Chapter 366

The reason why Harry didn't want to tell me the conversation was twofold. One was because it would ultimately lead to insulting a friend's parents no matter what the outcome. The second was because he was afraid I would be hurt by hearing it. After returning to the temple, Harry and I talked in an empty laboratory at the magic research society mansion. Harry was invited to breakfast. The people there were Count Grants and his wife. Count Grants seemed surprised that Harry was invited to breakfast. Of course, Harry, who was invited to breakfast alone, would have been even more surprised. "Just... we asked how our parents were doing, and if they were going to come to the Yellow Road." The Countess seemed to be curious about Harry de Saint-Fouan, the daughter of the Duke, not a student at the temple. Harry hesitated and seemed hesitant to tell the story. "Then... suddenly, I don't really know if living in the temple is really good... So you said something like that..." "What are you talking about?" "Even commoners receive education at the temple. So... when nobles or royals get married later, what happened at the temple remains as a rumor... It's a rule not to talk about it, but rumors spread behind the scenes... Someone did something with someone else, and so on..." Ah. I understood what he meant. "So, in other words, if noble-born kids stick together with this and that, it could cause problems later on when it comes to marriage and other things... That's what you said, right?" "W-what are you saying! It's really embarrassing!" When I expressed it too blatantly, Harry's face turned red and he shouted. But when I expressed it more roughly, Harry seemed to collapse like a table, falling down. "Anyway... to put it simply, you're right. Just being a temple graduate makes it difficult for men or women to find a good match later on... That's it." Harry's split hair was scattered on the table as he spoke. Cute. "Does that mean the value of the body goes down?" "B-body value?! Your expression is really... But I have to agree. Yes, the value of the body goes down. So, rather than being educated at a place like the temple and mingling with low-born people, it's better to have a governess... That way, you can find a good match later on. That's what she said..." "A fight between a married couple?" "Yes..." Count Grants exploded, and the Countess and Count Grants had a big fight in front of Harry. So that's why Count Grants apologized. He had shown the sight of a married couple fighting in front of his daughter's friend for no reason. "In the end, it would have been a humiliating remark to all the friends who came together, including those of humble birth, so Harry must have been quite uncomfortable. Although I shouldn't say anything about my friend's parents, the Countess seems to lack the refinement that matches her pride. "Anyway, you know why I didn't want to talk about it, right?" "...... Yeah, I guess so." Ultimately, it could become gossip about my friend's parents, and I didn't want to hurt you by complaining about those of humble birth and so on, who might give you a lower value. "Honestly, I don't really know." Harry sighs deeply. "Living a life where you only care about your own value, who you marry, and how you appear to others. That's right, like you said, it's the value of the body. If that's the right behavior for a nobleman, then what's the difference between that and a slave?" Focusing too much on one's own value ultimately leads to self-commodification. The lifestyle of behaving and living modestly without mingling with those of humble birth in order to find someone who will buy you at a higher price. Harry looks at me. "I don't think my value only comes from myself, but it's not something that only comes from outside of me either. So... it was uncomfortable." "Oh my. You're so brave. When did you grow up like this?" I want to bite him because he's so brave. When I start to pat his head, Harry's eyes twist. "Ah! What are you talking about again! Am I a kid? Don't do that!" Harry screamed, smoothing out his messy hair. "Last year at this time, you were saying that if Class B came into Class A dormitory, it would be unpleasant for Ludwig. If you've become like this, it must be a big deal." "!!!!" Harry's face turned so red at my words that it seemed like it would melt. If you could express that you want to die of embarrassment with your expression, that would be it. "Well, don't talk about the past... and that's not about nobles or commoners... profit... I don't know. Fool. I hate you. How do you remember that..." In the end, Harry had nothing to say and his lips puckered up. He's fatally cute today. What should I do? Is this what happens when he judges that he has nothing to say either? The attitude of the Countess is not to be ignored, but it's not that strange. Rather, for those who have received a lifetime of noble treatment, such a way of thinking can be taken for granted. In fact, although there are many royal and noble families in the temple, there are also many who do not enter the temple because they do not want to be educated with commoners and have no status. So, nobles like Count Grants' wife are actually representative of a significant portion." Actually, Harry is embarrassed about what he said in the past, and he would still be the kind of person who divides people by talent and status if I hadn't forced him to train his immunity.

"To be honest, when I think about it, the nobles and royals around me were surprisingly kind."

"What? Suddenly?"

"No, I mean it. Even though it's forbidden to press someone down based on status, you can do whatever you want to rely on authority or status, but no one did that to me."

Harry looks at me with his mouth open in surprise.

"This crazy guy... Do you say that even though you know what you've been doing at the Temple?"

I didn't touch it because I would get scolded if I made a mistake. Harry kept nagging me that I shouldn't say that the people around me were kind.

It's not something that someone who used to press down on others and curse them when they tried to press down on them would say.

No, that's not what I mean.

"No, I mean there are other adults."

"Adults?"

"Yes. Like your parents or others..."

The Duke of Sangtu-an said that status doesn't matter because they will all end up in the same place anyway.

Berthus said that they were equal under him.

Charlotte also treated me comfortably for her own reasons as time passed.

Even the emperor, of course, may have been able to do so because of the position that Ellen and I have, but he was a person who said that he didn't have to show respect when he was arrogant.

So there were no arrogant and self-respecting nobles like the Duchess of Grantham around me.

No.

There were.

Like Erichna Heinrich.

Heinrich hit me a few times and became kind to me, and Erich saw me hitting the kids and shrunk on his own. No, didn't Erich hit me a few times too? I had forgotten all about it.

Um...

Harry's words weren't wrong.

Those guys all had something happen to me.

Since the Duchess of Grantham was said to be a typical arrogant noble, I began to question what I had thought was obvious until now.

"But didn't Rihanna not care about status from the beginning?"

"Hmm?"

Rihanna de Grantham.

It's hard to approach her in the first place because of the atmosphere, and she gives a cold impression.

In reality, she is a carefree and straightforward person who sees people as they are and treats them as they are.

She even went around with the crazy dog executioner during the festival.

"I think so."

If Rihanna dislikes or refuses someone, it's because she doesn't like that person, not because of their background.

I had thought it was so obvious because none of the nobles around me, whether they were students or parents, ever talked about status to me.

It's actually a unique case for someone like the Duke of Grantham to treat commoners so casually.

Rihanna pretended to dislike her father, but it's clear that she was influenced more by her father than her mother. "Nobody has any flaws, the demeanor and pride of the nobles, and the importance of authority and status, and the mother who values them greatly. Because I took after my father between the two, Rihanna also has such a carefree and indifferent personality. Now, the last step. "What did you say to each other when you fought as a couple?" "Why do you keep asking about that?" "The most interesting thing in the world is watching a fight. And even the fancy Duke family fights as a couple, don't you wonder?" "No one cares about that! You're really wicked!" Harry, unable to win against my wicked question and teasing, grumbled in frustration. Harry was in an uncomfortable position, but his memory was good. "Just... the Duke said that status cannot be a person... If you treat people like that, you will end up with no one around you. And the lady... You are the typical person who ruins people when nobles go to the temple... Like that..." There were some incomprehensible words mixed in, but this made it clear. The Duke of Grantham would have joined the revolutionary forces. * * * Three days later. "He is a thorough person." Sarkagar was listening to the report of Sarkagar in my dormitory room at the Temple. "How much?" "I think it's not a guess of my subordinates... I couldn't find anything." At my instruction to investigate the Duke of Grantham, Sarkagar went straight into action. He may not be able to enter a place where the room fee is too thorough, but the Duke of Grantham is not that level. However, he did not find anything that would prove that he was connected to the revolutionary forces. "If he is really involved, we will find out if we wait for some time... But if he is such a thorough person, he will not leave any evidence. You cannot understand the contents of the encrypted message even if you use a cipher letter. Since nobles use written documents very often, you cannot know which of the letters and documents written in a day are related to the revolutionary forces. Even if you know, you cannot know what is in the encrypted content. It could be a very ordinary greeting letter that could be an encrypted letter." Owen de Gatmora's visit last time was likely to be a business visit rather than a revolutionary force. The reason why the Duke of Grantham was judged to be a revolutionary force was ultimately due to several circumstances and Owen de Gatmora, who was clearly a member of the revolutionary forces. If the Duke of Grantham is really a revolutionary force, it means that he is a very thorough person, unlike the impression of a neighbor who has a good wind. Sarkagar did not find any evidence. "But I think my subordinates' judgment is certain." "Why?" However, Sarkagar agrees that the Duke of Grantham is a member of the revolutionary forces. "I too am stepping into the imperial social circle under the name of Argon Fonteus, Marquis."

"I see."

"The current Duke of Grantham, Arthur de Grantham, is known to have eloped with a commoner woman he met at the Temple."

"Ah."

Was that what he meant by a typical example of ruining one's life by going to the Temple?

"So, what happened?"

"If he had succeeded in eloping, he couldn't have been the Duke of Grantham."

Elopement with a commoner.

And failure.

"Isn't the background of status and origin enough to curse oneself?"

Sarkagar, dressed as a maid, reveals her white teeth with a sinister smile.

Please.

You know that expression of yours is portraying us as three times more evil than we actually are, right?

Anyway, that means the Duke of Grantham and his wife are currently in a strategic marriage.

"Of course, the Duchess of Grantham wasn't originally someone who was so sensitive to status."

"I don't know much, but isn't the Duchess a terrible person?"

Sorry, Rihanna.

But your mother is a terrible person, isn't she?

Ah, sorry...sorry.

Sarkagar tilts her head with a gesture of hesitation at my words.

"Come to think of it, the Duchess of Grantham also has a story. Someone who can only be that kind of person..."

Perhaps because she has lived as a noble for quite some time, Sarkagar has a lot of background knowledge about the social circles and physiology of nobles without prior research.

"The Duke of Grantham is not one to step into the social circle, but the Duchess is a little different."

"Hmm..."

"But at every social gathering or party she attends, she unknowingly carries that label."

Sarkagar laughs bitterly.

"The person who failed to elope with the Duke of Grantham and was forced to marry him."

"A person who can only have a failed marriage."

"A person who started out as a loser to receive her husband's love."

"A wretched woman who coveted the Duke of Grantham's prestige and married him despite the shameful rumors."

As I listen, it becomes eerie.

"She became a noblewoman with a higher status because she married a man with a reputation as a man with shameful rumors. She was originally just the second daughter of a Hanmihan Marquis family with only a title and no territory. Therefore, she became a pitiful and foolish woman whose very existence became a shameful rumor."

What she gained from marrying a man with shameful rumors was the prestige of being the Duchess of Grantham.

But in the social circle, she is a despised woman who abandoned her dignity for status elevation.

Therefore, she could only become a person who clings to the prestige of being the Duchess of Grantham, despite enduring all of that.

Although she hates shameful rumors, she ultimately turns a blind eye to the fact that she gained everything because of those rumors.

"Could such a marriage have gone smoothly?"

The Duke who failed to elope and was eventually caught.

The Duchess who married a high nobleman for status elevation despite knowing his situation. The Duchess became obsessed with her status and reputation, knowing that she failed in her marriage. The Duke was forced into the marriage, and the lack of children besides Rihanna is evidence of their failed marriage. The Duke, who was originally from the Orbis class, constantly questioned the meaning of status and cursed himself for being obsessed with it. There is no conclusive evidence, but there are too many suspicions that the Duke is involved with the revolutionaries. The protagonist plans to attend a meeting with the leaders to confirm the Duke's involvement. However, there is still no conclusive evidence and it is too early to make any judgments.