A situation that was, quite literally, on the edge of a knife.
I looked down at the Crown Prince, studying his expression.
He was afraid of something, yet his face was twisted with irritation.
He looked as though no one had ever looked down on him before.
Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever tried to grind someone down this forcefully either.
No, wait. I did, when dealing with the nomadic tribes or suppressing rebellions.
"Step aside, or accept the duel."
"You insolent wretch! I've had enough of you!"
The Crown Prince shot to his feet and shoved me.
Of course, with those spindly wrists of his, he barely managed to push me back a single step.
But a man who cannot bear to watch his own authority crumble clearly couldn't withstand even this much pressure.
I couldn't help but let out a quiet scoff.
Well, thank you for getting out of the way.
"So you've vacated the seat? That's clear enough."
I grabbed the Crown Prince by the sleeve as he stood beside the chair.
His expression turned flustered, and he clenched his jaw, bracing his whole body against me.
It seemed he was trying to hold his ground.
But that frail body of his was no match for the strength of the North.
I shoved him aside and sat down in the seat of highest honor.
"Much better. Now get out of my sight."
The moment the Crown Prince stumbled to the side, I was able to take my seat.
He tried to reclaim it, but couldn't get close — all he could do was flail helplessly.
The instant he moved toward the chair to try and overpower me the same way I had him,
Leo stepped forward first.
"Let go of me! You ignorant fool! I am the Crown Prince of the Empire!"
"This seat belongs to His Grace the Grand Duke. It is fitting for the one who governs the countless people of the North — not for a Crown Prince who has nothing to his name."
That was a long sentence. Probably the longest Leo had ever spoken in one breath. Not a single stutter.
He always stumbles over his words when he talks to me. I've told him to work on it, but it never seems to improve.
The Crown Prince couldn't advance even against Leo's single outstretched hand.
The moment the chair became mine,
I glanced to the side. The opposite end from where Leo was holding back the Crown Prince.
A battle of a different kind was unfolding there.
Daniela and Kartina.
By now, it was impossible to tell which was the victorious heroine and which was the defeated one.
"Have you been well? You look lovely."
"But of course. His Highness the Crown Prince dotes on me so."
They were fighting in the language of women. It sounded like nothing more than pleasantries,
yet for some reason, there was a sharp, electric undercurrent to every word.
Daniela, making it unmistakably clear that she stood above and Kartina below —
and Kartina, trying to nail down the point that through her connection to the Crown Prince, Daniela was nothing but the defeated heroine.
"Is that so? I, too, have been quite well — thanks to His Grace the Grand Duke's extraordinary care."
"How fortunate. You seemed so terribly sad back at the Academy."
The girl from House de Bosch had just dredged up one of the memories Daniela most wanted to forget.
I had meant to ask her about it someday. How she had felt when she was expelled from the Academy.
Whether it had been painful, or whether it had come as a relief.
Truthfully, I had never thought there were sufficient grounds to expel her in the first place.
First the broken engagement with the Crown Prince, then expulsion from the Academy.
Even accounting for how carefully everyone tiptoed around the Imperial family — was Daniela not the daughter of House Barth?
"Indeed. I was so worried about the Empire's future. His Highness the Crown Prince had fallen so deeply in love, you see."
"He loves me that much."
"But tell me — are there still men fighting duels over you?"
"What are you saying... His Highness and I are always together..."
"Did young lords from several noble houses not fight duels over you?"
It was a sharp thrust.
In truth, the strange fracturing of the noble factions within the Empire had begun because of Kartina's existence.
A contest of rivalries born from one man's love for one woman. Yet beneath the surface lay a tangle of competing interests.
In other words, even if the cause of the conflict was as simple as a single woman,
ending it would require a great deal more than that.
Of course, in the novel it had all been painted over rather loosely —
but this was a real world. It was not something that would be resolved by Kartina's pleading alone.
"I think about it often. The future where I stand beside His Highness. How difficult it must have been to serve a man who doesn't truly know himself."
"And yet you think such thoughts while standing at His Grace the Grand Duke's side."
"But of course. His Grace gives me nothing but happiness."
"Ha — my Crown Prince is exactly the same."
"Is he?"
Daniela was laughing softly.
The laughter grew louder by degrees.
Loud enough to drown out the sound of the Crown Prince's struggling.
I was taken aback as well. She looks exactly like a villainess heroine laughing.
Leo was holding the Crown Prince back with one hand, but the moment he saw Daniela laughing, he went pale as a sheet.
It was the first time I had ever seen Leo frightened of a person.
This was the general who led cavalry charges against nomadic tribes.
"And what of Riroy, then? What a pity for the young lord of the Eastern Mage Tower as well."
"Why would you bring them up here, of all places?"
"Because they are the ones who humiliated me at the Academy."
It felt as though a revenge drama was about to begin.
But if I had to fight all of them at once — who knows. I might actually lose.
One on one, I can handle it. But if they all come at me together, that's a different matter.
"But I have forgotten it all. Because I am the Grand Duchess. The Grand Duchess."
"Congratulations."
"Though I do wonder why your neck is so stiff."
Pressing down. It was remarkably similar to what I had done to the Crown Prince moments ago.
And she was right. The matter between the Crown Prince and me was tied to the question of the Empire and the Northern Grand Duchy.
But Daniela was someone who had been granted the right to stand at my side —
and the people of the North already knew her as the Grand Duchess.
Moreover, the fact that Daniela had her own banner meant she held a rank commensurate with it.
"I asked why your neck is so stiff."
"I — I — Grand Duchess Daniela, Your Grace."
"His Highness the Crown Prince may sit above me, but you are not him, are you?"
There was no room for rebuttal in Daniela's words, laced as they were with laughter.
She was right. The Crown Prince and Kartina were not yet formally betrothed.
Daniela's situation was the unusual one — but in truth, the Crown Prince was beset with difficulties on all sides.
Many ministers had voiced the opinion that it would be better to reconsider the engagement with House Barth.
But the moment Daniela left for the North, everything had gone awry.
If Daniela had died, one cannot very well marry someone who no longer exists in this world.
Kartina could have smoothly taken Daniela's place.
But here she was, perfectly alive.
And with the title of Grand Duchess of the North, no less.
"Go to where you belong. You have no place standing up here."
That contemptuous smile. Kartina felt it clearly — the smile Daniela wore.
It carried many meanings, but one thing was certain.
The distance between you and me is not something that can be bridged.
And no matter how much the Crown Prince may like you, may love you —
there is nothing you can do in this place, right now.
"Daniela!"
"How dare you call the Grand Duchess by her name so carelessly!"
Kartina's cry, almost a shriek, rang through the room.
Daniela called back immediately, without a trace of intimidation.
I'm the more frightening one here. Me.
"I told you to take your place below. Does House de Bosch not know what propriety means?"
"What did you just say?! Propriety?"
At this rate, they'll be pulling each other's hair soon.
But I had no desire to watch that spectacle. Above all, Daniela's words were entirely correct.
Why else would Marquis Roland be kneeling here, watching the room with careful eyes?
Even if he had cast Daniela out, she was still of his blood. And yet,
there was a reason he had said nothing in this place.
It was to avoid giving anyone a pretext.
What Kartina had just said was, to anyone listening, an extraordinarily rude remark.
"How dare you call Her Grace the Grand Duchess by her name so carelessly!"
Leo reacted first. He gave the Crown Prince a sharp shove —
and walked straight toward Kartina. The Crown Prince landed hard on his backside and sat there rubbing it.
Leo, too, was visibly agitated.
It was an enormous breach of etiquette. All the more so because the Grand Duchess and the daughter of a baronial house occupied entirely different stations.
"Enough. That's enough, Leo."
"Y — Your Grace the Grand Duke. P — please cut out that w — woman's tongue."
"I said that's enough."
"Forgive my insolence!"
At a single word from me, Leo pressed his forehead to the floor. Flat on the ground, prostrate.
It seemed I was the only one who could bring order to this situation.
I looked down at the Crown Prince for a moment,
then walked toward Daniela.
"The girl from House de Bosch. Your tongue is remarkably foul."
"That — that was —!"
"I would like to teach you some manners, but I will let it pass this once."
That should be sufficient.
The heat in the room had risen so high that no one was keeping themselves in check.
Myself included, if I was being honest.
"But there will not be a second time. If, after today, such insolence occurs again —"
I stroked my chin.
"I will ensure that your house cannot be found anywhere on this continent. Do you understand?"
The battle of wills was over.