Unwanted Attention, an Unexpected Turn (1)
"Sit down and make yourselves comfortable."
Thud. Edwin, seated in the place of honor, spoke in a languid drawl.
Lia and I exchanged a glance, then carefully took the side seats of the sofa arranged in a rough D shape.
"We have coffee and tea prepared. What would each of you prefer?"
"I’ll have coffee. Lia... can have tea."
At this point, I hadn’t openly revealed that I was Lia’s bodyguard. I thought it would sound awkward if I used a title like "Lady Lia," so I spoke casually—and for some reason, Lia’s cheeks turned red as she cleared her throat with an awkward cough.
"...Lia?"
"Huh? Y-yeah, why, what is it, Cain?"
That answer sounded strange. What, did she catch a cold or something?
"Lowen, please bring two coffees and one tea."
"Yes, of course."
The moment I was about to press the issue, Edwin turned his head.
With his brilliant blond hair, as though it had been dipped in gold, Edwin looked at me with those familiar languid eyes of his. I met his gaze head-on.
Looking at him like this, I was suddenly reminded of the description of Edwin from the original novel.
He supposedly took after his mother so closely that he was extremely handsome. Because of that, despite being the Empire’s legitimate heir and First Prince, he had fallen out of favor with the Emperor and suffered all kinds of hardship from childhood onward.
The story up through volume four of the original novel was all about Edwin, who grew up exposed to palace intrigue and assassination attempts, meeting the angelic Stella at Bern Academy and slowly falling in love with her.
"Cain Reinhardt."
Just as I was trying to sort through those vague memories, Edwin spoke. I answered a beat late.
"Yes, President."
"Tell me, do you perhaps have unusual tastes?"
"...Pardon?"
What kind of nonsense was that supposed to be?
He’d suddenly tossed out a bizarre question, and I frowned before I even realized it. Edwin interlaced his fingers and rested them on the knee of the leg he had crossed over the other.
"I’m well aware that I’m extraordinarily good-looking, having taken after my mother, but you seemed to be staring at me a little too fervently. I thought I’d ask in advance—if the third son of the Reinhardt family is inclined toward that sort of preference, I can’t exactly be the partner for you, so it’s better to give up now."
...
What an unbelievable ego.
We’d barely exchanged a few words, but I felt like I could already guess what kind of person Edwin had been before meeting Stella.
Arrogant, haughty, and overflowing with self-love—the very image of the First Prince, Edwin von Edward, a title that fit the Empire’s legitimate heir to perfection.
For a man like that to become so utterly devoted to one woman that he’d hand over both his liver and gallbladder for her... honestly, love really was something else.
I was too dumbfounded to reply when creak—Lowen entered the student council president’s office.
On the tray were two coffees and one tea. There was also a small box of sugar cubes.
"You can adjust the sweetness with these sugar cubes, as you please."
"Ah, thank you."
Lowen set the coffee in front of Edwin first, then handed me mine as well and slowly appraised me.
His face was expressionless, but his eyes shone with a sharp light, as if he were evaluating me.
"Lowen. If you glare at this year’s freshmen with such a terrifying expression, won’t they be too intimidated to even talk?"
"He’s already done what he did. There’s no way he’d be intimidated by me now."
"Ah, right. You’re the freshman who boldly declared war in front of several thousand people. A mere glance from Lowen is hardly enough to faze you."
Edwin muttered it like a joke, then shot me a sidelong look. His eyes were full of keen interest.
When I’d come to receive the student council badge that morning, he hadn’t said a word, so I’d thought he was going to let it pass. But of course this was what he’d bring up.
I moistened my lips and spoke slowly.
"President, the reason we made that declaration was because—"
"You used the cause of rooting out corruption as cover for some other objective, didn’t you?"
I’d been trying to keep my expression under control, but my eyes widened before I knew it.
When I flicked my gaze to Lia, she looked just as startled as I was, her mouth parted in shock.
"And that objective, naturally, would have to be top secret—something you can’t let others know about."
Edwin said it calmly, then looked at Lia and me as though to say, So, am I wrong?
I considered denying it at first, but at this point, since we were already half exposed, it would only invite needless suspicion. So I gave in rather easily.
"Yes, that’s right. Lia and I had another purpose. But—"
"You were about to say it’s certainly nothing that would bring disgrace to me, yes."
"...We’re absolutely not doing this with any impure intent—"
"You’re doing this to make a better world?"
"...”
This guy. Did he come back through time from the future or something?
The way he kept saying things that sounded like he was reading my mind made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I rubbed the spot, feeling a chill.
Edwin watched me for a moment, then let out a quiet snort of amusement.
"If you spend long enough in the imperial palace, you end up meeting every sort of person imaginable. Cain Reinhardt, I’d wager there have been at least a few hundred people who’ve tried to persuade me with a variation of what you were about to say, hoping to gain something from me. So there’s no need to be that surprised."
...
In the original novel, he’d seemed like nothing more than a Stella-obsessed fool, so I’d underestimated him a little. But now that I was seeing him in person and actually talking to him, his insight was no joke. Was this why he was the Empire’s First Prince?
At this rate, if I tried to persuade Edwin with some half-baked pretext, I’d probably get slapped with the label of a subversive and kicked out of the student council.
I turned to Lia. Given how things had gone, we needed to show at least some of our cards and convince him if we wanted any credibility. I was just about to ask her opinion with my eyes when—
"Cain Reinhardt, Lia von Elleves."
"Yes?"
"Yes, President."
Edwin drew our attention fully, then uncrossed his legs and leaned his upper body slightly toward us.
"Let’s make a deal."
"A deal...?"
"Yes, a deal. After all, you want to use the student council’s power to accomplish a certain objective, and you also want me to turn a blind eye to your existence and your actions, don’t you?"
"...Yes, that’s correct."
Edwin’s tone changed one hundred and eighty degrees as he looked straight at Lia and me.
"Every year, a massive budget amounting to one hundred thousand pounds is consumed under the pretense of financial support for Bern Academy. And part of that budget flows into the clubs and organizations within Bern Academy, where it is neatly deposited into the pockets of the second and third sons and daughters of nobles I’ll someday face in the imperial palace."
...
"It’s a deplorable thing. My father’s wealth is being turned into blind money, and it’s only swelling the ranks of my political enemies."
Edwin straightened his posture.
"So let’s make a deal. What you need to do is simple. Just as you declared at the entrance ceremony, thoroughly investigate the budget proposals of every club and organization currently existing within Bern Academy. Seal off the wasteful leakage of funds, and for the places where the corruption runs deepest, dismantle them by any means necessary and stop the embezzlement at its source."
"Then, in return, President—"
"I’ll overlook whatever you do. But I can’t promise full support or complete extraterritorial immunity. I have my own political position to consider."
When he finished speaking, Edwin crossed his legs again. His expression was almost relaxed, as though he were certain we could never refuse the deal.
And in truth, that was exactly the case. Edwin had offered the maximum concession he could while putting forward a compromise that worked out well for both sides.
Our goal was to root out the believers hidden within Bern Academy, while Edwin’s goal was to rein in the noble factions that would one day become his political enemies.
Those two objectives were a perfect fit under the guise of rooting out corruption. Of course, Edwin didn’t know that, but based on experience and instinct, he’d figured it out anyway. I had to admit, he was exceptionally sharp.
"For the record, my proposal is only valid while I’m sitting here."
After saying that, Edwin yawned slightly, as if he were bored. It was his way of saying that if we dragged this out any longer, he might just leave, so we’d better answer quickly without overthinking it.
...I turned to look at Lia. She met my eyes and nodded her head vigorously, as if no further consideration was needed.
"Understood."
"Understood, you say. So you mean you’ll take the deal with me?"
"Yes. We’ll do it. But before that, may I ask one question?"
Edwin gave a lazy tilt of his chin. Go ahead, he was saying.
"If rooting out corruption within Bern Academy is your objective, wouldn’t it be better for you to act directly instead of us? Surely it’d be faster for you to step in yourself rather than rely on Lia and me, who are only newly joined at the lowest level."
"...You know, Cain, that isn’t a simple matter."
Jerk, jerk—Lia tugged at my sleeve. Once she had my attention, she continued in an explanatory tone.
"If the president, who leads the student council, personally steps in to purge corruption, that’s basically the same as the student council officially declaring war on every club and organization. If that happens, the regime’s approval rating—the source of its unchallenged power—will drop, right? And if approval falls, the student council’s ability to do its job gets hampered. The president’s influence would weaken too. In every way, it’d be bad."
"Ah."
Unlike in real-world politics, where shouting about rooting out corruption tends to raise approval ratings, in a fantasy world where the entrenched interests are all tangled together, it would actually make popularity fall. As soon as I heard Lia’s explanation, I understood at once.
"Well then, I suppose there’s no need to repeat the explanation I just gave."
Trailing off, Edwin extended a hand.
He didn’t say anything else, but it felt like he was telling me to take it if I meant to stand with him.
I’d already made up my mind, so I didn’t hesitate. I took Edwin’s hand at once.
"I look forward to working with you, President."
"Mm. Likewise."
* * *
Five minutes later.
After Edwin, Cain, and Lia had struck some sort of deal, the student council president’s office.
"Lowen."
"Yes, President."
"Among this year’s freshman representatives, the female one—she’s probably smart because she takes after her father, right?"
"The female one’s father... If you mean the head of the Elleves family, Lord Macmillan von Elleves?"
"Yes, Count Macmillan."
Edwin recalled the face of Count Macmillan, who wasn’t present in the room. A count with a fierce gaze, hair like coarse bristles on his knuckles, and a terrifying, rough-looking face—like a wild bear with a menacing expression.
He’d always start bragging about his daughter the moment he entered the palace, so yes, he must have adored his only child to an absurd degree.
"Maybe because she resembles that bear-like fox, but she’s certainly sharp."
"She is the top freshman, after all. Of course she’d be smart."
"No, I don’t mean book smarts. I mean the other kind."
Tap, tap. Edwin tapped his temple with his index finger. Lowen looked at him and answered without much expression.
"You mean because she brought up your long-cherished objective of rooting out corruption? That much, anyone could find out if they bothered to look into it—"
"Sure, they could find it out. But how many people would actually be able to make use of that card effectively once they had it?"
...
He had a point. Even if someone discovered that the president wanted to root out corruption, what on earth could ordinary students do about it?
At most, only student council officers could imitate it by poking around on a whim under the excuse of auditing and inspecting things.
But once you became a student council officer, you no longer needed to do that. There were so many benefits simply from breathing; there was no reason to risk your own neck in pursuit of anti-corruption crusades.
If you pushed through a purge that made you an enemy of most of the academy’s students and then got removed from office on the pretext of public opinion, the fallout would be yours alone to bear.
So the existing student council officers had all chosen to look the other way, and the president himself had understood that well enough to half-give up on the matter until now. But then Cain Reinhardt and Lia von Elleves stepped forward and championed that very anti-corruption crusade.
Of course there was another objective lurking beneath the surface, but the public justification they’d put forward—"rooting out corruption"—was something Edwin simply couldn’t pretend not to notice.
Their familiar style of bargaining was to read exactly what the other side wanted, bait it out, and then drag it into their own field in order to accomplish their goal.
Edwin compared Count Macmillan with his daughter Lia and laughed under his breath.
"That’s one on me, courtesy of the old man’s daughter."
"...Count Macmillan is an experienced noble, so it makes sense that his daughter inherited his abilities as well."
"Mm, I suppose so? She probably takes after her father. Pretending not to know while getting everything she can out of it—the way she acts is exactly the same. Absolutely."
Edwin interlaced his fingers and brought his arms back behind his head.
"Yes, they do resemble each other. But then, what’s the real objective of those freshmen?"
"Pardon? Their objective?"
"Yes, their objective. The purpose behind two freshmen who know nothing suddenly stepping up and claiming they’ll root out corruption. Unless there’s some political reason behind it, I can’t see what they stand to gain no matter how I look at it."
"I don’t know the two of them that well myself, but if you’re so curious, why didn’t you just ask them directly?"
"Ah, right. I should’ve asked honestly instead of trying to be all dramatic about it."
"...Are you stupid?"
Lowen’s muttered words made Edwin smile faintly.
"So, Lowen, what do you think? What do you suppose the freshmen’s objective is?"
"What does it matter what their objective is? They’ll probably fail to last even a week under the flood of duel requests and end up as ordinary students anyway."
"Really? Then want to make a bet with me?"
"A bet? You and me, President?"
Lowen pointed first to himself, then to Edwin.
"Yes, a bet. Whether that freshman makes it through the week or not. The prize is that the winner gets one wish from the loser."
"Isn’t it usually the other way around?"
"What are you talking about? This is how it should be. If you lose the bet and still have to do a wish on top of that, that’d be unfair, wouldn’t it?"
"...Fine. Very well. I’ll bet on the freshman not making it."
"Good. Then I’ll bet on them making it."
Edwin and Lowen both looked out the window at the same time.
There, already outside the building, walking across the grounds of Bern Academy and chatting quietly, were Cain and Lia.
"They look awfully close. What do you think they’re talking about?"
"Probably planning what comes next under Lia von Elleves’s lead. Now that they’ve secured the president’s protection, there’s nothing left for them to fear."
"Mm, I suppose."
* * *
"Cain. I’m hungry."
"Didn’t you have lunch not long ago? Again?"
"There’s a separate stomach for meals and a separate stomach for dessert. They say there’s something delicious being sold right over there. Let’s just stop by for a moment, okay? You’ll come with me, won’t you?"
"Yes, well... I understand. Let’s go."
"Ah, really? Yay—!"