Earlier that day when the auction took place.
"That bastard! How dare he! To me, the prince!"
In the villa of the second prince. Jurius and Grace had just arrived from their visit to the auction.
It was Jurius' idea to go. He wanted to buy a certain perfume for Grace to deepen their love. It was like gaining the favor of the other party by buying them gifts.
The two of them were in a loveless marriage. Despite being so young at 19 and 16 years of age, their parents burdened them to marry and connect their families. However, even if they had dissatisfaction over their respective partners, they had to go through with it.
That was what Olivia told Jurius.
At least make it work, elder brother. At least this way, the two of you can bear a child both of you will love. Thus loving each other as well. So spend more time together.
Naturally he listened to his little sister's advice. She was always right after all.
The plan was going smoothly until they saw Arnold's face at the event.
"I'm going to tell father to hang him!" Jurius flew into a rage. "He assaulted a royal! In public!"
"But His Majesty hasn't made contact with you for months now, right? Would he listen?" Grace asked ignorantly.
She was aware of the fact that the Emperor hadn't made contact with him in quite some time. Jurius was sent to this city on the pretext of seeking support for his faction and gaining the duke's favor.
In truth, however, Jurius didn't have any power left.
It was suspected that the Emperor was in the process of arranging to revoke Jurius of his title which was the fourth Imperial Prince.
A livid expression appeared on Jurius' face.
"My father will not disown me! He has only been busy, alright!?" Jurius shouted and his spit flew.
"Ah, yes. Forgive my wrong assumption." Grace nodded her head.
'And you wonder why you don't have a faction.' Grace thought in contempt.
Jurius was always the kind of person to show his emotions and never use his head. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and always used his title to have things his way.
Grace was certain that her father would divorce the two of them.
All they were waiting for was the announcement of whether Jurius was still a prince.
"Tell me something, Grace…" Jurius opened up a bottle of whiskey while looking out the window. His clothes were disheveled and his hair was a mess.
"Y-Yes?" Grace answered. She was already thinking of something else since Jurius had long since left her mind.
"Did you really buy those two because you were unhappy in bed?"
Jurius was referring to the two tigerkin demihumans.
"N-No! I-I never even allow them to see me undress!" Grace retorted in a hurry.
"Really now? You should know that if rumors spread that I, the prince cannot satisfy my wife, then my reputation will be tarnished."
'Hah? Isn't your reputation even worse than the trash of the Berkley household?' Grace almost snarled at him.
What differed from the two until recently was the fact that Arnold was the heir of his family. In comparison, Jurius had a status that was lower than a baron. That was because he had no power as a prince.
It had been that way for a few years now.
"I-I'm not dissatisfied at all. Besides, I prefer a handsome man with a lean build like you, Your Highness. Those muscular, ugly men aren't my type. I only bought them to protect me whenever I do my errands." Grace chirped as she leaned on his chest. She smiled coquettishly and blew softly against his ear.
Grace was adept at getting a man around her finger. Jurius wasn't an exception.
All she needed to was say sweet-nothings and seduce him. He wasn't that smart anyway so it was easy for her to manipulate him.
Her mother was once a high class prostitute before becoming a noble's wife. She taught her daughter all there is to pleasure a man's pride and that thing in his pants.
"Hnngh." Jurius let out a small grunt when he felt her hands on his pants. She stroked his pants and pushed her modest breasts on his arm.
However, she quickly backed away. His eyes opened at her sudden action.
"Let's discuss something else, my love." Grace went towards the couch and sat down.
"Ahem. Right." Jurius knew that this wasn't the right time for him to be having fun. Plus this was his office so he couldn't just do the deed to her in here.
"How goes your life at the academy, Grace?" Jurius changed the subject.
Grace was 16 years old. Students enroll from age 14 and up. They have to complete their education at a junior school first before enrolling at the academy.
Thus, Grace was a third year student this year. She was a student in the Economics and Business Department. Her grades weren't bad. That said, they weren't extraordinary good overall either.
To simplify it, she did better than most.
'Living as this girl is harder than I thought it was. She's so average in every sense of the word. Now I know why she's so minor.' Grace thought to herself.
Grace thought about how to respond to Jurius' words.
"I'm doing very well in my academics so no worries there. And I made many friends. Oh! Celeste Penston agreed to form a study group with me! We occasionally have tea parties!"
"That's wonderful. If we manage to make one of Olivia's closest friends an ally then I may be one step closer to the throne." Jurius nodded in satisfaction.
Celeste Penston was Olivia's best friend. Being of high standing and sharing similar interests, the two quickly became friends when they were classmates in their first year.
"But she's a tough nut to crack. It's difficult to get a read on her." Grace said.
"What do you mean?"
"Whenever I mention that the two of us should do something alone together, she always makes up an excuse as to why we cannot. Although we have tea parties, we are never alone. It's always one of her servants or even the Second Princess who sits in."
"Tch. That's troublesome."
Olivia seemed to know of Jurius' motives. He wanted to take advantage of her friend using his wife.
Naturally she wouldn't allow that.
"And here I thought my little sister supported me all the way. Turns out that I mustn't cross the line of using her friends. Why does she not want me to get the throne?" Jurius sighed at the current situation.
'It's because she knows you'll bring this empire to ruin, you idiot.' Grace thought to herself but didn't say it out loud.
Besides, that was only an "if" since the Crown Prince, Julius had strong backing for the throne.
Jurius needed to make Celeste an ally and gain the power of her father, who was also a powerhouse of the empire.
Marquis Vance von Penston. He was one of the four Great Nobles of the empire and a 9 star powerhouse.
Jurius had tried seducing Celeste only to fail in the end. She wasn't the kind who would fall for a man even if he was handsome.
No wonder she was single. Her father gave her free rein over her future partner. She could choose whomever she wanted. There wasn't a need for political marriage since their household was already doing well.
Since making her fall for him didn't work, he had Grace approach Celeste to become her friend. There might be some benefits from becoming her close friend. Not only would she share information, but also her own connections.
Jurius could use this to improve his own reputation.
"Then, lord Jurius, have you managed to arrange a meeting with the Count you mentioned?" Grace asked as she looked at him.
She could visibly see him twitch when she asked that question.
"That, that's…" Jurius' eyes swam around the room. "I-I'm working on it."
'This liar.'
He was expecting Grace to befriend Celeste to benefit the faction, yet he had done nothing so far.
If that wasn't incompetence then she didn't know what was.
"Haa…" Grace held his hand. "I will meet up with his daughter and ask her if she could persuade her father. But please make sure you do not mess this up. Okay?"
"….." Jurius nodded silently.
Grace stood up as Jurius refilled his glass.
"I will head to bed first."
"Okay…"
Grace didn't spare him a second glance and only left the office.
**
When Grace left, Jurius gulped another glass of whiskey.
"That bastard…For humiliating me like this…You deserve to die a million times! Grace must be looking down on me now! I can see it in her eyes! It's because of him!"
Jurius threw the glass against the wall.
To begin with, Jurius reputation was just as bad as Arnold's. The only difference was that he held a much higher position. Being an Imperial Prince meant that he had many responsibilities to fulfil.
Of course, to ask that of Jurius was too much. He had no redeeming qualities other than his handsome face. He couldn't even finish the Imperial Ability Test which tests the intellect of royal families.
He had scored four percent out of the total 1000 points.
Jurius was hot-headed, lazy and extremely expressive. Whenever nothing went his way, he would force his title upon the person who he felt had wronged him.
Naturally, the Emperor would often get complaints from his court nobles over his youngest son's behavior.
He remembered a line his father once said in his presence:
-"What separates you from Arnold is the fact that he doesn't use his household name to get his way. He stands on his own two feet even as he embarrasses himself."
It was followed by a cold stare from his father.
"Fuck!!!"
Jurius threw the table aside as his anger flared.
"I'll fucking kill you, Arnold!"
The image of a young man, who surpassed Jurius in both handsomeness and talent appeared within his mind.