That day, taking classes had felt depressing since morning. The sky visible through the classroom window suggested that it might start raining at any mont as if it was fully mirroring my ntal state.
The reason for my mood was yesterday’s incident, when Lady Sophia saw Alicia and I holding hands.
I was unaware of it, but I had probably been staring into Alicia’s eyes with that look she described as ‘The gaze that causes young Ladies to die of cuteness.’ Having witnessed that, my Lady was in an extrely bad mood.
Normally, her eyes would tinge red and brim with displeasure but then they’d clear up again imdiately, just like a brief storm. And yet, Lady Sophia was still in a bad mood, even in the morning of the next day.
‘When you are happy it goes without saying, but, even when you get lonely or when you are in pain, I will always be by your side. I will always, always protect you as your ally.’
Even though I was the one who promised her that, I was also the one who upset her.
“Are you listening, Cyril? Try and explain what I just talked about.”
The history teacher called out my na and I stood up.
“The Flafield Empire is by no ans a wealthy country, but it is remarkable when it cos to magic—especially, the invention of magical devices—and they are an important neighbor of our kingdom.”
“A-alright. As long as you were listening.”
“No, I apologize. I was thinking of my master.”
“I-I see. It’s not a bad thing for a servant to always have their master on their mind. And honestly, you were able to answer while thinking about sothing else, you’re really…”
For so reason, the teacher’s expression looked strained, but, since I seed to have been sowhat forgiven, I sat back down. By the way, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that multitasking was an essential skill for servants, as they had to keep an eye on their master while doing their own work.
The bigger issue was how I could improve my Lady’s mood. Up till that point, I would always coax her with desserts or flattery. But that was because my Lady had been adorably jealous all those tis.
I felt as if this ti was different from the usual. I believed that, if I were to say sothing like: ‘I made you a dessert, so please forgive ,’ I would be going about it the wrong way sohow. As I kept thinking about this, in the blink of an eye, lunch ti had arrived.
“Listen, Cyril…”
As I pondered about what I should have for lunch, Raymond was watching for so reason, slightly exasperated.
“Is sothing the matter?”
“It’s not that sothing is the matter… it’s… you know?”
Raymond awkwardly looked over his shoulder. Luke and Chloe were also watching , looking like they had sothing to say as well.
“Is sothing the matter with you two as well?”
“Oh, for crying out loud! If you’re worried about sothing, we’ll hear you out, okay?”
“That’s right! We owe you a lot.”
Luke lunged at right after Chloe, saying that they’d give so advice. When I tilted my head in confusion, not understanding what they ant, Raymond ran his fingers through his red hair before asking , “Do you have no self-awareness?”
“Listen, you’ve been staring at the sky all morning and you’ve been called on by the teachers almost ten tis.”
“Huh, it was eight tis though.”
“…That’s it, that…”
“What?”
Say what you may, there was no way to discern anything from such an incoherent conversation. When I said as much to Raymond, he told , discontented for so reason, “I’m kinda relieved that you’re a normal person, because, even though you’ve been completely spaced out, you haven’t made a single mistake. How many teachers’ prides do you think you broke today because of that? Cut it out.”
“I see…”
I considered multitasking a normal thing but… it might certainly seem a little too difficult for students who were aiming to beco servants in the future. Moreover–
“Not paying much attention in class certainly isn’t sothing to be praised for. Did you co talk to to teach that?”
“No, I just brought that up on a whim. What I wanted to tell you is what Luke and Chloe were talking about at the beginning. What did you do to Lady Sophia?”
“I- I haven’t done anything?”
“It’s weird for you to get to the point of stuttering though, isn’t it? If there’s sothing troubling you, talk to . You might think of as soone unreliable, but I’ll at least hear you out.”
Not only Raymond but Luke and Chloe also were nodding along. I see…They were worried about because I was acting strange?
“Thank you, you three. But really, I’m fine.”
“You can’t rely on us that much?”
“No, it’s nothing like that, not in the slightest.”
It was just that Lady Sophia was in a bad mood because she saw Alicia and I acting affectionate. I definitely couldn’t tell them anything that might turn into a scandal for my Lady. Moreover, most importantly–
“This is sothing that I have to resolve by myself.”
Why did Lady Sophia react differently than any other ti before? I had to find that out by myself, so it wasn’t sothing that I should get told by soone else.
“But I appreciate the thought,” I added.
“…So, you’re alright?”
“Yes. I’m sorry I’ve made you worry. I promise that I won’t space out anymore.”
“If that’s the case, then there’s nothing else I need to say. We should start our discussion soon.”
I imdiately recalled the matter of the party that Pala was organizing. From ti to ti, parties organized by the students would be hosted at the Academy during off-days. These parties served as both a place where noble children could get used to high society, as well as a place where they could find their future servants.
For Pala’s party, both class A and B of the servant course were suitable. Thanks to Lady Sophia’s influence, our class A was the one in charge this ti. It was an opportunity for us of the servant course to showcase our abilities.
However, this party was a bit peculiar. Pala’s—the host’s—family was a Count household, so they weren’t that well-off. Not to ntion that the funds she could use, as soone who wasn’t even a direct successor, were limited, so there wasn’t even that much money we could spend on the party. Therefore, we had to hold an impressive party with very little funds. Since we were wondering among ourselves how to do that, we decided that we would each share our ideas. And so Raymond was the first to speak.
“I was thinking that we could narrow down the number of dishes and try our luck with novel desserts, like the crêpes. If we do that, we should be able to reduce the costs considerably.”
By the way, this didn’t an that crêpes were cheap. But, since the price of sugar was noticeably higher, making it stand out from the other ingredients, the truth was that crêpes were comparatively economical since they used less sugar than the other mainstream sugary desserts.
“Okay, so my idea next, right? How about we don’t call the orchestra but invite students from the regular courses that major in music under the pretext of offering them a chance to perform?”
Next up was Chloe’s idea. There was a convenient phrase called ‘noblesse oblige’ that the nobility used. Although it ant ‘duty imposed onto people of status,’ generally, it was often used when nurturing a talented commoner.
In short, inviting a professional musical group was costly. So, we would invite students justifying it by saying that we were giving commoner students who aid to beco professionals an opportunity to perform, and would get them to perform for free.
“While I believe that this reasoning is effective… are we only going to allow students to perform the whole ti? Won’t the party lack so kind of climax?”
“Hey, don’t we have so people who aren’t on a student’s level for that?”
Chloe gave a aningful look.
“By so chance, are you telling to perform too?”
“Your skills couldn’t be better, Cyril, so if you were to perform… you know?”
“…I see.”
If I were to perform, it was very likely that not just Lady Sophia, but even Prince Alforth might participate as well. No one could say that the performances were shabby if Royalty joined in as well as Lady Sophia, who was exceptionally skilled.
“Alright, it’s my turn then. I was thinking, what if we got Lady Sophia’s backing? Considering her connection to Lady Pala, I believe that the chances of success are pretty good. What do you think?”
Luke was asking for my opinion but I didn’t think that it was a bad idea at all. Pala belonged to Lady Sophia’s faction. Because of that, the other faction mbers, starting from Lady Sophia, would be attending as well. So if the party was shabby, it could end up bringing sha upon Lady Sophia.
“There’s one problem. Given her position, Lady Sophia can’t show Lady Pala too much favoritism. What are your thoughts on that?”
Pala herself didn’t beco a mber of the faction right during the first term and, while poor, her family was that of a Count. If Lady Sophia supported her extensively, it could easily be seen as favoritism by the other mbers.
“To tell the truth, I hadn’t thought as far as how to prevent that. But I was thinking that, as long as we put all our heads together, we might co up with a good idea.”
“I see…”
His idea would have been perfect if he had thought as far as how to prevent these consequences, but considering that he was a student, I could say that it was satisfactory. Most importantly, that idea was very close to a thought that I had considered myself.
“Well then, allow to tell you my idea. If we don’t have the funds then we should just make them.”
“Make them…? Don’t tell you want to make Lady Pala’s household pay up?”
Luke had a puzzled expression.
“Of course not, I wouldn’t say sothing as unreasonable as that. I was thinking that we could offer Libert parents’ business, the LaCour Company, a deal.”
“Don’t tell you want to make the LaCour Company provide us with capital?”
“Yes, I want to do exactly that. Luckily, there’s profit in it for Libert as well.”
The LaCour Company had plans to start selling the very sa crêpes that Raymond wanted to focus on, large-scale. We should propose that, if we didn’t have to make the crêpes ourselves but were provided with them instead, we would advertise the shop’s na. Of course, they couldn’t do this every ti, but it was a considerably feasible thod due to the timing.
“But if they just provide us with the crêpes, that wouldn’t be really providing us with much funding, would it?”
“It wouldn’t be just crêpes. Since his family owns a huge company, we’d also showcase their expensive furnishings and if we received an advertisent fee for that, wouldn’t we have more than enough funds?”
“No… that’s impossible, isn’t it?”
Bewildered, Luke exchanged a look with Chloe and Raymond.
“Why do you think that it’s impossible?”
“No, I an… It’s just a small-scale party among students. Setting selling crêpes aside, there’s no way that expensive furnishings would sell. And if the advertisent is aningless, then they won’t give us any advertisent fee.”
“Then, do you believe that if the expensive furnishings did sell, they would give us the funds?”
“That’s… well, yeah.”
Us students of the servant’s courses knew the price of expensive furnishings and how much it cost to make. Considering the difference between this cost and price, it wasn’t hard to imagine that the capital would be enough to make a small party magnificent.
“If that were the case, the rest would be easy. So we should promise them that at least one piece will definitely sell.”
“No but, if we can’t sell it, then what do we do?”
“Wait—”
Chloe held up her arm as if she was trying to block Luke’s words. It seed that she was the first one to realize my plan.
“So that’s what you’re planning?” Chloe asked , her eyes narrowing. “…Geez, sotis you co up with really outrageous ideas.”
She sighed as she shrugged and, from her expression, it was impossible to tell whether she was praising or whether she was just exasperated.
“Don’t just keep it to yourself, explain!” Luke hounded her for an answer.
“Cyril is saying that if we are provided with the capital for the party, we will advertise the goods by showcasing them, and purchase a piece of the expensive furnishings.”
“No, but, who would–”
‘–buy such expensive furnishing?’ The rest of Luke’s unasked question hung in the air as Chloe pointed at .
“We just have to keep up appearances. It’s not like it’s an exam or anything.”
He also wanted to make the party a success for Lady Sophia’s sake, but offering direct support was difficult. Therefore, Lady Sophia would shop at the LaCour Company. Using these profits, the LaCour Company would provide funds for Pala’s party as an advertisent fee. And everything would be resolved.
“In addition, let’s consider everyone’s proposals as well. If we manage to apply all of them well, we’ll be able to hold a party that no one will have any complaints about.”
Thus, we thrashed out the details of Pala’s party. We all shared our ideas and were able to sohow overco the first hurdle, but–
“Cyril, I would like to talk to you about sothing.”
When I returned to the mansion, I bumped into another hurdle in the form of a confrontation with Lady Sophia.
Thank you for reading!!
Cyril admitting he was thinking about Lady Sophia got gasping he said that in front of the whole class' salads lol!
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