Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Louise POV. – First day training with Izumi.
I could use my quirk! It could generate water! Not just explosions, real water! They were tiny drops, a light trickle of water, but there it was! I knew there was more to my quirk than just exploding! I knew it!! I wasn't a Zero!!
I just had to find the right method, a method that only Miyamura could demonstrate, no teacher or instructor, back home or even at UA, could achieve, but Miyamura could! Unable to hide my excitement, I practically bounced back to my room in the Class 1B dorms.
I grabbed my Scroll and dialed a number without hesitation, but paused for a second before calling. First, I started moving the furniture and putting everything back in its place. I cleared everything out of the way and positioned the Scroll so I could see the whole room, and finally dialed the number. I waited anxiously for the call to connect, which felt like several long seconds.
"What?" asked my mother's voice once the call connected, I just smiled broadly.
"I can create water!" I squealed excitedly, looking expectantly at Mother. Mother just looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
"Water? Louise, stop joking around, you have a wor-"
"I'm not kidding, I can create water!" I quickly interrupted before closing my mouth under my mother's glare. She sighed wearily.
"Alright... let's see what you can do," Mother said almost dismissively through the scroll. I squealed excitedly before grabbing the wooden sword that Miyamura had given me. I took a deep breath.
I mimicked the movements Miyamura had recently taught me and… smiled broadly as the tiny drops of water followed the path of my sword. I continued moving clumsily through all the forms Miyamura had shown me.
I had a huge smile on my face; I could do it, even when I wasn't with Miyamura leading me, I could use my-
"Is that all?" Mother asked coldly, making me flinch and stumble. I looked at her with a shaky smile. "You called me here to show me some pathetic sword demonstration with a few drops of water? At least your previous explosions were more impressive, more useful."
"Instead of even trying to improve that, you're playing around? I told you to keep a low profile, not to waste your time and your studies. I'm a busy woman, I don't have time for this, Louise." Mother said coldly, making me shudder violently.
No, no, no, no, that's not how it's supposed to happen.
"B-but mother! T-this proves I was right, m-my quirk is something else! " I tried to say quickly.
"And what good is it if it's useless?" Mother asked with the same coldness.
"I-it's not useless!" I defended myself weakly. M-Miyamura just started teaching me, I-I just have to learn more, it'll grow even more! He-he says I have a strong quirk!" I said quickly as my eyes blurred slightly.
"Miyamura? Who is that? I don't recognize that teacher's name." Mom said coldly.
"H-he's not a teacher, h-he's another student, he goes to class 1A," I said weakly.
"Another student your own age... is teaching you?" Mom asked, sounding disappointed. No. No. No. "And a man, no less? Louise, you're not in Japan to flirt and have fun, you're here to learn how to do something useful with that quirk of yours and those connections. Stop being silly," Mom said coldly.
"T-it's not nonsense! M-Miyamura is an S-rank, he was the winner of the UA sports festival! " I said quickly, trying to salvage the situation.
"Mmmh... it was him... now I remember...interesting. I suppose you could get something out of that. Fine, you can continue with... your lessons, but don't forget why you're in Japan. And more importantly, don't forget that you're engaged. It's already an embarrassment for us to hand you over to Wardes, being... you. We don't need any more trouble because you couldn't control yourself in front of a cute boy." Mother said coldly. "Don't disappoint me... even more." The call ended.
My hands immediately went to my chest, I couldn't breathe, my eyes filled with tears.
But… I have to try harder, much harder, for my mother to acknowledge me.
I am Louise Françoise de La Vallière. I can do it… I can do it…
… I have to do it.
----------------
Louise Pov. – Kamino incident.
I stared at the screen along with the rest of Class 1B. My eyes were wide open as the fight played out on the screen. It was an absolute disaster.
A villain capable of fighting All Might and Ryuma? It was awful. But the most impressive thing was Miyamura… he was right in the middle of it, able to fight that villain and help two national-ranked fighters. It was… incredible.
Finally, All Might and Ryuma defeated the villain.
"Oh, thank God." I don't know who sighed that, but it seemed like the relief was shared by all of us. At that moment, my phone started beeping, and it wasn't the only one; everyone's started beeping, or they were making calls or sending messages. I squealed in surprise and pulled it out of my pocket, my eyes widening as I read the caller ID.
"I have to answer!" I said quickly as I stood up and ran to my room, though no one paid any attention to me. Finally, in the privacy of my room, I answered the call. "Mom!" I said quickly.
"Louise! Tell me for the love of the goddess that you were watching the news." Mom said tensely.
"Of course! The whole class was watching the news," I said immediately.
"The other student who was teaching you? That Miyamura guy, was he the one who just came off TV fighting alongside two national-ranked players? " Mother asked quickly.
"Y-yes, it's him." Confirm quickly. Mom's smile widened, sharp and calculated.
"Good, good, good," Mom said, sounding happy. I looked at her in surprise, then hopefully. "Seduce him," Mom said, and I froze. I felt my stomach drop, and I could feel the nausea rising.
"What?" I asked weakly.
"Miyamura is Ryuma's grandson, you have to get him, you're in an advantageous position right now, you've been training with him for months, you know him, and if that reporter is to be believed, he's too promiscuous, it will be easy for you to seduce him." Mother said easily.
" I-I don't understand, Mother! I'm engaged to Wardes, I didn't—"
"That doesn't matter, he agrees. I just finished talking to him, and he even agreed to take you back as his first wife." Mother said without hesitation. I froze completely; I could feel myself turning pale. What?
"W-what?" I asked stupidly as I tried to get my bearings. No, no, no, no, no.
"Louise, do you understand what's at stake? Miyamura was able to fight, not at the national level, but something very close, definitely an S-rank, and he's the same age as you. Even if he skipped a generation, Ryuma's genes are incredible."
"You have to seduce him, do whatever it takes to sleep with him and get pregnant. Ryuma's bloodline isn't something we can do without. I suppose even a broken clock can be right twice a day, or you were just lucky to have chosen Miyamura as your training partner."
"Or you were just lucky, but right now, you're in an advantageous position, act now before all the other women do the same," Mother said almost dismissively, and I felt myself go completely pale.
"B-but mother! I can't have Miyamura's child! What's going on with Wardes?! I can't have a relationship with Miyamura if I'm going to marry Wardes! " I exclaimed, completely confused. Mother just raised an eyebrow.
"Relationship? What are you talking about? You'll just have to get pregnant, and Wardes will raise the child as his own." The mother scoffed. "If the information is true, he's in a relationship with Lalatina Ford Dustiness. Germany will surely do the same; we have to have our share of all this."
"Besides the huntress Niermann, after Princess Iris Belzerg was recognized as an S-Rank, we are at a disadvantage. I doubt there will be a conflict between our kingdoms, but if the Germans manage to maintain Ryuma's lineage, tensions may rise."
Mother said firmly, My mind went blank.
"B-but Miyamura, he-"
"Miyamura wouldn't need to know." Mother interrupted sharply. I shuddered and paled even more. It wouldn't… "Let me repeat myself since you seem to be having trouble understanding. Seduce Miyamura, sleep with him as many times as it takes to get pregnant, secretly take pregnancy tests, and once you're pregnant, we'll get you out of Japan and UA."
"You will marry Wardes immediately and you will both raise the child as your own. Miyamura, Japan, and the rest of the world will never know. Is that clear? " Mother asked coldly. I could feel nausea rising in my stomach.
"D-do you want to separate a father from his son?" I asked in a trembling voice, I could feel my eyes stinging as I held back tears.
"Like I said, Miyamura will never find out, he won't feel a thing, as long as you don't mess it up." Mother said without any emotion.
"He-he takes birth control pills constantly!" I screamed in a panic, breathless, trying to buy time; my eyes were going blurry.
"Mmm, don't worry, there are some medications used to counteract the effects of contraceptives. The Montmorencys owe us a favor; they own several pharmaceutical companies. They'll be able to create the medications without asking questions. I'll send them to you when I have them," Mother said without any emotion.
"Y-you want me to drug Ryuma's grandson!?" I yelled in disbelief.
"Please, it's nothing dangerous, it will only remove the contraceptives from Izumi's system. He won't even notice." The mother easily reassured her.
"B-but he has other partners, they'll notice if they also get-" I stammered in a panic, unable to even pronounce the word 'pregnant,' my mother scoffed.
"They won't notice. Contraceptives aren't 100% effective. Besides, if it happens, then he'll be fulfilling his duty as a man, and Japan will be grateful," Mother sneered. "This is really important, Louise. I'm the strongest in the country, but even so, I'm not an S-Rank, only a high-ranking A-Rank."
"You were supposed to make a difference." Mother looked at me with utter disappointment, and I just shuddered. "If you couldn't even do that, at least you can do this. Ryuma's offspring can change things. Even though your quirk is useless, you have a massive amount of aura, even among S-ranks. That'll do."
"Miyamura demonstrated several really strong abilities with shadows, so let's hope you inherit his quirk and not yours. Even some of ours will do. I still have things to take care of, don't let me down." Mom said, not even trying to stop her from hanging up.
I just stared at my phone, my vision blurry. My stomach finally gave out, and the nausea hit me hard. I lunged at the trash can in the corner and started throwing up my entire dinner.
The retching lasted for several minutes, minutes during which tears began to fall down my face in large quantities; I could feel myself trembling as I clung to the trash can.
I could finally feel my stomach settle, although I could still feel nauseous and terrible pain all over my body, but I no longer felt like I was going to vomit up the rest of my organs.
I clumsily wiped the vomit from my chin with the back of my hand, my eyes still glazed and dazed. I could barely breathe, yet the words still tumbled out of my mouth as usual.
"I-I'm L- Loui -se Françoise ddd-de La Vallière. I-I can do it… and I can do t-this… for the F-family… for m-mother…"
And for the first time in my life, I didn't believe it.
Author's Notes: This is the first time I've actually disliked a character I wrote. I don't even know how it happened; I was just thinking about how to make Karin seem like she had the male role and all that stuff about reversed gender roles and all that, and I ended up with these chapters.
In canon, Karin is quite rigid and strict, living by the 'Rule of Steel,' which is basically 'follow the rules.' She hates those who break them, and she also has a strong sense of Noblesse Oblige and loyalty to her country and the royal family. Even so, despite being rigid and strict, she definitely loves her daughters—all of them, even Louise—though she doesn't always know how to show it. But that's surely a consequence of the time period in which the world of Halkeginia is set in canon.
So no, I don't really have a problem with Karin. These Louise chapters were planned a while ago, to make her more relevant after Kamino. I was going to keep Karin as close to canon as possible, but it just... rewrote itself and I ended up doing this.
Maybe I was watching too much Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon and some characters subconsciously leaked in? … nah, there's never too much GoT, that certainly wasn't the problem.
So yes, this is the Karin we have now. Sorry?
A/N: If you liked the story, join my patreon, patreon.com/Camellya_Addams, there are up to 10 chapters in advance, thank you. Or you can also visit my Ko-Fi, ko-fi.com/camellya_addams.