Everything was set in motion on one of those days when all was calm and uneventful on the surface. It had been nine months since Urschel-sama became Prince Leodore’s study mate.
“Hmmm~!”
Urschel-sama was enjoying a parfait—the masterpiece of the patissiers. The level of the patissiers’ treats had risen to an incredibly high level. I knew that they had been buying the finest cream, fruit, sugar, chocolate, etc. for the past few days, but I had no idea that it would turn into a huge dessert: 30cm long and 15cm wide. Seasonal fruits, cheesecake, coffee jelly, chocolate mousse, and vanilla ice cream were aesthetically arranged inside the parfait like a work of art.
I felt like this was something that should be presented in a fair, not as a snack for children… I wondered just what these patissiers were aiming for.
“What a bliss~”
Urschel-sama was completely overjoyed, spoon in hand, smiling as usual.
On that day, Prince Carlos and Prince Leodore were unable to attend due to urgent official business, so it was a day of study with just the fellow study mates. The study session was over and the tutors had all left. Aside from us—the guards—the only people present were the study mates.
It was the perfect day for Master Hauser to make his move.
“Urschel.”
“Hm?”
Urschel, who was engrossed in his parfait, looked up when Hauser called to him. Including Hauser-sama, there were a total of eight study mates who surrounded Urschel in a circular formation.
By the time the other study mates realised what was going on, Hauser had knocked Urschel-sama’s parfait away. There was a crashing sound as the glass container containing the parfait cracked loudly on the floor.
“…!”
Urschel-sama was struck dumb to see his parfait reduced to splatters on the floor.
“Oops, I’m sorry. My hand slipped,” Hauser-sama said, his apology laced with mockery.
Urschel-sama slowly looked at Hauser-sama. Hauser-sama only laughed at Urschel-sama.
“How can you eat something that makes you want to vomit? You! You’ve been eating so much sweet stuff that you’ve gone soft in the head, haven’t you?”
He was completely ridiculing Urschel.
“Hey, do you even know what it means to be a study mate? All you’ve done for the last few months is eat sweets and act cute with people. And you’ve neglected His Highness Leodore, haven’t you? A study mate is not something you become just for the sake of frivolous things like these sweets. You damn brat.”
While Hauser-sama stood at the centre, the circle of eight people laughed.
Seeing this scene, the other study mates rushed in to stop him.
“Stop it! Have you forgotten the words of His Highness?”
Hauser-sama easily dismissed it, “It’s okay as long as we don’t force him to quit, isn’t it? Then, there’s no problem if he voluntarily withdraws.”
Next to Hauser, the Count’s son, whose name I believed was Marcus, kicked the table Urschel was sitting at.
“Ha, I bet you don’t know the first thing about nobility. Little brat! How about I politely show you what reality is all about? Even if you cry and scream, I’ll keep going. Hahaha!”
From then on, it was one-sided. They chastised him, cursed him, laughed at him and humiliated him. Due to Urschel’s high status, they didn’t use violence, but Urschel’s personal belongings were destroyed in front of his eyes. To make matters worse, the people who were cornering him were sons of Earls or Margraves. Their statuses were higher than those of the study mates who sided with Urschel, so his friends couldn’t afford to stop these people.
But, the nightmare ended surprisingly quickly.
“That’s all you’ve got to say?”
It was Urschel-sama.
Urschel-sama was ridiculed and had his things broken in front of his eyes, and yet he looked so unconcerned… Rather than seeming the slightest bit angry, he appeared somewhat bored.
…It was the first time he had ever donned that expression since coming to the palace.
“Huhh??” Hauser-sama closed in on Urschel with an expression of obvious exasperation.
“Who the hell do you think you are? You think you can speak to me like that?? Can’t you see that I’ve got the upper hand? Yes, you’re from a ducal house and you’re a relative to their Highnesses. So what? The House of Minusle is just a family of ordinary civil officers. You have no glamour like the knights do— you’re nothing but dull office workers! You know what? The position of His Highness’s close aide, it’s not for someone like you who has no brain nor a family with big achievements. It’s for someone like me, who has the abilities, reputation and family prestige! It’s naive of you if you think you can become one just by eating sweets!”
Hauser-sama’s expression was smug as he spat all that out.
However, Urschel-sama only chuckled at him. The smile he wore was not the usual smile he had before his sweets… It was one I found unbearable to watch—the smile of a noble.
“HAHAHA!”
In the midst of this strange situation, Urschel-sama was laughing out loud. Everyone in the room looked at him with a jolt. He appeared wildly different from his usual self.
Then, after a bout of laughter, he… became something else, but in the shape of a child. Afterwards, the salon was completely dominated by his presence.
Urschel-sama stared at Hauser-sama with a smile.
“You know, before I became a study mate here, Father told me that whether I became a close aide or not depended on my mood.”
“Mood…?!”
It was totally unheard of. That position was not something one could obtain simply according to their mood. To be a close aide meant to take control of the state politics. And Urschel-sama’s father said that it depended on his mood?!
“…But,” Urschel-sama snickered.
I didn’t know why, but… I felt like I was shuddering. Somehow, his smile was terrifying.
Hauser-sama, who was facing that smile head-on, must’ve felt just as terrified. Blood was draining from his face.
Urschel smiled and patiently continued, “…At the same time, I was ordered by Father to weed out the nobles here as I see fit. He asked me to do the unreasonable task of halving the number of study mates, as he said fifteen was too much.”
Hauser-sama was speechless for a moment before he could respond. “…Huh?”