I Became The Leader Of A Revolution In A Romance Fantasy

< Chapter 35: The Empress’s Reign – 4 >

– This country is not a republic.

I had planned to take Lize to the winter palace exhibition, but I was convinced by Congressman Roche’s advice.

“I’m fine. As long as I can assist you, Congressman, I can endure any humiliation.”

Although Lize spoke calmly, her eyes had a slightly crazed look. I shook my head.

The nobles of the Empire, who had yet to experience the revolution, would look at her as if to say, “If you’re a commoner, aren’t you a monkey?”

“Is there any need to go through the worst experience? Go and rest.”

“B-but…”

“This is an order.”

It’s true.

There were still many documents to review when I returned.

Life would be easier if Lize organized them in advance.

With a regretful expression, Lize nodded.

I firmly instructed her, “It’s dangerous out there, so move with Jini. I’ll catch a ride with Congressman Roche’s vehicle.”

After sending Lize back to the lodging, Congressman Roche stopped me as I was about to enter the venue.

“Wait a moment, Congressman Hastings.”

“?”

“The Empire is not a republic. Even compared to the old kingdom days, the social scene is… hmm.”

Congressman Roche paused to choose his words.

“The social scene is much more… developed.”

“Should I understand that to mean there are a lot of unnecessary rules and unspoken laws?”

“…Ahem.”

He cleared his throat and led me to the nearby dressing room.

Wait, could it be?

Before I could refuse, Congressman Roche gave an enigmatic smile, knocked on the door, and then swung it open.

“It’s better to have a partner to avoid troublesome approaches. Please take care of my daughter.”

However, the revealed scene seemed not entirely as Congressman Roche had intended.

“K-Camille?!”

“…”

The maids looked embarrassed.

There was a dress still in the box, not even taken out.

Camille Roche had tilted a military cap with a wide brim to hide her face, which was as red as her hair.

Instead of a dress, she was wearing an officer’s uniform.

“Pff.”

Father and daughter really don’t see eye to eye.

#

Congressman Roche’s scheme to attach Camille to me was rather obvious.

His idea was probably that his daughter, who always wore stiff clothes, would be quite a sight in a dress.

Typical Roche mindset, obsessed with upward marriage for the whole family.

‘Practically a matchmaking agency mindset.’

Anyway, even Congressman Roche wouldn’t have expected that the daughter he brought to put in a dress would end up wearing an officer’s uniform instead.

However, thanks to this, I could extend my hand to Camille without any burden.

“Shall we go? It seems we both need a partner.”

“?”

I smiled faintly as Camille looked at me as if I were a madman.

“I don’t find Roche here particularly comfortable either. But this is a foreign country, and this is not a private event; it’s a working event for us. Let’s act professionally.”

I wasn’t crazy.

Would anyone like someone who openly shows their dislike?

Life is too short and tough to only meet people who like you.

Camille, who was far from professional, seemed pricked by her conscience and took a big step back.

“…Kuh.”

I lightly remarked to her.

“Moreover, aren’t you quite familiar with being an escort? Just think of this as another escort duty.”

Escort.

A word used to mean accompanying a woman at a social event.

In the 21st century, it had taken on some odd connotations, especially in the United States, but the original meaning was as stated.

Escort.

One might reasonably suspect that medieval knights, who were high on chivalric romance, dressed up their mating activities as part of chivalric romance.

Anyway, after some communication that oscillated between persuasion and provocation, Camille Roche finally looked me straight in the eye.

The problem, if there was one, was that her green eyes were glaring as if she had encountered an enemy.

“Eugene Hastings.”

Camille opened her mouth, ready to chew me out.

“This is just a temporary alliance.”

“…Sigh.”

Did it have to be so dramatic?

I tilted my head but pretended to understand.

Indeed, I couldn’t fully grasp the sentiments of the romance world.

###

As soon as we set foot inside the hall, gazes flew from all directions.

To confess, the fact that we immediately drew attention upon entering was likely thanks to having Camille Roche by my side.

The officer’s uniform was quite tight, especially the pure white pants that revealed her slim lower body line.

Unlike the black jacket with gold and red decorations and the black military cap, the plain, tight white pants definitely drew immediate attention.

“A woman?”

“My gosh. The dress code of the Winter Palace is ruined.”

Despite the murmuring voices, Camille held her chin high.

I smiled wryly.

“Sir Roche, let’s ask out of curiosity. Are you an attention seeker, perhaps even more than Congressman Andrastra?”

“What?! How dare you speak about the princess like that…!”

If left alone, Camille seemed poised to deliver a loyalist oath along the lines of, “Princess Visenya is so pure, noble, and virtuous that she should not be described in such vile language…!” So, I cut off her retort.

“Congressman Andrastra has many virtues, but let’s not say he’s a humble person.”

“…Ugh.”

At that, Camille couldn’t outright deny it, only moving her lips as if to say something, which was very typical of her.

“Anyway, that’s not the point—”

Regardless, I needed to satisfy my curiosity.

Before I became possessed, I quite liked the character Camille Roche while I was working as an editor of the original novel.

Putting aside my professional stance, as a reader, I liked any character who could pull off good action scenes, regardless of gender.

On top of that, her girlish sensibility, decorating her room with pink and cute items, was endearing.

I also liked that she was the type to risk her life to prevent accidents, getting injured while saving soldiers.

But nowhere in the setting did it explain why Camille Roche never wore dresses.

Aren’t you fond of girlish things?

“Isn’t it obvious that a woman showing up in military uniform at a noble social event would draw more attention than wearing a dress? It’s not like Sir Roche would use that attention for some grand political scheme…”

“Are you mocking me for being simple?!”

Camille twitched as if she would shake off my hand.

Of course, before the muscles in her forearm could tense, my fingers, escorting her, restrained her arm.

“Isn’t it a straightforward fact, not even worth mocking? Anyway, if it’s not for some practical purpose, that social fashion can only serve to make you the most curious spectacle in the room. Why do you do it?”

“……”

Camille shut her mouth tightly.

From the stubbornness that emerged at that moment, I sensed that this was not something she would easily answer to anyone.

But let me tell you again.

The male lead in a romance novel is a cheat character.

In game terms, he’s someone who maxed out his charisma.

And persuasion checks are based on charisma.

“…I don’t want to show something ugly.”

Camille muttered in a voice that seemed to crawl out.

At that moment, she looked as if she couldn’t believe she had said it aloud and seemed flustered.

Her eyes, losing focus, darted around nervously, glancing over her shoulder.

“Huh?”

I realized belatedly.

Why Camille Roche never wore dresses.

And why she started treating me so strangely since ‘that day.’

「The steam engine is the epitome of modern civilization. The power of science successfully compresses the strength of a hundred men into a space just a handful in size.

But at the same time, it also contributed to magnifying the scale of ‘disasters.’ The moment the pipe seal broke, the bones and flesh of people caught in the explosion were torn apart like paper.

That very moment when a fellow cadet, during a practical training session, turned the valve to the maximum instead of closing it.

‘How did an idiot who can’t even tell clockwise from counterclockwise get into the academy?’ Such questions were absent from Camille Roche’s mind.

She only saw the soldiers clinging to the gun barrel, struggling.

Camille instinctively threw herself at it.」

The past as described in the original story.

Cadet Camille Roche flung her whole body at the gun barrel.

Though not at the level of Eugene Hastings, Camille Roche’s physical abilities were sufficiently superhuman.

With that, a single dropkick was enough to twist the gun barrel sharply.

But immediately afterward.

She was not spared from the shrapnel that spewed out as the barrel burst.

“No way.”

I trailed off.

After the incident where we were both trapped under the debris. Camille Roche’s attitude towards me became even more insolent(?).

– If Milmil says no, then it’s a no!

When I was confused as to why she was acting that way, Visenya Andrastra avoided answering with such words.

‘A very personal reason that even Visenya Andrastra couldn’t speak for her.’

I once tilted Visenya’s lantern to examine Camille Roche’s wounds from protecting her from a bomb terrorist.

The injury then was definitely on her back.

…I did check her back to see if the injury was serious…

Could it have been because of that?

Was that why she would grit her teeth and glare at me whenever she saw me?

“No, wait-”

“……”

I started to speak.

I mean, I did see her back.

It was full of scars and surgical marks.

But, uh… she doesn’t need to feel ashamed of that with me. So, there’s no need to be so defensive.

‘…But how do I convince her of that?!’

This is truly unnecessary hostility!

But before I could say anything further to her.

Even if I did, considering that I did see the back she considered a complex, it couldn’t be said to be a misunderstanding…

However, even though I wasn’t sure how to resolve this unnecessary conflict with words, I was about to try something when.

March!

The sound of aligned footsteps was heard.

The sound of several pairs of military boots turning in unison without a single error.

The Empress had arrived.

As I said, this wasn’t a personal event but a work setting, so even if there was more to say, it was time to focus on the job at hand.

“…Let’s talk again later.”

I tried to get her to agree, but seeing Camille’s profile as she turned her head, it seemed like a distant prospect.