CH 21

21 The Chick is Glutton

“May I ask for a bit of your time?”

Make no mistake, Duke Lilac’s daughter wasn’t calling for me. She was calling for Frederick.

“Nice to meet you, Frederick-sama. I’ve been looking for you since a while ago. Why are you staying in the corner? You’re not supposed to be in this kind of place. Oh, I know! How about you come to our place? Everyone has been waiting. Oh my, you’re with Theodore-sama I see. Then, since that’s the case, it’ll be easier if both Frederick-sama and Theodore-sama come together to join our group. How about it?”

Woah… speak of being forceful! She’s blatantly trying to pressure us to join the ranger squad! Moreover, what the heck is up with her ‘Oh my’ when you speak of me?! You sounds like you’re reading from a fu*cking script! Also! You’re making it sound like I’m an extra! Wait, that doesn’t matter… I just realized something. She has damned well cut off my retreat as well!

No, wait a minute! There must be a path left! I refuse to believe that there’s none. Nope. I absolutely refuse to become a yellow ranger. Besides, as a certain coach had said, the match is only set when you have given up. I certainly haven’t given up yet, so I still have a chance to get out of this situation. I just need to think. Fast!

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Miss Katrina. Congratulations for your engagement and I am grateful for your invitation. However, I believe even if I join you guys, Elliot won’t be pleased with it. In my opinion, how about you bring this gentleman with you instead of me?”

HOW DARE YOU SELL ME OFF LIKE THAT?! I see. I see now. Since you’re looking for trouble, I won’t let you off the hook either. Take my retaliation right now!

“Nonono, rather than that, Your Highness Frederick should be the one who joins their group. I mean, the special seat beside your (step) brother should have been prepared for you. Someone like me joining in will just be a third wheel in you and your brother’s conversation. That’s why, do allow me to stay behind in this place, so as to not become a bother for you.”

Glare at me all you want~. You’re the one who sold me out first, so it’s only right that you face my retribution, right?

“Oh my, both of you seem to be quite close. Still, though it truly saddened me to tear you two apart from this auspicious seat, will you two gentlemen come to our place to congratulate Elliot-sama and me?”

“Yes… ma’am.” Both of us chorushed unwillingly at her direct request.

Dammit. Like hell we can refuse when the star of tonight’s banquet directly invited us without beating around the bush. She’s practically told us to ‘Come and join our side’. This little rascal even had a ‘You know what I mean, right?’ expression on her face!

Unable to find sufficient reason to refuse, in the end Duke Lilac’s daughter managed to haul both Frederick and I from our little haven toward the platform seat, the most conspicuous seat there was in this children’s hall.

“… Over here, dear brother. And my apologies, Theodore-dono. There’s no more available seats here. Therefore, please take any available seat you like.”

Uwaa, look at that face. He clearly holds a grudge against me. Well, just for your information, I don’t want to meet you too. Anyway, if ya’ want to complain, direct it to yer fiancee (Drill)! Not to me, an innocent party here!!! I grumbled inwardly before realizing something. Wait, rather than that… inviting someone yet not providing that person a seat is clearly a breach of manner, and you still did that? You dumb prince.

“Thank you very much for your invitation, Your Highness. It is such a great joy for me to receive your invitation.”

“Thank you very much for your invitation, Your Highness.”

At that, the girls almost couldn’t hold back their laughter, seeing that I was again mimicking someone. Only, the person I was mimicking changed from my father to Frederick. Meanwhile, the Crown Prince looked like he had just chewed on a bitter bug again.

HAH, take that kid! I crow out triumphantly in my mind. Still, it seemed that the Crown Prince had gained quite an infamy due to his little mischief from before.

“What, may I ask, come to your mind when you invite someone with such a lacksaidal manner like him to this group, Miss Katrina?”

The one who spoke such blatantly provocative words was the black haired kid sitting right beside the Crown Prince himself. I looked at him and couldn’t help but thought that for someone as young as he was, he seemed to be a bit… neurotic.

“Rex-sama, all Theodore-sama did was reminding His Highness that his mischief had already gone too far. Shouldn’t we feel grateful for that? The fact that there’s someone who will rebuke him in the future. And that means there will be someone who’ll stop him from going down the wrong path!”

Eh, please stop giving me such high praise. Your praise is unwanted and is preventing me from escaping this place, Drill. So, please stop. I beg you!

Alas, Drill didn’t heed my wish as she continued speaking.

“Thank you very much for reminding His Highness, Theodore-sama. Please take a seat. Naturally, the same goes to you, Frederick-sama.”

“Thank you very much. Then, I shall take your offer.”

Ah! That bastard Frederick must have been laughing at me in his mind. After all, he already has a seat reserved for him, unlike me. Dammit!!! The only available seat is… the one beside the girls’ group. I sweated slightly, but firmed my mind. Oh well, it’s too late to back off now.

With a confident stride, I went to that available spot and spoke gently to the girl sitting by the empty location. “Excuse me, may I take this seat?”

“E-EH?! Y-Yesh, here you go.”

The girl – whose hair happened to be blonde in color- accidentally bit her tongue as she spoke, unable to hide her surprise at all. Although that might be because she had never expected me to suddenly greet her. Well, that did not matter, as this empty seat next to her was a great seat.

It neatly separated me quite a bit from that crown prince. Or in other words, it was the lowest seat available.

As such, it was no wonder that the other kids around me couldn’t help themselves and giggled when I sat in the chair.

“Pfft, a marquis’ son is sitting in a seat that is lower than the viscount’s daughter. How unsightly.”

“I’ve told you before right? He’s just a brat.”

The blue haired boy and the green haired one in the Crown Prince’s group spoke with a smirk painted on their faces. Slightly confused, I looked toward Frederick for an answer, and he pointed at the open spot between the blue haired kid and the red haired one with a perplexed expression on his face. The spot he was pointing out was precisely a blind spot, at least it was, from the position I was standing at previously.

Say that sooner, you second silver sentai! Wait, in that case, Frederick’s seat is really the seat next to the Crown Prince! I froze for a split second before a realization came over me. Ah, could it be that the open seat in my blind spot is one that is only recently created after I come to this group? Ah~ Oh well, can’t be helped. This is my fault for being an idiot.

“M-My apologies, Theodore-sama. I’m not careful enough in…”

Duke Lilac’s daughter (Drill), who had never looked shaken up until now, was visibly flustered by this situation. Well, that was only natural. I mean, she didn’t know that I was this oblivious about the seat’s arrangement and my natural position.

Hmm, but well, I – and maybe everyone else too, who knows- may be unfamiliar with each other’s name. So, how am I supposed to know about everyone’s peerage when I don’t even know most of these kids’ names?

I made excuses for myself in my heart. Alas, I couldn’t beat my own mind and heart.

Uhn. Come to think of it, this may be one of those lessons that I boycotted due to my previous quarrel with Richard. Yup, this situation is entirely my fault after all.

“No, it’s fine. I really don’t mind. I’ve said it before, right? I still have much to learn. Furthermore, I think I will still make many more mistakes that may cause discomfort to everyone even after this… but I hope that everyone will help me fix my mistakes. I shall take everyone’s opinion to heart and use it to strive to improve myself in the future.”

“T-Then, that seat over the–”

“I’m happy with your offer, but please allow me to refuse. I shall sit in this seat as a punishment for the blunder I had made this time.”

Like hell I’m gonna join those brats’ ranger squad. I thought to myself. This might sound selfish to others if they heard it. However, I truly think that I might end up blowing up my fuse if I try to sit with them.

Thankfully, perhaps understanding that I wouldn’t budge from my decision, Duke Lilac’s daughter didn’t try to convince me again this time.

“By the way, Your Highness Frederick, Theodore-sama, what were you two talking about a while ago? You two seem to be having fun with each other.”

“We’re not talking about something interesting… we’re just talking about the Saint’s Ornaments is all.” I answered truthfully, not even thinking of hiding the topic of our conversation.

However, when I did that, Frederick’s eyes widened. His eyes as he looked at me seemed to be telling me off with something like: ‘Why did you tell them about that, idiot?!’.

Don’t look at me like that. We didn’t talk about anything else aside from this, right? Furthermore, even if I have to bear the burden of being glared at by those ranger kids, we truly only have this topic in common. And no, I’m not idiotic enough to speak the whole truth. There’s an adlib for occasions like this after all, and it starts from this point.

“My House kept one before, but unfortunately, I have never had the chance to see it with my own eyes. I had heard that it’s already returned to the rightful owner. Speaking of legendary treasure, doesn’t that make you feel excited?”

“Returned… is it? Does that mean that the treasure isn’t in your family’s possession anymore?” Duke Lilac’s daughter (Drill) asked. Since it was her who’s asking, I decided to reply without dragging it out. I nodded my head.

“Yes, it was returned to the Royal Family when I’m younger.”

“Royal… Family?!”

Duke Lilac’s daughter’s (Drill) exclaimed, seeming to be really surprised with what I revealed for some reason. On the contrary, the ranger squad was still looking at me with an annoyed expression on their face.

“Yeah, I heard that ours was a tiara.”

“Wow, that’s the Saint’s Tiara! It’s a legendary ornament! I wonder how it looks~?”

The green haired muttered with obvious excitement painting her face.

“Look, that story is full of romance, right? And it seems to be extremely popular among the girls, too. Even my little sister always enjoys it whenever I read that story for her.”

As expected, when I brought up that topic, the girls immediately became completely absorbed with the story of the Saint’s Legend. With that, I heroically managed to divert the topic~

Thank God for that~!

I ignored the rangers, though, as they were still glaring daggers at me. I could only apologize to them in my mind while sending apologetic eyes.

Sorry boys, I have no suitable story materials to use to coax you guys.

“T-Then, Theodore-sama, can you do a fortune telling?”

The heck? Why did the topic suddenly jump to a completely unrelated matter?! I was confused, but was it just me, however Duke Lilac’s daughter (Drill) seemed to be flustered when she asked me that question.

“Fortune telling? Do you mean something similar to flower fortune telling? The girls seem to love it, but… my apologies, I can’t do fortune telling.”

“T-Then, what kind of fortune telling can you do, Theodore-sama? For example, can you do something like tarot…”

“Me? Err, sorry, but I really can’t do any sort of fortune telling. I have never even learned about it. In the first place, I don’t think I even have the talent to do fortune telling.”

“… That… how can it be…?”

Duke Lilac’s daughter (Drill) slumped down when she heard my clear answer, making me feel confused.

Eh? What happened? Are you okay? I looked at her quizzically, confused. Still, I noticed that the air around this place had worsened somehow… Dang, I need to do something to lift this depressing atmosphere. What to do? Oh, I should just say something about my ability to lift the mood in this place. That should do, right…?

“Uhm, while I can’t do fortune telling, my lacework is quite good. You can say that it’s my forte. See this handkerchief? It’s personally knitted by me.”

As I spoke I took out my handkerchief, proudly displaying it to everyone. And I garnered the reaction I wanted. The girls looked entranced with my lacework while the little rangers now looked dumbfounded. However, Duke Lilac’s daughter’s reaction was… interesting.

“YOU… WHAT?!”

Ehm, are you okay? You do know that you’re a duke’s daughter, right? Literally screaming like that is unbefitting of your status, surely you know this fact, right? Look, even the Crown Prince is repulsed by your scream!

“Huhm, weak. How can you be so proud of such a girlish hobby.”

“There, there. I don’t think he’s boasting. Let’s just let this matter pass.”

At that point, one of the boys – the red haired one – couldn’t hold himself back from voicing out his opinion. So, he spoke first, irritation frankly spilling out from his countenance. Meanwhile, his friend – the green haired boy – was trying to calm him down.

“Yes, this isn’t a level where I can boast about.” I affirmed the green haired boy’s claim with a frivolous expression on my face, causing them to fall silent and look at me with astonished as well as dumbfounded expression on their faces.

“How skillful.” While the boys kept their mouth shut in surprise, the black haired girl muttered this with a slightly vexed tone.

“Yes. This part should be really difficult, and yet Theodore-sama is able to… such a neat and tidy result…”

“It’s impossible for me. Mother has only ever gotten angry at me when it comes to my lacework…”

The blue haired girl muttered, fascinated with my work. Unfortunately, there was a red haired girl who had literally raised a white flag regarding her lacework. What a shame… even though lacework was a fun hobby…

Anyway, while I lamented, the girls were starting a discussion about laceworks using my handkerchief as the topic. They were talking about the difficulties in learning to create the intricate parts, what kind of technique I used to do it, and so on, completely neglecting the boys altogether by this point.

Haa… thank God it works.

Throughout this stretch of time, Frederick stayed silent. It was only at this point that he looked at me with an expression that seemed to say ‘Good job’.

As I couldn’t exactly go to him at the moment, I decided to focus on participating in the girls’ discussion. But while I was throwing in appropriate responses to the girls’ discussion, my attention was caught by the figure of the blonde girl sitting beside me.

Why? Simple. It was because her eyes were focused on the sweets that were placed in front of me. AKA MY sweets. As for her sweets? I noticed that it had long since gone to oblivion.

Uhm. I tried to pull my plate full of sweets closer to me, but her eyes moved, as if it was tracking the goodies.

Right, left.

Hohohou…

Deciding to tease her, I took a cookie from the plate and threw it into my mouth, savouring it. Seeing that, the girl looked at me enviously, as if she was wishing that the cookie entered her mouth instead of mine.

Faced with that expression, I tried to feed the blonde girl by hand. When I did that, the girl seemed to be incredibly surprised. However, soon she showed a blissful expression as she chewed the cookie, savoring it just like I did before.

Then, she looked at me again with an expectant light in her eyes. Seeing that, as a gentleman, I guessed I had no choice but to answer her expectation.

I pinched another cookie from the plate and tossed it into the girl’s mouth. And once again, the blonde girl was chewing it with a supremely blissful expression on her face.

Then, she opened her mouth again, throwing me a look full of expectation once more.

So, I threw another cookie into her mouth.

The girl was still chewing the cookie with the same expression, looking absolutely adorable!

Here you go. Another one.

The girl was still chewing the cookie with the same expression, looking absolutely adorable!

Again.

Chomp.[TL : Feeding Chick]

Yup, she’s so amusing. I nodded my head inwardly, feeling like I was feeding a chick. And thanks to her fluffy, blonde hair, the girl’s impression looked even more like an adorable chick in my mind.

She’s soo adorable~ just like a chick! I gushed in my mind.

“You… what are you doing?” The black haired boy asked as he looked at me. He seemed to be irked somehow.

What a short tempered kid.

Despite my thought, I still responded to him and spontaneously replied,

“Me? Feeding a chick?”

Alas, my spontaneous reply shocked the blonde haired girl so much that she teared up, causing my heart to fall down to my stomach.

I couldn’t forget her expression that was caused by my thoughtless action. Because it was my fault. I had made a little girl cry.

By the way, while I was facing a crisis like this, Frederick’s shoulder had been trembling non-stop since a while ago. He was holding back his laughter.

You merry drinker bas*tard! You just wait! I’ll get back at you for this!

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TN : The chick has escaped, what Theodore going to do? find out next week!