Proof of Innocence (4)
Preparing for the so-called "duel" the duke had mentioned took far less time than I’d expected.
For this one, there was no need for a referee, an audience, or even a proper stage.
If a referee was needed at all, the duke himself—Orphe, the one who’d tossed out the word "duel" just to test me—would be standing in. As for the spectators, the other cadets gathered here would do nicely.
Unlike the duel with Ricardo last time, there was no reason to make a grand event of it in the training hall. We’d just fight right here, right now.
What a waste to drag out a stage that fancy for a couple of idiots like them.
They were the kind of bastards who had already picked their day and were just waiting to beat the hell out of me in a pack.
From my point of view, this wasn’t a duel. It was just a simple lesson in how to behave.
Crack.
I rolled my shoulders loose and spoke to Verdel and Deall, both of them stiff with tension.
"I’ll keep this short. Still, I’ve spent the last few months staring at those damn faces of yours, so I’ll at least give you some advice out of pity."
"…What?"
"Kneel now. Apologize for everything you’ve done, and admit that what you just said was all bullshit. Then at least you won’t make an ugly spectacle of yourselves in front of everyone."
Honestly, even that was me being generous.
If I were going by my feelings, I’d have wanted to beat them senseless until I felt better. But from a broader perspective, those two were nothing more than idiots being strung along like puppets by someone hidden in the shadows.
Humoring idiots like that was exhausting. More than that, no matter how the stage was set, I thought it cheapened you to take losers like them seriously in the first place.
Even after I’d offered that sincere advice, Verdel and Deall’s expressions didn’t change.
No, if anything, their faces flushed red with outrage, like they’d just been insulted beyond endurance.
"So that’s how it is, huh? You lucked out by finding yourself a woman and now you really think you’re somebody."
"…What?"
"I never liked you from the start. Fine, so you walk around with your chin in the air. But what I can’t stand is the way you have no idea what your place is and still keep trailing after Her Highness the Princess!"
A dark flame seemed to blaze in Verdel’s eyes.
"I don’t know whether you really did kidnap people and use them as sacrifices to grow stronger. But personally, I was hoping you were the one behind all of it."
"Why? You want to enjoy watching me get fucked over?"
"No! If you didn’t gain your strength through some kind of black magic, then chances are somebody else must have helped you get that strong!"
Verdel shouted the words as if he were vomiting something out from deep inside himself.
But the thing his eyes were locked on wasn’t me at all. It was someone standing behind me.
That someone was Cartesia.
Ah. So that’s it.
At last, I thought I understood the sticky, rotting mess overflowing in his eyes.
It was jealousy.
The ugly feeling that crawled up inside a man when the woman he had his eye on went off with another man.
No wonder he’d been biting at me like a mad dog. So that was it after all.
Right now, only a tiny number of people knew that I was the Empire’s benefactor and, at the same time, someone who was treated on the same level as royalty.
I had no intention of borrowing the emperor’s backing or using imperial protection as a weapon to take revenge on my sisters. There was no point in that.
So outwardly, I was nothing more than Cartesia’s unofficial lover, the man favored by the princess.
But there had also been plenty of rumors that Cartesia had some mysterious "fiancé" somewhere, and that the two of us were so close she kept me at her side in full view of everyone. Because of that, it had become hard to find anyone openly picking a fight with me lately.
From Verdel’s perspective, it probably looked as though Cartesia liked me so much she didn’t even care about her fiancé’s feelings.
That was likely why his eyes had gone so wild.
Why he’d ignored imperial protection, ignored the balance of power among the nobles, and turned around to frame me like this.
In my experience, people blinded by jealousy didn’t think about the aftermath. Their heads had already gone completely off the rails.
"Cartesia is a noble woman. Someone like you has no right to get close to her. At the very least, someone like you should never be anywhere near her!"
"…Actually, I’m not the one hanging around her. She’s the one following me around."
I muttered that, a little dumbfounded, but unfortunately it seemed Verdel hadn’t heard a single word I said.
"If only you weren’t here. If only someone like you didn’t exist in this world, maybe Cartesia would have looked my way. Even if she never gave me a chance, at least I wouldn’t have had to watch another man standing beside her!"
At that, Deall, who had been standing beside him all this time, gave a faint nod.
People really did gather in groups according to the same color of mud on their feet. Scum recognized scum.
The sight of him wailing as if he were some tragic romantic hero was almost pitiful.
So much so that I almost thought it wouldn’t be so bad to keep watching his embarrassing display a little longer.
But then—
"So what exactly do you want me to do about it?"
"…Huh?"
"You’re a loser, so women don’t like you. What the hell does that have to do with me? If you were that bitter about Cartesia being with me, you should’ve gone to her and confessed already."
"You have no idea what you’re talking about. Cartesia is a princess. Someone whose station is completely different from mine. Even if I’d confessed, it would have failed. Rather than make things awkward between us, it would have been better to just look at her from far away—"
"Man, you sure do love the sound of your own mouth. By your logic, what does that make me? Compared to you, I’m basically a worm, and yet here I am, on very good terms with Cartesia."
Of course, we weren’t really lovers. We were only pretending to be for appearances, but if it meant pissing off that idiot Verdel, I could lie all day long.
And sure enough, it worked beautifully.
"You’re the one who corrupted her! Until you entered Lutra, she was like a flower on a cliff—someone no one could dare lay a hand on. But you, you ruined everything! You stained Cartesia, polluted her, corrupted her!"
"Is that so? Then why don’t we ask her directly? Let’s see if she thinks the same."
"W-What?"
With a small grin, I crooked a finger, and Cartesia, who had been standing quietly behind me until now, promptly stepped forward.
"Yes? You called for me?"
When Verdel saw Cartesia smile brightly at me, his whole body began to tremble even more violently. To anyone watching, it would have looked as if he had a terrible case of the shakes.
Cartesia was far smarter than someone like me, so she would understand exactly what was happening here and why I’d called her over.
And, more importantly, what she should say and how she should react to make that bastard Verdel even angrier than he already was.
"Cartesia, do you know who that guy is? Seems to me he’s been crushing on you this whole time."
At my words, Cartesia slowly looked between Verdel and Deall.
"Yes, I know. How could I not? We’ve known each other since we were children."
At that, Verdel and Deall’s faces lit up. They looked almost moved to tears that she knew who they were.
"You’re the two little lackeys who used to trail after our brother like dogs, weren’t you? Your names are... hmm. Honestly, I don’t think they were ever worth remembering."
For an instant, a crack split across Verdel’s face.
"Well, the name of some idiot like that isn’t worth remembering anyway. Still, Cartesia, how do you see me?"
"...Do I really have to say it out loud? That’s a little embarrassing. Everyone’s listening, too..."
As Cartesia blushed faintly, I fixed her with a stern look and spoke in a reproachful tone.
"My newly made friend over there says he wants to hear it with his own ears. What, are you embarrassed by me? Should we stop seeing each other, then?"
"N-No! I-I’m sorry! I-I was wrong! I’ll say it, I’ll say everything, so please don’t say anything like that, okay?"
With a startled expression that looked like she might burst into tears any second, Cartesia hurriedly grabbed my arm. Her acting was so good she could have been hired by a theater troupe on the spot.
"I’ll ask one more time. What do you think of me?"
"...Well, you’re the person I love most in the world. Of course, more than some fiancé or whatever... if possible, I’d even want to marry you..."
The moment Cartesia lowered her head in apparent embarrassment and answered like that, a sound like a wounded beast’s howl burst from Verdel’s throat.
"Aaaaaaagh! You asshole, Sian!"
Verdel lunged at me before Orphe the duke had even declared the duel to begin, and I watched him in silence.
"I told you already. Unless the two of you come at me together, you’re never beating me."
But the one who hadn’t listened, even after I’d kindly warned him, was him.
So everything that happened from here on out was clearly self-defense.
"Clench your teeth. If you don’t want to be living on porridge for the next while."
Saying that, I drove my fist straight into the face of the bastard charging at me like a stallion in heat.
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