Chapter 12
Chapter 12
What Comes After Is the Fate of High Society
“More importantly, from your perspective, Prince Mazdari, aren’t you interested in the saint candidate? That’s holy magic powerful enough to destroy a crystal golem.”
“That is quite a strange thing to say. The way you put it makes it sound as though I value talent over a woman’s beauty and charm….”
Prince Mazdari, Lorenzo, began to grow wary.
He was someone who deliberately acted like a carefree playboy to lower others’ guard, yet here she was bluntly asking if he prioritized talent over beauty.
‘You know full well that your playboy act is just a disguise.’
Wasn’t that essentially what she was saying?
‘I made a mistake. Because of my prior knowledge, I ended up treating things I shouldn’t know yet as if I did….’
Realizing her slip, Idnia decided to change her approach and instead reveal her own hand.
“I find her desirable. The Betelgeuse Duchy is still in turmoil from the aftermath of the Demon King’s descent. At a time like this, a capable individual like a saint is highly appealing. Not just a saint, but all talented individuals.”
“Ah, I see.”
Prince Mazdari, Lorenzo, felt reassured by Idnia’s words.
He concluded that she hadn’t seen through his disguise, but was merely projecting her own intentions.
“You too must have a desire for talent, Prince Mazdari. The Mazdari Duchy focuses on commerce, so you must need that many more capable people. This works out well. Shall we keep our meal light and go around introducing ourselves to people?”
Grabbing a few scones and gulping down her tea, Idnia prepared to move about. She was suggesting they go around scouting talents, and her boldness actually caught Lorenzo off guard.
‘So breaking off her engagement with the Crown Prince didn’t make her a strange person after all. It was because she had the ability to back it up. Idnia Katche Betelgeuse… what an extraordinary woman. She won’t be easy to deal with.’
Even as he played the role of a carefree man, hiding his claws and prepared to defy the empire if necessary, this ambitious man found himself impressed by Idnia, who displayed an even more merchant-like attitude than he did.
‘The problem is that the Betelgeuse Duchy is already in a state too dire to be revived by individual ability alone. Once the Duke of Betelgeuse passes away, she’ll have to lead it alone. It might have been better for her to marry into the Kalliestra family through the Crown Prince. Having half-baked brilliance can sometimes be poison if the ambition is unattainable. There are times when it’s better to give up.’
Lorenzo’s thoughts were interrupted by Idnia’s voice.
“Prince Mazdari?”
“…Ah. My apologies.”
Lorenzo realized he had been staring at Idnia absentmindedly.
At that moment, two more figures approached them.
The Crown Prince Rudolf, and a black-haired young man.
“So, you’re the woman who dumped Rudolf, huh.”
“Karl. She is Lady Betelgeuse. Mind your manners.”
“Forget manners. I’m sick of that nonsense. How long are we going to be stuck in dorm life anyway… Hey. I’m Karl Gustav Oxbach, the head of Boreas dormitory.”
Karl Gustav Oxbach was also from an elector family, one that commanded the famed elite northern legion, the Black Iron Warriors—a thoroughly military clan.
Among players of the game, his nickname was the Northern Grand Duke.
He disliked procedures and formalities, handling things with a beast-like instinct.
Perhaps because of that, he immediately extended his hand for a handshake.
It was not the etiquette of high society, but the greeting of a warrior.
“How rude. When asking for a lady’s hand, one should do it like this….”
Prince Mazdari, Lorenzo, gracefully extended his hand to Idnia in accordance with high society etiquette.
Idnia felt flustered by the sudden attention focused on her.
‘Originally, all this attention should have gone to the female protagonist, Astraea’s Marie….’
In the original game, the one who drew the attention of all the princes was Astraea’s Marie.
Naturally so, since she entered as the top student and displayed powerful holy magic from the very first day…
But the current situation was different.
First of all, Idnia was no longer the Crown Prince’s fiancée, making her free.
And while Astraea’s Marie had made a strong impression with her holy magic, Idnia was currently ranked second in merit points and had left a good impression with her wise leadership.
Moreover, wasn’t Idnia also a saint candidate?
As nobles, they couldn’t help but calculate, and by that calculation, the most valuable woman in the academy right now was Idnia.
‘I’ve ended up stealing all the attention that should have gone to the original protagonist! What a mistake… how am I supposed to apologize?!’
Idnia was both startled at unintentionally taking the spotlight meant for the protagonist and newly aware of the noblemen around her.
‘In the game, they just seemed like handsome men of different types, fun and cute… but these guys all have their own agendas. Well, they are noble heirs after all.’
In the game, they appeared to laugh and flirt carefree, but in reality, they were all calculating, approaching with their family’s interests and their own futures in mind.
Idnia found it oddly impressive.
But at the same time, it made her uneasy.
‘In the end, all the most popular characters from Season 1 are gathered around me right now. There’s no way this will look good to others.’
The most entertaining thing in high society was gossiping about others. And what better target than a ducal house with great fame but little real power?
On top of that, Idnia was already infamous as the eccentric who had thrown a broken engagement in the Crown Prince’s face.
No one approached Astraea’s Marie.
Though she had displayed powerful holy magic, she had openly “lied” and challenged a professor’s authority, so everyone treated her like a place about to be struck by lightning and avoided her.
No one wanted to get caught in the fallout by standing next to her.
So most students gathered with acquaintances from high society, chatting and dining as if at a social party.
Marie, who had never stood on such a stage, ate alone, feeling miserable.
“Sniff… I’m not lying….”
Since childhood, Marie had somehow been able to use powerful holy magic.
Under the protection of a bishop of Astraea, she received the oracle of a saint and entered Dunaise Academy.
She had been educated in a monastery, but while she was kept there, her family died of yellow fever.
At one point, she resented the church and even ran away in opposition to being named a saint…
But after the clergy’s earnest guidance, she steadied her heart and came here—only for that resolve to feel like it was breaking now.
At that moment, a girl appeared before her.
She was doll-like in appearance, yet her eyes burned with a sharp intensity… Isolde Polzen.
“It is a pleasure to meet you. You are the saint candidate… Miss Marie, correct?”
“Yes?”
“I am Isolde Polzen. A pleasure to meet you. I believe that you are not lying.”
“R-really? You truly believe me?”
“Of course. With such powerful holy magic, there is no way you would have entered the academy in last place. It must be a fragment of a miracle. In that case, you are truly a saint.”
Isolde was essentially saying that since her holy magic was so strong, she believed she hadn’t done pre-learning despite her poor academic rank.
But just being believed made Marie grateful.
“Th-thank you.”
“Not at all. I merely live under the grace of the Holy Eldar Empire, so it is only right to show respect to the saint who will protect the empire from monsters.
As it happens, I have a personal connection with His Highness the Crown Prince. Would it be acceptable if I introduced you?”
“What?!”
Marie was startled at the offer to be introduced to the Crown Prince.
But Isolde shook her head.
“Ah, I brought it up, but it may be difficult for now. Lady Idnia Katche Betelgeuse, who declared her broken engagement to my brother, is currently monopolizing the attention of all the princes.”
Isolde pointed with her finger.
Idnia Katche Betelgeuse was conversing with the Crown Prince and other nobles—the most noble, wealthy, and handsome men in the empire.
And then…
A few male students approached.
Two male students from Zephyros dormitory grumbled with dissatisfied expressions.
“Hah, as expected. The elites stick with their own kind.”
“She’s incredibly beautiful, and I hadn’t seen her in high society before, so I wondered who she was—but to think she’s Lady Betelgeuse.”
“You like that type, right? Blonde, tall, slender? I don’t like someone taller than me.”
“It’s not that you don’t like them—they wouldn’t even look your way. With the Crown Prince and princes all over her, what do you expect?”
“But then why did she break off the engagement?”
“Well, House Kalliestra basically coerced her—offering the elector voting rights in exchange for the engagement with the Crown Prince, so she complied at first. But now the Duke of Betelgeuse isn’t in good health, right?
If she just married like that, the Betelgeuse Ducal House would be absorbed entirely. So she cut it off.”
“What, to raise the stakes? Wow, that’s ruthless. She thought that far ahead at just ten years old?”
“Then why do you think all those princes are flocking to her? She’s basically a living elector vote.”
“Wow, too expensive for commoners like us to even approach. Where am I supposed to find pure young love like this?”
“Pure, my foot.”
The two boys snickered as they gossiped about Idnia.
Marie, hearing them, felt bewildered.
‘Is that even realistically possible?’
A mere ten-year-old girl confidently predicting she would become the sole heir of the Betelgeuse Duchy, assuming her father would die without leaving another successor, breaking off her engagement with the Crown Prince, and scheming to sell herself at a higher price?
It made no sense.
But Isolde Polzen spoke meaningfully.
“When one spends too long in high society, there are many gossipers who can no longer distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be said. Even if something is true, that is precisely what can make it more dangerous….”
‘Which means you believe that Lady Idnia Katche Betelgeuse is plotting something.’
And then…
“Isn’t that right?”
Another voice joined in—Sendia Aspinal.
“Hello, Miss Isolde Polzen. I am Sendia Aspinal. We met once before….”
“Ah, at the Aspinal Company’s year-end party last year. Of course I remember you, Miss Aspinal.”
“After the Betelgeuse Ducal House sold off the Dunaise villa and it became a zoo, those of us from Betelgeuse have had quite a hard time.”
“Yes? Why is that?”
Marie, a commoner, couldn’t understand and asked.
“We have to remain in the imperial capital, Dunaise, to conduct business, but our homeland has declined and the ducal villa turned into a zoo. Naturally, we became the subject of endless talk in high society. No matter what, there’s an obligation to maintain dignity, isn’t there? Especially for a ducal house. To sell it off just to save on maintenance costs.”
At first glance, it sounded reasonable.
If the ducal house spent money in high society, hosted parties, and maintained its dignity, those from Betelgeuse conducting business would have it easier.
Moreover, when problems arose in business, the duke could resolve them with connections and authority, and in return, merchants would show their loyalty.
But that entire network—between the great nobles, merchants, financiers, and lesser nobles—had completely collapsed in the Betelgeuse Duchy.
Because the great noble, the Duke of Betelgeuse, had abandoned that responsibility and retreated to the countryside.
But was that truly wrong?
Marie, who came from a commoner background, felt confused.