episode_0055

As I headed towards the north gate of the Grand Duke’s castle to go to Ariel’s quarters, I ran into Lemian, who was reaching out his hand towards the sky.

Lemien raised his head and stretched out his hand toward the empty space.

The outstretched left hand repeatedly clenches and unfolds as if trying to grab something.

And that hand was wrapped with several layers of thin bandages.

“… … .”

It was a rather strange sight to see a person standing tall on the road, stirring the air as if time was passing slowly there.

also.

It was a very dangerous-looking sight.

A cheek with a light bruise, a left hand wrapped in a bandage, eyes filled with emptiness turned into space, and even a grinning smile.

What on earth happened in one day?

What on earth did I experience that made me feel strange in just one day?

I couldn’t even grasp it.

It feels like something is broken.

It feels like a line has suddenly been cut.

I felt like I had given up everything due to something I couldn’t handle.

Lemien, who had been acting strangely like a marionette for a while, lowered his hands and head.

The eyes that had been looking up at the sky, losing focus, came down to me.

It no longer contained resentment and resentment, but immeasurable emptiness and resignation.

“… What are you doing… Are you afraid?”

I asked curiously.

What were you doing in the middle of the street this late at night?

Why were you waving your hands in the air?

how… What happened?

For some reason, I couldn’t pass by by turning away and avoiding it like before.

The voice, which should have rang out clearly a day ago, was muffled, as if it was struggling to escape from a deep cave.

“Clouds… I was watching.”

A harsh voice and blank eyes, like someone who hasn’t slept in days.

He looked so emaciated that it was hard to believe that the change had occurred in just one day.

“How did your hands get like that?”

I asked, looking at my bandaged left hand.

and.

“Now, are you saying you harmed yourself?”

Another unbelievable story was told.

The story is that the fingernails that scratched my cheek were pressed against my palm and I saw blood.

“Wound… It’s healed… … ?”

Lemian looked at his cheek and asked with a somewhat surprised expression.

Looking at my clear cheeks thanks to Rachel’s ointment.

“Yes.”

However, Lemien’s chapped lips drew a faint line at my answer.

It was an unexpected smile.

“Thank goodness… Ine.”

What does it mean to be fortunate?

Does it mean that there is comfort in erasing the traces of violence committed out of impulse?

Is it fortunate that the cracks in beliefs can be repaired?

The accidental reunion that started as a question only gave rise to questions, and they tried to leave only questions behind.

“… I’ll see… .”

Unlike the past days when Elden always passed her at the academy, this time Lemian passed me and Elden.

“Grand Duchess.”

and.

In all of the memories of the original Elden and mine, I called her out for the first time.

I never regretted the things I did to escape from my unfair life.

Even now.

In the future too.

I had no intention of enjoying the catastrophe caused by those events or blaming my obsession.

However, I had no desire to pity or sympathize with the heroine’s emptiness.

I had no intention of feeling guilty about it.

just.

Receive “. It will keep the wound from getting worse.”

I had no intention of hiding and saving what I could convey.

I just didn’t want to become a bitch who didn’t want to give up even the smallest things.

Above all, unlike the past days when I had nothing and could not give anything, now I have something and can do simple things like giving.

Abstention is help given because the situation has changed from the past when one had to avoid and turn away in order to escape.

so that.

After putting the container containing the ointment directly into the hand of Lemian, who was just looking at the help with blind eyes, he walked towards the north gate.

After a while.

A drizzle fell from the dry night sky and began to wet the Northern Territory.

“Wow. Why is it raining so suddenly? Let’s go. Rachel.”

“Yes.”

I had to hurry to Ariel’s dorm.

**

“Set all-!”

““Yes-!””

The night it started to drizzle.

At Ariel’s lodgings, where a state of emergency was declared, servants went on high alert to greet the guests who would soon arrive.

It was also an emergency alert system to give the best party to the friend whom the young lady invited for the first time.

The problem was that the guest to be greeted was Confucius, who had a reputation for being an asshole.

“Well, there’s no need to go that far? Elden is no longer a scary person.”

It was Ariel who tried to use dragons to ease the servants’ alertness.

I was worried that I had ruined the servants’ peaceful night by inviting Elden for no reason.

“Hey, guys? You really don’t need to be scared. Elden has really changed? Trust me… !”

“Match the angle! Match the five and ten sides of the utensils and dishes just right!”

““Yes!””

“Over there? Why, why are you doing this? This is not the Elden you all knew?”

“Now! The guards, including those off-duty, will be on high alert until the party ends!”

““Yes!””

Feeling as though she had unintentionally brought on the ordeal to the attendants and guards, Ariel ran around in all directions and panicked, but there was no way she would be heard by those who were already terrified.

I felt like canceling the party.

“Keueunnnn… … .”

It’s not the old Elden.

Now he has become a cooler man than anyone else.

There’s absolutely no need to be scared.

Ariel was frustrated with the servants who still regarded Elden as just an ‘object of fear’, but at the same time, she was saddened.

I understood.

How can we believe since we have not yet witnessed the transformation of Confucius, who was called a bastard?

However, it was a pity that the efforts of a precious reading friend were being disparaged.

at last.

Ariel gave up and entered the dressing room with her exclusive maid.

I couldn’t even remember when I last had a party.

I think I did it a few times when I was young… Because I wasn’t interested at all, I couldn’t remember what I did or what I ate.

It was just unnecessary time for a young girl who didn’t feel the need to hang out with people and just wanted to read books.

obviously.

“Is it necessary to wear makeup with a dress? ? Just having a small meal with a friend I see every day?”

Ariel lacked the virtues of a woman, and things like dresses and makeup were just cumbersome.

However, the exclusive maid’s intentions were stubborn.

“The count’s daughter is holding a party, and if she doesn’t wear a dress and makeup, what will count Elrond’s reputation be like?”

“But… .”

I didn’t plan on doing it like this.

Why is everyone so upset?

In the end, Ariel was led by her exclusive maid and was able to wear a dress for the first time in a long time.

It was a red dress that went well with blonde hair.

Ariel, wearing a dress that exudes femininity, with shoulders that cut out above the chest and wavy lace on the top line, twitches in front of a full-length mirror, tucking her hair behind her ear for no reason.

In particular, the back was cut all the way down to the wing bones, making it look manly.

“You, it’s not too much… ?”

“It’s excessive. Everyone wears something like this. How important is a party to nobles? Perhaps Prince Elden will also come wearing a fancy uniform?”

“Awesome… Conquer?”

“Of course. However, if the young lady greets you in shabby clothes, what kind of commotion will an angry Prince Elden cause? !”

Burr.

The exclusive maid shook her shoulders once with a tired look on her face.

Ariel had a puzzled expression.

Elden wears a uniform?

Elden also always wears comfortable clothes, so it’s hard to imagine him in uniform.

Because we met on days when there wasn’t a final evaluation match where uniforms had to be worn, or after it ended.

What would Elden look like wearing his party uniform?

Ariel, who suddenly became curious, waited for Elden to arrive, and upon hearing the news of his arrival, Ariel, who went out to meet him in socks, had to widen her eyes.

“Elden! Come on! … … Huh?”

It was because of the beautiful silhouette standing next to him.

A woman wearing a red dress like herself.

Rachel, who was always wearing only a stiff knightly uniform, caught the eye with her dress.

Moreover, I also let down my hair that was tied up in a ponytail.

A more feminine appearance than usual.

Ariel, who saw this, felt truly fortunate to be wearing such a masculine dress.

“It is an honor to invite you. Lady.”

And I got a strange feeling from Rachel, who was standing right next to Elden and saying hello to me.

Is it because the two of them look so good together without any sense of incongruity?

Is it because she is wearing the same red dress as herself?

Ariel, who thought that feeling jealous without knowing why must be a truly bad and evil feeling, greeted it with a bright smile.

“Welcome. Sir Rachel.”

like that.

The party has begun.

**

Ariel, Elden, and Rachel were sitting at the round table in the party hall, divided into thirds at an angle of exactly 120 degrees.

“Thank you for inviting me like this. Ariel.”

“Hee hee. Of course I should.”

“The dress suits you really well. It’s pretty.”

Hot!

At Elden’s careless greeting, Ariel’s face turns red to the extent that it cannot even be covered by makeup.

I was carelessly smoothing the lace at the top of the dress.

She didn’t know what to do with the compliments she received as a woman, which she never knew when.

“You, you also look really good in Bokk.”

“Really? I’m glad. I tried to pay some attention.”

Compliments were exchanged for each other, and after a while, plenty of drinks and food were served on the table.

And Elden, who was looking at the food, asked Ariel with a somewhat surprised expression.

“There are also monster dishes?”

“Ah. Because you like it. I prepared it.”

If it weren’t for the eyes and ears of the attendants around her, Ariel would have said, ‘I tried it and it was delicious.’

Ariel swallowed those words and raised her drink.

It was a glass filled with dark purple wine.

It was to fulfill the teachings of the dedicated maid that the host of the party must raise the toast first.

“Now, shall we make a toast?”

“Good.”

The table was wide so we couldn’t clink our glasses, so we toasted by raising our glasses up to each other’s faces.

Gulp.

Elden and Rachel drink wine without hesitation.

Ariel hesitates for a moment, looking down at the liquid in the glass.

In fact, it was because I had never tasted alcohol before.

The criticism that people said they knew how to drink was a small protest caused by impatience that did not know what was going on.

widely.

The glasses were placed on the table one by one, and Ariel, seeing that Rachel’s glass was empty, tightened the hand holding the glass as if she had made up her mind.

Ariel closes her eyes tightly and drinks wine, feeling impatience rising again.

Gulp.

Gulp.

‘hmm?’

But, both eyes opened.

It’s not bad to swallow.

Just as the monster dish I tried for the first time in my life was delicious, the wine I tried for the first time wasn’t bad either.

I don’t know if it tastes good yet, but I don’t dislike the sweet and bitter taste that I tasted for the first time.

like that.

widely.

“Whoa… … . what. Wow, it’s okay… ?”

Ariel spit out the strong scent of alcohol that filled her mouth with her exhalation and downed the empty glass.

And then I looked at the empty glass with proud eyes and thought.

‘Ohh. I’m pretty good at drinking… ‘Maybe I’ll drink it?’

Ariel thinks that the joke she made by saying that she knows how to drink wasn’t just a bluff caused by backlash.

After a while.

“Hehe, drunk.”

Her tongue began to twitch.