Evangeline thought for a while before raising her head ever so slightly and glancing at her father’s face. He was looking at her expectantly.

She turned her gaze away.

He was clearly expecting her to answer correctly, or thought that the question he had asked was rather easy. But it wasn’t.

No matter how long she thought, she couldn’t make a good enough guess. She had read enough stories to know that middle names were a thing among nobles, but she didn’t know the reason for their existence.

In the end, she chose to give up.

"I don’t know, maybe it’s there to sound cool?"

Her father tilted his head.

"Cool? What do you—"

"Ah," she hurriedly explained. "I meant that maybe it’s there so that the name could sound more, I don’t know, grand?"

Her father frowned as he looked at her with a strange expression.

"Evangel, you—no, wait." He gave her a look of suspicion. "Have you, perhaps, not learned about the divide among the nobility? I remember your mother was supposed to teach you about that."

Evangeline awkwardly scratched her head with a sheepish smile.

"Well, maybe she never got the opportunity?"

That was a lie. Her mother had indeed called her to teach her something about nobility a few days ago, but she had avoided her by making up some excuse that she herself no longer remembered.

Truth be told, she didn’t think she was the type who hated studying. It was actually the opposite: learning more about this world was fun and exciting.

Still, there were days when she simply didn’t feel like studying. It wasn’t her fault, was it? She wasn’t usually like this. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

She heard her father let out a deep sigh filled with both frustration and resignation. Then he straightened his expression as he spoke firmly.

"Sit straight and focus, it’s time for your lesson."

She instantly complied, sitting back straight on the sofa as she gulped. It was hard not to listen to him when he spoke in that firm manner. He sounded like a commander ordering a soldier.

Seeing her comply, he corrected his own posture and sat straight, meeting her gaze as they faced each other.

"Evangel, you must know by now that the nobility of the empire is divided into categories. You must have heard words like Regional Nobles, Imperial Nobles, and Ancient Nobles. So, what do you think is the basis of the division? You must know that we, the Florivelles, are regional nobles. But what makes us regional nobles? Any idea?"

’Come to think of it, I have indeed heard those mentioned multiple times.’

She had heard those words often being mentioned when the topic was related to nobility, or more specifically, conflicts between nobility. But she didn’t think much since it sounded like complicated stuff.

After thinking for a bit, she simply shook her head and gestured for him to explain.

"As you know," he began. "An Empire is a sovereign state that’s formed from multiple nations. All territories that either submitted to the imperial family or were conquered would become part of the empire. You must’ve learned that much, right?"

She nodded.

Well, this was one of the first things her mother had taught her. But she knew about that even before she was reborn in this world.

Her father smiled slightly.

"Then you must’ve also learned that nobles are the rulers who rule over and manage a certain part of the imperial territory. Now, how did nobles come to be? Take, for example, us. How did our ancestors ascend to the ranks of nobility?"

Her father paused, as if waiting for her to answer. She supported her chin with a hand and thought for a bit.

"Um, maybe they did something good, like killed a dragon or something? The emperor must have become impressed and made them nobles?"

’Right? That’s how it goes in stories, at least.’

But as she looked at her father, he was frowning while staring at her.

"Evangel," he sighed. "If everyone had to slay a dragon in order to become a noble, then dragons would’ve gone extinct by now. Anyways, you are wrong. The process is rather practical. There are two cases when someone becomes a noble of an imperial territory."

He raised his clenched hand and unfolded one finger.

"The first case is when an independent territory, like an independent city or village, willingly submits to the empire and agrees to become part of its territory. In this case, the local lord of that territory, like the village chief, would naturally ascend to nobility and become the lord of that territory. Those nobles are regional nobles."

He pointed at himself.

"Our ancestors were originally mayors of a small city, which is now the Florivelle territory. Regional nobles are usually peaceful and calm. They only care about their own territories and don’t desire more land. But this peaceful nature has made us weak compared to other nobles since we don’t involve ourselves in politics."

’So... regional nobles are kind of like rabbits? Peace-loving but weak? More than that, why did our ancestors submit to the empire, anyway?’

Well, there must’ve been a reason. But it had nothing to do with her current objective, so she pushed it to a corner of her mind.

"What’s the second case?"

Instead of answering, her father smiled and asked back.

"To answer that, tell me this first. What if the territory didn’t submit to the empire, and the empire had to conquer it using force? Who would rule that territory? Keep in mind that the ruler of that territory had either been killed or had fled."

’Can’t he just explain it himself? My head hurts from all the thinking.’

She wasn’t good with technical stuff. Even if she made guesses, they would most likely be wrong, so what was the point of even asking her?

"Papa," she replied weakly, trying her best to appear pitiful. "I’m not good at this stuff, can’t you just explain it, please?"

"Oh... well, um," he mulled over his words awkwardly. "I may have gone too far without even realising, I tend to forget sometimes that you’re only ten."

He adjusted the collar of his coat.

"If the imperial family conquers a land, they take it as their personal territory. But since they can’t rule over their land if it becomes too big, they need to assign it to someone. The never-ending war against the Alliance and the Kingdom is the best way for the imperial family to find the person they will give that land to."

Evangeline frowned.

’What does that mean? Besides, which unending war is he talking about?’

It felt as though he had skipped over that whole war thing, as if she was already supposed to know. But she didn’t, what war?

That was another thing she pushed to the back of her mind.

"If a soldier does exceptionally well during the war," her father continued. "They will be personally honored by the Imperial family and become a noble. The Imperial family will provide them with the territory they will rule. These are Imperial nobles, and all of them have Valcarion as their middle name."

Her mind paused at the last part. Her fiancé, apparently, wasn’t an imperial noble since imperial nobles had Valcarion as their middle name, while he had Caelis as his. And his being a regional noble was obviously out of the question.

Which meant only one thing: he was an ancient noble.

’I guess that counts as information.’

Her father continued his explanation.

"As former soldiers, Imperial nobles are violent and competitive by nature. More than that, their power comes from the imperial family’s authority, so most are fiercely loyal to the throne. Collectively, they are called the imperial faction since all imperial nobles are basically an extension of the Imperial family’s authority."

He added after a pause.

"Imperial nobles cannot defy the imperial family. Doing so is as good as suicide for them."

Those last words he said felt heavy. It was as if he had seen something like that happen.

’Wait, if there are only two ways to become noble, how does a third category exist?’

If a territory submits, then the local lord becomes a noble and rules over that territory. If the empire conquers a territory, then it is given to a soldier who becomes a noble.

Then what were Ancient nobles? How did they come to be?

"Are you confused about something, Evangel?"

"Oh, nothing," she waved her hands. "I’m guessing that the Ravenshade family is an Ancient noble family, am I right?"

He shook his head.

’...They aren’t?’

"They aren’t simply ancient nobles. Comparing them to other ancient nobles or putting them in the same category would be an insult to House Ravenshade. They are in a position that even the imperial family has a hard time doing anything to them."

’Oh, so that’s what he meant. Still, they are Ancient nobles, aren’t they?’

But he wasn’t done speaking. He added in a far more serious tone.

"House Ravenshade has a history that predates the Empire itself."