TS Duchess Eliza’s Internal Affairs

Chapter 1

Dance Ball

Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV

Spring of the year 385 of the Kingdom of Rynegard. An unprecedented disturbance occurred in the royal capital, Rynegard.

At a ball held at the prime minister’s mansion, a certain dignitary was overpowered. Moreover, it was a 14-year-old duchess who had just come of age who did it.

◆

「———Ah! Are you safe!?」

A stirring sound came from a corner of the glittering hall, and there could be seen the nobles who heard it stop their dancing steps and look around. Then a loud voice nearby draws their attention to a beautiful girl in a red dress and a young man in a stunning blue vest, who is lying on his butt in front of her. Two people with the same blonde hair. However, the surrounding eyes immediately converged on her, the beautiful girl on the wall side—— as if they were sucked in.

She was already used to being stared at like this. She is a small person who looks about 10 years old, but her body radiates a brilliance that attracts everyone.

Her glossy blonde hair, which reaches down to her shoulders, is short but lively, not unlike a noblewoman’s, and her slender white arms, which stretch out from her three-quarter-length sleeves, conversely arouse the desire to protect those around her.

Furthermore, her appearance was very well-defined, embodying the golden ratio. She is so beautiful that she sometimes surprises herself when she looks at her appearance.

While they were enjoying her reaction, a black-haired nobleman who had issued the shout was running up to the young man. This was Count Edmond, who greeted him earlier. He is a dark-skinned, muscular man of nearly 30, and his formal attire in this country, which resembles a tuxedo dyed black, is about to be ripped off.

The young man being cared for was also solidly built but had not yet been able to stand up. It seemed that the slap she had just given him was a good one to the chin because of the height difference.

「I’m alright.」

The blue eyes of the young man were still unfocused, but his clear answer elicited a sigh of relief from the surrounding nobles who had been watching the whole thing. Then, this time, a piercing gaze is focused on her.

「Elizabeth-sama! Do you know what you yourself have done!」

The Count, who had been helping the young man, opens his eyes, which are as black as his hair, and asks her a question as if he were trying to jam her.

——What did I do? I just gave the soft aristocrat a slap on the wrist. What is wrong with beating a rude person who tries to forcibly dance with a duchess?

But there was no atmosphere anywhere in the hall where the music had stopped and only a murmur remained.

「Why are you silent! This gentleman you have laid your hands on is……」

Forgetting the honorifics, the Count continues to speak. She understood. She guessed it somehow. She understand, so she don’t say anything more.

Unable to hear her sincere prayer, the Count shouted in a loud voice that echoed throughout the hall.

「It’s the Dauphin, His Royal Highness, Prince Leon!」

——It’s a dead end. It was.

The Duchy of Clanetta have the largest granary in the Kingdom of Rynegard. I, Hozumi Akira, reincarnated as Elizabeth Clanetta, the eldest daughter of Elizabeth Clanetta, realized that I had made a big mistake on my first day in the social world, and like a corset-wearing noblewoman, I gave up consciousness in an instant.

◆

I was crossing the street in a crosswalk during business hours when I was blown bodily by an incredible force. I didn’t know what was going on. In my confusion, I hit the asphalt and accidentally peels my face to where I was just a moment ago.

Then I saw a large truck and realized I had been hit, and my consciousness faded along with the freezing cold.

I noticed that there was blue sky in front of me. When I woke up to the aromatic scent of flowers, I found myself in a field of white flowers.

「Where am I…?」

「You’re in Heaven.」

I turn around as if repelled by the words suddenly returned to me from behind. Then there was a beautiful-looking man in a white robe, smiling and waving.

「Uhm, who are you?」

「God.」

This was a dangerous man. He said something incomprehensible about heaven. That’s what happens when I do that.

「My family is Buddhist.」

「I’m not soliciting you.」

After a ridiculous exchange, the self-proclaimed god told me why I was here.

「I think you know somehow that you’re dead.」

「That’s a lie…」

「It’s true. Because I was the one who ran you over, you know?」

To my surprise, it seems that the responsible was God himself. He wanted to drive a truck. But when you are brought to such a magical place, you have to take their word for it.

「I need you to bring me back to life.」

「I can’t do that. It’s against the laws of your world. But I’ll let you reincarnate with an extra bonus as an apology.」

God then held out his hand, and this time, my consciousness began to fade away along with the enveloping warmth.

「Oh, and in return, you can save a country.」

「What was… that…?」

「I’m counting on you. You are—— because it is so.」

My prodding that this would not be an apology is ignored. Even God’s last words to me were swallowed up by the whiteout world, and I could not hear them.

◆

Spring of the year 371 of the Kingdom calendar. The Duchy of Clanetta, who have a fiefdom in the granary in the northeastern part of the kingdom, have a new life.

「Danna-sama. Daniel-sama! The child was born!」

「Oohhh!!!」

Daniel Clanetta, a well-dressed young man, Lord of the Duchy of Clanetta, who had been wandering aimlessly in his study room, opened his pensive eyebrows at the call of his elderly maid. His short, close-cropped silver hair flutters as he runs down the hallway of the manor house and darts into the bedroom of his beloved wife. He then rushed in a straight line to his wife, who was holding a small baby sleeping in her maternity robe.

「You did it! You’ve done well, Liliane!」

「Dear…… look at her. She’s an energetic girl.」

Liliane, who at the age of fourteen had once made herself feel even a little childish, had now turned into a mother with a compassionate smile on her face. Daniel slowly takes the baby in his trembling hands and stares at it intently, as if it were burned into his eyes.

It was the most beautiful baby he had ever seen. Her blonde hair, inherited from her mother, had already grown back, her long eyelashes were down, and her lovely sleeping breath was escaping from her light pink lips. Even if she had been told that she was really an angel, Daniel would have had no doubt.

「I think she cried herself to sleep.」

「What a lovely…… that’s right, we must name this child soon. If God sees this beauty, he might summon it to the heavenly realm. We must let heaven and earth know that this child is our treasure.」

Smiling at her husband, who was already beginning to show glimpses of parental stupidity, Liliane told him the name she had come up with.

「How about the name Elizabeth?」

「Elizabeth… Rynegard, the Child of God.」

It was the name of the only daughter of Rynegard, the founding father and patron goddess of the country, a great woman who later followed in her father’s footsteps and reigned as queen.

「Here, look at her eyes.」

Hastened by his wife’s excited words, Daniel turns his attention again to his beloved child in his arms. Then the baby opened his eyelids slightly as he slumbered, as if the two of them had begun to wake up from their talking.

「This is!?」

The color of the eyes shining behind his eyelids startled Daniel, and then he understood that his wife had chosen that name. Princess Elizabeth. She is said to have been a great ruler, and she had a characteristic that has been passed down to the next generation.

「She has the same golden eyes as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth…… I’m sure she has the blessings of Lady Rynegard.」

「That’s right. Elizabeth, Eliza, huh? Such very good name……」

The baby born to them was named Elisabeth, and grew up to be loved by her parents and others.

◆

——And this is the end of it!

I managed to regain consciousness and turned to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Leon, a soft-hearted aristocrat. Strangely enough, the people around him were furious, but His Highness himself, standing up from his buttocks, appeared to be calm and collected.

But still, the situation remains critical. In my mind’s eye, I see the faces of my parents, my siblings, my family members, the people of my domain, and my beloved childhood friend—— the dark-haired maid who has been so devoted to me.

「I apologize for the repeated disrespect I have shown to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, even though he is unaware of it. I hope that you will forgive me for this, and only for the punishment of this fool.」

I quickly kneeled down and put my hands on top of each other—— the nobles gasped as I made the gesture of a criminal being sentenced. The bigger the aristocrat, the stronger the attachment to power and narcissism tend to be. I was surprised that a 14-year-old child, who had just reached adulthood, would be abandoned without hesitation, even though she was doing so to protect her own home.

Then someone interrupted loudly. It was a beloved family member with short-cropped silver hair who escorted me to the ball tonight.

「Please wait! Your Highness. My daughter’s rudeness is the result of this Daniel to educate her! The punishment is mine!」

「Father!?」

I was the one who had to peel my eyes away from the unexpected turn of events. It is good until he apologizes for the sins of his children. That is the natural thing to do as a responsible nobleman. But the child should have been abandoned as I proceeded.

If the lord is charged with a crime, the worst that could happen is the abandonment of the family. He had to make a hard decision in consideration of his other family members and vassals. However, despite this thought, my eyes were filled with tears as I felt the depth of Father’s love.

「Father, I am so sorry!」

「It’s alright. Your Highness, it is all my fault that this has happened. I hope you will forgive her for my own sake!」

After consoling me, my father makes a desperate plea to His Highness.

「…All is forgiven. Both of you are now blameless.」

Just as we were about to make up our minds to part ways, His Highness returned with an unexpected voice of salvation.

「Your Highness! What are you saying?」

Count Edmond, who was standing next to me and staring at me, turns his head to the side as if he had heard something incredible.

「It all started with my own impoliteness.」

「But—!」

「I don’t blame you for the mistakes of a child, even though they didn’t matter.」

「…Yes.」

With a look of disapproval, Count Edmond backed down. I was so relieved that I put my hand, which was tied with my father’s, on the floor, but I immediately stiffened when I saw the look of hatred he gave me just before he stepped back.

Perhaps not noticing the Count’s condition, His Royal Highness Prince Leon walks over to me and pulls my hand to stand up.

「I am sorry. I have caused you trouble with my careless behavior.」

「My sincere apologies to you as well.」

We apologized to each other and gave me a teasing smile. The smile on his face was so good that it was hard to believe that he was a noble species.

「You can go home with the Duke now. I’ll have the carriage called for you.」

I thanked him for his attentiveness, which was a complete change from when he first approached me, and left the ballroom feeling as if I had been pinched by a fox.

Needless to say, my father scolded me severely in the carriage on the way home. But afterwards, when he hugged me with trembling hands, I didn’t feel like saying anything.

◆

Some stood on the upper balcony, away from the hall, and watched as the Clanetta family carriage drove out of the gate.

「Mentor, I wonder if that was intentional.」

This person is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty. It was Leon, the crown prince, who has come out of the ball. Another person, a gray-haired old man in a scarlet robe, even taller than the young man—— the vizier Roger, the master of the house, answered quietly, squinting his clear blue eyes and twirling his long white beard.

「If it is calculated, she is quite the eater. If she did it without being aware of it, I would call her a great talent.」

This is Elizabeth’s penance. There was no way that the crown prince, who was the cause of the incident, could be punished for staging such a scene, a tearful farewell between father and son. Although he had no intention of doing so, if he had, he would have lost the support of other nobles close to the royal family.

「In any case, I am more interested. Mentor. Couldn’t we call her to the capital?」

「For now, please remain patient. We have had some unexpected harvests. We will see how it goes for a while.」

The powerful man in charge of politics and the young lion’s eyes were looking far ahead at the disappearing carriage.