Gil gave me a curious look after hearing my plan to introduce some of our baronets to Dorothea as prospective marriage candidates.

"I would not recommend introducing our vassals to Dorothea."

"I thought not. It would be too easy to insinuate that we are trying to make the Roseblades subordinate to us. I doubt they would take such an idea kindly," I said with barely restrained frustration.

Gil snorted.

"I wouldn't worry about them. Lord Roseblade, from what Father tells me, would be happy so long as Dorothea gets married. You should be more worried about alienating our vassals by doing so. While I did mention you should distance yourself from our more vocal vassals, do you not find subjecting them to her whims a tad extreme?"

"Then we advertise she is eccentric. Hardly me trying to force her upon them if they willing try for her hand with fair warning. How to best frame it? Beware, every rose has her thorns?"

Gil chuckled, before changing his tune to something more serious. "Have you considered Leon's brother?"

"Nicks? Not at all. From what little I gathered, I would have figured he would be too meek for Dorothea's taste. Why? Do you believe he would be a good match?"

He was rather mundane. He followed society's expectation to the letter and didn't seem to excel in anything in particular. If anything, he was so ordinary that it was unattractive. He was at risk of being disgraced for not being matched yet.

The only way I could see him being a catch was if he simply had not the opportunity or need to prove himself. Leon had confided that he himself would have likely turned up like Nicks had his matriarch not attempted to marry him off. Even then, I doubted Nicks's ability to step up. He had the opportunity to do so when Leon was engaged, but left the matter to Leon.

Then again, why would Nicks feel inclined to step up? As much as people espoused familial love, it only went so far, especially amongst the nobility. Plus, the amount needed for Leon to earn his spot as quoted to me was staggering.

It was far beyond the means of a student. It was to the point that Nicks hadn't even bothered.

I shook off those excuses. No, Nicks simply appraised the situation and decided to do nothing. While a fair assessment, it did not speak well of him. He neither had the skill nor willpower. He was just average.

After my long deliberation, I noticed that Gil had come to his own conclusions.

"Not in particular. More pondering the what else the Bartfort house has to offer. I know Rutart isn't worth much, but from what I understand, Rutart hardly comes from the same background."

I stilled at that. It made sense to try to form more connections with Leon's family. Everyone, by now, was aware that Leon had access to one of the most advanced Lost Items. Many would be clamoring for his allegiance or plotting to steal the Partner.

Few would consider looking at his family though. At least, beyond simple pawns to chain Leon through familial loyalty.

Many overlooked the fact that Leon had started from essentially nothing. He had been a pre-Academy child who had gone on a solo adventure and earned enough success that the Royal Court saw fit to grant him a noble title. For those like my brother and father, it was worth looking into whether or not others in the Bartfort family were worth cultivating.

The problem was twofold, however.

One, introducing Nicks to Dorothea binded the Bartfort family to the Roseblades with much of the ire falling on us if things went south. Even if one were optimistic, the political bloc was hardly definitive and a successful engagement wasn't guaranteed to work in our favor.

Second, while this could appease certain rival factions as people may not see us as trying to acquire Leon's Lost Item, we would effectively have no real means of binding Leon to us beyond my friendship. While I had faith in Leon, I did not have faith in destiny. There was sufficient enough for me to be wary.

Actually, wouldn't it be better to have Nicks marry into our faction directly? As lackluster as he was, it would give Leon more pause to turn on us.

"I was thinking of introducing Nicks to families with closer ties to us."

Gil hummed thoughtfully before shaking his head.

"Unfortunately, Nicks does not have enough accolades to jeopardize our relationship with any of our followers. Either the daughters will be insulted or the families won't feel inclined to adopt a commoner for him. I think having him meet Dorothea is safe enough. The Roseblades won't take it as a slight if you are simply presenting Leon's brother as a potential candidate. From what I have heard, Deirdre has a favorable opinion of Leon. I also doubt the Bartforts will take issue with you giving Nicks such a task since you have mentioned that Leon is sympathetic regarding your predicament. Unless, do you believe that Nicks is of equal value as Leon? If so, we can make arrangements."

"... No. Judging from what I have seen of him and of their elder sister, I think Leon is unique for the family. I highly doubt Nicks will have much to offer or would be able to distinguish himself should the need arise."

"Then, I believe we have an understanding. To best solidify the political bloc you are forming, extend the opportunity to Nicks, but assure him it is merely to test the waters. No obligations. Maybe hint at it being a favor. It would be best to approach the Bartforts with informality."

"If you believe that to be for the best."

Gil took on a sympathetic look.

"I'm sure Leon won't hold it against you."

"Huh?"

"Besides, from what our followers tell me, what's another marriage interview on the pile?"

Oh. Gil, while correct on my worries, hadn't deduced the full extent of my worries. Might as well play into rather than worry him with prophetic knowledge.

"Of course. Leon may even find it amusing."

I muttered darkly as I found myself alone with two others at the Academy filling out documents. As the first-year representative, I was given a multitude of tasks to oversee my year. The duties ranged from scheduling events to disciplining troublemakers.

To think I had proudly fulfilled this obligations under the false notion that it was an honor and training to further my skills to run the kingdom. Hah. Such naïveté.

Aside from having the perspective of an adult, getting to know Leon had given me perfect insight on what this truly was.

The staff was shirking their duties and offloaded the burden on prideful rubes. If only turning down the position wouldn't affect my family's name, I would have gladly handed it off to... oh, right. I had forgotten that Stephanie was the next most influential girl of our year.

I really had no choice, did I?

At least I was in good company. Looking at Clarice and Deirdre, I saw how effectively they worked through their documents. I remembered it having been a source of misery in my first life. I had never achieved the efficiency they showed.

Now though. I was keeping pace with Deirdre-evidence that what deficiencies I had in my first life had simply been due to experience. It hadn't been that my abilities were wanting.

It was that the troubles brought about by Olivia simply piled more and more on my plate previously. After all, breaking the royal political bloc would never be a clean affair.

The only reason why the backlash from Marie getting involved was so minimal was due to Chris, Greg, and Jilk stepping down. They had taken responsibility and settled matters outside of the Academy. As a result, no one was coming down on my head for failing to maintain the political bloc and reigning in the boys (ignore the fact that I had only been engaged to Julius and that the other fiancées within my year had failed to do so as well).

Despite supposedly being an environment separate from society, it just didn't work like that. It was naive of Julius and his friends to believe that. One cursory look around the campus revealed as much.

Or, more likely, Julius and his friends reveled in sowing as mich chaos as they had had. A petty attempt to make everyone's lives as difficult as possible. It would certainly match with how Julius constantly tried to annoy me with his recital of poetry. Even when he supposedly did not hate me, he went out of his way to irritate me.

I couldn't keep the frown off my face.

"Hoh? Is the paperwork getting to you? I can't blame you. I remember the first time I was sadddled with this," Deirdre said with a rather uncharacteristically bored tone.

"Angie has never been one to shy away from her duties. Let me guess, Julius?" Clarice interjected.

"Ah? Yes. To an extent. More frustrated that we are the ones handed these duties while I can't seem to recall him needing to do anything," I babbled. No need to air out my grievances.

"The unfortunate nature of our society. The girls of the lower nobles think too much of themselves. Normally they would never obey a boy in this position. And thus, we're stuck with the duty of ensuring these same girls are entertained. How is it that in espousing the superiority of women we are left in a situation that gives women of higher standing more work to do?" Deirdre said with an eyeroll.

I never really thought about it like that. I, of course, had my grievances with my followers within my first life, but I had never really considered the wider scope of it. I had simply accepted boys being of lower standing for what it was. It had just been background noise.

Part of me had... still believed the notion, what with the groveling.

And as a result, I was saddled with more work for it. Julius, despite being of higher status than me, could not accept the position due to being a man. I had to set up events which were mainly there to have the boys entertain the girls. I...

"It's particularly galling since all five of the founding heirs are in my year," I groaned in my hands.

Deirdre laughed.

Clarice, sweetly tried to give me a silver lining.

"To be fair, only Julius would have been in contention. Had Brad taken on the role, well, we did remove his fiancée. Had the other three taken on the role, well, I can only imagine the chaos after they had stepped down due to their infidelity."

I snorted.

"I think we would have had other problems had any one but Julius taken the position."

Clarice gave an understanding look.

"Fair enough. It'd probably be a scandal in of itself. Though, can you imagine Greg in control?"

We laughed at the thought for a bit. It would be disastrous.

"That should be enough chit chatting. One more push before we call it a day?" Clarice said genially.

Before either of us could respond, we heard knocking at the door. Who could that be? It was still the break.

As the youngest, I stood up and opened the door.

... Speak of the devil.

Julius stood at the doorway.

"Hello, Angelica. I know you are busy, but would it be possible to speak with you now?"

AN

1) Another setup chapter. Honestly surprised how many I have for this Summer Break arc. Next chapter will be more plot progression again. I just didn't want to include it in this one since I feel an Angelica and Julius chapter deserves more center attention.

2) The Gilbert section is more to show off how reserved higher noble families are. Even when joking, it is very much sarcastic quips than any real lighthearted joke.

3) The student council bit is more to establish how woman-superiority affects how the school functions. Based on what we know, each year is headed by the most influential girl, and she basically runs the entire year's events. This probably came about due to necessity since lower noble girls likely would not listen to a boy in the position.

4) As for Nicks, I'm undecided about what to do with him. I mainly picked him as a potential candidate due to canon and to further expound on the Redgraves general political savy. Of course, neither Angelica's nor Gilbert's plans are perfect. They each are operating on a different set of information and prioritize different things. As for who has a better plan, I lean towards Gilbert, but mainly because he is weighing distancing from the Roseblades as not completely catastrophic due to not alienating the rest of the Kingdom (something Mylene somewhat hinted at wanting).

Review Response

ayandeep85: No. That pairing doesn't work in the context of what I have already written.

Golden Nova: In another arc.

BlindBat: Don't put the blame on me for that. Fanfiction servers aren't great even at the best of times. The LA fires did not help the situation.