The Battle of Wits Begins
The battle of wits was about to begin.
One commoner had suddenly cut into the conversation between a princess and a saintess.
She hadn’t even been invited. And she hadn’t spoken politely, either.
She had practically shouted—right in front of a princess, right in front of one of the Imperial 10 Strongest!
From Elga’s point of view, of course the thought that this girl had lost her mind was inevitable.
The academy’s principle was that status did not matter—that was the rule, at least on paper.
Even so, there were still things a commoner could and could not do.
Nobles were one thing; royalty was something else entirely, beyond all comparison.
Moreover, the woman standing before them—the Fifth Princess Yulika—was not even an academy student.
Unlike the saintess, who at least had legitimate business on campus, she was merely a guest who had dropped by for a short visit. In other words, academy rules did not apply to her at all.
Surely the princess won’t claim she’s offended and hit her with a charge of lèse-majesté… right?
If that truly happened, what should she do? Intervene?
Could she even stop it? Doing so might land her in the same disaster.
But the girl was close to Kyle. And Elga herself knew her to some degree as well.
It was hard to just stand by and watch. Honestly, what was she supposed to do?!
While Elga fretted and groaned under the weight of every possible scenario—
“…I’ve been wanting to ask for a while now. Who’s the purple-haired one?”
As if she had finally grown curious about the other party, Yulika indicated Tisha with a lift of her chin.
“Who are you? I’ve never seen your face before.”
The straight-on gaze of one of the Ten Strongest—the absolute pinnacle of martial power in the Empire—was enough to make one’s skin crawl.
And of all things, Yulika’s irises were a blood-red that seemed to ripple like fresh gore.
For Tisha, who already knew full well she had made a mistake, it was an almost unbearable trial.
“Th-that is, I am…”
“She is Sister Tisha, Your Highness. A very good person.”
The saintess stepped in lightly, defending Tisha.
But Yulika shook her head and fixed her eyes on Tisha once more.
“I want to hear the introduction myself, Saintess. Come on, purple hair. Introduce yourself again, properly.”
It was a situation in which tension was simply unavoidable.
She had met a border margrave, a grand duke’s daughter, and a saintess—but a princess was truly oppressive.
Was she not the legitimate daughter of the Emperor who ruled the entire Empire? Comparison itself was impossible.
On top of that, she ranked among the ten strongest individuals in the Empire by sheer power.
What should she do? How should she act so that nothing terrible happened?
…Calm down. She isn’t a bad person. She’s simply curious about me.
The moment she thought that, her violently pounding heart eased a little.
As the tension subsided, her muddled thoughts seemed to clear as well.
Tisha straightened her posture and spoke toward Yulika, who was staring at her without blinking.
“It is an unparalleled honor to meet you like this, Your Highness the Princess. My name is Tisha.”
“A commoner, I see.”
Tisha flinched and carefully watched the princess’s expression.
Fortunately, the words “A commoner, I see” did not seem to carry any malice.
It was not “Why is a mere commoner butting into my conversation?” but simply the realization—because the girl had no surname—that she was a commoner.
And just as expected, Yulika did not scold Tisha at all.
Instead she only asked questions, her face openly intrigued.
“Alright, got it. Tisha. Then I’ll ask differently. What’s your relationship with Kyle?”
Tisha’s whole body jerked.
Yulika was smiling, yet somehow it felt as though a ferocious monster were glaring at her.
An instinctive certainty rose in her mind: she had to answer carefully here.
“…We are friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“Is that really all?”
To the question “Is that really all?” a simple “Yes” would have sufficed.
Yet Tisha did not leave it at that; she deliberately added something more.
“…I think of us as friends who are a little closer than others.”
At that final answer, a fresh gleam flickered through Yulika’s crimson eyes.
This time, however, Tisha did not flinch.
It’s the truth, isn’t it? Kyle and I are… closer than ordinary friends… right?
If they were merely acquaintances, he would never look after her the way he did.
He carefully taught her how to train, met her whenever he had time just to talk.
They laughed and chattered, held serious discussions about shamanism, and he even cheered her on.
Most decisive of all—he had gone out of his way to find precious books and shared them with her.
This was no misunderstanding. Yes, this was not a subjective impression; it was objective fact.
Thinking that, Tisha quietly waited for Yulika’s next words.
“Closer than others, huh.”
Arms folded, Yulika sank into deep thought.
The saintess and the grand duke’s daughter tensed on the spot, yet Tisha—the very subject of that contemplation—remained calm.
“By any chance… does that mean you also want to be Kyle’s?”
Of course, even Tisha could not help but be thrown into confusion by those words.
“…Pardon?”
“I’m asking if you’re also trying to become Kyle’s possession.”
At that, not only Tisha but Elga and the saintess as well all suffered a simultaneous brain freeze; they could only stare at Yulika in silence.
They had clearly just heard something, yet the content was so outrageous that their minds refused to process it.
And the speaker was a princess of the Empire—one of the Imperial 10 Strongest—making the statement all the more impossible to believe.
“Y-Your Highness. Many people come and go through this place. Such remarks are…”
Barely recovering her wits, Elga rushed to shut the situation down.
Her instincts screamed that if she heard any more—if any more was said—something truly catastrophic would occur.
The problem, however, was that the other party was none other than Yulika.
She was a princess, yet she was also a person who fit the imperial household least of all.
“Duchess, stay quiet. Looking at it this way, it seems about right, doesn’t it?”
“Your Highness. Please…”
“No? Then purple hair… ah, Tisha. Are you content ending things as just friends with Kyle?”
It was like hurling a boulder with full force into a perfectly still lake.
Had an ordinary person said such a thing, one might have laughed it off, or at least answered, “We’re friends! Just friends!” simply to escape the moment.
But Yulika had said it outright.
Are you also trying to become Kyle’s possession? The important word was not “possession.”
It was the “you also” that the princess had slipped into her sentence.
What on earth is this? C-could it be that the princess…?!
I half-suspected it, but… as expected!
Brother Kyle? Th-the princess is targeting him again!!
The first to open her mouth was Elga, who at least possessed a certain degree of standing.
Compared with Yulika seated in a princess’s place it was still lacking, yet she was the young lady of a grand duchy all the same.
“Your Highness. Is this something Kyle is also aware of?”
“He knows.”
“Th-that is… that Your Highness desires a deeper relationship with Kyle…”
“He knows.”
“Ah…”
“But that man still has no feelings for me whatsoever.”
A breath of relief escaped the hearts of both Tisha and Elga.
They had thought the princess—a formidable rival—had already claimed him completely, yet thankfully that was not the case.
The brief relief, however, swiftly twisted into a far greater anxiety.
Kyle might feel nothing, but Yulika—Fifth Princess and one of the Ten Strongest—clearly felt something very definite.
Otherwise she could never have spoken such shocking words in a place like this.
Tisha and Elga reached the same conclusion at almost the same moment.
What do I have that is better than the princess standing right in front of me?
Is there any reason at all for Kyle to look at me instead of that woman?
…There isn’t.
There really isn’t…
The seat of a grand duke’s heiress? The legitimate daughter of the Emperor ranked far higher.
Expertise in shamanism? The other woman was already one of the Imperial 10 Strongest.
No matter how hard they thought, they could see no way to overcome this powerful rival.
The thought they had never once entertained—that someone might snatch Kyle away entirely—now flooded their minds, and all at once their earlier leisure seemed utterly pathetic!
…No. It isn’t as though there is no way at all.
Just one… there is just one method that could beat the princess…
That method was extremely simple.
They only needed to achieve what they had originally longed for.
If I become the Grand Duke—if I become the new master of Litorio—then I can stand equal to a princess!
A princess’s position was of course magnificent, yet a grand duke’s seat was equally immense.
Unlike a princess who held little real authority, a grand duke wielded genuine, formidable power.
If she became that grand duke, would Kyle not, after some deliberation, take her hand?
If I become the greatest in shamanism… I might even be able to contend with the title of Imperial 10 Strongest.
She had already blocked, with shamanism, the mana explosion that mages found most troublesome.
If she grew further from here, she could reach a level that rivaled magic itself.
Kyle, who loved effort above all else, might look upon someone who had grown so rapidly in so short a time!
I can do it. No…
No! I must do it!
Gazing at the two women seated opposite her—women whose eyes now burned with unshakable resolve mixed with a touch of desperation—Yulika confirmed that her prediction had been roughly correct.
She was not the only one aiming for Kyle’s side right now!
So that’s why he said he had no interest in my proposal.
She understood. It was said that beauties always flocked around a strong man.
The conflicts that arose from that were not a man’s weakness. They were simply a privilege.
Those who criticized it were nothing more than the complaints of “failures” who never even got chosen in the first place.
This will be fun. Competition is always fun. Though right now it’s still too vague to even call it a real competition. Grow up quickly, girls. Make it so that fighting one another actually has some flavor.
In the blink of an eye the atmosphere had transformed into a fierce, mutual battle of wits in which each watched the others like hawks.
Caught awkwardly in the middle of it all was the saintess.
“Sisters…”
Inextinguishable, iron resolve blazed in the eyes of both Tisha and Elga.
In Yulika’s eyes as she looked at them blazed pure, almost manic interest that said this was so entertaining she might go mad.
Stuck between them, the saintess floundered for a moment before finally letting out a small sigh.
I told you so many times to take it easy, Your Highness…
Looking at the smiling Yulika seated beside her, the saintess made a firm decision.
She did not know about the rest, but any act that made Brother Kyle uncomfortable—she would absolutely stop it.
She would help him and protect him so that he never found himself in a difficult position.
The witch, the grand duke’s daughter, the saintess, and the princess.
It was the precise moment the four-way battle of wits began.