episode_0097

Arriving at the place where I was supposed to meet Princess Elizabeth, I spotted Princess Elizabeth standing on the side of the road with Miss Sarah, who had arrived earlier.

“Did you wait long?”

“No, we just arrived too.”

“Is that so? That’s a relief.”

I stopped the carriage in front of the Princess, opened the door, and greeted her. I reached out my hand to help her get on the carriage.

“Thank…”

As the Princess got into the carriage and was about to give her thanks, her eyes met Emily, who was sitting in the corner of the carriage, and her gaze sharpened.

“Ha…”

Then, Princess Elizabeth, who had been glaring at me with narrowed eyes and had been silent for a while, put her hand on her waist as if she was dumbfounded, pouted her lips, and opened her mouth.

“… You sure are greedy.”

“Haha…”

“Tsk…”

Unable to deny it, I scratched my head and laughed. The Princess, who sighed, shook her head, sat down across from me.

Miss Sarah, who climbed into the carriage after her, shuddered slightly at the sight of Emily, then smiled intriguingly and sat next to Princess Elizabeth.

“……”

“……”

And as it was, silence settled in the carriage.

There were many things I wanted to say, but it was not easy to open my mouth because the Princess was expressing her discomfort.

“Tch…”

I touched the necklace box hidden inside my coat and smacked my lips.

The Princess seems quite angry now, should I give it to her now?

Originally, I was planning to be brazen and give it to her in the middle of the banquet, but I’m worried that something big will happen if I delay it unnecessarily.

“Excuse me…”

“Necklace.”

“Huh?”

Just as I was about to close my eyes and take out the box from my chest, Princess Elizabeth, who had been pursing her lips, pointed to Emily’s neck and opened her mouth.

“Did you prepare one for me too?”

“Of course! How can I not prepare one for my partner when I have a partner?”

“Ugh… Annoying…”

The Princess frowned and showed her increasingly uncomfortable feelings without holding back.

“Then, is that what you’ve been touching in your chest since a while ago?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why don’t you take it out and keep hiding it?”

“Actually, I was going to give it to you at the banquet.”

“… In front of everyone?”

“Yeah.”

“……”

The Princess’s eyes, which had become so thin that her pupils could not be seen properly, gradually widened, and her distorted expression eased, and a smile began to bloom on her gloomy face.

“Then tell me quickly, why did you hide it?”

“A surprise gift?”

“If that’s the reason, I’ll overlook the fact that you took your eyes off me for another woman, but from now on, am I always first?”

“Okay.”

Her anger was resolved faster than I thought.

I was prepared to be greatly shaken, but I’m rather embarrassed that the problem was solved with only a little special treatment.

Is she the type to accumulate and then explode later?

Or is she the type who will never forgive from the second time onwards?

Either way is scary.

I would be more comfortable and have no loose ends if she asked for a lot of things, but since it ended like this, only a lingering feeling remains.

“I’m looking forward to what kind of necklace it will be.”

“It’s ordinary, so don’t expect too much.”

“Is that important? You must have chosen it because it looks good on me.”

“Ahahaha…”

I smiled meaningfully and nodded lightly.

Ah, this is a big problem.

If I say I chose it because it was plain, I’ll be strangled right away, right?

I have to come up with a reason by dinner no matter what.

“By the way, Elizabeth.”

“Why?”

“Why are you all bundled up like that?”

Thinking about the reason is one thing, and if the story about the necklace continues, I’m the only one who will be in trouble, so I hurriedly changed the subject of the conversation.

Of course, it’s not a question that I forced out.

From the first time I saw her, I couldn’t see the white dress I made for her, and there was a dark gray coat covering her from her shoulders to her knees, so I was so embarrassed.

I wanted to keep asking, but I couldn’t bring it up because of the atmosphere.

“I’m sorry to Sir William, who is expecting it, but it’s not time yet.”

“Not time yet?”

“If possible, I want to show it at the banquet hall.”

“Hmm~”

I understand the intention well enough…

“Don’t you enter the latest at the eve party?”

“That’s right.”

The problem was that my entrance timing and the Princess’s entrance timing were different for some reason.

Because there is an interval of about an hour between when I enter and when the Princess appears because of the high-ranking people who want a dramatic production, it was eventually a sound that I would not show it until the end.

“Tch…”

“Hehe~”

When I smacked my lips with a gloomy expression, the Princess covered her lips and burst into laughter.

It’s frustrating enough to drive me crazy, but I have to endure it until the end since I’ve been enduring it all along…

_

While exchanging trivial stories, we entered the imperial palace where the eve party was held and slowly headed to the banquet hall, when a fork in the road appeared.

“Then see you later.”

“Okay.”

We moved our steps in opposite directions and parted as planned.

From now on, I have to endure alone in a wild banquet hall for a while.

A slight tension rises.

“Hoo…”

As I calmed my slightly quickened heart while taking a breath with Emily, the hall used as a banquet hall appeared.

There are about 30 minutes left before the banquet officially begins, but the hall is swarming with people like ants.

Is it because I’m attending a big banquet for the first time in a while? I’m dizzy.

“Tsk~”

I took a deep sigh and slowly looked around inside the hall.

Then, finding a table with liquor lined up in one corner of the hall, I went straight to it.

Other people meet people they know and exchange greetings, but I don’t have anyone to greet because I don’t know anyone.

If there are any, there are Princess Fannie and Duke Herbert, but I’m going to have a fight with the Devonshire ducal family soon, so it’s a nuisance to the two to go out of my way to say hello.

“… Excuse me, is it okay to take a glass now?”

Arriving at the table, I was about to grab a glass right away, but finding a butler tidying up the glasses near the table, I pointed to the glass and asked.

“Yes, of course.”

“Thank you.”

I nodded slightly to the butler who smiled and said it was okay, and immediately grabbed a glass of champagne, put it to my lips, and tilted my head back.

As the champagne, which was about half-filled in the glass, flowed into my mouth at once, the refreshing carbonation bubbled up, and at the same time, the unique sweet and bitter taste of champagne lingered in my mouth.

“Gulp- Gulp-”

As I swallowed the champagne that filled my mouth, the carbonation that burst out pricked my esophagus and loosened my body that had stiffened with tension.

As expected, a potion of courage.

The effect is good.

“Puhah~”

A glass that became empty in the blink of an eye.

I put it down on the table and moved my seat only after picking up a new glass.

“Young master.”

As I was looking for a place to stand appropriately in the center of the banquet hall, Emily, who had subtly stuck close, whispered quietly.

“What’s wrong?”

I was wondering if something was wrong, so I turned my head slightly to the side, and Emily stared at the champagne glass in her left hand and poked my side.

“Didn’t madam tell you to be careful with alcohol? But what are you doing from the beginning?”

“Hey~ A glass or two is okay.”

“You just drank a glass all at once? You get drunk from four glasses, young master.”

“Anyway, it’s one glass, I’ll be careful from now on.”

“Ugh… Then is that the last one?”

It’s already two glasses, isn’t two glasses too little?

I think I need to drink a few more glasses if I’m too nervous…

“… Can’t you allow me up to three glasses?”

“Shall I tell madam?”

“Sorry.”

It’s a problem that Emily is by my side.

I can’t drink as I please.

It was a really unfortunate flaw.

“… Emily, don’t you drink?”

I can’t give up alcohol in a place like this, so I tried to find even a glimmer of hope.

“No, I don’t drink.”

“Why?”

“It’s not tasty, and why do you drink such a strange thing that makes you become a dog?”

“Ah…”

My attempt to find a way out was mercilessly blocked.

If Emily liked alcohol, I would try to persuade her, but if she doesn’t like alcohol, she won’t listen even if I explain the good points of alcohol a hundred times.

“Tch…”

I smacked my lips and put the champagne glass lightly to my lips.

“Slurp…”

And now, while sipping the champagne that I have to save until the end of the banquet, I rolled my eyes and looked for the people of the Devonshire ducal family.

They are few old people among the young people, so they should stand out…

“Ah.”

As I was wandering around, the uncles staring with their eyes wide open at the edge of the banquet hall caught my eye.

I can’t see their faces in detail because they are a bit far away, but judging from the fact that they started buzzing as soon as they saw me, they were highly likely to be the people of the Devonshire ducal family.

“Emily, get ready slowly.”

“Ah, yes.”

I turned my head while giving Emily a hint.

While pretending not to care, I leisurely waited for them to act first, glancing at the uncles’ movements out of the corner of my eye.

These kinds of things are bound to be approached by the one who is in a hurry.

“……”

After waiting for a while like that, the uncles, who were glancing at me and muttering something to each other, started moving.

At first, they moved slowly along the edge of the banquet hall, then they joined an elderly grandfather and moved busily to various parts of the banquet hall.

“—”

“Ha…”

Even while exchanging greetings with people who pretend to know them, their eyes are fixed on me and they don’t think of leaving.

It was so blatant that I could see the expressions of those who greeted them with a smile gradually hardening.

While repeating the act of quickly cutting off the greetings and moving, the distance between me and the people of the Devonshire ducal family gradually narrowed.

“Grandfather, isn’t that young man the second son of the Earl of Hume’s family?”

Then, when the distance became close enough to hear the voice of a light conversation clearly, the youngest-looking man pointed at me with his hand and put on an awkward act.

“Hmm?”

As if responding to the awkward acting, the late Duke of Devonshire turned his head slightly and smiled as if he had just seen me now.

Natural acting to the point that I would have mistaken that he had really discovered me only now if our eyes hadn’t been meeting all the time.

Is it because he has experience? His acting skills were not bad compared to his grandchildren.

“Haha! Who is this? Isn’t it Sir William, the most famous in the imperial capital these days?”

The late Duke of Devonshire, who burst into a hearty laugh, approached me with hurried steps.

“Ah! Duke Cavendish!”

I, too, called the last name of the people of the Devonshire ducal family with joy and approached them.

As the distance narrowed, the eyes of me and the late Duke of Devonshire became entangled.

Smiling corners of the lips.

But eyes filled with a savage energy without a hint of laughter.

“It’s nice to see you after a long time.”

“Nice to see you, have you been well?”

Hackneyed and dry greetings flow out between the lips.

This was the sound announcing the start of a petty and narrow-minded battle of nerves that would continue from now until Princess Elizabeth appeared.