Chapter 13: An Offer

“Wow...”

“Another one, after Lady Aten?”

“Oh, come on. She must be here to see Lady Aten.”

An unexpected commotion swept through Constel. Passing students glanced in one direction and whispered among themselves.

A woman was striding confidently down the corridor.

Silver hair and blue eyes. She resembled Aten, but her beauty was colder and more alluring. The quiet smile resting on her lips only heightened her captivating air.

Elysia Terst.

The First Imperial Princess, Philly’s daughter and Aten’s older sister, had come to Constel.

“You there. Student.”

Elysia called to a girl who had been stealing glances at her.

“Oh, y-yes!”

“Do you know a student named Frondier de Roach?”

Elysia addressed her as an inferior with utter naturalness, as though doing otherwise would have been stranger.

“F-Frondier...?”

The girl was caught off guard despite herself.

She had thought Elysia was looking for her younger sister, Aten. Was she wrong?

Elysia narrowed her eyes.

“Don’t repeat the question. Just answer.”

“Oh, yes! Frondier de Roach is in Class Five! On the first floor of the main building!”

“Thank you.”

Elysia walked away after her reply. Watching her go, the girl let out an immense sigh of relief.

Here was an imperial princess quite different from Aten, yet every bit as suited to the title.

When Elysia reached the classroom and opened the door, she found Frondier and Aten inside.

Word of her arrival had apparently reached Frondier while she was on her way. He was looking at her with an incredulous expression.

Elysia smiled into his cool gaze.

It had been a long time since she had met someone who wasn’t intimidated by the title of imperial princess.

“Elysia.”

Aten spoke first.

Elysia answered with a casual hello, then looked at Frondier.

“You are Frondier de Roach, correct?”

“... I am, Your Highness.”

Unlike Aten, Elysia had not come as a student. Frondier therefore addressed her with scrupulous respect.

He had even used the form of “Your Highness” reserved for an heir to the imperial throne. That pleased Elysia.

“I hear you saved my sister.”

“I wasn’t the one who saved her. That was thanks to the professionals and the teachers.”

Frondier had merely spotted Renzo and contacted a professional. That was the lie he had devised.

“It amounts to the same thing.”

With that, Elysia lightly gathered the sides of her dress and bowed her head.

The moment Frondier saw her reach for her dress, he rose and dropped to one knee.

“Thank you. Both as Aten’s sister and as the empire’s First Imperial Princess.”

“... You honor me beyond words.”

For the First Imperial Princess to take the initiative in formally thanking a mere student was no ordinary occurrence.

Even if Frondier was a noble from an illustrious family, that was all the more true here at Constel.

Elysia lightly brought her hands together.

“Now, I would like to reward you.”

“That is far more honor than I deserve. There is no need.”

“I insist on rewarding you.”

Her smile unchanged, Elysia made it clear that she would permit no further refusal.

From where she stood, she could not see the expression on Frondier’s bowed face as he knelt. But whatever expression he wore, he could not refuse.

At last, Frondier lowered his head a little farther and answered.

“... Your boundless grace overwhelms me.”

Of course.

Overwhelmed was precisely what he ought to be.

* * *

Afterward, the place Elysia took Frondier was none other than Terst Department Store.

Entering the luxury section, she said,

“Buy anything you like. I’ll pay.”

“... This is Terst Department Store.”

“Yes. And?”

“No, never mind.”

If Elysia really became the reigning empress, whatever money she spent would simply return to her.

Frondier wasn’t sure whether that could truly be called buying anything.

“May I really buy anything?”

“Yes. Just one condition. Please choose only one item from each shop.”

Clearing out every item in a shop would only cause trouble, for both Elysia and Frondier.

Frondier nodded. That had been his intention from the start.

Frondier entered the nearest shop. Elysia watched him with interest.

The entire floor was devoted to luxury goods, and none of the merchandise bore a price tag.

She had told him to buy anything, but finding the best item in a shop was no easy task.

Nor was it simply a matter of price. Prices inevitably fluctuated. How well would a purchase retain its value? Might it even appreciate?

In other words, it required an eye for the quality of the item itself. Elysia wanted to know whether Frondier possessed that eye.

A noble was expected to act and present themselves in a manner befitting their station.

To Elysia, such discernment was one of the basic qualities a noble ought to possess.

And then, less than a minute after entering the shop, Frondier picked out an item and came back out.

He showed neither the care to examine the merchandise at length nor the meticulousness to check its details.

The interest faded from Elysia’s eyes. So he was merely an ordinary person after all. She had expected a little more from someone of the renowned Roach family.

“Have you chosen already?”

“Yes. A watch.”

What Frondier held out was indeed a watch, just as he had said.

‘Wait.’

Elysia’s eyes widened. This was unmistakably Scholl’s signature piece. It was, in every sense, the finest item here, in both price and quality.

‘A-a coincidence?’

Then came the next shop.

Frondier took almost exactly as long to choose as before.

This time, a bag. Once again, a product of the highest quality.

The same thing happened in the next shop, and the one after that.

Frondier seemed to choose after only a cursory glance, yet he invariably emerged with the finest item.

Some shops carried more expensive products, but accounting for inflated prices and demand, there was no question that his choice was the best.

‘Impossible...’

Frondier wasn’t even considering whether the items suited him.

He unhesitatingly brought out things that did not suit him at all, even products meant for women.

There was no mistaking it. Frondier knew what Elysia was asking of him. And he was exceeding her expectations by a considerable margin.

Could someone really set aside their own tastes and possess the discernment to choose the best across every category of product?

And with nothing more than such a casual glance?

Eyes that had looked sleepy just moments ago now seemed sharp enough to judge an item’s worth at a glance.

Once Frondier had made a circuit of the shops, Elysia instructed the staff to send his selections to the Roah Estate.

Then the two went to a café called Melting Garden for a drink.

“You surprised me, Frondier. I never imagined you had such an eye.”

Elysia was genuinely impressed.

Frondier took a sip of coffee and gave an ambiguous smile.

“It isn’t a particularly important ability for a Constel student.”

Constel was, after all, an institution for training combatants: warriors who would eradicate monsters and expand humanity’s borders.

As Frondier said, an eye for merchandise was of little use to its students.

But Elysia narrowed her eyes and smiled.

“Quite right. It is a noble’s ability.”

“... I’m not sure what you mean by that.”

Elysia leaned closer, smiling as though she were sharing a secret.

But what emerged from her smiling lips was no mere secret.

It was a far more serious question, one of an entirely different weight.

“Frondier, would you like to come to the Imperial Palace?”

At that, Frondier looked at Elysia. He merely looked. His silent gaze was impassive.

Elysia’s smile deepened.

“You belong to the illustrious northern house of Roah, you have the distinction of saving Aten, and you have that discerning eye. With my recommendation, you could secure a fine position at the Imperial Palace.”

“... I’m content with Constel.”

“Surely not. I’ve heard your nickname. ‘Frondier the Human Sloth.’”

Frondier smiled faintly at that.

Elysia continued.

“Constel isn’t a good fit for you, is it? Come to the Imperial Palace. If you want to be idle, then be idle. You’ll be guaranteed the wealth to afford it.”

“Why are you making me this offer?”

“Because I will become the reigning empress. Surely you understand after all I’ve said. You cannot be that stupid.”

Yes. Frondier understood.

Elysia’s target was not Frondier, but the house of Roah. More specifically, she wanted Ampere, the man known as the Iron Wall.

Bringing Frondier into the Imperial Palace would draw Roah closer to the center of power.

Other families were desperate to establish themselves there, yet Ampere had no intention of coming even when the empire begged him to.

Frondier would be her foothold. From there, she would bring the entire Roach family into her camp.

Elysia was so forthright because the offer held no disadvantages for him.

Whether he was a foothold or an added bonus, he would still enter the Imperial Palace, and he would still be guaranteed a fine position.

It was a mutually beneficial strategy regardless. Being honest about it only made her more trustworthy.

Elysia subtly sounded him out.

“Or is it Aten you want? She doesn’t seem particularly opposed to you, either.”

At that, Frondier’s expression changed slightly.

It was an exceedingly small shift, imperceptible on the surface.

Elysia sensed it only through the atmosphere and temperature.

“Ms. Elysia.”

“... Oh?”

Elysia smiled. It was her deepest smile that day. Not bright—merely deep.

As she had expected, Frondier was truly fearless. He had only called her “Your Highness” because they were at Constel. This was his true nature.

Somehow, Elysia had anticipated it. This man observed propriety, but only to a point. He was not the sort to determine his manners according to power or strength.

“I would have saved anyone, even if it hadn’t been Aten. And even if I hadn’t been there, any Constel student would have saved her. Informing a nearby professional of the situation requires nothing extraordinary.”

“What an exemplary Constel student’s answer. It’s hard to believe you bear such a derogatory nickname.”

“It isn’t because I’m a Constel student. It’s what one does as a human being.”

Frondier drank the last sip of coffee and set down his cup. Before he knew it, he had emptied it.

“So neither I nor Aten is special in any of this.”

“Aten would be hurt to hear that, wouldn’t she?”

“She wouldn’t.”

Frondier stood.

“Thank you for the offer, but I must decline. If that concludes your business, I’ll be going.”

With that, he walked away without even waiting for an answer.

It was a thoroughly businesslike departure—and, considering their respective stations, an exceedingly rude one.

“Well.”

Perhaps he had been too rude, perhaps he had left too quickly, or perhaps there had been something rather convincing about the whole sequence. Whatever the reason, Elysia watched him go without feeling any anger.

A little tea remained. Elysia lifted her cup and swirled it gently, then drained it in a single swallow.

Then she rose and walked to a corner of the café.

“So, are you disappointed?”

Aten was there, her face concealed beneath a hood.

She was a little embarrassed that her sister had spotted her so easily, but she answered earnestly all the same.

“No. Not at all.”

“He says he didn’t save you because it was you. That anyone from Constel would have done the same.”

At Elysia’s words, Aten briefly closed her eyes, then opened them again.

She was examining her own heart, checking whether she was disappointed deep down.

What did it mean to her that Frondier wasn’t treating her as someone special?

“I really am not disappointed. Not even a little.”

The answer came wholly from within her, and that was why her eyes were so utterly clear as she spoke.