Volume 2 - CH 17

“Lady Sophia just took a liking to her, that’s all.”

“…is that so?”

Teacher Tristan was the one who went quiet this time. He was probably trying to gauge from my statement whether I was beneficial to Fol or not. Teacher Tristan was cautious, and I could not discern the underlying meaning in any of his words. I felt that, at this rate, our conversation wouldn’t progress any further, so I resolutely got to the heart of the matter.

“Do you like black tea, teacher Tristan?”

Hearing that question, teacher Tristan’s eyes widened slightly. Then, the corner of his mouth lifted up, and he gave me a smile that looked just like one of his CGs from the game.

“That’s right, I’ve heard that you prepare a delicious black tea. Where did you learn how to brew it?”

“I learned it myself. If you would like to learn how to prepare it, teacher, shall I teach you my method?”

“… I guess so. If there’s an opportunity to, please do.”

“Opportunities are something that we create by ourselves, though.”

Therefore, if someone wasn’t willing to create an opportunity, it was the same as rejecting his offer.

“Well, that is true. However, wouldn’t it be better if you were the one to prepare it when that time comes?”

“I refuse. My master is Lady Sophia, so I don’t have enough free time to be making tea especially for you.”

“Are we not well acquainted?”

“If you insist, how about getting yourself a lover? I will instruct them on how to prepare you a delicious black tea.”

“…You shouldn’t concern yourself with that sort of thing,” teacher Tristan said, and smiled.

When the corner of his mouth went up, it seemed like he was thinking about something mischievous, but I feared that it was an act, because the Tristan in the game often had such a mischievous expression as well.

“However… you’re right. Since you have requested it, shall I prepare tea for you at least once?”

“Yes. Then, how about allowing me a taste of it on the last day of the School Festival?”

“…You don’t mind waiting until after the School Festival?”

“No, I do not. After the School Festival ends, let me properly enjoy that milk tea of yours that you take such pride in.”

“Understood. Then, I’ll leave the class’ program to you.”

Since I managed to get him to agree to such an important promise, I returned to the class’ set up with a lightness in my step.

And, so the School Festival finally began.

In the morning, I would be helping out with the open-air café, and, in the afternoon, I’d go to the auditorium for the play.

By the way, it might be called a School Festival, but the programs were very different  depending on the course.

While the servant courses prepared a lot of café-like establishments, the nobility courses did a lot of activities related to the high class society, and the commoner courses did a lot of food stands and promotional sales types of activities. What I meant to say by all this was that besides the Student Council, not many were using the auditorium. As a result, the Student Council had ample time to prepare. In order to check the props that we would be using in the play, I walked up onto the stage in advance.

The tools that we would be working with during the play included the props for the actors to use and carry, and equipment that was installed into the stage. Moreover, we also had backdrops. It would have been impossible to make all of these in the short amount of time we had, so a lot of them were rentals from the theatre group Isabella performed with. Since this was equipment for the play Espressivo of Light and Darkness, which didn’t exist in this world before our play, I expected it’d be very difficult to prepare it, but Isabella’s theatre group did a great job.

When I dropped by the offstage props store room, someone was already there.

I was a little wary about the purpose of her being there.

“Miss Isabella, what are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it natural for professional actors to come check the props they will be using?”

I thought it was a little unexpected. 

Isabella let out a chuckle, perhaps because my feelings showed on my face.

“Is it that surprising? Although I won’t be getting up onto the stage myself, since I’ve been rehearsing together with all of you, I consider myself a part of the group. Do you and the others still see me as an outsider?”

“No, not at all.”

Isabella had been instructing us keenly this past week, and it was true that she did things outside of her job description.

“Since it’s you, I’m going to confess something to you. At first, I didn’t intend to be instructing you all this seriously. I thought that I would be babysitting a bunch of noble children and that, if things went well, I could maybe get a patron out of it.”

“Do you want a patron?”

I probed a little. Surprisingly, she replied in a heartfelt manner to my casual question, and told me that she needed money to support her hometown.

“I’m from a very poor village that doesn’t really have anything. However, everyone there always treated me really kindly, as if I were one more of the family. They even helped me out a lot when I left the village to join a theatre group.”

“…You would like a patron in order to repay their kindness?”

“Yes, exactly.”

I had nothing to guarantee me that the words of this woman, who was so talented at acting, were true. However, it had made some things click. To be honest, at the time when I was creating a list of candidates, I had done a background check on her.

Therefore, I already knew that Isabella was sending part of her pay to her village. I didn’t know why she had been doing it, but… now I understood that it was out of the gratitude that she felt for her hometown.

Commoners, and, especially, farmers who lived in villages, weren’t well off in this world. It must have been immeasurably difficult for a daughter from a poor village to move someplace else. It’s likely that all the villagers pitched in to invest in her travel expenses and such.

At the same time, I could imagine that she had sent enough money already, even when considering the initial sum of money that they gave her. It seemed that she possessed a stronger sense of duty than I had thought.

As a matter of fact-

“You were suspicious of me, weren’t you?”

My breath caught in my throat. She said exactly what I was thinking of. She greatly exceeded my abilities in reading people.

""

“I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.”

“There’s no need to. It’s natural that, if you serve someone, you will be suspicious of the people around them. Besides, it wasn’t really such a misguided worry.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“I was commissioned by someone unknown.”

It seemed that, within the few days that she had spent as our instructor, someone had already contacted her. Apparently, that person had told her to tamper with a minor prop, in order to embarrass Lady Sophia.

“For the time being, I thought that it would be better for you to learn this.”

“…Thank you very much.”

If I counted the people who thought ill of Lady Sophia because of a misunderstanding as well, the total number of people who held resentment towards her wouldn’t be small. However, there weren’t many who would be capable of making a move in just the few days that Isabella spent instructing us, and be able to pay to commission her.

In all likelihood, it was a student who was a member of the Elitist faction.

Their influence had been whittled down after the last incident, but on the other hand it made her incur their enmity. It was only harassment this time, but, in the game, Lady Sophia would be falsely accused of a crime by the Elitists and executed for it. It seemed that, from now on, I had to become even more vigilant.

“…Miss Isabella, would you consider working for me?”

“Working for you? You don’t mean that you’d become my acting patron, right?”

""

“No, this is a separate matter.”

Isabella excelled at seeing through people’s acts and in reading their mind. As an actress, she came in contact with all sorts of people, so I thought that she would be well suited for gathering information.

“In other words, you want me to continue being an actress while collecting information, and then reporting anything that seems useful to you?I wouldn’t mind.”

“…That was easy.”

“I took on this job because I trust you.”

“Is… that so?”

When I visited the theatre troupe, the troupe leader had been wary of me. However, Isabella, who had asked me a lot of questions, said that she trusted her own perception of me and accepted my offer.

“Understood. Then, let’s sign an official contract later.”

I had a lot of things to do, but, at that moment, preparing for the performance took precedence, so I began the check up. As I was working, I suddenly remembered what Isabella had said a few moments ago.

“Earlier, you’ve said that you didn’t intend on instructing us this seriously at first. What made you change your mind?”

“I’m sure that you already know.”

Isabella chuckled. She meant that, seeing how serious my Lady and the others were, she had wanted to help them out. Since I was always by my Lady’s side, I understood that feeling quite well. When I saw her do her best, I couldn’t help thinking that I wanted to help her grow more and more as well.

""

“Well, since that’s the case, if there’s anything troubling you, please feel free to consult with me. However – I can’t help you with currying favour with your lady, got that?”

After she gave me a typical Isabella smile and sent me a kiss, she left. The moment I tilted my head in puzzlement, wondering what she was talking about, I felt an indescribable atmosphere of bloodlust rising at my back. When I turned around, with a chill going down my spine, there stood the figure of Lady Sophia standing still, the smile of a future marquess appearing on her face.

“…Lady Sophia, is something the matter?”

“Are voluptuous young women your type, Cyril?”

A terribly direct question came. Even though her air was still that of a marquess, I wanted to ask her where had the proper, subtle phrasing of the nobility run off to?

“Please answer me. Are young women like Isabella your type, Cyril?”

“I do find her attractive.”

Combining my previous and current lives together, I had lived for over 30 years. However, I didn’t feel like my mental age was that of a 30 year old. 

Normally, as one grew older, the age of the girls they liked would go up as well. But, perhaps because I had transmigrated, my type hadn’t really changed from the time when I was a student1 in my previous life.

I saw Lady Sophia as a girl younger than me, while I saw Isabella as a girl my own age.

“… How many years will it take for me to grow up?” Lady Sophia muttered. As she looked down on her own body with a pout, she looked really cute, however – it seemed that it was still too early for her to obtain an adult’s charms yet.

It was quite difficult for me to resist unintentionally laughing out loud. 

Nevertheless, it was just as Lady Sophia had said. Given a few more years, Lady Sophia would grow up from a cute young girl into a beautiful young woman.

That’s why-

“I look forward to when you do.”

My Lady blinked in surprise, but her cheeks went just a little red. Apparently, she realized that I had heard what she murmured. She slightly turned her body away in embarrassment. 

It seemed that, with just these few words of mine, her jealous anger had vanished.

After my Lady was, once again, in a good mood, we checked the small props together. 

Isabella had said that, for a professional actress, it was a matter of course to check one’s own props. However, Lady Sophia was a future marquess. Since it was common for nobility to make their servants check the props they would be using, it was rare for them to make the check themselves.

The fact that my Lady was checking them herself showed just how much she wanted to make the play a success.

“Lady Sophia, I feel it was good luck for you to have been able to get to know Fol, don’t you?”

“Yes, I agree. So you don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

My breath caught in my throat. 

Without a doubt, she was pointing out me hiding Fol’s true identity and her circumstances. Although I hid it because I believed that it would be beneficial to Lady Sophia, it would have been a lie if I said that I didn’t feel guilty about it. 

However, I didn’t think that Lady Sophia would notice it.

“I am thankful to you from the bottom of my heart. Also, right now, I wish to make the play a success, together with Fol and the others. Will you help me?”

“Your wish is my command, my Lady.”

If that was my Lady’s wish, it was my duty to help her with all my might. However, I had already done everything that I had to. 

‘Despite Lady Sophia and Fol being at the top of their classes, there is no way that they would be as excellent while performing. In the case of Prince Alforth and Alicia, that goes without saying.’ That’s what a lot of people were probably thinking.

Therefore, today we would prove that thought to be false. With a performance that would rival even that of a professional, Lady Sophia and the others would receive the biggest applause.

While writing up this happy ending in my head, I continued the play’s preparations. Finally, Alicia showed up, and after her, Prince Alforth.

Everyone put on their costumes and  finished their preparations. Fol was the only one who didn’t show up.

Thank you so much for reading!! <3