The Guardian Knight of Affection-Starved Young Ladies

85 – The Secretive Nobleman (01)

086.

After the banquet ended, if one were to choose the hottest topic in the empire, it would undoubtedly be the revival of Dranus.

Starting with the imperial social circles, stories related to Dranus emerged everywhere.

Even when purchasing goods at a store.

In jokes exchanged, Dranus made an appearance.

For those who remember the old glory, it would be a new sensation.

Although a young girl now sat in the head’s seat, the fact that the great mage Blamia remained unchanged.

Many believed that Dranus, with the great mage at its back and a new head, would enjoy even greater glory than before.

It was no exaggeration to say that most of the empire participated in the banquet.

After all, those who move the empire are only the upper echelons.

In other words, the people who attended the banquet were enough.

And there, Sinat proved his worth.

He did not falter in front of numerous young ladies, noblemen, and the heads of influential families.

That was the demeanor of one who would lead Dranus.

The name of Dranus grew to pierce the sky.

People focused on the new wind that began to blow.

Naturally, it means paying attention to what happened at the banquet.

There are various rumors floating around the streets.

Some are unreliable, exaggerated nonsense from someone.

But on the contrary,

there were also credible rumors that everyone who attended the banquet unanimously agreed upon.

The prince.

The rumor was that the prince did nothing at the banquet.

Except for a few heads of families or young lords he was acquainted with, he didn’t speak to anyone.

He just sipped wine in one corner of the banquet hall and stayed until the last day before leaving.

Such words, close to the truth, were circulating.

It’s an incomprehensible matter.

If the banquet was boring, he could have just left.

But the prince stayed until the last day of the banquet.

Without talking to anyone except a very few.

He just enjoyed the banquet alone and left.

That strange rumor soon led to a bit of unease.

The current policy of the royal family is the concentration of power.

There are four great families, but the royal family wants to take the lead.

The intention is to gather the empire’s power in one place and exert enormous influence.

And considering that intention,

the revival of Dranus is not welcome news for the royal family at all.

What is the most important thing to concentrate power?

Suppressing the power of the families that have now become five.

The royal family must take as much interest as possible.

As mentioned, Dranus was a family strong enough to challenge the royal family in the previous generation.

Although old, Blamia is still alive, and his granddaughter has become the new head.

People thought the reason the prince attended the banquet was to monitor.

To see if they were truly a threat.

Rumors that he confirmed whether they would be an obstacle to the plan to concentrate power in the royal family.

Isn’t it possible that a civil war might break out like this?

It still seemed like a distant story, but people paid attention to the prince’s actions at the banquet.

If that was the word spreading in the empire.

It seemed that such words would also circulate in the social circles where all kinds of rumors gather.

However, after the grand banquet of Dranus, the situation in the social circles was a bit different.

They also talked about the events of the banquet hall.

Only the subject was different.

If the people of the empire focused on the prince.

The people of the social circles remembered a boy in the banquet hall.

A boy named ‘Kallen’.

They too live in the empire and are the talents who will lead the empire in the future.

The fact that they focused on a boy rather than the prince meant there was a good reason for it.

The five great families of the empire.

Lacatus, Hiatt, Plache, Maximon, Dranus.

Maximon has no daughters.

Therefore, the highest-ranking noble ladies exist only in the four families.

The event that shocked the social circles started there.

All the highest-ranking noble ladies of the five great families were hanging around a boy.

It means it was an event shocking enough to shake the social circles of the Claire Empire.

The boy was someone they had never seen in the social circles.

Which family’s prince he was, whether he had undergone the coming-of-age ceremony.

What kind of relationship he had with the noble ladies who could make even the princes and noble ladies of ordinary families kneel just by their names.

They couldn’t know any of it.

A prince full of secrets.

His face was handsome enough to melt the hearts of the noble ladies.

Around him were dazzling flowers that could arouse the jealousy of the princes.

The identity of the prince who appeared in the social circles was revealed more easily than expected.

There are three noble ladies with impressions in the Ecclesia Salon.

What they had heard someday.

It was just a rumor they dismissed as nonsense.

They did not deny the impression itself.

There were more than a few people who saw it, and it was too beautiful to ignore.

Eliana, Selassie, Sinat.

Three of the five noble families’ young ladies possess a mental image.

What society dismissed as mere rumors were none other than the landscapes of those mental images.

It’s hard to believe just from the mental images alone.

But within them, there is the figure of a boy who is not themselves.

And all three boys in the mental images are the same person.

If one has even a little knowledge of magic.

If one has ears to distinguish the rumors circulating in society.

No one would believe it.

And that unbelievable story became a reality at the banquet hosted by Dranus.

The story that was thought to be exaggerated only in the Ecclesia Salon was true.

The boy who existed in the mental images of the three young ladies was with them.

And the relationship shown between him and the young ladies made it vaguely clear why they could have such mental images.

There was a time when such words were said.

No matter how mature the shining young ladies of the empire act.

Even if they try not to lose the dignity considering their position and family.

In the end, they are girls of that age.

Rather than talking about the empire’s political situation, they prefer fun stories that they can laugh and chat about.

Rather than difficult and heavy words, they want to put down the weight they carry for a moment.

So they are more interested in a handsome boy than a prince.

The prince is not ugly by any means, but the boy was beyond the norm.

The entire social circle of the empire, not just the Ecclesia Salon, was interested in Kalen.

And there was something else that was most interesting to those girls.

On the day of the Ecclesia Salon meeting.

It was said that the boy would appear in the central square of Mland City.

*

“…These are the applications that came in today.”

Thud.

It was just a bundle of papers placed on the table, but it made quite a heavy sound.

A mountain of papers stood before Daphnis Lecalin.

The ladies of Ecclesia found it hard to believe that all of those were today’s applications.

Ecclesia had always been popular.

Wasn’t it the most prestigious salon, accepting only those who were qualified?

But even so.

This was beyond common sense.

Daphnis collapsed into the chair with an expression of utter exhaustion.

“Daphnis… what happened?”

A lady of noble birth cautiously asked.

Daphnis glanced in her direction and forced a smile as he answered.

“Everyone here must know. We followed a certain young lord.”

Then he turned his gaze back to the mountain of papers.

“That must have drawn quite a lot of attention.”

It might have been a reckless act.

Eliana and Celacia’s unconscious actions had spread so widely.

In the end, even a lady they never expected, Laris, joined them.

It was no wonder the social circles of the empire were turned upside down.

“…Laris Plache sent an application…”

And at the top of the mountain of papers, a paper with the seal of the Plache family was shining.

Daphnis sighed as he looked at it.

Ecclesia was enveloped in an awkward silence.

It was, as always, Sinat’s lively voice that broke it.

“Accept it!”

“What…?”

“Just accept it!”

There was no hesitation in Sinat’s voice.

As if there was nothing to regret.

At the same time, it was the same for everyone who was there that night.

That night could never be forgotten.

They might never create such memories again.

Eliana, Selassie, and Sinat had at least some semblance of it.

For Daphnis, it was a night that offered that level of thrill.

Even Richesa… well, she didn’t think it was bad.

Anyway, having shared such a night, there are no regrets.

Even if they were to go back to that time, they would take the same actions without a moment’s hesitation.

“Surely all…”

“No, for now, Laris is a verified person in many ways.”

But it seems the price for that is inevitable.

It is clear that it will take several days just to go through today’s applications one by one.

Sinat suggested that they first receive only Laris and then divide the applications among themselves to deduce.

Eliana and Selassie nodded at that.

Daphnis bowed her head deeply with a sigh.

“It doesn’t seem like it will end today.”

“Are you saying we should meet every day for the next few days?”

“Yes. There is an inn contracted under the name of Ecclesia nearby, so it won’t be inconvenient.”

“Good.”

If that matter is the problem, it won’t simply end today.

For the time being, it means they have to solve these many applications while also discussing the affairs of the meeting.

“Then shall we talk about the salon’s matters first?”

No one seemed to oppose Daphnis’s opinion.

They wanted to delay dealing with that pile of applications somehow.

Fortunately, the ladies knew each other well without having to say much.

Thus, Ecclesia could start the meeting as usual.

Without even dreaming of what was happening outside.