Perhaps the anger that boiled in my heart caused blood to rush to my head, causing to feel hot imdiately. Perhaps this was where the term ‘hot-headed’ ca from.
But suddenly, I felt my hand being tugged and when I turned around, I saw that it was Ein. I felt as if he sensed my turbulent feelings, that was why he tugged my hand.
Thankfully, his tug caused to snap out of it.
And fortunately for , Maiara and Carbuncle were right in front of , blocking the view.
Did my face contort back then due to the anger I felt or was I good at using my poker face?
I felt as if my poker face skill as Lyra wasn’t as good as it was when I was Reinst.
Hopefully it was alright… How careless of .
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Clavis, who was also staying behind, walked so that he was next to my side and asked.
“Ah… No, it’s alright,” I said as I shook my head.
Ein let go of his hand that tugged mine at this mont, perhaps sensing that I was back to normal. Heck, if he had really sensed all this, he was actually quite sensitive… Nicole was quite dense, so I wonder where he got this side of him from… Clyde?!
Now that I think of it, Clyde seed to be clever at navigating around others’ feelings and being tactful. Did Nicole explain before that they shared the tasks of a family head and Clyde was the one that was good at talking to people who were tricky, while Nicole was good at being straightforward?
“Hmm…,” Clavis turned to look at the room’s inside and saw who were there. He seed as if he instantly knew what was going on.
“Don’t think too much,” Clavis said as he lightly tapped on my shoulder before coming into the room.
“Right. Co in. If we take too long here, they might be wondering what’s going on,” Ein whispered to .
I nodded as I followed him and entered the room.
As I walked closer and got a better view of the room and the people that were inside, I felt that my blood was about to boil again.
At that ti, Fenrir’s voice rang in my mind.
‘Lyra, rember. We’re here to investigate her motive. Based on her background and how she was so far, she wasn’t like the type of person to do this, right? She was so into her clan’s cause due to her background. Why suddenly back away when it ans the people she cares about will be in danger?’
…I don’t know. But perhaps she wasn’t the person we thought she was all along.
‘Then, we need to find out what’s really going on before we can co to that conclusion. Rember, it’s innocent until proven guilty, not the other way round. Didn’t you hate it before when people made assumptions about you and believed it without any base? Likewise, you shouldn’t judge nor assu soone before knowing the full story.’
I thought back to my life when I was Reinst, where 99% of the people would make assumptions about .
I know… But still, though my head understands it, my heart can’t accept it. They just won’t sync.
‘And that’s alright. As long as you have that understanding in mind. Always refer back to it whenever you’re about to go astray.’
…I’ll try to. Thanks, Fenrir.
By the ti my mini conversation with Fenrir finished, I was already gathered with Maiara, Manasye, Clavis, Ein, and Carbuncle.
I made sure to glance around my surroundings to see that there was no hint of other delegates, no Gale no dea, that’s to be expected. But even Alt-nii, Luca, and Kiri weren’t there. Only Celeste.
Isn’t this way too suspicious?
I slightly raised my eyebrow in wonder.
In front of , stood Maiara, Manasye, and Celeste.
“Maiara, you’re back! I miss you! And… Escha, Kuu, Ralph, and Reynald too!” Manasye greeted us all again.
I stopped my track and even my smile turned stiff.
We hadn’t really thought about our nicknas during when we disguised ourselves… But Escha and Kuu… Aren’t they too obvious that it’s us?! Will Celeste recognize us?!
My heart thumped so loud as I was feeling nervous. I hadn’t thought about how we’d et with Celeste in disguised identity like this.
As for Celeste, she was not too disguised, and besides, I had already known how she looked before she departed as Fumitsuna Michiyo.
“Big Sis Michiyo, let introduce you to my friends! You’ve already known Maiara, right? Then, they are Escha, Kuu, Ralph, and Reynald!” Manasye pointed at each of us and introduced us.
“Hello, my na is Fumitsuna Michiyo, a delegate sent from Riviera country. Pleased to et you. Prince Manasye, I didn’t know you had four cute friends around your age!” Celeste first greeted us before turning to comnt at Prince Manasye.
“W-well, I’ve known them only recently, so maybe that’s why! But they are my great friends!” Manasye was so innocent when he proudly said those words that made feel a bit choked.
“Nice to et you. I’m Reynald.”
“I’m Ralph!”
“Just call Kuu.”
“...I am Escha.”
As per courtesy, we introduced ourselves in turn.
Right after my introduction, Celeste’s expression shifted when she looked at , and I had my legs slightly tremble, but I kept my straight and oblivious look on.
“Hmm? What’s the matter, Miss Michiyo? Or should I call you Fumitsuna? I am sorry, I am not familiar with the Oni’s culture, so…,” I quickly put on my usual social smile that I had finally learned back after practice, as I said without any single trembling tone.
“Oh… Just Michiyo’s fine. Sorry, I just recalled soone whose na contains ‘Escha’ and I was just…”
W-what? Suspicious that it’s , Alrescha Lyra Hartmann, your lover’s little sister in disguise?
But hey, it’s amazing you rembered part of my first na that I hadn’t really used. Does that an you care about Alt-nii or that you’re just morizing things just in case?
“Oh? Are they by any chance the sa as ? Did their parents crave escargot? I got my na because my mother craved escargot!” I quickly ca up with a very convincing lie as I also put on a troubled face and said, “Actually, I don’t really like the na because I feel like I am nad after a food made of snail… Escargot? But well, a na is our parents’ gift. I appreciate it more when they’re no longer here.”
“Ah, I am sorry to hear that,” Celeste’s expression quickly turned sour after hearing my last sentence.
W-with this, crisis is averted… right?
I should co up with a whole different na next ti I have this kind of mission, hopefully I won’t have this kind of mission soon…
But… Even if she were to accuse of being a spy, what can she do to prove it? My disguise is of family arts and I can act well. If push cos to shove, we can just shove each other to the frying pan, mwahahaha!
We talked a bit more, and I could see or sense Celeste sotis looking at , as if wanting to make sure of sothing.
Oof, my disguise isn’t as foolproof as I think it is. Screw and my bad naming idea.
But her only resorting to stealing glances at ans she isn’t so sure herself, which is great!
We just need to not see each other again… I hope we’ll quickly part ways soon…
Luckily for , my wish was quickly granted, for it was announced that Celeste was being called, and Manasye also said his farewells as he wanted to do sothing else with us.
As we could have guessed, Manasye led us to Eneida’s place.
It felt to that Eneida’s place had beco our not-so-hidden base now. At least, nobody dared to venture there…
When it was just us alone…
“Maiara! I missed you!” Manasye dropped off his cool side as the prince and threw himself to Maiara’s arms.
“There, there,” Maiara just shook her head as if saying that it couldn’t be helped and proceeded to coddle Manasye.
“Welco back, everyone!” Eneida also greeted us from within her prison-like room, not daring to go closer to us.
As for Manasye, perhaps he felt that we were looking at his interaction with Maiara that he asked, “W-what’s wrong? Do you think it’s odd for to act spoiled to Maiara?”
I quickly shook my head, “No… You’re still a child, it’s alright. I am just wondering if the q–your mother isn’t opposed to you being like this with Maiara?”
I wondered as I thought that mothers would surely be jealous if their children were to be closer to their nanny more, right? So would even be an to the nanny, so…
“It’s alright. My mother and father are so busy and they need to be strict with due to my… position and timidity. I don’t know if my mother caught acting spoiled towards Maiara or not, but there was once when I was sure she saw, but unexpectedly she turned blind eye to that! I think it’s because she can’t really pamper , she lets Maiara pamper in her stead!” Manasye was 100% sure, so I was wondering if that was the case…
But I couldn’t ask Maiara if she had ever been admonished for it, right?
So, I just dropped the topic as I had seen lots of cases of noble children being closer to their caretakers and their parents didn’t seem to bother with them…
I suddenly beca sad when I thought of a possibility… That the children didn’t matter and as long as they could behave well as per their status and respect their parents, it wouldn't matter if they didn’t feel closest to their parents.
I wonder if Manasye is like that? In a way, it can be considered as neglect, but…
I had tasted it first-hand in my previous life, so my mood soured thinking of such a possibility. And my dislike towards King Deus just skyrocketed.
Could it be that riot is the only answer?
I feel like there’s no hope in a king that doesn’t care about his children as a parent should. My experience as Lyra has shaped this belief of mine.
“Anyway, ti to share the results of our missions?” Ein asked, seemingly impatient.
We started with Manasye’s report first.
He had really done his best using the excuse of Maiara not being here and him feeling lonely that he had started to approach the ambassadors from Riviera whose ages were close to him.
“For that reason, I am not really approaching the people called Gale and dea, and other older-looking people from the Riviera country delegation. Besides, they are mostly gone to do business, like going to the Departnt of Magic and so on…”
“As for Prince Luca, wow! He’s like Sis Phoebe, but the male and introverted version of Sis? I an, I want to be a prince that’s like him!!”
“As for Kiri… Must be nice having soone like him as the prince's aide…”
“As for Altaire… Is it just or does he seem to care a lot about Big Sis Michiyo? But Big Sis Michiyo would try to avoid him or just respond shortly… There must be sothing going on between them, right?” Manasye tilted his head.
“Huh? Alt–The delegation called Altaire seems to care a lot about Miss Michiyo?” I asked as I blinked several tis.
“Yeah! He’s so gentle and kind towards her! I don’t understand why Big Sis Michiyo would try to avert her eyes when they interacted…”
…Alt-nii…
Didn’t he feel betrayed by Celeste?
He should have felt betrayed, right?
But what if Prince Manasye is really telling the truth and not seeing wrong? Doesn’t that an Alt-nii still believes in Celeste until now and cares about her…
I…
I can’t do that, but if I need to respect my big brother’s feelings, then… As his little sister, I can try not to let my own feelings give birth to a bias that would bring more problems.
“Eh, but since they’re noble children that are delegates from Riviera, wouldn’t that an they’d be spending a lot of ti together? It will be too troubleso for Miss Michiyo to do that, right?” I asked, trying to probe for more information.
“Hmm… Not necessarily. It seems like they’ve been assigned to different places, with Big Sis Michiyo often being in the castle.”
“Why is it?” Ein raised his eyebrow.
“Maybe because she’s a girl, while the others are boys? And she might remind my father of Sis Phoebe?” Manasye tilted his head again.
Then, suddenly, as if he just recalled sothing…
“But I am afraid of another scenario that is less… friendly. I might be overthinking it, but… Nevermind, I don’t think it’s possible, but…”
H-hey, co on! Tell us already, don’t be like that!!
“C’mon, don’t beat around the bush and just tell us!!” Carbuncle did the unthinkable and… smacked Prince Manasyeee?!!
My expression turned into the one from the legendary screaming painting, and…
W-what will happen next?!
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