CH 77

For the time being, if I don’t at least make an excuse, I might really be blamed for all this.

“It was you who brought that liquid and spilled it on my desk and Lady Arnhardt’s desk, wasn’t it? Yesterday, too, you started that one-sided argument when I didn’t even say anything to you. What exactly do you want?” I asked.

Normally, hearing my words would convince the people around me that it wasn’t my fault. But it won’t be that easy. Even the students who witness don’t care to support me, they just talk among themselves in whispers.

“This savage did this to Lady Sophie’s desk, and you’re blaming us! What an insane person! Did you all hear that? This savage, that’s the kind of person she is!”

Hmmm…. in the first place, who exactly is unilaterally putting down their opponent as a savage?

If you look at it with a fair eye, even if you can’t tell who threw the liquid, it’s either the five people hysterically uttering words that demean the other party or me answering calmly and accurately. It should be obvious at a glance who has the rational defense here.

Even so, when I look around, there are only people who are clearly criticizing me and people who seem to support what the group of five is saying. It’s just a little strange.

“Who do you think is correct, us or this savage?”

“That’s… wha?”

“Yes……”

The eyes of the surroundings pierce me with the incitement of the five girls. This creates an atmosphere where I’m the one at fault. Every time the quintet tried to discredit me, I argued logically, but no one seemed to listen.

“Come now! You’ve got your answer!” orders the daughter of Marquis Valtek, Emma Valtek. “Now admit your guilt and wipe up Lady Sophie’s desk!”

If I remember correctly, the Valtec Marquisate should have been a relative and a branch family of the Arnhardt Marquisate. It’s really easy to understand. Emma is supposed to be Sophie’s underling. The master-slave relationship between Sophie Arnhardt, who was ranked fifth in this class, and Emma Valtek, who was ranked tenth, was obvious.

“I refuse,” I said. “I have no intention of apologizing for being blamed for something I didn’t do, nor do I intend to wipe it up. You spread it yourself, so if you can wipe it off yourself, isn’t that fair?”

Well, unfortunately, I don’t shrink or bow my head just because I’m being intimidated by 15-year-old girls. Do you think that if I were a normal aristocratic daughter, if I was surrounded by people who were higher in rank than me, I would shrink and apologize even if I was not at fault?

“Wha–?! Are you still refusing to admit your guilt at this point?!” Emma cried.

“I didn’t do anything wrong, hence I have no guilt to admit,” I replied.

Why do I have to do such a thing toward Lady Sophie Arnhardt, whom I met for the first time yesterday? It just doesn’t make sense.

“Then is there any reason we would do this to you, you savage?!” Emma countered.

“That is……” I said.

Maybe it’s because I’m Ludwig’s fiancée. But I hesitate to say it myself. First of all, I thought to myself, “You’re jealous because I’m Prince Ludwig’s fiancée!” would be too disgusting of a response. I could end up being a misunderstood clown.

Besides, if I say that, it means that I myself admit that I am a fiancee. Even though I’m thinking of breaking off the engagement someday, if I defend myself by claiming I’m Ludwig’s fiancée, it will result in me tripping myself up in the long term.

“Do do you mean, ‘That is…’! Speak up! Come now! You’ve got nothing, don’t you?!” Emma shouted. “Why should we do something like this to a savage like you!? Explain it to me!”

This Emma is… I really don’t like this type of thing. I can’t deal with this type of opponent who can’t even have a logical discussion and just screams with pure emotions.

In the first place, there are differences between men and women, such as right-brained and left-brained, male-brained and female-brained. What I’m going to say from now on is not gender discrimination or male chauvinism, it’s just the truth. Please do not misunderstand because neither of them is good or bad, superior or inferior. 1

First of all, the big difference between the male brain and the female brain is that the male brain is logical and the female brain is emotional. In the male brain, after listening to the other person’s point logically, he speaks while thinking whether he is correct. That’s why I’m not good at languages and don’t say words one after another. Listen to and understand the other person’s opinion, ruminate on your own opinion, think about whether there are any mistakes, and then utter the next word.

In contrast, the female brain first speaks what she thinks at the time, regardless of logical contradictions or consistency with what she said first. This is where this hysterical shouting comes from because logical conversations are not established and the content of speaking based on emotions is inconsistent and the subject jumps here and there.

However, this is not just a flaw. Female brains are good at language, and there are many women who are active in language studies. That’s why there are so many women working as interpreters. 2

The male brain is not good at expressing emotions and is not good at verbalizing what he is thinking, and tends to be not good at conveying what he wants to say to the other person. I’m not saying that the male brain is one-sidedly superior.

Also, as proof that the male brain is logical, it is easy to understand that men are overwhelmingly strong in tasks such as games like go, shogi, and some research that require logical thinking without emotions. In terms of focusing on one thing, there is also the fact that men are better suited to work as chefs and other similar craftsmen.

The female brain is not good at concentrating on one thing, so it is not suitable for research that repeats the same thing, go, shogi, or craftwork. This is the reason why they are easily distracted and prone to emotional panic, are not good at driving, and are prone to accidents. 3

Instead, they are good at doing multiple things at the same time, and female brains are overwhelmingly superior in terms of doing multiple things moderately and dexterously rather than mastering one thing. On the other hand, the male brain is not good at doing multiple tasks at the same time because it concentrates too much on one thing at a time.

It is very suitable for doing multiple tasks efficiently and moderately without having to do everything perfectly, such as cleaning and washing while cooking. I’m not saying “because there are masculine and feminine brains, women should just do housework”! It’s just a matter of sharing the roles of strengths and weaknesses as old-fashioned wisdom.

What I’m trying to say is that I’ve become a woman physically, so there’s a high possibility that I’ve gotten a woman’s brain, too. And yet I want to say something back to Emma, but I can’t. Even if the brain is a woman’s brain, I can’t compete if I’m emotionally stirred up like Emma because my thinking is a man’s thinking.

“Why don’t you say something?!” Emma shouted.

“What’s all this fuss about?” said Helene as she entered the classroom, interrupted between me and the group of five.

“Lady Helene, please listen. This savage did this to Lady Sophie’s desk…”

“I understand the circumstances, but where is the evidence that she did it? From what I’ve heard, there seems to be no evidence other than your testimony?”

Oh! Lady Helene is so cool! As expected, even Emma can’t stand up against Helene, she went “Kuh!” and then became silent.

“I will take care of this matter. Each of you should only wipe up your desk. I will not allow you to make a fuss about this matter any longer,” Helene said.

“Yes…” everyone said.

Helene unilaterally said so and closed the discussion. But it’s weird. It looks like it ended with a fair share of the punishment, but it’s not. I didn’t do anything wrong, but for some reason, I had to wipe the dirty desk myself.

Certainly, if I hadn’t done so, I might have been blamed and forced to apologize to Sophie and wipe up her desk. When I think about it, I think it’s better now that we only wiped our own desks and didn’t even apologize. But is it really? Originally, I should have been the one to apologize to the group of five and wipe up both desks.

People would have thought that Helene was fair and had leadership in this exchange. But was the ruling really correct? I just got a little bit of a minus where there was a huge minus. But in the first place, the other side harassed me without provocation, but instead of being plus/minus zero-sum, I was dealt a negative hand. I’m the only one who suffers from this one-sided disadvantage.

I still can’t believe it. Even so, this place settled down and everyone began to disband. You might not notice it if you were overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the place, but there is something wrong with this…

After the class is over, I think while riding a carriage home. Classes have just started, so I’m starting with what I learned from my tutors when I was about 3 years old. I wonder if it’s necessary to do something like this in class now, but that’s because I’ve been learning from tutors since I was a child, so for those who haven’t learned it, it might be necessary to start from here.

Well, nobility usually receives a gifted education from an early age, so most of them probably learned everything from their private tutors beforehand. However, since it is a school that provides general education, I think that classes start from the same place as the minimum starting line. A uniform class cannot be done unless everyone clears the prerequisites.

It’s more about the bullying-like situation towards me at school, including the quintet.

Everyone has their opinion about whether or not I am being bullied by the whole class. There may be people who think I’m not being bullied, but no! That’s bullying! Some may think so. I can’t say enough about it, so I’ll leave it out… isn’t it weird to think about it normally?

For example, if this means that I’m being bullied because I’m recognized as the Head of House Caan, I can understand it. Why is a knight attending a school that can only be attended by those from counties or higher!? Or, she is not suitable to be Prince Ludwig’s fiancee! If you tell me those, I can understand their reasoning. However, I am currently living as the daughter of Margrave Carruthers.

Certainly, House Carruthers is somewhat below both House Arnhardt and House Valtek in terms of the order. But it’s not a fatal difference, it’s just a slight difference. Would you normally harass such a person so blatantly and pick a fight with them?

For example, if a marquisate treats a viscounty or a barony like that, I still understand. There is an overwhelming class difference that cannot be overcome, and there is the confidence that even if there is a dispute, they will definitely win.

However, if the marquisate were to fight with the margraviate, it wouldn’t be strange for either side to win or lose. In terms of political power in the center, House Arnhardt and House Valtek are probably superior. But in the unlikely event that it develops into an armed conflict, even an idiot should know that the Margrave’s Army, which has protected the border for many years, is overwhelmingly stronger.

In the first place, even if you pick a fight against the margraviate and win, the damage to you is still too great. Considering the risk and damage, I don’t understand the reason why you would go out of your way to blatantly harass me and pick a fight.

If the reason is that I am Ludwig’s fiancée, it will be even more strange. If I marry Ludwig like this, I will join the royal family. Would you blatantly pick a fight with someone like that? If I become a princess, they’re going to be in trouble in the future, right?

If you know I’m not going to marry Ludwig, if you know Helene and Ludwig are on good terms, there’s no reason to get involved with me. If you know that I’m a dummy decoy, there’s no reason to be jealous of me.

Even though they are 15-year-old children, the daughters of high-ranking nobles who have received a proper education cannot be that stupid. If a marquisate even picks a fight with a county, it might become a big deal, but it’s too abnormal to do that to an opponent who is as close as marquisates and margraves are. There may be some sarcasm and checks and balances, but it shouldn’t be possible to be this blatant.

Something is wrong with the situation in class. It’s not because I’m the target of bullying or anything like that, but my two older brothers shouldn’t have been so blatantly harassed when they were in school. There must have been some people who didn’t get along with each other or were on bad terms, but it’s normal for nobles to act in a way that doesn’t make them feel such open hostility, and at most it’s just a small sarcasm or harassment in a roundabout way.

It’s easy to go against Sophie and Emma and get into their fights. If House Carruthers were underestimated that much, they would probably support me even if I had a dispute with those girls. It shouldn’t end with disowning me and cutting me off.

But I feel like that isn’t the case. I think this is related to something deeper. If I don’t search for it and I easily bounce off Sophie and the others, the truth, the true darkness, will be hidden and I won’t be able to see it. That’s why I have to pretend to be a weak girl who’s being bullied just a little more. At least until we find out what’s going on behind the scenes…

“Miss Flora, we will be at the ranch soon,” Katharina said.

“I see. That’s right,” I said.

Today I’m going to take the chance to go out with Louisa… though not really? Even though I’m inspecting the royal capital’s ranch, I can’t seem to get excited. Still, I can’t inspect it in a dark mood because of my personal affairs.

Switching my mind, I rode the carriage while being slightly intrigued by the royal capital’s ranch, which I was visiting for the first time.