chapter 15
Episode 15. Although I like that cold side.
When I was in the military, there was one person I could call my mentor.
Kariel Aries.
Her meeting with him was a coincidence, but the relationship she had with him couldn’t be dismissed as a coincidence.
‘Are you Celia’s daughter?’
That’s because as soon as he saw me, he mentioned the name of the damn girl.
Of course, not only that b*tch to me, but everyone who has a crush on that b*tch is considered hostile to me.
The head of a grand duke’s family, whose scale and majesty are said to be equal to that of the king of a country, is no exception.
‘If she is Celia’s daughter, she must also be the daughter of her husband Shion. If it’s Zion, I’m a body with the grace that I owe my life to. He is very glad to see his daughter in a place like this.’
But the first impression is a bit like that.
Anyway, a noble who is most favored by His Majesty the Great Emperor must mean that much.
Don’t you feel that he is a great person just by looking at what he actually says?
Quite likely, His Majesty would appoint him as the second emperor if two suns could rise under the sky, and he would look up at the moon and sigh every night.
‘Yes, Ms. Seine… …. Before we get into the story, let me ask you a question. Have you ever followed Zion in learning medicine?’
‘Yes, I didn’t follow my father, but I went to study in a medical powerhouse for about 4 years.’
‘What is your major?’
‘General surgery. My minor is pharmacy.’
‘Is it because of family discord that you, who should be the heir to the Berthaille family, belonged to the stormtroopers?’
‘… ….’
‘… No, I won’t ask more about him. It’s too much for me to take care of my family, but it would be ridiculous to worry about other families.’
I’m glad you paid attention to this part.
You can guess that it’s not an easy reason for the duke’s daughter to fall on the battlefield.
More than anything, it would be difficult for the Empire to make such a thing public.
‘So, to some extent, this proposal can be said to be the result of my selfishness. Beyond not caring about the situation of the Berthaille family, I will also consider hiding your existence from them.’
‘If I accept your offer… …. You mean?’
Since I started from the lowest ranks in the Imperial Army, I don’t care who I belong to.
Of course, the evaluation will change depending on what you are told to do, but at the time I was feeling relieved even before I got into the main topic.
Of course, the reason Archduke Kariel paid attention to me was because he cared more about my father than the motherf*cker.
‘Seine Velvet. Please, as a member of the army that will be created on behalf of this grand ducal family, will you be able to save the lives of those who are innocently shed blood?’
I hope to save as many people as possible until the war is over.
That was a story that I would most like to welcome as I have an identity as a doctor.
***
For that reason anyway.
Kariel Aries, Grand Duke of the Empire and Maris’ predecessor, was a person who could be called a ‘gift’ to some extent to me.
During the war, he helped me with this and that, and even after that, he introduced me to a position as a teacher at this academy when I was thinking about my future career path.
“Chairman, may I come in?”
And now we are entering the office of the director of the academy established by the Aries family.
It was a place used by a woman who is Kariel’s granddaughter and the current president of the academy.
“Okay, come in.”
Yes, I am a person who has a deep connection with me in many ways.
For the two years after the war, before becoming a teacher, I was indebted to the Aries family in many ways, and I had a personal relationship with the members.
But apart from that, she had a lot of things that she was quite uncomfortable about as a human being.
“It’s been a while, Mr. Mariel.”
After saying hello with a serious attitude, I immediately glanced over at the person sitting at the desk in the office.
A woman with long, vermilion-colored hair unique to the Aries family.
From her sophisticated outfits to her sharp eyes, it was clear that she was an authority figure.
Mariel Aries.
Just before I was hired as a teacher, he was the person who succeeded my teacher and became the president of this academy.
“Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you. It’s a stiff attitude~”
At the same time, he is also the person who gave me the opportunity to enter this academy.
“I don’t think there’s anything unusual… But is there something wrong?”
“A problem? Of course there is.”
Saying that, Mari El Aries slowly stood up from her seat.
The floor in the office resonated repeatedly with a crackling sound, and soon after her footsteps came in front of me, I stopped.
“Still, when we were in the family, we talked about this and that, and we always stuck together and did a lot of things, didn’t we? Walking around the flower garden, having meals together, or being by your side when we went to bed…”
That’s because, at the time, the mission was to protect her granddaughter from her gift.
Her Of course, when I acted as her bodyguard, I didn’t feel so bad for her.
Until she sat in the chair of the board of directors, she was demure and modest… She was a so-called high-class lady.
“But after coming to the academy, we don’t have much time to meet each other, and since it’s been such a long time since we met, our faces have changed a lot…”
“…Chairman.”
“Stay still.”
Sug, the chairman grabbing my chin.
I had no choice but to accept the behavior calmly.
Even in the past, this lady was the existence that I had to protect, and even now, she was an extremely high boss to me.
“Oops, her face is very damaged. Has she been sleeping well lately?”
“…I suffer from lack of sleep all the time. Coincidentally, the school nurse often has night shifts.”
“Oops, that’s not possible. I need to get a good night’s sleep… Now that it’s like this, would you like to sleep in my bed?”
“It’s okay.”
“You don’t have to say anything~ Everyone will agree if I tell you.”
Anyway, the chairman is, in a sense, the highest figure in this academy.
Of course, it can be said that the principal holds the most real power in the school, but that is only superficial.
One of the fields that the chairman is in charge of is the ‘fund’ operated by the academy, and the amount that goes into making this academy is enough to feed several major countries.
Anyone would consider it a blessing to receive the favor of such an influential person, but…
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Seine, as long as you just lie on the bed and stay still… I can take care of everything.”
Yes, the problem is this.
That b*tch has been dashing at me since before she entered the academy.
“…Chairman, the distance is too close.”
“Oh my, my Seine… Are you really shy?”
“It’s not like that… Doesn’t the chairman have a fiancé?”
“Ahahahaha~ That’s right, it’s something that can only be seen on a public level. The other side has already touched women other than me, so I can’t count them?”
Anyway, even when I was in her family, I used to worry about this and that, saying that my fiancé was a lecher.
It made me feel sorry for him, so he comforted me, helped me a lot, and made me feel confident, but I guess it was the handshake that showed sympathy so awkwardly.
It’s good to have confidence, but I never thought I’d wake up as a lesbian.
“So Seine, you don’t have to worry. Just be quiet and I’ll take care of everything?”
Mariel Aries pushed me straight into the wall.
What came out of his mouth was an enchanting whisper, just like the last time he saw it, stimulating the greed of the person facing it.
“Because Seine was by my side even when I was in the most trouble. That’s why I can do anything Seine wants. Not only physical pleasure, but with this academy, I can let the Archduke Aries sleep as I please. ~”
hehehe, to be able to reign as a powerful member of the grand ducal family, who is treated as an independent nation even in the empire, in an academy that the entire continent invests in.
Anyone would be coveted, but unfortunately, the answer I would give to that was fixed.
In the first place, I have someone I like.
Even if it can’t be done, I entered this academy to keep that mindset going.
“Stop playing around here, and tell me about the business that brought me here.”
As it were, I slipped out of her arms, gently removing the hand that was pressing down on the side of my head.
If someone who knows her location sees her, it’s not strange that she freaks out.
“Oh, our Seine always looks cold~”
But far from being offended by my attitude, she just shrugged her shoulders, taking it lightly.
Of course. She too is responsible for the seat she sits in, so her courtship towards me can be said to be more like her playful borrowing of her old affections.
Good if it works, not good if it doesn’t.
As much as I considered entering this academy only as a job, I also had no intention of sucking honey while relying on her kindness.
Right now, I only think of it as a relationship between the boss and an employee who have some ties in the past.
“I like that cold side.”
…Of course, it’s a problem that it’s just my opinion.
-Click.
Someone enters the room just as he feels that kind of worry.
When I looked around, I saw a man in a butler’s uniform pulling a cart into the director’s office.
He was the teacher in charge of home economics at this academy, and the secretary to the president.
“Chairman. I brought refreshments.”
“Thank you.”
The moment the smell of freshly baked pies fills the chairman’s room.
With Marielle turning her back on the smell, she immediately opened the window leading to the terrace of the director’s office and put it on again.
“If we were going to talk about work, wouldn’t it be better to eat while admiring the scenery?”
“…I’m just following the chairman’s will.”
Anyway, if it’s the chairman’s suggestion, it’s okay to attend a tea party during working hours.
The problem is that there will be a considerable price to pay for that.
***
It is easy to misunderstand as it recruits students from the entire continent, but Maris is clearly a ‘private educational institution’.
A place where a foundation is created and supported by an authority with enormous assets, not a country or the League of Nations.
These foundations are receiving investments from not only the Aries family themselves, but also from various wealthy people, which means that there is a risk that harm to the academy will cause economic and international problems.
In other words, the peace that exists in this academy is established by creating such a sense of crisis.
“In that way, it is my role as the chairman of the board to coax the sponsors and manage the money needed to manage this academy, and what has been created as a result of such efforts is the vast city that is unfolding right in front of us.”
Marielle looked around the outside of the terrace while savoring tea and refreshments.
Her seriousness and dignity were present when she talked about her public affairs.
If I were the same man I was in my previous life, he might be possessed. Of course, now I think of myself as a woman, so there’s no way I could be like that.
“Okay then, trouble for Seine.”
As I casually drank her coffee, Marielle pointed a fork outside the terrace and asked her question.
“Who are the sponsors who have contributed the most to the growth of that city?”
Various facilities located outside the huge building of the academy. A vast city that exists beyond the forests and mountains that surround it.
To the extent that traces of it can be seen even at the gateway located at the end of the horizon, the academic city built around this academy was different from the size of city-states.
How easy would it be to keep such a place neutral, without any country or power behind it?
“…… Are you a merchant?”
“That’s a standard answer.”
Yes, it would be the correct answer normally.
However, this is a neutral institution that has no power anywhere, including the Empire, even though it may have started with the grand duke’s family.
It will not be easy to maintain the system in a standard way.
“But merchants spend most of their money reinvested. As long as the investment is not concentrated in one place, the actual cost to us cannot be said to be very high in terms of the ratio of their assets.”
“Still, I think the cost of investment is higher than that of quite a few nobles or royalty…”
“If the ratio is small, it means that the importance of investment is low. There’s nothing more foolish than betting everything on a force that can leave at any time if it’s wrong.”
Are you saying that you can’t ask for much from this side as much as your perception is light?
So, even if the budget is tight, the priority must be lower.
Mariel said, taking a spoonful of the cake in front of me.
“On the other hand, in the case of forces with a high investment rate, it is not easy to pull out the roots embedded in this place as sometimes even the life and death of the group is staked. Even more so, if that force is in a state of competition, you will have no choice but to hang yourself here.”
While boldly investing many of the assets managed by individuals or groups, beings who can be prepared to bleed even in a war of nerves with forces engaged in the same field…….
Of course, merchants who are definitely aiming for profit will not consider it, but there are not many forces that can invest on the same level as them.
As such, it is not difficult to derive an answer using the elimination method.
“…… Is it a church?”
“Yes, unlike the merchants, the church is a group that gains power and assets through propagation itself.”
As Mariel looks back at the city while biting into a cake, a different color begins to circulate in her eyes.