Chapter 5

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My name is Louis de Armeria, Duke of Armeria and the Chancellor.

Today has been a day of many events.

First, my daughter Iris's expulsion from the academy and the dissolution of her engagement. To me, this was simply the expected outcome. From the moment I learned of her actions, I could have advised her to stop. However, I did not do so because my ultimate goal was to have her engagement dissolved. Even if she hadn't done anything foolish, I would have had her engagement annulled on the pretext of illness. In any case, I had planned to have her confined to the church to step back from noble society.

...Given her infatuation with Prince Edward, she wouldn't have listened to me anyway, and this was a convenient arrangement.

When I met her, however, she seemed surprisingly calm and composed, despite being humiliated by the man she loved. Moreover, she accurately predicted my thoughts.

...Interesting, I thought.

Iris and my son had been raised in a privileged environment, pampered by their status and their mother. Iris had become a typical noble, believing she could do anything with her own hands. My son, on the other hand, had become overconfident in his abilities, a naive young man. However, I planned to thoroughly train him once he started working at the castle.

Because of this, Iris had lost... to the children of other nobles. Prince Edward had reported that Baron Yuri Neuer's daughter had been bullied, but Iris was not the one who had done most of it. The bullying was carried out by other noble children who disapproved of her getting close to Prince Edward and who saw this as an opportunity to bring Iris down. They were much more effective, managing to pin most of the blame on Iris.

...The academy is a microcosm of noble society. One misstep, and you can be brought down quickly. I had thoroughly investigated their actions, using the information to pressure the families and to facilitate Iris's engagement annulment.

So, I was surprised. The only time my daughter seemed to have gained some insight, she spoke to me with a newfound clarity, accurately predicting my thoughts. ...At this point, sadly, she had a better grasp of the world and her place in it than my son. It was as if she had changed into a different person. As I listened to her, I recalled that she sometimes said strange things. The most notable was when she brought a commoner's child into the house and insisted on keeping the child by her side. ...I had agreed, thinking she was trying to create her own little entourage, but she never showed any signs of doing so. At the time, I thought she was eccentric, but today's Iris reminded me of the face she had when she first brought up the idea.

Leaving her as she was would be a waste. Before I knew it, I had offered her the position of acting lord. I thought it was a whimsical idea, but with Sebastian in charge of the estate, nothing out of the ordinary would happen. It would be interesting to see what Iris would do.

However, there was one thing she didn't predict. The approval of her engagement to the second prince. As the Chancellor, I had thought it would be better for her to be engaged to the first prince. But I allowed the engagement to the second prince simply because she wished it. I, too, am human, and a father who is soft on his daughter. In the end, I convinced myself that it was to control the second prince, and I had worked to bring the engagement to fruition. Since then, I had abandoned my neutral stance and focused on the royal family's movements, trying to mediate.

I can't say the same for my son. He had overestimated his own abilities, thinking he could handle things.

...However, the struggle for the throne intensified behind the scenes, and it was only a matter of time before Iris was thrown into the fray. I had little hope that she could navigate it.

Therefore, I decided to have her step back from noble society until the dust settled. Of course, I planned to bring her back once things calmed down.

But from today's meeting, it seemed that she was no longer content to be protected. I even began to hope that she could navigate the turbulent waters on her own.

...I look forward to seeing what she will do next.

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