Chapter 54
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 54
“That brat. She really dressed up like she owns the place.”
Meanwhile, Tedric muttered to himself, grinding his teeth.
Normally, Tedric would only have been allowed to attend Grand Duke Asis’s birthday banquet, but Lilius had coaxed the vassals into permitting him to participate in the hunting competition as well.
His brief intoxication with the taste of power didn't last long.
The moment Tedric spotted Tulia Frezier, a string of curses nearly burst from his throat.
It had been three months since Tulia Frezier betrayed her own parents.
It seemed the crazy girl had now chosen the twins of the Marquis’s house as her new backers.
A tall, silver-haired boy walked beside her.
‘Lisian Frezier. Look at that stuttering bastard walking around so triumphantly.’
Even if he spat such vitriol internally, they were words he could never utter aloud.
The nobility of the Brillant Empire pursued perfection.
The higher one rose among the high nobility, the more intense that tendency became.
By their standards, Lisian Frezier’s stutter was a fatal imperfection.
And yet, Lisian Frezier was constantly bombarded with love letters from countless ladies and noblewomen.
‘It’s only because he has a pretty face.’
Silver hair that looked as if it were woven from pale moonlight.
A perfectly balanced, beautiful face and clear, light-green eyes that revealed their depths made Lisian Frezier look like an archangel descended from the heavens.
‘His "kind" act is nauseating.’
Someone like that should have been born among lowly commoners, not as the legitimate heir of the Marquis of Frezier.
With a face like that, it would have been fitting for him to be used as some noblewoman’s mistress for a few years in his youth before being tossed aside.
It infuriated Tedric that he had to act as a subordinate to a stutterer just because the boy was a young master of the Marquis’s house.
He could somewhat ignore Tulia since she was younger than him, but Lisian Frezier gave him no such opening.
It was then, while Tedric was trembling with rage and inferiority, that a voice called out to him.
“Brother Tedric.”
Someone was calling his name.
“Has something happened since I last saw you? Why have you lost so much weight?”
Only then did Tedric shift his gaze away from Lisian and Tulia.
Kanes Frezier was standing there.
Though he was the son of Count Nigella Frezier, he was actually an illegitimate child. Technically, he was of lower birth than Tedric, who was the legitimate heir of a Viscount.
An illegitimate son of a Count, lowlier than the son of a Viscount.
Hearing Kanes Frezier worry about him with such a concerned look finally made Tedric feel a bit better.
“I haven't been eating well. Some things happened.”
Tedric didn't say a single word about the humiliation he had suffered because of Tulia.
Lilius and Aubrey had been the same, so only Count Nigella Frezier had any inkling of what had transpired.
‘I guess Uncle Nigella didn't tell him anything.’
Tedric’s mood grew a bit more generous.
“Actually, the reason I’m like this is because of that girl, Tulia.”
“Huh? Tulia Frezier? Why?”
Kanes Frezier asked back, his eyes wide with surprise.
“Wasn't she the one who could never even squeak a word in front of you, Brother?”
“Exactly!”
Tedric felt as if he had just gulped down a refreshing drink. The tightness in his chest that had been stifling him finally eased.
Yes.
That was the kind of girl she was.
A girl who was always walking on eggshells around his father.
Even when she tried to defy him out of temper, she would eventually be scolded by his mother, bite her lip, and shed tears while begging for forgiveness.
She was nothing more than that, yet somehow, their positions had been completely reversed.
“Tulia Frezier’s reputation is quite bad, isn't it? Her personality is even worse. I still remember you telling me she doesn't have a single friend in the Grand Duchy’s social circle.”
Tedric felt a slight prick of conscience at Kanes’s words.
Only a very slight one.
Tulia was the only lady of the Frezier direct line residing in the Grand Duchy.
Under normal circumstances, ladies her age would have been desperate to be her friend, and she should have had dozens, if not hundreds, of followers.
It was his mother and father who had subtly blocked that from happening.
‘But, well.’
Even if they had made a place for her, with that violent and extravagant personality of hers, she wouldn't have been able to make a single friend anyway.
Rationalizing it easily, Tedric spoke to Kanes.
“You have no idea how sly and fox-like she is. Grandfather even placed me under an absurd confinement order because of her.”
“What? How could he do that to his own grandson?!”
Kanes seemed even more agitated than Tedric.
“So that’s why you’ve been suffering so much. You’ve lost weight, and your muscles are gone. I ran over here in a hurry because I thought you had caught some terrible disease.”
“...Damn it. It’s all because of that girl.”
At Kanes’s words, Tedric suddenly became self-conscious about his appearance.
Firm muscles.
Well-defined shoulders.
Thick, sturdy thighs and sleek, long legs.
Such a physique was the desire and pride of the Empire’s noblemen.
Unless they were ancient, withered nobles, young noblemen like himself put a great deal of effort into building and maintaining a fine body.
But lately, he had done nothing but flip over tables of cold food.
Because of the confinement order, he hadn't been able to participate in a single swordsmanship lesson.
Unlike the main castle, where hot water filled the tub at the snap of a finger, that dilapidated warehouse only had one or two servants, and it took an eternity just to boil water.
Exercise? He would have frozen to death trying to work out in that place!
In the end, Tedric had to appear at this massive social gathering—the hunting competition—with this pathetic physique.
He thought he had managed to cover it up somewhat thanks to the expensive hunting outfit Aubrey had custom-made with gold thread embroidery.
But hearing Kanes now, it seemed that wasn't the case at all.
He felt so ashamed and angry that he wanted to wrap himself in a cloak and hide immediately.
He was especially incensed because Tulia’s brothers—those damn twins—displayed bodies that were the very epitome of the perfect male noble.
They were already far above him, a mere heir to a Viscount.
And now they were crushing him like this?
At a massive hunting competition where every noble in the Grand Duchy seemed to have gathered?!
The hatred and rage he had been steadily accumulating while shivering in that shabby warehouse bedroom finally reached a boiling point.
His insides seethed until, at some point, they crossed a threshold.
And then, it suddenly dawned on him.
‘Ah.’
That’s right!
He wasn't the only one who could be humiliated here.
Unlike Tulia, who had no parents, he had parents who gave him love and support.
Thanks to them, Tulia’s reputation was still in the gutter.
The unfavorable rumors about him hadn't traveled very far yet.
The masses always craved a spectacle.
How many nobles in this very place were secretly hoping to see that brat Tulia make a fool of herself?
Tedric, well-versed in the psychology of the nobility, smirked.
“Brother? Why are you laughing all of a sudden?”
“Kanes. Shall we teach that girl Tulia a lesson?”
“Huh?”
“Honestly, you find those Marquis kids annoying too, don't you?”
“Well... but...”
Kanes seemed hesitant to attack Tulia while the twins were present.
‘This is why he’s just a lowly bastard,’ Tedric thought, but he needed an ally right now.
“I’ve thought of a way. Just trust me and follow my lead.”
* * *
While Lisian left my side to join the adult nobles for the hunt.
I was idly counting the number of people.
‘I wonder how many vassals are in the Grand Duchy in total.’
No matter how many times I looked, it was a staggering crowd. It was also fascinating that all these people were nobles.
‘At least it’s a feast for the eyes.’
Both the men and women were dressed in the height of luxury.
Then again, the Frezier Grand Duke’s castle was famous for rarely hosting banquets.
‘Because there is currently no hostess to host a banquet at the Grand Duke’s house.’
My grandmother, the Grand Duchess? Deceased.
The next in line, Tulia’s mother, the Marchioness? Deceased.
The next in line, the young lady of the Marquis, Tulia? A total brat.
“...”
‘Tch.’
I heard that when Viscountess Aubrey held the power over internal affairs, she at least held regular tea parties or small balls.
But now, Aubrey was effectively out of the picture.
It wasn't like I had the power over internal affairs either, and Lilius, who barely held onto that power alone, seemed too busy racking his brain to spare any attention for a banquet.
‘Grandfather’s birthday banquet this year might be a bit lackluster.’
There was no one to act as the hostess and prepare for it.
Even Luc and the aides were away, following Grandfather on his territorial inspection.
While the Frezier Grand Duke’s house had numerous servants, including the butler, the presence or absence of a hostess to direct the preparations made a huge difference.
‘The Grand Banquet Hall where the birthday celebration will be held is still a mess.’
Compared to the magnificent setup of today’s hunting competition, it felt pitiful.
‘Why is that man Lilius so wicked and petty?’
Lilius was the one who prepared today’s hunting competition.
If he had prepared Grandfather’s birthday banquet at the same time, he could have thrown a fairly decent party.
Lilius had deliberately feigned ignorance regarding the preparations for Grandfather’s birthday. I could only shake my head at his narrow-mindedness.
And he calls himself a son.
When Grandfather returns, Luc and the aides will likely see the state of the Grand Banquet Hall and scramble to prepare.
‘Couldn't they just leave the birthday banquet preparations to Adel later?’
My Adel is good at her job, and besides...
Luc and she are siblings, after all.
‘I hope things work out well later.’
If my head maid takes charge of the major affairs of the main castle, my position will rise as well.
I was walking slowly, giggling to myself at my selfish thoughts, when—
Thwack!
A swift arrow struck the ground, narrowly missing my feet.