'Is this perhaps what replaced her starting scene?'
Right now, he shouldn't appear to be Carmillia's absolutely loyal and protective butler. He had to give Fahna just enough ground to keep her interested, but not enough to let her get exactly what she wanted.
"I can relay this letter for you."
That was it. He would give just enough that she wouldn't get exactly what she wanted.
Xian took the letter from Fahna's hand, observed its design, and tucked it into his shirt pocket.
"If that's all, then I'll see you around."
"Wait!"
"…Is there something else, Miss Fahna?"
"Hm, well… Aren't you forgetting what happened in the entrance exam?"
Xian paused to recollect his memories. Indeed, they hadn't exactly started off on a good note. Carmillia had even attacked Fahna after getting pissed at her for leading the minotaur toward them.
"I do remember. It's regrettable that we had to meet under those circumstances." Xian closed his eyes briefly in acceptance before facing her again. "What does Miss Fahna have in mind?"
"Just call me Fahna. After all, we're both Rose title holders." Then Fahna leaned slightly closer to Xian and whispered.
"As for getting even, just put in a good word for me and make sure she won't suddenly act out."
Xian took a moment before realizing she was referring to Carmillia.
"And I'd appreciate it if we could all be equal at the table once we're there."
'I'm her butler before I am First Seat, but I'll try.'
"I'll make sure to do just that." In reality, he couldn't guarantee Carmillia would agree to anything. Whatever she ultimately decided was her own choice.
"Yeah, you do that. Especially the last part, okay? I know you can."
Xian wondered about Fahna's strange choice of words before realizing what she might have noticed.
He was Carmillia's butler, but that hadn't stopped him from taking First Seat for himself or acting according to his own goals. Perhaps Fahna had already noticed that much.
Carmillia, meanwhile, hadn't established any connections of her own yet, unlike Fahna or perhaps even Rhykard and several of the other noble students.
Well, the reason was probably that he, her butler, hadn't done anything about it yet.
"I gotta go now. My new friends might think I'm seeing someone behind their backs, but, hmm, I guess I am, right? Just kidding!"
Fahna bolted out of the garden before Xian could humor her.
'This letter…'
It felt like several days had passed since he received the duke's letter, yet in reality, it had only been a couple.
Feeling the thickness in his pocket, Xian realized that Fahna had given him two letters, probably one for Carmillia and another for him.
His current predicament was unlike anything Adrian's playthrough could ever achieve.
A commoner by birth without even a surname had somehow become the First Seat of a class meant for royalty, all while serving the Second Seat as his lady and tying himself to one of noble society's most controversial figures.
Looking at that entanglement, Xian thought it was already nuts.
'I guess it's time to show her some of what I prepared.'
Xian returned just in time to see Carmillia alone with Miri, no longer surrounded by the other maids. The table had already been cleared of dishes, leaving only refreshments behind.
He promptly bowed to Carmillia and spoke.
"Milady, there is an invitation for you."
At that, Carmillia turned her gaze away from her book. He'd seen that same book many times, both back when this world was only a game he obsessed over and now that he had been transmigrated into its reality.
Xian first laid out the invitations that had accumulated in Carmillia's correspondence, followed by a separate list he had compiled for himself. The invitations came from nobles seeking an audience or association with the Montagne heiress, while the second contained the names of those connected to the network Renedon had already prepared within the academy.
Carmillia took the ledger and began reading through it.
Compiling the list had forced Xian to reconsider just how extensive House Montagne's influence truly was. Its reach went far beyond what the game had ever bothered to show him.
'It really wasn't an exaggeration to say that he had half the kingdom's nobles in his pocket.'
From what Xian had observed, even nobles from foreign kingdoms sought connections with House Montagne, especially through the current duke's only daughter and heiress. And that was his impression as someone who came to this world as a former player.
There were other members of the Montagne family, of course, but inheritance remained concentrated around the main branch. Renedon and Lisalia had both come from distinguished bloodlines, and their marriage had produced Carmillia, the sole daughter and heir born from a union carefully arranged between the two families.
Carmillia's eyes continued moving down the list.
"Are all of these heirs connected to my father's network?"
"Yes."
"…Are you kidding me? You might as well cage me in a prison full of watchdogs." Carmillia's expression twisted into a frown as she looked toward Xian.
"Well, no matter. They can fill in the numbers or do my bidding."
Xian remained standing beside her. That was roughly the reaction he had expected.
The first list was useful, but everyone on it ultimately remained within her father's sphere of influence. Every name was connected, directly or indirectly, to Renedon Montagne. They could give her numbers, influence, and immediate support, much like the faction she had possessed in the original game.
'Guess that's why Serika and Lucinelle disappearing made her so crazy.'
For all the people House Montagne could place around her, there were painfully few Carmillia seemed to genuinely trust.
So Xian placed a second list beside the first.
This one was considerably more troublesome to make. Unlike the first, these names had little to do with Renedon.
They were students Xian remembered from the game. Some came from families that would eventually antagonize Adrian and his companions. Others became political rivals, enemies, obstacles, or simply people who found themselves standing on the opposite side of the game's supposed heroes.
They weren't Carmillia's allies yet. Some could potentially be swayed to her side, while others would eventually oppose Adrian and his party regardless.
The game had labeled them antagonists because Adrian had been its protagonist. Xian had no reason to inherit the same enemies.
More importantly, several of them possessed backgrounds, talents, connections, or future positions that could prove far more valuable to Carmillia than another collection of heirs already beholden to her father.
'Basically, another layer of allies to keep and pawns to sacrifice when necessary.'
Then there was what had already begun forming on its own.
Xian stepped slightly closer and placed Fahna's invitation beside the two lists.
"It's good that you know, milady. So… shall we get serious and discuss our plans after this?"
He still did not know exactly what kind of gathering Fahna had invited them to, nor had he read the letter addressed to him. But he had little reason to believe she had misrepresented this particular matter.
Looking at the two lists and Fahna's invitation laid out before Carmillia made the difference increasingly obvious.
Renedon's connections could give her the numbers and influence she had possessed in the game.
Xian's knowledge could point her toward people who might become useful.
But Fahna had approached them without either.
And Xian's own position complicated matters further.
It wasn't even an entirely new arrangement. They had already reached something similar after Carmillia's attempt on her own life, when Xian had made it clear that remaining beside her did not mean abandoning his own objectives. Back then, neither of them had bothered giving that understanding a name.
He was Carmillia Montagne's butler. Whatever his own reasons for remaining beside her, that responsibility had become real.
But he was also the First Seat of the Royal Class and someone with goals of his own.
There would inevitably be matters where acting solely as Carmillia's servant would undermine the authority he possessed independently, just as treating Carmillia only as the heiress of House Montagne would leave everything she built at Rozenfall tied to her father's influence.
"Whenever it concerns your affairs as my lady, I'll remain your butler. But I also have my position as First Seat and things I intend to accomplish here. There are bound to be times when the two interfere with each other, so I think we should come to an arrangement for how we handle them."
Xian glanced at the two lists, then at Fahna's invitation.
"We both have things we want from Rozenfall. If our goals happen to align, then there's no reason we can't help each other achieve them."
He returned his attention to Carmillia.
"Do you agree, milady?"
Miri, standing off to the side, flinched and gulped.
Until now, she had simply remained nearby as Carmillia's maid, but the conversation had drifted far beyond invitations or household affairs. Her eyes shifted uncertainly between the two of them, as though wondering whether she was even supposed to be hearing this.
The silence stretched until the corner of Carmillia's mouth twitched.
"Pfft…"
She lowered her book, attempting to suppress whatever had caught her amusement, but it lasted only another second before her composure broke.
"…Puhahaha!"
She laughed.
Xian had heard nearly every voiced line Carmillia possessed in Rozenfall, from her elegant mockery to the faint, seductive chuckle she gave when amused.
But this was a side of her he had never seen.
She was practically cackling, except even her unrestrained laughter carried that same beautiful voice.
For several seconds, Carmillia had to look away from him entirely, one hand covering her mouth while her shoulders trembled. Even Miri stared at her in surprise.
Xian could only stand there while his carefully prepared political proposal became the funniest thing Carmillia had heard all week.
'She isn't going to randomly kill herself just to disagree, right?'
With Carmillia, that was unfortunately not an entirely unreasonable concern.
Her laughter eventually weakened into scattered breaths. She straightened herself, though the amusement remained on her face.
"Ah, I haven't laughed like this in a while."
"Really, I thought we were going to play pretend as master and servant for a while longer before I had to take matters into my own hands."
"I remember when you were still a butler who appeared eager to prove himself."
The memory of their exchange at the estate garden returned to Carmillia. Back then, he had presented himself as a straightforward and earnest servant, eager to prove that he could be useful to her.
Now that same butler stood before her with prospective allies, political calculations, an invitation from another Rose Holder, and a proposal for how they should deal with each other at Rozenfall.
She had always expected their relationship to change eventually. Once Serika and Lucinelle returned to her side and she gathered enough useful people around herself, there would be little reason for Xian to remain constantly attached to her.
She simply hadn't expected him to be the one who brought it up first.
It was amusing, almost as if they had independently arrived at the same conclusion.
"Then, it's decided?"
"Hm. What do you think, butler?"
Carmillia kept her smile and gaze on him.
"…"
'I know that smile. That's what she looks like when playing with the protagonist.'
His eye twitched as he realized he was being treated like an amusement.
"Pfft, that's a great expression, butler. But then, if you were gone, who'd protect me?"
She stood from her seat and leaned closer to Xian, looking up at him with a seemingly distressed expression.
"Aren't you supposed to protect me? To replace the people I lost?"
This time, Xian felt an unexpected touch against his chest, traveling along his neck before reaching beneath his chin.
The playfulness of her words did little to stop the thought that surfaced beneath them.
[Regressions: 6/7]
The number had not left him since the System first showed it.
Until then, Xian had at least possessed the luxury of failure. If something happened beyond his expectations, regression gave him another chance to understand what went wrong and prevent it the next time.
But things are different now.
If Carmillia died somewhere beyond his reach, there was no guarantee he would even know what had happened before his final regression was spent. One unseen mistake could leave him with no second attempt to correct it.
"You know what happened when I couldn't find anyone I could trust by my side, right?"
'Carmillia… Treating me like some dumb dog like Adrian!…'
The annoying part was that beneath all of her playing around, she had stumbled onto the exact problem he had been trying not to think about.
Xian wanted enough freedom to pursue his own objectives.
He also wanted Carmillia somewhere he could reach before another invisible blade found her throat.
He could not have both by simply walking away whenever his duties permitted it.
Ironically, he hadn't minded this back in the game when Adrian was the one on the receiving end. Back then, they were behind a screen, mere illustrations made from pixels.
Now she was a living, breathing woman he had to keep safe while trying to navigate the academy and strengthen himself in the process.
"Ah, another great expression."
Carmillia's amusement only seemed to grow.
"You know, it isn't so bad looking at you when you're this predictable."
Xian suddenly caught the hand beneath his chin.
Instead of backing away, he stepped closer, his other hand settling against Carmillia's waist.
He wasn't bluffing about his ability to protect her, either. Among the Royal Class, Xian was currently the strongest.
If Carmillia insisted that protecting her remained part of his duties, then he had no intention of abandoning everything else he intended to accomplish simply to remain at her side.
"Then, I'll have to apologize for dragging milady into my shenanigans."
Xian held her gaze.
"After all, that's the only way you'll stay safe without impeding my goals or your fears."
Carmillia did not immediately break away.
For several moments, she simply stared into his eyes.
She had expected him to rely on words again, much like he had the other night. Perhaps he would complain, become irritated, or try to reason his way around what she had said. She knew well enough by now that her butler wasn't some dull man who wouldn't notice when she stopped taking him seriously.
But the expression looking back at her was different. The irritation was still there, but there was a tinge of emotion she was very familiar with.
'He looks… desperate?' After a brief silence, Carmillia slowly eased herself from his hold. Xian made no attempt to stop her.
Her hand slipped free from his, and she brought it against the other, her fingers passing absently over the place he had caught her.
For once, Carmillia wasn't entirely sure what answer she wanted.
'Is he afraid of something?'
"Then what do you suggest, butler? You've really been pushing and pushing the limits I've set." Even though she had initially wanted little to do with this butler constantly remaining at her side, he had already proven himself capable of preventing harm from reaching her more than once.
"This is reality, milady. We may have limits, but even the most illustrious in this world can't always expect the world to follow their limits." It came out sharper than Xian intended, but at this point, he couldn't care less.
"…Tsk."
"Please, look at that invitation. That right there contains the Third Seat's proposal." Xian took out the same thing he had been given as Carmillia reached out to read the letter. Xian did the same.
"From that opportunist girl?" Carmillia took the letter regardless with some indignance, since her butler was strangely on guard.
Xian looked over the version of his letter:
'Hey! If you're reading this, then I'm really glad!
Let's set aside our grievances and come to an agreement. But if you haven't convinced your master, then this is as good as scrap. Of course, unless you're willing to become independent of her?
Just kidding!
Anyways, as the Third Seat, I formally invite you and Lady Carmillia Montagne to a small gathering. Basically, a gathering of the three Rose Holders among the freshmen.
The reason for this is that I looked into how previous Rose Holders maintained their positions at Rozenfall, and I think the three of us would benefit from following the same model.
The First, Second, and Third Seats may keep their own friends, followers, interests, and obligations, but the three Roses should remain at the center together whenever our positions or the affairs of the Royal Class are involved.
That includes you.
I know you serve Lady Carmillia, but when the three Roses sit at the same table, I expect to be speaking not just to her butler, but also to you as the First Seat.
If both of you agree, I would like this Saturday at three in the afternoon to be our first gathering. I'll bring the two friends I mentioned, and you may bring whoever you think should be there.
Try not to let her scare everyone away before then.
Fahnaela del Alinde
Third Seat, Royal Class'
The more Xian considered the proposal, the more advantageous it seemed for Fahna.
She was the Third Seat, yet the arrangement would place all three Roses at the same table whenever they dealt with everyone else. First, Second, and Third would remain separate titles, but from the outside, they would increasingly resemble a single political center.
And naturally, the person who had researched the model, proposed it, and arranged their first gathering was Fahna herself.
'Sneaky.'
She probably still wanted his seat. If Fahna couldn't take First from him yet, then reducing the social distance between First, Second, and Third was the next best thing. The academy would still recognize their rankings, but everyone dealing with them would increasingly see three Roses instead of one Rose standing above the other two.
'If so, Carmillia has likely noticed this too.'
"How is it, milady?"
"Fine, I'll go. But there's one condition."
"Which is?"
"It's not for you to hear. Yet, at least."
'So it's for Fahna? She likely noticed it too.'
Since Fahna couldn't take either the First or Second Seat down politically, she was trying to even things out because her abilities wouldn't allow her to. But the proposal offered something all three of them wanted.
Carmillia could gather people of her own without relying entirely on those Renedon had prepared. Fahna could stand beside the First and Second Seats as part of the same political center, and with her company and the people gradually gathering around the three of them, Xian would at least have more room to leave Carmillia without completely losing track of her.
After giving the letter back to Xian, Carmillia left without much of a fuss, and Miri followed her as they headed back toward their building.
Xian was tempted to read the letter, curious how Fahna had convinced Carmillia. But it proved to contain a much shorter and more direct approach than he had expected.
'To Her Ladyship, Carmillia Montagne,
This is to extend my invitation to you and your butler to a small gathering this upcoming Saturday, where we may discuss our positions at Rozenfall.
Specifically, I wish to discuss how we might retain our Rose titles until the end of our time at the academy and become Rose Graduates. I've looked into it, and rarely do the same holders retain their positions for even two years, especially in a place like Rozenfall Academy.
There are plenty of candidates who may have designs on our positions. It would be better for us to work closely together rather than allow others to exploit the distance between us to their advantage.
Let's just say people like Rhykard, milady.
I know we didn't meet under the best circumstances during the entrance examination, but I'm willing to put our past aside.
Fahnaela del Alinde'
The contents were much shorter and more direct than his own.
'She really did write a different argument for each of us.'
Fahna had tempted Xian with independence and recognition as First Seat.
With Carmillia, she had appealed to something considerably simpler: keeping what was already hers.
***
Fourth Period, Afternoon Class.
"Nice to see ya again, kids."
George looked across the students neatly lined up before him, arranged according to their usual hierarchy. Whatever politics or decisions had placed the Royals ahead of the Elites and the Common Class, he showed little concern for it. Eventually, all that mattered was who would still be capable of gritting their teeth through what came next.
"Hm, today let's stick to molding those bodies of yours into proper vessels for Aura first." He grinned, standing imposingly before the students.