Volume 1 - CH 4

One day after our admission to the capital city’s junior high was decided. I was currently being swayed by a carriage as Lady Sophia’s companion.

Now that our enrollment has been confirmed, we were heading to a tailor to pick up our uniforms.

“It’s kind of refreshing having to go to the shop ourselves.”

“My lady, while you would usually invite the craftsmen to the mansion, this much is normal for commoners.”

Whenever my lady wanted clothes made, she’d summon designers to come to her, so visiting the store herself was a new experience.

As I’ve said before, the school had a policy to treat everyone equally, regardless of status. Making uniforms was a part of that, so it seems even aristocrats had to pick them up directly.

It was a so-called social study.

This was a good opportunity for my lady to learn about the lives of commoners, but it would also lead to security concerns in the future if continued, so it may be necessary to enlist a bodyguard that can pose as a student.

“…Cyril? What are you thinking about?”

“My apologies, I was just thinking about you, my lady.”

“Fue?! I-is that so… well, in that case… it’s fine if you think about me a little more, you know?”

“No, it’s alright. In any case, the shop is already in sight.”

Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the capital city’s clothing store. I got down first and confirmed there was nothing dangerous in the surroundings, and then raised my hand to my lady.

“Lady Sophia, your hand please.”

“…ei!”

But for some reason, the hand I offered her was hit away.

“…my lady? Do you not need any help?”

While I was still confused, she replied, “…I need it.” with a somewhat sulky expression.

With her supple hand grabbing my own, my lady jumped down onto the stone pavement. At that action, the hem of her dress gently spreading out, while her heels made a slight clicking sound.

“Now, please escort me to the store.”

“My lady?”

“Is there any problem with that?”

“…no, I will guide you.”

My lady wouldn’t let go of my hand. I was supposed to be her butler, not her escort, and yet… I still took the lead and escorted her.

As we entered the store, the sound of voices arguing came to our ears. It looks like a noble son and the shopkeeper were getting fed up with each other.

From what I could pick out from their words, the clerk was saying that they wouldn’t be able to get his uniform ready for the entrance ceremony, while the boy was saying they should just give priority to his clothes because of his status.

…yes, it truly was a social study.

“Will we be alright in that regard?”

“Of course, I’ve already made reservations beforehand.”

“As expected of you, Cyril.”

“Since I’m your exclusive butler, this is only natural, my lady.”

‘As her exclusive butler, this was only natural’– I may have said that, but in truth it’s because I knew about this in advance. In the game, when the heroine was entering the high school she was troubled for the same reason.

“But his servant doesn’t seem to have made one?”

“…maybe it’s an educational policy to have the children do this themselves.”

Forcing them to go to the store on their own was basically saying they couldn’t use their house’s power. With that in mind, it wasn’t strange to think that there were parents who would try to have their child make the reservations themselves to help them grow more independent.

Proof of this was how his butler was clearly upset, but was holding himself back from interfering.

The shopkeeper was starting to lose his temper as well… not, he wasn’t even flinching at the boy’s tantrum. With how impassively he was acting towards a noble, it was possible he had some powerful people backing him. 

“Hey, if this was an educational policy, shouldn’t I have made the reservations on my own then?”

“No, while that might be true, it isn’t an enforced rule. Plus in your case, you’d probably be able to do it after I explained it to you just once, my lady.”

“Oh? In that case, would it be better for me to leave all the bothersome things to you from now on, Cyril?”

My lady started laughing mischievously. Recently, she seems to be slowly showing more of her playful side, which only made her shine all the more cutely.

All this and she was still only twelve– no, she was already twelve.

Wasn’t this only natural with how in the game, this was the age where she fell in love with the prince? At this rate, will she eventually grow up and leave me? As that thought came to mind– I shook my head to dispel it.

Either way, that was still a long time from now.

Putting that aside, I couldn’t allow my lady to listen to this dispute any longer. I signaled another clerk over and showed them the Rosenberg house’s crest I used for the reservation.

“I’ve confirmed your identities. Please, this way.”

When the clerk started to guide us to the back of the store, the boy who was arguing with the shopkeeper noticed this.

“I heard that. Even though you refused my request to make my uniform in time, are you seriously going to accept that man’s order?!”

“Its because this customer is one who made a reservation beforehand.”

“Reservation?! Nobody ever told me of such a thing! In any case, I’m the son of a Count! Hey, you butler over ther–”

The moment the boy’s hostility was directed my way, his butler started pulling his sleeve, and at the same time, Lady Sophia took a step in front of me.

“Let’s stop things there, shall we? Power isn’t something you should brandish without good reason.”

“W-what, you–”

The boy who started glaring at my lady went rigid, his expression flushing deep red. Just one look at her face was apparently enough to quell his anger.

…I seem to have witnessed the moment he fell in love.

–though, this was a sight I often saw as my lady’s servant. She was unknowingly playing with his heart.

Just when I thought that– his butler whispered something into his ear, and he blanched pale.

“I-I didn’t know that you were the daughter of a Marquis– I’m sorry.”

“No, I was the one who made the impertinent remark.”

“I-impertinent remark?”

When the butler whispered to him once again, he started muttering, “I see, so it means unnecessary meddling.”

“–young master.”

“Oh! N-no… of course that’s not true. Even though my father told me to prepare everything myself, I still lost my temper when I found out I wouldn’t make it in time. My bad… er, my apologies.”

After the boy bowed down to Lady Sophia, he then said he was sorry to the shopkeeper for pushing his unreasonable demands on them.

It seems like he wasn’t an arrogant noble child, he just let the blood rush to his head this time. Realising that, my lady’s expression softened– but in front of that smile, he seemed to be losing his cool in another sense.

“S-so then, yeah… a-anyways I’ll go excuse myself now!”

“–please wait.”

Just when he turned his heels to flee, my lady stopped him. Seeing him freeze, she then looked to me and asked, “How many uniforms are we buying?”

“I’m getting two sets, and you’re getting three, my lady.”

“Understood. Hey, you. Aren’t you going to be troubled if you can’t prepare a uniform on time? What are you going to do?”

“Well, that… umm… I don’t know.”

An unreliable response came back. When in contact with my lady, it was easy to misunderstand that all noble children were this mature, but she was actually quite unique among twelve year olds.

“In truth, I just found out I’ve made reservations to have three uniforms made for me. If you’d like, would you want to have the rights to one of them?”

“That would help, yes… but is that okay?”

“Because it was only going to be one of my spares, it isn’t necessary to have them by the entrance ceremony.”

“Uhh…”

The boy turned his eyes to his servant for their opinion. He looked like he was about to nod in agreement– but stopped himself in a moment of hesitation.

If I was his butler, even if the whole point of having him do this alone was to encourage his growth, I’d still make sure to take the proper precautions. In other words, I would’ve prepared a uniform for him just in case.

At least, that’s what I would do.

However, telling him that it wasn’t necessary to put himself in the debt of a Marquis’ daughter because the uniform had already been prepared beforehand– couldn’t be said.

Therefore, he must have been confused.

Although this would be scary if my lady was aware of this and was manipulating the situation to have him in her debt, she shouldn’t be that kind of schemer as she is now.

As a twelve year old she was very mature, but there’s always room for growth.

While I pondered that, my lady received permission from the shopkeeper and gave the boy the right to commission one uniform. You could really feel how caring she was when she checked in with the employee if this would cause any problems.

By the way, apparently he was a son of Count Reed. The person who got involved with Alicia was the eldest son and his brother.

Although his sibling was a degenerate son, he luckily didn’t seem to be the same. He thanked my lady many times for the reservation before leaving for his home.

After that, we moved to the back in order to customise the uniform patterns and design– in other words, we were having them specially made to suit my lady’s body.

As for my uniform, I had already finished the order while my lady was busy. Therefore, I was currently just waiting in front of the partition for her measurements to be finished.

Apparently there was another customer there, because their voice could be heard from behind the divider.

My lady exclaimed, “Oh, you’re…”, as if she was familiar with the person, but only a confused, “My apologies, have we met somewhere before?” came out in response.

Just from what I could hear, their voice was so beautiful that it wouldn’t lose to my lady. Probably because this was a world based on the setting of a game, there were many people with the alluring voices of professional actors here.

“No, I just saw you dancing before.”

“Oh, you mean at the first prince’s birthday party? …that’s embarrassing. I wasn’t that skilled and ended up stepping on my partner’s feet multiple times, I’m sure it was a miserable sight.”

“…not at all, you looked very nice.”

“I’m glad if it seemed that way, but that wasn’t because of me. My partner at the time was really good at leading. He was truly a gentle and wonderful person.”

“I-is that so?”

I couldn’t help but think my lady’s reaction was somewhat awkward. Was this because she didn’t have many chances to talk with those of the same-sex? I may have given too much priority to interacting with older people with her education.

Let’s try to encourage her to make friends while in school.

However, this situation troubled me because I couldn’t protect her myself.

Right now the maid from the mansion was accompanying her, but she didn’t have any talent as a bodyguard.

As I thought, I really need to find a maid of the same age to guard her. Once we returned to the mansion, let’s try talking to her father about this– their conversation continued on while I thought that.

“By the way, are you enrolled at the school as well?”

“Yes. Though because I’m a lower-class noble, my parents told me that I should only start attending from highschool, but I was able to convince them after working hard at my etiquette until I could present myself appropriately for my status.”

“Really? The school policy states that we’re all equal regardless of our origins, so I don’t think its that important.”

The other party seems to be a fellow freshman who enrolled with us. She might become my lady’s first friend. This is a good omen.

Since the game’s story has been changed, I wasn’t sure what would happen in the future.

Right now my lady had feelings for me, but one day that might change and she’ll fall for the second prince instead, turning the heroine into a rival.

Therefore, it was necessary to carefully plan things out so that she wouldn’t fall into darkness, though there was no need to rush while we still had the three-year grace period until the heroine arrived.

But even so, I will protect her no matter what.

That’s why I wanted her to experience a fulfilling school life full of not just love, but friendship as well.

–as I thought about that, it looks like the measurements for the other customer were about finished, since I heard a voice asking to excuse themselves.

At this rate, I’ll be able to meet the girl who might become my lady’s first friend.

I don’t really want to say that factions matter, but my lady was still the daughter of a Marquis. In order to avoid any situations that may cause her grief, it’d be best if I investigated who the other party was beforehand.

That’s what I thought, but then the tailor called out to me.

“Sir Cyril, can you check the sleeves of the uniform we’ve finished sewing?”

“Oh… of course. I’ll be right there.”

If I didn’t finish this now, I might keep my lady waiting.

Deciding that this was of a higher priority than seeing the face of her potential first friend, I moved to the men’s fitting room according to the craftsman’s request.

Immediately after, I heard the shopkeeper sending off a customer from behind and a cheerful voice responding to him. Looking back, I just barely caught a glimpse of a bluish-black haired girl leaving with her maid.

I guess the timing was just bad.

“Sir Cyril?”

“I’m sorry, it’s nothing.”

Moving to the men’s fitting room with the tailor, I put my arms through the uniform that was still lined with basting.

“…oh, so you were somehow able to make it this perfect while still basting? It seems the rumours on how this is the best store for the school uniforms have some truth behind them. You’re exceptionally skilled.”

“Excuse me, but the sleeves aren’t finished yet.”

It was already the perfect size that wouldn’t impede movement, but the tailor still wasn’t satisfied and was making fine adjustments to the length and width of the hem.

I was told the modifications were finished soon after, and I admit that it was impressive. Despite the fact that such a thick fabric was used, my movements were hardly hindered at all.

Apparently I’ve met a pretty amazing tailor.

I left the details to the designers, but even a shadow of my previous life’s fashion was thrown in there. In the future, let’s consider sending them requests for my lady’s civilian clothes as well. 

The clothes trial period finished while I made such plans.

My lady had already fixed her appearance by the time I returned. Her measurements seem to have been taken, so she was currently relaxing with a cup of tea on the waiting room’s sofa.

“My apologies, did you wait long?”

“No, they just finished measuring me.”

That’s what my lady said, but her teacup was already half empty. While resting, apparently something seemed to be weighing on her mind.