The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

Whether Charlotte’s methods were right or wrong—that was already too much of a leap to judge.

After all, people’s values shift with the times. Even the modern values I had lived by might one day be considered outdated and overly conservative.

I had no intention of charging in to change the morals of this world on my own.

I wasn’t planning to blindly conform either, but everyday social values like this weren’t something I could change alone.

“......”

“......”

The day after the student council vote.

We were gathered in the classroom without saying a word.

From what I’d heard, previous elections hadn’t had such a heavy atmosphere. The student council president was usually a child from a duke’s family, and once the candidates were announced, it was mostly obvious who would win.

That’s how it had been for the last president too.

But this time was different.

Alice, the Empire’s crown princess. And Charlotte, the only child of the neighboring kingdom’s king.

Just going by the words “Empire” and “Kingdom,” it might seem like the Empire held more weight—but in reality, they were just two separate nations. No matter how overwhelming one nation’s power might be, they couldn’t outright disrespect the authority of another. These weren’t conquered territories; there was no justification for that.

And Alice and Charlotte were close friends. They’d always been friendly with each other, so for them to suddenly become rivals must have made things awkward, especially for those watching from the sidelines.

“It’s really not something that should be taken this seriously, though.”

“Is that so?”

I murmured while popping a snack into my mouth, and Mia tilted her head as she asked.

“Becoming student council president doesn’t exactly mean you’ll accomplish something huge.”

“Is that so?” 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

She asked again, then picked up a snack and ate it herself.

“I mean, this academy is a unique place. Outside of here, women don’t even have suffrage, and most commoners aren’t even interested in how politics work. The reason everyone here is engaged in voting at all is because of the academy’s unique rule that everyone is ‘equal.’”

“Ah, right—so you’re saying the relationships built here don’t really carry over after graduation.”

Mia nodded at my words.

“You can still use the connections you make here if you want to... but even then, very few people will have the chance to meet the emperor freely. And if Charlotte becomes president instead of Alice, we’ll have even fewer chances to meet her—she’ll be a foreign queen.”

Her expression dimmed a little at that.

“But it’s okay. It’s not like we’ll never see each other again. If we reach out first and visit personally, she’ll be able to make time.”

“Do you think so?”

“I’m sure.”

“Hey, Sylvia.”

While Mia and I were chatting calmly, Alice suddenly jumped into the conversation.

“You’re on my side, right? If I’m nervous, shouldn’t you be nervous too?”

How? Should I be praying that you don’t become president? Honestly, I had no interest in being vice president.

Still, Alice was doing her best in a way that matched her position, and if I said that out loud, it’d feel like I was denying all her effort—so I kept my mouth shut.

“It’s not like you’d stop talking to Charlotte just because she becomes president.”

“Well... that’s true.”

“And it’s not like Charlotte would kick us out of the student council just because she wins. So there’s no need to get so worked up.”

“She’s right.”

Charlotte, who had been listening, took a sip of tea and chimed in.

“We’re just equal competitors, aren’t we? I don’t think we need to be so tense about it.”

“I’m not tense.”

Alice insisted, even though her nervous expression was painfully obvious.

We were in the student council room.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

You might ask if it was really okay for the candidates to be in the same room as the vote count. But in an imperial parliamentary election, you’d never see the candidates inside the counting room. This was an academy, and the vote was for the academy’s student council president. This wasn’t the same as a real political election. Class president vote counts were done right in the classroom too, weren’t they?

In a way, it might even be fairer that both of them were here.

We were both presidential and vice-presidential candidates, but we were still current members of the student council. So it wasn’t strange for us to be present at an event like this.

“......”

“......”

When Mia and I fell silent, the student council room returned to quiet.

The sound of papers being counted could be heard, along with the scribbling of pens. A few whispers. Some students glanced over at us from time to time.

I understood why. Two girls who were normally so friendly now sitting here, barely speaking, caught up in a rivalry—that was enough to draw attention.

Still, I’d been in much more intense situations with Charlotte. I’d even had to climb a roof to convince her of something before, so this didn’t feel particularly dire to me.

And Alice... well, I’d known her since we were kids. Compared to the Alice who used to throw tantrums whenever she was upset, °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° this was almost cute.

Well, in any case, the voting was over.

Charlotte had focused on persuading the commoners, ignoring the nobles. Alice, perhaps thinking that jumping in would make it look like she was imitating Charlotte, had chosen to stick to the nobles instead. She had visited the commoner classes but hadn’t brought gifts—just shared her platform plainly.

If every single commoner voted for Charlotte, things might turn out differently—

Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

*

“The next student council president is... Her Highness, Princess Alice Fangryphon.”

And just like I predicted, that was the result.

If you asked why, the reason was simple.

If every noble voted for Alice, then that alone would be one-third of the class. So if even just one-third of the commoner class voted for her, she’d already have the majority.

And in reality, more than half of the commoner class voted for Alice.

The reason was just as simple: Alice was the Empire’s next Empress.

Every single student from the noble class voted for her. You’d think there would be at least a few abstentions, but ironically, it was precisely because Charlotte was in the race.

When support for Charlotte started building among the commoners, the noble kids probably panicked. They might’ve thought, What if Alice loses?

And if Alice did lose, and even a handful of noble votes had gone to Charlotte, people would say she lost because of that handful. Even if the loss wasn’t close, that stigma would stick.

That meant Alice could ascend the throne while carrying the resentment of the academy’s noble class.

For the children of noble houses, that was a terrifying prospect.

It was the same for the commoners. They might be further removed from such politics, but the ones in this academy were still the better-off commoners—politically aware enough to realize that the person who would be shaping the Empire’s policies was far more likely to be Alice.

“So that’s how it turned out. I expected it, but I’m still glad we put up a good fight.”

Charlotte said with a smile.

“......”

Alice narrowed her eyes and glared at Charlotte, who was smiling calmly despite having lost.

“You never intended to become president from the start, did you?”

“What do you mean by that? Are you saying I wasn’t serious when I entered the race?”

Charlotte scoffed and replied.

“I achieved this much on my first vote. If I try again next year or the year after, it might be even more effective. And I got to raise the profile of the Kingdom of Belvur in the process.”

“You’re planning to run again next year?”

“I’m thinking I’ll keep trying until graduation at least.”

Charlotte smiled as she responded to Alice.

“The heirs of Belvur’s royal family must always aim for the top, after all.”

“That’s the first I’ve heard of that.”

“Of course it is. I just made it up.”

Hearing that, Alice let out a long sigh, lowered her head... and then suddenly raised it again with renewed vigor.

“Then I, as the new president, will just have to work even harder. Next time, I’ll make sure your approval rating plummets.”

“A fair and open challenge is something I’d never refuse.”

Charlotte answered with an elegant smile.

“Th-then I guess I’ll be running again next time too...?”

“Of course. You weren’t planning to rest easy just because you lost once, were you?”

Mia, who had been somewhat relieved, froze in horror at Charlotte’s words.

“You heard her, right? We’ll need to be properly prepared for next year. I may have let my guard down this time, but next time, I won’t let that happen.”

Alice said firmly, clenching her fist.

...Seriously.

Even with everything that happened, some parts of daily life just insist on repeating themselves.

“Next time, I’ll make sure to win.”

“It’ll be the same as this time. I’m not planning to sit still, either.”

See what I mean?

They sound like the ending music is about to swell and a “See you next time!” is about to roll in.

“......”

Still, even so.

It’s a far better line than “Thank you for all your support until now.”

For now, I’ll just savor this endless loop of our ordinary lives.