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Another Audience with the Magus Lord

Translated by: ME

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*****

---It was just an ordinary day.

『Regarding Irvine’s punishment—what would you like to do, Wellmy?』

『Why are you asking me? I have no interest in a fool who couldn't see my sister's true worth.』

『The investigation into his house yielded nothing illegal, but I can still pull enough strings to ensure he receives a severe sentence.』

『There's no need for that. ...It pisses me off that he spread rumors about Lola, but we were using him too, weren't we?』

『I see. Then at the very least, I shall arrange matters so that he never crosses your path again.』

***

Irvine was exhausted.

Even though it was a noble’s prison, he had never experienced being confined to a single room. Until the investigation of his family was complete and a sentence decided, all communication had been forbidden in the name of the Royal Family. Being locked away without knowing anything was far more agonizing than he had ever imagined.

(Why me? Why is this happening to me...?)

No matter how many times he repeated the question in his heart, he found no answer.

Then, after more than ten days had passed, he was informed that a visitation had been granted. Waiting for him at the destination... was that man.

The silver-haired man sat with an arrogant air, legs crossed. He jerked his chin toward the sofa opposite him. 「Sit.」

Lord Magus Eides Ormirage.

Irvine sat down obediently. Without a word of greeting, the man spoke.

「You are being charged with lèse-majesté. Regarding your sentencing, with the approval of the Crown Prince and His Majesty the King, I have been granted the right to advise Minister Kilrain on whether or not you should be granted clemency. What happens next depends entirely on your attitude.」

Irvine’s heart sank at the words.

(There’s no way this man will say anything good about me.)

This was the man who had claimed Wellmy as his wife and saved Lola. The maximum penalty for lèse-majesté was public execution. However, Eides’s lips curled into a slight smirk as he watched Irvine’s shoulders stiffen.

「Heh. Are you afraid of me? ...You are a fool, Irvine Schnieger. But it seems you have just enough brains to understand your current situation and the nature of the man standing before you.」

Irvine didn't understand what he was getting at. As Irvine kept his head bowed, Eides continued tonelessly.

「A true, through-and-through fool is unpredictable. If I told such a person I was considering clemency, they would gleefully launch into a defense of how they did nothing wrong and why they deserve mercy.」

(What is he saying?)

Irvine was suspicious. It almost sounded as if Eides was suggesting Irvine wasn't that much of a fool. Was he trying to lower Irvine’s guard to draw out a slip of the tongue?

「You’re paranoid. Yes, your actions were foolish. You neglected Lola, the fiancée you supposedly wanted; you spread foul rumors; you were played by Wellmy until she grew disgusted with you; and finally, you insulted the Crown Prince and ended up in a prison cell. Even the Earldom you were meant to inherit was a house of cards, its finances in utter ruin.」

Blood rushed to Irvine’s cheeks. He wasn't sure if it was anger or shame.

「Has spending time alone cooled your head at all?」

At Eides’s question, Irvine looked back at him in silence. Eides’s expression was cold and condescending, but his eyes held no emotion at all.

「If a single one of your actions had been different, you could have had Lola or Wellmy. You had four years—countless chances—and yet you were chosen by neither. Not by those brilliant sisters. Do you understand what that means, Irvine Schnieger?」

「...Did you come here just to mock me?」

Something throbbed painfully deep in the center of his chest.

The Lola he had seen long ago, before Wellmy appeared, and the Lola he had reunited with. The Wellmy who had been even younger when they first entered the academy... and the beautiful Lola standing beside Eides.

Then there was the Wellmy who used to lean against him, and the Wellmy who had screamed at him with contempt at the engagement party.

But more than the memories of their fights or her appearance at the party... he remembered her most often with a strong-willed smile. Especially those four years with Wellmy... they were four years they had spent together.

(And yet, she chose Eides.)

「I wouldn't waste my time coming here just to mock you.」

「Then did you come to brag about how you won Wellmy?」

If that were the case, he thought it was a pathetic way to behave. But at the same time, he realized that was exactly how he had acted, and his chest throbbed again.

「I hear that when you first entered the academy, you were in the top class, just like the sisters. Irvine.」

Ignoring the question, Eides began talking about something seemingly unrelated.

「But while Lola dropped to the middle class to avoid notice, you spent your second year and onwards in the bottom tier.」

「...What are you trying to say?」

Irvine hadn't originally been a poor student. But he knew that no matter how hard he studied, he wouldn't inherit his family’s title. By the time he was old enough to understand the world, that realization had drained his motivation.

However, he learned that he could obtain a title by marrying into a house as a consort. And when he realized that the Lola he had seen long ago was the heir to the House of Ernest...

(That's right. I...)

He wanted that beautiful Lola. To that end, he needed the strength to support a household. When he asked to become her fiancé, he had made a vow to his father.

(I actually produced results back then.)

「Do you understand why you became a fool after entering the academy?」

「...」

「You had chances. You had opportunities to notice the truth. I hear you were disappointed when you saw Lola again because she wasn't as beautiful as before. You let it go to your head when Wellmy cozyied up to you. You thought you were loved. You grew complacent, thinking that by taking her, you could inherit the estate.」

「............」

「Those two are like flowers of genius. Irreplaceable. ...Did you ever put in the effort to be worthy of them? Did you ever try to see who they really were?」

Irvine couldn't say a word. He hadn't. Of course he hadn't. If he had—if he had noticed—he wouldn't be standing here facing Eides.

Eides had said it only took a single action. Irvine knew it was true, but he didn't want to admit it.

「A woman may not need a man’s hand to bloom. But any flower will wither without water.」

If only he had cared enough to ask why Lola looked the way she did when they reunited. If only he had sent her even a single flower or visited the Ernest estate.

「You saw a withered flower and failed to see the beauty it should have possessed. You saw it wilting, and you laughed.」

If he had looked only at Lola, perhaps Wellmy would never have approached him. If he had done anything to help Lola escape the House of Ernest—or even just improve her situation—if he, as her fiancé, had voiced a single protest...

Everything might have changed. If he had done that, perhaps Wellmy would have respected him.

「Even with Wellmy. The fall of House Ernest might have been inevitable, but if you had worked to be a man worthy of her, she wouldn't have felt the need to destroy everything in her wake.」

If he had put in the effort to match her—she who was far more brilliant than him—after she approached him...

He might have lost the house for Lola’s sake, but Wellmy might have accepted him as her partner on the eve of their marriage.

If. If. If. They were all hypotheticals.

(Why me? Why did I end up like this?)

The answer was obvious.

「You did nothing. You let your vision cloud, you neglected your efforts, and you rested on your laurels.」

It was only natural that he was cast aside.

「It seems you understand. What you lacked was effort. If you wish to reach for a flower on a high peak, you must put in the corresponding work.」

「...Did you?」

He couldn't look Eides in the eye, but he gritted his teeth and pushed back with a trembling voice.

The man before him was born with violet eyes that signaled immense mana. He had a beauty that captivated everyone. He had wealth, status, power... he had won Wellmy’s trust and even the favor of the Royal Family.

The jealousy welling up inside Irvine forced the words out.

「Naturally.」

The question was dismissed instantly.

「Innate mana is useless without the discipline to wield it. One must possess a vast amount of correct knowledge. Do you find my face offensive? In that regard, you should compare me to Lola or Wellmy, not yourself.」

「...What do you mean?」

「Do you still believe that a woman remains beautiful without effort? Even after seeing Lola bloom?」

Irvine gasped.

「A woman does not become beautiful without significant effort. What do you think etiquette and manners are for? Do you think the grace of a noble is innate? It exists because of their daily discipline.」

Men are the same, Eides said.

「Beauty isn't something you get by dressing up your face or buying expensive clothes. Untiring daily effort is what supports true beauty. Why can a knight swing a sword? Because he trains his body. Why can a civil official solve complex problems? Because he gains knowledge and constantly thinks about how to use it.」

The reason such men look attractive is...

「...because they have achieved it through unceasing effort.」

Irvine was left speechless.

「Wealth, status, power. Many fools believe these things are simply granted by being born as the heir, by marrying an heiress, or by removing those above them. While that is often the case, the ones who suffer the consequences of such fools being in power are always the weak.」

Like Lola, who was a child and had no way to resist. Like Wellmy, who couldn't save those she wanted to save in that very moment.

「...Have you ever imagined the hardship? The weight of someone who knows from birth that they carry the duty and responsibility to save the weak?」

As he was told this, Irvine remembered his brother’s back. He had found it painful enough just being forced to study as a backup for when his brother wasn't around. Unlike Irvine, his father had always been strict with his older brother.

Irvine had always thought it was because more was expected of his brother. But perhaps... it was because he needed to be treated strictly to prepare him for the sake of the weak he was born to carry. To ensure there were fewer people suffering under the hand of a fool like himself.

「I...」

He had never put in the effort to stand as an equal to anyone. He thought it was over once he got what he wanted. But the path beyond that was much longer. Lola and Wellmy needed someone who could support them through that long, difficult journey.

(And I...)

「I only... thought of myself...」

「Indeed. A true fool can never realize that. They blame others—the circumstances, the environment, anything else—and never look at themselves.」

Eides uncrossed his legs and stood up. Irvine looked up and met his gaze.

(He’s so damn cool.)

His bearing, the weight of his words—everything was different from Irvine. There was no comparison. Anyone would choose Eides over him.

Just as Irvine truly understood this...

「Since you seem to understand, I will arrange for your punishment to be limited to a fine. Irvine.」

Irvine’s eyes went wide.

「W-Why...?」

「I told you, a true fool never reflects. I am not so intolerant as to refuse to acknowledge a mistake, even if it comes from someone who erred once, provided they do not repeat the same folly twice or thrice.」

Irvine used to think Eides’s eyes were inscrutable. Now, they seemed to see through everything.

「Wellmy did not wish for a severe punishment. She said that since she used you, it was mutual.」

Irvine’s mouth hung open.

「If you have truly reflected on your foolish actions and the way you trampled on the four years Lola and Wellmy spent... then once you have shown that through your actions, I will provide you with an opportunity to apologize. Until then, any contact is forbidden.」

Irvine bowed his head.

(He's incredible.)

There was no way he could have ever been a match for Wellmy. If their positions were reversed... if he were the version of himself before he spoke to this man, he certainly would have mocked and abandoned someone in Irvine’s position.

Wellmy, who was chosen by such a man—Lola, who was chosen by the Crown Prince this man respected—they were never within his reach to begin with.

With a self-deprecating smile, Irvine stood up naturally and bowed deeply to Eides as he prepared to leave.

「Thank you. I am grateful for your mercy.」

Eides turned back, a look on his face as if he had just seen something interesting. He left with a final word.

「---Become a man worth choosing. Irvine Schnieger.」

For some reason, Irvine felt like he was going to cry.

After he was released on bail, Irvine’s father yelled at him until his throat was hoarse, and his brother punched him, telling him over and over to be grateful for his luck. But Irvine didn't get angry like he usually did. Seeing something different in the Irvine who simply repeated, 「I’m sorry,」 they asked him what he planned to do now.

「---Would you allow me... to join the Knights?」

That was his wish. Even if he married into another house, the current Irvine couldn't properly manage a territory. He wasn't smart enough to be a civil official. But if he trained his body and studied all the things he had slacked on... maybe he could become someone useful.

He thought that maybe, someday, someone would acknowledge him. Irvine requested a transfer to the Borderlands Knight Order, which was rumored to be exceptionally strict.

His father and brother granted his request, and he left the Royal Capital. The chances of him meeting Eides, Wellmy, or Lola again were incredibly low. But he wanted to be a man they could recognize as having reflected on his mistakes the moment they saw him again.

And so that he could apologize with all his heart.

---It would be only a few years later that this same Irvine would rapidly distinguish himself and reunite with Wellmy and the others.

*****

Note: Only two chapter to post today. Well maybe three later from a new series.

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