The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

Chapter 217: Demon Kron (15) - The Status of the Countess The heart-pounding romantic strategy of the century's greatest lover Nikolaus and his friends came to an end with a drill-filled training camp spinning finale. The key point is that with no confirmed discharge date, marking red lines on the calendar is meaningless. One might think it's too harsh a punishment for a single incident caused by youthful impetuosity, but in fact this was closer to a very merciful punishment. (E/N: I feel called out) The precious daughter of one of only three ducal houses in the empire had been unilaterally declared to have her engagement broken. And that too at a large formal ball, in a place where countless others were watching. Moreover, since he'd probably be criticized if he just broke it off, he forcibly created non-existent crimes. Of course, the imperial authority in the empire is strong. Unlike in the romance novels that noble ladies enjoy, a furious ducal house brandishing its power does not cause the nation to falter or the monarch to be at a loss. However, in the case of this incident, there were many problems with applying the logic of power in such a way. Looking at it from any angle, Nikolaus was the perpetrator—a petty perpetrator at that—and Selena was a unilateral victim, so the imperial family taking Nikolaus's side would be, to put it crudely, rather 'tacky,' wouldn't it? The Emperor showed as much sincerity as possible by essentially isolating Nikolaus from society while only sparing his life, and the families of the noble children who associated with Nikolaus also agreed to remove their children from the family registers. Isn't removing a child from the family register better than having the family removed from the empire? Additionally, separate from the punishment toward the perpetrator, Duke Valencia was given separate compensation. The involved noble families each sent various gifts to Duke Valencia expressing their apologies, and the imperial family directly encouraged the ducal house to say if there was anything they wanted. And Duke Valencia's answer was clear. "Please entrust the treatment of the female students involved in this incident to us." Irene, who could be called the starting point of this incident. (E/N: Remember, ladies. Even if you want to seduce a stupid prince, don't take one that is too retarded) And the noble young ladies of the 5th Prince's group who had cooperated in attacking Selena Valencia by giving false testimony. The reason for taking these people under their care required no particular deliberation. A family as great as a ducal house wouldn't lack people to order around, and the intention to personally take them and directly torment them was far too transparent. The empire's court, and the Emperor behind it, permitted this. After all, if they put them in the same prison as the male students for the same crimes, it would obviously become a kingdom of beasts rather than a training camp of tears and sweat. So they would have had to build new buildings or separately invest personnel and resources to specifically manage female students, but with the ducal house taking charge of this, it reduced work for the imperial family as well. "Kuella, here's a gift!" The conclusion reached after such political matters became entangled was now unfolding before Kuella Ospin's eyes. Kuella, who had visited the Valencia family in response to her friend's invitation to enjoy tea time, froze upon seeing Selena's bright smile and her half-sister Irene waiting beside her with a pale face. Her sister's appearance after a long time was different in many ways from what Kuella remembered. The extremely gorgeous dress had been changed to a practical maid uniform, and the hair that had been long enough to reach her hips had been neatly cut near the nape of her neck. The face that had always overflowed with confidence after receiving her parents' abundant love and monopolizing praise and acclaim from those around her was now rigidly hardened, to the extent that anyone could see she was tense. "A gift...?" "Yes. Do you like it?" Before the question of liking it or not, this situation itself is just confusing. After struggling to suppress her true feelings that almost unconsciously slipped out, Kuella spoke carefully. "The gift you're referring to... you mean Irene?" "That's right. Originally I thought about handing her over right away, but when I looked her over once, there were many parts that needed polishing in various ways. The work is somehow finished, so I called you here like this." Polishing. Work. These were expressions more suitable for use with objects rather than people. At the same time, they were expressions that stimulated the imagination in various ways about what exactly had been done. From seeing Irene's complexion growing paler by the moment and her fingertips trembling, one could guess that it was definitely not a gentle and peaceful process. [She looks gentle on the outside, but she's surprisingly quite a character. Well, considering what she went through, it's not strange at all.] At Kron's comment as he watched from the side, Kuella also inwardly agreed. Indeed, just because someone is usually gentle and warm doesn't mean they lack the emotion of anger. Rather, precisely because she's someone who doesn't get angry easily normally, the heat of the flames that burst forth might have been even more tremendous. "When I heard various stories from this child, she had caused you far too much trouble. Even I listening couldn't help but get choked up. Thank goodness I had prepared plenty of potions?" "I... I see." Kuella half-unconsciously looked at Irene's fingertips. Was it her imagination that the nails on her fingertips looked particularly shiny and new? "I've had her master the basic tasks necessary for a maid, and I've placed restrictions so she can't use magic without her master's permission. Well, I educated her not to attack her master even without such restrictions, but there are always unexpected situations." As Kuella was dazed by Selena's appearance as she excitedly continued various explanations, Selena also seemed to notice this and cast a shadow around her eyes. "Perhaps... you don't like the gift? I just thought I should give Kuella a chance too, so I prepared this... If you don't like it, I'll dispose of it right away!" "No, no! I like it! It's excellent!!" When Kuella shouted urgently, Selena smiled broadly as if relieved. Kuella tried not to speculate about why even Irene behind them seemed relieved and relaxed her shoulders. Because the deeper she thought about it, the more frightening her fluffy bundle-like friend in front of her would seem. Thus, a commoner maid of former noble origin entered the Ospin county house. *** "I'm the new Irene!! Please take care of me from now on!!" Kuella had worried that Irene might change her attitude again after returning home, but contrary to expectations, Irene showed none of her previous behavior and diligently devoted herself to work. The servants who knew Irene from her days of being free-spirited and skilled at acting coy all doubted their eyes, but seeing Irene truly behaving like an ordinary maid, they shook their heads half in admiration, half in lamentation. "Miss Kuella is truly frightening... She doesn't leave revenge to others' hands but insists on keeping her under her own control to torment her over and over, isn't that right?" "Shh! Watch your words! She's not a miss, she's the family head. Or rather, you should call her Countess! Do you want to end up like the others after criticizing what our family head does?" For Kuella, who hadn't particularly intended to bring Irene back in the first place, it was a truly unfair assessment. Even more unfair was that this kind of perception wasn't circulating only among the servants. "So you're saying a mere female student who hasn't even graduated from the academy found her parents' weakness, exploited it, and then inherited the family head position? And after that, she actually brought down an imperial prince?" "I heard Duke Valencia and his sons showed tremendous favor toward Countess Ospin. Saying that thanks to her, their daughter's honor was preserved." "Hah, what a remarkably fortunate young lady. Because she happened to be connected to the previous incident, the High Court launched a massive investigation, and as a result, various false accusations were properly revealed. If not for that, would such results have come out against royalty?" "It might not be simple luck." "What? What do you mean by that?" "It's something everyone keeps quiet about, but the Count Ribespegel territory was originally supposed to become the property of Prince Nikolaus—no, the former 5th Prince. He'd cut ties beforehand so he wasn't implicated in the previous investigation, but in fact, the former 5th Prince was trying to steal the inheritance that Countess Ospin should have received." "W-wait. Then perhaps this incident was... revenge?" "Looking only at the surface appearance, it seems she just helped a friend, but if you examine the circumstances one by one... it's suspicious in many ways, isn't it?" "Hah. If that's true, she's truly a frightening young lady!" "I heard a different story too—there's a rumor that she actually made a contract with a demon. They say she wasn't originally that kind of personality but suddenly changed?" "Good grief, there's a foolish friend here too. Wouldn't that all be disguise? If she showed her clever side early on, she'd obviously be checked, so she deliberately acted clumsy to hide her claws!" "Either way, she's demon-like." People trembled at Kuella's thorough desire for revenge and terrifying schemes. No matter how much high society was a demon realm of schemes, betrayal, and shifting alliances, that venomous heart that would bite anyone—family, fiancé, or royalty—without hesitation for her purposes was absolutely not something to take lightly. "C-Count Ospin. This is nothing special, but it's an apologetic gift." "...My goodness, even such a thing. I'll gratefully accept it." "I committed great rudeness last time. It absolutely wasn't done with malice, so please don't misunderstand..." "Rudeness, you say. I'm not concerned about it, so there's no need for you to feel such burden." "H-hiik! L-Lady Kuella! I was wrong! Please spare me!" "Why are you begging for your life just from bumping into me in the hallway...?" Kuella inwardly made a tearful face at the surrounding reactions that called her the demon countess and feared her, but no matter how much she shouted that it was a misunderstanding, no one believed her. [Wh-what do I do, Lord Kron! At this rate, I won't be able to get married!!] [If you borrowed a demon's power, you have to bear that much cost. It's fine. A reputation without matching ability becomes a burden, but a reputation with matching ability becomes a weapon. Judging from last time, you've come up to 25 points, so let's work hard for just 5 more points.] "L-Lady Kuella. This, would you please accept it?" "......" Kuella, who had been watching the back of the female student running away with a shy face, turned her gaze to the letter in her hand. It would be more comfortable if it were something like a duel challenge, but no matter how she looked at it, it was that kind of love letter. Kuella muttered blankly, even forgetting to use flame magic. "...Lord Kron. What about this?" [Fighting.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------