Chapter 19 - Noble’s Feast 3
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The head of the imperial court mages, Viscount Falsa Speke.
Although he is a young man who stands at the top of the Mages in the kingdom, he is by no means well-received by all the nobles.
Of course, there are some friendly people also like the court magicians, some members of the Royal family and people of the order of Knights, but the so-called upstart Falsa is hated by those historical Noble families who valued the bloodline.
These nobles are the so-called pureblood or the pedigree, they believe that they have the high-class 「blue blood」 flowing through them and that 「polluted blood」 flows through the commoners, nobles with a little history and upstarts like Falsa.
The origin of the pureblood faction comes from a legitimate reason, that the upstart nobles like Falsa often behave in a rude and impolite manner.
Since there childhood they received high-class education as a noble, and only after they were filled with substance were, they considered to be genuine nobles, not just a sham........originally, this idea was mainstream. 1
However, before long, this idea has become a mere formality and now it has transformed into a distorted sense of values that emphasized the history and bloodline of the family.
「Isn't it lonely, sitting here all alone by yourself, Ojou-Sama? 」
Falsa who was surrounded by women a while ago somehow managed to slip from the banquet hall using his eloquent mouth and went to the courtyard.
Where a girl in a blue dress sat on a bench with her legs crossed and he called out to her in a gentle and yet a little pretentious tone.
「not particularly....... it always the same, so I don't feel lonely. Rather is it okay with Fal-Ani to slip out like that? Since you were infatuated with being surrounded by those beautiful girls, so I thought you didn't care about me. 」
Julia replied, looking a little sulky.
Although Falsa is not well received by the nobilities who value bloodline, he is very popular among the noble ladies with his young age, tall height, his social standing, and power as well as his handsome face added together with those black hair and black eyes which gave a mysterious air to him.
Mostly men gather around Palmina, both men and women around Zenobia and Women around Falsa, the three splendidly meet the demand of three kinds of people.
「I haven't forgotten about Julia since I met you. I can excuse that, but I don't remember being infatuated. I hope you wouldn't make such a baseless accusation. 」
Sitting next to Julia, Falsa replied while gently stroking her soft white hair as usual.
It seems like a conversation between lovers, but Falsa doesn't have that kind of intention and Julia seems to understand that.
「That's the way of speaking of Fal-Ani which keeps creating a misunderstanding and the number of victims keeps increasing. Really, you will be stabbed by a girl someday without even realizing it. 」
Even though Julia was criticizing him; she rested her head on Falsa's shoulder while holding her knees with a happy expression.
If he is ever stabbed by anyone from behind, it would certainly be Julia, Falsa thought about a very disturbing thing.
「... yes, I suppose I must be prepared to be stabbed. I think I often gather grudges. 」
「As long as you are conscious of it, it's Ok, but Fal-Ani really has to be careful. I think that the Black-bellied Princess is the most dangerous of all. 」
Julia and Falsa's words are the same, but their meanings are completely different.
However, Falsa changes the direction of the conversation by going along with Julia's interpretation so that she doesn't realize that.
「It's tough for her to hear that she is a black-bellied princess. But as Julia says, if I remember correctly, 「 she is black to the core 」. 」
A laugh arose between the two and the somber atmosphere just now blew away.
The Black-Bellied princess is the First princess of this country, the benefactor who helped Falsa to become a court magician …. no, she is the culprit and, in a sense, the person who brought Falsa and Julia together.
They do not hate the princess, but they call her Black-Bellied Princess because they recognize her ability.
Of course, hell will break loose if she hears about this, but since this place is far from the imperial capital, there is no need to worry about it.
「Speaking of which, are we going back to imperial capital once after this? I've seen many places, but it's the best place to live. 」
「Yes, as soon as we are done with our task here, we shall move towards the Imperial capital. But that depends on tonight as Zenobia and Palmina are still gathering information now. 」
Although there is no one around them, Falsa still speaks to Julia secretly.
He also activated anti-intelligence magic secretly to prevent eavesdropping by magic, not wanting to take any chances.
「I feel a little guilty. We are here idling around in the courtyard, leaving everything to the two of them. 」
「.... Julia, although it is a delicate subject to talk about here, I've already finished collecting information. 」
When Falsa replied with an awkward expression, Julia's face was filled with wonder.
「 Huh? When? Where? How? I know Fal-Ani works fast, but this is too fast! Are you going to say that Fal-Ani's womanizing skills have improved even more without my knowledge? 」
They arrived in the city near the evening and had to take part in the banquet soon after that.
That's why Julia thought that they practically didn't have time to gather information at all.
So, she suspects that Falsa might have seduced the maid of the mansion.
Falsa sighed, thinking he didn't have such extraordinary skill.
Julia jolted Falsa's shoulders impatiently and tried to find out the truth, and his expression turned into an expression of disbelief.
「Well, calm down a little, Julia, I didn't gather any information in that short time, either, but I happened to pick up an interesting rumor, and I probed on that line. I will tell you about it in detail after Zenobia and Palmina join in, so please excuse me for not telling me right now. 」
Falsa gently pats Julia's head as if he was looking at his troubled sister.
Even though he was using the anti-intelligence magic, Falsa decides that it was not a topic to be talked about in the open courtyard and upon realizing that it, Julia calmed down.
「 Well, then it will be a little later. It's not good to stay in the courtyard all the time, so why don't we go back to the hall now? If Fal-ani is with me, I'll be all right. 」
The banquet is still half left and there is a long way to go, so they can't stay out forever.
Of course, Julia and Falsa both understood it, but Falsa thought it was surprising that Julia would say so herself.
As Julia's presence attracts a curious glance from people in many places, she behaved as inconspicuously as possible until now.
Since Julia herself was also reluctant to appear before the public, Falsa was concerned about her and came looking for her in the courtyard.
It is rude to the organizers to leave the banquet for a long time, and this, of course, lowers Falsa's reputation.
However, Falsa thought it was all right to give up on such a reputation for Julia.
He doesn’t do what he doesn’t have to do and does what he has to do quickly, but he understands that trust and reputation are more important in human society than in demons.
Even if he wants to do things quickly, there are 50 thousand things he can't do without trust, however, Falsa prioritizes Julia over his creed.
It is not affection or love or any fickle feeling, there are darker emotions behind it, Falsa till now and in the future, will continue to treat her similarly, so that Julia doesn't sense that.
「If Julia is okay, I don't mind, but is it okay? You don't have to overdo it this time. 」
「 Yes, thank you for your concern. But I'm fine... I don't care what happens if Fal-Ani is next to me like this! 」
Contrary to Falsa, who looks worried, Julia smiles and clings to Falsa's arms.
It seems she is planning to return to the venue like this and spend the rest of the time with Falsa.
How will it look to the people in the banquet, a little Hero and her guard wizard, a man, and woman who have pledged love, or else a close relationship between a brother and sister?
However, Falsa does not seem to care about it and goes to the banquet hall with Julia holding his arms.
No one here could ever know that this appearance of the two will be passed down to the future generation and that it will become a famous scene in the play 「Disguised Wizard and the White Hero」.
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