"Now then, by the way..." (Mileisha-chan)
Mileisha-chan looked away from Keidith and turned to face Enrud, one of the two people who were now surrounded by them.
"Keidith-sama is the main culprit who spread the rumors about me, but isn't there someone behind the scenes who encouraged him to do so? Keidith-sama has no reason to belittle me. Surely, there is no way that anyone would come up with a stupid idea like 'calling out to isolated people in need' with an incredibly low success rate, and then carry out something so foolish that a little investigation would reveal the culprit right away. If it was just a delusion in one's own head, that would be one thing..." (Mileisha)
Mileisha-chan, are you a demon?! If you say it like that, then it's impossible to say that it's true...
"...that means that someone must have encouraged Keidith-sama to do so... And there was someone who had a reason to target me, an international student from Norveth Kingdom... Among the people around Keidith-sama, those who have ties to Norveth Kingdom..." (Mileisha)
Before we knew it, the venue had fallen silent, and everyone was listening intently to Mileisha-chan's story, which was either a detective drama or a drama of condemnation. This world had little entertainment. The story was a mystery about a conspiracy told by a beautiful girl.
At this point, anything Mileisha-chan said could be taken as fact rather than mere speculation. It was all because of Mileisha-chan's confident attitude and skillful speaking skills. ...Mileisha-chan, what a scary child!!
"If I recall correctly, you have an older sister who studied abroad in our country, Norveth Kingdom, a few years ago, right… the son of Baron Stolberg, Enrud de Stolberg?" (Mileisha)
"Ugh……"
Mileisha-chan has switched his target to the mastermind!
"Daughter of Baron Stolberg...? A few years ago... she studied abroad at Norveth Kingdom... Ah! You mean that woman!"
"Ah……"
"Ah……" (x3)
The voices of men could be heard one after the other. Apparently, there were a few people who knew about it back then.
Certainly, since this party was the birthday party of the daughter of a Marquis, the female guests were mostly those of the same age or within a few years range, but the male guests were a little older—up to the age range desirable for a fiancé. This meant that the group included people of the same age as Enrud's sister, and it would not be surprising if some of them were acquaintances of his sister or knew about what happened at the time.
And their families would know the story. No one wanted to be proposed to by such a woman and no one wanted her to be their older or younger brother's fiancé or their older or younger sister's friend. So, even if they didn't go out of their way to mention such a story, they would certainly have told their own family about her, as someone to watch out for...
"And then there were the numerous episodes where it was alleged that I did it... All of that was done in Norveth Kingdom, where your sister is studying abroad, which is to say, in my home country, right? So why did you spread these stories in my name when I have nothing to do with it? I would like to correct this and explain to everyone that all of this happened a few years ago with your sister and has nothing to do with me. …I don’t know why you went out of your way to spread a scandal about your sister, but it’s nothing to do with me, so I don’t want to hear the reason… Well, the fact that you spread the word yourself, tarnishing your family's name and creating an obstacle to the engagement of your siblings, shows that you really hate your family and relatives and have a strong desire to get in their way..." (Mileisha)
"Huh..."
He turned pale and was speechless, unable to respond. Of course, he had no such intentions at all and was simply venting his ill will on the foreign student from Norveth Kingdom, who was in the same position as his sister at the time, out of revenge for the way his sister had been treated.
It was not unusual for a young lady to be harsh to others, but to be a kind and wonderful older sister to her younger brother. So, even if she has a bad reputation in the world, her younger brother might love her. However, sometimes the foolish younger brother took short-sighted action, like seeking revenge for his older sister...
Mileisha-chan deliberately created a setting that would sow seeds of discord within the family, and announced it publicly in front of many nobles. ...What a demon...
Enrud was unable to respond and turned pale and remained silent. Well, in this setting where there were likely several people who knew about his sister and her study abroad, no matter how much he—as a family member—tried to defend her, it would be pointless.
If he really cared about his sister and the family name, he should have done nothing and left her alone. He shouldn't want to risk bringing back memories of her sister's past deeds and spreading rumors about her to people who didn't know about the past...
Well, if Mileisha-chan hadn't brought up his sister and said, "All the rumours about me are about your sister!" then this wouldn't have happened. Enrud probably never expected something like this to happen...
However, the only people who are allowed to spread rumors are those who are prepared to have rumors spread about them too! ...But no matter how prepared you are, it's still not okay to spread rumors. Besides, what Mileisha-chan said was true, it wasn't a lie...
In Japan, defamation is a crime whether it's true or not, but here, if it's true, it's not a crime. It's just an accusation, a condemnation. Of course, that doesn't mean that if you spread scandals about aristocrats or the rich, there will be unofficial retaliation, so you only do it if you're extremely prepared, everyone...
However, this time it was a big deal, so the chances of retaliation seemed very low. It was a relieve that the person and their family would no longer be in a position to retaliate, so it would probably no longer be a situation where such a thing would be tolerated.
Keidith and Enrud seemed to be in a pinch. No matter how much they might have been tempted, they carried out a malicious hoax attack on an unrelated girl of their own volition, so there was no room for leniency on the Keidith's part.
So, it seemed that everyone in the audience and the two of them, were beginning to notice. There are a lot of members of Society at the party venue... Those who know the situation know that Society was on Mileisha-chan's side.
Even those who didn't know the situation seemed to have figured it out, judging from the fact that the members were subtly positioning themselves to protect Mileisha-chan from Keidith and his entourage, that almost everyone from Society seemed to be there, and that three men who were clearly out of place had been invited...
With Society on her side, it is unlikely that any noble would try to make Mileisha-chan their enemy. This is especially true for those who like good alcohol and food; have women in their family who need YAMANO-made cosmetics, shampoos, conditioners, sweets, accessories, etc.; have daughters close in age to the members of Society; or have sons who don't yet have fiancées... So, the elderly nobles who have come here today are the parents accompanying their daughters and sons...
Author's Note
Last week, the 11th volume of my work "I Shall Survive Using Potions!" was published.
Thank you very much!! (^^)/
Translation Note
Thanks to TV.Station for correcting some mistakes.