CH 70

70  Monologue of a Certain Duke Daughter 9

“Vince-sama is acting strange lately.” Ramona suddenly said, gathering everyone’s attention to her.

At this moment, the girls were gathering together while we were still in the duke’s house aka MY house, having an afternoon tea party in Muriel’s room.

“I’m really happy that he comes to visit me every day, but still… how should I say this…? In short, he doesn’t act normal. Before he will talk my ears off about the training he does every day, yet… a while ago, he suddenly started to pay attention to me and ask if I want to go out shopping somewhere once I get better. On top of that, he was giving me a stiff smile! ― Is my condition really that bad? The doctor said that I’m okay, but with the way he was acting, it’s as if I’m going to die.”

“Eh? Vince-sama was acting like that too? I thought it was just Simeon-sama. He normally spoke with a mix of satire about the temple’s daily affairs, definitely not someone who would say his gratitude towards the priests obediently! Yet… he, who always sends sarcastic remarks and looks down on people who can only be idling around, was actually expressing his gratitude toward them. I mean, he used to hate saying those kinds of remarks, but now he did it! Something must have happened to him. Otherwise, this might be the effect of Evil Cleansing Barrier.”

Even Sonia was speaking with a worried expression on her face. I couldn’t blame them though. Their condition was indeed worrying. I wondered what happened to them?

“Maybe it really is the after-effect of Evil Cleansing Barrier? Rex-sama was also acting somewhat strange. He actually can control his rage! I mean, it is Rex-sama! He, who usually would rage against people for the slightest mistakes, didn’t even scold his attendant that had made a mistake! All he did was remind that attendant to be careful next time, complete with a stiff smile on his face. Truly, even that attendant almost got a heart attack when that happened, to the point he ran in panic, screaming that Rex-sama might have knocked his head on the pillar somewhere. Incidentally, that attendant actually loves to be scolded by Rex-sama and has always looked for a chance to make a blunder in fro― Whoops, my bad, I overstep my boundary there.”

It was not like we’re forcing you to tell us about the latter half though. Alas, I best kept my mouth shut. Shelly already looked worried as she is, thinking that she had just spilled some secret detrimental to others. Still, Blackcurrant Ducal House seriously should stop employing those kinds of employees.

“Luke-sama was acting just like usual tho~ugh. I did get incredibly surprised when he asked me if I wanted to make magic tools with hi~m. Even though he had never shown any interest in my hobby before~.” Oriana said, also sharing the peculiar change in Luke’s attitude toward her with her usual airy voice. Although I did note that she was obviously delighted with that change.

“How about His Highness Elliot?”

“I’ve yet to meet His Highness after that…”

That was right, I had yet to meet with Elliot after everything. However, that wasn’t surprising either, because it was likely that Elliot was not permitted to leave the castle after that incident, hence why he hadn’t visited my house. He might come to visit me once he got permission to leave the castle, though, so I will just wait.

Everyone looked rather disappointed when they heard that we had yet to meet since then, though. Maybe they wanted to know if Elliot had also developed one or two new quirks after the incident? Who knows.

“Really, just what in the world is everyone trying to do?” Muriel, who wasn’t allowed to leave the bed just yet, asked with head tilted in confusion.

“Has Theodore-sama developed some new quirks too?”

“Yes. He comes to visit me every day with sweets as usual. However, today, when the doctor allowed me to leave, he took me to visit a store called cat cafe. I had almost forgotten about today’s afternoon tea party due to this since I really enjoyed playing with the cats.”

“There’s a cat cafe?” I unintentionally retorted, disbelief silently coursing through my body.

“Yes. It opened after a thorough investigation of the entire store in the royal capital. According to Theodore-sama, the owner of a certain store is a huge cat lover, causing his store to be invested with a lot of stray cats. Seeing that, Theodore-sama made a suggestion to the store owner to renovate his business and made it into a cat cafe. It has quickly gained popularity in the royal capital now.”

What are you doing, Theodore?! I exclaimed in my heart as I listened to Muriel’s story.

According to her, the stray cats there seemed to be washed thoroughly, so they were clean. From what she was saying, the store certainly paid attention to hygiene. Of course, Muriel then said that it was all thanks to Theodore’s investment that the store was able to renovate his store and employ capable personnel to wash the cats.

“Well, I heard about it too~. He asked Luke-sama to make a choker-like magic tool that can repel fleas in order to prevent fleas from infesting the cats.” Oriana added, revealing that Luke was apparently also involved in the development of the cat cafe.

Alas, all I could feel about these was… Seriously, what are you doing, Theodore?! Are you such a huge cat lover?

“Apparently, he made that store happen so we can frolic as much as we want with cats after I told him that cats are adorable back then.”

SO, IT WAS FOR MURIEL! THEODORE, YOUR ACTION WHEN IT COMES TO MURIEL IS SUPERB! I wish you two to restrain yourself from flirting in the public though, it’s harmful to single people.

“It seems to be one of the methods to find that black cat too~. That shopkeeper seems to be well-acquainted with all cats in the royal capital, so he knows right away that the black cat we’re searching for comes from outside of royal capita~l.”

Oriana secretly whispered to me, preventing Muriel from hearing about that black cat matter. Hee, he could think properly after all. Good job, Theodore.

“Luke-sama kept complaining about it, but in spite of his complaints, he looked really happy when he made those chokers. He even invited me to visit the store~.” Oriana raised her voice back to a normal speaking voice as she revealed another piece of information.

“Is that true? Then, shall we go together? Surely, Theodore-sama would want to talk with Luke-sama as well.”

“I think that will make Theodore-sama cry tears of blood instead, so please don’t,” I unintentionally retorted, words slipping past my mouth without my permission.

However, instead of blushing, Muriel was looking at me with a dumbfounded look on her face instead. It seemed she had no idea of what I meant. The others did though, as evident from their giggling.

“― Anyhow, we can now confirm that everyone is acting strange. Now, what should we do? Should we just tell them to stop such clumsy actions? What do you think, everyone?” Shelly asked as she wiped her tears of mirth.

“I honestly want him to stop. The way he is acting now is just creepy. I prefer Vince-sama who is always talking about his sword with that cheerful expression before compared to the current him. I mean, I don’t mind if we have afternoon tea or meal together from time to time, but I truly will be happier if he invites me to train with him.”

According to Ramona, it seemed that Vince used to train with her. However, now, he rarely invited her to train with him. For Ramona, who loves swordcraft, this change that happened to Vince was not something she wished for. Because, for her, even if she knew that she wouldn’t be a match for him in the future, they could still be a rival to each other right now. She wanted to train with him.  So, the change was not something she want to see.

“Indeed. Simeon-sama without his cynicism isn’t Simeon-sama at all. At this rate, his body will give out first. Although, I do feel it’s better for him to talk about what he truly thinks a little bit… Nevertheless, I can’t bear to watch him acting nice while enduring his annoyance when he saw some priests playing truant.”

“I feel the same way. Rex-sama who isn’t angry for no reason at all doesn’t feel right. After all, forcibly suppressing one’s emotion isn’t a good thing for your mental and even physical health. Therefore, I want him to at least vent a bit of those emotions… considering this fact, his attendant does a really good job in that regard.”

Listening to them, it was obvious that both Sonia and Shelly were very worried about Simeon and Rex. However, it was only natural since their case was the worst among the five people.

“From my end, since I feel this way is much better and feels more natural, I prefer that Luke-sama stays like this. Since he’ll make magic tools with me~.”

On the other hand, Oriana seemed to wish for Luke to stay like now. What a shrewd girl. Scary. Oriana is a scary girl.

“Well, the problem now is how to convince them to stop acting like that.”

“I think it’ll be fine if we just tell them, no?” Muriel replied nonchalantly to Shelly’s soliloquy, not finding this to be a problem at all.

“I asked Theodore-sama a while ago to not push himself too hard. Theodore-sama then told me he understand my concern. So, I think everyone should do the same. It’s better if we tell them directly by ourselves, no?” Muriel said with an extremely bright smile on her face.

“That’s… exactly the problem you know.”

Ramona’s shoulder dropped in dejection. However, I supposed Muriel wasn’t wrong in this regard. After all, the other party wouldn’t know our intention unless we told them ourselves. Still… I expected that this would become a problem. I mean, those guys were… tough nuts.

Even supposing that we did tell them what we felt, whether they understood our intention was a completely different matter altogether.

“Guess we’ve no choice but to do that.”

“Yes. I’m sure that everyone will understand.”

Muriel gave her approval when she heard Shelly’s decision. However, I had to wonder from where did this girl’s confidence come from? Was it because she know that Theodore truly loves her?

“But, to be honest, I’m still confused. Why did their attitude suddenly change~d?” Oriana asked out loud, a puzzled expression on her face. Alas, no one here knew the true reason behind the change, leaving this a mystery.