Side: Royal Palace

“I heard that Her Highness is mistreating the children of the orphanage she visited.”

“Come to think of it, wasn’t Her Highness studying how to run an orphanage in Lowenberg? If something were to happen, not only would it affect the princess, the Duchess of Lowenberg might also become an enemy. We should refrain from getting involved.”

“The duchess has it rough, too. She has to entertain Her Highness’ whims.”

“Hey, keep your mouth shut. His Majesty the King adores the princess. What kind of punishment would we suffer if the king overheard this?”

“You have a point, but I also agree with her. Do you know how much the princess has spent running the orphanage? It’s equivalent to a month’s living expenses for us aristocrats! Who’d be able to cover such a ridiculous operating cost?”

“Indeed. Her Highness even appointed the servants of the royal palace to serve as personnel for the orphanage. Moreover, didn’t she previously state that each orphan should be given a lavish room? That’s just preposterous. There’s no way I’d go along with her.”

◇◆◇

“The poison is coming along nicely.”

The princess’ reputation in the royal palace seemed to be in decline.

“The rumors spread by the duchess appear to have played a major role.”

The steward gave me a satisfactory report.

“The princess’ plan for the orphanage, which Iris was concerned about, was scrapped before she could even propose it.”

Eric, who had come to my office to take a breather, looked over said report.

“But was there a need to go out of your way like this? Looking at the absolute disaster that is the princess’ orphanage reform plan, there’s no way it’ll ever come true. Nobody would spend that much money on an orphanage, much less those greedy aristocrats. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ I’m sure that they’ll band together to put a stop to it, regardless of faction.”

I could see where Eric was coming from.

Even if I hadn’t done something like this, the orphanage reform plan that the princess was trying to propose to the parliament was unlikely to be approved. At the same time, there was no saying that the king, who doted on the princess, wouldn’t do something.

“No one knows what the future may bring. That’s why we have to prepare ourselves, step by step. The future is full of things that can’t be predicted.”

Nobody had expected it—

—a future where Paides waged war on Elda.

—a future where Lowenberg was torn by war.

—a future where I had to enlist.

—a future where my father and the others perished…

No one had expected it.

“The princess, who is guaranteed everything in her life, will experience her first denial and failure. When that happens, I’m curious to see which direction she’ll grow.”

“Will she even grow?”

“Who knows. I sure hope that she’ll reflect on her actions, or am I wishing for too much? From what I’ve heard from the director and Ren, the princess was irked. I’m sure she’ll blame Lowenberg for all her shortcomings.”

“…I see. Is that why you spread those rumors? That way, even if the princess blames Lowenberg, the aristocrats will already be aware of her actions at the orphanage, along with the reform plan that she is trying to pass through the parliament. When that naïve princess returns to the royal palace, no one will take her seriously. They’ll look at her funny. I sure can’t wait for that to happen. Nobody will think that it’s our fault.”

Status wasn’t everything. People would judge others based on their behavior.

No matter how high your status was, you needed to behave in a manner commensurate with your status. Even those of lower stature would bare their fangs and bite you to death if you were ignorant.

That’s what the social world is all about.

“If Lou, whom the princess considers her younger brother, were to give us a statement or an accurate report on the current situation to the royal palace, she’d be done for.”

Ren seemed to be progressing well. Perhaps, we’d be able to get rid of the princess before the allotted six months.

After all, the longer the princess stayed here, the more her reputation would continue to worsen. The aristocrats, who felt hard-pressed to follow the princess’ guidelines about running an orphanage, wouldn’t remain silent, either. They’d surely file a complaint with the king.

Afterwards, in order to prevent the reputation of his dear daughter from being besmirched any further, the king would have her withdrawn as soon as possible. Otherwise, he’d risk ruining his daughter’s future.

…At that time, I was so focused on avoiding the potential crisis that I didn’t even notice the actual crisis was about to occur.

---

***T/N: What’s the actual crisis? The princess completed her transformation into a full-fledged Marie Antoinette?

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