“I see… so you’re the young lady from the birthday party?”
In the middle of the practice room, His Highness Prince Alforth was saying Prince Alfred’s lines.
“Yes, you remembered me!” I responded with Aurelia’s line.
“Are you something I could forget? From the moment I first laid my eyes on you, there wasn’t a single thing that I could possibly forget about you!”
His Highness Prince Alforth’s performance was fairly realistic. His feelings of love for Aurelia were getting across even to me, who was simply reading out the lines from the script.
Excluding Fol, whose performance I hadn’t seen, Lady Sophia was the most skilled one, followed by His Highness Prince Alforth. Then there was Alicia, who had seemed to hit a wall she couldn’t get over.
“I have a fiancée that my parents have picked for me. However, Aurelia, you are infinitely more wonderful than my fiancée — there is no way that’s the case!”
Huh!?
I raised my voice in a way unbecoming of a butler when faced with His Highness Prince Alforth’s insanity.
“Certainly, Lady Sophia is the one who is infinitely more wonderful! To think that Alfred prefers the heroine, is he an idiot?!”
He was the second person to completely refuse the character modeled after him.
“Please calm down, Your Highness. Isn’t the villainous daughter Elvira, not Lady Sophia?”
Although the model for Elvira was Lady Sophia… what a complicated situation!
“Whether she plays the role of the villainous daughter or not is irrelevant. Even if she was playing thug A, as long as Lady Sophia is the one performing, she is bound to be beautiful.”
…Hmmm.
I felt that if it was Lady Sophia, she would perform a perfect thug, rendering everyone around her speechless.
Nonetheless, it was likely that, if she were to speak threateningly using that beautiful voice of hers while pressing for an answer with those cold eyes, the performance would possess a destructive power. People might grow aware of certain things.
“While I understand how you feel, it will be troubling if you don’t perform. Moreover, isn’t Miss Fol beautiful as well?”
“Well, she certainly might be considered pretty, but I myself prefer…”
Aah, come to think of it, wasn’t she a cousin of his? Since only a limited number of people were aware of the fact, it would be better not to insist on the topic too much.
However, even if it was just a performance, to have to abandon your first love and, on top of that, execute her, to end up marrying your own cousin seemed like it would be emotionally tough.
I began to worry about whether or not His Highness Prince Alforth might fall into darkness.
I continued with the individual training sessions in this manner and in the blink of an eye, one month had gone by.
While, little by little, they were getting better, Alicia and His Highness Prince Alforth were still a problem. No matter what, their true feelings were always transparent. As expected, being unable to empathize with the characters hindered their performances. In order to undertake the necessary steps to solve this, I dropped by the Student Council room.
Sitting behind her work desk at the office, Fol was using her wind flow magic, as she always did. Since it had gotten a lot warmer recently, it seemed to serve its purpose.
While she kept herself cool with the magic she had casted, Fol’s pen ran across the page in silence.
I expected her to have been smiling like an innocent young lady, but a long, lonely sigh spilled past her lips. She had said that she was writing her journal, but what on earth was she writing about with an expression like that?
I was a little curious about it, but if you steal glances at a young lady’s journal, you shouldn’t complain even if you end up getting roasted in righteous hellfire. 1
I called out to Fol, who hadn’t noticed I was there.
“Oh, you’re here.”
“Yes, I am. Although, to be exact, you invited me in, Miss Fol.”
Fol herself had been the one who responded to my knock.
I believed that she was the type of person who, once they were focusing on one thing, became unable to pay attention to their surroundings. However, that might not be the case. While writing her journal, she was also using her magic.
And as such, while performing two tasks at once, her situational awareness would become a little scattered.
“By the way, Miss Fol this, Miss Fol2 that. How long do you plan on calling me that?”
“Excuse me, Your Highness Fol.”3
After instinctively obeying, I was met with a rather displeased face.
“I am a mere commoner with connections to a certain Count’s family, isn’t that so?”
“You did truly hide it very skillfully, but upon investigating a little further, I found out the truth right away.”
“You should only use the word skillfully if you were unable to find out, you know?”
She seemed exasperated by something, and my use of the words ‘hiding very skillfully’ was just a mere pretense.
If you were to investigate Fol at the Academy, no other information could be found besides her being a commoner with a connection to a certain Count’s family. However, if you were to investigate the royal family, you would happen upon the existence of an eldest daughter called Fol rather quickly.
“…sigh. Even if I complain about you finding out, there is nothing to be done about it now. And naturally, you have reported this to Miss Sophia as well, haven’t you?”
“No, I haven’t said anything about it to Lady Sophia.”
“…Why not? Isn’t it a butler’s duty to report their observations to their master?”
“Because you seemed like you didn’t want me to do that, Your Highness Fol. If it were necessary, I would have reported on it. However, I have concluded that it would be more beneficial to Lady Sophia if I didn’t.”
The reason why Fol lied about her social class was her distaste of being served. Seeing the way she reacted to me addressing her as Your Highness Fol, that guess of mine had been correct.
Perhaps if I were serving a thoughtless master, I would have reported on Fol being a member of the royal family, since it would have been necessary to advise them to not make any careless mistakes. However, I did not have to worry about such things with Lady Sophia.
""
Since that was the case, I concluded that it would be better to not inform her about Fol’s true identity, so that my Lady would be able to interact with her naturally.
“I see. So you have thought that far ahead. You’re as brilliant as the rumours say.”
“While I’m very flattered to hear that… how should I address you from now on?”
“From now on, I want you to address me as you do with all your other student council peers. I wish for you to simply call me ’Fol’4.”
“As you wish. I will call you Fol from now on.”
Perhaps my fast response was unexpected, because Fol blinked in surprise.
“I didn’t expect that. Seeing as you know about my true identity, I was certain that you would never grant my wish and address me like that.”
“You are a fellow Student Council member and friend of Lady Sophia, Fol. Since that is the case, it is natural for me to meet your demands, as long as they’re in the realm of possibility.”
“I see… thank you.”
With a vaguely happy expression on her face, Fol began to play with her hair. It was certain that being a part of the royal family meant that she faced heavy responsibilities day after day. In the same manner in which, from time to time, Lady Sophia exposed her true self, Fol also had to have things that she wanted to do to relax. Since I wanted for Fol to become a close friend of Lady Sophia’s, it was only logical for me to meet her demands as well.
“…Ah, the conversation got side tracked, hasn’t it? What business do you have with me?”
“I would like to report on the performance practice.”
“Ah, I see. I haven’t been able to join yet. Has everyone gotten together and began their rehearsing? How is it looking?”
Prompted by Fol, I told her that there were no problems at all with Lady Sophia. However, I mentioned that Alicia and His Highness Prince Alforth weren’t able to empathize with their roles and were having a hard time.
“Miss Alicia and His Highness Prince Alforth cannot empathize with their roles?”
“Yes. That’s what they have told me.”
The one who wrote the script was Fol’s lecturer.
Although that wasn’t necessarily true.
There was also the possibility that Fol was a transmigrator and had written the script herself. Whether or not that was the case, there were plenty of ways to test whether I was a transmigrator or not. Therefore, I tried to give as objective of a report as I could.
However…
“Hm. Well, those two seem to be bad at expressing themselves without words or actions.”
The answer I received back slightly missed the point. Having mentioned that the two of them cannot empathize with their roles, I specified that this was the reason for their poor performances.
However, this was an exceedingly interesting response.
They were the models for the characters of the play Espressivo of Light and Darkness. If Fol knew about it, she would have certainly felt great interest at the fact that they couldn’t empathize with them. And yet, Fol accepted the information regarding their lack of skill as if it was unsurprising. It was possible that, perhaps, Fol didn’t know anything about Espressivo of Light and Darkness.
Whoever the transmigrator was, the question was what was their purpose in searching for other transmigrators. I couldn’t feel any evil intent or hostility coming from Fol herself, but her so-called tutor might or might not be a good person.
Until I knew her intentions, I had to be cautious.
“It would be better if we dealt with this promptly while there is still time.”
I had been absorbed into my own thoughts, and these words pulled me back into the present. When I realized that she was speaking about Alicia and His Highness Prince Alforth’s performances, I immediately agreed with her.
Although I believed that, if we were to continue practicing as we had so far, they would improve to some extent, Lady Sophia’s performance was just too good. If they were to stand on the same stage as her, His Highness Prince Alforth and Alicia would, without a doubt, lose face.
“I also believe that it’s necessary to deal with it somehow, which is why I am seeking out your counsel.”
“…I see. If they cannot empathize with their roles, how about making them study them intensively?”
“Study their roles?“
The words ‘training camp’ immediately sprung to my mind. In this world, although mild, there were all four seasons, and when temperatures began to go up, there would be a one week school holiday. However, as one would expect, it would be frowned upon if royalty and noble ladies were to attend a training camp. As I was considering whether there might be some other way, Fol asked a question.
“I wonder, are not any appropriate training camp grounds anywhere?”
“…Do you intend on camping together to train?”
“If we all focus on it for a short period, they will learn how to get in character. It would be best if they became able to empathize with their roles, right?”
“Certainly, it is as you say, but would His Highness Prince Alforth be allowed to go to a training camp?”
“I’ll persuade Prince Alforth’s parents myself.”
If Fol said that, it should mean that she was confident on being able to persuade the Empress and the Emperor. And as long as His Highness Prince Alforth agreed to it, there was no way that a mere Viscount would be able to refuse.
The real problem might be Lady Sophia. However, unless something extraordinary happened, Master Grave wouldn’t question Lady Sophia’s actions. It was likely that he would give his permission if I were to check with him beforehand.
“As you wish. I will inform my Lady’s father myself.”
“Got it. I’m glad we could settle this quickly.”
A somewhat relieved expression appeared on Fol’s face. When I saw it, an unexpected thought came to me.
“Could I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“Have you been avoiding interacting with others, Fol?”
To some extent, she showed her willingness back when she accepted Lady Sophia. In fact, not only did she agree to a play, it seemed as if she was actively trying to get involved with others.
“…How unkind of you. I was trying to avoid them at first, just like you said. However, given that I would have to interact with them either way, I thought that I would rather try to do so sincerely.”
“Is… that so?”
A list of reasons for her to try to avoid others came to mind, and I felt somewhat conflicting emotions.
Personally, I had no issue with this development. However, I was conflicted, because I also had thought along the lines of ‘there might come a day when she might be resented by Lady Sophia.’
“Then, what do you think would be a good place to have our camp?”
“…Let… me see…”
Right away, I remembered an event that occurred on Libert’s route.
Alicia fell in love with Libert, but Viscount Lindberg was against it, so he locked her up in the mansion. She was then forced to quit the Academy and she couldn’t see Libert ever again. Or at least, she wasn’t supposed to.
Here came Melissa, working behind the scenes. She slipped out of the mansion and informed Libert regarding Alicia’s situation. Upon hearing this, Libert marched right up to Viscount Lindberg himself.
Finally moved by Libert’s passion, Viscount Lindberg presented him with a condition. As long as he acquired the knowledge required for the groom of a Viscount’s daughter, Lord Lindberg would consent to their marriage.
In order to acquire his education, Libert, together with Alicia, went to a certain summer residence and a training camp took place there.
It had outstanding facilities and it wasn’t too far from the Academy either.
However, this world’s me shouldn’t know about the existence of such a place. If I were to mention it, I would end up being identified as a transmigrator.
If I wanted to play it safe, I would have to suggest Marquis Rosenberg’s summer residence.
However —
“How about asking Master Libert?”
I deliberately chose the dangerous option.
“…Libert. You want to ask the leader of the commoner’s faction for help?”
“Yes. We reconciled with the commoner’s faction at the last tea party. However, I think that it is still not enough. Why don’t we use this opportunity to strengthen that relationship even further?”
While His Highness Prince Alforth and Lady Sophia were affiliated with the Student Council, the training camp would take place in one of Libert’s summer residences. That would display that the relationship we had with the commoner’s faction was good.
If I hadn’t known of Espressivo of Light and Darkness, I still wouldn’t have let a chance like this pass by. Which was the reason I would have intentionally proposed approaching Libert about this.
Fol watched my face without moving… and then, she finally nodded minutely.
“I see, that’s not a bad suggestion. In that case, I’ll entrust the negotiations with Libert to you.”
“As you wish.”
Again, a big thank you to the people who donated to my Kofi, I really really appreciate it! And also thank you for all your lovely comments! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!
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