episode_0126

The attack by Countess Tigris never happened.

Rather, a letter arrived thanking me for the advice and clothes, leaving me feeling so good that I felt like I could fly.

The atelier was operating peacefully, and Elizabeth also returned.

A week filled only with good things happening one after another.

“Haa…”

Despite that, I couldn’t shake my grim expression and greeted Friday with a deep sigh.

And today is the day of the Emperor’s birthday celebration, which I was not looking forward to at all.

“Ugh…”

I groaned, clutching my head.

I wish I could just have an accident and get seriously injured.

I usually dislike going to events, but the Emperor’s birthday celebration was an event I hated so much that I wanted to skip it even if it meant getting scolded by my mother.

You might not understand why I hate the Emperor’s birthday celebration so much, but our Emperor’s birthday celebration has a completely different atmosphere from other anniversaries and the birthdays of other countries’ monarchs.

First of all, there is no banquet after the birthday celebration.

The Emperor’s logic is that we had fun at the founding anniversary, so why have another one when it hasn’t even been a month?

There are many problems with this, but even the nobles didn’t strongly oppose it.

There are too many imperial events from October to December, so the nobles are also tired.

And the event itself is very simple.

They don’t even have the usual knights and army parade, and after firing a salute once or twice in the corner of the square, they immediately move on to boring and tedious congratulatory speeches and lectures.

In a way, it’s more like a lecture time by the Emperor in celebration of his birthday rather than a birthday party.

You might think that if even the Emperor doesn’t take the event seriously, you can just get through it carelessly.

In fact, that’s right.

Many nobles of the rank of baron or viscount, who are small fry, only send light congratulatory greetings and gifts and don’t attend.

Those people are commoners who are barely able to attend the founding anniversary and New Year’s events, so they can’t leave their territories for too long.

The problem is when you’re a little closer to power.

The reason why the Emperor’s birthday is considered an important event is that the Emperor suddenly promotes a noble or announces a policy using his birthday.

The Emperor’s actions themselves are not unreasonable.

It’s not uncommon to announce an important policy or someone who has made a great contribution on one’s birthday.

The problem is that no one knows except for His Majesty the Prince Consort and the head maid.

So much so that two years ago, a certain noble was promoted from viscount to count, but that noble wasn’t even at the event.

Of course, this was a minor happening that everyone laughed off, but the real issue is policies.

The ‘Imperial Knights are freely opened to women’ or ‘Duke Ross is made my lady-in-waiting’ incidents all started when the Emperor suddenly declared them at the birthday celebration.

I don’t know much about when His Majesty the Prince Consort became a maid since it was before I was born, but I remember the atmosphere very well when the declaration to open the Knights to women was made, as I was watching it live next to my mother.

My mother, muttering, “Please give us a heads-up,” and clutching the back of her neck.

My father, dry washing his face and looking at His Majesty the Prince Consort with resentful eyes.

The conservative nobles’ protests, which were so heated they were explosive, and the Emperor, withdrawing after declaring that he would not accept any more protests.

It’s a truly terrible event.

And yet, I was invited to this as a VIP.

What on earth is the Emperor trying to do?

Is he trying to throw me between a cardinal and foreign royalty and enjoy some fun spectacle?

“Haa…”

A sigh keeps escaping.

‘William, don’t say anything there except for greetings, even my slightest action could turn into a big problem, so please keep your mouth shut, okay?’

The words my mother had repeatedly urged me before we departed separately lingered in my mind, making me even more troubled.

I know that, but I wasn’t confident I could act properly.

– Thump!

“Ah…”

With a large jolt, the carriage came to a sudden stop.

And after the sound of the tree creaking from the coachman’s seat echoed a few times, the carriage door opened a moment later, and dazzling sunlight and cool air rushed into the carriage.

“Th, young master…”

“William, I came to pick you up especially.”

The coachman, opening the carriage door wide and looking at the person next to him, and Elizabeth, fixing her gaze on me with a gentle smile.

“I’m really glad…”

I awkwardly smiled and greeted Elizabeth.

Ah, so the truly terrible event is starting in earnest now…

_

Following closely behind Elizabeth, I arrived at the VIP seats.

Perhaps because it was a separate space near the platform, located about one level higher than the square, the crowded square came into view at once, but it was such a burdensome seat where people’s attention was immediately focused.

Even the seat next to me was a cardinal, and the seat in front of me was the Archduke of Brussels, a principality bordering the Empire to the east.

“Oh… God…”

With people who even my mother and father defer to being crowded around, I couldn’t help but look for God first.

If I make a mistake here, it could lead to an international dispute…

If I make a mistake here, I’ll be an international scoundrel…

“Pfft…”

“Ugh…”

As I muttered to myself and trembled, Elizabeth, who had been quietly watching me from the side, chuckled and poked me in the ribs.

“Why are you so scared?”

“Even a small mistake from me here could lead to a huge problem.”

“You just have to not make a mistake. What is there to be afraid of when you have a princess by your side? Besides, you’re a glorious Imperial Honorary Knight, you can be even more confident.”

“Tch…”

Elizabeth’s words weren’t wrong, but the objects of comparison were so grand that it only made me feel more pathetic in reverse.

I’m an honorary knight and the princess’s partner in name only; at first glance, aren’t I just Her Highness the Princess’s pet?

“And, if you openly show that you’re scared, they might want to torment you more? If you act like someone who’s obviously going to make a mistake, you’ll become a target.”

“That’s even more terrible…”

It’s a problem either way.

In the end, I’m the one in trouble.

Is this what diplomacy is?

It’s scary.

When did my dream of quietly making clothes become such a difficult and arduous thing that feels so far away…

I sighed deeply in my heart, straightened my back, and put on a smile.

“Good, you have to maintain that attitude even when my mother gathers the VIPs to have a conversation after the event.”

“… There’s something like that?”

“Of course, did you think these people just came here to clap innocently?”

“That’s true…”

It’s not common for high-ranking officials to come to foreign countries, so they’ll hold a meeting as a side matter.

No, they’re probably gathering under the pretext of the Emperor’s birthday to hold a meeting.

It’s a really tiring life.

“Madam, now that others are watching, you should start letting go…”

“What does it matter? We’re a married couple anyway, so it’s okay to show it to others, isn’t it?”

A coquettish, nasal voice echoing in the VIP seats as I was feeling disgusted with the lives of the high-ranking officials, which were riddled with annoyance.

Turning my head slightly to see who it was, a voice that sounded familiar yet unfamiliar, I rubbed my eyes and nudged Elizabeth, wondering if I had seen something wrong.

“What’s wrong?”

“Th, those people over there, are they Countess and Count Tigris…?”

“Who?”

Elizabeth squinted slightly and turned her gaze towards the couple I was pointing at.

“Madam, isn’t this an event for His Majesty the Emperor right now? It’s not a normal occasion, so it’s good to maintain decorum.”

A man with a troubled expression, his arm tightly held by a woman with distinctly noticeable tiger ears and tail.

“Surely, my dear husband hasn’t become annoyed with me like this, has he? Or do you find it laughable that I’m belatedly expressing my feelings?”

And a woman with tiger ears, clinging to the man’s arm like a koala and showing no intention of letting go.

No matter how you look at it, they are Count and Countess Tigris, but their behavior is that of strangers, something I’ve never seen before.

“What is that…”

Even Elizabeth couldn’t hide her bewilderment, her voice trembling at the sight.

“That’s not true, we’ve been stuck together all the way here anyway, haven’t we?”

“That’s true, but…”

“Madam.”

“Ugh… I understand… I’ll endure it only until the event is over.”

“Thank you for understanding, Madam.”

With the Count’s firm words, the Countess, who had been intertwined like a vine, quickly released the Count’s arm.

The Count’s arm and the Countess’s dress were stained here and there with sweat, as if they had been bundled up so tightly in this cool and chilly weather.

“My dear husband, if I endure well until the end, will you give me a reward for doing a good job later?”

“Of course, I will.”

“Ehehe…”

“”…….””

The Count gently stroking the Countess’s head, and the Countess, shrinking shyly with a girlish smile at that touch.

We, who had the chance to witness that sight firsthand, widened our eyes and trembled our hands as if we had seen something very shocking.

“William, that’s the overly affectionate couple, Count Tigris and his wife, right…?”

“They look like it on the outside…”

“What on earth happened? More importantly, what did you do? The person has become strange?”

“I don’t know either, it’s scary…”

Rather, I wanted to know.

My bunny girl outfit doesn’t have a personality remodeling function, so why did the person change as if they were reborn?

“Sir William!”

As I was feeling fear at the sight of someone who had been evaluated as being cold and stiff becoming a female cat, Countess Tigris, who had been looking around and finally found me, called out to me in a booming voice and approached with the Count, hurrying her steps.

“I didn’t expect to see you in a place like this, it’s nice to see you.”

“Ah, y, yes, nice to meet you, Countess Tigris, and Count Tigris.”

“Ah, I’ve heard a lot about you from my wife, I heard you gave her a lot of advice in many ways.”

“Excuse me?”

For a moment, I blinked my eyes and mumbled a dazed reply, wondering if the Count was being sarcastic.

All I did was brain-farting and provocative ‘scratches?’, what is this about?

“Thanks to you, it was very helpful.”

“Let’s have tea sometime, we’ll treat you with the utmost hospitality.”

But the smile that Countess Tigris was wearing was too bright and pure to be mixed with deceit and falsehood.

“No, no! It’s alright, rather, I’m even more grateful to hear that you liked the clothes.”

“Ah!”

As I frantically waved my bewildered hands and conveyed my gratitude haphazardly, Countess Tigris reacted to those words again and grabbed my hand tightly.

“Those clothes were really the best, it’s as if you cast some kind of magic, my honest feelings for my husband flowed out so easily while I was wearing them.”

“Excuse me?”

My clothes don’t have that kind of function.

If they did, I would have gone to register a patent right away.

“Thanks to you, I had a conversation with him for the first time without any barriers in my heart. As expected, the child of Count Hume is different from others.”

“Excuse me? What kind of…”

I’m no different from others.

Rather, I’m one of the ones who suffer more because I don’t have mana.

“The headband you made for my husband was also the best. I was only able to clearly know that our husband is a wonderful man that I would fall for whether he’s a tiger or a rabbit.”

“No, please speak in a way that I can understand…”

“Ahem, ahem, Madam, th, that story is not appropriate to tell outside.”

“My dear husband, what are you saying? A man’s tru…”

“Stop!”

The Countess, who was gradually running wild, was about to say something that shouldn’t be said in a public setting, but the Count quickly covered the Countess’s mouth right before that to stop her.

“Ahem…”

“Cough…!”

Judging by the uncomfortable coughs erupting from the surroundings, it seems like everyone heard it enough to know, but since the word wasn’t completed, they could somehow gloss over it.

Probably…

“We, we are sorry for being a bit noisy, it seems that my wife couldn’t control her emotions as she was too happy about the recent events.”

“Mmph! Mph…!”

“Ah, no, it’s alright, rather, I think you need to calm your wife down…”

“I’ll take care of that.”

“Ah, yes… Good luck.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Count Tigris hugged his wife tightly and left for his seat.

“……”

The couple’s appearance was shocking in many ways.

The intense image that was not easily forgotten in my mind.

Elizabeth and I, unable to emerge from the shock after the couple left, very carefully pinched each other’s cheeks lightly.

“”Ouch…””

One thing was certain: it was neither a dream, a hallucination, nor an illusion.