The Ball of Stars (3)
‘No matter how many times I think about it, it’s definitely not an aphrodisiac.’
If I were giving it to someone privately, that would be one thing. But gifting an aphrodisiac in the middle of the Foundation Day Festival was practically the same as telling them to go to hell. It could easily be misinterpreted as a message saying, ‘I heard you haven’t been able to get it up lately, right?’ From that point on, I’d be entering a duel with a member of the Imperial family. Even with the "misunderstanding" filter working in my favor, I didn’t think this could be smoothed over, so I dismissed the idea.
That’s why I chose the safest option: a gun. It turned out that the hobby of the highest-ranking person attending this Foundation Day Festival was hunting magical beasts.
‘Well, it’s expensive, at least.’
Firearms—especially ones capable of piercing magical beasts—boasted a price tag that was burdensome even for nobles. It was a gift that young ladies and gentlemen who were still living on allowances couldn’t even imagine. It was a "cash-slapping" strategy that only I, with money rotting in my pockets, could pull off. While you can’t buy a person’s heart with money, you can express your sincerity through it.
And so, the day of the Foundation Day Festival arrived.
Clatter.
A carriage stopped at the Nihilit estate. The driver’s seat was empty. Perhaps because this was a fantasy world where magic existed, autonomous carriages had been implemented much earlier than in my past life. It went without saying that this driverless carriage was far more expensive than our family’s own.
The crest of the Marquis Hausen family was engraved on the side of the carriage.
Click.
The carriage door opened, and a person emerged from within.
“It’s been a while, young master Nihilit.”
Charlotte Hausen, greeting me from inside the carriage. Today, Charlotte wasn’t wearing her usual detective outfit. She wore a white dress with a gold-threaded cape draped over it, and a small pearl pin was tucked into her short blonde hair. I spoke to my fiancé, who looked vaguely uncomfortable.
“It has been a while, Charlotte. Is this our first meeting since the Kirchner Count family incident three months ago?”
“If you don’t count letters as conversations, then yes, I suppose it is.”
Even after our engagement, we met occasionally. If there was an interesting case, we would make plans to meet there. Usually, Charlotte would do the deducing, and I would casually drop the necessary knowledge from the sidelines.
“Come to think of it, I solved the problem from your last letter, too. It’s 95 to 4 now.”
“Were you keeping track of all of that?”
“There’s no reason not to.”
I gave her a wry smile as I handed over a silver coin. I wondered if handing her a silver coin at our first meeting had been a mistake. Every time we met, I was being shaken down for silver coins by my own fiancée. Of course, I didn’t have any complaints since she bought me gifts of equal value later on.
“Ah, thank you for teaching me the difference between incised wounds and lacerations last time. Especially the study on skin degloving—I was in awe no matter how many times I read it.”
“It’s not such difficult knowledge. It’s quite fundamental.”
When I sent letters, I was also teaching her forensic medicine on the side. I wasn’t a forensic scientist, but I was a trauma surgeon, after all. My forensic knowledge related to trauma was relatively deep. On top of that, by casually tossing out forensic knowledge at the level of a medical student, it was child’s play to make Charlotte believe I was a rival worthy of her trust.
“Come to think of it, Charlotte. Didn’t we agree in our letters to call each other by our first names now?”
“Umm. It’s still a bit awkward now that we’re face-to-face.”
“I’ll wait until you get used to it.”
“…*Ahem*. I’ll try to get used to it as soon as possible.”
She cleared her throat, pulling back the elbow she had been resting on the window frame. The tips of Charlotte’s ears turned minutely red. I’d realized this over the past year: Charlotte was surprisingly vulnerable to sweet, romantic atmospheres.
“Please, come in.”
“Thank you, Charlotte.”
I opened the carriage door and climbed in. Before I sat down, I caught a faint scent of peppermint. It was the scent of her father, the Inspector General of Hausen. That man lived with peppermint candies in his mouth.
I had once seen Charlotte and the Inspector General bickering over those candies at our engagement ceremony.
— “Stop eating candy in a place like this. I heard you’re even taking insulin these days.”
— “What kind of attitude is that to take with your father, Charlotte?”
— “Don’t talk to me about being a father.”
It was nice to see a father and daughter without such rigid formalities. Especially since that was a rare sight in this era.
“Is the seat comfortable?”
“It’s wonderful. Ah, could you wait a moment? My party hasn’t come out yet.”
“I heard about it, so I know. I’ll wait.”
I sat across from Charlotte and waited for a few minutes. Finally, the mansion door opened, and two people rushed out in a hurry.
One was Erika. She had her dark red hair tied up in a high ponytail and was wearing a black dress with an open back. She had detested it, but she had ended up wearing the dress after being pressured by the head maid and my mother.
The other was Freya. She had finished her neatly braided silver hair with a sky-blue ribbon and was wearing a silver-white dress with a sky-blue shawl. Seeing the two of them standing side-by-side, I got the impression of a devil and an angel.
“Sister! How could you forget that?”
“Was I supposed to wear underwear under the dress?”
“How can you say that out loud!”
Hmm. It would be better not to ask why they were late. The two of them climbed into the carriage.
“Thank you for the ride, Lady Hausen.”
“Hello.”
Freya greeted her politely, and Eri gave a perfunctory nod from the side. Charlotte didn’t seem to pay much attention to Eri’s greeting. Instead, her interest was directed toward Freya.
“You don’t have to be so formal, Lady Nihilit. Why don’t you call me sister?”
“It would be rude to call someone who isn’t married yet by that title, wouldn’t it?”
Warm conversation flowed between the two as they smiled softly. After exchanging simple greetings, the two of them climbed into the carriage. Freya sat next to Charlotte, and Eri took a seat next to me. Eri leaned against the window frame, staring out with vacant eyes.
“…I should have eaten lunch.”
She wasn’t sick or sleepy. She had skipped lunch to eat a lot at dinner, so her blood sugar had dropped.
Clatter, clatter.
The pleasant sound of wheels rolling over cobblestones began to ring out rhythmically. On the way to the Imperial Palace, the inside of the carriage was filled with an awkward silence for a while. Then, just as the carriage was passing through the city center, Charlotte broke the silence.
“But isn’t Freya sixteen this year? It seems a bit early for you to be attending the Foundation Day Festival.”
Freya narrowed her eyes at Charlotte’s words.
“Thank you for your concern. But I’m here partly because the Inspector General asked me to.”
“That person… my father asked you?”
“Yes.”
Before answering, Freya straightened her posture.
“Before that, let me ask one thing of everyone here. Do you happen to know a young gentleman attending this festival called the ‘Silver Wasp’?”
Freya said, looking around at everyone in the carriage. Charlotte tilted her head slightly.
“My head is already full enough with other knowledge; why should I memorize that when it has no impact on my work?”
Freya’s gaze shifted to me.
“What about you, Brother?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t have much interest in that area either. I barely have enough time just looking after patients and doing my research.”
My head was already overflowing with medical knowledge, essential liberal arts, and culinary-related information. I didn’t have the passion to pay attention to the latest news in high society. Freya’s gaze finally turned to Eri.
Eri answered while leaning against the window frame.
“Do I have to know that too?”
“Haa….”
Freya sighed, clutching her forehead.
“This is why I’m tagging along. None of you know anything about high society. That’s why both families decided to send me.”
“Both families? My father did that too?”
“Yes. Inspector General Hausen must have been worried about Charlotte, so he asked me as well.”
At those words, all three of us had no choice but to stay silent. I knew exactly what part of us our families were worried about. It was such an accurate assessment that I couldn’t even argue.
“Tsk. That man is doing useless things.”
Charlotte, who didn’t feel the need for social interaction itself, seemed to think differently from me.
“For that reason, I’ve come along with you all. There’s no rule saying I can’t attend the Foundation Day Festival at my age.”
That was true. Usually, the reason people attend the festival around age seventeen is that it’s the time they start looking for a fiancé. However, there was no major problem with debuting at an earlier age.
“Then, before we go, I’ll tell you about the people you absolutely must know. First of all, as for the Imperial family members attending the festival….”
In the end, we headed to the Imperial Palace with a crash course in high society from Professor Freya.
***
In this world, where magical beasts have become the masters of most of the land, even travel is not free. Helpless commoners cannot guarantee their lives while traveling. Nobles, who can preserve their own lives, are no exception. Since they don’t know what might happen while they are away, they cannot easily move to other cities. Therefore, exchanges between nobles are usually limited to letters or magical communication tools.
However, the Foundation Day Festival was an exception to that rule. Once a year, nobles from all over the Empire head to the Imperial capital, even at the risk of their lives. Once a year. Because the Foundation Day Festival is the only opportunity to announce that their family has not yet declined.
Thus, nobles gathered from all over the Empire. Carriages carrying the children of those nobles lined up in a long queue to the main gate of the Imperial Palace. Eagles, snakes, roses. Carriages with their respective symbols on the doors dropped people off with their respective formalities. Young ladies decked out in silk held the hands of their servants as they stepped down, and young gentlemen dressed in suits resembling military uniforms climbed the stairs.
Every time someone stepped out of a carriage, those who had arrived earlier whispered on the terrace.
— “It looks like the young master of Viscount Debro has arrived.”
— “The Stenberg family from the west is already here? I heard the atmosphere of that faction was unsettled because of the Belheim incident….”
— “Isn’t that the Sing family? Does that mean their young lady is already at the age to debut?”
Sometimes they flaunted their connections, and sometimes they showed off their disdain. The noble children on the terrace began to quickly familiarize themselves with the families attending the festival today.
And in the middle of that procession.
A carriage with an empty driver’s seat stopped. At the appearance of a driverless carriage, which is only permitted for high-ranking nobles of Count rank or higher, the attention of the noble children was focused.
— “The Marquis Hausen family?”
— “A new noble family.”
— “I haven’t heard very good rumors about their young lady….”
Amidst all that interest, the carriage door opened. The first to step out was a young man with black hair. The indifferent gaze of the young man, who had swept his black hair—reminiscent of a crow—back, scanned the terrace.
“Is that… the Black Bird of Nihilit.”
“It’s certainly hard to understand why someone with a face like that hasn’t come to a banquet until now.”
“Coming out of the Marquis Hausen carriage… then the engagement was true after all.”
Julian, unbothered by the gazes evaluating him, turned his body and reached out a hand toward the carriage. The person who took that hand and stepped out was a blonde girl. A short-cut blonde with a single pearl pin. A gold-threaded cape over a white dress. It was an outfit befitting a Marquis’s daughter, but the way she stepped out of the carriage was far from that of someone accustomed to dresses. She valued etiquette on the first step, but on the last step, she looked annoyed and stepped down two stairs at once. Julian, who was escorting her, also gave a wry smile.
“It’s as unusual as the rumors say.”
“I wondered why a Marquis family would get engaged, even if he is the Black Bird. So that was the reason.”
Following them, two more people stepped out. They were Eri, a girl with red hair in a black dress, and Freya, a girl with silver hair in a silver-white dress. Eri jumped down, then belatedly remembered her manners and performed the strange act of grabbing Julian’s hand. Freya, watching from behind, barely managed to keep her expression from crumbling as she took Julian’s hand and stepped slowly out of the carriage. Only the siblings of the Nihilit family maintained the gait and posture befitting the setting to the end.
“It’s a groundbreaking entrance in many ways.”
Someone muttered on the terrace. Everyone on the terrace had no choice but to agree with his impression. Amidst such interest, the four of them passed the entrance to the banquet hall.
As Julian and Charlotte passed the entrance first, the protocol officer standing by the entrance shouted at the top of his lungs.
— “The young lady of the Marquis Hausen family, Charlotte Hausen, and the young master of the Baron Nihilit family, Julian Nihilit!”
It was a short and plain introduction. Ordinarily, even if Julian, a Baron, didn’t matter, Charlotte, a Marquis, should have had a longer introduction befitting her family. But you couldn’t make up things that didn’t exist. For the Marquis Hausen family, about which there was strangely little information, the protocol officer had no particular words to add.
However, Charlotte didn’t seem to care much about such a plain introduction.
Behind Julian’s party, who had passed the entrance, Freya whispered in a voice only the party could hear.
“You know where to sit, right?”
Charlotte and Erika shook their heads. In contrast, Julian nodded. The only things he didn’t know were the trivial news of people’s lives. He had studied etiquette thoroughly for the sake of the character he was playing as the protagonist. Thanks to that, he knew where they were supposed to sit in the banquet hall.
Julian scanned the layout of the banquet hall once and immediately found their seats. Slightly to the right of the center. The third row from the highest inner section. It was a seat that took into account Charlotte, a Marquis’s daughter.
“Please sit, Charlotte.”
As Julian pulled out the chair, Charlotte sat down habitually. Next was Erika’s turn.
“Erika. Don’t go get food yet, just sit.”
“Hmph. Then when can I?”
“In an hour. Not everyone else has arrived yet.”
“Hmph.”
Erika, who had been staring fixedly at the empty plate, dropped her head. Her long, trailing ponytail drooped, as if representing her mood. Erika listlessly plopped her bottom onto the chair.
Finally, Freya.
“Thank you, Brother.”
As expected, Freya was the only one who greeted him with proper etiquette this time as well. As Julian finally sat down, Freya looked over the party and opened her mouth.
“Now that we’ve confirmed our seats, we have to go greet the other young gentlemen again. I’m asking just in case, but do you remember who the people I mentioned in the carriage are?”
“You said the Wolf Baron family is the family close to ours, right? And you said the Gilbert Count family is the family we don’t get along with.”
“Then what about the faces of the children of those families?”
All three of them shut their mouths at the same time. Freya, thinking it would be like this, sighed and stood up.
“Let’s go together after all, Brother. I’ll guide you.”
Charlotte, Julian, and Erika headed toward a group with Freya. While walking, Freya organized the situation habitually.
“That side won’t do yet. Lady Lilienthal looks very busy.”
“What about over there?”
“Since the Wolf Baron family and the Heide Baron family are close to Father, I think it would be fine to exchange greetings.”
Freya approached first with a smile and exchanged greetings, and the other party also recognized her and welcomed her gladly. And Julian, Charlotte, and Erika followed behind her. The first two greetings were ceremonial. Then, by the time the greetings reached the third and fourth, other young gentlemen joined the conversation, and it naturally turned into a group.
Once a group had formed to some extent, Freya naturally changed the direction of the conversation like flowing water.
“I’ll introduce you again. This is my brother, Julian Nihilit, and this person here is my brother’s fiancée, Lady Hausen.”
At Freya’s attitude toward Charlotte that seeped out implicitly, the young ladies who were introduced gave wry smiles. Some of the young ladies who made eye contact with him even blushed.
“That person is….”
“The Black Bird of Nihilit….”
Freya’s stinging glare toward those young ladies was a bonus. Among them, the young gentleman of the Heide family pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and sent a gaze of respect toward Julian.
“I heard the story from Freya, Julian. That you solved the cold case at the Belheim Count family. Could you tell us more about that in detail?”
Julian realized that it was the boy’s consideration. There was no way there was a young lady or gentleman in this place who didn’t know the news of the Belheim Count family. Unless they were disconnected from high society like Julian or Charlotte. Even so, asking him to tell that boring story from over a year ago was a consideration to help Julian blend into this group.
‘To have lived for nearly 50 years and have less social skills than a child like this….’
After a brief self-reflection at the young gentleman’s consideration, Julian began the story of that time.
“That’s an undeserved evaluation. I just did what I could at the time….”
Before long, Julian had naturally blended into the group Freya had introduced. Beside him, Charlotte was twitching the corners of her mouth, barely holding back the deduction that was instinctively trying to pop out. It was proof that she had at least the minimum social skills to know that she shouldn’t ruin the mood in this place, at least.
After the noble children introduced themselves one by one. It naturally became Erika’s turn.
“This person is….”
“Erika. I don’t have a surname.”
“Ah! Is this the person Freya praised so much!”
Erika looked at Freya with a question mark over her head. Meaning, what have you been saying about me to other people? As if answering that question, one young lady opened her fan and praised Erika.
“Freya is famous for being an excellent apprentice mage among her peers. I heard that Freya has never won a duel against Erika.”
“Yes?”
“I would be grateful if you would give me a chance to witness that skill someday.”
The young lady leaned toward Erika with sparkling eyes. Erika stepped back a step without realizing it.
“I’m not that great—”
“Our family also has high expectations for Erika.”
Julian cut off Erika’s words and intervened. This wasn’t a place to be humble. In a place where they were inflating even non-existent achievements, there was no need to downsize existing ones. To Erika, who opened her eyes wide, Julian whispered.
“You don’t still doubt the reason I chose you, do you?”
Erika shook her head vigorously. Her long, tail-like ponytail slapped her cheek. Julian gave Erika a smile, then began to introduce Erika’s greatness to the young gentlemen. That she had already started applying aura at this age, her level of being able to use magic in actual combat, and her talent that seemed like she would reach the 1st-Circle in the near future. At Julian’s explanation, the young gentlemen also gave a small round of applause to Erika.
“Ah, that’s… I’m just….”
Her words began to tangle. Erika stepped back a step and naturally moved to Julian’s back. She had always dreamed of success while admiring nobles. Since they were busy praising her, she couldn’t adapt at all.
With Erika as the last, the self-introductions ended. Freya skillfully changed the topic.
“Ah, did you hear which Imperial family member is coming today?”
“I heard it was the twelfth Highness.”
“The twelfth… I see.”
The voice of one young lady who heard the word "Prince" lowered. Another young lady joined in, opening her fan. The young lady lowered her voice as much as possible and spoke to the group in a voice that was barely audible.
“I heard that the Imperial Princess’s pregnancy… has miscarried again.”
“I heard. This is the fourth time….”
The young ladies and gentlemen all lowered their voices. Only Erika couldn’t keep up with the conversation. Julian, who noticed this, whispered to Erika.
“It means she miscarried for the fourth time.”
“Oh my.”
Miscarriage. In D-Sector, it was more common than she thought. Erika had seen many prostitutes who ended up with terrible results while working as usual without knowing they were pregnant. Therefore, Erika also knew the weight of the word "miscarriage" well.
“What do they say the reason is? Is it a curse?”
“Who would dare curse the Imperial family?”
“Then is the Princess constitutionally a bit difficult?”
“At this point, the Imperial family won’t just sit still.”
“I’m worried that it might even lead to a divorce.”
“That’s true. I heard that the Prince is trying to stop it somehow because he cherishes his wife….”
Everyone in this place knew the result that would follow. If the miscarriages continued like this, the Princess’s position would inevitably be in jeopardy. Even if his favor was deep, the issue of an heir had already crossed the line that could be passed over as a personal emotion. This rumor was the evidence. Bad things inside the Imperial family are always controlled so that outsiders can never know. Even so, the fact that the rumor was circulating meant that the Imperial family was leaking it on purpose. It was natural to think that the Imperial family was already preparing for a divorce.
At that moment, Julian, who had been listening to the story quietly, suddenly showed interest and said.
“By any chance, do you know where the Princess is right now?”
The fact that his voice felt strangely excited, unlike the other people in the party, might not have been just their imagination.