Chapter 37
“Oh… The person who was said to be coming last was Marchioness Drosselmeyer?”
A young lady who seemed as surprised as I was asked Clary while looking at her.
“Yes.”
“B-but isn’t the marchioness from the capital?”
“She’s a lady of the North now, isn’t she?”
“Hmm….”
The other young ladies could not refute Clary’s confident attitude.
After all, as Clary said, now that Esdia had married Marquis Drosselmeyer, she would have to live in the North from now on.
If they were uncomfortable with Esdia, they should not have invited her in the first place.
“By the way, how did the two of you meet? At the wedding, perhaps?”
I was extremely curious about what had happened between these two.
After all, in the original, Clary and Esdia had never been involved with each other.
“Ah, now that I think of it, it was all thanks to Lady Fortune.”
“That’s right.”
‘…Huh? Thanks to me?’
I had barely spoken to either of them at the wedding and had fled as if escaping, so what on earth did that mean?
“Well, you see.”
Since I was waiting, the two began explaining how they had happened to become friends.
“First, I don’t know whether you already know this, but after the wedding, the marquis went around looking for someone.”
“Someone?”
“Yes.”
Eventually, Esdia covered the bridge of her nose with her hand.
“Apparently, he was a blond man wearing a mask that covered the upper half of his face, and he was extremely tall.”
“…Huh?”
It was a very familiar description.
It didn’t seem likely that there had been another person who attended the wedding wearing a mask.
“He couldn’t find him, so he went around asking guests whether they had seen him.”
Esdia smiled and pointed at Clary.
“I told him because you looked familiar to me. Do you understand now why I said it was thanks to Lady Fortune?”
‘Aaaah, what on earth is going on?’
Although I kept a poker face, I was utterly confused inside.
I had definitely heard that Heter had worked with Marquis Drosselmeyer while searching for a mage at the wedding.
But I never expected him to go looking for Heter himself.
‘I’d rather not get involved with the heroine of the original if I can help it.’
It varied from work to work, but female protagonists in romance fantasies generally suffered a lot.
For example, they might spend years narrowly escaping death on the battlefield for the male lead, risk their lives for the fate of the world, or even stand against the gods.
The protagonist of a romance fantasy had to endure hardships no ordinary person could withstand in order to reach a happy ending.
What if I got involved with such a protagonist?
Even if I didn’t suffer as much as the protagonist, it was obvious I’d have a miserable future.
I was already struggling like hell because of debt; I absolutely did not need more trouble piled on top.
“That reminds me, could you come to our territory with that guard later?”
“I understand.”
Still, I couldn’t exactly reject her invitation to her territory.
Why not?
‘Because I’m only a baron!’
A baron—the lowest rank in the five-tiered peerage, beneath both viscounts and counts!
Even so, there was still a way out.
“It’s just that I’m very busy these days. I’ll be sure to visit once I’ve gotten things somewhat sorted out.”
Of course, I had no idea how many years it might take to get things sorted out.
“All right. I’ll tell the marquis you’ll come later.”
‘Ghk….’
Seeing Esdia beaming with delight made my conscience ache, but I couldn’t help it.
The pain I’d suffer from getting involved with her would be far worse than this.
“Now then, since everyone has arrived, shall we officially begin the tea party?”
Once the introductions were more or less over, Clary clapped her hands, and a servant brought refreshments and tea.
“This is a tea called Fairy Circle, and it was brought in from the capital this time. I prepared it for today.”
“Wow. It smells wonderful.”
“This fresh, grassy scent… It really conjures up the image of a fairy.”
‘Hmm… Is it really that good?’
I didn’t really get it, but apparently everyone else had vivid imaginations and rich sensibilities.
If not, perhaps they were simply saying whatever came to mind.
Trickle.
In any case, the servant poured tea into each person’s cup.
I poured the tea from my cup into the saucer, just as Heter had taught me.
Then I drank the tea once it had cooled to a reasonable temperature.
‘…Huh?’
Why was everyone except me drinking from their teacups?
Heter had clearly said that since the first tea was the hottest, proper etiquette was to pour it into the saucer and drink it from there.
“Uh….”
“Did Lady Fortune not like the tea?”
Just as the young ladies seated at the table looked flustered,
“Ah, Lady Fortune, you’re amazing.”
“…?”
“??”
Esdia suddenly looked at me, her eyes and mouth wide open.
“You heard that it had been brought in from the capital, so you drank it the capital’s way, didn’t you? I’m amazed you’re even well versed in capital etiquette. Truly, I’m impressed.”
“Oh, is that what it was?”
“Do people really pour tea into the saucer and drink it in the capital?”
“Yes. The capital is warmer than the North, so tea doesn’t cool easily.”
As Esdia explained the capital’s tea-drinking customs, everyone seemed convinced, but I could tell.
She hadn’t been genuinely impressed; she had only been covering for me.
‘Ugh…!’
The thought of ignoring her invitation made my guilty conscience even worse.
Once we got past that minor crisis and the real small talk began,
“….”
‘As expected.’
Our protagonist, the ultimate introvert, had trouble mingling with other people.
Well, that was only natural.
From Esdia’s perspective, she had lived as a loner for nearly her entire life, so she probably wasn’t good at getting along with people.
From the other young ladies’ perspective, talking with a marchioness was probably intimidating.
Of course, if they had particular ambitions and wanted to establish a connection to the marquis, they would have approached her eagerly.
“Oh my, how was this dessert made?”
“Ah, I heard our chef learned how to make it from his mother when he was young….”
“Ugh, I feel like I keep gaining weight day by day.”
“I hear that in the North, one is supposed to gain some weight to withstand the cold.”
No one at this tea party seemed to be attending for any particular ulterior motive like that.
“Ah….”
“Phew.”
Seeing Esdia keep missing her chances whenever she tried to speak to someone made me sigh involuntarily.
‘I mustn’t get involved, I mustn’t get involved.’
My reason thought that way, but my instincts cried out.
‘Don’t you feel sorry for her looking like that? She even helped you just now!’
‘That’s true, but….’
‘Do you think Heter will like you if you keep acting like this?’
‘What does him liking me have to do with this?!’
My thoughts briefly went off on a tangent.
In any case, in the end I had no choice but to side with my instincts over my reason.
“How are you finding the North? Is it all right?”
“Ah, well….”
When I spoke to her, Esdia startled and began to stammer.
Since I had expected that reaction, I waited until she finished speaking.
“…So the architecture and culture are different from the capital’s, which is fascinating. Of course, I’m still having trouble with the cold.”
“I see.”
She must have had a lot to get off her chest.
It seemed like she had been talking for a good five minutes or more.
“Cornet territory in particular seems to have more to see than Drosselmeyer territory, perhaps because the weather is relatively warm.”
‘She’s still not done…?!’
I started wondering whether I should cut her off.
“The plum blossoms in the center of the territory were especially beautiful.”
“…Really?”
Since I was interested in the attractions of Cornet territory too, I decided to listen a little longer.
As I continued listening to Esdia,
“Oh my, were you talking about the tourist attractions in our territory?”
“Ah, yes!”
Clary naturally joined our conversation.
“As the marchioness said, our plum blossoms are a famous source of pride. And Lil’s Puppet Theater is incredible, too….”
‘Ooh.’
Tourist attractions recommended by the lord’s daughter. This was important information.
I naturally took a notepad and pen from Ruby, then began writing down the places Clary told me about.
I could focus on visiting the places that overlapped with the ones Ruby had told me about in the carriage.
Perhaps it was because Clary had been talking so enthusiastically.
Before I knew it, even the young ladies who had been discussing something else had turned their attention to us.
“You’re taking notes quite diligently.”
“Ah, yes.”
“It looks like you’re planning to go sightseeing. Who are you going with?”
I started to nod, then hesitated.
It suddenly felt embarrassing to say that I was planning to go sightseeing with Heter.
‘Why am I like this? It’s not embarrassing at all!’
“…Oh?”
When I failed to answer, curiosity lit up the young ladies’ eyes.
“Who could you be going with that you’re having this much trouble answering?”
“Could it be your lover?”
“No! I just decided to go sightseeing with my guard….”
“What?!”
“Eek!”
Several young ladies let out shrill cries, apparently startled by my answer.
“You’re going sightseeing with that handsome guard?”
“Huh?”
How did they know Heter was handsome…? Oh!
‘They were the girls who had been with Clary at the wedding!’
Only then did I really take in their faces.
“I see… So Lady Fortune and her guard are in that sort of relationship.”
“What? What do you mean….”
“No, there’s no need to hide it. The romance between nobles and knights is famous, after all.”
“I think you’re misunderstanding something.”
At this rate, rumors would spread as recklessly as they had in Fortune territory, so I stated it clearly.
“Sir Heter and I aren’t in a relationship like that!”
“Is that so?”
“Yes!”
“Then….”
The fox-like young lady, who had been quietly listening to the conversation until now, opened her mouth with a smile in her eyes.
“Could you introduce me to Sir Heter?”
“…Pardon?”
The moment I heard her ask me to introduce Heter, I felt my blood suddenly run cold.
“If you and Lady Fortune aren’t in that kind of relationship, surely you could at least introduce him to us.”
“Ah, well….”
What she said was true enough, but there was one problem: Heter liked me.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that would be possible.”
“Why not?”
“Well… There’s a reason.”
“What reason?”
…What was her problem? Was she really that oblivious?
Even though I kept making it clear that I was uncomfortable explaining, why did she keep asking?
“Even if there is a reason, couldn’t you introduce him to us anyway? The fact that none of us here are married is partly your fault too, Lady Fortune.”
“…What?”
The fox bitch gave a derisive snort as she raised her teacup to her lips.
“Do you truly not know? Or are you pretending not to?”
“Ha!”
What was she talking about?
Was she saying it was my fault she couldn’t get married because she was ugly?
“Lady Vixen, that’s enough….”
“So this could all be resolved if Lady Fortune would just introduce Sir Heter to us! Or at least let us hear the reason. Why can’t you introduce him to us?”
As the atmosphere soured, Clary tried to calm things down, but the young lady called Vixen only raised her voice.
“If you aren’t in a relationship, why can’t you introduce him to us? Ah, unless it’s because…?”
Eventually, the thoroughly worked-up fox bitch said,
“Is it because you aren’t dating, but spend your nights together, so you can’t introduce him to us?”
“…?”
In the end, she crossed the line.
‘…You fucking bitch.’
What did she just say about Heter?”],