Chapter 44: A Compromise

Chapter 44: A Compromise

After Arianne asked Minori why she hated Bryson, the two simply remained there silently for a little while. The silence was a little strange, to say the least, but Minori eventually grit her teeth and spoke up.

"Nobles... are no good. None of them."

She appeared to calm down somewhat after saying that. Arianne tilted her head to the side ever so slightly and put the tip of her finger on her chin.

"Why do you say that?"

Minori clicked her tongue and waved to the side.

"Isn't that common knowledge? They steal from us! If it wasn't for the nobles, then my parents..."

She furrowed her brows slightly before clearing her throat.

"The nobles steal from my parents, that's why we're so poor!"

Arianne gasped when she heard that. With one hand over her mouth, she showed worry.

"How much money did they steal?"

Minori scratched the side of her head.

"I don't know, but it must've been nearly one hundred silvers!"

Arianne looked rather confused at this point.

"Eh? But nobles normally deal with hundreds of gold, and the value of gold is equal to one thousand silver!"

Minori also seemed rather confused when she pointed that out, but quickly stamped her foot and screamed in anger.

"That's why they're so despicable! They steal even when they don't need the money!"

Arianne began to look at Minori a little strangely.

"Um, but nobles almost never come to the slums. The only exception is Bryson, but he can't possibly steal if he just sits at a table the entire time."

Minori vehemently shook her head while her breathing became a little heavy.

"T-That must be why he comes! He uses it as a feint so that he can steal from us!"

Arianne didn't respond immediately. The two of them looked at each other for a few moments before Arianne spoke up sheepishly.

"...Have you ever seen a noble stealing from your parents?"

Minori furrowed her brows intensely. She held onto both sides of her head.

"Why does that matter? So what, I've never seen it, but that's what my parents say all the time!"

Arianne slowly approached Minori before slowly wrapping her arms around her. However, the moment she tried that Minori let out a scream before swatting Arianne's arms away and backing up. n/)o-)v/-ε)(l)(b--1.(n

Right after, Minori seemed to have realized she acted a little too rudely.

"S-Sorry... but I still stand by what I said! Nobles aren't good, especially not that Bryson fiend!"

Arianne was rather confused by it all, but decided to keep her distance since Minori didn't appear to like that sort of thing. She took a deep breath.

"Did you personally see Bryson do anything bad?"

Minori's expression twitched, but she still slowly shook her head.

"No. But I can still tell what happened. It's obvious."

Arianne clasped her hands together and looked down. She was rather confused.

"I'm not sure why you think Bryson did whatever it is, but I hope that you can still give him a chance. Maybe if you get to know him a little better, you will realize that he isn't that kind of person."

Minori shook her head vehemently.

"If a noble is trying to get to know you better they... they are simply doing it because they want to..."

She hugged herself almost like she was cold and bit her bottom lip.

"They want to take your body!"

Arianne could tell what Minori was trying to say. She couldn't help but tremble in fear when she heard those words.

In fact, doubts began to form within her, that maybe the person that seemed so friendly was actually that way for different reasons. And these kinds of fears weren't wrong to have either.

It was already a fairly well-known thing that nobles would do that sort of thing. In fact, although few men admitted it, they were also targeted as well.

Both of them had heard the stories, which naturally made them afraid.

In the end, Arianne took a deep breath to calm her down, holding a hand above her heart. Then, a small, but bitter smile formed on her face as she looked back at Minori.

"I... I will take your warning seriously. Now that I think about it, I have been a little too trusting of Bryson when I've yet to understand him that well. But at the same time, I believe that you should be a little bit less stubborn and at least give him a chance."

Minori looked back with a bit of sadness on her face. Though, the anger and hard-headedness appeared to be gone.

"Fine."

Arianne nodded as a smile blossomed on her face, and Minori went on her way back home silently.

That was when Arianne let out a gasp as she turned around.

"Ah, I forgot to help tidy up!"

The butler who had put the last chair away let out a chuckle.

"Do not worry about it, we have it handled."

Then, they headed back. Arianne hesitated for a moment before going back as well.

...

Once my carriage had arrived back at the manor, I noticed that another carriage had arrived as well. It was easy to tell they were the servants that had worked on giving out food as they picked up and moved away pots, tables, chairs, and the like.

When I stepped off the carriage, before both feet had touched the ground, I noticed someone had grabbed onto my wrist. I looked over, and sure enough, it was Jess.

James looked at us strangely when that happened.

"...Lord Bryson, you didn't anger your senior sister, did you?"

My eyelid twitched. I was about to defend myself, but Jess had spoken up first.

"We're going to take a bath together."

James then looked at me with slightly widened eyes. Apparently, this was either surprising or unexpected to him. Not that I exactly blame him for thinking that way. If I was a third party watching the interaction between me and my sister, I would also frown and think that bathing together was disgusting.

But now that I was in the position myself, I really wanted to say that it was more complicated and that I didn't really ask for this. Yet, at the same time, I felt that would hurt Jess's feelings by quite a bit so I kept my mouth shut.

In the end, I just let Jess drag me along while James stared at me as though I was some sort of alien.

It did not take long for us to be in the bathhouse once more. She immediately began changing my clothes, almost like I would begin running if she didn't. From there, we once again went into the bathroom, while Jess began to wash me.

I thought she might just stay silent, but she used this time to question me as well.

"Why are you on such friendly terms with the archduke's daughter?"

I closed my eyes as I felt the water run down my face.

"She is in the same class as me. I'm not entirely sure why, but she took a fancy to me and has been very talkative whenever she sees me."

Jess fell silent after hearing that. Though I couldn't see her right now, my guess was that she wasn't expecting such a straightforward answer and felt a little stumped on how to continue.

Regardless, she kept washing me.

Soon enough, Jess had finished once more. Afterwards, she began washing as well. It honestly felt a little weird for her to baby me like this, even if I felt like she was partly doing it for her own sake too.

It made me feel somewhat obligated to help her as well.

I hesitated but got the words out in the end.

"Um, Jess, do you want me to help wash your back?"

My words had the best of intentions, but Jess didn't seem to like them very much.

"No. Just wait there and try to relax."

I scratched the side of my head, wondering if I maybe phrased that badly.

"Er, ok."

After a few moments, Jess came back and hugged me from behind once more, bringing about the tensing of my muscles. It was honestly kind of painful to be in this situation so many times. And to top it all off, it didn't really feel like I was getting any faster at relaxing myself either.

Jess hooked her chin over my shoulder and took this time to ask me further questions in a soft voice.

"Hey, is the daughter of the archduke threatening you in any way?"

I thought to myself a little bit. While she definitely was a little bit annoying at times, it seemed she had the best of intentions.

"No, she isn't really."

Jess continued on, asking me further.

"Do you think she is a good person?"

Well, in the game, Raisa would grow up to become the Daughter of Chaos, which was obviously not a good person. But she seemed normal for now.

"It appears so, at least on the surface."

Jess paused for a little while after hearing that. Eventually, she brought her lips right next to my ear and whispered, making my ear feel uncomfortably tingly.

"Do you like her?"

I thought about it for a little while.

"Yeah, I think so."

I felt Jess shudder a little bit.

"You... do?"

With a bitter smile, I began tapping my chin a few times.

"She's a pretty good friend, all things considered."

But friendships were more so suggestions than a rule. So suddenly cutting them off wasn't off the table.

Jess let out a long hum.

"I see."

Silence lingered for quite a while between the two of us after that. Like always, I was just meditating. Though, at some random point in time, she shot a random question my way.

"Do you mind letting me know what you're planning?"

Hm? Why is she making me sound like some sort of scheming villain?

I mean, to be fair, Bryson was a scheming villain in the game, but still.

"What are you talking about?"

Jess shifted slightly, which I could distinctly feel because she was hugging me.

"You attracted all of the nobles' attention at the banquet, dance, and spar. It sounds like you are trying to do something big. Why don't you let me help you?"

I couldn't help but chuckle.

"I understand where you are coming from, but you're overthinking it. First off, I didn't actually want the whole meat thing to blow up, but Raisa's father just began shouting, and of course, everyone else took notice of it. As for the dance, Raisa begged me to stay and dance with her for her reputation, so I did."

A sigh came out of my mouth.

"But she had no idea how to dance, so I decided to do something a little weird to get her out of it. And for the spar, you already know that Douglas was the one that forced me to go up. I was entirely willing to just let you take that on."

Jess fell silent once more, pondering over what I said for a decent amount of time.

"When you say it like that, it does make a lot of sense."

She then nuzzled her head against my neck.

"Still, just let me know if you need my help, ok?"

I slowly nodded.

"I will."

From there, we didn't say anything more. I was instead just forced to slowly untense myself until eventually, my eyes slowly closed and I fell asleep.

...

I found myself in a dream once more, and with that being the case, I instantly knew why.

A familiar pink figure had manifested in front of me. His arms were crossed and a defeated frown was on his face.

"Hey, sorry to bother you while you're sleeping, but could you please just tell me the answer?"

He put one hand on his forehead in frustration and sucked in a cold breath.

"No matter how I think about it, with every angle I can think of, I really just don't know!"

I rubbed my chin.

...Should I really tell him?