CH 70

Johann Duker’s POV

After school, when all the classes were over, I was off-duty to serve Alice-sama and was sitting on the bunk bed in the private room that had been assigned to me.

“Phew…”

In addition to the usual swordsmanship classes, I had Wilhelm train me in swordsmanship as soon as school ended. My body was exhausted.

I sat on the bed after cleansing myself and waited for dinner, but my heart was depressed because of the most recent troubles.

“I’m glad you became an aide. You are going to have to sneak into the House of Archelaus and gain the trust of the young lady to find out what’s going on. The Edmund and Heimer factions are now at arm’s length, but there is no telling what will happen in the future. Be ready to move at a moment’s notice when the need arises.”

My father’s words passed through my mind.

They were words that conflicted with the chivalry I had dreamed of and envisioned…the  sincerity towards one master. I was disgusted that my own father spat out such words.

However, when I thought about the situation the Dukers were in, there was a slight feeling of inevitability.

Brother Clifford, the eldest son of our Duker family, was appointed as the First Prince’s aide. Although he was not a member of the First Prince’s entourage since he was a child, they met at the school and hit it off, and he was selected to be his aide.

However, the First Prince lost his power in an incident, and my brother Clifford was killed in the line of duty.

My brother’s death had shaken the family.

When Clifford, the next head of the family, disappeared, the positions among the Second Prince’s aides had long since been filled by other noblemen.

We no longer had a pipeline to a person powerful enough to take the Duker family itself as a legitimate noble like with Brother Clifford. In other words, our family’s dream of elevating from the knightly class to the noble class, which had been the dream of our family for many years, was a farther ways off.

That fact sparked a desire in my father, who was on the verge of achieving his family’s long-held aspirations…no, it was a desire for power, a desire for advancement.

“We were so close—so close! Clifford, why…” That had become my father’s favorite phrase.

My family has produced several barons for one generation, but my father himself was not competent enough to do so. Was that what spurred the desire?

On top of that, the fact that I have many half-brothers was directly indicative of my father’s personality. Apparently the family finances weren’t very good either, judging by my mother’s gloomy state.

Then, when I was about to enter Lovaine, I had to join someone else as an aide.

My father decided to casually approach both the Heimer and Edmund factions at the same time, both of which were major forces in the country.

He made one of my brothers approach the Edmund faction. And me, to Alice-sama.

Despite my troubles, I managed to be accepted by the Archelaus family when the opportunity arose.

…That in itself was the best thing that could have happened to me.

Alice-sama was even more wonderful as a daughter and a nobleman than I could have imagined.

My heart danced, and I wanted to be a fine knight under such a noble lord, just like my brother Clifford had been.

I wanted to serve Alice-sama as myself.

That is why I was honing my sword skills as a guard and working hard on my studies to keep up with Alice-sama.

…But in proportion to that, my anxiety was also increasing.

“Recently, the Headmistress’ new policy was approved at a three-school conference. As a result, some classes will be exempted and special research activities will be recommended from the new semester. Everyone should take this to heart!”

The words of the Moonlight Dormitory’s supervisor echoed in my brain along with what Alice-sama happily told us during lunch in preparation for that new system.

It seemed to contain a lot of information that should be kept secret.

If in the future…

…What if my brother successfully joined the Edmund faction and my father decided for the family to join the Edmund faction?

If that happened, what if I was asked to quietly leak out information?

…If Alice-sama had told me to betray and leave in any way even if everyone trusted me…

No, instead of worrying about that, I should just work harder myself and pull the Duker family towards the Heimer faction.

…But what if something happens?

…I’m not particularly competent to begin with. Would I be able to stay amongst the aides?

…There is no choice but to just try to do so.

…But if the worse really happens, am I ready to drop everything and serve only Alice-sama?

…Is it right to abandon my family home and my mother?

Such a variety of concerns and anxieties were jumbled up and spinning in circles.

Nothing had been decided yet. Things hadn’t even started to move significantly.

But when the time did come to make a decision, I…