HACS 142

All adults are liars.

What do you mean “Just show up,” “Just bring your body,” “Honestly, we’re just going to go there, tea-bag a bit, and act obnoxious”?

The moment I opened the door and my name was called, lo and behold—【Imperial Bloodline】 activates, doesn’t it?

【You have stepped into enemy territory.】

【All eyes are upon you.】

【Anger, hatred, resentment, doubt, astonishment, confusion, jealousy. Countless negative emotions are directed at you.】

【Your blood cannot tolerate this.】

【Forced auto-counter against surrounding mongrels is activated.】

【By the deeds of the imperial bloodline, you raise your banner high even amidst persecution.】

【In crisis situations, all words spoken by the user for 5 minutes are subject to Imperial Bloodline.】

【True dignity can never be hidden even in everyday life. The power to dominate your surroundings increases.】

【However, there is not just one bloodline in this place.】

【Among all your words, only one person can resist!】

【That being is watching you.】

Ah, that one.

I know her, I know her well.

Ah, I’m sorry, really. Why are you glaring at me like that?

Good things are good for everyone.

Still, if I’m next to you, magic won’t fly at me right away, right? You’d get caught up in it too, so surely you wouldn’t come to stab or spell me? Haha. What’s the point of being of the same bloodline?

And the seat next to you happens to be empty—hey, let me sit there. Okay? Right? Haha. As expected of Eve, so generous.

Oof. I’m from the upper line of the bloodline, so I’ll just sit next to you. Okay?

“You’re insane. What are you trying to do by ruining this place? Is this also your plan? You know this ball is hosted by the Siela family, right?”

Eve is chattering from beside me. I know, I get it all, but seriously, listen—I have a story too.

But why do you have to look at me like that, making my blood boil? Huh? Let me live too.

Ugh. Endure. Endure it, my middle finger. If I let you out here, a Holy Light Spear will hit my solar plexus before anyone else’s stab or spell. I have to endure.

Okay. I’ll back down here. Really. It’s because this Wolfram von Lee Young-jin is such a good person. Haha. Back in my “Slayer of Affinity Enthusiasts, Super Young-jin” days, I couldn’t have dreamed of this. You know that?

I stood up from my seat and threw out some lip-service lines.

So, I wish Eve would be student council president for a thousand or ten thousand years. I hope she stays as faculty student council president even through graduate school. Glory to the reign of Eve von Lohengrin! Hail, hail, hail!

With that kind of vibe, I did my lip service and sat back down.

*Phew.* Now I feel a bit more at ease.

Sorry to Ayla, but today she’s agreed to run wild on her own, so I’ll just sit in my chair and watch everyone have fun.

—

This is the protector of humanity.

The radiant majesty of those who inherited that bloodline.

Everyone in that place prostrated themselves.

It felt as if even lifting one’s head—furthermore, even breathing and existing in this place—required permission.

Between the two seats and the nobles lay only two steps.

Those two steps dividing the central hall and the throne seemed as if one represented the soul, and the other, existence.

This is the difference in rank between you and us.

Unless you elevate the rank of your very existence beyond body and soul, do not even think of approaching.

The reason they bowed their heads.

To Eve, it was courtesy and faith.

But toward Wolfram von Lohengrin, it turned into fear and terror.

Is that the intimidation of the bloodline that can dominate all living beings—the guardians of the human realm?

“【I heard this was a ball, yet no music is playing.】”

At those words, the musicians hastily began to play.

“【Are you not dancing?】”

Quickly, someone began to dance with someone.

“【Laugh. Isn’t this a good day?】”

They forced smiles to lift the atmosphere.

Even Eve von Lohengrin was not the protagonist of this moment.

The ball continued—a dance of puppets whose intentions were thoroughly trampled.

—

*Phew.*

Now that I’ve loosened the mood, everyone’s dancing, singing, laughing—looking good.

If you nobles are going to hold a ball, you should have fun and enjoy it.

Don’t mind me, just have a good time. Please don’t pay attention to me.

“So what’s your real business here? You’ve flipped the table—what are you trying to achieve?”

“【Who flipped the table? I made a statement supporting you, and I livened up the atmosphere.】”

“You’re really completely insane. Or are you just messing with me?”

“【Tch. This is what happens when you can’t understand consideration.】”

“I’m telling you, you won’t die a peaceful death.”

Hmm.

This is pretty interesting.

Even with Imperial Bloodline activated, when I talk to Eve, the auto-counter doesn’t trigger, and Eve doesn’t feel intimidated by me either.

“So? What’s your true intention?”

“【You want me to say it?】”

“You ruined a ball held for me, so you owe me at least that much.”

“【That’s also fair. It’s simple. The Tri-Star family is aiming to advance into the central political scene.】”

“…So you’re taking control of this ball held for me, with Ayla Tri-Star as your banner, and forcing a resolution by power? What about the aftermath?”

“【If I apply pressure in the name of Lohengrin, I can act as a shield. And considering the insidious and petty schemes the Siela family has plotted against Tri-Star so far, this blow isn’t even a dagger.】”

“……Normally that would be the case. Fine. I don’t want to clash with Tri-Star either, so I’ll let it slide.”

“【Wise.】”

“I mean I’ll bury you and walk over your grave.”

Such scary words?

“Half of that was a joke. Anyway, it’s true that you declared your support for me, and my regime will become more comfortable.”

“【Hmph. It’s not for you. It’s for my own ambition.】”

“Anyway, why did you bring Patrasche?”

“【Obviously】 I brought him because I might feel a threat to my personal safety.”

“Aha. Then I’m convinced.”

Ah. Imperial Bloodline is off.

“Wolfram. Wolfram von Lohengrin. I’ll thank you for officially supporting me. So just shut that mouth of yours for exactly 30 seconds and wait until I’m done thinking.”

“……”

“…Hmm. Count Tri-Star has rallied the west and is determined to advance into the center. Wolfram von Lohengrin supports Eve von Lohengrin. Then what can be deduced from this is… Aha. I see. Good. I’m done thinking, so I’ll speak.”

“What is it?”

“At the point where you support me and your fiancée is from the Tri-Star family—the nobles must have understood that I can at any time have you… and your fiancée’s family, under my command.”

“That’s not true, but…”

“If everyone believes it, public opinion creates truth.”

“You support me, and the Tri-Star family enters your fold. Among the variables that arise from that, which one do you want to talk about?”

“Wouldn’t one particular family become extremely uncomfortable?”

Aha.

I see.

“Si… we could earn the enmity of the Siela family.”

“We will definitely earn the enmity of the Siela family.”

That is.

Truly frightening.

I rose from my seat and walked down the steps.

“With this, there’s no debt between us. Got it?”

“Of course. In the first place, we’d rather cut off our tongues than owe each other anything.”

And so we laughed lightly at each other, and even lighter than that, we raised our middle fingers.

—

I’m screwed.

I didn’t think of that.

The host of this party is Regina Siela.

It’s not the Siela family that’s scary—it’s that Regina Siela who’s scary.

If she pressures me with her swamp and crushes me with her magic fist, even Imperial Bloodline won’t cover it, joking aside.

In the first place, that’s exactly what Kelter’s bad ending was.

*”Regina, who used her magic to control Kelter’s hand and make him strangle himself.”*

*”At the same time, Regina, who stabs Kelter’s heart with a dagger.”*

*”The two, dyed in the color of flowers, falling in the garden full of red spider lilies.”*

I can’t, go through, that!

“Absolutely not.”

I quickly searched for Regina Siela.

“…Wolfram, Your Highness. Are you… well?”

“……Yeah.”

Dull, lifeless eyes. A voice drained of vitality.

The light in those eyes is probably stage 3.

If it goes up two more levels from there, someone dies.

And most likely, that someone will be me.

“Magnificent. With this, His Highness Wolfram has proclaimed to the world that he has formed an alliance with Her Highness Princess Eve von Lohengrin, and Tri-Star will soon deal with the Siela family.”

“You see it that way.”

“Yes. With this, I will be discarded by the Siela family. I lost in the finals as well. The connection with Her Highness Princess Eve von Lohengrin, which was my only hope, has also collapsed. The foundation that supported me within the family has completely crumbled.”

“……I see.”

“How cruel. Precisely because you are such a person, because you were someone I could never reach with my own hands—I…”

No.

Don’t say any more.

Please.

【Kelter. You are a cruel man.】

In the original work, that line is the trigger for stage 4.

I haven’t cleared it many times, so I don’t remember well, but there was definitely a solution.

So…

Ah. Right.

“Regina Siela.”

“Y-You, what are you calling me right now—”

“Didn’t I tell you before? To call me by my name.”

“Why, in this situation, would you…? Ah, could it be that you’re granting me mercy to take my own life as a final reward—”

“Nonsense.”

Her sudden acceleration gear is no joke.

“Then why, after cutting off all my hopes, do you call my name in this situation…?”

W-Well?

Because I don’t want to die?

But if I say that, she might come to kill me tonight itself.

So… combining the fragmentary information I have about Regina Siela.

“It’s my own way of showing respect to my greatest rival.”

“……My greatest, rival?”

She’s filled with an inferiority complex toward Eve von Lohengrin… and what else. Anyway, she desperately wants recognition, wants to be loved, wants to monopolize everything—a spoiled rich girl. That much I remember. And when things don’t go her way, she goes around stabbing people and killing herself too.

No matter how I think about it, I don’t understand why a rich girl who lived well and ate well would go crazy like that. The psychology of a rich girl is completely beyond my comprehension.

But.

Even if I can’t understand, I remember it from the “setting book.”

So. Wouldn’t she be happy if I acknowledged her a bit?

“Isn’t that so? The student competition, the midterm practical, the school ball, the finals. And even this very moment. All ended in my overwhelming victory, but they were interesting battles of wits.”

“You, you’re saying you saw me as… a rival?”

Oh.

Her eyes were about to go to stage 4, but stopped at stage 3.

Good. It’s working.

“Truly enjoyable games. You were a worthy opponent. Though they all ended in my consecutive victories.”

“……”

“Now. Won’t there be even more enjoyable games next time?”

At my words, Regina Siela’s fist clenched tight.

And the eyes looking at me clear up.

That’s stage 2… Hmm. That’s fine. Safe.

“…I see. Next time. Yes. There is a next game.”

“That’s the look. Entertain me even more.”

“Then, calling my name today… I’ll take it as a reward for giving His Highness enjoyment. As sympathy given to a loser.”

“Do as you like. Regina Siela.”

“……Yes. Then I shall dare to make a request, Your Highness.”

“Speak.”

“Up until now, I’ve lost consecutively. I have no idea how to overcome Your Highness’s intellect, which touches the heavens. …So I’d like to receive a reward when I win.”

“Sure. What reward do you want?”

“May I think about it when I’ve won?”

No. I don’t want to. That’s scary.

But if I say no here, her eyes will go dull again, right?

“Do as you like.”

“Yes. I will do as I like.”

Well, just don’t do it *too* much as you like.

With that, I parted ways with Regina, returned to my seat, and let out a sigh of relief.

Seeing that, Eve looked at me with wide eyes.

“Wo-Wolfram…?”

“What.”

“What was that conversation just now?”