Chapter 2: 2
After finishing her discussion with Aylmer, Alice returned to the Vermilion count’s mansion and headed straight to her father’s study.
In the hallway, a family portrait was displayed.
Since there were outsiders’ eyes to consider, Alice was included at the edge, but she still stood out as odd.
Her father, stepmother, and younger brother… all three had red hair, while Alice alone had blonde hair and violet eyes.
(The red hair is the symbol of the Vermilion count’s family…)
This was believed because the family name derived from the vivid hair color of the first Vermilion count.
At that time, the king who granted the new title and name to Alice’s ancestor for his achievements personally came up with “Vermilion,” making it a cherished name.
Of course, hair color could change in a single generation depending on the spouse brought in.
Yet, successive heads of the family tended to desire marriages with red-haired brides to preserve the “Vermilion-ness.”
Some were political, others personal love; not every head prioritized hair color.
In fact, among past heads, there were those without red hair.
In his first marriage, her father probably hadn’t minded it.
Alice’s blonde hair was inherited from her mother, and since the second wife had red hair, Alice alone ended up being the odd one out.
With complicated feelings, she passed the portrait and arrived at her father’s study.
She knocked, and permission to enter came immediately.
“Father, I’ve just returned home.”
“Is there something you need?”
Her father, working on documents at his desk, didn’t look up.
“Actually…”
Alice told her father about Aylmer’s request without hiding anything.
Her father paused his fountain pen for a moment and frowned, but that was all.
“Hmph… He’s young, but he’s a marquess. We have no choice but to comply. You make sure that young upstart doesn’t abandon you… If the engagement is broken in six months, you’ll be a proper old maid. Well, that probably won’t happen…”
“Yes, I understand.”
The average marriage age for noble ladies was around twenty, so calling it an old maid was an exaggeration.
But Alice thought she understood what her father meant.
Her birthday was in January, and it was currently June, so in six months, she would be nineteen. A nineteen-year-old lady abandoned by her fiancé wouldn’t get good marriage offers.
(But if you’re going to say that much… you shouldn’t have kept it a secret…)
Her father at least knew the details of the incident four years ago.
The incident occurred when they went to the court for the procedures needed to formalize the engagement between nobles.
While the adults were handling the applications, Alice and Aylmer decided to stroll in the court’s gardens.
Since the court wasn’t a place one could enter easily, the two got excited and explored deep into the gardens.
By chance, they witnessed the country’s second prince, Harvey, being attacked by intruders.
They got involved, and when the three were about to be killed, Alice seized a weapon from the attackers and slashed one, inflicting serious injury.
After the incident, though it was self-defense, her father and stepmother saw it as problematic that a noble lady had slashed a thief with a sword, so they requested the royal family to keep the details from going public.
The royal family accepted, announcing only that an attack had occurred and the second prince was safe, hiding the fact that Alice was involved.
This time, her father wasn’t pleased about Aylmer postponing the marriage citing the Sword Princess.
Yet he didn’t point out Aylmer’s misunderstanding because he was still ashamed of Alice’s actions.
Moreover, since they hadn’t actively proven it back then, revealing the truth now that the marriage was postponed would lack credibility.
(It’s all too late now. To prove it, I’d have to bring out the incident records or have Prince Harvey, who was there, testify… Those are about the only ways.)
The incident records apparently existed, but even parties involved couldn’t view them without a valid reason.
With Aylmer’s memory erased due to the incident’s effects, and them gladly hiding the Sword Princess’s identity, the truth would never come to light.
Whenever Alice recalled this, she resented her father.
“I understand. You may leave now.”
“Understood.”
Alice performed a lady’s curtsy and left her father’s office.
On the way to her private room, she ran into a red-haired boy.
“Hey, you blonde over there!”
“…Have you forgotten your sister’s name? I think that attitude is improper.”
“A blonde isn’t a Vermilion… so you’re not my sister!”
“I see… Do you need something?”
Alice’s younger brother, Noel, got angry every time they met.
He always treated her like a stranger and called her “blonde.” It was probably his rebellious phase.
As his sister, she at least cautioned him, but lately, she didn’t care anymore.
“Want me to spar with swords?”
“…There’s no way I could win.”
Alice had been forbidden by her father from practicing swordsmanship since four years ago.
If she were caught crossing swords with her brother, she’d get a severe scolding for sure.
“What do you mean by that! Are you saying I’m weak?”
“No… There’s no way an amateur like me could beat you, who’s training in swordsmanship, right?”
“Liar! You’re probably training at that viscount’s house anyway.”
(Ugh… He’s sharp…)
The viscount’s house referred to the Holden viscount family, her mother’s natal home.
It was a renowned swordsmanship family that had produced many knights over generations.
Her mother, from the viscount family, had also been an excellent swordswoman.
While her mother was alive, Alice had openly practiced swordsmanship in the count’s house, and her father had approved.
But a year after her mother’s death from illness, when her father brought in a second wife, his thinking changed.
The stepmother opposed women wielding swords, took them away from Alice, and her father agreed, saying it would make her unmarriageable.
When the stepmother became pregnant, she suffered from morning sickness and poor health.
Claiming she couldn’t relax with an unrelated daughter around, Alice was temporarily sent to her maternal family’s home.
She was forgotten there, and raised in the viscount’s house until the engagement with Aylmer came.
From age seven to fourteen… Because she had been away from this count’s house for so long, it was natural she became invisible.
Right after returning to the count’s house, Alice was still young and didn’t have twisted ideas like lying to continue swordsmanship.
She tried to become the count’s lady her father and stepmother wanted, quitting swordsmanship, but their attitude didn’t change at all.
The only one who listened to Alice during that time was her fiancé, Aylmer.
After the incident, feeling no need to be honest with her father and stepmother who hid the truth, and wanting to remain the Sword Princess Aylmer praised, she swung the sword secretly.
“You should just become the viscount family’s daughter!”
(My stepmother was the one who first resented an unrelated daughter, but Noel doesn’t know that… So to him, I’m probably a heartless sister who doesn’t fit into the family and lingers at her maternal home…)
Alice thought it couldn’t be helped if that’s how it seemed.
At least, Noel, who picked fights with her, was watching and understanding his sister far more than their father, who didn’t even notice she continued swordsmanship.
“The viscount family’s daughter… That might not be bad.”
From seven to fourteen, Alice had grown up freely in the sword-obsessed viscount family.
And even now, on days with no errands, she went to the viscount’s house to continue training. It was true that she felt more at ease there than in the count’s house, which denied the real her.
“Why…!”
“It’s a joke. As long as I’m engaged to Aylmer, that won’t happen. Since I’ll only be in this house for less than a year anyway, let’s spend it without quarreling?”
Raising a fine daughter desired by a higher-ranked marquess house—that was status for the count’s family.
So, while Alice was engaged to Aylmer, her father wouldn’t let her go.
Alice smiled, but Noel’s face only grew more stern.
“Idiot! Idiot!! Just get out already!”
He left a parting shot and ran off.
Her brother’s rebellious phase seemed like it would continue.
(Sigh… Just talking to family tires me out this much…)
Today had been a day with nothing good at all.
The only thing that could relieve her accumulated frustration was the sword.
When Alice returned to her room, she took out the wooden sword hidden in the closet and secretly practiced swings inside.
(I really wanted to become a knight…)
In this country—Alveria—women could become knights too.
In fact, there were women who, despite being noble ladies, served admirably as knights protecting people.
When she was little, both her father and mother hadn’t denied their daughter’s wish.
Her mother’s death had changed Alice’s life.
She was a half-hearted person, unable to abandon swordsmanship despite trying to be the ideal lady her father wanted.