“Oi, look…… that’s Earl Kaldia. Black hair and blood-red eyes, there’s no mistake.”
“Ahh, is that the atrociously brutal earl that enjoys blood……”
In the hall filled with chatting students, I could hear some voices talking about me. Since I’m an earl and the second highest-ranking student in school after the crown prince, I’m attracting a lot of annoying attention.
There are far more court nobles that live in the royal capital compared to landed nobles. Apparently in the “second royal capital” of the school, rumors about my infamy have spread quickly from parents to children.
While observing the power balance that was subtly different from the House of Lords, I slowly walked around the hall, looking for anyone that seemed familiar.
There’s supposed to be an evening party for welcoming the new students later tonight, and I thought about if I should attend, but being a recently promoted noble, I don’t want to attract unnecessary attention. And besides, I can feel everyone looking at me, saying whatever they like, and honestly, it doesn’t feel good.
Although I was planning to leave after I found someone I recognized from the otome game, I wasn’t able to find anyone like that. ……At any rate, I don’t really have anything to say to such a person regardless, apart from basic greetings, so how about I take my leave now? Just as I was getting tired of all the attention in the hall, someone tapped me on my shoulder.
“Hey, Earl Kaldia…… no, Einsbark. Congratulations on your noble title promotion.”
When I turned around, I saw an astoundingly handsome boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. I managed to suppress my surprise.
“Your Royal Highness, the Crown Prince……”
This person who was smiling softly at me was the crown prince of this country, Prince Alfred. With a dazzlingly brilliant smile, he held out his hand to me.
I took his hand, and after a moment of confusion, I kissed the back of his hand. He greeted me when we haven’t even been formally introduced to each other yet, there’s no proper etiquette on what to do in this situation, but from his expression, maybe he had wanted me to shake his hand instead.
I’ve seen him a few times before when visiting the royal palace, but this is the first time I’ve seen him up close and gotten a good look at his face. And now, I’ve remembered that he’s one of the capture targets from the otome game, and that he’s supposed to be the freshman representative who will give the opening speech later. Now that I’m seeing him directly, some hazy memories are coming back to me about the otome game, just like when I reached the school’s door.
I recalled that the crown prince had a close relationship with the other capture targets, and when I looked at the people next to him, as I expected I was assailed with more familiar faces.
It’s such a strange feeling. I’ve forgotten their names, but I remember some other basic information about them from the character list.
According to my vague memories, these guys next to him are the sons of the archduke, and the grandson of the Arxian Royal Army’s general commander Marquis Rolentsor, they’re definitely people that will be in positions critical to the future of this country.
They’re definitely going to be pillars of support for the crown prince in the future. ……I wouldn’t be surprised if this school gets attacked by those with nefarious plans in the future. It feels like too many important people have gathered here as freshmen with me this year.
I remembered the woman that invaded our kingdom, and set so much of the commoners’ district on fire, but I kept those unpleasant memories to myself.
Well, it’s probably due to my high ranking that the crown prince took the trouble of coming to greet me, due to social status within this school. Of course, there are noble children here from higher-ranked noble families than I am, but according to the laws of this country they’re still treated as nobles without titles. Most students haven’t obtained their own noble titles yet, after all. I think there may be a few students here that have inherited a baron or viscount title, but I seem to be the only one with a title of earl.
“……It is my good fortune to be in the presence of Your Highness. I am most honored by your words.”
“Mm, I’m glad to hear that we’ll be in the same class. I will be in your care from now on.”
I finally managed to eke out some words of courtesy required of me by etiquette, and the prince smiled back beautifully.
Ahh, this is…… With such an excellent appearance, I believe I can understand why many people would be attracted to him.
His excellent appearance is one of his qualities. The first prince Albert is known for his intelligence, but evaluations about his appearance say that he’s only average. The second and crown prince Alfred who’s in front of me now, however, has a matchless appearance that makes me doubt my eyes with just how fine he looks.
The fact that he was in the same class as me, I expected that as well based on the game of course, and unlike the first prince – his bloodline has no controversy, coming only from Arxian royal blood.
“Hey, if possible, I’d like it if you weren’t so stiff around me. You are not my vassal yet, you are still the vassal of my father the king. Besides, this place is just a school. I’d like to just be friends with you. How about it?”
While I was busy thinking in silence and lost in this social situation I didn’t understand at all after too much time on the battlefield, the crown prince’s voice brought me back to my senses again. Maybe that’s why he seemed dissatisfied with my kissing the back of his hand, I must have been too formal.
……If possible, I’d like to agree. If I’m able to say that out loud, how joyous it would be. He’s not just an otome game character, after all. However, I absolutely can’t allow myself to make friends with someone for such a silly reason.
“I apologize for being too formal. Your Highness will be the future king. I cannot allow myself to be impolite. Please forgive me.”
“But, are you going to be so formal for three whole years? I think that it’ll just be tiring for everyone. Given our ranks, I think that we’ll be seeing each other quite often.”
……No, of course it won’t be too tiring. What is he talking about, this crown prince.
Although I’m the second highest ranking noble in school after the crown prince, once I leave school, I’ll be just an earl again. What’s more, I’m an upstart inheritor. Unlike a higher rank like a marquis or a margrave, my social status isn’t appropriate for getting close to the crown prince.
There should be some dukes’ daughters here as well, so I think he’d be better off going to find them instead. In noble society, people of different statuses hanging out together would only plant the seeds of useless friction. Even now, I’m still dealing with the annoying consequence of receiving that medal.
Although I say this, my social status is much lower than the crown prince’s, so unfortunately, I’m unable to refuse his direct request.
“……As you wish, Your Highness.”
In the end when I was forced to agree with him, the crown prince showed off his gorgeous smile again. It’s quite blinding, my eyes are getting dizzy, please stop it.
“Thank you, earl. By the way, I was curious. Could you please tell me why it is that you’re wearing clothing for boys?”
“According to the school regulations, students with noble titles are supposed to wear formal military attire.”
“Well, I know that, but still……”
I suppose it’s only natural for the crown prince to be confused with what I’m wearing. As always, I wore ceremonial clothing for males.
This noble school has no school uniforms, and most noble children just wear their own clothing that they like. Especially the girls, it’s normal for most of them to dress up every day and accessorize because other nobles’ eyes will be on them. The majority of girls that aren’t engaged will desperately be trying to find a partner here at noble school.
But just as how the crown prince was wearing the clothes of his knight order, I was also currently wearing the military uniform of the Kaldia army, because of the rule where nobles with titles must attend school wearing military clothes. This rule is meant to make their statuses stand out from the other students.
“……Are female students truly required to comply with that rule?”
“I am the first example of a female student with a noble title that this school has ever had, so it applies to me as well.”
Also, the reason why I’ve always been wearing this style, is still the same as before. Since there have never been any underage female domain lords like me before, there’s a lack of official rules regarding formal attire for girls. That’s why I’ve always been wearing knight attire or my military uniform whenever I attend social gatherings such as evening parties, I never change it.
“These clothes are more practical than skirts, and I happen to like wearing this style as well. I am glad that I do not have to spend any unnecessary money on accessories. Your Highness has no need to worry about my clothes.”
“……Um, ……I see. It’s fine if you like it, then.”
The crown prince seemed even more confused as he nodded.
Oh-ho-ho, I can’t wait to see someone mistaken Eliza for a boy!
Thanks for the chapter.
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With all the infamy she gets, everybody seems to know who she is 😐. I doubt someone will mistake her for a boy.
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What if they know about her infamy, but as she is more known as “Earl”, which is the male form, they might totally mistake her for a boy. Especially if there are no visible, or not easily noticeable bumps on the chest.
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Thus begins the capture target Eliza route.
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Not a bad first impression, I should say
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She is already on her way to dominance in this school, yay!
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Kyaaa~ finally some otome game feel its been a long time…… hope this lasts a bit longer before we go back to the dark and gritty theme.
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So when does Eliza become a capture target?
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Thanks 4 the chapter!
So, no uniform. But she’s wearing a military uniform and from the pictures, looks dashing in them. Hope we see someone mistaking her for a boy.
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Thanks for the chapter!
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150 chapters for a otome story setup…. i get mixed feeling about it 🙄🙄🙄
Nevertheless, i feel the story become fresh again 😋😋😋
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Heyo, I’m happy the author was willing to put in the effort to flesh things out to this degree, everything the girlie has she earned, no stupid free powerups most isekai protagonists start out with, just a lot of misery and effort on her part.
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The walls of Kaldia are mighty, it seems really hard to get admited in the inner friendly circle ;o)
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subtly Eliza, subtly.
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Ah I wanna be Eliza’s friend ;; 7 ;; ) This seems like a pretty good start for her though, especially with the Prince finding her so interesting and all. Possible ally get! Thanks for the chapter!
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“These clothes are more practical than skirts, and I happen to like wearing this style as well. I’m glad that I don’t have to spend any unnecessary money on accessories.”
Eliza is perfect.
And even though I was kinda hoping for the typical “wearing a boy’s uniform because it’s more practical” (i.e. there are school uniforms, and Eliza purposely wears one for that reason), I like that the author actually went out of their way to set up a more believable scenario.
That said, I’m sure the other capture targets will be wearing ceremonial knight uniforms as well, she’ll fit right in.
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By gods! Please give Eliza at least the Look of Feng Xian(Lu bu) from the novel “Don’t Tell Me This Is The Real History Of Three Kingdom” not Kuroh Yatogami of ‘K’
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Actually, I think Kuroh is the very image of the perfect bokukko in this setting. Even though he’s a guy.
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I imagine a lot of girls dreaming “Earl-sama!!~~” while thinking of Eliza in male clothes XD
Thanks for the translation!
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I find the crown Prince really annoying.
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I feel like some foreshadowing of the school getting invaded and Eliza taking command of the situation military style!!!
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Forgot to say. I hope he dies, what was he thinking getting close to MY Eliza.
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Are you saying someone like heroine or some other shady character from the Rendal union might infiltrate the school and Eliza will take care of them since all the nobles don’t know a thing about war and political stuff. I agree with u.
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… I wonder what motives does that Crown Prince have?
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Formality + curiosuty about the kid who is the same age as him, a female at that, but is already working as lord and went to war and got her abilities recognized at this young age + get to know the new generation of border’s defenders?
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Well…
– She’s the sole protege of Earl Terejia, and Earl Terejia’s older brother the Prime Minister is probably also interested in her by extension
– She’s the sole adopted daughter of the Einsbark family, that rose in importance after the whole fiasco in the capital a while back?
– She disrupted enemy plans to use new weapons, then played a crucial role in crushing the enemy in a battle after (Eliza thinks Ergnade pushed all his credit onto her, but outside observers would certainly not know that), and earned a medal as well as the rank of Earl despite her young age
To outside observers, she’s either a rising star or someone being propped up and raised by other influential factions. That merits courting her into one’s sphere of influence. She’s just an Earl now, but she’s also young and may further rise in rank.
That or, he’s just curious because she’s something of a young prodigy. D:
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She’s the most interesting kid on campus by a mile so it’s pretty simple to see why he’s doing what he’s doing.
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I feel that the crown prince while charismatic is too innocent and naive. I will be up to Eliza to defend the crown.
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Seems like the prince and his friends now know what to give Eliza as birthday present lol
I wonder if the prince will make his objective to make Eliza wear girl’s or girlish clothes xD
Well, it’s rather common for those little noble kids who relished on the security of the walls and capital to find Eliza scary, but at least the border and military kids should look up at her, right?
Thanks for the chapter!
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Because of your comment, I can picture it now… The Prince gives Eliza a bow for her birthday, trying to ease her in to the accessories.
Prince: See? I got you a fancy bow! It matches your eyes and…
*Eliza clips the bow onto the middle of her long ponytail and somehow it fits right in with the formal knight outfit*
The Prince wonders where he went wrong while girls in the background swoon that Eliza is looking more bishounen than ever.
-A week later Eliza ditches the bow because it was getting in the way-
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Thanks for the chapter~ :3
Aww yisss Eliza in male/military clothes! I hope to see more reaction from people finding out Eliza is a girl.
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Thank you for the chapter! Can’t wait for them to begrudgingly start respecting her leadership and might!
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Yey~
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Thank you for the chapter~
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I would really love to see Eliza’s illustration in a dress.
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Eliza vision:
*sparklies attack Prince*: Oh! Congratulations on [obtaining that medal that serves no purpose except bring trouble]*
Eliza: … thank you sir.
*sparklies attack Prince*: By the way, why are you so formal? I [hereby use my authority as Crown Prince to order you to act more friendly]
Eliza: … yes sir.
*sparklies attack Prince*: Yes! *sparkles*
Eliza: … (please stop)
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Prince: By the way, why are you dressed like that?
Eliza: Because I’m poor.
Prince: ?!
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Prince: *runs out of sparkles*
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More than the prince, I fear much more the suposely heroine of the otome game….
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ITT: Eliza onee-sama
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Yes! Finally eliza enters school after 150 chapters?! Lol. Its so funny how Eliza was dazzled by the prince.
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Eliza used confuse.
It was super effective.
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plus pants highlight a woman’s curves more. definitely another bonus.
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WOW… Eliza is growing to be a master of few words with thousands of meaning in this chapter, wonder if Crown Prince catch her subtle introduction of herself…
“I am the first example of a female student with a noble title that this school has ever had, so it applies to me as well.”
means: since she is the first example, she has to abide by the rules and set precedence so no one would look down on her because of her age and gender. Besides, with this distinction it’s her chance to gain attention from future generation.
“These clothes are more practical than skirts, and I happen to like wearing this style as well. I’m glad that I don’t have to spend any unnecessary money on accessories. Your Highness has no need to worry about my clothes.”
means: She is a frugal domain lord who is not so concerned about her femininity, so the crown prince don’t have to treat her as a lady either. And also… sadly, Eliza also implies her domain is so poor she’d rather not waste money she could spend for her people on herself…
Maybe I overthink, but this is how it sounds to me.
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I don’t think you overthought it. Mizura’s history analysis, thriving LCD, frequent imperfectluck explanation, a lot of original plot development, trail of seemingly insignificant detail of the world, and many interpretation comment that stretched long over this translation are proof that while reading this series it’s never been too much to think over the chapter and try to gain insight to the situation and action of Eliza’s and her fellow character.
As someone with short attention, reading the many interpretation comment is funny and informative. All the other reader are making each other reading experience better.
So Thank you to everybody here especially imperfectluck and Mizura!
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I do think he is overthinking the first part though. Most likely, Eliza got used to wearing the uniform and is dirt cheap, so since there aren’t any rules stating otherwise, she handily interprets the existing rules in a way that fits her wallet. xD
I doubt she’d bat an eyelash if another girl in her situation showed up but wore dresses. It’s just that She doesn’t want to.
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Thanks for the amazing chapter again Imperfect! You’ve really been on a roll.
Just one note: I do not think that “Domain” Noble is the correct word there in the fourth paragraph (I could not find any definition for that). I think you wanted “Landed” or “Titled” Noble (these are things like “Duke”, “Earl”, “Baron” etc who have control over a region and give their service to their Liege/the Crown). The nobles of the court would also typically be called the “gentry” in English (although I think “court noble” would be fine since it is more descriptive in this case).
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Ah, okay, thanks for the tip!
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Thanks yet again for bringing this oh so wonderful chapter to us. I am grateful. I hope the heroine(if she ever appears) makes things difficult for Eliza but she will tacke through it with her kuudereness and awesomeness.
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Rather than the prince, I hope the heroine falls in love with Eliza hahaa
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The noble system is quite interesting here by the way. In any ‘normal’ noble system, the rank of the parents would directly determine the rank of the children, but in this case, since children don’t automatically have a rank, you have this weird situation where it’s a bit like… Kid A is ranked higher than Kid B, even though Kid B’s parent is the boss of Kid A’s parent. Weirdness!
In practice, I guess such situations are rare, because most children won’t have any ranks at all. Cases like Eliza where the child has already inherited the title of their parent are probably rare, and the higher the rank, the less likely the rank would have been inherited by a child, probably (I mean, Earl and above families probably avoid situations where the only survivor able to inherit is a child).
Considering how isolated the school system is, I’m guessing it’s half-heartedly set up in a way where children can build connections without interference from their parents and without regards to how their parents are ranked. A particularly outstanding student would be able to form connections usually out of his reach, for example. In practice though, the children would likely still form cliques based on their ranks and their parents’ connections, or even come with ready-made entourages consisting of children with slightly lower ranks.
In the meantime, I’m lol-ing at how Eliza is trying to figure out the ‘power balance’ at school in comparison to how the ‘power balance’ is at the House of Lords. She forgets that these are kids who don’t have any actual experience with governance/authority, whereas power balance within the House of Lord depends on large part on politics and economic interests arising from governance.
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I have a feeling that events will head much the same way as the oteme game to Eliza’s surprise, and that the school setting will be very different from what she knows in regular society. Why? Because that is the setting as dictated by ‘god’ (the programmers), and it will be so if reality itself has to be broken to make it so.
The will of the world cannot be defied.
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Thanks for the chapter!
Hmmm considering that the capture targets are around the crown prince… if a reincarnator was to show up, they’d probably mistake Eliza as a new capture target…
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Well, he is still a kid. Not a wise and knowledgeable king yet.
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Omg I find the crown prince seriouslh so annoying xD
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