Chapter 28

Time flew by for Ekaterina as she was quietly busy using the [ID] to gather as much information as possible on the many Aristocrats and officials participating in her grand birthday party.

She entertained herself with interesting and unexpected information acquired through the system, gaining knowledge that could become very valuable in the future, which was completely recorded in her brain thanks to the mana energy that increased her brain capacities almost to the maximum possible for a human.

It was important to do this because it took a while for the system to display the small Status window for an identified individual even for someone where [Identification] was already used.

Ekaterina simply couldn't wait those brief but precious seconds to accurately recite the names of each noble, since the more natural she was, the more impressed the aristocrats would be with her memorization skills.

In truth, the little princess could only thank her limited knowledge of the brain she gained as a student of Earth; otherwise, she would have used mana to strengthen her brain's ability to process and integrate sensory information into her memory. Without it, she wouldn't be able to correctly remember each person's appearance, even if their dresses and outfits were more ostentatious than her previous ones.

But even so, Ekaterina had also started to get quite bored as she sat there for what was… 20, 30 minutes? Seriously, she never expected, ever in her entire life, to have a birthday where she'd have to sit for more than half an hour while others ate and entertained themselves, trying to memorize everyone…

Hazar's aristocratic customs really are a pain... Literally the only empire on the entire continent with such customs... Although from what I remember, other nations just as well had aristocrats with absurd customs.

Fortunately... Or maybe not? Ekaterina was able to observe something relatively interesting in this whole banquet affair. She watched with some interest the scene of her older sister, Claudia, arguing with a young red-haired lady in a turquoise dress. Based on what she knew from the descriptions of the invited noble families, the girl recognized her as someone belonging to a Duchy, the Asmuspheres family, and Ekaterina couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at them.

Isn't that the family that foolishly tried to ally with demonists to wipe out Dranalian and were ultimately exterminated by my grandfather...?

It was something that happened in the game, so she knew some of them, but not everything.

As far as a player could tell from the backstory before the official start of the game, the Asmuspheres family, who had a troublesome debt with the Dranalian Duchy, wanted to escape the horrible leash that kept them under the control of Duke Astaroth by joining forces with some powerful demonists for the sole purpose of getting rid of their family and becoming the most powerful duchy in existence.

Something that was quite stupid, since they all quickly perished due to treason against the Empire and because of that, one of the founding houses disappeared from history forever, bringing endless problems to the balance of power.

Since they were still here alive and kicking and had come to Ekaterina's party as if nothing had happened, it seemed like they still had to ally themselves with the Demonists… Ekaterina didn't know when exactly that would be, but it shouldn't be too far off, since it was after her death in the game…..

…..Hm? Will that still happen in this timeline at all…?

Either way, Ekaterina stopped thinking about it and used [Identification] on that girl out of pure curiosity about her current emotional state.

This is what was shown to him:

Name: Airedia Merian by Asmuspheres

Tendency: [Simple] (People with this tendency tend to be simplistic-minded and slow to develop high-level social skills)

Profession: Swordswoman

Age: 15 years

Emotional State: [Humiliated], [Furious], [Embarrassed]

Social Status: Sole Princess of the Asmuspheres Duchy (Illegitimate)

Place of Origin: Urei People

Ethnic Group: Marshan

Lineage: Main lineage of Asmuspheres, daughter of a beautiful peasant girl from the village of Urei

“….“

Ekaterina stared emotionlessly at the simple status screen before her, completely shocked inside contrary to what her exterior might suggest to anyone.

Illegitimate daughter!?

As stated before, Ekaterina should naturally know everything public about the only princess from another ducal family, given the classes she received for this party. However, there was no mention of this woman being anyone's illegitimate daughter. Furthermore, the duchess, who comes from a family of counts, treated her quite well and even pampered her like her beloved daughter, something that was confirmed even in the game when she apparently begged her executor to let her live, which means...

Am I the only one, apart from Duke Asmuspheres, who knows that this girl is an illegitimate daughter!?

Now that Ekaterina looked at it properly from where she was, scarlet hair wasn't something either the Duke or Duchess of Asmuspheres had. Sure, the Duchess had almost reddish brown hair, but that shouldn't even be enough. She only heard that the girl's gaze and eyes resembled the Duchess's…

Furthermore, her place of origin wasn't even that infamous capital of the Duchy of Asmuspheres with its high poverty rates, Altfan, but rather a town she'd never heard of in any of her studies or even in the game itself. Where was this city called Urei, and why would the Duke have an illegitimate daughter from an unknown village as his princess?

Ekaterina's surprise at this juicy information wasn't small. In fact, among the many bits of information she'd obtained with [ID], how could it even be possible for something like this to be kept secret, even from the Duchess herself?

Ekaterina also could not believe that the Duchess of the East, Amelia Merian von Asmuspheres, was particularly aware of this birth secret and was such a kind-hearted woman that she would treat another person's daughter as her own and even put her life before her own.

After all, his tendency was [Arrogance] according to the system, which said (People with this tendency have thoughts of superiority to the majority and will not easily tolerate any insult to their pride).

An individual with a tendency to develop arrogant behavior like that… How would it be possible for someone like that to treat another woman’s daughter as his most valuable treasure? Ekaterina would be more willing to believe that Goku wasn’t a battle maniac instead… Oh, by the way, that Duke’s tendency is [Fighter], isn’t he just missing spiky black hair?

Oh my god, this is both disconcerting and exciting in some ways…

Drupi seemed to sense her owner's excitement as she lifted her head and looked at him curiously, causing her to smile weakly as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. The rabbit yawned, quickly losing interest in whatever was going on with her.

Perhaps I have a particular taste for gossip? After all, I feel like it would be fun to talk about this with someone… No, although this really isn't something I can casually discuss with just anyone. Still, it might turn out to be useful information I could use later…

Ekaterina seriously considered her options.

Considering that this was a birth secret that could and definitely would affect the internal stability of the Asmuspheres family, potential traitors even with Ekaterina's existence, perhaps knowing all this would be of some use to them later.

Like sending someone to investigate that mysterious village and find the Duke's mistress and get information from her, which they could use to extort money from the guy who's idiot enough to drive his bloodline to extinction during his reign.

That way, they'll have both their family's debt and this secret as a means to keep them from doing stupid things that will only hurt others.

After all, even if you wanted to become the most powerful family under the empire, that won't work at all if your proud wife, who helps you keep your Duchy afloat by using her secret businesses to maintain the stability of the household, finds out that you made her raise another woman's daughter, right?

One would certainly have to wonder how that was possible. Perhaps they swapped babies? Something like both of the Duke's wives became pregnant around the same time, and the Duke, wanting only his mistress's daughter, had her swapped between the two.

Either way...it's fun

That's what she honestly thought about the whole thing.

♦♦♦♦

After everyone had enjoyed the various delicacies, wines, and desserts painstakingly created by the skilled chefs hired by Dranalian, Duke Astaroth and most of the members of his distinguished family gathered on the dais where his youngest daughter's throne sat.

Astaroth and Mireia sat on Ekaterina's left, while Claudia and her grandparents sat on Drupi's right. Judging by the expressions on the grandparents' faces, they weren't particularly happy about being next to the pet, but it couldn't be helped; they had already decided on this among themselves before the party.

All the nobles and officials along with their children, staying behind the line that the knights drew with their presence, stared at the six members of the ducal family gathered in one place in that alignment, waiting for the Duke's words.

The strong and naturally serious voice of the head of the family, while he had a hand on his daughter's shoulder, resonated throughout the Great Hall.

“Everyone, now that the buffet is finally over, it’s time for each member of your respected families to present the gifts you’ve brought from your distant territories to my daughter. She will certainly be extremely grateful for the beautiful gifts you’ve carefully chosen for this important event celebrating her birthday. I can assure you of that with confidence, since my princess has the heart of an angel. However…”

Astaroth, who until the last moment had let go of his idiot Father side, not caring about the looks of shame coming from his wife, parents and daughters, suddenly stopped as he looked at everyone present with his sharp blue eyes; a faint flash of red emanating from them, causing many of those who noticed it to shudder in fear.

“As a father, I definitely won’t be happy if what you give her turns out to be gifts that insult her dignity as the precious princess of my family… You’ll understand me, right?”

Swallowing their saliva, many nobles hurriedly nodded at the intimidation emanating from his entire body.

And, although with shame in their eyes, two of the three invited dukes felt relief in their hearts that their gifts would definitely not mar Princess Ekaterina's honor. After all, even though they were officially of the same rank, invoking Dranalian's wrath was a foolishness that only the imperial family could tolerate.

As for the Duke of Asmuspheres and his wife, they both felt a sense of deep humiliation at this blatant authority of ours that seemed to demand they understand that they were not on the same level, and that there were consequences for any insult, no matter how small.

Amelia, in particular, was furious once again. If it weren't for her husband's foolish business actions in trying to trick the Dranalian Dukes with that stupid business idea, they wouldn't be in such deep financial debt right now.

Although they could still afford certain luxuries, to the arrogant Duchess of the East, it was as if they were living in poverty, and it was all the fault of her foolish husband. If only she had allowed him to manage everything herself, would they have ended up in this situation?

Her cheeks were red from going the more she thought about it, glancing at her husband with a renewed desire to hit him.

As for the person in question, resentment could be faintly seen in the eyes of Duke Asmuspheres, Johan Merian von Asmuspheres, as he lowered his gaze slightly to prevent the three powerful dragon bloods from noticing any of the negative emotions he felt towards them.

Someday... I'll trample them all underfoot and turn their daughters into slaves, whom I'll sell to wealthy pedophiles. I'll become the most powerful Duke in all of Hazar!

He swore with a dark expression, dreaming of a bright future after his victory, which he believed was inevitable. He even felt excited at the prospect of seeing a desperate Astaroth while his daughters were raped before his eyes, completely helpless to do anything.

I'll make it happen, there's no doubt about it.

“Now, we will call the roll for the maids to bring the gifts you have brought to the palace. Those whose noble rank or family name is called will step forward,” Astaroth said solemnly.

It was important that every noble family and official who had brought a gift for the birthday girl present themselves in a position where the birthday girl could thank them personally instead of standing in the middle of the crowd while the servants brought her gift.

However, it was also the moment when the birthday girl would experience the greatest tension and stress, as her memorization skills came into play there. Every time a gift was brought by the servants and a family stepped forward, she had to be able to thank each of them with their titles and names without fail.

Otherwise, they would be embarrassed in the eyes of high society, and their debut would be ruined. That said, most of these birthdays only have about 8 to 13 noble families invited, along with various officials, so it wasn't impossible, but Duke Astaroth had invited a larger number of aristocrats for this birthday, so many were curious about how Ekaterina would handle this process.

Duke Johan, Amelia, and Airedia waited silently as they watched the beautiful Dranalian princess fail irrevocably due to her father's error in judgment, waiting to see the girl humble herself before everyone. Especially Airedia, who longed to see the supposed genius Claudia had so proudly boasted of publicly shamed.

However, seeing the absolute calm with which Ekaterina handled everything, Airedia bit her lip. She expected to see her flustered, but she was as calm as if the large number of aristocrats watching her were nothing more than scarecrows in a cornfield. She couldn't help but wonder if she would really fail...

“Barony of Fuderia, step forward,” ordered a spokesman holding a thin scroll in both hands, looking only at the scroll and nothing else.

Responding to the call, a group of three people, a man, a woman, and a child, emerged from the crowd and stood near the knights blocking further passage while, from the other side, a group of maids wearing bunny ears brought out on literal silver trays various items that at first glance were very beautiful.

The aristocrats could only observe closely what it was about when the maids presented the Barony's gifts respectfully to their princess, and much of her gasped in surprise.

“That’s it… Is that shining thing a Mana Diamond!?”

“This confirms it, doesn't it? That the Barony of Fuderia really does have a small Mana Diamond mine on their hands now, and a high-purity one from what I see. After a century without one, it's truly astonishing.”

“Nonsense, wouldn’t that make them the richest barons in the Empire? It’s simply absurd, a miserable Barony shouldn’t have something like that in its hands,” Johan whispered with disdain and desire.

“Do you dare to do anything to them to obtain their mine? With such a valuable and priceless gift like this, wouldn’t the Baron of Fuderia easily gain the favor of the Dranalian Duchy? If you are reckless enough to bring calamity upon yourself and the Asmuspheres family, go ahead. But I assure you that I will divorce you and take our daughter away before anything bad happens.” Amelia looked at him coldly as she said this.

“…”

Despite knowing they could do nothing, it couldn't be helped that countless greedy eyes fell upon them as the nobles whispered about the Baron of Fuderia's good fortune, unnerving his wife and son.

However, the brown-haired, green-eyed man looked confident as his gaze remained fixed on the princess, who gently took the mana diamond and observed it closely. He waited for his moment, as the princess had to speak first before he would have the right to speak to her.

Then, the girl smiled softly as she promptly placed it back on the tray and looked at him with her beautiful, golden eyes. Her smile was so tender and kind that it left the baron and his family stunned for a moment, as they heard her velvety-soft voice for the first time.

“I never expected you to gift me with something as magnificent as a Mana Diamond in person, as it has been a long time since a mine from which they could be extracted was discovered in our mighty empire…it is truly incredible, Baron Marcus Janal von Fuderia.” Ekaterina clasped her hands together as she closed her eyes for a moment, “I am so grateful that you came to present me with this valuable and rare gift that very few would have the honor of holding in their own hands without spending a fortune. Truly, I hope that you and your family prosper with the blessing of that mine.”

The Baron and his family's eyes widened, and the man, thrilled, responded with barely contained enthusiasm as he bowed elegantly.

“T-thank you so much, Princess Ekaterina! I will keep your priceless words in my heart until the end of my life!”

“I will be happy that my words have been meaningful enough to be engraved in the precious memories of a person who shines with the light of fortune, Baron Marcus,” Ekaterina responded softly with a slight bow of her head, looking as dignified and elegant as a little goddess.

Her relatives on either side looked at her with pride and mild surprise, while most of the aristocrats seemed impressed. As for the Eastern Duke's family, they were somber, especially Princess Asmuspheres.

It was certainly just the beginning…but Airedia felt like they had lost.