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“No, that’s a lie!”

A shrill voice rang out.

The one who shouted was Kira. She glared at the lawyer with eyes burning with anger and continued to rail at him.

“Lord Aleksandr—uncle Aleksandr—truly cherished me. He always told me, in such a gentle voice, that Kira was a lovely girl, that he thought of me as his own daughter. He doted on me more than anyone else! That is why uncle wished for me to become a duchess! He said he wanted me to become his real daughter!”
“Silence.”

At the voice that cracked like a whip, Kira flinched.
Aleksei strode quickly to his sister and gently covered her ears with both hands.

“Ekaterina, you do not need to listen to words like that.”
“Onii-sama… you need not worry about me.”

Ekaterina looked up at her brother and smiled.

I’m simply dumbfounded that he would say such convenient things to someone else’s child while his real daughter was locked away. He’s a father I’ve never even met, whatever he might’ve said doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
If my chest aches a little, it’s only because Ekaterina feels sorry for her mother. That’s all, so there’s no need to worry.

“Good girl. Now, let us go to the balcony. The fireworks should be starting soon. —Daniil, my legal advisor. You have done well.”
“I am honored, Your Grace.”

With an utterly refreshing smile, the lawyer bowed.

“Lord Aleksei!”

Kira shouted and ran up to Aleksei.

“Please, say that you will take me as your wife! I have loved you for so very long. To me, you are the only one. I have thought of nothing but living with you. Please, accept my devoted feelings!”

Aleksei turned to face Kira, positioning himself so as to shield his sister behind him.
He spoke coldly.

“You’re inadequate. Someone who cannot even enroll in the Magic Academy cannot become a duchess.”

Kira froze.

Kira was the same age as Ekaterina, yet they had never met at the Magic Academy. In other words, Kira had not been admitted to the school.
All citizens of the Empire who possessed magical power above the stipulated standard enrolled in the Magic Academy. That meant Kira had been judged, during the measurement, to lack sufficient magical power.

Voices of surprise and confusion rose throughout the grand hall. The House of Novadine must have been pretending that Kira had enrolled in the Academy.

With a desperate expression, Kira cried out.

“That is not true, it was a conspiracy! Someone who envied me for being uncle’s favorite tampered with the results of the measurement! I have plenty of magic power! Uncle understood that, which is why he made me your fiancée!”
“That is what led to that letter.”

When Aleksei said this quietly, Kira turned deathly pale.
Aleksandr had believed that she possessed the required amount of magical power. That must have been a great source of support for her.

If she had dreamed since childhood of marrying Aleksei and becoming a duchess, then being judged as lacking sufficient magic would have been a devastating shock.
However, she—and her father—were not the sort to despair quietly over such a thing. When they begged Aleksandr and obtained that letter, they must have been overjoyed beyond measure.

And yet, it had all been an illusion.
It was no wonder Kira staggered. Everything she had been given, everything she had tried to grasp, vanished at the very moment she reached for it.

“…No, that is not the reason.”

Aleksei shook his head. It was surely not consideration for Kira, but for his aide Novak, who lacked magical power. As a lord, he should not decide a person’s future based on the presence or absence of magic in front of his vassals.
The old Aleksei might not have shown such consideration.

“I do not desire you. I am the Duke of Jurnova, and I judge that you are not someone who would bring benefit to the ducal house. I do not consider a woman who would cause such a disturbance before guests invited to a celebration to be suitable as a duchess.”

Many nodded at Aleksei’s clear and persuasive words. To unilaterally announce an engagement—an agreement between two houses—in such a place was nothing short of madness.
Moreover, the House of Jurnova was the ruling family, the king of this duchy, and Novadine was their vassal. To decide on an engagement between his own daughter and the current duke without his consent, ignoring their positions entirely, was tantamount to a coup.

Count Novadine must have understood that Aleksei did not want the engagement with Kira. If he tried to proceed in a proper manner and speak in private, Aleksei might even crush Aleksandr’s letter itself. He must have thought so.
And if Aleksei’s era continued and his control over the territory strengthened, the House of Novadine would have no place to stand. No—he knew that the situation would become even worse than that.

That was why he took a gamble: revealing the letter at this banquet and forcing the engagement by filling in the outer moat, so to speak. If he did, the fall of Novadine would become a scandal for Jurnova as well, and they would be saved—or so he planned.
And he lost that gamble.

“How cruel… please do not say such unkind things.”

Kira trembled, her smile fixed stiffly in place.
It was only natural. If Aleksei rejected her, the chances of her ever making a proper marriage afterward were almost nonexistent. In a place where all the leading figures of the duchy had gathered, she would live on as the girl who had disgraced herself, an object of ridicule.

For her, this banquet must have been meant to be the single greatest stage of her life. The jewels she wore in such abundance now felt unbearably hollow.

“It is a celebration. If Lord Aleksei would accept an engagement with me, there could be no happier news for everyone here. Please understand how deeply I love you. Truly, from long ago, from so very long ago…”

But Aleksei paid her no heed. He took Ekaterina’s hand and started toward the balcony.

“No—!”

Kira screamed and chased after them all the way to the balcony.