kscans

Chapter 5 - A Slowly Spreading Unease

Upon receiving the report that the Duke and Duchess of Calmond, as well as their daughter, had long since returned home, the King and Queen held their heads in their hands. They had wanted to coordinate various schedules with them regarding future events, but why on earth had they gone home so early on a day like today? the King sighed.

The Queen, however, was trembling, her face pale.

"What is the matter, my Queen?"

"When I think back on it... I realize we have done a terrifying thing..."

"What?"

The King apparently didn't understand. The Queen's next words made the blood drain from his face.

"Our royal family... has lost the backing of the Calmond Ducal Family, has it not...?"

"...!"

Certainly, Falty may have been an exemplary young lady at the Royal Academy—excellent grades, a scholarship student, impeccable conduct, and so on. In general aristocratic society, her status as a count's daughter would likely work in her favor.

But as a backer for the Crown Prince, what then?

One look at the Queen's face and the answer was perhaps self-evident.

Crown Prince Liam and the Calmond ducal lady, Lupia, had been engaged until just a short while ago. Whether they had held romantic feelings for each other was unknown. They were both intelligent children, so they must have properly understood their duties for the sake of their families, or for the sake of the country.

That had all crumbled during their final year at the Royal Academy. When Crown Prince Liam and the Ardia count's daughter, Falty, met, the gears slowly began to go awry. As the distance between those two shortened, the distance between Lupia and Liam grew. And as the latter's distance grew, the students of the academy grew excited.

The Crown Prince, willing to cast aside the daughter of the Calmond Ducal Family—one of the nation's greatest noble houses—for the sake of so-called 'true love.' And the love of Falty, who devotedly supported him. The Royal Academy was attended not only by nobles but also by talented commoners. For them, the romantic affairs within the academy were a source of entertainment.

Romances between commoners or between nobles were common enough, but a romance between two people of such different statuses? And when one of them already had a fiancée? It was only natural that both nobles and commoners would be hooked.

For a year, they had steadily deepened their affection, and then they had gone through with dissolving the engagement with the duke's daughter. Furthermore, they had decided to welcome Falty as the Crown Princess, and the matter had progressed with astonishing speed.

What did that mean?

First, the Crown Prince would lose the backing of the Calmond Ducal Family. This was the result of his own choice, and it was synonymous with the royal family declaring to the Calmonds, 'We have no need of the likes of you.'

Second, if Lupia's memories of her Crown Princess education were not erased, she would be made to drink from the cup of honor—a euphemism for being executed. Aristerios would never allow that. The royal family had forged the engagement on their own authority and dissolved it on their own authority, so should they not take responsibility? the Duke had asked. All the nobles had agreed with this, and as a result, a massive amount of compensation was to be paid.

And finally, there was the matter of Lupia's treatment. This became one of the reasons for the Duke of Calmond's fury. In what world could one casually cast aside a person and then have the gall to say to them, 'Please become the tutor for the new Crown Princess, and once that's done, we have no more use for you!'?

In fact, this royal family had done just that. But what was truly strange was that, until the Duke flew into a rage, they hadn't even noticed how odd it was. On the contrary, they had thought it was 'the right thing to do.'

The unease that was slowly spreading had begun with the vassals. First, a junior minister voiced his concern, and only after the reception ended did the King and Queen finally notice the strangeness of it all. But it was a case of 'too little, too late.'

It was said that a great number of nobles had started to raise a fuss the moment the Duke, Duchess, and their daughter left the reception hall early.

"...As the royal family, we have no choice but to apologize..."

"But is it not too late? ...More importantly, why did we approve the engagement between Liam and the Ardia count's daughter...?"

"What are you saying? You were the one leading the charge!"

"My, Your Majesty, you were the one who welcomed it first!"

"...Hm?"

"...Huh?"

The two of them exchanged confused glances. They were each claiming the other had been the first to welcome the change in the Crown Prince's fiancée. But regardless of who said it first, a sense of foreboding washed over them as they wondered if Falty was truly a valuable enough lady to lose the backing of the ducal family. They weren't under any kind of mind-control magic, and yet they had believed that doing so was natural and right.

As they slowly regained their composure, they were forced to realize that they were in a situation with no turning back. They had already held the wedding; it was irreversible. They had to appease the Duke's anger and somehow implore him to become the Crown Prince's guardian once more.

That's what they had thought, but the Duke of Calmond's actions had been astoundingly swift.

First, he brought up the situation Lupia had been placed in at the reception and demanded to know where the responsibility lay. They were relieved that no other nobles were present, but the situation was far from joyful.

They had wanted to argue that it was such a trivial matter, but when they were told that Lupia had vomited in an anteroom and collapsed that day, the Queen let out a small shriek.

"S-Such a thing, that is..."

"I am told that the ones forcing my daughter to offer her congratulations were none other than His Highness's own friends from his academy days—the sons of barons, no less."

Aristerios laughed heartily, but his eyes were not smiling. His bone-chilling gaze and equally cold tone were filled with a strong will that would brook no argument.

"Until Lupia's health returns, I will not have her come here. Even without Lupia's help, I am sure the exceedingly talented Crown Princess can simply request one of the ladies-in-waiting who serve as tutors, can she not?"

"That is..."

"What reason is there to make Lupia come?"

"The Crown Princess... wishes for it... her best friend, Lupia-san, she says..."

"How strange. The Crown Princess in question has never visited our home, nor has Lupia ever introduced her to us as a friend...?"

"Th-That can't be!"

"To think of making an unwell person serve as a tutor... My, my, it seems the royal family dislikes my daughter to the very core."

"That's not true! We would never!"

"Is that so? Regardless of what you say, my daughter will recuperate. That child, who never showed a weak side in public... how much mental anguish must she have endured...? As a parent, it is only natural to protect one's child."

"If you'll excuse me," Aristerios said, rising from his seat. The king reached out a hand to stop him, but he didn't stop, walking away just like that. They understood that if the Duke left now, things would escalate into an even more irreversible situation. But they didn't know how to stop him and could only watch him go.

"Ah, ahh...!"

Wait, don't go, the Queen whispered faintly, but her voice did not reach the Duke of Calmond.

Thump. The door closed, leaving only the King and Queen. The meeting, held in secret so no one would overhear, had failed to quell the Duke's anger. In fact, it felt as though they had only made it worse.

"What... should we do?"

"I don't know..."

The stunned King and Queen, still not understanding why they had dissolved the engagement between Lupia and Liam, both held their heads in their hands. Why had they been able to treat Lupia so cruelly, when she had worked so hard at her Crown Princess education and been praised by her tutors? And Liam, for that matter—for the Crown Prince of the nation to be so preoccupied with matters of love, what was he thinking? It was too late to wonder now. They themselves had acknowledged Falty as the Crown Princess.

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"Hmm... I wonder why?"

In the lavish room provided for the Crown Princess, Falty was troubled.

"Lupia's affection rating should be pretty high, so she should be willing to be my Crown Princess tutor..."

Mmm, she hummed, pondering, then began to write down the current situation on a piece of paper in her hand.

"I've entered the marriage route with Liam, which means this is the Grand Finale Route. It's the most difficult romance ending, but it ends with everyone around us approving. The rival lady, Lupia, and I ended things without any conflict, right?"

Her beautiful handwriting filled the page with content that would likely be incomprehensible to a normal person. And for good reason. All of Falty's actions had been aimed at a single final goal: entering the Grand Finale Route, being loved by everyone, and spending the happiest time imaginable. That was why she had never even considered what would happen after the ending.