CH 58

58 Class Meeting Doesn’t Reach A Conclusion

“How do you do, Katrina-sama~? We’re coming to visi~t.”

I greeted cheerfully after being guided by a maid toward the parlour room. However, when I took in the sight that greeted me, I instantly regretted my thoughtless action because everyone in the room was glaring toward me at once.

No, wait a minute, what’s with this horrible atmosphere? Is it my fault? Eh… I suppose, yeah, it must be my fault.

Concluding as such, I silently closed the door again and turned around. However…

“Why are you leaving, Theodore-sama?”

Muriel, who was standing by my side, asked with a tilted head. Cute, but… like hell, I would bring such an innocent girl to meet those wild beasts, who had already bared their fangs toward each other at that.

This adorable cutie pie will surely be preyed on by those beasts if I do. That absolutely couldn’t happen. No way. It was my duty to protect Muriel, after all!

“Let’s come another day, Muriel; they seem to be busy today.”

Hearing my excuse, Muriel became confused and asked, “Is something the matter? His Highness Elliot and the others are also visiting Katrina-sama, right? It’s rude to leave without greeting everyone.”

“Ah, wait, Muriel!”

Alas, when I tried to stop her, it was already too late. Muriel had opened the door to the beasts’ den. Thus, when she saw the situation in the room… she froze and her body turned rigid.

A while later, she turned around, body trembling all over like a newborn calf.

“T-Theodore-samaa…”

As expected, this spectacle was enough to bring her to tears. I raised my face, helpless, wondering what I should do to save her from this place.

Yup, she really is scared. There, there. Don’t worry, you’re such a good child after all. You must not be discouraged by this, Muriel. I stroke her head gently.

“It’s not your fault, Muriel. Let’s take some time off today.”

“Y-Ye~sh. My apologies.”

After patting her head, I took her hand and carefully walked toward the entrance of the beasts’ den.

“What are you two doing? Just come in. The culprit is about to leave anyway.”

Blue (Simeon), who was about to leave the room, looked at us with a dumbfounded expression on his face when he saw our caution. Furthermore, he also seemed to be pissed off for some reason. How rare.

“Culprit? Eh? Are you quarrelling with each other?”

“Yes. Well, see ya.”

Simeon waved his hand belligerently, about to leave, but then I reflexively grabbed his hand.

""

“What the?”

“What happen? You’re acting strange.”

“Nothing really. Not that I want to tell you about what happened between us. Besides, you’re saying I’m acting strange? What do you know about me to say that?”

“I don’t know anything about you, but I can at least worry about your situation, right?”

“The heck. I don’t need your compassion.”

“I’m not sympathizing with you, and I had no idea about what happened before I arrived. But, for you to ditch first, leaving His Highness Elliot behind is definitely strange. It doesn’t seem like something you’d do.”

Despite Simeon always maintaining a certain distance on Elliot’s side, he had always accompanied the other. But unlike Black (Rex), who acted like Elliot’s right-hand man and always stayed by the other’s side, Simeon acted more like a cat who observed the situation around Elliot while maintaining a certain distance from him.

Yet that very same person said that he would leave first. This was definitely not like his usual self. So, what happened to the always impudent him?

“Is that all? If so, then let go.”

Truly, this atmosphere was the worst, yet Elliot was still sipping his tea as if this matter was none of his concern. At a glance, he looked like he usually do, but I was sure that his bad habit of ignoring his surrounding by isolating himself in that way had reared up.

Although the reason why he had that bad habit might be due to his feeling of insecurity. Anyway, I didn’t like it. The usual him who always showed his hostility to me was much better than the current him.

Not only him, but Simeon was also not acting like his usual self, neglecting to monitor Elliot’s mental state.

“… This is why I hate you too.” Simeon said, glaring dagger at me. However, he then heaved a sigh of resignation, as if he had given up. He prepared to leave the room, but unfortunately for him, I leaned on the door and made it impossible for him to open it.

“Give it up. Everyone come here for a little discussion. That includes you, Simeon!” Rex declared, voice enraged. Perhaps he was pissed off due to the little farce we made in the door entrance.

◇

“So, what’s the reason for this quarrel?”

After offering some pleasantry to Katrina, I went straight to ask the main problem at hand. After all, Muriel was still trembling in fear, so I felt we had to know the source of trouble immediately. That way, we could hopefully resolve this and calm Muriel down. The last one was the most crucial point, of course.

“Why should I tell you about something that has nothing to do with you?”

“Good grief.”

“This was only natural.”

These fu*ckers.

“Since you don’t want to tell me why, then fine, but you should stop scattering this dangerous air. Luke, Shelly, and the other girls are about to come you know? Can you at least be gentlemanly enough not to show this kind of atmosphere to them?”

“I understand―― Simeon. You have to apologize to Miss Katrina.”

“I refuse.”

Although Rex was trying to disperse the dangerous atmosphere, Simeon flat out refused to follow along, causing the former’s expression to flush red immediately in anger.

“Do you understand what you’re doing right now?!”

“I fully understand, but I won’t yield right now. Besides, why should I apologize for something that she doesn’t even know about?”

“I-I don’t really care about it. That’s why everyone should forget about this matter too.”

“You really don’t understand, huh. What a fo-”

“Simeon!”

Katrina was trying to protect Simeon, who I felt was talking nonsense, but she ended up at a loss for words when Simeon made a fool out of her. Meanwhile, Rex was obviously at his limit in holding back his anger towards Simeon.

Not good.

“No, I guess I get agist of what you want to say, Simeon. In short, she has no idea of what you’re trying to say, right? In that case, if you’re truly worried about His Highness Elliot and Miss Katrina, you have to say it loud and clear to her so she won’t misunderstand.”

Everyone’s line of sight immediately focused on me when I interrupted the conversation.

E-eh? W-What’s the matter? Did I say something wrong?

“… Why did things turn that way?” Simeon groaned with a vexed expression on his face.

“Eh? Do I misunderstand something here? Isn’t he sulking because Miss Katrina has six attributes while he only has five attributes and you’re concerned? Still, why make a fuss over something that we’re born with? Shouldn’t we ask Miss Katrina to comfort him instead?”

“Who’s sulking?!”

At that moment, Elliot, who had not shown any reaction so far, finally reacted by snarling at me.

“And what do you call that if not sulking? Then, Simeon, who is worried about your condition indirectly tried to give his advice to Miss Katrina.”

“It wasn’t advice, it was a rash remark, tha-”

I ignored Vince’s muttering and continued speaking without waiting for him to finish his words, “As a result, Rex and Vince, who are worried about Simeon had gone too far with his advice, tried to stop him. Right?”

“Wha— Eh? Well, yeah. He’s right.”

Rex seemed to be trying to say something, but then stopped and simply agreed. Meanwhile, Simeon muttered ‘I just got pissed off by reflex’, as if he was admitting his defeat.

“And yet you did nothing at all. If this is not called sulking, then what is it? Please take a look at your retainers who’s worried about you, will you?”

“What do you know about me anyway?!”

“I know nothing about you, nor do I want to. I mean, look, you never even said anything about your feelings. You always kept your dissatisfaction bottled inside without telling anyone. And even when you know it’s not good, you did not even try to fix that problem. I know very well why you don’t want to talk to me, but there are still many people around you whom you could share your worries with. Really, you should at least do that with your retainers, especially the ones in this place, right? They’re your retainer, after all.”

This might sound haughty coming from me, but Elliot really should learn how to rely on his retainers. I mean, all those bottled up feelings and problems of his would explode someday, especially if he never vent it out.

Honestly, if he kept doing this, I could only imagine just how terrifying his outburst would be.

And yet… this seemed to be a far fetched dream, considering the current situation.

Furthermore, what was the reason for their quarrel anyway? I ended up shifting the blame to Elliot, but should I really do that? While I was wondering, Simeon opened his mouth and sighed deeply.

“Haah… you’re way off the mark. The cause of this situation isn’t His Highness Elliot, but me. I spewed rash remarks to Miss Katrina because I don’t like her. I don’t care whether she’s the saint or whatever, but I really hate her ‘I know it all’ face that seems as if she isn’t even seeing us. She also looks at you the same way too, so you should understand how I feel, right?”

“Nope. I do not understand at all.”

In fact, I didn’t even know she was looking at me in that way, though I did notice her sending a warm gaze when I was with Muriel.

“I do not care either. I mean, what’s the use of caring about such things? It’s not like we can read her thoughts either, so worrying about it is just a waste of time.”

So Katrina might secretly look down on me in her heart, but what of it? The most important thing to me was the way she acted in front of me, and the fact that she had never tried to hurt me either. That’s why I could say she was a trustworthy person.

And that kind of Katrina, who could do that, was a good enough person in my opinion.

Besides, in the first place, probing each others’ minds was something akin to three days’ meal for a noble, right? So, Katrina wasn’t strange in the least in my opinion. Though doing such a thing was impossible for me considering my personality. Then again, I could counter them by training my fortitude and thick-headedness. So, there was no need for me to probe until I found out every single inch of someone else’s mind.

After all, my goal had never changed since young, which was to reach the level of my father’s everlasting smile.

On the other hand, Elliot was more concerning than Katrina in my opinion. His way of always keeping the dissatisfaction in his heart, without even trying to voice that out… and worst of all, the way he didn’t even try to do something about his surrounding.

At this rate, I wondered whether Elliot truly understand for what reason we were placed around him…

His apathy was truly concerning. In fact, the only time I had ever seen his emotion was when I was chatting with Frederick. Really, even though Rex, Simeon, Vince, and Katrina was racking their brain to help him, always worrying about him, he still did not care at all.

He didn’t even try to understand just how much the other rangers were worrying about him!

“Anyway, the most important thing is what we want to do to the other party. Right, Muriel? What do you want?”

“H-HIYA! I-I wish that Theodore-sama will stay healthy so he can meet me. I-I also wish that everyone will get along with each other, a-and then…”

Muriel got flustered when I suddenly shifted the conversation to her, but then she replied with a happy smile on her face.

“I’m also really happy to be able to meet a healthy and lively Muriel every day.”

“Theodore-sama…”

I grabbed Muriel’s hands as our gaze locked to each other. Geez, her sparkling gaze is just too adorable~.

“That’s it. I’m leaving. I won’t participate in this farce anymore.”

When Simeon stood up from his chair, Elliot also followed in silence. And as if they planned it beforehand, Rex and Vince did the same too.

“P-Please wait a minute. Shelly and the others have yet to come. Let’s wait for a while longer… Luke-sama will bring our new tutor with him too, right? That’s why…”

“HIS HIGHNESS ELLIOT, MISS KATRINA, REJOICE! I BRING THE BEST TEACHER FOR US!”

At this moment, Green (Luke) made his loud entrance at once without even trying to see the situation inside. Behind him stood an unmotivated Bates and Green Girl (Oriana), who looked thrilled for some reason.

“Oh my~, everyone seems to be in the middle of a LOVELY discussion. Are we allowed to participate~?”

“Spare me the trouble, please…”

Bates, who seemed to understand the situation, was looking up at the ceiling. His whole being seemed to be emitting the atmosphere of just being done with the world.

Yeah, I knew how you feel.

This class meeting ain’t successful at all.