Chapter 118

unedited

“Didn’t you just hear something?”

“You must have heard it wrong.”

The maids came in with shiny white plates.

We broke into a cold sweat at their conversation.

But my heart was pounding inside.

‘So thrilling.’

Of course, if we get caught, we’ll all be in big trouble.

Rumors will spread in the social world, your parents will scold you, and perhaps you will receive probation…?

But when will this opportunity come again?

Rather than participating in a banquet when we grow up, it is probably a unique memory to hide and play with each other.

Besides, there were some corners to have faith in.

As Alice told me earlier, she said that if we get caught, the Fairy King Abish would take us to Fairy Island.

It’s called destroying evidence.

Starting with the maids who carried plates, more and more people came and went to the banquet hall.

But where we were, it was on the wall, so it was hardly noticeable because of the colorful decorations.

“Hey, it looks like the party is about to start. Jake.”

I spoke to Jake sitting next to me.

Then Jake turned to me and smiled.

“Yes.”

“My parents will come too, right? Oh, and Duke Theion and the Duchess will also come.”

“Right. They will probably come.”

Jake agreed with me.

Soon after, the door opened and the nobles began to attend the banquet one by one.

Since the emperor’s family is the last to enter, it will probably take a while for all the nobles to enter the banquet hall.

“Ah, chocolate fruit fondue!”

Meanwhile, we saw refreshments on a table closest to where we were hiding.

It was a bowl of various fruits and softly melted chocolate. It looks delicious.

‘I want to eat it……’

I swallowed my saliva for a moment.

Perhaps it wasn’t just me, a similar sound could be heard one after another from the sides.

‘It’s strange.’

Why do you want to eat food that you don’t usually like when you come to a place like this?

When I thought about it, someone crept up to my side and tapped my elbow.

It was Cedric.

“Don’t you want to try that fondue?”

At Cedric’s words, I nodded my head.

Jake and Alice also agreed.

Seeing us like that, Cedric smiled like a bad boy.

“Then let’s play rock-paper-scissors and let the loser go secretly.”

“……!”

I opened my eyes wide.

Isn’t this obvious, that it is a feat of sending someone as a scapegoat instead because we don’t want to go?

“……”

Well, I thought, there was really no other way.

It goes without saying that there is less chance of getting caught if one person goes and brings it than all four of us go.

Besides, we can’t just hide in this place endlessly, so why not take a sneak peek at the banquet in earnest?

Before we look around, we should start by filling our stomachs a little.

“Okay, let’s take it out at the same time. Rock Paper Scissors!”

We nodded at the same time and played quietly as if whispering.

And in the end, the loser was Cedric.

“…Did I lose?”

Cedric blankly looked down at his clenched fist.

Hoho, he had that coming.

He suggested rock-paper-scissors with a clear intention in the first place.

In the end, he was stabbed in the foot with his own axe.

“Tch…”

Cedric sighed deeply at the same time as he grumbled, and then moved as if he couldn’t do it.

Sneak, sneak.

In fact, it was correct that we should crawl rather than walk.

It was a dangerous position that could be caught if you raised your body a little higher.

We watched Cedric like that with a nervous feeling.

Finally, I saw Cedric heading down to the fondue table.

Good! Stretch out your hand like that…!’

He raised his hand once and pulled out a plate of fruit, then raised his hand again and pulled out a plate of chocolate and brought it back.

However, at that time, there was someone approaching the fondue.

“……!”

I was surprised to see the man’s face.

Isn’t that Cayden?

Cedric’s older brother.

It seemed that Cedric was quite startled as he heard the voice and recognized that it was his older brother.

“…if Cervan and Cedric had come together, they would have liked it. Because they like to eat sweets.”

Cayden muttered to himself, putting the fondue on a plate.

Until now, Cedric was really not breathing and was twitching his eyes under the tablecloth.

After a while.

Cedric, who had barely saved the fondue, and us were having a conversation in a very low voice.

After all, the banquet hall was now completely filled with noisy conversations, so it was obvious that our voices would be completely hidden.

“How did he just show up there? I was really scared.”

Cedric was sullen and muttered that he had been getting these plates very difficultly.

We ate the fondue, which was delicious with a little bit of chocolate on the sides of our lips.

***

After a while, that is, after all the guests had entered, the owner of the banquet appeared.

That is, His Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty the Empress, Nicholas and Ninaina.

Ninaina seemed to look around more often than usual.

She was probably looking for where we were.

As the Emperor’s brief remarks resounded, we decided to slowly get out of the banquet hall and prepare to watch the banquet in a safe place.