Male Lead, Don’t Push, Pull!

“Have a good night, Vivian,” Baron Raston said with a gentle smile.

“Good night,” Daniel added shyly.

“Mhhn. Daniel, you too.”

We parted ways after what seemed like an eternity. I waved goodbye and entered my own room.

“Kyooh.” 

Lisa’s small snores drifted through the still air. 

“Aigoo.”

I told her to just sleep on the bed, but she was sleeping on the couch. That must be uncomfortable.

After tucking the blanket properly around a sleeping Lisa, assumedly snoring from exhaustion, I headed to the small desk instead of the bed.

I rummaged through my luggage and pulled out the pretty stationery I’d packed.

In my hand, I clasped my reclaimed fountain pen and crossed my arms for a moment.

“Hmm….”

I hadn’t planned to send a letter so soon.

But when something happens, it’s better to do it right.

After all, when you’re trying to impress someone, you’re supposed to act like you’re trying to knock them off their feet.

Besides, it’s not a bad thing for my family.

I wrote the first sentence with the recipient at the very top of the letter.

– Dear Dad

Dad, it’s me, Vivian. How are you?

I continued writing, preparing a powerful punch line to get Daniel Raston on my side.

***

“Ha.”

The Marquis de Rosiere, sitting at his desk, stopped and sighed. He had been sighing for no reason lately.

No, it was not without reason.

“I hope Vivian has arrived safely.”

Because his lovely youngest daughter, Vivian, had left his arms to enter the Academy of Arene.

‘Goodbye, Dad!’ Vivian exclaimed as she left the house.

The Marquis de Rosiere looked back at his butler, Hans, and asked, “Hans, how long until the end of the term?”

“Only a week has passed since the lady left, my Lord.”

At the butler’s sober reply, the Marquis de Rosiere let out another sigh.

How much he’d missed her, and only a week had passed!

“There surely must be no school holidays in Arene.”

“School hasn’t even started yet.”

“Hah. I’ll have to find a way to speed up the school holidays in Arene.”

The butler shook his head slightly, watching his master dream of the impossible.

“I don’t want Vivian to suffer there for nothing.”

“Don’t worry, my Lord, I’m sure she’ll settle in just fine. Besides, didn’t His Highness the Prince go with her?”

“Yes. Of course, but….”

Still, he couldn’t help but worry.

In the midst of a father with a daughter’s never-ending worries, there was suddenly a knock at the door.

Knock.

The butler opened the door and a middle-aged maid stepped into the room with a bright smile.

“Marquis, a letter has arrived from Lady Vivian.”

“A letter?”

The Marquis de Rosiere looked up in surprise. Sure enough, there in the maid’s hand was a letter-filled envelope.

The butler handed him the letter from the maid’s hand.

The handwriting on the pale forsythia-colored envelope was unmistakably Vivian’s.

The Marquis de Rosiere tore the envelope open with excitement.

– Dear Dad

Dad, it’s me, Vivian. How are you?

I arrived in the city of Arene today, and I wanted to let you know as soon as I got there, so I’m writing to you, in case you’re worried about me.

The Marquis de Rosiere’s heart pounded. It’s a long way to travel, several days in a carriage. She must have been tired, and yet she wrote to her father in case he was worried.

Behold, his daughter has such a deep heart.

– It’s so wonderful here, and today I saw the tower that the archmage built! I wish I could have come with you. Maybe next time we can come together?

Oh, right. And I met a new friend today. He was having trouble finding a room, so I helped him out, and he’s a new student who’s starting school with me. His name is Daniel Raston, and he said he’s from Lothern.

There were no Rastons in Lothern, except for Baron Raston.

They used to be quite wealthy a few generations ago, owning several mines, but now they’re nothing more than fallen aristocrats.

‘I wonder if there was a child of Vivian’s age in the Raston family.’

The Marquis de Rosiere continued to read the letter, for now.

– But Daniel told me that the soil in the mountains of Lothern is red, and that when it rains, it doesn’t get the ground wet, it just runs off, and that’s why there are no animals living there.

I said I’d like to go there later, but they said it smells like sulfur at night, so it’s not a touristy place, right? It’s gross.

“What…….”

The Marquis de Rossier stopped reading the letter.

Red soil, land that never gets wet, an environment uninhabitable for animals, and the smell of sulfur.

All of the things Vivian described were the characteristics of the region where the rare gemstone Yttenum was produced.

It wasn’t a popular gemstone for jewelry.

If you wanted to use it as jewelry, you couldn’t get much more useless than that. It’s a lustrous, dead, red stone.

But to the Marquis de Rossier, the man in charge of the empire’s military affairs, it was a precious and valuable gemstone.

It’s because it’s a gemstone used as a trigger to increase the output of a magic sword!

“I didn’t think it was being produced here in this country…….”

Inevitably, the entire amount was imported from overseas. It’s an essential ingredient in the production of magical swords, so he had to buy it even if he had to pay a lot of money for it.

And yet, he had stumbled upon it like this!

The Marquis de Rossiere’s heart soared like a cloud.

But then he read Vivian’s letter again, and was horrified.

– He said that Daniel’s father might sell the mountain.

“No way!”

‘This was the mountain where Yttenum was expected to be buried. If you sell the mountain, then sell it to me!’

The Marquis de Rossiere hurriedly called for his butler.

“Hans!”

“Yes, Marquis.”

“Call Baron Raston at once. Tell him I wish to have a meeting.”

“You mean Baron Raston of Lothern?”

“Yes.”

“Very well.”

The butler quickly left the room as ordered. The transaction must be sealed. The Marquis de Rossiere blew out a heated snort.

***

The undeveloped mines of Baron Raston, which I hinted at to my father, were privileged information that only I knew.

A kind of possessor’s privilege.

I sold Daniel to get out what I already knew, but that’s okay. The truth is, Baron Raston won’t see the benefits of the mine until he dies.

Who knew that what he thought was a stone mountain with nothing in it was actually a mine of rare gemstones.

Baron Raston sells the mountain from which the Yttenum comes to pay for his son’s education, and later regrets bitterly as he watches the mine develop.

It was a discovery that could have rebuilt the family fortune.

Eventually, the heartbroken Baron Raston succumbs to his illness and dies, leaving Daniel to inherit the barony at a young age.

I had come up with a way to prevent this and still benefit my family. I was exaggerating, but a father in the munitions business will see through that.

I’m sure he’ll be contacting Baron Raston soon.

Of course, I can’t take credit for preventing the death of his father.

I’m just trying to work with Baron Raston on a joint mine development before that happens.

As a side note, I gave Baron Raston a little nudge.

‘If anyone comes along and wants to buy something from you.’

‘Hmm?’

‘Don’t just give it to them; ask them to work with you.’

Baron Raston looked puzzled by the suddenness of my words, but he would soon realize what I meant.

‘Since the Marquis de Rosiere will be the main developer, my house will take most of the profits, but it will still give the poor baron some breathing space.’

Plus, working with him will allow me to keep in touch with Raston, who will eventually earn an additional title, so we’ll kill two birds with one stone.

Very well, then, I’ll leave this one to my father.

Having sorted out my thoughts, I returned to gazing at the sight before me.

“Look. It’s Ygritte.” 

“Did the prince really get in as rumored?”

Ygritte. A surname reserved only for the direct imperial family.

The appearance of a prince, no matter how far removed from the status quo he was, caused an explosion of interest. Though he is the child of a concubine rumored to have been abandoned by the emperor, he is technically of imperial blood.

The interest was understandable, especially since the current Emperor Ishad had only three children, including Kyle.

All eyes were on Kyle as he stepped up to the podium to take the oath of admission as a student.

Somehow, it felt like a preview of the ending of a novel.

“…I hereby declare that I will be faithful to my studies as a student of Arene Academy.”

As the declaration was read, thunderous applause erupted.

I clapped harder than anyone else and suddenly made eye contact with Kyle. A huge smile broke out on his normally expressionless face.