Title: Condemnation

Summary: A sharpened tongue is far more dangerous than a sharpened sword.

I stared as Julius and his friends surrounded the lowlife beggar. They had just outed their sordid relationship. All five knew that Marie had been entertaining them all, and they were all fine with that.

"... Hahahaha."

"... What are you laughing at, Angelica?" Julius asked hesitantly. No doubt he was wary of what I could do. My family had earned the our name for a reason.

Something others had forgotten. Judging from the gossiping crowd, they didn't know the consequences.

"Apologies, Your Highness. I simply could not stop myself. The situation is simply too absured. To think you would willingly proclaim how pathetic you are in bed to need your friends help to satisfy that whore's urges."

"Marie is not a whore!" Julius roared.

"Is she not? Does she not receive ostentatious and gratuitous gifts?" I said as I gestured to the elf. "You've lavished her with gift upon gift, and your rewarded with carnal pleasure. While not explicitly paid sex, it is a meaningless distinction. I also noticed you made no mention that Marie is too mich for you to handle alone."

"Watch your tongue, Angelica. I'll not have you slander Julius simply because you were found too wanting of a woman," Jilk shot back.

I gave Jilk an unamused look. "I'll not heed the advice of a failure who was meant to keep His Highness on the straight and narrow. Your continued failure to realize you're a spymaster that has been honeypotted is just icing to the cake."

Turning my gaze to Julius, I continued my condemnation. "As for you, do you not find it sad that you espouse unyielding love for Marie? Love strong enough to toss away your status? Love to send the Kingdom into disarray? For all the sacrifice you will have to make, how are you rewarded? A woman who can't keep her legs closed. A woman who cannot ever be satisfied by you. A woman who offers you nothing. She can't even bear you an heir! The child's heritage will always be questioned! Even if you managed to organize something, you still can't be sure since she could always go behind your back! She has no loyalty to you! And even if she did, you'll only have her to yourself for like what, a year out of every five? Are you really satisfied with such a relationship?!"

Brad scoffed. "Leave it to you to think of love as something so limited. We've already said it before. We're more than fine with this relationship. Of course we realized the implications. However, you're wrong about one thing. Marie would never betray is by taking another lover."

I didn't even bother to look at the interloper. "Again, you let your friends do the talking for you. I'm talking to you, Your Highness. If you are so in love with Marie, why are you defending your position?"

"Because he doesn't need to!"

"Silence, Brad. If you had any mind to protect His Highness's reputation, you'd best serve him by standing back."

"Hoh?"

I sighed before kneading my brow with my hand. "Very well. Brad, your the definition of a gigolo. You're insistence of throwing your affection towards every women does not inspire confidence when you mention loyalty. If you claim that what Marie feels for you is love, then it follows that her seducing anything with a penis is love."

Brad looked like he was about to say something, but Chris beat him to the punch.

"You presume too much by casting such aspersions. We all fell for Marie not for carnal reasons but because she was there for us when no one else was."

How much had Chris been whacked in the head to think intruding on the conversation would end well for him?

"Ah, I suppose I must amend my statement from before. Marie isn't a whore since she hasn't had sex with you all."

The five stupidly nodded.

I continued. "She's just an escort then."

"Enough of this! Don't think I won't hit you because you're a woman!" Greg said as he threateningly stepped forward.

Before I could say anything, Julius finally acted and held Greg back with an arm. Greg looked like he wanted to argue, but Julius shook his head.

I resisted the urge to say how Julius had done a good job training his attack dog. No need to lower my standing further with the masses by appearing too unrelenting. Lord knows that despite my words, my reputation would be greatly reduced.

I had to satisfy myself by saying, "Finally ready to speak for yourself, Your Highness?"

"What's there left to say? We've made the point that Marie was there for us when we no one else was."

"Bullshit."

"You disagree? Fine, let's test that. What's my favorite food? A good fiancée should know that."

"From what I have seen in the palace, you favor a particular fish from the Seberg territory."

Julius smiled softly as he looked fondly at Marie. "That's incorrect. I actually prefer skewers. It was something denied to me since it would be too plebeian."

I raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"I never told you because I knew you wouldn't approve."

"Wait... Let me get this straight. Your argument for why you felt so alone is because you felt you could talk to no one. Then to prove your argument, you ask me to answer a question that you know you deliberately hid the andwer from me."

Julius shook his head. "You would have scolded me immediately. Say it is beneath me."

"Your Highness, your complaint on being alone and not understood seems self inflicted. You literally said you refused to tell me the truth on something so mundane. How could I be there for you, at least in the way you mention, if you are specifically keeping me at an arms length."

"Marie knew when I first met her. She didn't need me to tell her. That's true love."

"..."

"Are you finally understanding that my love for Marie is real? That we are meant to be?"

"... Just processing how stupid yiur argument was."

He glared.

"Julius, you're literally staking the stability of the Kingdom on Marie just knowing your favorite food?! A lucky guess?! Or perhaps she saw you eating at the skewer stand when you snuck out? Perhaps she heard rumors of a look alike?! By the Saintess, the argument doesn't even support your statement that she was there for you! How does any of this relate to her being there for you?"

"She understands me!"

"Because you let her! Goddamn it, Julius! Of course she is the only one there for you if you refuse to let others in! I would've been amenable to eating out at a skewers stand if you'd let me! We're the Kingdom of Holfort! No one gives a shit if you like skewers! We're the Kingdom of Adventurers! We celebrate the idea of getting down and dirty! We have classes on spelunking! We have electives specifically for cooking in the dungeons! And you know what's the main thing they teach?! Skewers!"

"Electives I wouldn't be able to take because of my status!"

"... I'm done. I just can't anymore." Turning my gaze to Marie, I said, "Good luck. I expect the annulment penalty to be paid on the first of every month. I can't trust him to remember to do so."

"... Annulment penalty?" Marie asked with a worried look.

"Indeed. It is part of the engagement contract. The offending party must reimburse the victim. Given the boys' vehement declaration of love for you, there's little doubt on who broke the clause. The others will likely have similar clauses. We'll arrange something so that the payments are all on one day. Perhaps we'll have you pay each of us on a separate week."

"Don't worry about it, Marie. We'll surely be able to make enough money in the dungeons," Greg said with a smile.

"Dungeons? What about your families?" Marie stammered.

"Ah, about that. Our families will probably disinherit us. But we'll be fine as long as we have each other," Greg sheepishly.

"But they surely can't disinherit Julius. He's the crown prince. You can't replace him."

Julius gave a conflicted look. "Well, there is Jake, but we'll cross that bridge when necessary."

"When? Not if?" Marie said with an aghast look.

"Jake has a fairly legitimate shot for the throne, but I'd rather not let that happen. Like I said, we'll resolve that later, but for now, we can earn our keep in the dungeons. It'll be great."

Idiot still couldn't tell he was being played, judging from the absolute look of horror on Marie's face. I decided to do one last mental push.

"Also, as you will probably be Julius's future wife—or whatever it's called in your case—you'll need to take formal royal etiquette training. Given I had to do it since childhood, you'll need to work overtime to get to an acceptable level if you hope to help His Highness ascend to the throne. If you are too lacking, you may be robbing him of his chances to get back his inheritance."

"How long?" Marie said with a wavering voice.

"It was pretty much a fulltime job for me for about ten years, but I was considered a prodigy. You have less than three years. Well, I won't say impossible."

I relished in how panicked she looked. Alas, I believe I had enough entertainment for tonight. Any more, and I was liable to starting a blood feud with the founding families.

As I walked out the venue, I noticed a certain baron. It looked like he was mumbling something to himself. I couldn't make out what he was saying, but he looked satisfied. It was only noteworthy because out of everyone, he was the only one who didn't look. shocked.

Ah, I recognize him now. He was Leon Fou Bartfort, Olivia's friend.

I suppose he agreed with my assessment, or he had nurtured a well deserved disdain for the five.

I smirked. Perhaps he was worth adding to the Redgrave faction. After tonight, we were sure to lose several. Idiots were those who left. They would need to be replaced by the competent.

It would be easy to convince him. Looking at Olivia, I had only one thought. I could arrange an adoption for someone for him.

AN:

1) Last chapter was too wholesome, time for a tongue lashing. The world needs rebalancing.

2) This is based on laying the blame where it should go. Towards the cheater. Yeah, you can be pissed at the one who 'stole' someone from you, but, ultimately, the one who betrayed you was yiur partner.

3) Are some of the insults juvenile (bad in bed)? Sure, but it at least feels in line with what someone could say if they wanted to slander them.

Review Response:

HalfmoonSilver80: I think the closest I've read to the previous chapter's premise was the one where video gamr commentors are trying to save the tsundere villainess. The ship only needs a member of the founding party to be in love to activate the ship. If the the problems are resolved, then Julius/Angelica would work. Only problem is the holy magic, but hey, Leon here doesn't care... yet. As for Olivia, meh. Again, up to whoever decides to take this up.

ARK786: So? It doesn't matter that in canon it took her so long. It's fanfiction, and the circumstances are different. Also, you're taking the gag bit too seriously. It was literally a one liner for the funnies. I even say as much in my author notes.

Qriiz: For political intrigue, there were other warning signs that she wasn't adept. Her negative rizz wasn't one of them.

PlinPlinPlon: I mostly agree, however, I do think Angelica being incompetent with regards to politics isn't that much of a plot device (as in shoehorned)? There are several instances, mainly in side stories or Anoseka, that suggests she has little to no control over her minions. Even when she knows she can't trust them, she trusts their assessment of other people and constantly gets screwed over by it. She seems to be in her element in organization and following procedures to maintain status quo, which makes sense if you Mylene is her tutor(does all the paperwork, tries to maintain the status quo no matter how despicable the method, and has a dead bedroom).