After Fate’s father delivered his speech, we separated from each other. He started talking to a lot of nobles while I made a beeline to the cakes… or was supposed to.
On transit to paradise, a hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder. This hand felt really cold and seemed to have come from hell. One could tell that the owner of this hand was crueler than the devil himself, cause its purpose is to stop me from going to paradise.
“Where are you going, L-U-M-I-N-A-S-A-M-A?”
The owner of this hand was my servant, Emilia Sluga Chem.
“Eh? Well, I’m going over there.”
I pointed towards the line of cakes that sat in the corner of the banquet hall.
“Hmmm~ is that so? Well, you’re free to enjoy the cake, however….”
“… however?”
I have a really bad feeling about this.
“You have now become the leader of a faction, so please exercise restraint and do your duties.”
“Eh?”
Her gaze became stricter and her atmosphere became more menacing. Also, before I knew it, she had stretched out a thin wall of mana around us. I presumed that its purpose was to prevent sound from getting through it.
“Haaa~ As I suspected.”
“Huh?”
Emilia suddenly spat out a sigh and made a really tired face.
“Lumina-sama, did you even listen to the announcement, Fate’s father made?”
“That? Well, yeah. What about it?”
“Then tell me what he said.”
“He’s exploiting this party to form a new faction in the royal court. He’s got a really great ambition huh.”
Emilia nodded three time before she asked me who the leader of the faction was.
“Why are you asking such an obvious question? Of course, it’s him. He’s an Earl, right? So, him being the leader is as expected.”
“Haaaa~”
Emilia shrugged her shoulders deeply and spat breathe out a very heavy sigh.
“I’ve been suspecting this for a few days now, however, I didn’t expect it to be this fatal.”
“Hmm? What are you mumbling about?”
Grabbing my shoulders and making a really intense glare, she said:
“Lumina-sama, he’s not the leader of a new faction in the royal court… YOU ARE!”
“Huee!?”
“Did you think that he was creepy when he knew your name?”
“… N-no….”
I answered her while averting my eyes.
“Lying is useless. We’ve been together since we were seven, so I know most of your habits. So I can tell when you lie.”
“T-then….”
“Yes, I even know that you were staring at the cake when you were making your speech.”
“…. I’m so sorry.”
I escaped from her grip and bowed my head to Emilia in an attempt to appease her anger.
“Haaa~ good thing I also made this barrier project a false image, if I didn’t, the way you’re acting now would’ve cause an uproar.”
“Hee~ you’re quite capable…”
She made a look as if she had given up on something before she said:
“Lumina-sama, though my words will seem cruel, please bear with me for a moment.”
“Can I not bear it?”
“No… and stop looking at the cake.”
Kuh—since she made the barrier, she could control the images we could see from the outside.
“YOU AIRHEAD!”
“Heh?”
“Ever since you decided to teach the students how to use null element magic, your airheadedness have started showing itself! At first, I thought the reason why you made me the one who taught the students was because you were feeling shy… however… however… when you learned that you had some servants whose status was higher than yours… You started escaping from reality!!!”
“E-Emilia… let’s calm down for a moment…”
“I am calm!”
No, you’re not… look, you’re clenching your fist and your eyes are on fire. You breathing fire is the only thing that’s missing.
“I know that we only started teaching them for a few weeks… however, I’m already tired…. Very very tired…. Lumina-sama, do you know how hard it had been.”
“N-no…”
“While you were drinking tea, I’ve been teaching some students how to properly use magic. I’ve also been guarding for any trespasser that may see us practicing, so I stretched out a barrier to alarm me. What’s more, I’ve been hard at work in creating connections with outside nobles by using the families of your servants!”
Emilia clenched her fist as she continued to rant.
“I’m only a 12-year-old commoner! But since I’m your servant, I accepted those duties to support you… however… I’m still a girl and am about to reach my limit…”
“E-Emilia…”
Tears started spilling from her eyes.
“Please, Lumina-sama, fix your behavior and start remembering the names of your servants. Please be the one who creates the connection with people. Please be the one who talks to them… Please stop running away from reality once you learn your servant’s status is higher than yours… Don’t worry, I’ll be by your side… supporting you from the shadows.”
Did I really push all those duties to Emilia?
Hmm… now that I think about it, Emilia was the one who taught them how to use magic while I only took care of introducing it to them. For the past few weeks, I’ve been burdening her a lot.
Judging from her eyes, I could tell what she told me weren’t a lie. And even though she was a 12-year old girl who was a commoner, she was able to speak to Liza and the other like an equal, despite them having a higher status than her. I guess, I should learn from her example…
I should just accept Fate is the daughter of Gerund who is an Earl. I should also probably include Liza and the others in it.
“… I understand.”
“R-really!?”
“Un… really, I guess I should stop omitting the things I don’t want to hear and just accept it.”
“T-then…”
“… I….I’ll accept… being a faction leader…”
Well, I don’t think me being a leader will do much though. Unlike others, I don’t have much of an ambition.
“Then, let’s get going.”
Emilia’s face suddenly became calm as she urged me to walk. It was as if, what she just did was an act.
“““ Yey!!!”””
Also, I noticed that Liza and the other’s were high-fiving each other as we walked along.
Huh? Were the things she just did an act?
“Then, Lumina-sama, since this is a political party, you will need to meet up with a lot of people. First, you’ll gonna have a talk with Gerund-sama’s closest business partners. After that, you will need to follow along Gerund-sama and listen to his talks. What’s more, since you’re the leader of this faction, they may need your instructions regarding your political movements. Also…”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Wait wait! What one at a time!”
Emilia materialized a pair of glasses and corrected it using her hand while holding a bundle of documents.
“Don’t worry, I’m only giving you a rough outline of what were gonna do in this party.”
“That was just an outline?”
“Yes.”
She made a proud smile as she pushed me along.
Ah—the cakes… they’re getting farther and farther away…
* * * *
It’s been an hour since the party had started. Since then, Emilia had dragged me everywhere. First, I was forced to meet up with Mary’s parent’s. At first I was really nervous, however, when we started talking, she continued to thank me while grabbing my arms. According to her mother, her daughter had been depressed cause she wasn’t able to fulfill her duty as a servant of the four families. Also, she said that it was because of me that she now had a direction in life.
It was also the same for Victoria’s, Achil’s, Anthony’s, and Frank’s parents. From our talk before we departed, I expected only their mother’s to come, but because their father’s came, it became even more intimidating to talk. The scariest one was Liza’s father. The way he gazed at me was really fiercer than the others. He observed me from head to toe before he talked to me, I thought my mask was gonna collapse from fear. But, because Emilia told me that she was gonna serve me some cake with Apple tea after my talk with Liza’s father, I managed to survive.
Our talk with Liza’s father went for quite a while. He kept asking what my plans were and what my reasons for forming a faction were. I told him that I planned on developing and strengthening our magic as for the reasons for forming a faction, Emilia was the one who answered him. She said that the purpose of this faction was to create a foothold for the movement of the new magic we had discovered.
The two of them started a heated discussion between one another while I only listened to them and enjoyed my Mille Feuille. I did my best to listen what they were saying, but because they used lots of jargons, I couldn’t understand half of what they were talking about. In the end, they shook their hands while emitting a black aura.
“It’ll be a pleasure to work with you.”
“No, the pleasures all mine, Harlington-sama… Fufufu…”
“Kukuku…”
The moment I finished eating my Mille-feuille, their discussion had ended. Next, I was forced to tag along with Gerund-sama and Fate. Right now, he was talking to another Earl who had light brown hair and wore a green cloak.
“I’m planning to meet with Duke Mearess tomorrow. I want to let him know that my family will now stop support Verpur’s house and will switch to supporting Chis Chem's.”
“I see, then would it be okay for me to tag along, Amethyst-sama.”
“Harvard… don’t tell me, you’re also…”
“Yes, I also plan on telling Duke Mearess that I’m switching to supporting Chis Chem’s faction. Looking at the Fenyes’ heir, I can’t help but look away from his spoiled behavior. If I compare him to Lumina, she’s heavens above him in terms of dignity.”
“I see… who knew that we, who were once political enemies, have become comrades because of our children’s chosen master.”
“I agree with you. They have a better eye in judging people than those children who can use powerful spells.”
They made dark ominous smiles as they talk to one another. I really wanna run away from them. However, the dark shadows that stood behind me as I listened to them, prevent me from running away.
“Oh, Amethyst, Faustina. How about we suggest to our children, who became elites in the academy, to cancel their contracts with the spoiled heirs of the four family and become Lumina’s servants?”
Another noble that had clothes as classy as Gerund’s arrived. He had a long flowing silver hair.
“I thought of that before coming here, however, I think that’s impossible. They have already chosen who to serve and because they’re our children, I feel like they’ve also inherited our stubbornness.”
“That’s true, I remembered back when we were still political enemies. You framed me for kidnapping the crowned prince and even limited my hands by suggesting the king to put me under house arrest.”
“Haha, thanks to that, the Fenyes house was able to move quite freely because you weren’t there Weinburger-sama. My plan to cripple the Karmerot house was a great success. Ahaha!”
“You really are a sly bastard, Faustina. It’s a good thing we’ll now be working on the same side now.”
“I agree, with my plans, Amethyst’s support and your influence in the military, we’ll be able to shake the foundations of the royal court!”
“Don’t forget about us, the Mayers, Ginsburgs, and Harlingtons houses!”
“We didn’t, forget about your houses. General Mayers, Prime Minister Ginsburg and Duke Harlington.”
“If you forget me, the Prime Minister, I’ll have your family status drop by a few ranks!”
“Spare us from that, Ginsburg! Ahaha”
The fathers of Fate, Liza, Mary and the others were talking to one another. They seemed to have been recounting their past deeds. Just standing here and listening to them makes my hair stand on its ends.
Also, Emilia was taking a lot of notes as they were talking to one another. What’s more, she had a really enlightened look whenever she hears them talking about their schemes. Like how to exploit your enemies weakness or by kidnapping an important individual. I’m quite afraid how Emilia’s gonna grow up if she absorbs what they were talking about.
“Sir Gabriel Chis Chem and Lady Clarisse Chis Chem have arrived!”
Eeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhh!?
Wait… I forgot… my parents were coming! Because I was doing my best to learn about the people of ‘my’ faction, I forgot about them.
Uhh… how should I face them…
Should I talk to them like this?
(Mama, Papa, I became the master of the children of 7 high-ranked nobles while I stayed in school. It seemed like they’re planning to control the royal court by using despicable means. Please praise me~)
Like hell!
How should I explain this to them…
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Well, about your complaints~ Well, bear with Lumina's forgetfulness for now. Cause I can't change her character abruptly. It's because if I did, then it'd ruin the flow of the story. Also, she's still 12 years-old, after the party, there'll be a time skip. So yeah, she's still gonna be forgetful~