Vol. 3 - Chapter 138 - Katariona Receives a Wonderful Invitation From a Friend
I had a severe headache in the morning due to the entanglement with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Charlotte and was about to leave early, but I gradually felt better and was able to do my best to attend classes for the whole day.
There is one other reason why I was able to do my best.
Tria and Angel invited me to lunch today at the garden terrace in the courtyard, where I received a wonderful invitation.
"I know it's sudden, but since tomorrow is your day off, why don't the four of us go shopping?"
Tria suggested as we enjoyed a chat over after-dinner tea.
"Oh my, that sounds great. I was just thinking of getting a new sword."
"No, Angel," she replied, "that won't do. You talk as if you are buying a new dress, yet your main focus is on your armament."
"For me, it's more exciting than picking out a dress."
We all enjoy shopping.
Chris clasped her hands together in agreement with Angel.
"That sounds great," she said, "I'm going to look around for some weapons, too."
...... collecting weapons. Sounds like Marie.
"Chris, do you prefer small-sized weapons?"
"It's easier to handle."
Chris and Angel were about to get into a weapons discussion.
"Oh my gosh! Both of you! We are not shopping for those menial things, we are shopping to look at dresses and have tea in a café!"
Tria interrupts them.
Before, she never interrupted the conversation, but ever since she got engaged to my brother, she seems to have become more proactive. This would make her an admirable Marquis de Grandeur.
As I nodded my head, all three of their eyes were on me at once.
""...... Rio. We can hear you."
Tria shyly looked down.
"...... was I speaking my thoughts out loud again ......?"
I asked fearfully, and Chris and Angel nodded yes.
"You had the spirit of a little mother-in-law, you know."
Chris said, giving an exasperated sigh.
"I'm sorry, Tria."
I hurriedly apologized to Tria.
She shook her head and muttered to herself, her face reddening.
"...... I will become a splendid Marquis de Grandeur."
Tria clenched both fists in determination. It's a very encouraging sign.
◇ ◇◇◇
Needless to say, I accepted Tria's wonderful invitation.
This is my guess, but I believe they all planned this to cheer me up.
I appreciated the concern of my three friends and could not refuse them.
So, Marie and I holed up in the dressing room to decide what to wear tomorrow.
"Milady. How was school today?"
Marie's question made me cringe.
Should I honestly tell her that I had a bad day with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Charlotte?
"It was the usual academy life. ......"
"M-i-l-a-d-y!"
I intended to reply that it was business as usual, but was interrupted.
She had the most perfect smile and crisply defined pronunciation.
"I suppose you can't fool Marie after all."
"Of course! I've known the young lady since you were born."
"Since I was born, that makes it almost fifteen years now."
I contemplated and told Marie about today's events without concealment.
Her expression clouded over as she listened attentively with a smile on her face. It is a subtle change that others do not notice, but I, who have known her for a long time, can tell.
"Miss. I'm going to go clean up now."
After listening to the story, Marie was about to cross the shadows, but I tried my best to stop her.
"Don't go, Marie!"
"Why are you holding me back? It's okay. I'm just cleaning up."
"No, no, no, no! You're not just cleaning up!"
Where in the world is there a personal maid who cleans with a dark weapon instead of a broom!
"No. But there is! But here there is!"
As I was holding Marie back, ready to put my life on the line, Leon, with his bushy tail swinging, entered the dressing room.
"What are you doing? You guys."
"Leon! Nice to see you here! Stop Marie!"
"Why?"
"I don't care what you do, just stop her! Please!"
Because Marie would kill the Crown Prince and Charlotte!
Leon and I worked together to persuade the formidable Marie, and though she was reluctant to do so, she relented.
"In the first place, it was wrong for Leon-sama to leave the young lady alone! Isn't Leon-sama the young lady's fiancée! You are supposed to protect her with your life!"
"Isn't it strange that your anger is directed at me?"
It was good that we were able to dissuade her, but now Leon had to be lectured.
Leon was made to sit on his knees and listen to Marie lecture him endlessly.
"Please do not ever leave the young lady alone from now on! You never know what the Crown Prince Dumbcrap and Idiotte might do to you."
Idiotte is short for "Charlotte the Idiot". Marie named it.
My family, amused, calls Charlotte Idiotte.
"Hmmm. I understand. I'm sorry, Rio. I was careless. From now on, I will never leave you alone."
I was dazzled by Leon's beautiful natural white teeth.
I should have been familiar with Leon since I was a child, but I became strangely conscious of him after he proposed to me.
The silver-white eyebrows drooped and the troubled expression on Leon's face made me nervous.
"...... haa. Too beautiful ......."
I can't help but mutter my true feelings.
'What did you say?'
"No! It's nothing, Leon. Um, ...... how was the god conference......?"
I changed the subject to distract Leon.
For a moment, Leon frowns but seems to be searching for words to answer my question.
"...... today's meeting was difficult."
"Was the agenda that difficult?"
"Mm-hmm. You know, that Laura fellow. She used all of us to help her process Ron's scales."
With a blatantly disgusted look on his face, Leon trailed off.
Currently, the students of the Magic Academy were defenseless against Charlotte's skill, "Demonic Enchantment". The skill does not work on the same sex, but it is very effective on the opposite sex.
The one most captivated by Charlotte is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but it has had no small effect on the other men as well. In particular, the S class, in which Charlotte is enrolled, has suffered a lot"
I heard from Tria and Angel, who are also in S class, that apparently there has been a string of broken engagements.
In many cases, nobles have been engaged to fiancées since they were very young.
Of course, there are students in S class who have fiancées. However, it is said that boys are suddenly telling their fiancées to break off engagements, and girls are having their engagements broken off by their fiancées.
All of these are due to Charlotte's skills.
Therefore, we came up with a plan to have the students of the Magic Academy wear magical equipment that repels Charlotte's skills.
It was decided to have the students wear the school badge at Lady Sylphy's suggestion, but the problem is the thing that repels the skill. However, the problem was solved by the fact that Ron-sama's scales would be good for that.
"Sylphy-sama is relatively young among the Dragon Gods and needs to have the reverse scales, but Ron-sama is one of the oldest among the Dragon Gods and can repel magic without having the reverse scales."
"The phoenix, the symbol of the Magic Academy, is very finely crafted," she said, "I had a hard time fitting Ron's scales into the eyes."
" So, you didn't ask a human craftsman to do it for you."
Laura is the goddess of fire, but she has a place in the human world as well.
She should also have a handle on jewelry processing.
"But the delivery date is too soon for her to meet the deadline. So Laura made us work all day long to put scales in the eyes, saying that this is where we come in."
The gods of the Kingdom of Findalia are surprisingly dexterous. Laura must have spotted that.
"That's ...... good work."
All I can say is that it was a labor of love.
"But thanks to you, we'll be able to hand out school badges to our students early next week."
"Did you get approval for the school badge?"
"Of course. My father-in-law works fast."
Leon's father-in-law is my uncle, Prime Minister Paulford.
Leon was adopted into the Duke of Paulford's family and became my uncle's son-in-law.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
He told me that he knew someone who had a good face in the upper echelons of the Magic Academy, and it seems that it was my uncle.
"Idiot ...... No. Well, except for Charlotte."
Leon almost said Idiotte too. He is becoming quite poisoned by our family.
'If he puts on the school badge, the Crown Prince might come to his senses, right? If that happens, maybe I can get my tiepin back."
"He may come to his senses, but don't get your hopes up too high. Charlotte is rarely away from the Crown Prince kid in the Magic Academy, right? If she realizes the trick, I bet she will find a way to get him to take it off. If that happens, we' ll have no choice but to give up on the crown prince kid."
The only thing Charlotte wants to get is the crown prince. Or more precisely, the position of Crown Princess, the future queen.
"If that happens, I guess I'll have to ask you both to leave."
"Would it be a decapitation and a head chop?"
Marie apparently did not miss the words I muttered to her.
I chuckled at Marie's glee.
"I wonder if ...... decapitation is inevitable."
"Then will they be deported? Or will they be stripped of their identities and sent to the mines?"
Apparently, the conversation was getting a little too wild.
Marie is aiming to assassinate the Crown Prince and Charlotte at any opportunity.
"...... By the way, what were you doing in the dressing room?"
Leon changed the subject, so I took him up on it.
"Tomorrow, Chris, Tria, Angel and I are going shopping. So I was picking out some clothes to wear."
"Naturally, that means you're going to the café, too. Good! I'm coming too!"
"...... but in cat form, please."
"I won't be able to eat as much food as I want if I'm in cat form!"
Tria has told me, 'You should bring Leon with you,' but in cat form.
"Wouldn't it be nice to buy lots of souvenirs?"
"I don't want some small, thin, 'kitty cake', I want a big, human cake!"
"Yes, yes, yes. Marie, let's pick out some clothes."
Leaving Leon alone to complain, I started picking out clothes for tomorrow's outing with Marie.
—-- TL: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and happy reading~!