CH 95

T/N: Mild sexual content and discussion of teenagers being sexually attracted to each other in this chapter. 15-year-olds are horny, and these girls are no exception.

Ah~ that was amazing! But what in the hell was all of that?!

Claudia smelled great after taking a bath and then clung to me while wearing thin clothes. Claudia doesn’t have large breasts, and she’s been working hard at her training every day, so if anything, she has a toned and muscular body. She was sexy, though. If I still had a little son, he would have definitely been standing up.

Why would I think of that about a 15- or-16-year-old girl? But come on, look at the situation! A young girl with tight muscles comes close to me in thin clothes after taking a bath, you know? Even if you’re not a lolicon, that’s sure to excite anyone!

Fuu~! Fuu~!

…Let’s calm down a bit. It seems that I am still excited.

“Miss Flora…… was Claudia that attractive?” Katharina said.

“Huh…!? No! Um… I mean…” I said.

It’s been quite a long time since Claudia was seen home by Helmut and Katharina. Right now, I’m with Katharina in my room after dinner. I have to make an excuse…

“Claudia usually smells like sweat and today she had the scent of soap after taking a bath, so I was surprised at the difference,” I said.

Well, this is not a lie. It’s not like I hate Claudia’s usual smell of sweat. But after all, a girl who smells good is enough to attract men.

“Then how about this?” Katharina said. “I usually take a bath after leaving your presence, Miss Flora, but today I’ve already taken a bath, see?”

“Uuu! Katharina…” I whimper.

While smelling faintly and distinctly of the soap, Katharina clings to my body. I could clearly feel the heat of her skin and her scent as she hugged me from the front as I sat on a chair.

“Will this make your heart beat faster?” Katharina asked.

“It is! It already is!” I yelled.

Katharina keeps getting closer and closer to me, and my heart is pounding so hard it feels like it might burst out of my chest.

…… Huh? But this is…

“Can’t you understand it? My heart’s beating fast, too,” Katharina said.

“Katharina……”

There was a maiden of my age who was embarrassed with slightly reddened cheeks instead of a bewitching expression. Ah… I want to attack Katharina like this. Why is this girl so cute?

“Ah… but could it be… that you took a bath together with Claudia, does that mean that you and Claudia were both naked?” I asked.

For a moment, a dark feeling sprung up inside me. What is this? …… Jealousy? Envy? That’s it. Katharina saw Claudia naked, and Claudia saw Katharina naked. I’m here feeling jealous because they’ve seen each other naked and I haven’t seen either of them in that state.

It’s not uncommon for women to see each other naked. It’s normal to be seen naked in public baths and saunas, and I’m often seen naked because the maids change my clothes for me.

Despite that, for some reason, someone else saw Claudia’s nakedness, and Katharina’s nakedness was seen by someone else. What a narrow-minded man-at-heart I am. But I can’t help thinking about that. At the very least, if I were to see the two of them naked and I was there with them, I don’t think I’d feel this way…

“Is it possible that you are getting mad at me? But don’t worry about it, I haven’t taken anything off,” Katharina said. “I just explained how to use the soap and the bath to Claudia. After that, she just took a bath by herself so I didn’t undress her.”

Oh, is that so? They didn’t take a bath together. It’s pitiful that I felt a little relieved when I heard that. Neither Claudia nor Katharina belong to me, but even so, I still have the desire to monopolize them. But even so, I…

“Katharina……”

“Miss Flora…”

Until a while ago, Katharina’s body was in close contact with me. But now I tightly hugged Katharina. I can clearly feel our chests pressing against each other and the beating of our hearts. As I felt Katharina’s heart throbbing so lively, I realized that it was going faster and stronger than usual.

Kon-kon…!

“Miss Flora, I’m sorry I’m late. May I have a moment of your time?”

“Hiii…!” I cried, jumping up.

“Tch…” Katharina went.

Judging by the voice, it was probably Isabella at the door. Also, did Katharina just click her tongue now?

…… That can’t be right. In fact, I imagined the shy Katharina just and devilish Katharina before. She can’t be like either of those things. Katharina is an obedient and good girl. She can’t be a little devil who takes a man as her plaything.

“… Was I interrupting something?” Isabella asked.

“Wha… what are you talking about?” I said.

When I gave Isabella permission to enter the room, she came in and Katharina left instead. Isabella spoke first as she came to me before my table. I should have tried my best to answer calmly, but Isabella’s gaze hurts. And that intonation in her voice. That’s like she’s saying she knows something happened.

“More importantly, what’s the matter?” I said.

The fact that Isabella is coming at this hour is probably for a report of some sort. She always comes late to report what I’ve been asking her to investigate. During normal hours, she only talks about normal business matters. So, does this mean she’s found something out?

“Right away…” Isabella said. “I have found evidence that some of your classmates, including Sophie Arnhardt and Emma Valtek, frequently come and go to Manor Bayen. It appears they often visit when there are no outside witnesses to see them.”

“I see……” I said.

Well, that’s not enough proof. But this proves the connection.

Even if I asked them directly, they would insist that it had something to do with school, or that they had come to visit because there was a connection between their Houses, and it had nothing to do with me. They may even deny that they visit each other’s homes. Unless I can get even more definitive evidence, then I won’t be able to move openly.

But… was it really like that…? I’m sorry, Lady Helene von Bayen… maybe we could have been friends…

I wondered how Helene felt when she was having other people bully me, the mastermind behind the scenes and the mediator in public. This is a common form of bullying. It’s a well-worn trick that someone who was kind to the bullying victim was actually the mastermind and was doing it to gain the target’s trust.

There’s no evidence yet. If you claim it’s just my delusion, you’re right. But I’m sure. The ringleader who manipulates Sophie Arnhardt and Emma Valtek into bullying me must be Helene von Bayen.

What is the motive? Is it my being Ludwig’s fiancée after all? I understood clearly from the accounts I heard from Dietrich and Rutger and the exchanges when Ludwig and Rutger invited me to lunch. Ludwig is not interested in Helene.

If Ludwig and Helene were the top candidates for a royal marriage, as is commonly believed, then the way he behaved at the time was impossible. It would be the same as saying that he’s not interested if he can’t even put the right name on her face.

Both Ludwig and Rutger knew the name Helene of the Bayen Duchy. Still, it’s impossible for them not to recognize her in person. The line of reasoning involving Ludwig and Helene wanting to marry each other is destroyed, it’s not as I thought.

Then, one of the possibilities is that she wants me to withdraw from being Ludwig’s fiancée. I will break off my engagement with Ludwig and Helene will become Ludwig’s fiancée. In that case, it would be profitable enough to pick a fight with the Carruthers Margraviate.

However, if it’s up to me, I won’t blatantly fight a margraviate until I’m more certain. Even if I was confident that I would definitely replace her as the fiancée, I shouldn’t have so openly fought with her House, if by some chance the ploy fails.

I see……. that’s why Sophie and Emma…

If the plan fails and I join the ranks of the royal family as Ludwig’s wife, they don’t know what kind of revenge they’ll receive. That’s why it’s Sophie, Emma, and the others who are directly harassing me. Helene pretends to be irrelevant just by manipulating things from behind. Even in the worst case, it is good to have people around you to testify your innocence. Rather, you could say Helene was helping me when I was still a fiancee…

Sophie and the others are merely the lizard’s tail. If anything goes wrong, they’re cut off. The perpetrators might have something like that happen. Of course, if you were going to do that as insurance just in case the plot fails, you wouldn’t have left any evidence behind. If you want to give clear evidence, you need physical ones such as letters or documents. In order not to leave such a thing behind, do you mean that you just call him to your house at night and explain it verbally?

Then there would be no evidence. Sophie and Emma would say, “I did it under Lady Helene’s instructions!”, then Helene can simply say, “I never said that.” On the contrary, if she says, “Please treat these girls leniently for doing selfish things for my sake!”, she can even make it seem like she’s a good person.

Helene is thinking about that, albeit with the shallow wisdom of a child. She wouldn’t just cooperate with the other ladies. She should have more to it. Otherwise, even children wouldn’t be able to do something so blatantly reckless. No matter how much her family’s rank is somewhat higher than mine, even if she is an arrogant young lady, she is still able to do that much to a margraviate because of her parent’s permission. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so aggressive.

“Also…” Isabella said, “I’m not sure about this yet…”

Isabella is unusually hesitant. Normally, she wouldn’t talk about speculation, so she should only report additional details after they’re confirmed. Even so, the fact that she’s considering whether or not to speak now is quite important, isn’t it?

“It’s fine. You can back it up later. Please tell me it first,” I said.

I can’t judge without hearing the rumor. There’s probably a part of me that thinks I can’t make a misjudgment from uncertain information, but even if it’s uncertain, it’s important to get information as soon as possible. A first report is important.

“Right away…” Helene said, “in fact, recently we have received information that the Marquis of Siegen and the Duke of Nassam are having frequent meetings with each other.”

Hearing those words, my heart pounded.

The Siegen Marquisate is the House of Amalie, King Wilhelm’s second wife. It goes without saying that Duke Nassam is the one going around claiming to be the Guardian of House Lingerburg. The two Houses are having secret meetings. If that’s true, the goal is…

“Haa…” I sighed. “It seems that even House Carruthers of the frontier is involved with messes in the capital…”

Amalie is the birth mother of the first and second princes. The First Wife, Queen Elizabeth, gave birth to a legitimate heir, Third Prince Ludwig, and she’s probably on good terms with him. I don’t know who is closest to the throne right now, but if you think about it normally, there should be a battle for succession to the throne between the First Wife’s faction and the Second Wife’s faction.

I’m Ludwig’s fiancée, and from the perspective of Amalie’s Faction, I’m an enemy. A noble marriage is to have a family-to-family connection. If Ludwig and I get married, House Carruthers will be standing behind Ludwig. For the Second Wife Amalie, who wants her sons to be on the throne, we must be a nasty opponent.

The second wife is joining up with Duke Nassam, who for some reason is in charge of House Lingerburg, which is supposed to be a vassal of House Carruthers. No need to think about it. In other words, it is likely that it was the work of the Second Wife’s Faction that pushed the Lingerburg’s safety to Duke Nassam and drive a wedge into the Carruthers Vassals.

Of course, there is no proof of this, either. In the first place, as Isabella also hesitated, there is no evidence of secret meetings.

But if the circumstances and events fit so well, everyone must think it is real. And that’s why I say it’s strange. Do you really want to do something so blatant?

But…. would Helene and Sophie do something so blatant? If that’s what they’re doing… it may be a bold move, thinking that it is impossible to denounce the Second Wife Amelie and her cronies without any hard, physical evidence.

If you just think about it, there is no end. There is no proof of that. It’s my fantasy at the moment. ……I can’t just hold my finger in my mouth and watch it closely just because it’s my delusion. As expected, if you don’t pay attention to falling sparks from your actions, House Carruthers may get set alight.

“Isabella… please investigate this matter as soon as possible,” I said.

“Yes. Understood,” Isabella said.

After seeing off Isabella after the conversation, I sat back down on the sofa. I really am just going from one problem to another. Really, it’s not a joke, but from my heart… I want to hand over my position as Ludwig’s fiancée to Helene…