Episode 53. Debut
The hall of the Essen Royal Palace.
Splendidly arranged chandeliers and golden candelabras, a grand piano.
Bread and cured ham, fresh cheese, cooked herring and apricot pie, whole roasted duck, chowder with spinach…….
The banquet at the Essen Royal Palace was magnificent.
Dishes that most commoners would never lay eyes on in their lifetimes adorned the banquet tables.
Preparing food and drink to the point of excess was one of the most common ways to display the authority of the Imperial Family.
Starting with the servants and maids assisting with the meal in the banquet hall, those of gradually lower rank began to enter.
Most were unemployed nobles without territories, or those who had withdrawn from managing their estates even if they possessed them.
Nobles busy with estate management often declined invitations to the royal palace, no matter what.
Among them, those ambitious about entering high society had expressed their intent to attend the royal banquet, which was being held after a long time, even if it meant overextending themselves.
“What is this all of a sudden? A grand banquet out of nowhere.”
“Indeed. There hasn't been a single royal banquet since His Majesty fell ill.”
“Could it be that His Majesty has fully recovered……?”
“Good heavens, watch your tongue!”
A long time had passed since the Emperor had taken to his sickbed.
Most nobles close to the Emperor's faction had long turned their backs on the Imperial bloodline, now left with only two aging daughters.
For the Emperor to overcome his long illness and awaken now?
To many nobles, there could be nothing more terrifying.
“Surely… it can't be…….”
People gazed at the empty throne, hoping their prayers would not come true.
Those who had entered gathered in threes and fives to converse.
In time, a fanfare would sound from the entrance of the hall, signaling the next noble's entry.
Arriving too early at a banquet was considered rash, and entering after someone of higher status was a breach of etiquette.
A grand banquet for nobles was truly a battleground of fierce social maneuvering.
“Count List is here as well! He hosted a grand hunting competition not long ago.”
“The one speaking with Count List is Marquis Papen. They say his name is being mentioned for the throne!”
“Oh, Marquis Siller is more likely than Marquis Papen. Didn't he recently appoint that rumored Platinum Knight?”
“Sir Dominic? The Witch Slayer?”
“That's the one!”
“Oh my, is that true? That one?”
As the crowd grew, the fanfare was buried beneath the noise of the banquet hall.
Because of this, the gossipmongers conversing there failed to properly recognize the identity of the young lady who had joined their conversation.
“That’s what I’m saying, my lady! We should call him Dominic Siller now. Sir Dominic is famous for his swordsmanship, but there's another reason he's on the lips of all the young ladies in society!”
He grew excited at the appearance of a topic he could lead.
Those near him leaned their heads in and focused on his words.
“It is said that Sir Dominic's looks are as outstanding as his skills, and the rumor has spread throughout the entire Empire!”
“Oh my.”
The noble young lady laughed, covering her mouth with a silk-gloved hand.
Between her eyes, curved like a cat's tail, sapphire-colored pupils glinted faintly.
Although the young lady had the lower half of her face hidden behind a small fan, one could guess she was a great beauty just from the shape of her mouth above it.
The gossip swallowed hard and asked.
He searched his memory, but there were few beauties of this caliber.
“But which house might you be from, my lady?”
“Oh my, me? It’s nothing important. I’m an uninvited guest who came in place of my father, who received the invitation.”
Hearing this introduction, the gossip thought she was some young lady from a minor house who was so thirsty for high society that she had nagged her father into giving her the invitation.
Rather, this was a boon for him. The weaker the family, the more chances he had to show off in front of her.
“Goodness! Forgive my rudeness. I ought to have introduced myself first to a beauty such as yourself. I am Paulo Amguiae, the eldest son of House Amguiae.”
Paulo So-and-so knelt and kissed the young lady's silk glove.
The young lady smiled with her eyes at So-and-so's kiss and gently pulled her hand away.
Then, reluctantly, she introduced herself.
“My name is Vivian Dux.”
“V-Vivian… Dux!”
So-and-so was shocked to the point of nearly fainting and quickly pulled out a handkerchief to vigorously wipe the glove he had kissed.
“I apologize! I didn't know you were the young lady of Duke Dux……!”
“It’s alright, Sir Paulo.”
Vivian took off the glove she was wearing and handed it to him.
“Take this as my gift.”
Vivian Dux. The only child and sole daughter of Duke Dux.
Duke Dux was one of the most powerful figures in the noble faction—no, in the entire Empire.
If the noble faction were to win this struggle for the throne, he was also the person most likely to ascend.
For the lady he had assumed was from a minor house to be the only child and sole daughter of Duke Dux…….
Paulo tactfully accepted the glove she offered and quickly slipped away from the scene.
“I nearly lost my head.”
Duke Dux was also notorious for being a doting husband and father who cherished his wife and daughter as much as his own reputation.
Vivian Dux let out a small sigh.
The numerous nobles who had approached her for her looks vanished like an ebbing tide the moment they heard the word “Dux.”
“I snuck out without Father's permission for once. How dull.”
Just then, a grand fanfare echoed through the hall of the royal palace.
Almost everyone worth attending had already entered.
The fanfare lasted far longer than the others, suggesting it was time for the protagonist of the banquet to appear.
The servant announcing the guests cried out in a loud voice.
“First Princess Charlotte Albrecht and Second Princess Friederike Albrecht, entering—!”
The nobles cleared the center of the hall and parted to the left and right.
The brilliant golden hair symbolic of the Albrecht Imperial Family. The two princesses with contrasting impressions—one haughty, the other gentle—crossed the hall and entered.
Behind them followed Palace Count Hans Brandt, known as the aide to the Regent, and a pair of a boy and girl.
“Who is that boy?”
Vivian examined the unfamiliar gray-haired boy over her fan with curious eyes.
She could barely recognize the Second Princess Friederike and her female guard, but the male was someone her clever mind could not recall at all.
Fortunately for the many nobles attending the banquet, only the princesses had entered.
The Emperor did not show himself at the banquet.
That meant he was still unable to rise from his sickbed.
Instead, the First Princess, who was serving as Regent, stepped onto the podium and addressed the banquet hall.
“Thank you all for attending. I am Charlotte Albrecht, hosting this royal banquet in my father's stead.
This banquet was arranged to celebrate the return of my younger sister, the Second Princess, to the royal palace. Please drink and enjoy yourselves to your heart's content.”
Rike rose from her prepared seat and returned the greeting with a slight bow.
Her stiff expression clearly revealed how nervous she was.
“Your Highness, take a deep breath. A deep breath.”
Sylvia stuck close behind her, soothing Rike's nerves.
“And this is Sylvia Porzia, who has long served the Second Princess since childhood.
And this is an assistant to the Imperial Family who helps my sister and me. He is called Vineril Dalheim.”
“Dalheim?”
“He doesn't seem to be from the Empire?”
The surname Dalheim was unfamiliar to them.
Naturally. It was the family of Ruben, on the opposite side of the continent.
“Lord Vineril was recently enfeoffed as a baronet. Attendees, please treat Lord Vineril with the respect befitting his station.”
Buzzing.
Murmuring.
It was a sudden announcement from the Regent.
Originally, her way of handling affairs was not so haphazard.
A baronet's station was something she, as the Emperor's proxy, could bestow upon whomever she pleased, but the timing was too coincidental.
‘This is practically showing him off as the royal faction's chess piece.’
A significant number of those listening thought as much.
Thus, unbeknownst even to himself, Vineril Dalheim had firmly imprinted himself on the minds of the Empire's nobles.
“Then let the banquet commence.”
Princess Charlotte declared boldly.
The two princesses sat in their prepared seats and conversed with the nobles who approached them.
“Sylvia, take Vineril around to greet the others.”
Rike looked at Vineril, who was standing blankly, and asked Sylvia.
“But Your Highness, someone must remain by your side…….”
“It’s fine, Sylvia.”
“Then—”
Seeing Sylvia hesitate, someone stepped forward.
“Might I be allowed to guide Lord Vineril, Your Highness?”
“Ah…….”
When Rike could not immediately recognize the person, Sylvia whispered into her ear.
“She is the young lady of House Dux, Your Highness.”
“Dux?”
It was unexpected.
Her father was essentially the head of the noble faction.
“W-well, I suppose there is no harm in that…….”
“Then I shall take him!”
Vivian Dux took Vineril's hand and led him out into the spacious hall.
“Father detests gatherings where so many people assemble, you see? He doesn't even care that his poor daughter is bored…….”
Holding Vineril's hand and pulling him along, Vivian Dux chattered nonstop without a moment's rest.
With his wrist seized, Vineril had to listen to her prattle for over five minutes straight without being able to get a word in.
At this point, he began to suspect she had simply dragged him away because she needed someone to talk to and he looked free.
“Ah, is that so.”
‘Who is this person?’
Vineril offered perfunctory agreement to the lady's words and asked Veritas.
—Vivian Dux. She is the only child and sole daughter of Duke Dux.
Duke Dux was said to be the lord who ruled over the vast southern region of the Empire.
He was said to be deeply popular and a grand magnate whose tax revenue from the southern granary was comparable to the Imperial Household's taxes.
—And he is also currently evaluated as the person closest to the throne.
“Huh? What? What did you say?”
“No, it's nothing.”
It was Vivian who was startled by Vineril's reflexive question.
‘But why is she clinging to me?’
—Ask her yourself.
Vineril did not hesitate.
“Excuse me, Lady Vivian. Is your father not someone competing against the princesses for the throne? Why would the daughter of such a man approach me?”
“Hmm. I don't recall revealing that much.”
She covered her mouth with her fan.
It seemed to be her habit.
“Lord Vineril Dalheim? You are not from the Empire, are you?”
“I have never once left the Empire since I was born. No, I could count the times I've left my estate on one hand. My apologies, but where are you from?”
He was from Elfenbein, but this was the royal capital of the Empire—a place teeming with people who treated magic as an ominous curse.
Vineril told her his place of origin.
“I am from Ruben.”
“Goodness. You've come from the eastern edge. I sensed it when I first saw you. That peculiar scent only wanderers carry.”
‘Is there such a scent?’
“I've seen a few wanderers at the Dux estate as well. I like that scent.”
Vivian Dux extended her hand and tapped Vineril's earlobe with her finger as she spoke.
“A scent like the wind that does not stay.”
Vineril was bewildered by her sudden touch and took a step back.
He was a somewhat conservative man when it came to allowing others to touch his earlobes.