Chapter 117
Power comes with duties.
No matter how much I trust my friend, as a person in power, I have to do what needs to be done.
Just as I have a duty to take revenge on the Church as the Head of the Kraft Family, separate from my faded desire for revenge, if I have become the sole person in power at the Academy, I must accept the duties.
Even more so if it's a sinister matter like terrorism.
"I trusted Ellie, but..."
Pastel put on a sad expression.
Then she shouted brightly.
"Because I can't let personal feelings interfere with official duties!"
Even if a bribe ranking exists in my heart, I don't accept bribes indiscriminately to the point of causing myself problems! No matter how much money they give me, I won't cooperate with terrorists!
Likewise, just because I like a friend doesn't mean I'll ignore the possibility of other friends being put in danger!
Because I am Her Excellency, the Great Pastel!
If I love power, I have to take the corresponding responsibility!
"Ah..."
Ellie had a soulless face. Her black hair was limply disheveled. Her confused eyes looked down at the cold cup.
Oh.
I just lightly told her the truth, but her reaction was more excessive than expected.
If she's the smart Ellie, she should have figured out that it's strange for Pastel, who is thorough with official duties, to fly paper airplanes and interfere with her subordinates' work.
Of course, it's true that I flew to them because it was fun, but as a manager, I find it natural to occasionally fly to their desks to sneakily check what they're doing and whether they're doing their work well.
It's also common to use a roundabout method like a paper airplane to avoid giving them the feeling of being supervised.
Isn't it common sense that a department head who seems to only play around and make trivial small talk is actually checking the department's atmosphere under the guise of chatting, and verifying whether the performance reviews submitted by a subordinate are accurate?
The smart Ellie must naturally have known that she was caught looking at the student roster a few times during work to find the Next Demon King.
Even if we didn't say it, we were implicitly turning a blind eye to each other.
We were being considerate of the tragic relationship between a spy who has to hide her true intentions through infiltration and a person in power who has to suspect her friend!
A friendship growing amidst tragedy.
Since we're friends, I knew this much about her sorrowful inner thoughts.
Ahem.
This is Pastel, the popular person!
I know my friend's inner thoughts well even if she doesn't say them~.
But actually, if she's a princess, she's not a pitiful spy who has to suppress her true intentions under orders from higher-ups, but the decision-maker herself.
So I thought we didn't have to hide it from each other anymore, so—Yahoo~!—I just told her first to clear the air, but...
"Ellie?"
Pastel looked at her worriedly. Pastel reached out her palm and waved it in front of Ellie's eyes.
"Are you sick?"
The banquet was too long, wasn't it?
Not to mention, it was practically an anti-demon faction banquet intended to extort the Demon Realm's railroad construction rights, and she participated as Demonkind.
She must have suffered a lot emotionally without me knowing. Even if it wasn't outright mockery, did she receive sneering glances naturally?
Gasp, that must have really been the case!
I lacked consideration...!
Pastel suddenly felt extremely sorry.
"Sorry! You must be tired, but I guess I've only talked about work at this hour! Let's talk about the rest after we return to school and get some good rest!"
Her expression brightened.
"As friends!"
Ellie covered her face with trembling hands.
"I need some time to organize my thoughts."
It was an anxious voice.
"Please be quiet, Kraft."
Eh.
Pastel's eyes widened.
Kraft.
Kra-ft.
Did the title regress?
What?!
Pastel suddenly felt wronged.
What did I even dooo!
My only crime is failing to be considerate of my friend!
It's so unfair!
Ellie lifted the completely cold cup of milk. The cup trembled and the milk shook. Wandering gazes and faint muttering mixed within the trembling.
"How much is a lie and how much is the truth? How much, how much?"
Pastel tilted her head.
Why is she acting like this?
Could it be that the mental blow was severe?
Did she endure the sneering glances at Demonkind during the banquet for so long that she ended up doubting even her relationship with Pastel?
Was she afraid that the side I've shown her so far was fake and that I was secretly laughing at her behind her back?
Gasp.
I'm not that kind of person.
Pastel reached out her hand. As she grabbed Ellie's empty hand, she felt a tremble. Their eyes met.
Her pink eyes curved softly.
"There's no fake front!"
I'm a friend who finds expressing affection burdensome, who is selfish, and who sometimes only thinks from my own perspective, but...
My heart! This relationship!
"It's all real!"
I'm a friend who likes money, loves power, violates order, and feels joy in misdeeds, but...
My heart, this relationship.
"It's all real!"
Pastel smiled.
"The world is beautiful, and I might be even more charming."
My heart, this relationship.
"It's all real!"
You don't have to doubt.
This is because I like everyone as much as you like me.
Because everyone will like you as much as I like everyone.
For a moment, only the second hand of the wall clock moved.
Before long, a calmed Ellie looked at her strangely. Her gaze looked down at the held hand.
"Even if you say that, I don't know. Words are light and promises are soft. You can't be certain of the truth without experiencing it."
A smart remark.
Pastel pondered for a moment.
Her expression brightened and she clapped her hands.
"Then trust in your intellect and mine!"
"Intellect...?"
"We illuminate our relationship by sitting upon the calculation of gains and losses! Is this relationship one that can afford to lose its sincerity to pretense and its trust to backbiting!"
She pointed right at Ellie.
"Because you are none other than the administrator and a princess!"
Ellie looked down at the completely cold milk.
A moment later, she tidied her disheveled side hair and sent a subtle look.
"So you really do calculate those things when making friends. No wonder your main acquaintances are so entangled in practical interests."
Ugh.
Pastel flinched.
A slight silence flowed.
"No way!"
Not at all!
Pastel, the popular person doesn't calculate a single inch of gains and losses when making friends!
There is a friend ranking and it gets updated every time, but it's absolutely not like the ranking fluctuates based on the total amount of sincerity exchanged or anything!
The reason Melissa is in 1st place is absolutely not just because she's the heir of the Southern Warlord faction!
It's absolutely, absolutely not because I went to play at Melissa's main house during vacation, saw her family's wealth, and thought, “Wow! A million times more willing to be close friends!” as that thought burst forth.
"Your answer is slow."
Ellie was dumbfounded.
"You say there's no pretense, yet you lie right away."
Gasp.
The dumbfounded Pastel froze solid.
Ellie looked down at the milk cup. Then, Ellie's hand pushed the milk cup aside.
"I prefer green tea."
It was a much more relaxed voice.
"I don't know why the Empire drinks black tea when there's perfectly good green tea. It's not even the era where green tea would spoil into black tea due to long transport times anymore. It's stupid."
Ellie said so and stood up from her seat.
"From now on, I'll stock green tea in the Student Council Room too, so approve it later. You don't know how to drink tea, Pastel, so you probably won't care."
"Huh? Huh?"
Pastel became bewildered.
"Green tea? Is it very different from black tea?"
Ellie shot her a pathetic look for a moment. It was a reaction that seemed to hold about 10% of the emotion she usually had when looking at Dustin pathetically.
Gasp.
As pathetic as 10% of Dustin's being.
Completely hopeless!
"I'll be going now."
Ellie turned her body and headed for the door.
Ah.
"You're leaving?"
"I should sleep now. It's already dawn. As you said, let's discuss future work after we return to school."
Ellie left.
Pastel put on a blank expression.
She looked at Ellie's untouched milk cup and her face took on a crying expression.
Lord Demon, looking around quickly, was watching from the window sill at a distance.
"Lord Demon! You should have given her green tea!"
The fact that I still don't know the tastes of Ellie, whom I've lived with for half a year, is Lord Demon's fault anyway!
The Demon looked displeased.
"I knew she would prefer green tea since she's Demonkind, but there is no green tea in this guest room to begin with. Even so, I couldn't give her coffee at dawn, so I served warm milk."
"Then you should have made green tea out of mid-air! Super Ultra Magic! Poof-poof-poof! If you can't do this, you're a disqualified servant! Disqualified Archdemon!"
"Just how much are you expecting?"
Just live as my guardian for the rest of your life!
#
Pastel boarded a carriage to go to Count Macenas's villa, where she had been invited.
The briefing session was over, and although it was an invitation for auction collusion, it was nominally a meeting unrelated to the auction, so her other friends did not go with her.
"The moment I saw Count Macenas, I realized it immediately! This person is incredibly kind!"
"Hoh. What made you think that?"
The Demon crossed his legs, looking intrigued.
Pastel swung both her legs while sitting.
"The signals just came! Beep! Beep! Beep! Originally, kind people can feel each other's aura! The Count's appearance is the epitome of kindness, so the moment I saw him, the thought, “Ah! He”s someone with a kindness level of a million times!' suddenly dawned on me!"
"There are occasionally people like that. In the Temple, they even teach priests to manage such outward appearances. When persuading people, the most important thing is a persuasive exterior."
"That's right! That's right!"
Pastel nodded vigorously. She grabbed the hem of her white skirt and shook it.
"That's why I'm going in my usual look instead of a suit! It's Pink-Pink and Pink-Pink~!"
"Don't lift your skirt."
"Yeees~."
Her hair, lightly tied in pigtails, fluttered uselessly with her humming and side-to-side swaying motions.
"However, that Count didn't look like a kind person at all to me. In particular, the gold ornaments draped all over his body were the finishing touch that revealed his true nature. It's best not to associate deeply with someone who likes such things. It will always leave a bitter aftertaste."
"Huh?"
That fashion sense is the important part!
"Lord Demon, you're sometimes not kind to Pastel, so you don't know that feeling! You would have known if you hadn't scolded me for staying up singing late at night!"
Right, right!
"That's a very lame excuse."
Sparkling gold bars!
They're so lovely I want to bite them~.
Pastel leaned her upper body out the carriage window. She eagerly looked outside.
"We're almost there, wow! The villa is so wiiide!"
Below a low hill, the Count's villa came into view. The main gate and walls stood alone like a national border, and inside, the garden stretched endlessly. It was vast enough to fill the horizon. At the far end, a splendid and massive villa building could be seen, appearing small.
It seemed like it would take tens of minutes just to go back and forth from the main gate to the main building.
No matter how far it is from the center and how cheap the land is, for a villa to be this size is surprising!
"Wow! I can feel the Count's kind nature!"
Just like me!
Pastel was deeply moved.
There's no way someone who makes this much money could be bad!
I'll get utterly close to him and spread my good influence!
Yeah, yeah!