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Translator: Nonon
Proofreader: Silavin
“Phew-, haa–… So, what business did you have with me? Did you talk to me only to say hello?”
After their fight calmed down, Apricot, who was a little out of breath after yelling, asked Chartreuse, who was still breathing well.
“Oh, I almost forgot. La- Apricot, you’re participating in today’s match, right?”
“Indeed, that is why I am here.”
“Apparently there was a mistake on your application form. The person in charge was at a loss at what to do, so I came to call for you, since I happened to know your name and face.”
“Hmm, is that so? I cannot believe I of all people would make such a blunder… thank you for reporting this to me. Where is the clerk?”
Chartreuse escorted Apricot to where the clerk was.
I was a bit worried that they would start fighting again on the way there, but since His Highness talked to me first, I couldn’t leave him.
“Well, I digress. The reason I came to talk to you is because I wanted to know something about you.”
“About me?”
His Highness resumed his conversation with me.
He wants to know something about me… Does this mean that he wants to warn me to be careful of Lady Violet like Chartreuse did before? No, that would be slightly different from wanting to know something.
“You know a man called Roshenna Rivers, right?”
“… Yes.”
Rivers… the man who modified an orc to have His Highness’ face, kidnapped Gray and tried to degrade Lady Violet. I’ve heard that he’s been expelled and has received the appropriate treatment.
“I’d heard about the kidnapping incident and how he tried to disgrace Violet. I didn’t hear the details, but Mary became interested in it the day before yesterday. I asked Ash about it, but…”
Did he hear about the orc with his face?
In that case, maybe he understood the meaning of the words we blurted out the day before yesterday, and wanted to hear from the involved party what they thought when they saw it in front of them.
“… Heartfield, are you close with Mary?”
“Huh?”
Hm, how did that question come from the conversation we just had?
I ended up responding rudely to the unexpected question.
“No, I got ahead of myself. In other words, what I’m trying to ask is, whether you and Mary are close.”
“Please calm down, Your Highness. You are repeating yourself.”
“Hmm…”
I can’t believe that His Highness Vermillion would panic like this.
His Highness is certainly an aloof person and he rarely loses composure, so much so he’s been nicknamed the ‘red lion’. I’ve heard that he generally only shows emotions like the one he showed the day before yesterday and he was the same way in Ring of Fire too. He does get flustered like this depending on the route though.
Still, what did he mean by Ms. Mary and I being close? There has to be a reason why he thought so. Something so conclusive, that he would come all the way here to ask me about it.
“What I mean is—“
To summarize His Highness’ story, it seems that after the play (and most likely when she parted with us), Ms. Mary asked Ash about me and Lady Violet. She asked about the incident caused by Roshenna Rivers and the details that hadn’t come out due to the concerns over the survival of the Rivers family and the way the situation was handled. And also about how we were doing.
Ash said that one shouldn’t spread rumors and only see facts for themselves, so he only talked on a surface level. At first, His Highness thought that she wanted to learn more about Lady Violet’s change, but apparently, it seemed to him that Ms. Mary was more interested in hearing about me. It was really just His Highness’ hunch though.
And the look on her face at that time seemed like…
“She was interested as if she was in love.”
You can’t have been more wrong.
I stopped myself from voicing my thoughts. That was close.
“Excuse me, but I think you have misunderstood, Your Highness. I met Ms. Sue for the first time the day before yesterday, we didn’t talk much, and it seemed like the only thing she had heard about me was that I am Lady Violet’s husband.”
“… I see.”
Those were completely subjective feelings stemming from his paranoia, but for His Highness to worry this much, it must mean that he likes Ms. Mary a lot.
His status, talent and appearance are all top class in the kingdom, so he should be more confident.
Still, I’ll follow it up anyway.
“Ms. Mary Sue is certainly an attractive woman. I can understand why you would be wondering if I’m attracted to her and might try to make a move on her.”
“…”
Does his silence mean that he’s not denying it?
In that case, I’ll continue.
“Unfortunately, I have my hands full loving one family. Even if we become close, I can’t afford to lay my hands on her.”
“… You want me to believe your words?”
“Yes. Pardon me, but we have not spent enough time together so you can trust and believe my words alone. I hope this will calm your worries for now, Your Highness.”
I said so and bowed. Then, after I raised my head, His Highness looked at me for a while with an appraising gaze, and…
“… I see.”
He said just this.
He doesn’t seem to trust me, but he seems to be convinced for now.
“Oh, sorry. Can I ask you something if you’re done with your conversation?”
“It’s fine, I’ve finished my business.”
“I’m sorry about that, Sir Third Eye.”
“Third Eye…? Is that me…?”
Just as my conversation with His Highness came to a stop, Apricot, who had returned who knows when, started talking to us. I wonder if whatever problem she had with the application had been resolved. And to call His Highness like that out of nowhere really does take guts.
“About my problem with the application… It’s this part.”
I looked at the part in the application form in my hand that she was pointing at.
The place she was pointing at was an unlikely place to make a mistake on, at the top. She really had a problem in this part? — Oh, I see.
“I don’t mind it. You can write it.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Clo.”
“It’s fine. Just write it down.”
Apricot thanked me and wrote down the thing she was missing in her document.
I don’t really mind if she wrote it down without asking me, but Apricot is very conscientious when it comes to things like that.
“Wait, what’s going on, Lady Apricot?!”
And the troublesome guy started picking a fight with her again.
“Hey, give it a break already, Chartreuse. Are you a bird-brain who forgets everything in 3 seconds?”
“Oof, sorry. It’s just my habit. Besides, I’m not used to calling women just by their names.”
“Don’t you call Ms. Violet and Ms. Kriemhild without honorifics?”
“It’s fine if I’m just using their family names… that aside, are you planning on using a fake name in the school festival tournament?!”
“It’s not a fake name, this too is my proper –mana-!”
“What, that’s impossible! Didn’t you say before that your -mana- was Apricot Von Pendragon? Was that a lie?!”
“Hmph, to think that you couldn’t even realize that, Chartreuse. There is no way I would be contained under one name.”
“Wh…at?! You possess a second name like Vermillion, lady…?! And you also go by many other names?! ”
“You’re doing it on purpose, aren’t you? Why did you keep using ‘lady’?”
There are a lot of things I would like to point out. But, well, what can I say?
“I’m sorry about my citizen.”
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry about my childhood friend. I didn’t think he would be so simpleminded.”
His Highness looked at Chartreuse with a nostalgic expression on his face, gazing in the distance.
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