It gradually dawned on me that the new study mate, Urschel-sama, had zero interest in the position of close aide.
Well, the reason why he joined was because of Hauser-sama, and he was not originally intended to become a close aide candidate. That was understandable.
Alas, he was nothing like a noble.
Perhaps due to his indifference to the close aide position, he never tried to incriminate anyone, nor gain Prince’s Leodore’s favour. He made minimal conversation with the prince—mere greetings and light chit-chat. He came to study for the sole sake of eating sweets and left right after savouring them.
It was as if studying with the prince was simply an afterthought. What a strange child.
In fact, there was nothing to see but unbearable things in the palace, so Urschel-sama appeared as a healing presence.
“Fwehehe. It’s a cheesecake!”
When it was time for the sweets to be served, Urshel-sama ate happily with a fork in hand and a smile on his face. He looked so innocent and childlike. In an environment where evil spirits rampantly disguised themselves as children, there was only one among them who looked like a real child.
If you were to ask me who among them I would like to watch, the answer would be obvious.
In no time at all, he became popular among the guards and maids—people like me. Although we couldn’t be outwardly affectionate to him, after work, the topic of our conversation was all about Urschel-sama.
“Today, while he was studying, he kept looking at the door where the patissiers usually come and go, didn’t he? It was like he couldn’t wait any longer.”
“He reminds me of my kid at home. Always glancing at the door to the kitchen, looking forward to dinner.”
“Did you see the look on his face when he realized that today’s dessert was papaya pound cake1?”
“It was so cute!”
And apparently, some of his fellow study mates thought the same. Urschel-sama was the youngest of the current close aide candidates. Due to that, he was doted on by some of them.
“Urschel. Did you have any trouble with your studies today?”
“No? I’m trying my best not to be too bad at anything—well, except foreign languages.”
“Is that so? You really are amazing, Urschel!”
Everyone’s spirits were withering with all the squabbling. Their stress was ramping up, and their parents’ heavy expectations certainly didn’t help. In the midst of all that, when a harmless person came along, they couldn’t help but seek him for solace.
Even so, there were two people who didn’t receive him well.
Those people were Hauser-sama, who was the reason Urschel-sama became a study mate… and Prince Carlos— Prince Leodore’s younger brother, who was the same age as Urschel-sama.
Prince Carlos’s situation was a bit of a pity. He was born as the little brother of the perfect Prince Leodore, and as soon as it became clear that his own talents were not nearly as good as Prince Leodore’s, no one could be bothered to care about him anymore.
That was the reason he had become wild and unruly. By the time Urschel-sama became a study mate, the second prince’s relationship with Prince Leodore seemed to be at an all-time low. The people in the palace couldn’t stand to see their relationship devolve anymore, and so they planned for him to reconcile with Prince Leodore, while also getting more contact with people his age. Yet, of all the places they could have chosen, they sent him to a place packed with devils. I had a feeling that this had only distorted his personality further.
To make matters worse, out of all the study mates, Prince Carlos was on bad terms with Urschel. I shuddered when I first discovered that.
Urschel-sama, who did things at his own pace, simply didn’t click with Prince Carlos, who always had a serious attitude. It was an everyday occurrence that Prince Carlos would say something to Urschel-sama and cause him to lose his temper. In the beginning, they fought over each other’s attitudes towards their studies, but as time went on, they began to argue about trivial things, like whether or not to heat the milk before drinking.
Just watching them was enough to make anyone jittery.
Even though the other party was a prince, Urschel-sama was brave enough to talk back—but there was no telling when he would be accused of insolence by Prince Carlos. As soon as Prince Carlos or Prince Leodore declared that it was considered lèse-majesté, Urschel-sama’s head would fly.2
So far, there was no sign that he would be convicted of lèse-majesté… But I, who could only watch, was on the brink of having a heart attack every time they argued.
Nevertheless, Prince Carlos, who was thought to have a distorted personality, was not behaving wildly and violently. Rather, he seemed to have calmed down.
‘Is it only my imagination?’
Even more troublesome than Prince Carlos was the other person: Hauser-sama.
Hauser-sama, who was the reason Urschel became a study mate, didn’t seem to like the latter—someone who also came from a ducal house like him, yet never cared to curry favour with Prince Leodore or to kick down the other candidates. He hated the fact that Urschel-sama was simply getting along with other fellow study mates in a jovial manner and that despite acting with disrespect towards Prince Carlos, he was never accused of lèse-majesté. Gradually, Urschel-sama became the center of attention in a different way than Prince Leodore was.
Unlike how he dealt with the son of the marquis some time before, Hauser-sama couldn’t cause any direct harm to Urschel-sama, who held the same status as himself—both from ducal houses—and was also a relative to the princes.
Furthermore, to Hauser’s displeasure, Prince Leodore had personally allowed Urschel to do things at his own pace.
“Urschel Minusle is fine as he is. He’s doing what he has to do as a study mate. That’s good enough for me. There is no rule that says I take precedence over everything else here, and no one has the right to criticize him if he chooses sweets over me. I am the only one who has any say in how he is treated, including whether or not he is worthy of being my close aide. Is that clear?”
Those words must have been unbearable for Hauser-sama to hear.
To put it another way, Prince Leodore was saying that he could vouch for Urschel’s conduct and that the latter should not be dismissed from being his study mate. Prince Leodore had never spoken like that about any of his fellow study mates. In the past, no matter how much they squabbled or sabotaged each other, he could never be bothered to give his support to anyone.
It came as a complete surprise that Prince Leodore would directly address his fellow study mates like this. The situation was made even stranger by the fact that Prince Leodore had barely had any contact with Urschel… So why did he back him up? Their conversations had been kept to a minimum; they had never even had a tea party together. Not even once had Prince Leodore had an in-depth conversation with Urschel.
It seemed like Prince Leodore had something up in his mind: he had deliberately warned his fellow study mates—especially Hauser-sama—in the absence of Prince Carlos, and of course, Urschel. Upon receiving that warning, everyone at the scene became startled and felt a sense of crisis.
‘Doesn’t this mean that Urschel is almost confirmed to be one of the close aides?’ Everyone there’s thoughts sounded something like this, especially Hauser-sama’s.
Immediately, Hauser-sama gathered all the people who strongly disliked Urschel and began to make plans to force the latter to voluntarily withdraw.
…I was nothing but a guard, so I was in no position to be involved with the nobles at all, let alone interfere with their plans—I could only bite my tongue and watch. Besides, if I were to intervene, it would only worsen Urschel-sama’s position.