True to the usual clickbait article, the content itself was nothing much compared to the headline.
It merely reported the factual account of Dolnesia and me defeating the cultists who had tried to blow up the train.
The problem was that it reported things a little too factually, preserving every single word of the lines I had said back then.
Was there a reporter in the fourth carriage...?
Fuck, was this right?
I might be an illegitimate son, but I was undeniably part of a grand ducal family.
They could openly run such a provocative article...?
Even if this world was a Pinkfong romance fantasy that had thrown all plausibility out the window, surely they would not openly publish an article that damaged a grand ducal family’s prestige...?
Of course, the catastrophic remarks in question had come out of my own mouth.
"But they can run clickbait articles like this? Unless they have the Imperial Family backing them..."
"That is exactly right."
Huh?
A familiar yet sly voice abruptly cut in from behind me.
When I turned around, I saw a platinum-blonde beauty in the academy uniform.
The owner of that voice was Isabella.
"Lady Eterna remains dazzlingly beautiful, as always."
"Her reputation as the Flower of Eterna truly was not earned for nothing, was it?"
"Exactly. I finally understand why His Highness the Second Prince was so protective of her."
Then came the reactions of the people around us.
Like narration heralding the arrival of a boss monster, her appearance was accompanied by countless whispers.
No wonder.
The instant I unfolded the newspaper, the assessments of me had abruptly stopped.
So this was what it meant to be a romance-fantasy heroine....
Unlike Dolnesia, who received little attention because so much of the aggro had been drawn toward me, Isabella pulled every eye in the room to herself simply by appearing.
By now, she must have announced her broken engagement to the prince, yet there was not a single disparaging word about her.
Just how well had she built up public favor to get that sort of reaction?
Though the Second Prince’s own reputation management being an absolute disaster had surely played a part too.
But hadn’t Isabella just said something?
"It has been a while, my lady. But just now..."
"The answer to your question. The Imperial Family really is backing them."
Isabella answered with her arms crossed.
Anyway, so...
The Imperial Family was behind the people openly publishing these clickbait articles?
How surprising.
I had not expected the Imperial Family to spew such lowbrow bait so freely.
But why was the Imperial Family backing them?
"But why is the Imperial Family backing them?"
"Hm? You did not know?"
Tilting her head as though she could not believe I genuinely did not know, Isabella explained.
"The reason the Imperial Family has chosen to back the press is simple. It was the late First Emperor’s final wish that the press should be subject to no one’s control."
I had never heard of that setting before.
"But is it not rather contradictory for the Imperial Family to back them when they are supposedly not controlled by anyone?"
Did that not just mean the Imperial Family got to publish whatever the fuck it wanted? Like that article about me.
"It is. Under the pretext of preventing other factions from manipulating the press, the Imperial Family volunteered to be its patron. Turn that around, though, and it is no different from saying that only the Imperial Family may wield the press as it pleases."
"Then..."
"It cannot be helped. His Majesty the Emperor is the highest authority in Astoria. For articles that can criticize even the grand dukes while being controlled by no one to exist, they need a patron of that stature, do they not?"
Was that so...?
It looked no different from them saying they did not want to hear anyone complain about them.
"Perhaps because of that, they do not hesitate to cram in criticism of themselves as well, in order to secure the press’s fairness. Though only when it comes to expendable pawns."
With a cynical smile, she pointed down at the ground, as though telling me to look below.
Wondering what it was, I lowered my gaze.
Uh....
[Exclusive! "Please stop criticizing her"... The Second Prince Kyle’s true feelings hidden behind his declaration of a broken engagement]
["My hands were too filthy to hold on to her"... Prince Kyle reveals why he was truly the one to end things.]
["The reason for the broken engagement? Do not ask"... Prince Kyle ‘nips in the bud’ rumors that would obstruct his former fiancée’s future]
Below were a string of provocative headlines concerning Isabella and the Second Prince.
The announcement had clearly been made a while ago, though I did not know why they were still displayed here.
The content was as ordinary as the article about me.
It simply said that they had broken off their engagement for no reason, and that because of it, the once-depraved prince had come to his senses.
Since there had been no witnesses here, there was no mention of Isabella slapping the prince or of me challenging him to a duel.
Breaking off an engagement without a reason would be perfect fodder for conspiracy theories.
Yet by putting out statements such as, ‘I was able to reform thanks to the broken engagement,’ and asking people not to spread conspiracy theories about her, he had neatly blocked even the arrows that might have flown toward her.
I was fucking jealous.
Why did I not have anything like that?
Still, there was something that did not quite sit right.
Even if the Imperial Family was backing them, could they really disregard the opinion of Logres, one of the Five Grand Duchies?
There must have been objections.
Even though our family head had stepped away from politics, he did not seem like the kind of man who would tolerate something like this.
Even if the Imperial Family ranked above grand ducal families, they should not have had enough power to press ahead while ignoring their opinions.
"Still, are these provocative headlines not a bit too much?"
"That is the tradition of that newspaper. Did you not know?"
"Did you happen to live in some backwater?"
Dolnesia cut in, looking at me as though she could not believe I truly had not known, while Isabella seemed more puzzled by why I lacked this information.
Fuck.
What kind of tradition was that?
How could adding bait to newspaper headlines possibly be a tradition?
The whole world was screwing me over.
At this point, it felt like I was filming The Truman Show.
Why did Ian’s head not contain this sort of information?
It was not as though he had gone his whole life without reading a single newspaper, was it?
"Oh my, the young ladies of Logres and Eterna are both so wonderfully kind-hearted."
"Indeed. They are even taking such good care of the young master who proclaimed that he would follow chivalry."
"But they seem rather close.... What exactly is the relationship between the two of them? Surely not..."
"Surely not. It simply shows how broad Lady Eterna’s embrace is."
Had we talked for too long?
Rumors began to spread, courtesy of those young ladies who were masters of vicious Kyoto-style passive aggression.
Still, this was irritating.
I had even taken down a terrorist, yet I had to be treated like some immature young lord drunk on chivalry?
The article clearly stated that although I had been playing at chivalry, my actions had ultimately defeated the heretics and prevented greater damage.
Could it be because of my appearance?
Goddamn lookism.
When I clicked my tongue in displeasure, the previously murmuring crowd fell silent at once.
Everyone’s faces seemed to have stiffened, but that was not my problem.
Would no courageous men step forward?
Normally, by now, some men eager to impress Isabella should have barged in and picked a fight with me.
They should have come out long ago, yet oddly enough, no one was stepping up.
What a shame.
If someone had courageously stepped forward, I had intended to fold him in half at the waist as a sign of praise.
Scratching the back of my head, I opened my mouth.
"You should be on your way now. Even if you keep talking to me here, I doubt you will hear anything pleasant."
"I need to enter the grand auditorium too. Are you blocking my way and telling me not to go in?"
Isabella responded with a cool smile.
Right.
By now, people should have been whispering that I was disrespectful to a lady, or brave men should have stepped forward.
But there was not a single courageous soul among them.
To subdue a crowd with her face alone.
Could this be the legendary Dragon Fear?
There it was: the Heavenly Demon’s Dominating Step, performed with nothing but one’s face.
I turned around and reached for the handle.
"Then, well, we will go in first..."
"I do not particularly mind going in together."
What was this woman talking about?
Did she think the world would leave a woman who had only recently broken off an engagement alone when she was with an unrelated man?
I could not even begin to guess how many more clickbait articles that would produce.
"I do not want to get tangled up in an unnecessary scandal."
"That is an extraordinarily confident thing to say. Do you perhaps need a mirror?"
"With a face like this, should I not at least have confidence?"
Isabella gave a hollow laugh and took one step closer.
"It does not matter. How many years have I lived while discarding any concern for the reputation around me? If I want to do it, why should other people’s gazes matter?"
"No, but they matter to me."
"Is there anything beyond one more line being added beneath the article calling you a young lord drunk on chivalry?"
No, that alone was already more than I could handle.
Those voyeuristic bastards up there would surely activate their traits whenever I was in a difficult situation.
The limit of what I could endure had already been exceeded with just ‘a young lord mad for chivalry.’
"You said that if I could not avoid something, I should enjoy it, my lady, so I intend to gladly enjoy chivalry. But can this situation not be avoided quite easily?"
"......"
At my words, Isabella fell silent for a moment.
"Right.... I did say that.... You remembered..."
She muttered something under her breath for a moment, then continued with that distinctive cool smile of hers.
"But...."
Still smiling coolly, Isabella advanced one step at a time.
"Can you avoid it?"
Wearing an expression that made it impossible to tell whether she was teasing me, Isabella kept slowly approaching.
"Please stop teasing him, Lady Eterna."
Then Dolnesia stepped in front of me, putting an end to it.
Seeing Dolnesia like that, Isabella narrowed her eyes and began to radiate a chilly air.
Dolnesia did not yield either, meeting her head-on.
Another hair-trigger situation that looked ready to explode into sparks at any moment had formed. Again!
Yet it did not last long.
"The First Prince of the Karl Kingdom..."
"Lord Asdel of the Holy Kingdom is here too!"
"His Highness the Second Prince...."
"The Third Prince...."
It was because the arrival of those male leads scattered the aggro.
And so, the heroines’ battle of nerves fizzled out.
#
From the high ceiling hung chandeliers glowing through magitech, like those at the banquet hall.
On the enormous platform at the front, the academy’s emblem was boldly engraved.
Seeing something I had only ever seen in a game unfold before my eyes made my massive pecs swell with grandeur.
As expected of the largest academy on the continent, even the grand auditorium was on another level.
I turned my head this way and that like some country bumpkin, and Dolnesia let out a quiet laugh at the sight.
It could not be helped.
What I was doing right now was exactly the sort of thing a rural bumpkin would do.
Still, something was strange.
In a romance fantasy, someone should have seen me and jumped out to mock the illegitimate son of a grand ducal family as a country bumpkin.
But just as before, no one had the courage to whisper right in front of me.
I did not know what expression I had made earlier.
But it must have proven just how intimidating my face was.
Fuck.
It was convenient, sure, but I had a feeling I would have no choice but to eat alone for a while.
As soon as I found a seat and sat down, as though they had been waiting to begin, every light in the auditorium went out at once and all illumination focused on the platform.
The murmuring students quieted in an instant, and someone slowly began to climb onto the platform.
A woman with flame-red hair and golden eyes.
"New students, I sincerely welcome you to Lumea Academy."
The entrance ceremony began as Lumea Academy’s headmistress stepped onto the platform.
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