MFAWW 15

Chapter 15

“The Bright Marquess’s Young Lady’s runaway commotion—caught causing a drunken disturbance at a hotel and subdued by guards who arrived after receiving a report. The Bright Young Lady causes a scene by slapping a young nobleman who criticized her.”

The article’s contents were even more shocking than its headlines. There were some articles that explained why the Bright Young Lady had acted that way, but most were filled with criticism and mockery. Some were so close to gossip pamphlets that it was embarrassing to even call them newspaper articles.

“Does the Bright Young Lady have no noblesse oblige? Shocking coachman dismissal incident! Bright Marquess’s Young Lady throws a teacup at a servant in a countess’s salon. Exposé of servants unjustly fired because of the villainess… Hmm.”

The more I read, the more tension built behind my eyes. If all of this was true, then the Bright Young Lady was someone who harassed those weaker than herself. I stopped reading and looked at the Crown Prince with a questioning face.

“…That actually happened?”

“I’m truly sorry to say it did.”

For a noble who should practice noblesse oblige in daily life to bully the weak—I could understand the matter with Countess Ollet’s daughter and the other incidents because there were reasons behind them, but this part I could never condone.

“The Fall of the Villainess—Exclusive interview with guard A who arrested the Bright Young Lady after she caused a disturbance at the opera house… B, a famous jeweler in the capital, names the Bright Marquess’s Young Lady as their number one troublesome customer…”

I give up. I can’t read any more. Whether true or not, if I kept reading any further, my eyes would rot.

“Whew…”

I put down the newspapers and pressed firmly on my brow. Just reading a few articles had given me a headache. What a waste of paper, truly a waste.

“Can newspapers really be like this?”

“This is what sells.”

“What kind of fool consumes this kind of trash—! Hoo, excuse me for a moment.”

For a moment I nearly cursed without thinking, my anger surging up. As I panted, trying to contain the boiling rage, the Crown Prince poured me more tea as if to calm me down.

“The Bright Young Lady must have been a godsend for the newspaper companies.”

“Well, she was almost like a goose that laid golden eggs.”

“Are all these articles true?”

“Half true, half false.”

“Haha…”

A hollow laugh escaped me in disbelief. Now I finally understood clearly why the Crown Prince had said the Bright Young Lady was both perpetrator and victim at the same time. The newspapers were leading the charge in creating rumors.

That said, I couldn’t unconditionally defend the Bright Young Lady either—half of those things were things she had actually done.

Getting drunk and causing scenes at parties, injuring people, getting arrested for causing disturbances at shops, climbing a spire and attempting suicide.

The things the Bright Young Lady had done were bound to be pointed at with scorn in noble society, which valued honor and dignity.

The only good things the Bright Young Lady had done there were pushing Countess Ollet’s daughter into the pond and slapping the young nobleman who had insulted her. People who didn’t know the circumstances would have criticized the Bright Young Lady, but personally, I found it satisfying.

“Did the Bright family really just stand by and watch this?”

If someone wrote about me like this, I would have grabbed a sword right away, chased them down, and smashed everything in sight. The more I learned about the Bright Young Lady, the more I felt regret about the Duke and Marquess’s inaction.

“They didn’t completely wash their hands of it. Duke Bright visited several newspaper companies to protest, and Marquess Bright continuously proposed laws to sanction newspapers that spread fake news. In response, the Press Guild issued a statement claiming unfair pressure was being applied.”

The Crown Prince picked out several commentaries and articles criticizing the Bright family from the pile of newspapers and showed them to me. The articles were painting the Bright family as demons suppressing the press to hide their own dirty laundry.

“Were they overwhelmed by public opinion?”

“Most people sided with the newspapers.”

“Even so…”

In the empire, nobles stood at the pinnacle of power but were very few in number. Commoners, on the other hand, were overwhelmingly numerous. If public opinion worsened, protests would break out, and in severe cases, it could escalate into rebellion—so even the empire’s most powerful figures couldn’t afford to be careless.

“Even nobles?”

“Commoners were nothing compared to how eagerly nobles tore into them.”

“Pardon?”

“It was an opportunity to bring down the Bright family.”

“Did His Grace the Duke and His Lordship the Marquess really have so little popularity?”

Considering Duke Bright’s fiery temper, he probably had many enemies, but still—he was the hero who had ended the Thirty-Year War. No matter how I thought about it, something felt off. After a moment of thought, the Crown Prince spoke.

“It’s not so much that he lacked popularity… It’s that there were many factions who resented and sought to check the Bright family’s rapid rise.”

“Why?”

“A fight over the pie. Power is finite.”

“Hmm.”

“Above all, the fact that the Bright family is not one of the founding meritorious families is significant.”

“Pardon?”

“The Bright family is certainly a distinguished house of the empire, but strictly speaking, they’re closer to new nobility. The Bright family became a ducal house only when the previous generation married into the direct imperial line.”

“That’s right…”

“As you probably know, noble society is extremely conservative. The founding meritorious families in particular have monopolized power for the past few hundred years. To them, the Bright family, which threatened their power, was a thorn in their side.”

“…And the prolonged war greatly strengthening the military’s power must have also been a problem.”

“Correct. Sharp as always.”

The Crown Prince smiled as if praising a child who had given the right answer.

“At any rate, the conflict between the Press Guild and the Bright family only subsided after His Majesty the Emperor personally stepped in to mediate. The newspapers also began to exercise more restraint than before. But by then, the Bright Young Lady’s reputation had already hit rock bottom.”

“I see.”

My questions had been largely resolved, but my chest felt even more suffocated than before. I looked down at the newspapers with a troubled expression. In the article about the Bright Young Lady throwing her parasol at a guard, there was a black-and-white illustration depicting the scene. Not stopping there, next to the illustration was a detailed description of the Bright Young Lady’s appearance—the color of her hair and eyes, and other distinctive features.

The other newspapers were the same. Some illustrations were even colored. They weren’t as good as the portrait I’d seen at the Marquess’s residence, but they were drawn well enough that anyone with sharp eyes could recognize the Bright Young Lady.

Seeing that, I understood why everyone I encountered had mistaken me for the Bright Young Lady. People had been seeing the Bright Young Lady’s face through newspapers like these for the past several years.

Unless someone didn’t read newspapers often or had poor eyesight, it would have been stranger for them not to recognize the Bright Young Lady.

“I think I understand why the Bright Young Lady fell.”

People would have recognized the Bright Young Lady everywhere she went. And they would have whispered among themselves about what they’d read in the articles, pointing fingers.

And that wasn’t all. The newspapers made up all sorts of stories about her day after day, and people viewed even things that weren’t her fault through a prejudiced lens. Even her own family hadn’t properly shielded her.

I had only endured a few days of a situation where no one believed you no matter how much you insisted you were innocent, and it made my blood boil—how much worse must it have been for the Bright Young Lady, who had suffered for years?

“This is too much.”

I spoke in a voice choked with indignation. Bitter bile rose in my throat.

“This is really too much.”

I wasn’t trying to defend the Bright Young Lady. She had certainly done wrong. But even so—this was going too far.

Feeling a burning sensation in my chest, I gulped down the cold tea. The reality that one person’s mistakes and misfortunes served as mere entertainment and a source of money for others was profoundly dismal.

The Crown Prince said nothing. He quietly refilled my empty teacup. I drank the tea as he served it. The heat in my stomach wouldn’t subside.

I emptied the teacup several times, but unfortunately, the tea that was supposed to have a calming effect did nothing to help.

“…Thank you for today.”

We left the café some time later. After glancing at the sunset glow gradually spreading across the blue sky, I bowed my head toward the Crown Prince.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

At his worried question, I forced my lips into a smile. I wanted to act as if nothing was wrong, but my mouth kept tasting bitter as I tried to swallow the anger that kept surging up.

“Once again, I’m sorry about today.”

My face must have looked quite strange, because the Crown Prince parted his lips and then carefully apologized.

“Your Highness has nothing to apologize for.”

“I bear some responsibility as well.”

The Crown Prince lowered his eyes with a sullen expression. There’s a saying—no brother is as good as his elder. Compared to that shameless prince, the Crown Prince was truly a saint.

“The real bad people are elsewhere, so you don’t need to feel sorry for me. Thanks to you, I now know who my enemies are.”

Let’s see. Countess Ollet’s daughter, the Second Prince, those damned newspaper companies, and the Empress…

As I organized my thoughts, I suddenly recalled the advice the Crown Prince had given me before. He might have foreseen this situation.

“If I stay in the capital instead of returning to my territory, things will keep being troublesome, won’t they?”

“Probably.”

“Hmm.”

I hate troublesome things. I have no intention of attacking first, but I also have no intention of taking things lying down.

“You don’t need to worry too much about Pavel. That child grew up under the Empress’s skirts and doesn’t know how to do anything.”

“Your assessment is harsh.”

“It’s the truth. Pavel is nothing but a troublesome puppet.”

The Crown Prince sharply criticized his half-brother.

“A puppet… so the real enemy is the Empress.”

“You need to be careful of the Empress.”

The Crown Prince’s expression turned serious.

“Today’s events have already reached Her Majesty the Empress’s ears, haven’t they?”

It was obvious without even asking. That seaweed-head would have run straight to his mother. I asked, half-convinced.

“Will Her Majesty the Empress try to silence me?”

“If you find yourself in trouble because of today’s events, I will take responsibility and help you.”

The Crown Prince met my gaze with a resolute expression. He seemed to feel responsible because I had encountered the Second Prince.

“I hope nothing happens, but if it does, I’ll rely on you.”

“Leave it to me. I’ll do my best.”