About half a year has passed since the Holy Land Pilgrimage event ended.
However, during this half year, there hasn’t seemed to be any progress in Nina’s love life, and we were all just having a good time together as usual.
But I thought that maybe she was secretly developing a love affair without my knowledge, so I made sure that I didn’t interfere with the time spent with Nina and her capture targets as much as possible.
Then one day, as I sat in front of the mirror stand and had Dahlia do my hair, I asked her what she remembered.
“Hey Dahlia, did you find Rabi…the Lonjar bandits after all?”
“No, I haven’t heard anything that indicates they’ve been caught.”
“Oh, really…”
In fact, Rabi had been detained in a nearby town by the guards as it was, but after a while, when he was to be escorted from there to another large town, he was rescued along the way by his fellow bandits.
I learned of this when I was strolling through the castle when I saw the contents of a small box given to me by a servant boy who had been asked to give it to me.
There was a bottle of wound medicine and a letter in the small box, but when I saw the contents of the letter, I froze.
Dear Princess.
I’m sorry I hurt you back then. I’m truly sorry about that.
As a token of my apology, I’m going to present you with an elixir made by a friend of mine, which is very effective for removing wounds.
By the way, my henchmen helped me out of there, so I decided to run away for now.
I’m going to be in hiding for a while, so it’ll take some time before I can go pick up the princess.
I’m sure you’ll be lonely until then, but just think of me and wait for me.
From,
Rabi—the one who will become the princess’s beloved husband.
While I was frozen in my room looking at the letter, Kaiser and his friends, who had just come to visit me, looked at it, read it, and tried to take it from me.
Then all the others set their eyes on them and immediately formed a subjugation team and increased my escorts, which was very difficult.
By the way, according to the story of the servant boy who gave me a small box, it seems that a man wearing a hood gave him a some coins and asked for him to deliver it. As I listened to him carefully, I also saw a glimpse of red hair on the hood
When Viktor heard that story, he muttered to himself.
“…I should have put an end to him back then…”
While I was scared to hear such horrifying words, Viktor ran into the city to look for Rabi, but he couldn’t find him no matter how hard he looked.
By the way, I asked a proper institution to check the wound medicine, and found out that it was a real wound medicine, and it was also a good product with good effect.
Thanks to that, the injury on the back of my left hand was completely healed.
I was smiling to myself as I recalled the incident half a year ago.
“Now, Cecilia-sama, you’re ready.”
I looked through the mirror to see Dahlia nodding with a satisfied face as she said that, and I checked the hair that she had done for me.
My hair in the mirror looks great and matches the pale purple dress I’m wearing now.
“Yes it’s very good! Thank you, Dahlia.”
“No, no, no, it’s my job to dress Lady Cecilia beautifully.”
“It’s always appreciated.”
“Now, it’s about time for Prince Kaiser to arrive and greet you…”
Then I heard an explosion from outside the window.
I was startled by the sound and hurriedly looked towards the window where I could see the night sky and saw a beautiful, large fireworks display.
“Wow, that’s beautiful!”
“Yes. It’s very impressive. I suppose the festivities in town must be at their best right now.”
“…Sounds like a good time. Honestly, I would have liked to have participated in person.”
“I understand how you feel, but as the Duke’s daughter, Cecilia, it’s to be expected…”
“I know. The nobles will be attending the harvest ball at the castle, won’t they?”
I said and smiled bitterly at Dahlia.
In fact, today is the Harvest Festival, a festival which is being held in many parts of the country.
In particular, this year, the “Celestial Maiden” was chosen, and perhaps because of this, the crops had a good harvest in various places.
For this reason, this year’s harvest festival was even more exciting than usual.
And the nobles were no exception to this excitement, especially those who owned land were in a very good mood.
Therefore, I heard that the harvest festival held at the castle is also going to be a gorgeous one this year.
I had my hair trimmed by Dahlia to participate in the ball at the harvest festival.
The town’s festival looks really fun! In my past life, when I was little, I used to look forward to going to a festival that was held nearby every year. I can’t really go to the town’s festival like that now, but I’m secretly looking forward to the ball at the castle. Because this Harvest Festival ball was also a game event!
Yes, the ball that is about to take place is the event where the love between Nina and the capture target takes a big step forward.
Nina and the capture target, dressed in formal wear for the ball, dance, and afterwards, in a secluded place, they confess their secret love for each other and become lovers.
The stills of that dance scene are so beautiful no matter which of the targets they’re with! Because I was looking at that part of everyone for a while in the collection of images that you can see after you’ve cleared it, I was smitten with that part with everyone for a while.
I saw the still in my mind’s eye like a slideshow and my face unconsciously smirked.
“Cecilia-sama…what is it?”
“No, it’s nothing!”
Dahlia gave me a strange look, and I hurriedly turned my head back to look at her and tried to convince her that it was nothing.
Just then there was a knock on the door of the room and Kaiser entered the room.
“Hi Cecilia…you look even more beautiful today.”
“Kaiser is the one who looks better in his formal wear than ever before!”
That’s what I said honestly as I looked at Kaiser, who was perfectly dressed in his formal attire, which was beautifully embroidered in gold on a white background.
“I’m most pleased to hear you say that, Cecilia. Well then, it’s time to go to the hall, shall we?”
“Oh, yes.”
So I put my hand on Kaiser’s arm and lined up to go to the ballroom where the ball was to be held.
As soon as we entered the ballroom, there were already many royalty and aristocrats enjoying the ball, and as soon as they spotted us, the customary line of greetings formed.
I was disgusted by this, but I didn’t let it show on the surface and responded with a pseudo-smile on my face.
When the greetings were finally over, I let out a breath of relief, and then Kaiser urged me toward the center of the hall.
“Kaiser?”
“Come on, let’s have a dance.”
“Well, I’m used to it, so it’s fine…but since you’re here, why don’t you dance with someone else today?”
“Well…I’ll dance when I really feel like it. But more importantly, the song is starting. Come on, Cecilia, give me your hand.”
“I…Yes.”
I had no choice but to put my own hand on the offered one and began to dance with Kaiser, even though Kaiser had been giving a slightly dismayed look.
“After all, Cecilia is a very good dancer, isn’t she?”
“No, no, Kaiser is a good lead.”
“Still, dancing with Cecilia is the easiest and most fun thing I’ve ever done.”
“…Thank you.”
Kaiser smiled happily at me, and I couldn’t look straight at that sparkling face up close, so I turned my head and thanked him.
But my face felt hot at the time, and I was sure my face had turned red.
Seeing such a beautiful smile up close is a foul…
Especially with today’s costumes and the glittering atmosphere of the ballroom, Kaiser’s beauty seemed to increase even more than usual.
“Cecilia is beautiful…”
“What?”
“…Cecilia…there’s something I’d like to talk to you about later, if you could give me a moment of your time.”
“Why not now?”
“It’s all about atmosphere…”
“Huh…Well, that’s fine then.”
I didn’t know what Kaiser wanted to talk about, but I responded with an acknowledgement anyway.
While we were talking about it, the song ended and we bowed to each other.
Then Nina came up to us and said,
“Cecilia-sama! Prince Kaiser!”
“Hi, Nina, that dress looks really good on you.”
“Oh, thank you. Prince Kaiser.”
“What do you think? Are you enjoying the ball?”
“Yes! It’s so much fun!”
“That’s good to hear.”
“…Lady Cecilia, is something wrong?”
When Kaiser saw Nina’s dress and smiled and complimented her, Nina shyly chuckled and thanked him.
But as for me, I had stopped thinking when I saw the dainty Nina’s pure white dress up close and personal.
Moreover, I was tempted to roll over and squeal on the spot when I saw Nina’s cheeks stained and embarrassed.
But as expected, my reasoning disciplined me and somehow I did not have to expose such an abomination.
“Nina…very, very nice! You’re like an angel!!”
“Oh, no, that’s not true. But I’m very happy to hear you say so, Cecilia-sama. Thank you. And besides…Cecilia-sama is also very beautiful and looks like a goddess!”
“I’m flattered that you think I’m a goddess. I’m happy with the compliment. Thank you!”
“I’m not trying to be flattering, but…”
“Well, well, you are both very beautiful.”
“…Oh, yes! Kaiser, how about if you continue to dance with Nina?”
“What?”
I remembered the scene from Nina and Kaiser’s ball and decided to make them dance together.
“Nina and Kaiser are very good at dancing, so you will be able to dance without worry. Please make sure that Kaiser leads Nina well.”
“Cecilia, Lady Cecilia! No, if I’m going to dance anyway, I want to have Lady Cecilia…”
“Cecilia! Why are you deciding for yourself? I’m not going to dance with anyone but you…”
“Well then, I’ll disperse the disturbance, so enjoy your time~!”
“Lady Cecilia!”
“Cecilia!”
They were trying to stop me, but I pretended not to hear them and slinked away from the center.
This is an important dance scene! I definitely have to get you both dancing! Well, it’s not like we’ve decided that the main target is Kaiser, so we’ll have to get the other capture targets to dance with Nina too…
I glanced at Kaiser and Nina as I thought this, and they, who had been left in the middle and were stunned, looked at each other with a look on their faces that said they had no choice but to hold hands and dance.
Yes, yes! This is what I wanted to see!!!!
I screamed in my mind and gazed enraptured at the exact same scene as the still image.
“…Cecilia.”
“…”
“Cecilia!”
“What? Oh, Ghislan! I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”
“Well, I’ve given up on you because you’ve always been weird.”
“It’s not…”
“More importantly, is Cecilia alone? What happened to Prince Kaiser?”
“Oh, there he is, dancing with Nina.”
“…It’s unusual. That Prince Kaiser is dancing with someone other than Cecilia.”
“I encouraged them to dance. So after Kaiser, Ghislan should dance with Nina, too.”
“What? Why me!?”
“Please dance by all means!”
“…If you insist on me dancing, I’ll dance if Cecilia dances with me first.”
“What? Okay, I don’t mind that much at all.”
“…Rather, that was so easy, it makes me a little sad.”
“???”
“Well, fine then. Let’s get going.”
Then I took Ghislan’s proffered hand, who had a slightly disgruntled look on his face, in bewilderment, and just like that, the two of us joined the dancing circle again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|♡| Table of Contents |♡| Support me! |♡|
KizunaTLs 