CH 39

T/N: Translation error with one speaker tag has been fixed.

Ah… let me tell you what just happened. I suddenly got into trouble with people I don’t know and I didn’t know what they were trying to do, then I had a drink dumped on my head. Even so, the one who got slapped by the leader wasn’t me, but the girl who poured the drink over my head. I don’t think I understand what that leader is saying, but I didn’t know what she was doing, either… somehow, it looked like that in my head…

Yeah… no, I’m sorry. I myself don’t know what I’m talking about.

I thought I was being accosted by this girl named Alexandra, but could it be that this girl was kind enough to warn me?

Her eyes look slanted and intense and she has a tough personality, the way she speaks and every action make me feel her dignity. But looking back, maybe Alexandra thought I was in the wrong venue and came to tell me to go to the other venue.

However, it is still too early to decide. For example, there is also a bullying method where the leader who is orchestrating the bullying is intentionally kind to the target and makes their subordinates bully the target instead.

There is all manner of reasons for it, such as in the unlikely event that the bullying becomes a problem for all of them, the leader claims they didn’t do any of the bullying themselves, or they try to deceive the bullying target and gain their trust and manipulate them for something.

In that case, it is possible that Alexandra deliberately protected me after orchestrating the bullying, in yet another match-pump scheme. 1 But honestly, Alexandra didn’t seem to intend to do that, and she might have decided that the girls around had bullied me of their accord, not hers.

No matter what the truth is, there is no way I can understand Alexandra’s true feelings just now, just by exchanging a few words. It would be better to take a closer look here.

“Thank you for your consideration, Lady Alexandra,” I said. “But, I have an invitation to come here and I am sure that this is the right venue.”

With that I grabbed my invitation from my father… or rather, I wanted to because I didn’t have it on me… that’s no surprise. I don’t have a bag in the middle of a party, and I can’t just carry the card with me the whole time. Unfortunately, Isabella has my invitation while she’s in the waiting room.

“Do seriously think such a lie will pass?!” one of Alexandra’s entourage snapped. “There is no way an invitation to this party will be mailed to the daughter of a mere knight!”

That’s right, you know~? It wasn’t mailed to me at all~. Because Father handed it to me personally~.

“Leave that matter for later!” Alexandra snapped as she took my hand and tried to lead me out of the venue. “Instead, let’s go to the waiting room and wipe you down first. You can change into one of my spare dresses…”

Well, it would be best to wipe off all this mess. I’m not going to borrow her dress. Or rather, since I shouldn’t borrow the power and wealth of House Carruthers, I couldn’t borrow from House Lingerburg, either.

“I’ll be fine on my own,” I said. “Well then, I’ll head to the waiting room at once. Good day to you,” I said, bowing my head.

Alexandra’s entourage looked blatantly disgusted. It seems that I was quite hated just for being a knight than some higher noble. I have no idea what Alexandra is thinking. Her expression looks displeased and I feel like she’s staring at me.

The only thing I can say is that Alexandra would look great with her hair in drill curls.

That stern look and eyes, and the way she speaks and behaves like a refined young lady, all seem to match the image of a noble day with her hair in drill curls.

In reality, Alexandra has normal red hair and blue eyes that look orange in a certain light, but for some reason, my image of Alexandra is already that “Ooh-hohohohoho…!” sort of arrogant young lady with her hair in drill curls.

Well, Medieval Europe is actually a very simple time. It is a difficult era to live from day to day. When modern people think of Europe, they imagine flashy dresses and hairstyles, and holding nightly parties. It was such a dark time, such events would have only happened in the early modern or modern era.

As you can see from just the poor food situation of the nobility in this country, it is by no means an era of wealth and luxury. Just like how the food situation is severe, there are no flashy clothes or eccentric hairstyles. Even in social circles, today is a special day for the children to make their social debut, so flashy parties like this aren’t usually held all the time.

But drill curls are so nice… I want Alexandra to have her hair in drill curls. I don’t know Alexandra’s personality yet, but if it’s just her appearance, she should be best suited for that style.

“Fufuh…” I chuckle.

While heading to the waiting room, I walked while imagining Alexandra with her hair in drill curls.

This is not the waiting room where the noble ladies gather, but rather where the servants accompanying those ladies would wait for them. I slip in quietly.

“Isabella, can you help me over there for a bit?” I asked.

“Miss Flora…?!” Isabella cried. “What in the hell is this…?!”

At my dismal state, Isabella’s eyes turn black and white. I’m sure Isabella has been a maid for a long, long time and has never taken care of a young lady with her hair sticky from getting grape juice dumped on it. But, unfortunately, her current mistress is that kind of young lady.

“I got a little bit of grape juice on my head…” I said. “Please help me wipe it up in the private room over there.”

“Haa… yes, of course,” Isabella said.

She seemed to have recovered somehow, we leave the servants’ waiting room and walk down the corridor. It’s not some stranger’s house, it’s one of my homes and I know it well. This isn’t Manor Carruthers, but it’s a property of House Carruthers not too far from the mansion. I’ve come here many times in the past, so I remember at least the layout of the rooms.

There are many facilities and buildings in Carruzan owned by House Carruthers. This is the closest place that’s almost as large as the mansion, and we often use it for family events. There are private rooms at the end of this corridor, so let’s wipe off the juice there.

“You may stay. I’ll go in,” I said.

“Yes, Miss,” Isabella said.

I decided to leave her outside to guard the door. Even if I said “wipe it off,” it wouldn’t be very effective to try to get rid of this sticky juice with a cloth. So, I had a different idea.

“Water…” I said.

I use magic to wash my dress. Let’s rinse off my juice-covered head while we’re at it. My head can just be washed off with water, but the dress won’t work with that method. So, I have a trick. I try to very finely vibrate the magical water I summoned, like at an ultrasonic frequency.

“Oh?” I asked.

The juice stains disappear as if I’d used a stain remover. It would all soon be gone. The problem is both the dress and my head are wet.

“Hmm… wind…” I said.

After washing, let it air dry again. But just blowing air won’t dry anything. That’s it! What happens if I use warm air?

“Fire…”

If you suddenly blow hot air on the dress, the fibers may become damaged, so I first try blowing warm air on my head. It feels good, but something is wrong. Or rather, it feels strange that the air is circling around a floating fireball.

What if I don’t imagine it as this, but more like this… What? Modern people would understand, right?

“Hmm… huh… ahh! That’s right! Heat…”

I couldn’t come up with a good idea, but I came up with a better one. Even if you don’t heat it with fire, it’ll be good if it’s just warm air. Hence, if can collect only the heat from my surroundings and inject it into the air I’m blowing. With this, I be should be able to send warm air without fire.

“Yeah, it feels good,” I said.

If the temperature is too high, the dress may be damaged. Magic like this is more convenient. Or rather, I’ve never heard of magic like a Heat Spell, but now I can do it. As for the formula, I used Fire magic to collect heat from the surroundings, and it worked out great.

If this can be done, if I apply my modern knowledge, I can reproduce things that have been discovered on Earth with science, right? The same is true for ultrasonic vibrations. Spells like these have never existed in this world. I made it just now.

Maybe this could be amazing… I could be…

Nah, never mind! Until now, what I could do was someone of my level could come up with. If it wasn’t very useful, it would probably have been a spell that became obsolete or hasn’t been of interest to research or something.

Well, let’s say it’s okay because my clothes are dry. I’ve cleared my head and should be fine now.

“Flor… No, Miss Floto… I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but I think it’s better not to use your magic in public,” Isabella said.

“Huh? Eh, is that so? Understood…” I said.

Somehow Isabella was worried and gave me a warning. It seems like I’m an immature person who would be embarrassed if she showed such odd spells in public. Until now, I’ve tried not to use magic as much as possible, but I’ll be more careful from now on.

“Well, now that it’s clean, let’s go back. Thank you, Isabella,” I said.

“No…” someone else said.

As I left this private room, Alexandra was on the other side of the hall. What is she doing in a place like this?

“Hold up, you!” Alexandra said. “Even if it’s an emergency, you can’t just walk around on your own in a building owned by House Carruthers!”

“Huh? Is that so?” I said.

Why? This place is like a part of my house, and to begin with, this private room has been prepared so that guests can use it if something happens. It’s a room where it doesn’t matter if I or Alexandra use it, right?

Of course, even in this building, there are places that are off-limits. It’s not like there’s a secret room with anything of value or something like that. It’s just the storerooms, kitchens, and other such places that are off-limits to guests.

But that doesn’t mean I’m part of that ban. My father told me that if I wanted to enter the mansion’s study later, I should tell him and Marius to accompany me, but they didn’t say that entry was prohibited. It’s the same here. I was not told which room to enter or not to enter. Well, I’m splitting hairs here.

“‘Is that so?’ is not the right reaction!” Alexandra yelled. “May I? This building was built a long time ago by House Carruthers when they were waging the Third Northern Expansion War…”

And Alexandra is off… it seems that Alexandra is very proud of her House, or rather, its history. Even now, she seems to be talking about House Carruthers, but really, she was just boasting about her family, House Lingerburg, the achievements of her ancestors, and so on.

Well, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. But I don’t want to be the one to listen to all this. Alexandra isn’t a bad girl, isn’t she?

I think she’s often misunderstood because of her appearance and behavior, but I think she’s a good girl at heart. The reason she came all this way was probably that she was worried about me and came to check on me.

“Are you listening? If I may? At that time, my family, House Lingerburg was…”

“Haa…” I sighed.

Is she still going? She’s been bragging about her family for a while now, hasn’t she?

“And, ah! You! If I look closely, the stain on your dress is gone, isn’t it?” Alexandra said. “How in the hell did you do that?”

“Ah…, umm, you see…, Isabella, the head maid, helped me remove the stain,” I said.

Isabella looked startled after her name was called. Seems she wasn’t expecting this. It’s so rare for the calm, experienced, and collected Isabella to be so blatantly caught off guard like this.

“I thought it would definitely stain… what kind of method did you use?” Alexandra asked.

“That is……” Isabella started.

Alexandra’s attention has moved from me to Isabella. Isabella looks at me with a slightly resentful face, but I don’t know why. I’m sure she must have known a good way to remove stains because of her years of experience.

“What are you all doing here?”

And in the middle of all that, Father came out from the corner, found us, and called out to us. Well, this place is quite far from the party, and you wouldn’t normally use this private room unless it’s an emergency like a sudden illness. If we were here, it’s natural he’d wonder what was going on.

“Tha-That’s Lord Albert! My name is Alexandra von Lingerburg,” Alexandra said.

Hmm? Is this the first time Alexandra has spoken to Father? If her family is the top vassal of House Carruthers, then I thought she’d met Father at least, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

“I haven’t heard you plan to use the back room today, Sir Caan?” Father said.

“I apologize,” I said. “There was a small emergency… and we had to use the private room. Forgive me for reporting after the fact, Lord Carruthers.”

Here, my father and I are Margrave Carruthers and Sir Caan. Even if it was a mistake, I cannot claim to be the daughter of House Carruthers.

“Hmm… I see… if it’s an emergency, it’s unavoidable, but if something happens, I’d like you to contact me first,” Father said.

“My apologies,” I said. “I’ll be more careful from now on.”

My father gave me a sarcastic look. Well, rather than saying that he’s angry, this probably means that if anything happens, I really should tell him first. But I can’t show that stain removal in front of Father, so I should have thought it was convenient to report after the fact this time.

“You’re so friendly with Margrave Carruthers…? And you’re called Sir Caan? Sir is for the one who holds the knightly title, isn’t it…?” Alexandra said.

Thank you for the explanation. This is correct. In Japan, a person with a high-ranking government post is called “Kyou,” the ministers and above are called “Kou,” and collectively known as the “Kuge.” On the other hand, in the West, regardless of the height of the rank, a person with a knighthood or an award for their achievements is called “Sir”.

“I am Floto von Caan, a knight of the Royal Guard Division,” I said. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Alexandra.”

This time I introduce myself to Alexandra with a knight’s courtesy. A little while ago, I was interrupted in all manner of ways, but I was finally able to introduce myself fully.

“… A knight,” Alexandra said. “You’re a knight, not the daughter of one?”

She sounded in a daze, probably surprised, but her face still looks like she was glaring at me.

T/N: I suppose Alexandra just suffers from “Resting Villainess Face.”