Chap 12-The End of the Day

 

Imperial palace

Around this time, Katarina stormed into the imperial palace.

In the middle of the night, no less. It looked like an assassination attempt as she had an audience with the Emperor.

Recently, the Second Empress had been so insistent that she meet with Katarina, so he was planning to schedule it.

This damn queen of the underworld was taking the Emperor of a great nation far too lightly.

“What is the meaning of this? Queen of the Underworld.”

Eventually, the Emperor, seated on his throne, narrowed his eyes and glared at Katarina, who was dangling her legs in front of him.

At the Emperor’s words, Katarina decided to clean up the mess her disciple had made.

She laid out one by one the items her disciple had handed over in front of the Emperor.

“It’s not ‘what is the meaning of this.’ I’m showing you this.”

“What are these? Surely you’re not trying to offer something to the imperial family.”

What were those? There was a shining sword, and objects that looked like they were from the church or the Magic Tower were placed before his eyes.

Surely not.

But the Emperor’s expectations were always betrayed.

“The Hero’s Holy Sword.”

“Huh.”

“The Saintess’s Sacred Tome, the Ancient Grimoire. The Sacred Tome is a fake, as it’s under research.”

“What is the meaning of this? Is this Holy Sword real?”

“Yeah.”

The Emperor suspected Katarina for a moment.

Since that queen of the underworld was always doing shady things behind the scenes, wasn’t it possible that those were all imitations?

She already said the Sacred Tome was a fake because it was under research.

“Huh. So something happened to the Hero.”

“My disciple held a grudge against the Hero and stole the Holy Sword and his women and ran away.”

“It was Sien, wasn’t it? I know him well. But was he that kind of person?”

“He acted more like a Hero party member than anyone else, but at his core, he’s a thief. It’s no surprise the Hero grew to hate him.”

He had no choice but to swipe the Holy Sword.

The Shadow Queen told the Emperor that.

Well, the circumstances were absurd, and he could understand why the thief from the Hero’s party, who wasn’t even an imperial citizen, had given those items to Katarina.

“So. What do you want to ask of me, who turns a blind eye to my children fighting each other?”

“A disciple’s mess should be cleaned up by the master. He passed it on to me.”

“Sien’s face was so brazen and arrogant from the first time I saw him. Surely you’re not thinking of involving me in this.”

Katarina didn’t deny it.

She came to involve him from the start.

“I’m going to request the kingdom to take them away.”

“Huh. Why should I do that? Your lovely disciple is a complete stranger to me. Besides, if we’re being picky, you’re a citizen of the kingdom.”

“Because of that idiot Hero, imperial troops were sent to the front lines. Thanks to that, the security of cities near the border has deteriorated. And the worsening public sentiment is a bonus.”

It had already been confirmed in the underworld that public sentiment was deteriorating.

In particular, anti-imperialists were instigating people, saying that the kingdom was playing with them at this point.

Thus, the public sentiment of the people, who knew nothing of the circumstances, towards the imperial family was deteriorating.

Of course, most of those anti-imperialists were being subjugated in the process of requests from the Thieves’ Guild.

The problem was that it left room for it to happen.

“You’re saying we should use that.”

“Rather, we can put the blame on them. We sent troops and demanded proper support, but the Hero had his Holy Sword stolen by a party member. Because of that, he returned without taking the Demon King’s castle. Can such a man truly be called a proper Hero?”

Katarina spun around the throne as if giving a speech, arguing passionately.

For a moment, the face of that damn disciple flashed before her eyes.

But in reality, this was a good opportunity for the empire.

They could screw over the always arrogant kingdom and the Hero, and shift the gaze of resentment outward rather than inward.

“Indeed, that pot-bellied king will be quite angry. It’s not a bad method. We can also turn the arrows of resentment towards the kingdom for the bereaved families of the soldiers who were harmed this time.”

“That’s right.”

“Then what about Sien?”

“He dumped everything on me and disappeared.”

It wasn’t wrong in many ways.

There was nothing to say unless the Emperor questioned her further.

More than anything else. Leaving aside whether it was beneficial to the national interest, considering how much she had taken care of the Emperor’s aftermath, the Emperor had to grant her request.

The Emperor quietly looked down at Katarina.

This queen of the underworld looked at the Emperor with such arrogance.

That must be why. She had risen to her current position.

But recently, there was news from Schperen that had come up today.

“Come to think of it.”

“Hmm?”

“I heard that you brought a girl into the Bathory family. It was Ciel von Adelaide Bathory, wasn’t it.”

At the Emperor’s calm tone, Katarina shrugged and smiled faintly.

What was he thinking, that guy who didn’t even seem interested in his own country, investigating such things?

“Are you even investigating such things?”

“I have to see the factional fights of my children even in Schperen. Of course, I can’t help but hear your name.”

“Hmm. So?”

“What is the reason?”

As expected of the quick-witted Emperor.

He must have already figured it out that Ciel was Sien.

Judging by his unpleasantly smiling face, he seemed to be mistaken that turning him into a woman was his own doing.

There was no point in making excuses.

Katarina looked into the Emperor’s eyes, which were as calm as a lake.

As expected, he didn’t have any other thoughts.

He must have just found out by chance.

“I’m thinking of giving my disciple a fresh start in the empire. I’m not a heartless person like so-and-so.”

She deliberately poked at the Emperor.

Even though Katarina was the queen of the underworld. The recent rise of anti-imperialists due to that damn imperial tradition of succession competition made her worry.

“Heh heh heh. I wish I could start over too.”

“No way. If you’re in that position because you wanted to be, you have to endure it with all your might. So, what’s your answer?”

“You don’t even give the Emperor time to think.”

“Don’t you hate it when anti-imperialists throw ashes on the fights of immature children?”

The ultimate goal of the anti-imperialists was, after all, the overthrow of the imperial family.

In such a situation, he couldn’t do anything that the anti-imperialists would like.

The Emperor had no choice from the start.

However, he was somewhat angry because Katarina had brought such one-sided conditions.

“Yes. Well, that’s true. Fine, I’ll accept it. But you’re going to research the Sacred Tome?”

“Ah, that’s a bit of a problem.”

“That’s for you to figure out.”

Anyway, according to her disciple, that Saintess didn’t do anything with that Sacred Tome, so it didn’t matter if she gave him a fake.

She also wanted to try researching the Sacred Tome.

Katarina, who was in a good mood because things were going so smoothly, was returning to the Baron Family’s mansion when.

“Baron! a formal complaint has arrived from the Marquis Family of Edenberun over Schperen’s affairs!”

That damn disciple. No, she must have done something again.

After successfully completing a day in Schperen with a fabricated identity, I was faced with the worst situation.

The dormitory.

The rose hall dormitory. The dormitory where only women were allowed.

“This is the rose hall.”

The red rose emblem decorating the building clearly entered my vision.

This was my biggest hurdle.

“Why are you so surprised? You saw it earlier.”

“Seeing it is different from me having to go inside.”

“Excuse me?”

“There are going to be a lot of women in here.”

“Of course, it’s a forbidden area for men. As you said, there’s a barrier, so it’s useless for male students to try to climb over the wall.”

“Oh.”

That made it even more difficult.

“What do you mean, ‘oh’?”

“I want to go to the lion hall.”

I was still mentally a man.

No, honestly, I didn’t have any conscience. I could live here just fine.

But that was a completely different issue.

As a practical matter. No matter how used I got to it, I was more used to men than women.

If possible, I’d prefer a brave lion, this rose, which really meant women, was a bit.

“Were you into that kind of thing? The kind who likes men?”

“Ah. Ah, that’s. Because of my family’s circumstances, I’ve been with men a lot.”

“Oh, there must have been a lot of men in the Bathory family.”

It seemed like she was misunderstanding a lot.

Clearing up that misunderstanding would probably lead to even deeper misunderstandings.

I was the type to avoid dealing with troublesome things, so I decided to just let it go.

“My roommate. What a coincidence. Ciel. It’s just you and me.”

“Yes. Of course, it would be.”

I was assigned to protect her, so it couldn’t be helped.

But.

There was a woman with her arms crossed, staring at us menacingly in front of the dormitory.

A woman who looked much older than us.

“Hmm. You’re Princess Arietta, and that fidgeting student is Ciel von Adelaide Bathory.”

“Yes.”

“I’m the dorm supervisor, Louise Khalifa. Just because you’re a princess doesn’t mean you’ll receive any special treatment. I hope you’ll abide by the dormitory rules.”

Louise Khalifa.

Khalifa. She must have some desert ethnicity blood in her.

No wonder her skin was tanned.

“Is it difficult?”

“It’s simple. Just follow the rules. Be on time for meals, don’t be noisy. Observe curfew. If you need an outing pass for special cases, you have to get an outing pass from me.”

“I understand.”

Surprisingly easy.

She passed the dorm supervisor, who seemed to be saying, “Just try breaking the rules,” and entered the rose hall.

And our socially awkward princess had enemies here too.

“Who is this? Isn’t it the princess who’s been holed up in the imperial palace?”

“Ellie?”

Ellie?

The woman called Ellie, who was blocking the hallway with her followers in front of her, had a sneer on her face.

It seemed like they were waiting for us.

No, to be precise, the princess next to me.

If they were directly blocking the princess like this, the answer was obvious.

Arietta wasn’t welcome even in the rose hall.

It could be inferred that the noble students were already in a good position to ignore Arietta.

“I heard you came to Schperen because you’re royalty, but can you survive in this rose hall?”

The woman called Ellie, with a sneer, sent a venomous look.

Arietta, as if this was a daily occurrence, simply stared at Ellie without a word.

But it didn’t seem like the other party was going to step aside.

This was so annoying.

Why did women always try to talk?

If you want to break through here, knock them down with force! Why couldn’t they do that?

Even the low-IQ bandits would fight if they blocked the road, they wouldn’t just grumble like that.

Of course, it was also because there were dormitory rules.

That’s how noble girls were.

They tried to win with verbal abuse while saving face, slandering and relentlessly tearing down their opponents.

People who only tried to socially destroy their opponents with words.

That was what was scary about those noble girls.

Once the hierarchy was established, they would all participate in a witch hunt until they buried their opponents at the bottom.

If I didn’t have any friends anyway.

I had to let them know that they would be in big trouble if they dared to touch me.