CH 224

Originally, I was planning to go out to town with Margarete after I got her makeup done, but it won’t work because Eleonore is there. No matter what, I can’t just take the princess along with me.

“I was planning to go to town after this, but… this is troublesome…” I said, looking at Eleonore.

Margarete tilted her head at that. “Huh? Did something happen?”

This girl… maybe she doesn’t understand the seriousness of what she’s done? I thought she was a decent noble lady, but maybe that’s not the case. She’s easy-going, and I wonder if this girl is unexpectedly too casual…

“No matter how you look at it, you can’t take a princess from one country around the city without an escort or a plan, right?”

“… Huh? Is that so?” Margarete said.

…………. This reaction… maybe…

“Lady Margarete…? Maybe you usually go out to town with Princess Eleonore?” I said.

“Umm…” Margarete said.

My eyes are swimming…. apparently, this young lady is walking around the royal capital with Eleonore, without an escort or prior notice as to where she’s going. What’s going on in this country? It’s already strange that the king and prime minister allow such a thing, but is it okay for a duke’s daughter to be like this?

“How does it usually go when you take Eleonore with you?” I asked.

“Umm, you see…” Margarete said. “I’ll tell His Majesty Wilhelm that I will bring Princess Eleonore outside, and after that, we just head out to the royal capital as we are……”

Heyyy! That’s way too lenient, Wilhelm!

Well, maybe the Royal Guards are following from the shadows, but even so, it’s too careless… if there is a cute girl like Eleonore, someone might take her away! Worry more about your daughter!

“Haa…” I sighed. “Oh, enough already… then, is it okay if I take Princess Eleonore with us?”

“Yes… maybe?” Margarete said.

She lacks confidence… or rather, Margarete didn’t seem to understand why I was so flabbergasted, so we finished changing clothes and doing makeup, and we went to the royal capital town with Eleonore and my wives in tow.

The original plan was for my wives to get close to Margarete and talk about various things while gradually teaching her about things. At first, she makes female friends and gets used to being noticed by men in the city, and gradually gains confidence through these acts.

After getting used to interacting with other people to some extent and realizing that she’s popular, let’s give her a massage, skincare, and makeup to polish her, and give her a total makeover by wearing new underwear and clothes for Margarete, I thought.

But unfortunately, since Eleonore is there, it would be safer to avoid doing anything too flashy or carelessly making contact with people we don’t know. If something happened to Eleonore, it would be a massive crisis.

Or so I thought we were going to do…

“Ummm… I’m going to have a tuna crepe today!”

“I want a salad crepe.”

“I’m so sorry, Bianca…” I whispered.

“No, no,” Bianca replied. “This is our job.”

For some reason, we’re at the Crepe Cafe right now. No, why did Margarete intend to come here right out of the gate? But I thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to take Eleonore with me in such a crowded place. But it seems I was the only one who thought that. The Wives and Margarete decided to go to the Crepe Cafe as planned without any hesitations about it.

I want you to wait a minute. Am I crazy? Would you normally bring a princess to such a crowd? What are you going to do if something happens…? No matter how good the escorts are, I don’t think they can escort well in such a densely packed place. If she is suddenly attacked, it will become a serious problem.

“I want a strawberry jam crepe!”

“Christa…” I muttered.

And when I came to the Crepe Cafe, Christa was there too. When we were about to line up, Christa was already there from a little while ago and then called us over, so we asked Christa to let us in. I thought that if I skipped my turn, people around us would get annoyed or get angry, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Apparently, Christa and I have both become a bit of a celebrity at this Crepe Cafe. It’s the first time I’ve heard of such a thing, but well, Christa and my wives are all cute, so it’s not uncommon for us to become popular with men after seeing us for a while.

It seems that even when we entered the place where Christa was in line, it seemed they had already agreed to this before. Because we are always together… that’s why I apologized to those around me, but no one was particularly angry or said anything. Since the line is long and many people are lined up, there is also a method of having only 1 person line up for the group, so I guess they are used to that kind of thing.

To be honest, I just met them by chance today, so they weren’t lined up like that… I explained that but they said it was fine so Christa let us skip the queue.

I apologized to Bianca, the store manager, for suddenly bringing in royalty like Eleonore, but Bianca was also used to it and waved us off. She seemed to have gotten so much stronger.

After everyone’s orders have been placed, we all take our seats. Eleonore immediately bit into her crepe. Eleonore wouldn’t understand the meaning of the menu, so when I recommended something sweet that Eleonore would like based on her tendencies up until now, she ordered it. First of all, let her take a bite at first.

“Derishush~!” Eleonore said.

“I’m glad you liked it,” I said while I wiped the sticky cream off Eleonore’s face.

She behaves as she pleases but we can’t do a thing about it.

“Are you close to Christa, Lady Margarete?” I asked.

“Umm…”

Was this really the wrong way to say it? It’s hard to answer…

The two of them are acquaintances because they have met each other at parties and the like. But they don’t seem to be very close. In the first place, Christa of the House Reingen, who belonged to Duke Bayen’s Faction, and Margarete of the Greif Duchy who belonged to a different faction shouldn’t be close…

“I hope we can get closer from now on,” Mikoto said. “Right? Margarete.”

“So do I, Princess Vandenlissen,” Margarete said.

No matter where I go, Mikoto looks great, or rather… well, Mikoto is above a duke’s daughter of Ploiss as she’s a princess of the Demon Country… but I don’t think it’s her status and position, rather her fearless personality, that is amazing.

“Well…” I said, “it seems Christa will keep her distance from the Bayen Faction, and Lady Margarete doesn’t seem to bother about it, either…”

I said too much, so please follow me. Regardless of whether or not you’re a member…

“More importantly, what about you and Helmut, Christa?” I asked.

“Ah!? Umm…” Christa mumbled.

Oooh, oooh. Her face turned red and fidgety… but why aren’t they making much progress anyway? Now it’s like the first lover in adolescence who would be happy just to get her first boyfriend, have it admitted publicly, and hold hands as they go home.

But that’s fine. Christa and Helmut’s love story should be a good stimulus for Margarete with her romantic situation.

“I’m thinking of asking for Lady Margarete to use you two as a reference,” I said. “Can you tell me about you and Helmut, Christa?”

“That’s… not the kind of topic I would tell other people, but…” Christa said, her face getting redder.

She’s cute, but that doesn’t get the story going. It is a strategy to make Margarete, who is at the back of the group, feel more included by listening to the love stories of her same-age peers. By all means, we need to do our best to get her to spill the details. It doesn’t matter if she’s just a no-name noble lady. It will still be inspiring.

“How was the last time he took you home?” I asked.

“Um… Mr. Helmut sent me home in a carriage,” Christa said.

Put your hands to your cheek and squeal, “Kyaa!”, I know that’s how things go, but… what I would like to ask is more details… about their loving interactions in the carriage, or when he sent her off, did they go up to her room, did he hold her hand, hug her shoulders, and exchanged kisses, those sorts of things…

Well, it’s impossible with a herbivore like Helmut… Christa is still a child in that regard, and I don’t think a herbivore will actively take the lead with her.

“How about this… did something happen? Like the two of you were alone in your room,” I said.

“No, he went home after talking to my parents,” Christa said.

Heey… what are Christa and Helmut doing…? Now that you’ve officially become friends with her parents, you should flirt more! It’s frustrating to watch! I’m getting sick of this! Get bolder!

This is that. It’s like watching a romantic comedy and being annoyed when you see a man who is in love with a woman but he doesn’t know for sure if she likes him back. Christa and Helmut are about to get engaged, so it’s not like a man who hasn’t confessed and agreed to date, but even so, he doesn’t even hold her hand. He doesn’t hug her. He doesn’t kiss her. When I see that kind of thing… I get confused.

“Wouldn’t you like him to hold your hand or hug your shoulders?” I asked.

“I can’t do something so bold in front of my parents,” Christa said. “But it was nice for Helmut to be able to stand tall in front of them.”

Oh… so is she making fun of me here? I can’t sympathize at all… I went to set up a meeting for the parents of both families to decide on the engagement. It’s no good to be shy. In a sense, it was only natural to be firm in that. If you’re not confident, I think they’d start thinking twice about leaving their daughter with you.

Is asking Christa about it useless…? I don’t think it would have the effect of boosting Margarete…

“I see you’ve gotten so far already, haven’t you, Lady Christiane…?” Margarete said. “I’m so envious…”

It worked! Why? Which part of it? I have no idea. Rather, I was a little annoyed with Helmut. But it seems to be working just fine for Margarete, so let’s have Christa talk about that for a while. I have important things to do in the meantime…

“Princess Eleonore… shall we head a little further inside…?” I said.

“Uu~!” Eleonore whined.

She had been stuffing her cheeks with her crepe and making a mess of herself. It’s cute if it’s on her face but her hands and clothes are now all sticky. She gripped the crepe as hard as she could and the crepe itself tore apart and the cream was scattered all over the place. Moreover, it was already a disaster because she was still eating while it was getting soggy.

It’s already gotten to that point, so it’s too late to worry about it now. I fed Eleonore until she was satisfied, and when she finally finished eating, I carried her back to the backroom. Originally it was a backroom where only the staff can enter, but I’m the owner so it’s fine. I explained the situation to Bianca and got permission, so there is no problem.

The clerks who didn’t know me were surprised, but when they saw Eleonore’s messy state, they let me through without complaining. They brought me water and washcloths and helped me a lot.

As expected, I didn’t wash her clothes, so I can’t get her back to the way she was before. When I return her to the royal castle, they may get angry at various things, but I can’t take responsibility for that, so I’ll leave it to Margarete.

“Is that so!?” Margarete cried.

“Yes!” Christa said. “Ultimately, I think that women should actively convey their feelings without thinking that it is impolite.”

Oh? When I came back to the table, Christa was emphasizing something to Margarete. I think what she is saying is good. Margarete, who is usually too shy, should be a little more proactive. If you don’t go that aggressively, you won’t be able to convey that to Ludwig of the Potato Brain.

“Lady Margarete, please look around,” I said as I came back to our table while carrying Eleanore. “The gentlemen here are fascinated by your beauty. Please be more confident.”

“Lady Flora…” Margarete said.

There are many beautiful women at this table, so all the men around us are watching. Among these eyes, of course, include lingering gazes on Margarete

“You know, Floto…” Mikoto grumbled.

“I don’t think you should say that, Miss Flora…” Katharina said.

What do these two mean by that?

“Actually… compared to when I’m at the Crepe Cafe alone when Floto is with me, I get 10 times the attention,” Christa said.

It feels like even Christa is flabbergasted. If there are so many cute girls gathered together, you’ll probably get a lot of gazes, won’t you?

“I’m getting less and less confident about my odds against someone like this…” Margarete said.

“What’s wrong, Lady Margarete?” I asked.

I was trying to make Margarete gain confidence, but it seems that Margarete lost her confidence more and more because everyone said so many weird things.

Still, Margarete, who seems to have been inspired by Christa’s story, returned to the royal castle with Eleonore once evening came.