Mélisande grinned widely. I blinked, momentarily dazzled by the beauty that struck my heart anew. Really, if this sister had been born in 21st century Earth, she would have emptied my entire bank account.

While spacing out and thinking about the relationship between my main base left in 21st century Earth and Mélisande, I failed to hear the murmuring and giggling of those sitting nearby.

“Mademoiselle Levizet?”

I snapped back to reality at the sound of throat clearing. A woman with elaborately styled green hair was looking at me. Though she had probably put effort into it, her puffed-up hair like an ostrich egg reminded me of a giant tennis ball. I barely suppressed the laughter that almost burst out and asked kindly.

“……Ah, Madame Louise, sorry. I didn’t hear. What did you say?”

“It’s nothing serious. We were just having a very interesting conversation.”

Louise coyly waved her fan. Ah, you might remember. The empress’s maid who had mocked while guiding Mélisande to her room.

If she had continued as the empress’s maid, we would have maintained a reasonably good relationship at least on the surface, but at some point she began looking around elsewhere. Eventually, she connected with Countess Fontaine, who had secured the position of maitresse en titre (the king’s official mistress), and through her arrangement married the son of Marquis Oerzi, then completely abandoned her position as the empress’s maid.

After that, her position in my mind was downgraded from ‘Godmother’s maid 1’ to ‘idiot.’ Though I didn’t show it outwardly.

No matter how solid the emperor’s favor toward Countess Fontaine might be, how reckless of her to throw away connections with the empress like discarded shoes. In a way, it’s impressive. How could she leave the empress, who had even borne the crown prince, thinking the position of official mistress would last forever?

The empress must have been quite offended too. The fact that her maid’s position was pushed aside by a mere mistress’s associate could be quite a blow to the pride of high-ranking people. She probably just didn’t show it because the person involved was merely a low-ranking maid and Louise wasn’t from a great noble family.

What’s certain is that Louise had secured the immediate reward of entering a prestigious central noble family. A family that even Mademoiselle Sophie had to send invitations to, if only for courtesy.

However, looking at the long term of several decades ahead, since the current crown prince would become the next emperor and the empress would become the empress dowager, her path to entering the court’s core was essentially blocked. It doesn’t even matter if she would become Marchioness Oerzi in the future. Does she know this herself? I clicked my tongue inwardly while listening to her words.

“……Here, Mademoiselle Marie was saying something interesting. What if His Grace the Grand Duke’s lady turns out to be a lowly woman who doesn’t match his status? So I answered. There’s already an excellent teacher at court, so there’s no need to worry.”

Seeing her stare directly at Mélisande when mentioning the excellent teacher, it seemed she intended to provoke openly. I heard Louise was currently acting as Countess Fontaine’s doormat these days. I almost let out a snicker.

Countess Fontaine, who used to be desperate to devour Mélisande whenever she saw her due to Caleb’s brainwashing, was too busy fawning before the empress these days as the official mistress to directly bother this side.

Instead, her faithful minions would bother us once in a while when we’d forgotten about them. Actually, there wasn’t tremendous damage, so I usually just ignored it like a dog barking somewhere.

“Of course, she would be far from adequate to continue that family’s brilliant history.”

Louise spoke while ostentatiously lifting her teacup and sticking out her fingers. It must be difficult to hold it like that on purpose. She was definitely showing off the thick ruby on her ring finger for all to see. One of her group made a fuss.

“Oh my, isn’t this the wedding ring of the first Marchioness Oerzi? You received this!”

“It’s a wedding gift from Mother-in-law. I suppose it means she acknowledges me as a daughter-in-law who will continue the family line?”

Louise, who had been putting on airs, looked at Mélisande and snickered. This was probably mocking her as a marchioness who hadn’t received a single family heirloom jewel.

Long-established noble families each had several symbolic accessories passed down through generations. Some famous ones even served as proof of status by themselves.

For example, lending the yellow diamond passed down through generations of Marquis Levizet to someone would be tantamount to giving them the right to act on behalf of the marquis.

In Levizet, Mother held tight to all the historically significant accessories. Even I, the only legitimate daughter, could only borrow them for very important occasions with Mother’s permission, so you can imagine. Mother would never give Mélisande even one accessory until dirt entered her eyes.

Thanks to my efforts, the image of Levizet openly mistreating the new marchioness had somewhat disappeared, but those in the know had vaguely noticed that Mélisande had never once worn the family treasures. Enough to eagerly bite at the bait that Madame Eleonor, my mother, disapproved of the new daughter-in-law.

Mélisande smiled pleasantly at Louise, who was targeting that fact.

“What a beautiful ring. Alix, don’t you also have a couple of ruby rings? The color is so vivid and beautiful, literally like the blood of a pure dove. I’ve never seen such beautiful rubies.”

She skillfully escaped the situation by focusing on ‘ruby’ rather than ‘family symbol.’ Compared to the original where she would smile cluelessly without knowing she was being insulted, only realizing later and crying behind the scenes, this was truly remarkable progress.

“Oh my.”

One girl burst out laughing then quickly turned her head when stabbed by Louise’s sharp glare. Louise shot back pointedly.

“No matter how beautiful, this ring is incomparable to mere accessories, you know? It’s a symbol that a marchioness who will lead the family should rightfully possess.”

Despite being called ‘Madame Louise’ rather than ‘Marchioness Oerzi’ because her husband hadn’t yet inherited the marquis title, she dared to sharpen her claws at a marchioness.

No matter if they were women from families with the same marquis title, the legitimate eldest daughter who could attach the family name after ‘Mademoiselle’ ranked higher than a second daughter, and a ‘Marchioness’ ranked higher than a ‘Madame’ whose husband hadn’t yet inherited the title.

Actually, it was old-fashioned etiquette that would only apply in imperial ceremonial protocols and wasn’t well applied in real life, but anyway, according to etiquette, Mélisande, as Marchioness Levizet, had the rank to scold ‘Madame Louise of Oerzi.’

While I was considering whether to point this out, Mélisande’s eyes widened.

“Oh my, you’re not yet a marchioness, are you, Madame?”

Louise looked at Mélisande pitifully as if seeing a complete fool.

“It means I will be soon.”

Mélisande tilted her head with an innocent face.

“Hmm…… But aren’t the Marquis and Marchioness Oerzi still in good health? Marchioness Oerzi is especially still too young to ‘soon’ pass on her position. Since we’ve become one family before God and humans, isn’t it such a great blessing that the marquis couple, who are Louise’s new parents, remain healthy and lead the Oerzi family for a long time…… Ah, does Madame Louise not think so?”

Only then did Louise’s face redden as she began to clarify that absolutely not, but she couldn’t overcome Mélisande’s rhetoric that struck unexpectedly with expanded interpretation and reverse thinking. Then who taught her that? With her innocent tone but not-so-innocent logic, Mélisande had turned Louise into a wicked child who only wished for her in-laws’ death.

I smiled at her skill which was better than I expected. If I had stepped in, I could have properly trampled Louise, but there was a possibility that the image of Mélisande being unable to do anything without my protection would stick. But Mélisande had excellently defeated Louise without my help.

In court society where rumors spread quickly, if this incident reached the ears of the Marquis and Marchioness Oerzi, wouldn’t we not see Louise here for a while? I smiled contentedly inwardly while taking a sip of tea. Ah, so sweet!

***

Lysander, who had been gazing at the coral-colored ribbon, quickly put it away when he heard his aide knocking on the tent door.

Feeling Alix’s only trace that he possessed was like a ritual he performed before starting his daily duties on the battlefield. Though it might be a somewhat childish thought, he didn’t want to share the sacred ritual with others. He hated even imagining other bastards laying eyes on even the smallest fragment of Alix. Worried that some fool might overhear even a carelessly uttered name and harbor other thoughts, wasn’t he thoroughly calling her by the title ‘Victoire’?

The aide who entered after opening the door saluted crisply and began reporting the battlefield situation. While listening to the report, Lysander began moving pieces on the giant chess board spread in his mind.

Tourbe mountain range withdrawal. Dumont region advance. Division deployment to Martua. Lysander, who had been drawing a somewhat organized battlefield map in his mind, furrowed his brow at his aide’s continued words.

“And Vizern’s crown prince has claimed ownership of the Labuye region, citing Princess Adelheit’s remarriage as grounds. We just received intelligence that he issued a decree stating he won’t end the war until ownership of the Labuye region is transferred to Vizern.”

“They’re bringing up a story from 500 years ago. So, the conclusion?”

“……It appears we’re entering a prolonged war situation.”

Lysander clicked his tongue briefly. He opened his mouth.

“Three years.”

“Pardon?”

“No, I’ll finish it within two years.”

The aide looked at Lysander in dismay, but Lysander merely gestured for him to leave.

Since when had it been? The path to sword aura, which had seemed within reach yet unreachable, felt increasingly close.

Every swordsman’s dream was achieving the title of Sword Master. As those who could feel the flow of mana on the continent gradually decreased, the production of Sword Masters who converted mana into sword aura had also nearly ceased. The existence of sword aura was now dismissed as legend appearing only in oral fairy tales.