Chap 52-The Princess and the Duchess 2

 

In particular, the nobles of the Empire, who had to provide troops and military expenses because of that utterly useless being called the Demon King and his army, were frankly finding it difficult to even fill their own bellies. If that was the case, they had to at least wrest some concessions from other factions.

That was why the imperial succession competition was also a struggle for the nobles’ interests.

In such a situation, what if they offered some concessions to the nobles of the Ailia faction, who seemed to be losing, to come over to their side?

They would easily come over.

Kailon was saying that, and Edelia was also a woman of the sword, but she knew the circumstances of the nobles well enough to know that those concessions would feel like devil’s fruit to the other side.

‘Is this even possible?’

Edelia quietly stared at her fiancé.

His eyes were filled with an inexplicable conviction and confidence.

Edelia knew very well that Kailon was arrogant, but still a cunning human being.

It seemed he thought that now was the opportunity to strike, as the Bathory heiress, who was called Arietta’s woman, had thoroughly screwed over Edenberun, and the southern nobles in the Ailia faction were wavering.

Was there a possibility?

Frankly, Edelia also judged that Kailon could suppress Ailia in the current situation.

But what about the Lion King?

The Lion King had the fewest noble factions. Despite being enrolled in Schperen, he rarely showed up, focusing on building his strength externally.

Of course, even though he had few factions, those factions were all families with history and tradition. Moreover, he was in charge of the imperial guard, which was most necessary to aim for the throne.

His star sign was also Leo, perfect for swaying public sentiment.

Leaving Ailia aside, the Lion King Alex was the biggest problem.

In other words, she couldn’t be sure that she would become empress yet.

If that happened, the concessions she had offered could go to the Lion King Alex’s side.

The fact that the Cloud family was only passively supporting Kailon, even though they had an engagement with him, was because they were trying to avoid having their concessions taken away.

It was like telling them to move directly.

‘I’m sorry, Prince Kailon, but I can’t hand over the concessions.’

Would Arietta even stay still in the first place?

She had already made Edenberun look like that; she would surely touch the guys below him too.

As the eldest daughter of the Cloud family, which had a strong army in the north, she knew that much.

Now that the head (Edenberun) had been cut off, she would gradually step on everything from the body to the tail.

What was the point of handing over the concessions now, only for them to be beaten up by Arietta?

Then it would be better to try a different approach.

“That Bathory or whatever can target other nobles too. Then it’s worse than not giving concessions at all.”

“Then?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to target someone else?”

“Someone else?”

“I’m the president, and you’re the vice president.”

“That’s right.”

“Judging from the personality of a woman like that Bathory, she might soon target even the henchmen of the Ailia faction.”

It wasn’t an excuse; it was almost certain.

Edelia knew the personality of people like Bathory very well.

She had already torn Edenberun apart so thoroughly, hadn’t she?

The guys below him would probably be torn apart even more.

“I see.”

“Then they’ll naturally bend to our side. However, we’ll have to put some pressure on them in the process.”

“Pressure?”

Was he really asking because he didn’t know?

Edelia sighed deeply.

There was no way he didn’t know.

He probably knew everything already, so why was he coming at her with such an innocent face, pretending he didn’t know anything?

He was her fiancé, but she wanted to hit him.

“Let’s impose some unreasonable sanctions. Didn’t Edenberun do something like that during practice time because of this incident?”

“You mean involve them?”

“Yes. The charge of disturbing school discipline is enough. Since they’re not foreign students, we won’t have any problems.”

If they were on the side of the imperial succession competition, they would have received a lot of unfair treatment like this.

Hearing that Edenberun had eventually admitted to the facts, hadn’t he?

Then, whether there was a misunderstanding or not, it was a perfect bait to punish them.

“You’re just like my fiancée!”

Clap!

Kailon clapped his hands.

Only then did Edelia realize.

This cunning guy had been aiming for this.

He wanted the Cloud family to take action in this matter. Edelia sighed deeply.

Yes.

It was definitely a situation where they couldn’t do anything right now.

Then this attempt might be good. It was only to catch those fools who had disturbed the peace.

It was just increasing the number of accomplices, which wouldn’t be bad.

“Then take good care of the Hero too. Treat him appropriately.”

“The Hero?”

What was the Hero up to again?

Kailon, who had been laughing heartily, left the student council room. Edelia, who had calmed herself down for a moment, brought the teacup filled with coffee to her lips.

Yes. It seemed like things were going to happen.

“Why do I feel an ominous premonition?”

It must be her imagination.

Ailia would be quiet for a while.

After all, Edenberun was in that state, and Sera didn’t know when she would come out, so she would be terrified.

Maybe she was even considering using external forces from outside.

However, according to the information passed on by the Thieves’ Guild, the Lion King Alex had already seized the imperial capital, which he ultimately had to take to win the imperial succession competition.

More precisely, it was military power.

Now that he had seized the imperial guard, the Lion King Alex was probably the one who would have the upper hand if a civil war broke out.

Besides, there was also the variable of the soldiers who had fought together in the war for a long time.

He would now move in his own way.

“Kailon will probably start moving soon too.”

“Is that so?”

Arietta nodded nonchalantly.

“He’ll probably use his fiancée, the president, Edelia.”

Edelia Cloud.

The eldest daughter of the Cloud margrave family, which was in charge of the Empire’s northern forces.

Moreover, she was an unlucky woman who had become engaged to a moron like Kailon, probably because she had sold her country in her previous life.

That was what I judged now.

“How do you know that?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Kailon probably knows that we’re not aiming for the throne anyway. In the meantime, Ailia, a very delicious prey, is clearly showing her weaknesses?”

He couldn’t afford to be picky right now.

That was because Ailia was clearly showing her weaknesses. If he left it alone, he would greatly regret it in his position of aiming for the throne.

Now that he had been expelled from Schperen so that he couldn’t wage a civil war, wasn’t this a very good opportunity to get rid of Ailia?

For example, if there was a family that also handled military power as Ailia’s faction?

Wouldn’t he try to win them over somehow at this opportunity?

“Then what should we do?”

“We should move in our own way too.”

My eyes turned to Princess Luciella.

Luciella looked around at my gaze and shook her head.

Yes, that was right.

Although we had obtained information through the Thieves’ Guild.

With this kind of fragmented information, we couldn’t fully know the student council president’s intentions.

But.

What if we had Luciella of Libra?

That was a different story.

We could just have Luciella look at the student council president.

Why should I bother moving the Thieves’ Guild in a place like Schperen, where infiltration was impossible, for such a simple problem?

So I just hoped that our Princess Luciella would earn her keep.

“Don’t tell me?”

“You’re right. Use your star sign ability on that student council president.”

“Oh my goddess.”

“If you want to be ‘protected’ by me anyway, you have to do that much. Don’t you think?”

It was just business between us.

I’m protecting you, so contribute your ability.

Since it was a star sign ability, it wasn’t a skill that would wear out anyway.

If it did wear out, I heard it was just a bit tiring.

I heard that your stamina gets exhausted the more you use it.

It was said that one or two times was okay, so nothing would change even if you poked around the student council president a bit.

“Alright. It’s not that difficult.”

“Wait, before that. I have a question.”

Arietta looked at Luciella, wondering what she was curious about.

She showed her pure face with a slight embarrassment.

What question did she want to ask?

“Yes?”

“You didn’t use it on me, did you?”

“No. I keep that kind of etiquette no matter what. You’re looking at me too darkly.”

“That’s a relief then.”

Luciella, who was relieved, and Arietta, who breathed a sigh of relief.

What was that really?

“Sometimes you’re just saying things I don’t understand.”

Weren’t the two of them getting along well enough?

They seemed to have formed a consensus somewhere.

After all, women were creatures that were hard to understand.

When the Hero party guys were all too relaxed, I used Princess Luciella to find out about the nobles who were in league with the Demon King’s Army.

As a result, it was very useful. But she had also collapsed in front of me.

“What if you scan people quickly? For example, just look like this and quickly scan many people while rolling your eyes.”

“I’ll probably collapse with a headache. So, you mean look like this?”

“What’s wrong? You look tired.”

“No. No. I just saw inside one person, who is that woman?”

Luciella’s eyes pointed to a woman visible outside the window.

The Libra star sign that appeared in her eyes shone.

That person was definitely the dormitory supervisor.

That woman with the tanned skin, whether she was from the desert or somewhere else.

She checked every student entering the dormitory and was quite faithful to her duties as a supervisor.

Unlike that, she was a bit of a suspicious person.

“She’s the dormitory supervisor.”

“I felt a very impure energy from that woman.”

“Impure energy, as in?”

“The commune or whatever is famous these days, isn’t it? Anti-imperialist.”

Could it be? No way?

Was that person an anti-imperialist?

“No way.”

“I can’t see that far yet, but her ideology is impure. At least, she has an ideology that is very unsuitable to be seen in a monarchy.”

The dormitory supervisor.

I didn’t even remember her name because she just felt like an innkeeper.

But to think she had that kind of ideology.

Was she trying to hide herself by being a supervisor?

If she was in the position of dormitory supervisor, she wouldn’t be suspected. But it was also a position where she could hear information through the students.

So. A position where she could access information while being in a position like an outsider, not a instructor, professor, or student.

Moreover, if she was a dormitory supervisor, she could handle the students and go out freely.

It was a bit dangerous, but it meant she was in a position to inform the commune.

“What should we do?”

Hmm, yes. What should we do with that?