Chapter 49
Chapter 49
There were five siblings in the Ecclesia Ducal House.
The eldest, Ron.
The second, Mariam.
The third, Ban.
The fourth, Cal.
And the fifth.
‘All five of them are famous talents. Except for the third, “Ban.”’
If you had to name the best among them, there was no question who it would be.
The second, Mariam Ecclesia.
The most outstanding talent among the five Ecclesia siblings.
‘The fifth is actually the best, but Mariam is impressive too. She became mayor of the Empire’s greatest Free City at a young age, after all.’
It was an achievement she had accomplished through her own abilities alone, not by riding on the Ecclesia family’s glory.
‘She entered the Academy early as its top student, graduated at the top of her class, then became a government official and rose through the ranks faster than anyone before her. She even received a medal. It’s no wonder people think she could become the next head of the Ecclesia family.’
There were so many people who thought Mariam might become the family’s next head that they were willing to bet on it, despite Ron being such a fine eldest son.
‘The problem is, this incredible older sister and Ban have the worst possible history.’
They say that people born from the same womb can’t live peacefully beneath the same sky, but the relationship between these two was worse than that.
Enemies.
That was the word that summed up their relationship.
‘There’s no way she’ll be friendly toward me.’
In other words, this meeting was a confrontation with an enemy.
I needed to prepare thoroughly.
“Why do you need these materials?”
“I have a use for them.”
“Is this because of Mariam?”
“Did you meet her too?”
Emily, this body’s former fiancée, nodded.
For the record, she had been using the information I’d given her to reestablish her standing in the Rapalt Ducal House.
“Yes. She asked whether you and I had become close again.”
Mariam thought highly of Emily and was firmly in favor of Ban and Emily marrying.
—If a guy like you can marry Emily, it’ll be the greatest achievement of your life.
“Don’t worry. Our relationship is definitively over. No matter what my older sister says, there’s absolutely no chance we’ll get back together.”
“……”
But Emily’s reaction was strange.
She just fell silent.
As I tilted my head in confusion, Emily changed the subject, as if to steer the conversation elsewhere.
“I’ll get the materials you asked for ready soon. But be careful. Mariam’s got it in for you.”
“She’s got it in for me?”
“…You really don’t remember?”
“??”
“At the banquet celebrating Mariam’s election as mayor, you played a rather nasty prank on her. You… mixed dog poop into the chocolate cake she was going to eat.”
“……”
I fell silent.
‘…That’s a bit much, isn’t it?’
I knew “Ban’s” character inside and out, but this was something I hadn’t known about.
I was the sort of person whose loyalty bent toward his own family, and I tried to defend the garbage Ban had done whenever possible. But this was beyond what I could tolerate.
“…I’ll handle it myself, so just prepare the materials I asked for.”
I headed straight to City Hall.
“Lord Ban, what brings you here?”
Sir Gordon, captain of the Guard, looked at me in surprise.
After I had distinguished myself on several occasions, Sir Gordon had come to feel favorably toward me.
“I’m here to see the mayor.”
“The mayor? Ah, come to think of it, what’s the relationship between the two of you? To think that the city’s two heroes are siblings—that’s incredible. I’ll go tell her right away. The mayor will be delighted!”
Sir Gordon dashed off, brimming with excitement, but soon returned looking as though his soul had left his body.
“W-why did the mayor react like that? She’s not usually like this…”
“…I’ll go in.”
A City Hall employee showed me inside.
“Mayor, Lord Ban has arrived.”
“Come in.”
Inside, a girl was seated in a room so obsessively tidy it was almost compulsive.
‘Mariam Ecclesia.’
As siblings, she looked like Ban.
There was a difference, though: unlike Ban’s sharp features, hers were much softer.
Her face looked so unbelievably young that, despite being in her late twenties, she could have passed for an Academy student. It made her sitting in the mayor’s office seem terribly incongruous.
“Thank you for showing him in. You can go back to your work now.”
Mariam smiled sweetly, her gentle face brightening. The young employee who had guided me turned red.
“N-no, not at all! Please call me anytime if you need anything!”
“Yes, thank you. Ban, why don’t you come over here? It’s been a while. Have you been well, my little brother?”
Her voice was warm and gentle, just as Emily had warned me it wouldn’t be.
Judging by the City Hall employee’s reaction just now, a stranger might even mistake her for an angel descended to earth.
Of course, I wasn’t fooled.
“You can speak comfortably with me, Sister.”
“……”
“We’re not on those kinds of terms, are we?”
Mariam’s smile vanished.
As if by a trick of the eye, her expression changed.
It turned cold as ice.
Even I, who had met all kinds of people as the former Sales King, shivered at that icy look.
“You really have changed, just like the rumors say. Who are you? You’re not my little brother, are you?”
She hadn’t guessed my true identity. It was simply an expression of surprise.
“Your reputation is so widespread that I wanted to see you for myself. To find out what kind of trouble you might cause next.”
“……”
“Still, you seem different from what I was worried about. That’s enough. You can go now. I’ll be keeping an eye on you, so be careful from now on.”
Mariam turned away, as if that truly was the end of what she had to say.
She looked as though she didn’t want to spend another moment in the same room as Ban.
Even so, her attitude wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. But I didn’t back down.
“Didn’t you say you were inviting me to tea? At least serve me some refreshments.”
Mariam gazed at me silently.
“You want to have tea with me?”
“Of course. As for refreshments to go with the tea, I’d prefer chocolate cake. A rich mousse cake, if possible.”
“!!”
Mariam’s face turned colder than it had been a moment ago.
She had realized that I’d deliberately brought up “chocolate cake.”
“You should be reflecting on what you did, if nothing else…”
“Why should I reflect on anything? If anything, I’m the one who deserves an apology.”
“…What?”
“Didn’t you pin the blame on me that day without even properly investigating the incident?”
“Pin the blame on you? What nonsense are you talking about? The witnesses testified that you did it.”
“What about the possibility that their testimony was fabricated? Did you investigate those witnesses?”
“!!”
Mariam’s lips snapped shut.
‘No matter what a piece of trash Ban was, he wasn’t stupid enough to mix feces into his sister’s congratulatory banquet.’
Actually, I didn’t know.
It wasn’t something I knew for certain.
But the Ban I knew wouldn’t have done that.
‘It’s much more likely that someone else pinned it on Ban. Just like all the other false accusations he’d been saddled with.’
A great many of the things Ban had supposedly done wrong had actually been false accusations, the result of someone else’s schemes.
He was an easy fool to frame.
“You had a lot of enemies after being elected at such a young age, Sister. They must have wanted to use me as an excuse to humiliate you and erode people’s support for you.”
“…I can’t just take your word for it. You don’t have any proof, do you?”
“What does it matter whether there’s proof or not?”
“…What?”
“As long as you can’t refute what I’m saying, I have the moral high ground. Even if I’m lying. Making a situation unfold the way you want, regardless of the truth—that’s politics, isn’t it?”
Mariam fell silent.
She’d realized what I was doing.
Right now, I was letting her know that I wasn’t the same fool I used to be.
“You really have changed.”
“Now that you know, wouldn’t you give me a cup of tea? There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
Mariam looked utterly incredulous, but soon rang the bell and had tea brought in.
“What is it? I’m busy, so make it quick.”
“Would you be interested in striking a deal with me?”
“What kind of deal?”
“I’m going to cause a bit of trouble. I want you to clean up after me.”
“!!”
Perhaps remembering the trouble Ban had caused in the past, Mariam looked like she would never agree, but—
“In exchange, I’ll help you enter Central Politics.”
“!!”
Central Politics.
It was where she longed to be.
Of course, she reacted with disbelief.
“How could you possibly do that?”
“Who knows? For now, all I can say is that you’ll have to trust me. But I want you to understand that this is an opportunity that won’t come again. Once I leave this room, I plan to go see Brother Ron. I hope your judgment is good enough to recognize my greatness.”
Mariam’s face stiffened.
Ron.
The eldest son of the Ecclesia family, and the person responsible for driving Mariam out of Central Politics and bringing her to the Free City.
‘I may have nothing to do with the succession struggle, but the two of them are fighting fiercely.’
“Are you threatening me?”
“I’d say I’m giving you first chance. You’re the one among my siblings who cares about me the most.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“You pretend otherwise, but I know you care about me. You called me here today because you were worried about me, didn’t you?”
“W-What ridiculous nonsense?!”
Mariam sprang to her feet.
Quite a different reaction from her cold, unyielding demeanor up until now.
‘…Mariam’s actually a brother-complex type. She acts even colder to hide her true feelings.’
It was hard to imagine, but it was true.
Mariam, a thoroughgoing cold-blooded schemer who saw even the protagonists as nothing but tools to use, was attached to only one person: Ban.
She kept it completely hidden, and it was first revealed during the scenario when Ban met his death.
‘Apparently, it was because back when they were children, before Ban went astray, he had been kind to Mariam when she was frail and sickly. As someone without siblings, it’s hard for me to understand that sort of feeling.’
In truth, that hidden side of hers was why I’d been reluctant to meet Mariam.
It felt awkward.
“Haah, I think you’ve got it badly wrong. Let me make this clear: I hate you.”
“Understood. I’ll take it that way.”
“……”
“Anyway, what’s your answer to my proposal?”
“Before that, I want to ask you something. What are you planning to do?”
“There are some people I don’t like, so I’m going to teach them a lesson.”
“What kind of ridiculous—”
“Is that not allowed? I’m an Ecclesia, after all.”
“……”
I twisted the corner of my mouth into a smirk.
“People tend to get the wrong idea. They think the Ecclesias are upright and just. But you know better, don’t you, Sister? Our Ecclesia family isn’t some kindly household.”
The Ecclesia Ducal House.
It was the family with the oldest history in the Empire.
Its history was even older than that of the current imperial family, whose dynasty had replaced the previous one.
How could a family like that be nothing but good?
It was all just a public facade.
“They angered me, an Ecclesia. Do you think I should just put up with it?”
“…No. You don’t have to.”
Mariam shook her head.
“But remember this: the Ecclesias’ wrath must be flawless in every respect.”
Her words carried a great deal of meaning.
The Ecclesias did not anger easily.
But when they did, they had to crush their opponent completely.
So that the opponent wouldn’t even think of daring to defy them again.
And the Ecclesias’ wrath had to be just.
That didn’t mean they had to act in true righteousness.
It meant that even if their anger was unjustified, they had to pin all the blame on their opponent and leave not a single trace behind.
After all, the Ecclesias—the preeminent political family—were more hypocritical than anyone.
“If you don’t think you can do it properly, give up. You’re not qualified.”
Her voice was sharp.
But deep down, I could see that she was worried about me.
Why was that?
I found myself smiling.
Having no siblings, I found that kind of feeling awkward, but still, it wasn’t unpleasant.
For an instant, a memory flashed through my mind: long ago, when I was little, I had envied the idea of having an older brother or sister.
I’m far too old to be pampered now, though.
If anything, I needed to become a younger brother she could lean on, like a pillar.
With that thought, I lifted the corners of my mouth.
“Don’t worry. They’ll learn why I’m an Ecclesia.”