After leaving the Magic Club, Ron André found Kiel and told him about the incident.
"I already looked into this earlier," Kiel said, looking somewhat helpless. "I'm trying to minimize the negative impact Element Cards might suffer from this, but it'll take some time. Your Highness, please be patient."
"Minimize the impact?" Ron looked surprised. "Who said anything about minimizing it?"
"Huh?" Kiel was confused. "This incident is pretty bad. The son of a general and the grandson of a duke got into a fight because of a Magic Duel, and Rowell was injured."
"If this spreads, it won't reflect well on Element Cards, right?"
"If we don't control it quickly, I'm worried it'll affect the sales of the second batch."
"How could that be?" Ron shook his head with a smile. "First, you need to understand something—this incident has definitely already spread throughout the noble circles."
"And that's something we can't stop."
"What we should be thinking about now is how to use this incident to generate positive publicity for Element Cards."
"Not rushing to distance ourselves from it."
Kiel fell into thought, hesitating. "Then… what should we do?"
Ron grinned. "We exaggerate it."
"Exaggerate it?"
"That's right." Ron nodded. "Make it bigger. Make sure everyone knows about it."
"Even though many nobles already know about it, most of them aren't disgusted—they're treating it as gossip."
"As long as no one died, the nature of this incident won't change. It'll just be seen as young people fighting over romance."
"So we might as well exaggerate the story a bit—let everyone hear about it, spark their curiosity, and lead them to learn about Element Cards."
Kiel still looked a bit lost. "Your Highness, could you be more specific? Maybe give an example?"
"Hmm…" Ron thought for a moment. "For example…"
"Shocking! The son of a general and the grandson of a duke exchange blows—the reason will surprise you!"
"That's the headline. Then you write about what happened, and slip in some introduction to Element Cards along the way."
"You can exaggerate certain parts—like saying, 'In the Royal Capital First Military Academy, using Magic Duels to settle disputes is becoming increasingly common,' and so on."
"Get the general idea?"
Kiel nodded slowly, beginning to grasp it. "But… if we exaggerate like this, won't it be easy to debunk?"
"Easy?" Ron gave a faint smile. "How do you think it would be debunked?"
"For example, students from the academy might come out and say it's not true…"
"And then? How many people can they clarify things to? And how many will believe them over the majority of circulating stories?"
"Uh… then what if the academy instructors step in to refute it?"
"You're overthinking it." Ron shook his head. "Leaving aside whether they even have the time to address a mere fight…"
"Even if one false claim gets debunked, can't we just create more?"
"Mix in some real information as well—truth and falsehood blended. For people who can't verify things in person, who actually cares what's true?"
"They're just here for the spectacle."
"As long as Element Cards become more widely known and more people buy them out of curiosity, our goal is achieved."
"Besides, if you handle it discreetly, no one will care who's spreading the stories."
"Once the hype peaks, we'll release the second batch of Element Cards at just the right time and take over the entire Royal Capital market."
As Kiel listened, his eyes grew brighter and brighter, as if a whole new world had opened before him.
"I understand now! Your Highness, this move is brilliant!" Kiel said excitedly. "All we need is to boost the popularity of Element Cards—whether the rumors get debunked in the end doesn't matter at all."
"As long as everything stays within the realm of gossip, we won't face serious backlash."
"We can even fabricate more similar incidents, or find related events involving Element Cards and reshape them."
"When all these stories stack together, they'll form a massive wave of public opinion!"
"Riding that wave to promote Element Cards will maximize our profits!"
"Your Highness, you truly are a business genius!"
"…" Ron's mouth twitched. He thought to himself: When did you expand on my idea and then turn around to flatter me for it?
I only planned to use sensational headlines to generate hype—you've already mapped out the entire set of… questionable tactics.
You're the real genius here, aren't you?
"Anyway, follow this line of thinking. I'll leave the details to you," Ron added with a few final instructions.
"Rest assured, Your Highness—leave it to me!"
…
Over the next few days, just as people thought the hype around the fight was dying down, they suddenly realized—
It wasn't over at all.
For some reason, an incredibly dramatic story of two men competing for one woman began spreading wildly through the streets and alleys of the Royal Capital.
And it wasn't just one version.
There were over a dozen different variations.
Some claimed that Leticia had long admired Rowell, but Wardson—stronger and more aggressive—kept interfering. Rowell used Magic Duel to outwit him, but despite winning, was beaten into a swollen mess by the enraged Wardson.
Others were even more outrageous, claiming that Wardson and Rowell were actually the real couple, but Leticia interfered and stole Rowell away. After losing the Magic Duel and unwilling to let him go, Wardson resorted to violence to keep Rowell by his side forever.
Meanwhile, other rumors spread like wildfire—
Noble ladies addicted to Element Cards, dragging their maids to play late into the night.
Old noble lords abandoning tea and fishing, obsessed with playing Element Cards all day long.
More and more sensational stories flooded the city, bombarding the ears and minds of the Royal Capital's citizens.
Watching all this unfold, Ron felt a sense of nostalgia—as if he were seeing a replay of the time when rumors about his "seven wives" had spread throughout the capital.
Only this time, the protagonist wasn't him—but the Element Cards he had created.
And the effect was just as explosive.
Out of curiosity, countless people began purchasing Element Cards, eager to see what kind of game could captivate nobles so completely.
Even some middle-class commoners gritted their teeth and bought the noble edition of Element Cards—just to find out what kind of gameplay could drive two highborn young men to blows.
Everything was unfolding exactly as Ron had planned.