CH 2

“I am utterly embarrassed that such a stupid, dumb, opaque woman is my sister! Father and Mother should have gotten rid of you in a heartbeat instead of keeping you when you were born!”

(You can kick me out. But I’m a nobleman, I know I have to do my duty. I want her to be kicked out after she’s useful.)

“Say something!”

Or should I say something? But every time I say something, Sophia gets angry. Maybe she’s got a temperamental bug in her stomach. No, my tutor told me there’s no such thing. It’s a hassle, I apologize.

“…… Sorry”

After receiving the apology from Eleonora, Sophia huffed, sniffing before she walked away with her resident handmaidens in tow.

(Looks like goldfish shit… Well, it’s exactly like goldfish shit. My goldfish, Kuro and Hana, swim in it too which I don’t like that either.)

With that kept in mind, Eleonora waited in the main lobby for two hours for her father, her stepmother, and Sophia. Finally, the three of them came down the main staircase. At first, her stepmother, Anna, looked at Eleonora as if was some sort of filthy thing.

“Whoa! Isn’t that dress look just like what a prostitute would have worn?. How utterly unbecoming of you, Eleonora! Sire, can we not bring her with us?”

Anna, her brown hair tied up high and covered in jingles and jewels, snickers at her stepdaughter. Eleonora’s dress was the one Anna had specified her to wear. It was Anna’s painful plan to make Eleonora miss the ball if she could.

“No. You must be there this time. ‘No,’ said the Emperor, ‘you must be there this time. But don’t worry, you won’t be able to look at such a vile girl.”

It’s not like I want to go. I thought I was going to get killed with my corset strapped in. It’s no way to eat.

When the four members of the Duke of Pulpureus family were all present, they headed to the imperial castle located in the center of the imperial capital in a carriage. Inside the carriage, the conversation centered on Sophia.

Her stepmother, Anna, and her half-sister Sophia looked a lot like each other. She had large, droopy eyes that were the same color as her brown hair, a small, low nose bridge, a small mouth, and a slender body.

Eleonora, on the other hand, had luxurious golden hair, violet eyes, a slender nose, shapely lips, and a very thin waist in contrast to her large breasts and hips. Eleonora was never vulgar in any dress, always noble and graceful, and in society, she was said to be the daughter of the goddess of beauty, who had been given the blessing of the goddess of beauty. But she rarely attends tea ceremonies and soirees, which is why she is also called the Phantom Lady.

The ball being held today was for the 27-year-old Emperor Alexei of the Willides Empire to choose a bride. It’s a ball where the daughters of the emperor’s daughters, who are still unmarried, were to be gathered together in order to choose a bride for the emperor. Of course, Eleonora was not left out of it either.

◇◇◇◇◇◇

Last year, a new emperor was born in the Willides Empire, which also celebrated its 300th year anniversary. His name is Alexei Gracies Wilides.

It has been a year since Alexei III, with his slender, well-proportioned physique, silver hair, and blue eyes, came to live in the Imperial Castle in the center of the Imperial City, but he spends most of the day in his office. It’s a rather drab room that one would not expect to find in the office of the continent’s greatest emperor, consisting of nothing more than a large oak desk, a bookshelf, and a plethora of papers. In the next room of his office consist of a bed, where he often takes a nap.

Thereafter, he had issued orders to punish the oppressive nobles in his domain in order to rebuild the country, which had been exhausted by years of civil strife.

「I’ll dispose of the petitions here.」

The nobles sent letters begging for help, and Alexei instructed his vizier, Sergei Bazarov, to burn all the petitions as they had not deserved a second thought to look at them.

The targets were mainly consisting of the so-called anti-Emperorist nobles who had continued slavery, which should have been abolished decades earlier. They were purged one by one after the other one of Alexei’s accession to the throne and did not change their attitude.

The potential targets of the purges tried to seek asylum, but none of them were able to do so because every plan failed. And no matter how much they tried to plot for the removal of Alexei from the throne, the technicalities were invariably exposed before they could take place.

No matter how carefully and secretly the plan was carried out, Alexei would get accurate information to stop it. Because it was completely unclear as to how he had gotten all this information, Alexei was then feared to be an emperor who had made a deal with the devil.

“…… demon emperor? Nonsense.”

Sergei, the stocky, chubby vizier, responds to Alexei’s soliloquy by pushing up the frame of his glasses.

“You should be that fearful. The situation in the empire under your rule is still unstable.”

“Sergei, you won’t change if I become emperor. People are so afraid of me that they will not advise me.”

“I believe that the only person worthy of the position of the emperor is Your Majesty, and I hope to serve this empire until my death. In order to strengthen your position, I ask you to choose a suitable daughter to occupy the position of Empress for today’s ball.”

“I’m not happy about it, but I guess I’ll have to do it.”

Alexei sighed and felt depressed about the ball being held today.