The Perfect Disguise

The perpetrators involved in my siblings’ deaths are noble ladies from the Empire and the Imperial Alliance classes of the academy, along with a mysterious masked man.

Therefore, to enroll, I had to belong to the Imperial class if possible.

I belong to the Kingdom, and my siblings were in the Kingdom class, but that was meaningless now.

Sky Castle likely wouldn’t even accept a daughter from our family anyway.

Thus, I needed a fake identity.

**************************************

“Are you alright, Countess Aosta?”

She’s lost all her bulk. She used to have a sturdy body from wearing armor.

I made sure she was provided with more than enough food; our territory’s food situation is much better, so the quality of her meals here was likely superior to what she had at home.

Well, I suppose this isn’t exactly an environment where food—or rather, wheat cakes—would go down easy.

“Countess……?”

The young lady, Ariang Vila de Aosta, looked surprised by the unfamiliar title.

She is the Countess of the Aosta territory, an Imperial land neighboring ours.

Perhaps because she was a novice, she had bravely led the way herself, provoking us by scouting and building an observation post.

I lured her into a border intrusion using fake landmarks and captured her using that as a justification.

“Ah, right. It seems your father, the Count of Aosta, passed away from an illness while traveling to the capital to borrow troops from the Emperor to rescue his only daughter. So, you will be the one receiving the title now.”

“What?”

“I’ll give you some time to mourn.”

“Liar.”

“My condolences.”

Ariang shook her head violently.

“I won’t believe it. It’s a lie.”

“…….”

“Don’t try to deceive me.”

“Sure, if you say so.”

People don’t believe what they don’t want to believe.

Perhaps it’s a convenient and healthy way of thinking.

For a noble lady imprisoned with no hope of release, it’s probably better for her mental health than falling into deeper despair after hearing about her parent’s death.

“What brings you here? You didn’t come just because you wanted to see me.”

I came to tell her that her father died, but she doesn’t believe it.

Of course, that wasn’t my only business.

“I’ve come to make a proposal.”

“A proposal?”

“Well, considering your situation, it’s a command rather than a proposal.”

“You bastard, so this was your plan all along.”

Huh?

I understand a prisoner of a hostile nation losing hope and spewing vitriol.

However, since she was a prisoner, I simply ignored it and continued.

“I need you to teach me about yourself.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I need your identity, Ariang.”

“I’d rather you… kill me.”

Ariang bit her lip hard and looked down at her own body, her eyes quickly turning red.

I can see what she’s thinking.

Usually, when a noble lady with inheritance rights is captured by the enemy, she is released after a ransom is paid.

‘You won’t believe it, but that lady we held prisoner fell in love with a distant relative of ours and received a divine blessing in the form of a baby.’

Cases like this are common.

Therefore, it’s general practice to exclude a captured daughter from the line of succession, but the reality is that you can’t do that if she’s an only child.

“What on earth are you thinking?”

“What is it you want me to teach you?”

“……You.”

“M-me, to me……”

Do you start having delusions when you’re locked up, tied down, and unable to do anything?

Well, it might not just be delusions.

She might have heard rumors from the maid who washes her and empties her chamber pot.

“You must have heard. My cousin is coveting you—or more accurately, your territory.”

Such stories are circulating in our family as well.

The plan is to marry Ariang to my cousin, have them produce three children to take over the Aosta territory and its three subordinate baronies.

Then, once she’s no longer needed, dispose of her by disguising it as an illness.

In this social climate, it’s a good way to expand territory and grow a family without military conflict.

So, who told her to commit a military provocation with clear intent to invade someone else’s land?

Or if she was going to do it, why did she get caught?

“Do whatever you want.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’ll pretend to be resigned for a moment. And the moment you let your guard down, I’ll wring your neck.”

It seems Ariang has already constructed a scenario in her head for an ‘assassination in the bedroom.’

So she’s already imagined the scenario up until the point of me letting my guard down?

“That sounds good.”

“Good?”

“I don’t really want to give land to my cousin either. Dealing with someone like you is much easier. If I intended to set you up with him, wouldn’t he have been in and out of this tower already?”

“Then what? Is there a knight who has achieved great merit?”

“If I wanted the succession of the Aosta territory to be thrown into chaos, I would have cut off your head and hung it on the castle gate. I wouldn’t have locked you up like this.”

It’s not impossible to award a captured noblewoman of an enemy nation to a knight as a reward for his merits.

However, until they obtain a title, knights are a middle class between commoners and nobles; if a noble lady marries one without a title, she loses her inheritance rights to her territory.

That’s a method usually used to get rid of a hated daughter or an illegitimate one.

I can just swallow the territory by holding Ariang and controlling her, so there’s no reason to do that.

Ariang nodded, then looked up at me and curled her body, pulling her ankles together.

If it’s not my cousin or a knight, the only decent man left in our family is….

“N-no way.”

It’s just me, and we are currently in a private meeting.

Originally, being alone with a strange man like this is taboo for noble ladies as it provides perfect ammunition for other heirs to slander them.

Of course, those strange men shouldn’t do that if they knew etiquette, but there’s no such thing for a prisoner of war.

“I’ll kill you. I will definitely kill you. I’m not afraid of a man without armor. Go ahead and try if you dare.”

Ariang gritted her teeth and poured out curses.

I pointed to my temple and spoke.

“Use your head, Countess Aosta.”

“What?”

I didn’t give her the answer right away.

Realistically speaking, for our family to openly swallow the Imperial territory of Aosta would be a provocation to the Empire.

Since Ariang invaded our territory armed with a longsword and armor, she could be killed or publicly humiliated regardless of her status.

In fact, the culture is such that she would be mocked for dying so stupidly.

However, bringing her in to bear the child of a Kingdom Count and making that child swear loyalty to our King is a provocation.

As far as our family is concerned, we have a justification to provoke the Empire, but….

That justification only gains power once the culprit is confirmed.

“It’s not that I don’t want anything. I told you, your identity.”

“You want our family? No, I won’t merge my family with Kingdom bandits. If you want that, you’ll have to force it, and I’ll make sure everyone knows you disgraced me. That the hero the Kingdom is so proud of is a filthy human who forced himself upon a mere captive woman.”

Should I smack her?

I asked for her identity, not for her to be my bride. Why is she acting like this?

Still, unlike with my cousin, it seems she isn’t coming up with many scenarios for assassinating me.

I let out a hollow laugh and just let her imagine to her heart’s content.

If she’s imagining the worst, she’ll be more likely to accept a proposal that’s less than that.

“Enough of that. I plan to enroll in Sky Castle using your identity.”

“Ah?”

Ariang had never appeared in the capital’s social circles, so few people knew her.

And because she was of noble blood from a neighboring territory, our bloodlines had mixed before the Empire and Kingdom were established, so her physical features were similar to mine.

Furthermore, from a young age, she had lived in hiding to be protected as the heir of the Aosta territory.

Even during her public activities, she wore full-body armor and a helmet—a privilege of young noble commanders who look easy to target—so her face was never known.

“Sky Castle… that’s a girls’ school. That’s nonsense.”

“It can’t be helped. I have a purpose for going there.”

“Ah, where your little sister-bitches died—”

Slap.

She crossed the line. I tried to restrain myself, but I couldn’t help but strike her.

Your personality wears down when you’re on the battlefield.

If I weren’t accustomed to the rule of law and society from my past life, I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill or use violence.

“You’re a prisoner, so it’s best to be only moderately arrogant. Don’t test my patience.”

“You… you too, my father—”

“You rejected that as a lie, didn’t you? My side is the real deal. And naturally, when a younger member dies first, the shock to the family is greater.”

Ariang spat out blood-streaked saliva as if the inside of her mouth had been cut.

Then she began to sob.

From the princess of a territory to a prisoner treated like this.

She might have expected to be struck by a sword, but she probably never thought she’d be slapped across the face.

“Stop.”

“Ugh, huff, hic, ah.”

She couldn’t stop her crying.

She bit her lip so hard it started to lose color.

“Stop crying, and if you listen to what I have to say, I’ll show you something interesting.”

“W-what…. Ah, ah?”

Ariang had nowhere to go, but she scooted backward while sitting.

Wait, was that really a line that would make her stop crying?

So this is the kind of character she is. She grew up strangely.

I took off my helmet.

“Do you think I could get away with enrolling with this?”

“……Ah?”

Ariang’s eyes widened.

“A fake?”

It’s a reaction I hear often.

I have a notorious reputation on the Imperial side, and I am a man who lives up to that reputation.

Rumors are rampant on the Imperial side that half my face was torn off or that I’m a half-demon with red skin.

This face likely didn’t match that reputation.

I had experimented to see how much gunk I had to smear on my face to look fierce, but even with red paint, I looked like a performance artist with body paint, so I gave up.

“Female knights or young commanders tend to hide their appearance. Didn’t you hide your face similarly? Your Imperial Princess is famous for that too.”

I became a huge hit during the last war as a knight who never took off his helmet.

Perhaps because of that, copycats emerged; in particular, female knights seem to think similarly and tend to wear helmets where only the eyes are visible.

Lately, a trend has emerged where knights and gladiators consider it an insult to have their helmets taken off and their faces revealed.

“You… were you a woman?”

“If you want to see how I pee, you’re welcome to keep wondering about that.”

“Ah…….”

Ariang was staring intently at my face.

“What are you staring at?”

“……You’re pretty.”

Because I have an appearance that looks very easy to push around, I chose to keep my helmet pressed down from my very first battle.

However, there is certainly an aspect of this “easy-to-push-around” look that earns the favor of others.

“Any other impressions?”

“Other impressions? What do you mean?”

“There should have been a girl from my family who went into exile in the Aosta territory. Did you not see her?”

“Back then, your family even asked for our cooperation…. Are you a relative?”

“I believe I told you to call me Riang.”

“……Ah.”

She seems to recognize me.

When I was young, I was in exile in the Aosta territory for about two years due to a civil war within our family.

That period was before the war broke out, so exchange between nobles of the Empire and the Kingdom was open.

Ariang was two years younger than me, and since she had no siblings or neighbors, we became friends easily.

It was all thanks to the Count of Aosta and Ariang mistaking me for a girl until the very end.

“No way…….”

I unlocked the shackles I had put on her because she had been acting up so much.

I heard the maids had quite a hard time.

Ariang didn’t resist this time.

“Let’s have a cup of tea and talk. Is your cheek alright?”

“You… you’re too much. Why? Why? Why did you have to tease me and humiliate me like that? I… I—”

The wariness in Ariang’s voice had vanished.

However, her protest was filled with resentment.

She likely never expected that a reunion with an old friend would involve imprisonment and a slap.

“The mountain folk wouldn’t recognize a Countess, so I can understand to some extent that you led the search party and scouted as the heir. But even so, I can’t just overlook the fact that you invaded while armed.”

Provoking me might have been a good way to increase her fame.

But because of my own reputation, I’m also in a position where I cannot ignore a provocation from a novice female knight.

“Then you should have just killed me. Whhyyy?! And why now?”

“Because I found a need for you.”

“You weren’t this kind of person. It’s not you, right? You’re lying, right?”

“I wonder who it was that said I could pee standing up, too.”

“W-what are you talking about?! When did I ever!?”

Only one of Ariang’s cheeks had been red from the slap, but now the other one turned bright red as well.

It’s the first time I’ve laughed in a while.

There was someone left with whom I shared memories we built together.

And she seems to remember them quite clearly, too.

“I did it because teasing you and making you cry was fun, so please understand.”

“Is that fun? You’ve become quite a strange person.”

I didn’t answer why I did it.

But it felt like I needed a replacement because I no longer had family members I could make cry as a joke.

*******************************************

Thanks to Ariang’s cooperation, my enrollment in the Imperial class under the identity of Ariang Aosta was confirmed.

The carrier pigeon was also one we had taken from the Aosta territory.

And the day before leaving for Sky Castle.

Ariang spoke with a firm voice.

“You have to put them in.”