episode_0106

On the way home, Diane looked very depressed.

To be honest, I felt a little pitiful.

Basically, I have a rude personality, and I heard that I clashed with Adele in various ways before, but it wasn’t easy for me to feel that way about Diane. I wasn’t Adele, and that’s why Diane couldn’t be openly rude in front of me. Because Amelia was always next to me.

Moreover, Adele did not look very cool when she saw Diane like that.

Diane teased Adele today and boasted about what she said, but isn’t that because she didn’t really harm Adele?

Or maybe it was because Adele’s personality was so kind.

“… … Did I do something wrong?”

“No, you don’t need to worry about that.”

I asked Amelia, who was walking next to me on horseback a little distance away, and she shook her head.

Normally, I would have said nothing, but since Adele was riding behind Amelia right now, the words were polite.

“That’s not what we called it.”

No, it would be really pitiful if you said that.

Normally, Diane was among other girls, so it seemed like she was naturally popular, but now that she’s leading alone, she feels like she’s being left out.

When I see myself wearing dirty clothes, something breaks my heart.

Although we also had dirty clothes. We already knew something like that would happen, so we wore appropriate clothes, but Diane came dressed in expensive clothes.

Even if we didn’t call them and just intervened, it would be a bit… … .

But in the end, we ended up entering the royal capital without much conversation.

The sun had already set and it was midnight.

“Then… … See you next time.”

Still, when Diane turned to face us, she looked a little more energetic than before. Although her momentum was still not as confident as when we first saw her.

“Yes. Then, I will be waiting.”

Adele said that after getting off the horse.

Now that I think about it, Diane somehow ended up in front of Carlins. They happened to be together, but it was because they missed the right time to part ways.

“… … .”

Diane looked down at Adele as if she were strange.

Adele was actually looking up at Diane with a smile.

After a moment of thought, Diane furrowed her brows, perhaps interpreting it as making fun of her current self.

Then he forced his face into a smile and looked at us and said.

“Then, I will see you next time, Grand Duchess and Lady Delkisi.”

Diane said that.

“Yes, it will be next week.”

“See you next time.”

After receiving Amelia and my greetings, Diane turned around.

… … By the way, it’s hard to walk alone on a night like this. Is Diane also confident in her own skills?

Well, the royal capital itself was a place with fairly strict security, but—

“… … Lady Hoover.”

Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore and I called Diane, and the horse that was moving forward stopped.

To Diane, who looked back with a slightly surprised expression, I said,

“It’s dark at night, so why don’t you go together? The mansion I’m staying at is close anyway.”

It was suggested that way.

Count Huber has a fief near the royal capital, but that does not make him an earl within the royal capital. After all, he is a man with a fief.

So, of course, Diane lives close to the mansion that Amelia and I share. This is because nobles have a strong tendency to live together with people of similar class.

“Anyway, the paths we take are almost the same. Even if we break up now, there will be an awkward distance between us.”

“… … .”

Diane looked worried for a moment.

I glanced at Amelia’s attention. Diane had looked like she didn’t like it earlier, so I thought she might not like me for saying this.

But Amelia just exhaled softly.

“… … Okay, then shall we do that today?”

Diane also hesitated and answered that way.

*

And I regretted it.

I had forgotten that just as there are many different types of people in the world, nobles also have different tendencies.

I was Amelia’s escort, but I was also her friend. Not only was I friendly when we were alone, but I also acted friendly in front of other people, and people around me didn’t think it was strange.

None of the people living in the mansion had a bad relationship with Amelia, so without realizing it, I thought that was natural.

“… … Hello.”

The maid who said that looked extremely sharp.

Is she around middle age? If she were the count’s maid, she might be from an aristocratic family like me.

“You are the Grand Princess and Lady Delkisi. It is an honor to meet you.”

As she said that and bowed politely, the sharp gaze of the maid fell on Diane.

For just a moment, I clearly saw it heading towards Diane’s messy clothes.

I’m not sure if that’s a blaming look or a look of concern.

When you see Diane trembling, she seems to be closer to the ‘blaming’ side.

“Even if it’s from inside—”

“No.”

Amelia interrupted the maid from continuing her conversation.

“I trained a little hard today and my clothes got wet with sweat. Thank you for the offer, but I think we should go home and rest.”

“Is that so.”

The maid answered while bowing politely.

Leaving the maid where she was, Amelia turned her gaze towards Diane.

“Okay, see you next time.”

“… … Yes. I was thankful in many ways today. Even the Lady Delki City. ”

hmm… … .

I feel like I followed you for no reason.

I didn’t do anything wrong, but the atmosphere was oppressively heavy.

It’s a strange atmosphere that seems to fit the image of Diane I know, but doesn’t.

Diane and the maid were still standing outside the door as we turned around and headed home.

*

“Sorry.”

“Huh?”

As soon as I returned home, washed up, put on my pajamas as usual, and gathered in Amelia’s room, I immediately apologized.

Amelia looked at me with her eyes wide open and tilted her head.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Uh… … That’s why you didn’t just let Diane go?”

“Ah.”

At my words, Amelia closed her eyes and smiled slightly.

“That’s not really a fault. The road itself is a place where you don’t have to worry about security because there are soldiers walking around all the time, but it’s also a dark place to walk alone.”

“Yeah, really?”

So what happened to the slightly sharp atmosphere?

… … Was it just because he was with the original villain?

“I was worried that I might have touched the story… … .”

“Story?”

“Yes. Well, there is an original story.”

Amelia tilted her head again at my words.

“How did you touch the story?”

“Uh… … So I… … I, who never appeared in the original work, brought in another villainess? I thought you cared… … .”

“… … .”

Amelia listened to me and looked at me quietly for a while.

It wasn’t just something I saw, it was a blank expression with his mouth slightly open, which was different from usual.

Did I do something really wrong?

“No.”

But Amelia answered right away.

“If you want to judge something that didn’t appear in the original, you have to start with the fact that you followed me in the first place.”

At Amelia’s words, I felt like my heart was falling.

“Did it have a big impact?”

“It had a big impact, but… … .”

Amelia went to the bed, thinking about what to say.

Then he sat down on the edge and patted his side.

After I carefully went over and sat down, Amelia continued.

“If I had been worried about that in the first place, I wouldn’t have said I would bring you here. I thought I would handle everything that happens when I brought you here, so you don’t have to worry too much.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Amelia said, tapping her chest with her fisted hand.

“I brought it here, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“No, it’s still something I’m involved with.”

But still, I was relieved to hear Amelia say this directly.

I was worried about what would happen if the relationship went sour.

“There is nothing to worry too much. You are my escort. I must take responsibility.”

Amelia’s expression was so bright as she said that, that even the worries I was having were blown away in an instant.

*

therefore… … Elsie, you’re saying you’ve never read Part 2, where Amelia uses Elsie in the original work, right?

That means Elsina won’t suspect me for that reason.

That open-minded attitude that was shown to me when I was young seems to have been a literal favor.

Because I don’t know the evil that Amelia did to Elsie.

Although I had some doubts about it before, it was the first time I heard it directly from Elsie’s mouth.

That means—

What if, what if.

If I take just a little bit of the idea from Amelia’s thoughts in Part 2 and use it.

Does this mean that Elsie doesn’t know?

I have no intention of abandoning Elsie, even if I do—

Looking at Elsie smiling brightly at me, I felt a little bad.