Getting Tangled From the Start Is the Rule
Getting tangled from the start is the rule.
“My lady! My lady!”
“Nanny? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“Have you heard the news?”
“What news?”
“The second young master has been injured and is returning home!”
The moment Elga heard from her nanny that her second older brother was coming back to the house, a single thought sprouted deep in her chest: Surely not…?
Her eldest brother had already disqualified himself from the succession struggle after causing every kind of trouble imaginable. The only rival left was her second brother, and he was no easy opponent. She had heard he was attending the Academy with excellent grades, showing off his abilities left and right. Before long Elga herself would be entering the Imperial Academy. If her second brother already monopolized every expectation of House Litorio, things would become troublesome.
But that man is injured and coming home?
Just how badly had he been hurt to abandon the Academy and return? Her curiosity was answered soon enough.
“Ugh… th-this is insane… how can a person even do that…”
Her second brother’s physical condition was far better than she had expected. The problem was his strangely broken mental state. The physicians’ consensus was that he had received some enormous shock. The cause, they said, was an incident in which a certain female student had half-destroyed the Academy. Voices immediately rose demanding that the family responsible be held accountable. Yet he wasn’t actually injured; he was simply trembling in terror. And above all, one of the people who had provided the spark for the whole affair happened to be Litorio’s own second son—who, as a scion of a grand duchy, had even uttered vulgar words. Raising the matter at all might only smear the family’s honor further.
“….”
The succession structure was already skewed after the eldest had been eliminated. And the master of Litorio, Aias Mentain de Litorio, was a thorough meritocrat. He had no intention of handing over the archducal seat simply because someone was firstborn or male. With the situation as it was, it was only natural that he would begin considering other options.
“Elga.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Enroll in the Academy. And prove yourself.”
“You mean…?”
“Create for me the reason I should choose you.”
At the archduke’s words, Elga barely managed to suppress the joy surging up inside her. At last the chance had been given to her as well. She could finally show whether she was worthy to lead this vast grand duchy!
The first and last opportunity.
Half expectation, half anxiety, Elga spent that night staring at the ceiling. Could she do it well? Could she meet her father’s expectations? And then, suddenly, curiosity stirred about the John Nassen baronial house that had created this chance for her. She did not know when—or even if—the opportunity would ever come. Even so, if she ever met someone from John Nassen, she wanted to tell them: Because of you, I was able to seize this chance.
And far sooner than she expected, Elga found herself face-to-face with the person she could say those words to.
“Thanks to you, I was able to seize my chance.”
…What the hell is she talking about? What chance?
She needed to speak so a person could understand if she wanted him to nod along or play along. Spouting things out of nowhere like this left him with no idea what she expected him to do.
“Ah. Yes. Congratulations, my lady. But… what chance did you seize, exactly?”
Elga stepped a little closer and smiled sweetly.
“You don’t need to know.”
“…Pardon?”
“Are you curious?”
Of course he was curious. How could he not be? Whatever it was, he wanted to dig into the inside story first.
“Curious? If you are, I could tell you.”
She came so close he could see the fine peach fuzz on her face. The flower of high society, they called her—she was certainly pretty. But why did she keep drawing nearer? It was getting uncomfortable.
A strange feeling made Kyle examine the Elga standing before him.
…Well, well. Look at this.
He had wondered why she was coming on so strong to a man she had just met. She was definitely talking to him, yet she kept casting tiny sidelong glances behind him. And standing there was the princess’s childhood friend, Leto.
What is this? A jealousy operation? Or attention bait?
The childhood-friend rule: one side starts seeing the other as the opposite sex, while the other still only sees a friend. To break that wall they sometimes deliberately provoke competitive jealousy. The moment the thought landed, his expression hardened without his noticing. The woman in front of him—Princess Elga—was using him. If it had been anything else he might have shrugged it off with rough understanding. But this was something else entirely: she was dragging him into her romantic schemes? That crossed the line. Fuck.
A thoroughly unpleasant feeling rising in him, Kyle opened his mouth in a cold voice.
“No.”
“…What?”
“Not at all. Not even a little. I’m not curious.”
“Uh…?”
“There’s never anything good that comes from prying into other people’s business.”
It must have been an unexpected reaction; Elga’s expression shifted oddly.
“…You really aren’t curious?”
“No. I’m not curious.”
Elga stepped right up to Kyle again. This time she did not glance aside even once; she looked straight only at him.
“Really, truly not curious? About what I was going to say?”
“Really, truly not curious, Lady Elga.”
Kyle’s reply cut her off as if to say that was enough. Just as Elga opened her mouth again without thinking—
“Kyle! There you are!”
From behind, Tisha called Kyle’s name as she approached.
“Tisha?”
“They said you’d come out earlier, but I couldn’t find you so I was looking. But who is this…?”
As Tisha drew up beside Kyle, the two women’s eyes locked sharply in midair.
“….”
“….”
If there had been sound effects, there would surely have been a sharp zzzt! And if special effects had been available, blue sparks would have been flying as well.
“….”
“….”
The two women’s inexplicable staring contest continued a little longer. The first to withdraw was Princess Elga.
“…Leto.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“We’re leaving. And I told you to drop the ‘my lady’ title, didn’t I? Here we’re just ordinary students.”
“Ah—yes, I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful…”
Elga spun on her heel hard enough to make a whoosh. She brushed past Leto and walked the opposite direction from which she had come.
“W-well then, I’ll see you both later.”
After greeting Kyle and Tisha, Leto followed. The pair rounded the building and vanished from sight.
“…What is wrong with that weird woman? Looking at people like that—so unpleasant.”
“Elga Bless de Litorio.”
“Huh?”
“The legitimate daughter of the Litorio Grand Duchy. In other words, a high and mighty princess, Tisha.”
At Kyle’s words Tisha fell silent for a while. Then she hastily scanned the surroundings, clearly checking whether anyone had overheard. With nothing but a single recommendation letter to her name, she had just spoken ill of the legitimate daughter of an imperial grand duchy; the caution was only natural.
“Uh, um. Forget what I just said. The part about the weird woman. Got it?”
“What did Tisha say? I don’t remember anything.”
At Kyle’s witty answer Tisha burst out with a soft laugh. Definitely better than that swordsman Ian, she thought.
“….”
Elga stopped walking and quietly glanced back. Far off, she could see Kyle speaking with a girl who had violet hair. At first she had only meant to draw Leto’s attention toward herself. Even the tiniest spark of jealousy would have been enough; she had wanted some kind of change. But Leto had continued acting without a single shred of awareness. Instead, in the middle of it all, that man named Kyle had caught her interest.
Kyle John Nassen.
Their first meeting had not been pleasant. Her shoulder still throbbed from the collision. Yet the way he immediately admitted fault and apologized with perfect courtesy had been… acceptable. And above all, he possessed far too many things she had never seen in Leto.
“No.”
“Not at all. Not even a little. I’m not curious.”
“There’s never anything good that comes from prying into other people’s business.”
The low, solemn voice that had come past the man’s lips. Those deep, unwavering eyes that never trembled even slightly. And that solid physique his clothes could not completely hide. When he tried to slip outside the range of her interest, a sudden sense of unfairness flared up. That feeling only grew sharper the moment some random woman suddenly appeared at his side. She had started this to provoke Leto’s jealousy—so why had the emotion of jealousy risen in her own heart instead?
…Am I crazy? What’s wrong with me all of a sudden.
Smack!
She lightly slapped both her own cheeks. The person she liked right now was Leto, standing behind her. Her childhood friend who had protected her since they were little was the only one. Lately, though, she had been growing a little tired—that was the truth.
“Is something the matter, my la— Lady Elga? Is there a problem?”
You’re asking because you don’t know? You’re the problem, Leto. That hopelessly dull heart of yours is the problem. You dense fool.
Elga felt the urge to strangle Leto on the spot. No matter how many openings she created, no matter how clearly she invited him closer, Leto had never once crossed the line of friendship or the line of a bodyguard. Every time she watched that, she could feel her heart cooling little by little. No matter how much she liked someone, if the other person kept pushing her away, one day that feeling would break and turn somewhere else.
Idiot.
Thinking that, Elga recalled the Kyle she had just faced.