In the drawing room with neither Kendrick nor the butler, Esperanza took off Kendrick's coat and plopped down on the sofa. No gentleman or lady would ever sit like that. Cider clicked his tongue quietly.
"My clothes weren't showing, were they?"
"They weren't showing earlier, but they're showing now. Are you sitting like that knowing soone might co in?"
"Ugh, I don't know. I'm tired."
She had thought that if soone liked her, she would co to like them too. Esperanza tried to treat Kendrick with the utmost courtesy. But the fact that it was only uncomfortable—was it because he wasn't her type after all?
It was probably because he wasn't helpful. The reason she didn't dislike that annoying Count was, of course, partly because of his face, but fundantally because he was helping Esperanza, wasn't it?
"Want to have your blood drawn and then rest?"
"......Were you serious about that?"
"Of course. I'll only draw a little bit. You rember how well I drew it last ti, right?"
"You cheated last ti. No matter how you talk like you kept your promise well, how long ago was that?"
Cider, who had nothing to feel guilty about, smiled without even blinking.
"Don't you trust ?"
"......Do you think I would?"
"But you'll give
blood, right?"
Once is difficult, but twice is easy. It was too botherso to argue, and if he was only going to draw as much as last ti, it wouldn't matter, would it? With her judgnt mysteriously impaired, Esperanza unbuttoned the cuffs of her blouse.
From inside the voluminous green blouse sleeves, a white wrist with visible veins appeared. It was a very small and delicate hand for soone who handled that enormous gun freely. However, the callused areas were definitely those of a gunslinger.
Cider traced up her palm and placed his hand on the veins of her wrist. The wound from the needle prick had already healed.
"Hmm. I'll need to take asurents. I can't see the wound."
So you were planning to reopen the wound you made then? When Esperanza glared, Cider smiled broadly while caressing Esperanza's wrist.
"I'm not doing magic power asurent. Don't naturally lead
away."
"I'll make it painless. You trust . Don't you?"
If this sort of thing could be called trust.......
In the end, Cider kept his word. It stung a little, but whenever that happened, she stepped on the culprit's foot, so even that was bearable. The culprit obediently offered his foot, having committed sins.
Bright red drops of blood flowed down her forearm. Cider drew plenty of blood as if every drop was precious before finally releasing Esperanza. While gently wiping away the remaining blood with a face full of regret, she stomped hard on his feet.
She had hoped he would be surprised and hurt, but befitting soone who had directly wounded his own arm, he didn't lose his smile to the end. What service spirit, what was this? Esperanza went back to the sofa feeling deflated, hugged a cushion, and sat curled up in a ball.
Cider returned to his study after carefully placing the glass bottle containing blood like a treasured heirloom. He sat down and asked casually:
"So, were you caught?"
Her shoulders flinched. Esperanza slowly looked up at Cider with shaking eyes. Cider twisted his lips while waiting for an answer. If the answer was yes, he would feel bad.
"......You think I'm so woman who plays at charity work taking slum kids around. I wasn't caught."
"You did such a thing? Ah. Charity work?"
"Too small-scale to call it business. I just made sure one kid gets one piece of bread every day. It wasn't for particularly pure reasons either."
It was partly because she thought of newspaper boy Jack, but also to make a slum boy an ally like that Jack to receive information from the bottom. So if she called that charity, she would be ashad of herself.
"I see. Anyway, appearing to be an eccentric young lady is better than having your abilities exposed. But your outfit isn't just eccentric level. You'll get arrested."
Having seen it several tis, he no longer frowned like before. But Cider was feeling quite deflated about himself getting used to that outfit.
"Anyway, that person may look like that but he's quite naive and full of prejudices, so since I was going around with Jack, he really thought I ca out to do so poverty relief trusting just one kid recklessly. I did intend it to so extent, but I didn't expect him to be fooled so easily."
If it had been the man before her eyes, he would never have fallen for it so easily. But he would have pretended not to know. Either way, it was excessive interference. Especially toward soone you'd barely t.
"He's a good person though......."
She closed her mouth thinking that sounded rather old-fashioned.
"Literally naive. He's the youngest spoiled and raised in that household."
"The youngest? But he's Viscount Poulsbury, isn't he?"
The heir to the Marquess of Poulsbury is Viscount Poulsbury. The youngest? Was it a case where the youngest son beca heir because there were only female siblings above him?
"He had three older brothers, but the eldest fell from a horse, and the rest died in the Paolun colonial war. Only the Viscount, who was too young to participate in the war, survived."
"Ah......."
Esperanza swallowed her groan. It was a completely different story from what she had thought. Cider's explanation was concise. Even though he conveyed only facts briefly and decisively, she could feel the aura of tragedy within it.
"Is it okay to talk about such things carelessly?"
"It's a story everyone knows. The Grimston-Hanger family has been one of Nine Holder's most distinguished families for decades. If people hear that Poulsbury is courting you, they'll all be dying to tell you this story."
So he was saying she should at least know the facts before others gossiped about it sensationally.
Esperanza, who didn't want to get involved with Viscount Poulsbury, responded by pouting her lips.
"I don't want to get entangled."
Cider rested his chin on his hand and gazed at Esperanza intently. Would it sound like nonsense if she said she could feel viscosity in his gaze?
"If you dislike it so much, why am I 'Lord Avondale' and Poulsbury is 'Kendrick'?"
Ah?
Esperanza blinked slowly. It wasn't that her form of address had changed smoothly just from riding in his carriage once after politely calling him 'Viscount Poulsbury.' Her fondness for Kendrick was too ager for that.
"He asked
to call him by na in exchange for lending
his coat."
"......So you granted that?"
"It's not like it wears out. And he's the one who asked to be called that, right? I'm calling each of you by the form of address you want, so what's the problem?"
Cider, left speechless, got up from his seat and slowly walked behind the sofa with his arms crossed. Esperanza blankly hugged her cushion and rested her chin. The silence was brief. Cider quickly reached a rational conclusion.
"You're right."
"That's what I'm saying."
She replied with a strangely unsatisfied feeling. Cider shrugged.
"Your choice is wrong though. Since you called him by na, you'll inevitably get entangled when you et at parties."
Oops. She hadn't thought of that.
"......I should avoid running into him as much as possible."
And later she'd have to pretend to be awkward and slip back to calling him Viscount.
"Well, handle that yourself."
Cider gave her a fresh look and sat back down with a sullen face. Only now could Esperanza ntion her business. She had been so distracted. It was already dark outside.
Soon Mrs. Lux would co saying, 'Surely I don't need to put you in your bedrooms and tuck you in like little children, do I?' While bringing two cups of ward milk. Whether they were supposed to grow or shrink.
But Esperanza wanted to clarify this part before going to sleep.
"I have equipnt that lowers presence."
The genius magical engineer's eyes changed. He smiled kindly with sparkling eyes and replied:
"You should show
while you talk about such things."
"Ah, yes."
Cider, who recognized the hood Esperanza pulled out of her inventory, exclaid in admiration.
"This is it? So that's why you always wore this? I wondered why you wore such a gloomy thing."
Cider took out his Stimulator and nodded while moving it lengthwise, then horizontally. Esperanza had absolutely no idea what he had figured out. She could only see gears spinning frantically? He wasn't even looking at the Stimulator.
"I roughly understand the principle. It would be difficult to reproduce though."
It was a hood made by thinly spreading the hide of an upper-level monster. This was also made by Dr. Sullivan calling in a tanner, and it was quite a revolutionary invention even at the ti. Items that make you completely invisible are actually easier to make, but reducing only presence is more difficult.
"What about modifications then?"
"Of course it's possible. But I can't say I'll succeed on the first try. If it's okay for it to break, let's try it."
"......Never mind then. More than that, is it possible for ordinary people to penetrate this and recognize
wearing the hood?"
"Soone recognized you?"
Cider asked with a mysterious expression. Esperanza nodded. Cider looked down at the black hood again, but that didn't change its appearance. Soone recognized the person wearing this?
"Don't they have x-ray vision or sothing?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
"Whether this has the role of reducing presence or not, it's impossible to recognize soone wearing this. You have to see sothing to recognize it."
Unlike before when he had shown disgust and treated it coldly, Cider stroked the hood with delicate touches. It was truly an amazing change of attitude.
"I don't think they recognized your face from what I can see."
"Then what?"
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