“So… I’m not one to doubt you, Vanitas. We’re close, after all. I’m trying my best to overlook her actions despite the fact she harmed my wife because, well, my sister isn’t exactly normal.”
“Hey—!” Irene tried to retort, but Franz pressed on.
“But you,” Franz continued, narrowing his eyes at Vanitas, “I find it surprising. Why didn’t you ever mention you were close to Irene?”
Franz coughed, as if clearing his suspicions.
“No, why did you specifically hide your relationship with her? You told me you two weren’t close at all.”
The atmosphere inside the Imperial Palace grew tense. The wedding was scheduled for tonight, but Franz had called Vanitas in to settle this matter before anything else.
He had already been suspicious, especially after how strangely Vanitas had taken Irene’s side last night.
But Vanitas had been prepared for this moment.
“Lord Franz.”
Besides, Irene needed to be punished.
“What could possibly be the reason a man would hide his relationship with a woman?” he asked.
“There are many reasons,” Franz muttered. “My relationship with Irene isn’t exactly the best.”
“….”
Irene glared sharply at her brother but said nothing.
Olivia had looked the other way and forgave Irene, considering the circumstances. But the atmosphere between them was awkward. Thankfully, the mark on her neck was instantly healed, leaving no scars of the incident that befell that night.
Vanitas spoke again, smooth as ever.
“It wasn’t my decision,” he said. “Her Highness Irene insisted we keep our connection as secret as possible.”
Franz turned his gaze to Irene. Her silence was all the confirmation he needed. Slowly, he turned back to Vanitas.
“Why?” he asked.
Vanitas didn’t hesitate.
“Because we’re in a relationship,” he said flatly.
“….”
“….”
Silence.
“Huh…?” Franz blinked, completely thrown off.
“What the hell are you saying, you bastard?!” Irene burst out, shooting up from her seat.
With no hesitation, she smacked Vanitas hard on the back.
Thwack!
Vanitas barely flinched. The grin on his smug face only fueled her fury.
Thwack!
Franz sighed heavily and rubbed his temples. “What the hell is actually going on here…?”
At that moment, Vanitas reached out, lifting Irene’s chin lightly with his finger to meet his eyes.
“My, my. I thought we agreed to align our story, Your Highness?” he said lazily. “Wasn’t it time we revealed that you’re my secret lover?”
“W-Wha—?!” Irene stammered, her face exploding into red.
There was a heavy emphasis on the words “my secret lover,” making it sound as if she was the one desperately clinging onto him.
The sheer audacity of it made her want to explode.
Not that it would have been any better if he said it the other way around. Either way, it wasn’t true!
“….”
Her red face deepened in color. Yet she couldn’t argue.
Not when Vanitas was looking at her with that infuriatingly calm smile as if telling her, ‘Shut up and trust me.’
The smile that meant he had a plan.
And Vanitas’s plans… had never failed before.
But even so….
“So, is it true, Irene?” Franz asked.
“A-Ah?!” Irene stammered again, her gaze alternating between her brother and Vanitas.
Vanitas’s grin widened ever so slightly, as if he was enjoying every second of this.
Did he even have a plan at all?
‘Should I just kill him?’ Irene thought.
But just as she was about to snap, the realization dawned upon her.
Vanitas was redirecting everything.
Instead of letting last night’s incident linger in Franz’s mind, he had thrown a bigger bomb. The supposed secret relationship between Vanitas Astrea and Aetherion’s first princess.
It was brilliant, in a way.
Given Vanitas’s reputation, status, wealth, and frankly, by Irene’s own standards, he wasn’t exactly a bad marriage candidate.
And considering his old connection to her mother…
He actually fit the bill disturbingly well.
And more importantly, if Franz bought even a hint of this lie, he’d be too shocked and distracted to stay mad about last night’s events.
In short, Vanitas was saving her.
Even if she wanted to murder him for the way he was doing it.
That had to be it!
“It’s a joke,” Vanitas stated flatly.
“…..”
“….”
‘Should I really just kill this guy?’
* * *
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
“I’m gonna kill you! Die! How could you?!” Irene shouted, smacking Vanitas’s chest over and over again inside her room.
Unfortunately for her, her blows were practically useless. Thanks to his trait, [Vessel], the smacks felt no heavier than pillow taps against him.
Still, it was rather annoying.
Finally, Vanitas caught her wrist mid-swing.
“Your Highness,” he said coolly, looking down at her.
Irene glared up at him, her eyes burning with fury. Her face was flushed a deep seething red. Perhaps from anger, from humiliation, maybe everything.
“Let go,” she hissed. “Do you even realize what you just pulled off back there?!”
Vanitas tilted his head slightly. “I protected Your Highness’s honor.”
The fact that as if it were the most obvious thing in the world only fueled her shame.
“By claiming I’m your secret lover?!” she screeched.
The misunderstanding had already been cleared up, but Franz didn’t let the statement slide easily. He had even pulled Vanitas aside afterward and asked, half-jokingly, half-seriously, whether he actually intended to marry Irene.
Vanitas’s answer had been infuriatingly vague. ‘It’s all up to her,’ he had said, as if throwing her into the lion’s den.
The sheer absurdity of it all made it feel like last night’s incident had never even happened.
“Because of me,” Vanitas said smoothly, “Franz now sees you favorably. You know how much he values me, right?”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up, you fucking bastard—!” Irene howled, slamming her fists against his chest.
The worst part was that he wasn’t wrong.
Because of that ridiculous stunt, Franz had now started viewing Irene through a different lens.
If Vanitas, someone Franz trusted, was willing to claim he had feelings for her, and even casually hint at marriage, it elevated Irene’s standing more than any apology could have.
Who wouldn’t want to have their close friend as a brother-in-law?
….Actually, no, most people wouldn’t.
What kind of lunatic would want to hand their little sister off to a friend?
But standards varied, especially in noble society. It was far more favorable to marry into someone you trusted than to throw a sister into the hands of some ambitious stranger.
Still, knowing all this didn’t make Irene feel any better.
“You—!” she choked, glaring at him with trembling fists. “I should have you hanged for treason against my dignity!”
Vanitas only chuckled.
“Careful, Your Highness,” he said, leaning forward slightly. His voice dropped just enough to make her heart skip for all the wrong reasons. “People might start thinking you actually want to marry me.”
Irene froze, looking all scandalized.
Then she screamed into her palms.
“Argh! I’m going to kill you one day! I swear, Vanitas!”
“Yes, yes,” Vanitas said lazily, waving her outburst off. “Then all my League of Spirits training would be for nothing.”
“Uhm…?” Irene blinked.
“I was supposed to win the trophy for you, wasn’t I?”
“….”
Irene’s cheeks turned pink. She looked away, cleared her throat awkwardly.
“Yes. The tournament starts this weekend and will run for a few months. Have you cleared your schedule?” she asked.
“There shouldn’t be any problems on my end.”
“Alright then.”
A brief silence lingered between them. Irene shifted, looking unusually bashful.
“I thought you’d be… more angry at me,” she said, almost shyly.
“Me? Why would I be?”
Vanitas feigned ignorance so naturally, it was almost as if his own incident last night hadn’t even happened.
Of course, Irene didn’t know about his own tantrum, so it didn’t matter.
“I heard from Zia,” she said, giving him a side glance. “You were pretty angry.”
“Ah.”
Vanitas cleared his throat stiffly.
“You were quite close to ruining everything,” he said. “Seriously, are you a child, Your Highness? How could you throw a tantrum like that?”
Not that she needed to know he had thrown one too.
“Tsk,” Irene clicked her tongue and looked away, refusing to argue.
Once her rage had cooled, she had thought about it. She knew she had nearly made a huge mistake.
“Anyway,” Vanitas said, checking the time on his pocket watch, “I need to go. I’m already late for my first lecture.”
“Ah, right.”
He paused at the doorway and glanced back at her.
“And… do your best to fix your relationship with your sister-in-law,” he said.
“Henrich bitch.”
“Future Empress.”
“Bitch.”
“Are you really going to be like this?” Vanitas said. “Want me to abandon you?”
“….”
“Good.”
Like a puppy on a leash.
With that, Vanitas turned and left, leaving Irene grumbling to herself.
* * *
The vote tallying was underway.
The faculty was handling the process behind closed doors to ensure absolute confidentiality in case of foul play. The results would be announced just before the lunch break.
“Hoo…”
Astrid let out a shaky breath, barely able to focus on Professor Vanitas’s lecture.
Her thoughts were everywhere.
“Look at her, pretending like she’s not going to win.”
Astrid turned to her right and found her best friend, Sophia Clementine, watching her with a smirk, elbow propped on the desk and chin resting lazily in her hand as she made that comment.
“You do realize how insane your campaign’s been, right?”
Astrid blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean those weirdos calling themselves the ‘Astrid Fan Club’ who stood in front of the university tower every day with matching bandanas and hand-painted posters. You seriously don’t remember that?”
“….”
Astrid’s face turned pale.
“Oh my God,” she muttered. “I thought they were part of Charlotte’s drama club’s guerrilla marketing…”
“Nope.”
Sophia leaned in, clearly enjoying this.
“They were real. One of them even had a giant cardboard cutout of your face.”
“….You’re joking.”
“I wish I was. It was borderline cult behavior.”
Astrid buried her face in her hands. “This is so embarrassing….”
Sophia laughed. “Embarrassing? Girl, you’re winning. That’s grassroots campaigning at its finest.”
“I didn’t even tell them to do any of that!”
“With a face like yours? Please. It was bound to happen,” Sophia said, flicking her pen in Astrid’s direction. “Honestly, even if you lost the election, you’d have already won every male student’s heart on campus.”
Astrid peeked between her fingers. “…Don’t exaggerate.”
“I’m not. Did you not see the way they were looking at you during your speech? Literal heart-eyes. I’m surprised no one fainted.”
Astrid groaned again, slumping forward. “Please let the floor swallow me now.”
“Nope,” Sophia said, popping the ‘p’ in her statement. “You’re going to sit up straight, fix your crown, and accept the throne like the student queen you are.”
Astrid mumbled. “….They haven’t even announced the winner.”
“Doesn’t matter. Everyone knows it’s you. Even Professor Vanitas looked like he was holding back a smile when he saw the campaign posters.”
“Wait, what?! He saw those?!”
“Oh, totally,” Sophia said with a grin. “He walked by the Tower on Monday. One of the Fan Club weirdos tried to give him a pin with your face on it.”
“….”
Astrid’s soul visibly left her body.
“No. No. No, no, no. Please tell me you’re lying….”
“I wish I was. Sadly, I saw the whole thing,” Sophia said, fighting back laughter. “He just said, ‘No thank you,’ and walked off like a man who’s seen too much.”
Astrid dropped her head onto the desk. “….I’m never showing up to class again.”
——Girls. Be quiet.
“….?”
“….?”
Both Astrid and Sophia immediately turned their heads. Sitting right beside Astrid, Charlotte spoke without even sparing them a glance. Her attention was fully fixed on the lecture.
Sophia smirked.
“Look at her, acting all demure now. Are you practicing for a role or something?” she whispered.
Astrid bit her lip to stifle a laugh.
Sophia went on, teasingly, “I still remember your quiet, shy-girl phase last year. You didn’t even make eye contact with people.”
It was true.
Charlotte had changed dramatically. Her posture, her speech, her expressions, everything about her now radiated graceful elegance. Almost more sophisticated than Astrid herself, despite Astrid’s own upbringing.
“You’re really pulling it off,” Astrid whispered.
Charlotte simply flipped a page of her notebook and continued scribbling notes.
“….This is how I’ve always been, though,” Charlotte mumbled, pouting her lips.
Sophia leaned back with a grin. “Never mind. She’s still cute.”
Just then, a blaring announcement echoed from the courtyard outside.
——Astrid is the best! Astrid is the greatest! Astrid is the cutest! The most beautiful! The smartest! The most elegant! Fiiighting, Astrid!!”
The entire class turned their heads toward the windows.
“….”
Astrid froze.
Her soul left her body.
Just outside, a group of male students wearing matching bandanas with what seemed to be a chibi form of Astrid with hearts and words saying “Vote for the University’s Sweetheart!” were standing outside. Fat men, thin men, tall men, they looked like the typical otakus.
“Oh my god!” she cried out, jumping from her seat in horror.
Whispers and snickering echoed through the classroom. Several students craned their necks to peek out the windows. Vanitas paused mid-sentence at the board, arching a brow.
Astrid didn’t wait.
Sophia burst out laughing, nearly falling out of her chair. “This is gold! I love this timeline!”
Even Charlotte blinked, looking up briefly. “….Was that really necessary?”
Vanitas let out a quiet sigh through his nose, tapping the chalk once against the board with a clack.
“Sit back down, Astrid.”
“…Ah.” Astrid froze mid-step, just shy of the door, then slowly shuffled back to her seat, red-faced.
Everyone tried to suppress their laughter, but no one dared speak as professor Vanitas walked calmly toward the window.
Astrid perked up a little. Was he finally going to scold them?
‘Yes. Good. Set them straight. Put an end to this madness!’
Outside, the cheering students slowly realized which classroom they were standing in front of. It was Professor Vanitas’s class.
A few of them instinctively backed away from the tower’s courtyard. Some fumbled with their signs. One student even tried to hide the paper mache bust of Astrid behind his back.
Vanitas pushed the windows open.
The entire class held their breath, curious of what he was going to do next.
“You boys,” he called out.
Everyone leaned forward, expecting a harsh lecture.
“If you’re going to do it, do it right. Scream louder. Let your voices be heard.”
“….”
The class went completely silent.
Astrid’s soul visibly left her body.
“….”
“Yes, Professor!!”
“Astrid is our light!”
“Our President! Our Queen!!”
“Long live the Imperial Princess!!”
Boom——!
Someone popped a confetti cannon. Actual confetti flew into the window.
Inside, Sophia had already collapsed on her desk, laughing so hard she was crying.
Astrid, meanwhile, looked like she was about to bury herself.
“Professor!” she screamed, jumping up and rushing toward the window.
She took a good look at the otakus.
“….Why is this happening to me,” she said, nearly about to cry.
Vanitas stood right beside her, scanning her expression. “You’d better get used to it. The louder your position, the more noise you’ll attract.”
“I never signed up for this!”
“Unfortunately,” Vanitas said with a dry smile, “they signed up for you.”
She looked at him, exasperated. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
He didn’t deny it. Instead, he gestured back toward the lecture hall.
And by lunch break…
It was official.
A landslide victory.
Astrid Barielle Aetherion had secured the student council presidency with a vote ratio of 4:1:1:1.
Her competitors didn’t even show up to the announcement. The faculty didn’t bother with speeches. The results were simply posted on the magic board.
President: Astrid Barielle Aetherion.
.
.
Inauguration Speech: Friday Assembly
Astrid stood in front of the display board, surrounded by a growing crowd of students. Some were congratulating her, and a few were trying to hand her bouquets and boxes of homemade cookies.
It was flattering…
“Ah. Haha~ Thank you….”
If only it didn’t feel more like an idol fan-signing event than a legitimate student council election.
At the moment, only the president had been announced. The rest of the positions would be revealed gradually every two hours.
“Madam President!” someone shouted from the crowd. “Can you sign my jacket?!”
“She’s so elegant, just like the posters said!”
“I voted for you twice!”
“That’s illegal!” she screamed.
Sophia finally forced her way through the sea of admirers and grabbed Astrid by the wrist.
“Alright, alright, let the girl breathe!” she barked. “No interviews until she’s had at least one bite of her lunch!”
Dragging her away from the commotion, Sophia led her to the courtyard garden, where it was quiet and the sun filtered through the trees.
Astrid slumped onto the nearest bench with a dramatic sigh. “Remind me again why I agreed to this?”
“Because you were born for it,” Sophia said, flopping down beside her with a grin. “Face it. You’re the main character.”
Astrid groaned. “Main characters don’t suffer this much secondhand embarrassment.”
“As a matter of fact, they do.”
It was a fruitful day, all things considered.
By morning, Astrid had officially stepped up as the Silver University Tower’s new student council president.
And by nightfall, her brother would ascend the throne as the next Emperor of Aetherion.
Inside the palace dressing chambers, preparations were in full swing.
“All ready, Princess?” a maid called out, peeking through the heavy velvet curtains.
Astrid stood before an ornate full-length mirror, adjusting the black gown wrapped around her slender figure.
The dress was elegant but undeniably daring, with the neckline dipped low, revealing a generous amount of cleavage, balanced by the long flowing skirt and elegant embroidery that traced her waist.
It was far more sultry than anything Astrid was used to wearing. But this was her request.
Because tonight, Astrid wanted to be seen as a woman.