Volume 3 - CH 24

v3c24 - DLC: The Sea Part 1

Roughly a week had passed since the First Prince’s birthday party. Today, the usual council members were scheduled to meet up in the Student Council’s office.

Lady Sophia, Alicia and Prince Alforth were already gathered inside. Apart from me who was also a Student Council member, there were a few other servants. In other words, all the old and trusted members.

However, when looking at the situation from another angle, the atmosphere was getting increasingly tense. There was Lady Sophia and I, who had become her marriage candidate, which was officially acknowledged by her parents. In addition to us, there was Alicia, the Viscount’s daughter who had shown her affection for me without any concealment and who, at last, had approached me via her parents with a marriage proposal. And finally, there was also our country’s Second Prince, who was in love with Lady Sophia.

In other words, we were in a love square.

A weird kind of relationship where political marriage and love intertwined. But, Alicia was much more mature than in the original story and also very stubborn. Prince Alforth too, was growing up to be a splendid prince, just like in the original story. They wouldn’t do anything to expose their inner thoughts and sour the atmosphere.

So, on the surface, everything was as usual. However—no, perhaps I should say that because of it—no one was choosing to speak, causing the atmosphere to grow tense. Hence, to those who were able to read the other’s concealed inner thoughts, the mood in the room was unbearable. It was extremely unfortunate that all the servants present were able to guess what their inner feelings were.

And so—

“Miss Sophia.”

Alicia called out to Lady Sophia. She sounded like nothing was out of the ordinary, a gentle smile being the only thing gracing her face. However, all the servants—including me—immediately stiffened. Alicia continued to speak calmly.

“Um, t–today, the weather is nice, isn’t it?” she asked.

Today, the weather is nice. 

It wasn’t unusual for nobles to cram several meanings into these words. It also wasn’t unusual for a person to publicly commit an unthinkable blunder if they misinterpreted them. Therefore, caution was demanded of the answering person as well.

For example, if she were to agree with Alicia’s statement, in the next moment, Alicia could also say: ‘Oh, you think so too? While I also think that today, the weather is nice, I believe that tomorrow, a downpour of blood will arrive’ forcing her to agree with something she didn’t mean. 

It was plausible.

However, she couldn’t just carelessly disagree either. Let’s imagine that she disagreed bysaying: ‘I don’t think so.’

In the next moment, Alicia could retort: ‘Ah, so the weather being nice is simply a sham after all. So, you must believe that your marriage with Cyril is a sham as well, right?’ forcing her to agree with things that she didn’t mean again.

This was plausible too.

Of course, Alicia probably had no intention of saying something like this. However, she wasn’t the only one who could find fault at what Lady Sophia would say. Also, even if they wouldn’t voice it, it wasn’t entirely impossible for one of the servants present to misinterpret her words like in the previous examples. 

The world of nobles was truly very bothersome and very, very scary.

Naturally, I was probably overthinking this. But, I had no idea where the pitfalls lay. I couldn’t deny the possibility that some unexpected conflicts may arise just by agreeing with the weather being nice—the room was wrapped in such strange tension.

As a result—

“Do you like nice weather, Miss Alicia?”

Lady Sophia used the technique of dodging the answer by asking a question, avoiding any difficulties by doing so. Now, Alicia was faced with the same perilous situation instead. Her exclusive maid, Melissa, paled, wondering if her master would slip up.

However, Alicia had also grown up a lot during this year. She would allocate the problems that she couldn’t deal with on her own to people who were capable of handling them. Naturally, this could easily lead to others having doubts about her abilities of dealing with things, but this method was a gracious one, a method used by someone who understood their own abilities.

In other words—

“Cy-Cyril, what do you think?” she asked.

What, me?!

On the surface, she was asking about the weather but—actually, it was also possible that there probably wasn’t any hidden meaning and she was simply asking about the weather. However, since I was Lady Sophia’s marriage candidate, I could view it as Alicia hinting at her marriage proposal to me.

Damn it…Alicia was definitely only trying to do something about this atmosphere and was simply talking about the weather. Even though I understood that, if I answered poorly, it could easily give rise to needless misunderstandings.

But, I was Lady Sophia’s exclusive butler and her marriage candidate. Moreover, ours wasn’t just a marriage of convenience either. Lady Sophia wanted it, and I also wished to be her fiancé. Under no circumstances could I make any remarks that might result in me losing this status. On top of that, I needed to make a decision that wouldn’t allow for this place to turn into a scene of carnage.

“…Speaking of the weather, did you know that right around this time, the climate in the Flamefield Empire is warm enough to be able to swim in the sea?”

This was one of my secret skills—boldly changing the topic. I paid meticulous attention to both the topic and my phrasing so that no unnecessary misunderstandings could appear.

“Oh, really?”

Lady Sophia was the first to show interest. Then, Alicia and Prince Alforth expressed their own curiosity by leaning forward too, blatantly taken with the topic. All of them probably thought that they wanted to do away with this atmosphere somehow.

Although Lady Sophia’s interest was probably genuine since she had said that she wanted to try swimming in the sea near where we had our training camp with the Student Council last time. As I thought about it, Lady Sophia’s gaze briefly met mine and she smiled. I felt as if her eyes were saying ‘So you remembered.’ Without saying anything, I smiled as well and then, I turned to the others and returned to the topic of the Flamefield Empire.

The Flamefield Empire. The homeland of Imperial Prince Harold and Imperial Princess Charlotte who came to study here not too long ago. The Empire was a region that excelled in  the field of magic but, on the other hand, they were a little behind when it came to general technology. The Ephenear Kingdom, however, was quite behind when compared to their magical techniques but, it pulled ahead in general technology and also shared a friendly relationship with the Flamefield Empire with the trade being mutually beneficial. 

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By the way, the capitals were connected by a regularly dispatched magical airship line, and if a person was able to get onboard, they’d be able to travel from one city to another in but a few days. There were issues with it as well, such as the airship line running only once per month and not being able to use it unless a person’s social status was high enough. 

Flamefield’s climate was completely different from Ephenear’s. As one could tell from its name, it was a very hot land. 

“For this reason, there are even people who go to the beaches to swim right about this time in the Flamefield Empire.”

“And they’re wearing those ‘swimsuits’ that you mentioned earlier, right, Cyril? But that only applies to the commoners, doesn’t it?”

Prince Alforth tilted his head in puzzlement. 

“Nobles of this country don’t approve of baring one’s skin,” I agreed but then continued. “However—As I mentioned earlier, the Flamefield Empire’s climate stays warm all year round. Therefore, in comparison, the Empire’s formal attire is quite revealing, so they aren’t opposed to swimsuits either.”

“Ooh…now that you mention it, Prince Harold and Princess Charlotte were also quite… lightly dressed.”

Prince Alforth’s eyes wandered a little.  

Using the words ‘lightly dressed’ was most likely the outcome of Prince Alforth choosing his words quite wisely. It wouldn’t be strange for the nobles of Ephenear to even say the word ‘shameless’. Since our country was quite cold, the two Imperial nobles must have felt like they were more warmly dressed than usual.

“What are you talking about?” Right at that moment, Fol appeared. 

As she listened to our small talk, she stood in front of her own seat and—

“So, let’s have an outing together!” she said suddenly.

“On an outing…?” Lady Sophia asked, voicing the thoughts of all of us.

“Yep. Cyril became Sophia’s marriage candidate and Alicia, your parents approached the Rosenberg Marquis household about marriage between you and Cyril. And Alf, you seem to be stuck in an unrequited love too, so you’re all probably feeling very awkward, right?”

This girl, she spilled everything! Even as she was enveloped in an extremely tense atmosphere which caused everyone to choose their words carefully, she spilled everything that none of us were able to say. This was so utterly like her.

Of course, I wasn’t the only one astonished. Everyone was speechless.

“What? You all look so surprised. Don’t you all know these same facts? And yet, none of you would touch the topic out of consideration for the other, which had the opposite effect of making the atmosphere really tense.”

This time, everyone kept silent because of a different reason—We realized that ultimately, what Fol said was true.

At the least, I was aware of everyone’s feelings. While there might be some slight discrepancies, Lady Sophia and Alicia, and most likely, Prince Alforth as well, must have realized who was in love with whom. The marriage proposals were only manifestations of these feelings.

“…It’s certainly as you say, Fol. As you know, Cyril did become my marriage candidate but I don’t want to drift apart from any of you.”

Lady Sophia was the first to speak. I was deeply moved by her words.

Lady Sophia said this: ‘Prince Alforth, Alicia, I know about your feelings. Although Cyril became my marriage candidate, you don’t have to keep your distance because of it.’ 

In a certain sense, it could be taken as her being soft-hearted. Depending on the person, it could also be taken as her not attaching much importance to me being her marriage candidate.

But, that wasn’t the case. Lady Sophia worked extremely hard to make me her marriage candidate.

Therefore, I knew just how much she treasured my relationship with her. On top of that, my Lady also wanted to treasure her relationship with her friends. This was my Lady, the same one who had almost fallen into darkness when I had just shared a dance with Alicia.

‘My Lady has really grown up…’ I thought the same thing as I had earlier. While I was still deeply moved by her, Alicia and Prince Alforth followed after Lady Sophia.Then, they all looked at me.

“I’m of the same opinion. I wish to treasure my friendship with you all from the bottom of my heart as well.”

Not just my friendship with them—my friendship with them as well. I didn’t want anyone to mistake what was most important to me but what I had just said were my true, honest feelings. And as everyone nodded at each other—

“Such being the case, let’s have an outing together,” Fol repeated.

In unison, everyone tilted their head in puzzlement, as if to ask: ‘Such being the case? What case is that?’

“I mean, at this rate, you’ll just keep being considerate over this and that, right? So let’s all go on a trip together to get past this situation. Let’s go to the Flamefield Empire, which you were talking about earlier and go swimming!”

‘Don’t you just want to go for a swim, Fol?’ No one retorted.