Celebrating his birthday

Ito Yuuki sat in front of her brother's gravesite, a piece of cake with a single candle burning on top. She had lit a stick of incense as well and started to talk to him, "It's the second time I have celebrated your birthday here, Aoi. I miss the times we would all sit around the table and share cake together. The last time I visited you here, I told you I had made a new friend. She's really nice, we played the new Noble School together and even discovered a secret yuri route where you chase after the game's villain." She giggled, "Father finally found the courage to face your death. He even managed to set foot back into a dojo again. He's going to test for his eighth Dan next year, I know you'll be there to cheer him on." She took a deep breath and said, "I managed to get into Tokyo Tech for computer science, so I'll be close by you the next few years. Even if I get busy with my studies I'll still make time for big brother." She reached out and touched the smooth surface of the stone, "The next sequel to Noble School was announced at Comiket this winter. The main character is a commoner girl named..."

*****

"Your father wants you to go to the Academy, Ella?" Olivier asked.

Ella nodded and replied, "I ain't lady-like 'e says, if'n I'm gonna marry a prince, I need to learn to sound all proper."

Olivier gave his usual goofy smile and then asked, "Oh, so he said you're going to marry a prince, well then you'll definitely want to come to the Academy of Swords and Magic. You'll need to study though if you want to pass the entrance exam. It's not easy, you know. I happen to know the perfect person to help you study in advance to pass it though."

Ella looked at Olivier hopefully, "That be ye?"

Olivier laughed and said, "No, not at all. I only managed to get into the Academy because my father was the King." Olivier looked around and then saw Alicia, "Her."

Ella's eyes got big, she said, "Is that an angel?"

*****

The news that the King had been assassinated wasn't released until the next day until after the royal investigator had looked into the matter and made his determination. The entire Kingdom was notified by the town crier system and by the new royal newspaper. Olivier, his sister Odila and Albert all met at the castle for the official transition of power. The four Dukes and the remaining royal family including the Queen mother met in secret to determine the next leader of Pays Des Abrutis, after a short deliberation they returned to the throne room and announced that Prince Albert would be officially crowned as King Albert de la Marche IV, King of Pays Des Abrutis. The coronation would be held on the first Friday after the previous King was laid to rest.

After the meeting, Olivier stayed with his mother and sister and helped plan the funeral as the Crown Prince was too busy with matters of state. Olivier didn't have very deep feelings for his father, but he knew that his mother did and he wanted to be there for her during her period of mourning.

*****

At the Academy, the Council of Magic all met without Olivier and discussed the repercussions of what a new King might mean for the Academy and the Council. Madeline was the first to ask the question, "With Prince Albert taking the throne, will we need to fight for all that we have here again?"

Guy shook his head and said, "I had my people draw up a thousand-year contract, it's ironclad, assuming the new King doesn't just abolish the foundation of law it is written on."

Diggory rubbed his chin and then said, "Not only that, as of now, we are the strongest power in the land. A King's power to make or break the law is rooted in the oldest law of them all. The strongest makes the rules."

"If Olivier decides to challenge for the throne, will we back him?" Doreen asked in her soft voice. Everyone at the table looked at each other and the answer was obvious even without it being said.

Guy cleared his throat and said, "I believe I know Olivier pretty well, and he wasn't interested in fighting over the throne or even having it. He didn't like what that kind of power did to people." Guy rubbed the bridge of his nose and then added, "That being said, if it's something he chooses, we all know that we'd stand behind his decision."

Alicia shook her head and said, "Olivier is having me tutor his commoner friend, so I don't think he is ready to give her up for the crown."

Diggory then asked, "Ok, we all know Olivier doesn't want to be King, let's talk about the real pressing issue for our Council. The status."

Guy looked confused, "What about the status?"

Madeline looked anxious as she said, "No need to talk about silly things at this important meeting!"

Doreen chuckled and then said, "Guy, you should check your status."

He raised an eyebrow and then turned and tapped his hand against the status board. His eyes almost jumped out of his head. He almost didn't want to turn around after reading it. [Love Interests: Madeline Celeste d'Aumont/Doreen Leon | Favorability: MAX/Friends] He was almost certain he would turn around and see Madeline's sword pointed at him. He slowly turned and saw that Doreen was pretending to be innocent while Madeline looked like she was responsible. He then swallowed and asked, "I assume, that you two know something about this?"

Doreen nodded and touched the board next, "I think it happened because of me, but I am not sure." Her status displayed, [Love Interests: Madeline Celeste d'Aumont/Guy de Montfort | Favorability: Friends/Friends].

Guy then said, "Ahhh, I think I might know why. We thought you might be a heroine, like Alicia, which means that we are probably on a route that involves Madeline." Guy walked over to the other chalkboard and started drawing up a diagram of how an otome game worked. "In an Otome game, you play as one of the heroines and your goal is to arrive at a favorable relationship with the capture target. Normally, in this type of game, if the target is together with someone already, you would steal the target. It looks like in this case, your target isn't a single person, but the couple itself. In this case, Madeline and I."

Doreen laughed softly and said, "Oh, how interesting."

Madeline looked upset and said, "Doreen!"

Doreen smiled at Madeline and said, "What, if you two weren't at least a little curious, maybe the status wouldn't have changed." She winked at Madeline who turned bright red.

Guy cleared his throat and then guiltily stammered, "We have other more important matters to discuss, let's move on. Diggory, we noticed that the beauty potion added points to strength and dexterity, was that a planned addition?"

Diggory's bushy eyebrows wiggled and he said, "No! But I think I might have an idea of how to make a male beauty potion now that will do the same for us."

Madeline tilted her head and asked, "Wait, Guy is curious too?"

Doreen nodded and said, "It would be strange if he wasn't Maddy."

Alicia nodded and said, "Even Claude would be interested in that."

Guy cleared his throat and said, "Moving on!"

Diggory said, "This is very important to discuss before we continue, the potion is not something we need to spend time on. I too would rather have more information on this new status, is this something that all of us can unlock, or only Doreen?"

Guy sighed and then slumped down in his chair as they all discussed the matter. In the end, it somehow ended up being Guy's fault for being perverted.