episode_0045

Click-

The door opened.

With a creaking sound, a haughty-looking woman poked her face through the open wooden door crack.

“Come in.”

At her words, Karl entered the room.

He brushed past the woman who was propping up the door with her back. She cautiously looked around outside and then closed the door.

Click-

She locked the door.

“Did anything happen on your way here?”

“…”

Karl recalled Beatrice whom he had met on his way here.

He hesitated about whether to call it “anything.” It bothered him that he had been cold towards her, as he had to keep his visit here a secret.

“Nothing happened.”

As Karl walked inside, he placed a paper bag full of sandwiches on the table and said. Hearing the response, Rachel approached the stairs. Unlike her usual attire at the Information Bureau, she was dressed in a comfortable shirt, yet neat without any wrinkles.

“I’m glad. Director and Deputy Director are upstairs; I’ll call them down. Could you set the table, Karl?”

Karl nodded silently.

He opened the cupboard to get the dishes. Without reaching out too much, his hand easily reached the high shelf.

Rachel smiled as she watched him and slowly climbed the stairs. As she disappeared, Karl made clattering sounds while arranging the plates.

“……”

He felt uneasy.

It was because of Beatrice whom he had met on his way here. He hadn’t expected to run into her in the middle of the commercial district. While it was his first time seeing Yulia, whom he had only seen in novels, rather than excitement or amazement, he was overwhelmed by confusion.

‘Wow! It’s Yulia. Finally, I get to see her in real life!’ Instead of such sentiments, he was more concerned about whether he might have revealed his destination to Beatrice.

When she actively engaged in conversation unlike usual, he had no choice but to respond defensively.

Beatrice’s frozen face was vivid.

Confessing, he preferred Beatrice’s lonely and desolate look over her smiling face… She would look even prettier if she cried.

Nevertheless, regardless of personal taste, I felt uncomfortable because it seemed like an overreaction.

‘If it had been the original, it would have slipped out more smoothly…’

Now, looking back, I couldn’t take back the words I spat out.

By the time I vowed to speak a bit more “like a knife” next time, a modest meal was already prepared on the table.

Since the high-ranking officials of the Information Bureau couldn’t wander around the commercial district of the Academy, it was common to fill one’s stomach with sandwiches that Karl bought.

As I looked at the sandwich on the plate, Karl remembered something he had forgotten and reached for the shelf again. He had forgotten the fork and knife. He got distracted by Beatrice.

At that moment, an excited voice was heard.

“I don’t need it.”

It was Louis’s voice, the first to rush at the news of the food.

“You don’t need to pretend to be refined and use a fork. It tastes better with your hands.”

“It’s not about pretending to be refined, it’s about being noble. You should think about your social status. It’s time for you to learn some dignity, isn’t it?”

“Someday I’ll overthrow the government.”

“Whatever.”

The duke and Louis, who were still bickering, were coming down the stairs.

Seeing Karl, who had been making a serious expression alone, burst into laughter when he saw them.

“Eat before it gets soggy. And-”

Karl said as he pulled out a chair.

“I’ve approached Cloé Deminus… and succeeded.”

*

I didn’t say a word as we walked.

Even though I knew it was rude to Yulia, I just couldn’t open my mouth. She glanced at me and followed without saying a word.

What do I look like now?

Do I have a serious face?

A gloomy face?

An angry face?

Probably an angry face.

“Do you really need to speak so coldly?”

I understand.

Maybe he didn’t like how I acted like we were close after only taking a few ‘simple’ classes together.

On the other hand, it was just because I faced him as an unknown. We crossed the boundaries of life and death, didn’t we?

That’s why. That’s why I greeted and talked so brightly, like a fool.

It’s my fault.

I should’ve seen our connection in Kal’s mind. It was just a date… no, it was just someone buying me a meal. And that’s just as a thank you for being his partner in basic self-defense class.

“Ha…!”

I stopped for a moment and kicked the ground. My feet shuffled. I forgot that Yulia was next to me.

Today’s events will probably come back to me every time I go to bed for quite a long time. It feels like at least a year’s worth of tossing and turning under the covers.

“Um… Beatrice.”

“Oh, yeah?”

At Yulia’s cautious call, I finally came to my senses.

“It looks like we’ve arrived.”

I looked around.

There was a department store.

As Matthias said, it was a department store.

Of course, it was different from the towering department store where I used to live. It was a building about three stories high. But it was a wide, horizontally positioned building.

“It’s quite large for an academy commercial district…?”

“The academy site used to be a royal palace and capital. It seems like traces of that time remain.”

“…I see.”

I looked at the large windows punctured in the white exterior wall. It was a well-built department store. Many people were coming and going.

“Shall we go in?”

“Yes.”

Inside the department store felt like a palace.

There were dazzling lights to the point of blinding, mirrors, crystals, and fancy fabrics decorated everywhere.

The ceiling pierced through to the third floor, giving a sense of depth. It was designed to reach the shops surrounding the second and third floors through a staircase centrally connected to the building.

The first thing that caught my eye was the first floor, filled with fabrics and silk dresses, and lacy, airy clothes that were popular among noblewomen.

Unintentionally, I was captivated by the displayed dresses and clothes.

They just looked beautiful. I wanted to wear them. In the past, I might have thought, “Do I really need this?” but today, feeling down, I just wanted a change of mood.

Choosing clothes, trying them on, and buying them might not help with the gloomy feeling, but it just felt like it would.

“Welcome.”

A clerk who spotted us approached.

The main clientele here were nobles, so the well-educated clerk was attentive in every gesture, considering the other person’s feelings.

“Do you have something specific you’re looking for or want to see?”

Academy uniforms are practically identification.

Being a student of the Imperial Academy is like having a guarantee that one is already part of the upper class or will become an important figure in the future. Therefore, to these people, academy students were guests who should be treated with utmost care and respect.

“Well, I was thinking of looking around first… but for now, please take this.”

I handed over the letter Matthias had given me.

The clerk glanced at the letter for a moment, then calmly said, hiding his surprise, “A truly esteemed guest has arrived. I will attend to you. This way, please.”

Following the clerk’s guidance, we moved to a somewhat secluded area.

It was a space with expensive fabrics used to make sofas and where the spontaneous, pleasant sound of a piano being played could be heard. It was immediately apparent that this was a space meant for VIPs.

*

“I heard that a guest of Matthias has arrived.”

As we sat on the sofa waiting for a while, a middle-aged gentleman appeared.

He introduced himself as the manager of this place.

Since we didn’t specifically seek anything, they had prepared a few items for us, he said.

Without even wandering around the store, we sat and sipped our drinks, examining the items brought by the clerks. Each item looked expensive and hard to come by. According to the explanation, they were things that even nobles known in high society were eager to obtain. So to speak, luxury goods.

I can’t help but feel overwhelmed by such lavish treatment. Considering Matthias’s identity, it would probably be fine to buy everything. Still… I wasn’t used to wasting. There were too many to bring back to the dormitory.

Amidst the products coming in and out in a flurry, there was something noticeable.

“Hmm…”

It was very provocative lingerie, emphasizing feminine allure.

“Do you like it? It’s an item that many noblewomen of the empire seek as a gift for their daughters’ weddings.”

“….”

“They say it’s for bringing on a grand first night.”

In place of the middle-aged shop owner, a woman employee calmly continued the explanation. She had changed places with us when it was time to introduce sensitive products. The shop owner quietly slipped outside.

It was black underwear adorned with lace and a garter belt set.

Rustle-

The sound of a sigh was particularly loud. I prayed that Julia hadn’t heard it. It was because I had imagined Julia wearing those undergarments in my head.

And…

“Even the dignified Duke Maynard, among the noble ladies, is rumored to have undergarments that can be alluring! Huh, it’s a metaphorical expression, but still.”

Duke Maynard?

Maynard.

Maynard…

Karl Maynard…

……

Swallowed my saliva again.

“Please.”

…?

Julia looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“What colors do you have? Give me all of them. Oh, and Julia’s too! Prepare two sets each.”

…!?

“An excellent choice.”

I made an impulse purchase as if possessed by something.

Yes.

That’s definitely necessary.

It will really suit Julia.

Didn’t she seem a bit down after meeting Matthias today and hearing about the inner workings of the royal family? Maybe receiving this gift will lift her spirits.

Nodding.

I was impressed with myself.

I, who thinks of Yulia, I who knows how to read her mind.

“Both of you, could you tell me your sizes?”

Julia’s ears turned red at the clerk’s words.

“Hmm, I don’t know…?”

Come to think of it, once inside Beatrice’s body, she didn’t know her exact size. She always roughly put on the prepared clothes…

The clerk alternately looked at Julia and me, then brought a measuring tape.

“Well then, excuse me. Let me measure the size for a moment…”

At her words, I stood up and spread my arms.

Swoosh-

The clerk cautiously measured the size.

Softly bringing the tape, she suddenly muttered to herself.

“No, what size… in the world…! How can the proportions be…?”

Measuring the size up and down, she seemed startled by her own voice that had unconsciously slipped out. It was an embarrassing situation as a clerk.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Guest, please forgive my rudeness.”

“Is my figure okay?”

“…Pardon?”

I was curious.

“You just exclaimed, didn’t you? Then it’s not bad, right?”

“Yes… I’ve seen numerous socialites, but someone as beautiful as you is a first for me…”

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

Of course, I wasn’t blind, so I knew every time I looked in the mirror, but I needed an objective perspective from others. Today, I wanted to gain confidence.

“Claude….”

I thought of Claude in the fencing hall.

Her lovely expression, her shy demeanor… even Karl’s appearance as he looked at her.

I recalled indifferent golden eyes that never glanced at me.

There must have been another reason.

I touched my waist and hips with both hands. I wanted to gauge the upper part as well, but I restrained myself because there were watching eyes.

“Yeah, my side is fine… There must be another reason.”

….

“Now, it’s Julia’s turn.”

“…Yes.”

Julia stood up, answering in a hesitant voice.