The Dishonorable One
“Your Highness.”
A familiar title. Yet, never a familiar voice. Most of all, not from anywhere else, and something I couldn’t imagine hearing at the freshman welcome party.
Reflexively, I turned my body. There, a male student wearing a second-year badge was seen.
“May I have a word with you for a moment?”
“…Follow me.”
A certain ominous aura was felt. So, for now, I took him outside.
“…Senior.”
Just in case he might not know. Or to test if he made a mistake. So, I deliberately called him “senpai” strongly.
Now, here, I’m just a transfer student. Don’t call me that. If I hint at that meaning, he would realize he made a mistake and correct the title.
But the answer that came back was not what I wanted.
“5th Princess, Edbar of the Lauterbe family pays his respects.”
“…”
Lauterbe family. Not many, but I remember hearing about them. Because they were nobles belonging to the 2nd Princess faction. I had seen some of the people from their family near my sister’s side.
So, this senior is… this male student… is from a family under my sister’s, which could always strangle my neck. A person who could monitor me and report to her.
“…It seems you have a misunderstanding, senior.”
I have to bow even more. I came here to survive. Even choosing neutrality until the end, some say it’s to show an honorable appearance of keeping promises, but it was just one of the ways to survive.
So, I won’t fall for such a simple test. Sister is definitely suspicious of me again.
“I am indeed from the bloodline of the Lasquer royal family. But that is only in ‘Lasquer’. This place is the Imperial Academy. I came to study, and for three years, I want to live as a transfer student, not as a princess. So, please understand my intentions.”
If I said it this subtly, I thought it would be enough for a response. I thought this is what my surveillance person and beyond, my sister wanted.
“…Your Highness.”
But even so, this man keeps trying to address me as a princess. There, I thought it strange.
“I do not deny that my family and I were part of the 2nd Princess’s faction. But, Your Highness. Lasquer is gradually moving away from the honor that was so important to you. Trust is breaking by the day, promises have become ridiculous, and keeping the gods’ will is worse than not keeping it.”
“…”
“All of this happened after the 2nd Princess Your Highness won. If we just ignore this, how can we call ourselves Lasquer as a country of knights standing up.”
What is this man talking about now. Just a moment ago, he was saying something like, instead of encouraging sister, he pushed her to eliminate rivals, and now says the problem is that sister won?
If I say that, what happens to the 4th Princess sister? What about the nobles who followed sister? And what about my few neutral opinions?
“5th Princess. Please speak. If you decide to lead us even now, we will prepare to return immediately and be ready to follow. If you think this is a test from the 2nd Princess, I promise with all my family’s honor. This is an opportunity we are giving you.”
“…”
“If we support you, do you have any intention of changing your mind? Can you truly fight, not neutrality? Can you become someone more worthy of the name of Lasquer?”
I’m confused. My head hurts. I don’t know what answer to give, my judgment isn’t clear.
Reason says absolutely not. Don’t say such things again. But my nature is resisting it. Here, listening more might be beneficial.
“I don’t understand why you are doing this. Let me explain the reason…”
The following words from him were like this. At first, I thought the 2nd Princess sister was the best successor, but I realized it wasn’t. I saw too many un-knightly behaviors.
Arrogant, acting too strongly beyond necessity. Most of all, moving for something other than honor. Those were the reasons they said.
After hearing all that, I finally knew what answer I should give.
“Edbar of the Lauterbe family.”
“Yes, 5th Princess.”
“You said you would make me a chance to return to the capital.”
“Yes. It can definitely be done.”
“Then, my answer to that is. I decline.”
“…Princess?”
Now I understand. Why they suddenly approached me. Why they abruptly abandoned sister and chose me.
It wasn’t for Lasquer, nor for their honor. That was just an excuse.
Now, they want to maintain the behavior of controlling the country with one absolute power forever, because sister wants to become a much stronger monarch than expected. Instead of daily meetings with nobles and discussing opinions, using honor as a reason.
Even though our relationship is distant now, I know well what the 2nd Princess sister is like. As they say, focusing on something other than honor, and if necessary, boldly discarding the gods’ will.
It’s not right. That’s why I chose neutrality instead of siding with sister. But for another reason, I also chose neutrality instead of siding with the 4th Princess sister.
“I also know where the 2nd Princess wants to go. It’s the descendants of self-proclaimed great knights who keep trying to match the royal family using honor as a reason. It’s to control them more effectively and place them below as true subordinates.”
“…Princess.”
“Although the method is too excessive, there is a correct part. But you say you don’t like that, and ask me to clash with sister?”
Ah, now I get it. Now I am sure. Why sister sent me to the Empire instead of the home country.
I knew this would happen. Because there were forces dissatisfied with her that would definitely contact me. To the maximum extent, I considered the one who didn’t clash with her as a problem.
I thought it was exile, but it turned out to be a placement. Please don’t get involved in this.
“So, I decline.”
“Princess. Please reconsider just once…”
“Enough. I am giving you an opportunity. I will keep this matter silent, so don’t mention it anymore. I don’t want you to see your family fall to the 2nd Princess.”
It’s something I can’t say anyway. If I say this, I become a target too.
So, I phrased it as if giving mercy. With a sincere wish that please, stop here. If I’m wrong, I might get involved without sister’s consideration.
“…Then, are you going to watch the honor of Lasquer fall?”
“Why is honor falling? Is the action to become king breaking honor?”
“The 2nd Princess Your Highness is doing that now. Continuing excessive actions!”
“Is that excessive action really harming Lasquer? Or harming you? I don’t think I know the answer.”
Cowards. From my perspective, you are the most dishonorable beings.
You want to set sister as king to protect your own honor, no, your own reputation, but since sister is not kind to you, you want to switch sides quickly?
I looked more manageable. I thought I would be easier to handle. Because I kept neutrality till the end. Maybe I seemed less greedy.
Some of it is correct. Actually, I have no interest in the throne. I’m a person who is satisfied just living like this. But I can definitely say one thing.
You are wrong. I will eventually become a member of the royal family. The path sister is going is not honorable, but it is definitely for the sake of Lasquer.
“You can’t do this, Princess. This is all for Lasquer…”
Tung-tung—
The man’s claim again. No, just as the stubbornness was about to unfold. A sound of someone knocking on the window from inside.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about that the voices are getting higher. Fellow Lasquerites.”
And the protagonist is, a person I’ve met several times before. It was Karl Adelheit.
“You are…”
“I’ll keep it short. If you had listened in detail, I would have given advice, but since I just arrived, I don’t know exactly what happened. Still, I have to say one thing.”
He strongly twisted the man’s shoulder. Soon, a groan ‘ugh!’ came out from the man’s mouth, and Karl continued speaking.
“Let’s only welcome at the welcome party. Don’t do pointless things. If you cause trouble and get caught, we’ll both be very tired.”
Karl’s eerie warning made the man nod his head repeatedly. After Karl released him, he hurriedly entered apologizing.
“Anyway.”
Karl clicked his tongue and said looking at me.
“Are you okay? You seemed to be in trouble.”
I nodded at that question. Surprisingly, whenever I was in trouble, he was always by my side.
Perhaps he already knows everything about what happened between me and that man.
*
Sigh. Anyway, there are always eels trying to muddy the water. Is it because I was exiled princess that they underestimated me?
I was disappointed to hear they were Lasquer nobles. From the start, they tried to work on their own country’s princess and then betrayed.
I don’t think about touching the same faction for romance. But publicly confessing to a junior at the freshman welcome party is a shameful act.
“More shameless than my public confession. Damn!”
I should mark him as a person to watch out for. The crime is senior’s sin of tailing a new junior.