Chapter 22 – A Fact that Has Been Concealed
Her eyes swirled around, accompanied by a slight shiver. Then she was out in front of the office’s full-length mirror.
“Huh? Huh! Why?”
Bianca made a racket in her turmoil.
“Bianca, be quiet.”
With her mouth covered, she fussed around for a while, then signalled to her brother that she understood and escaped from the restraints.
“W-W-What’s happening?”
While keeping her voice down, Bianca could not contain her excitement.
“The mirror is the door to that room. It opens in reaction to magical power.”
“Well, that’s awfully convenient. Huh? What do you mean that Father is unaware of this? This is his office, right?”
Bianca glanced around the room.
“I told you this reacts to magical power. The gimmick is imperceptible without magical power and cannot be passed through.”
“Yes?”
She was dumbfounded for a while, clueless as to what her brother was referring to.
“Ah! Could it be that Father…!”
“He doesn’t have any magical power.”
“Hie.”
As Bianca was on the verge of screaming out loud, Satias covered her mouth again with a look of disappointment. When she nodded her head in understanding, he released her once more.
“F-Father can’t use magic?”
“That’s right.”
“Oh, how incredulous. Father always talks so high and mighty.”
Bianca shook with fury.
“Is that so? Hey, your voice is getting louder. He’s forbidden me from divulging this to you since your memory hasn’t recovered.”
Bianca wondered how her father could be so unfair. He was exploiting her amnesia to his advantage.
Accordingly, it was a typical occurrence for one in three or four high-ranking aristocracies to be born without magical power. It wasn’t all that odd. Even though it was incredibly inconvenient, one drawback was that it was challenging to get to the position of the household head. Priority was accorded to those with magical power.
“But then, wouldn’t it be fine if he was a little bit nicer to me?”
Bianca’s cheeks puffed up and she managed to suppress her voice and let out a grumble.
“It’s inevitable. You’ll have to play along with Father’s complex for a little while.”
She looked up at her brother like she had been shot. The older brother, who usually never criticized his father in front of Bianca, spoke sharply. Somehow it seemed to her that a feud had been going on between their father and her eldest brother.
“Brother, you don’t get along with Father, do you?”
“As you can see.”
Hardly was there any conversation between the two of them. All they talked about was paperwork. Bianca squeezed her brother’s hand.
“Brother, I’m on your side whatever happens.”
At these words, her brother did not laugh but remained silent for a while. That alone demonstrated the intensity of the feud between the father and son. Bianca felt slightly sorrowful. Did her father attempt to make her loathe him out of envy by comparing her to Satias? If so, her eldest brother might have been isolated in this house. Such a thought suddenly struck her.
“Bianca, don’t forget those words.”
Bianca nodded vigorously.
Several times a year an evening party would be hosted at the Kesler family’s seaside villa.
Irene, Bianca’s mother, seemed to be extremely occupied for the past few days. New outfits were being made and she was all worked up. Bianca did not have her dress made but only had it re-sized. She didn’t want to go through the hassle of starting from the fabric.
To tell the truth, Bianca had her reason for being reluctant to attend the evening party. She was summoned into her father’s office when he arrived at the villa later than the others.
“I’ve already made arrangements for your potential fiancé to be present at the party.”
“Didn’t you already introduce me to another the other day?”
“Since then, I’ve narrowed it down again. His Highness Prince Stuart, whose engagement was once called off due to your unfortunate accident, is now on the shortlist.”
“Yes?”
This infuriated Bianca.
“Why did you do that!”
“It’s out of your hands.”
The way her father said, it pissed her off. Although Satias had repeatedly warned her not to disobey the head of the family, she couldn’t tolerate it any longer.
“Why is it always me? What about Brother Satias? If we’re going by order, shouldn’t he come first?”
Bianca was secretly concerned about her brother, who was always surrounded by male friends. Even though he was the heir to this family, there wasn’t so much of a female presence at the academy around him.
“He’s not a problem. He is going to serve in the royal palace. You will be married to a man of decent family background and strong magical power, and you will bear children and prosper the Kesler family.”
A lot of awful things were said, but the one that bugged her the most was…
“Oh? Huh, getting married? Isn’t the heir to the family Brother Satias?”
Bianca batted her eyes, wondering what her father was going to say. Or had she misheard him?
“Satias is the link between the Kesler family and the royal palace. So you, the incompetent one, will be the one to get married and carry on the family line. Don’t worry, the house will be overseen by Satias.”
She didn’t grasp what he was saying. Wouldn’t the family prosper if the capable elder brother succeeded it?
“Shouldn’t the outstanding elder brother take over the house? Why am I getting married?”
In a daze, Bianca uttered her question frankly. She honestly didn’t follow the point.
“Shut up. Shut your trap! Stop nagging at me every time! In this family, the heir is the one with vermilion eyes.”
“What?”
Even though he was riled up, she couldn’t back down. This was the first time she had ever heard of this and more than anything, it didn’t make sense to her. This made it seem like the eldest brother was being manipulated in his favour. Perhaps Satias had been kept in the dark by their father about this as well. In Bianca’s opinion, her amnesia may have been advantageous for her father. When Bianca refused to back down, her father became agitated and pounded the desk.
“You don’t need to know about this! Be docile and do as you’re told!”
“I don’t get you at all!”
Again, she blurted out what she thought, and the paperweight flew away with a whoosh.
“Hie.”
She hurriedly avoided her father’s threatening attitude. It was nothing in comparison to the usual. The crystal paperweight fell to the floor with a thud. Had it hit her, she would have been injured.
It seemed that Bianca had crossed the line with her father, but she couldn’t stop being ticked off by his irrational remarks. Afterward, Bianca, who still hadn’t snapped enough at her father, was dragged out of the office by the butler and servants and put under house arrest in her room for a while.
Julian was not a candidate for the heirship, no doubt because he was incapable of using magic. She came to understand this while attending the academy.
There was no way the family head, like her father, could go on without magical power in this country where being able to wield magic was a badge of nobility. If a head of a high-ranking aristocratic family without magical power succeeded two generations of the family, the family would be degraded or even severed if they did not succeed.
If so, the outstanding Satias should succeed the family. The vermilion eyes were undoubtedly a complication. What if, as a result of the peculiar feud between father and son, she was betrothed to the playful third prince again?
It was generally believed that the royal family in this country possessed powerful magical power. Her father probably insisted on her marriage to the royal family because of their powerful magical power.
