WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Dark Fantasy Doctor Was Mistaken for a Saint ◈
Chapter 57: The Ball of the Stars (3)
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* * *
‘No matter how many times I think about it, I don't think an aphrodisiac is the right choice.’
It would be one thing if I gave it privately.
Giving an aphrodisiac as a gift in the middle of the Founding Festival was practically telling someone to go screw themselves.
“So I hear you can't get it up these days?”
It could easily be taken as a message like that.
At that point, I would immediately be dueling a member of the imperial family.
Even with the usual misunderstandings working in my favor, I did not think I could salvage that. Rejected.
So I chose the safest option: a gun.
Apparently, the highest-ranking person attending this Founding Festival enjoyed hunting magical beasts.
‘It is expensive, at least.’
Firearms, especially guns and bullets capable of harming magical beasts, came with a price that even nobles found somewhat burdensome.
For young ladies and young masters who still received an allowance, it was a gift they could not even imagine.
It was a cash-powered brute-force strategy that only someone with money to burn like me could use.
You could not buy someone's heart with money, but you could express your sincerity with it.
And so, the day of the Founding Festival arrived.
Rattle.
A carriage stopped before the Nihirit estate.
The driver's seat was empty.
Perhaps because this was a fantasy world where magic existed, self-driving vehicles had been developed much earlier than in my previous life.
Naturally, that driverless carriage was much more expensive than House Nihirit's automobile.
The coat of arms of House Hausen was engraved on its side.
Click.
The carriage door opened, revealing someone inside.
“It's been a while, Young Master Nihirit.”
Charlotte Hausen greeted me from within the carriage.
Today, Charlotte was not wearing her usual detective outfit.
She wore a white dress with a gold-embroidered cape, and a small pearl pin adorned her short blonde hair.
I spoke to my fiancée, who seemed oddly uncomfortable.
“It's been a while, Lady Charlotte. Is this the first time since the House Kirchner incident three months ago?”
“If letters don't count as conversation, then yes.”
Even after becoming engaged, we met from time to time.
Whenever something interesting happened, we would arrange to meet there.
Usually, Charlotte would deduce the truth while I casually supplied any knowledge she needed from the side.
“Come to think of it, I solved the problem in your last letter too. That makes it ninety-five to four now.”
“You were counting all of that?”
“Why wouldn't I?”
With a wry smile, I handed her a silver coin.
Was giving her a silver coin when we first met really the problem?
Every time we met, my fiancée shook me down for silver coins.
Of course, she bought me gifts worth just as much afterward, so I could not complain.
“Ah, thank you for explaining the distinction between stab wounds and incised wounds in your last letter. Your discussion of abrasion collars was particularly impressive. I've read it several times.”
“It isn't difficult knowledge. It's basic.”
Whenever I sent her a letter, I also taught her forensic medicine.
I was not a forensic pathologist, but I was a trauma surgeon.
So my knowledge of forensic medicine related to trauma was relatively deep.
If I kept casually tossing out forensic knowledge at the level of a medical student,
making Charlotte mistake me for a trustworthy rival was easy.
“Come to think of it, Lady Charlotte. Didn't we agree to call each other by name in our letters?”
“Hmm. Now that we're face-to-face, it still feels a little awkward.”
“I'll wait until you get used to it.”
“...Ahem. I'll try to get used to it as quickly as possible.”
She withdrew the elbow resting on the window frame and cleared her throat.
The tips of Charlotte's ears turned faintly red.
After meeting her for a year, I had realized something.
Charlotte was surprisingly vulnerable to sweet moments like this.
“Please get in.”
“Thank you, Lady Charlotte.”
I opened the carriage door and climbed in.
Before I sat down, I caught a faint scent of mint inside.
It was the scent of Inspector Hausen, Charlotte's father.
That man always had a peppermint in his mouth.
I had once seen Charlotte and the inspector bicker over those candies at the engagement ceremony.
“Stop eating candy at an event like this. I hear you're even taking insulin these days.”
“Charlotte, is that any way to speak to your father?”
“Some father you are.”
It was nice to see how informal they were with each other.
All the more so because it was such an uncommon sight in this era.
“Is your seat comfortable?”
“It is very nice. Ah, could you wait a moment? The rest of my party has not come out yet.”
“I was informed. I'll wait.”
A few minutes passed as I sat across from Charlotte.
At last, the estate doors opened, and two people rushed out in a hurry.
One was Erika.
Her dark red hair was tied in a high ponytail, and she wore a black backless dress.
She had hated the idea, but the head maid and my mother forced her into it in the end.
The other was Freya.
Her neatly braided silver hair was tied off with a sky-blue ribbon. She wore a silver-white dress with a sky-blue shawl.
Standing side by side, their colors made them look like a demon and an angel.
“Big sis! How could you forget that?”
“Was I supposed to wear underwear under a dress?”
“How can you say that outside?!”
Hmm. It would be best not to ask why they were late.
The two climbed into the carriage.
“Thank you for the ride, Lady Hausen.”
“Hello.”
Freya greeted her politely, while Eri gave a casual nod beside her.
Charlotte did not seem particularly bothered by Eri's greeting.
Instead, her attention was on Freya.
“You don't have to be so formal, Lady Nihirit. Try calling me sister.”
“It would be rude to call someone who isn't married yet that, wouldn't it?”
A warm exchange passed between the two as they smiled softly.
After their brief greetings, they settled into the carriage.
Freya sat beside Charlotte, while Eri took the seat beside me.
Leaning against the window frame, Eri stared blankly outside.
“...I should've eaten lunch.”
She was not sick or sleepy.
She had skipped lunch so she could eat more at dinner, and now her blood sugar was low.
Rattle, rattle.
The pleasant sound of wheels rolling over cobblestones began to echo steadily.
On the way to the Imperial Palace, the carriage was filled with awkward silence for a while.
Then, as we passed through the central district, Charlotte broke it.
“By the way, isn't Lady Freya sixteen this year? Isn't it a little early for you to attend the Founding Festival?”
Freya narrowed her eyes at Charlotte's words.
“Thank you for your concern. However, I am here because Inspector Hausen asked me to come.”
“That person... My father asked you?”
“Yes.”
Before answering further, Freya straightened her posture.
“Before that, let me ask everyone here one question. Do any of you know a young master called the Silver Hornet who will be attending this Founding Festival?”
Freya looked around the carriage.
Charlotte tilted her head slightly.
“My head is already busy being filled with other knowledge. Why should I memorize someone who has no influence on my work?”
Freya's gaze moved to me.
“What about you, brother?”
“I'm sorry. I have no interest in that sort of thing either. I barely have enough time to see patients and conduct research.”
Filling my head with medical knowledge, essential general knowledge, and cooking knowledge was already exhausting enough.
I did not have the passion to keep up with the latest news in high society.
Finally, Freya looked at Eri.
Still leaning against the window frame, Eri answered.
“Do I need to know?”
“Haah...”
Freya sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead.
“This is why I came along. None of you know anything about high society. So both families decided to send me.”
“Both families? My father said that too?”
“Yes. Inspector Hausen also asked me because he was worried about Lady Charlotte.”
At those words, all three of us had no choice but to fall silent.
I could guess what both families were worried about when it came to the three of us.
And since their assessment was completely accurate, we could not even argue.
“Tch. That man is doing something unnecessary.”
Charlotte did not seem to share my thoughts, since she did not see the need for socializing in the first place.
“For that reason, I came along as well. There is no rule saying someone my age cannot attend the Founding Festival.”
That was true.
Most people attended the Founding Festival at around seventeen because that was when they began looking for fiancés.
Still, debuting at an earlier age was not a major problem.
“Then before we arrive, I'll tell you about the people you absolutely need to know. First, the members of the imperial family attending the Founding Festival are...”
And so, we headed to the Imperial Palace with Teacher Freya's crash course on high society.
* * *
In a world where magical beasts ruled most of the land, people could not even travel freely.
Powerless commoners could not guarantee their lives while on the road.
Even nobles capable of protecting themselves were no exception.
They could not carelessly travel to another city when they did not know what might happen while they were away.
As a result, nobles' interactions were generally limited to letters and magical-tool communications.
But the Founding Festival was an exception.
Once a year, nobles from across the Empire traveled to the imperial capital even at great risk.
Once a year.
The Founding Festival was their only opportunity to show that their houses had not yet declined.
Nobles gathered from all over the Empire.
Carriages carrying their children stretched in a long line to the Imperial Palace's main gate.
Eagles, snakes, roses.
Carriages bearing their symbols on their doors let people out with their own manners and ceremony.
Young ladies dressed in silk stepped down while holding their attendants' hands, while young masters in suits almost resembling military uniforms climbed the stairs.
Whenever someone stepped from a carriage, those who had arrived first whispered repeatedly from the terrace.
“Looks like the young master of Viscount Devro's house has arrived.”
“Stenbeck from the west is already here? I heard their faction was unsettled because of the Count Bellheim incident...”
“Isn't that House Sing? Is their young lady already old enough to debut?”
Sometimes they showed off their connections. Other times, they displayed contempt.
The noble children on the terrace quickly began familiarizing themselves with the houses attending today's Founding Festival.
And in the middle of that procession,
a carriage with an empty driver's seat came to a stop.
The appearance of a driverless carriage, permitted only to high nobles of count rank or above, drew the noble children's attention.
“House Hausen?”
“A newly elevated house.”
“I haven't heard very good things about their young lady...”
Amid all that attention, the carriage door opened.
The first to descend was a black-haired young man.
His black hair, reminiscent of raven feathers, was swept back, and his indifferent gaze passed over the terrace.
“So that's the Black Swan of Nihirit.”
“It's hard to understand how someone with that face has never attended a banquet before.”
“He got out of a Hausen carriage... So the engagement rumors were true after all?”
Unconcerned by the gazes judging him, Julian turned and held out his hand toward the carriage.
The person who took his hand and descended was a blonde girl.
Short blonde hair with a single pearl pin.
A gold-embroidered cape over a white dress.
She was dressed like the daughter of a marquis house, but the way she stepped down from the carriage was far from that of someone accustomed to wearing dresses.
She was proper on the first step, then skipped the final two steps at once as if she could not be bothered.
Julian, escorting her, gave a wry smile as well.
“She is as unusual as the rumors say.”
“I wondered why a marquis house would agree to an engagement, even if he is the Black Swan. Was there a reason like that?”
Two more people stepped out after them.
They were Eri, a red-haired girl in a black dress, and Freya, a silver-haired girl in a silver-white dress.
Eri jumped down, then remembered her manners belatedly and took Julian's hand, producing a bizarre scene.
Watching from behind, Freya barely managed to keep her expression from collapsing as she took Julian's hand and descended slowly from the carriage.
Only the Nihirit siblings maintained a walk and posture befitting the occasion to the end.
“That is quite the unconventional entrance in many ways.”
Someone on the terrace muttered.
Everyone on the terrace had no choice but to agree.
Under all that attention, the four entered the banquet hall.
As Julian and Charlotte passed through the entrance first, the herald standing beside it shouted at the top of their lungs.
“The young lady of House Hausen, Marquessate, Charlotte Hausen, and the young master of the Baron House of Nihirit, Julian Nihirit!”
It was a short, plain introduction.
Normally, while Julian's baron house might not warrant it, Charlotte's marquis house should have received a longer introduction fitting her family.
But they could not make something up when there was nothing to say.
There was so little information about House Hausen that even the herald had no other words to add.
Charlotte, however, did not seem to care about the plain introduction.
After the group passed through the entrance, Freya whispered in a voice only they could hear.
“You know where we should sit, right?”
Charlotte and Erika shook their heads.
Julian, on the other hand, nodded.
The only thing he did not know was news about other people's lives.
He had thoroughly studied etiquette for the sake of being a protagonist.
Thanks to that, he knew where they were supposed to sit in the banquet hall.
Julian looked over the layout of the hall once, then immediately found their seats.
Slightly to the right of the center.
The third tier down from the highest inner section.
It was a place chosen with Charlotte, the daughter of a marquis house, in mind.
“Please sit, Lady Charlotte.”
As Julian pulled out the chair, Charlotte sat down with practiced ease.
Next was Erika.
“Erika, sit down first. Don't go get food yet.”
“Aww. Then when does it come out?”
“In an hour. Not everyone has arrived yet.”
“Aww...”
Erika, whose eyes had been fixed on the empty plates, lowered her head.
Her long ponytail drooped as though it reflected her mood.
Erika listlessly lowered herself into her chair.
Finally, Freya.
“Thank you, brother.”
As expected, Freya alone offered thanks with proper etiquette.
Once Julian sat down at last, Freya looked over the group and spoke.
“Now that we've found our seats, we need to go greet the other young ladies and young masters. Just in case, do you remember who I told you about in the carriage?”
“You said the Baron House of Wolff is close to our family. And the Count House of Zilber is one we don't get along with.”
“What about the faces of those houses' children?”
All three of them fell silent at once.
Freya rose with a sigh, as though she had expected it.
“Let's go together after all, brother. I'll guide you.”
Charlotte, Julian, and Erika headed toward a group with Freya.
On the way, Freya smoothly assessed the situation.
“We can't go over there yet. Lady Lilienthal looks very busy.”
“What about there?”
“The Baron House of Wolff and the Baron House of Heide are acquainted with Father, so I think it would be fine to greet them.”
Freya approached first and smiled as she greeted them. The others recognized her and welcomed her warmly.
Julian, Charlotte, and Erika followed behind.
The first few greetings were merely formal.
But by the third and fourth greeting,
other young ladies and young masters joined the conversation, and the gathering naturally became a group.
Once a group had formed to a certain extent, Freya smoothly changed the topic.
“Let me introduce everyone again. This is my brother, Julian Nihirit, and this lady is my brother's fiancée, Lady Hausen.”
The young ladies being introduced gave wry smiles at Freya's subtly apparent attitude toward Charlotte.
Some of the young ladies who met Julian's eyes even blushed.
“So that's...”
“The Black Swan of Nihirit...”
Freya's sharp glare at those young ladies was an added bonus.
Among them, a young master from the Baron House of Heide pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and looked at Julian with admiration.
“I heard about you from Freya, Julian. I heard you solved an unsolved case at the Count House of Bellheim. Would you be willing to tell us about it in detail?”
Julian realized that it was the boy's consideration.
There was no way any young lady or young master here did not know about what happened at the Count House of Bellheim.
Unless they were as disconnected from high society as Julian or Charlotte.
Even so, asking to hear that boring story from over a year ago was an act of consideration to help Julian fit into the group.
‘I have lived almost fifty years, yet I have less social skill than a child like this...’
After briefly reflecting on himself, Julian began telling the story.
“You flatter me. I only did what I could at the time...”
Before long, Julian naturally blended into the group Freya had introduced him to.
Beside him, Charlotte's lips twitched as she barely held back the deductions trying to burst out on instinct.
It was proof that she retained at least the minimum amount of social sense needed to know she should not ruin the mood here.
After the children of the houses introduced themselves one by one,
it naturally became Erika's turn.
“This is...”
“My name is Erika. I don't have a surname.”
“Ah! This is the person Lady Freya praised so highly!”
Erika looked at Freya with a question mark practically floating over her head.
She was asking how Freya normally described her to other people.
As though answering that question, one young lady opened her fan and praised Erika.
“Lady Freya is famous among people her age as an outstanding apprentice mage. I heard that even Miss Erika has never lost a sparring match against Lady Freya.”
“What?”
“I would be grateful if you gave us an opportunity to witness your skills someday.”
The young lady leaned toward Erika with sparkling eyes.
Erika unconsciously took a step back.
“I'm not that amazing...”
“Our house also has great expectations for Erika.”
Julian cut Erika off and interjected.
This was not a place for false modesty.
When people exaggerated achievements they did not even have, there was no need to diminish the achievements they did possess.
Erika's eyes widened, and Julian spoke to her in a whisper.
“You don't still doubt why I chose you, do you?”
Erika shook her head furiously.
The long hair trailing behind her like a tail smacked against her cheek.
Julian smiled at her once, then began telling the others about Erika's accomplishments.
At her age, she had already begun applying battle aura. She had reached the level where she could use magic in real combat. She possessed the talent to reach Rank 1 in the near future.
At Julian's explanation, the other children gave Erika a small round of applause.
“Ah, that's... I just...”
Her words began to tangle.
Erika stepped back, then naturally shifted behind Julian's back.
She had always admired nobles and dreamed of climbing the social ladder.
Now that they were busy praising her, she could not get used to it at all.
Once the introductions ended with Erika,
Freya smoothly changed the subject.
“Ah, have you heard which member of the imperial family will attend today?”
“I heard it will be His Highness the Twelfth Prince.”
“The twelfth... Yes, that's right.”
At the mention of the prince, one young lady lowered her voice.
Another young lady opened her fan and joined in.
She lowered her voice as much as possible and spoke to the group in a barely audible tone.
“I heard that Her Highness the Princess Consort's happy news... has fallen through again.”
“I heard this is the fourth time...”
The young ladies and young masters all lowered their voices.
Only Erika could not keep up with the conversation.
Noticing this, Julian whispered to her.
“They mean she has miscarried for the fourth time.”
“Oh.”
Miscarriage.
It had been more common than one might think in D Sector.
Erika had seen many prostitutes who went about their usual work without realizing they were pregnant, only for it to lead to terrible consequences.
That was why even Erika understood the weight of the word miscarriage.
“Do they know the reason? Is it a curse?”
“Who would dare curse the imperial family?”
“Then does Her Highness the Princess Consort simply have a constitution that makes pregnancy difficult?”
“At this point, the imperial family will not remain still much longer.”
“I'm worried this could even lead to the marriage being dissolved.”
“Exactly. I heard His Highness the Prince cherishes his wife and is trying to prevent that somehow, but...”
Everyone present knew what would follow.
If the miscarriages continued, the princess consort's position could not help but become precarious.
No matter how deeply she was cherished, the matter of an heir had already gone beyond what could be overlooked because of personal feelings.
The rumor itself was proof.
Bad news within the imperial family was normally controlled so outsiders could never learn of it.
Yet the rumor was spreading. That meant the imperial family was deliberately leaking it.
It was only natural to think that the imperial family was already preparing to dissolve the marriage.
Then Julian, who had quietly listened to the conversation, suddenly showed interest.
“May I ask where Her Highness the Princess Consort is right now?”
Perhaps it was not merely their imagination that his voice sounded strangely excited compared to the others.
Author's Note
The image above was an AI-generated take on Charlotte Hausen in a party dress.
For reference, I originally tried to make her look younger, but the AI refused to generate a party dress for a minor, so I compromised with a future version of her.
+) Due to considerable negative feedback about the existing image, it has been removed.
Footnotes:
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