be satisfied? Aren’t there swarms of people everywhere just waiting for a chance to bite at Ashtar? Even if the cause was me, can Ashtar and they truly be placed on the same level?”
Ashtar was the empire’s foremost prestigious family. Everyone beneath them was trash. Of course, the Crown Prince currently had the support of those noble families, and the academy had been producing nobles as elites all this time. That balance had been broken this time.
“Will you only come to your senses if I send you to a monastery?”
A monastery? I could escape on the way even if it was the worst monastery. But I had already proven my worth sufficiently.
“I am proving my worth.”
“What?”
“The nobles all know it. The eldest daughter of the Ashtar family is a discarded child. So I made them feel that they themselves were even more worthless than that discarded child. Rather, isn’t the Crown Prince, who tries to reform the empire with such stagnant water, the one who is wrong?”
I wasn’t unaware of the Crown Prince’s thinking. He planned to win over the nobles, and after becoming emperor, use their power to implement policies for the people. But the empire had strong feudal characteristics. Centralization wasn’t well established, and the nobles who had been acting like kings in their own territories all this time—would they really help the Crown Prince for policies benefiting commoners?
At my words, the duke’s eyes widened. He looked like he was staring at a crazy bitch. Yeah. That made sense. Until recently I had put on a suicide show, saying I’d rather die than marry the Crown Prince.
“The girl who tried to kill herself because of the Crown Prince is now criticizing him?”
“Since Lily is here, don’t I no longer have to marry the Crown Prince? Those two who can’t live without each other can be together, and I’ve gained the chance to escape my cage.”
In short, I was engraving into the Ashtar family that I had thrown away even my pride and clung pathetically to the Crown Prince all for the sake of freedom.
“So you’re saying that to break off the engagement, you threw away all pride as the young lady of Ashtar and acted pathetically until now?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Even if I have to live alone, I cannot share the same bed with a man like the Crown Prince.”
The duke glared at me sharply. I couldn’t lose. I stared right back at him without yielding.
“Enough.”
The one who stepped back first was the duke. Unlike before, his eyes had calmed considerably. Had he finally decided to have a proper conversation?
“Fine. Very well. Let’s say your words are correct after giving you a hundred chances. Then what do you plan to do from now on?”
“The empty seats will naturally be taken by commoners.”
The academy was large and had many students. There were also many commoner students who were just as outstanding as nobles who had received private tutoring from a young age. In other words, they would naturally fill the swordsmanship, magic, and archery departments. The archery department would probably turn into a firearms department soon.
“You mean to use commoners as Ashtar’s strength?”
“Why couldn’t I? Ashtar is the empire’s greatest prestigious family. Excluding the noble families attending the academy, aren’t there many vassal families under Ashtar?”
The nobles I had kicked out weren’t all of them. There were also sons and daughters of noble families who had been pushed out of class registration like the commoners. There were those who hadn’t dared to challenge me and had kept their heads down.
“Continue.”
“I have also made contact with the Crown Prince through Lily. At this point, it would be better to sweep out the stagnant ones and raise the commoners who make up ninety percent of the empire.”
Nobles made up only ten percent of the empire. Of course, even among nobles there were ranks. There were countless nobles treated almost like commoners, while few truly wielded noble power.
“There is also the possibility that the Demon King was killed by the Grand Sage. Yet you would still allow commoners to rise?”
Grand Sage? Who was he referring to as the Grand Sage? Even I had never been called a grand mage—who was being called the next one, the Grand Sage?
“Who do you mean by the Grand Sage?”
“Obviously Noah. Since there’s been no news, it seems something happened with the Demon King.”
My heart sank for a moment.
“Instead, the offensive of the Four Heavenly Kings has intensified. Therefore, we cannot leave everything to the nobles with peace of mind right now.”
Berta Fortress, which had been holding out against the Demon King’s army, was now in danger. That meant the kingdom was completely exposed to the Four Heavenly Kings’ attacks. Yet with no particular news, perhaps the Four Heavenly Kings were also catching their breath for now.
No, Pector would definitely be looking for the now-dead Noah. He was a guy who had surprisingly enjoyed fighting me. In the end, our fights had always ended for some reason or another, but his battles with the hero had probably been boring. Pector was the type to stop fighting opponents who weren’t worth his time. He was probably searching for me right now.
It was like the dead Noah had saved the living hero. It was obvious without even looking. The kingdom wasn’t proclaiming victory, and there were no particular rumors from the hero.
“Now that I look at it, your hair resembles Noah’s. Have you perhaps awakened as a mage?”
Quite sharp.
“Not exactly, but something like that.”
“Then it was you who suppressed the nobles?”
“Yes.”
It was obvious at a glance, wasn’t it?
“How far do you plan to suppress the nobles? Do you really intend to force them to drop out?”
“The nobles who opposed Ashtar and got crushed by me this time probably can’t drop out. That would be too much of an overreach and would greatly shake the empire’s political landscape.”
One might ask why over mere students, but generation after generation, the children of those families had attended the academy and inherited their positions. It meant the future family heads and mistresses of great houses were politically intertwined.
“Then you plan to end it with them repeating a year?”
“That alone will provide plenty of room for commoner students to shine.”
They would repeat for a year. In that time, if the commoner students established themselves and laid a foundation, even the new commoner freshmen wouldn’t be pushed around. Then the commoners who had been suppressed would be able to spread their wings freely without yielding to nobles.
After staring at me for a long time, he suddenly began to laugh.
“Kuk. Kha ha ha ha ha hat! I thought you were a discarded child, but you were actually a queen! If you had been born a man, you would have caused a bloodbath over the position of family head!”
“It is natural for the eldest son to inherit the position of family head to avoid discord.”
Generalization wasn’t good, but if an outstanding younger sibling rose to the position of family head, a bloodbath would inevitably occur within the family. It was better to pass the position to the eldest son and give real power to the younger brother. Of course, even if Ashtar’s next family head lacked ability, I had no intention of helping.
“Good. The eldest daughter elevates Ashtar’s prestige, and the second daughter forms ties with the imperial family. Truly a blessing for Ashtar.”
From his reaction, it seemed my brothers were also quite the big shots. That was why he made no particular mention of them.
“Then have I proven my worth sufficiently?”
“Yes. However, I will continue to watch your actions. Because I have not yet decided whether you were truly hiding your power from the beginning while deceiving everyone.”
“Understood.”
With those words, the long and lengthy conversation between father and daughter finally came to an end.