Unpredictable
I arrived with Elina-san at a restaurant so extravagant that even the word “luxury” felt too modest. A place said to occasionally host even dukes or, depending on the situation, members of the royal family.
Having been brought somewhere like this, I leaned toward Elina-san and spoke to her in a low voice.
“Elina-san, um… a place like this is really too much for someone like me—”
“I’m paying, so don’t worry about it and just eat whatever you want! Oh, but if nothing here suits your taste, we’ll go to a different place, okay? No need to be polite… just wait here for a bit.”
“Ah.”
Without waiting to hear me out, Elina-san walked off to speak with the tuxedoed man at the front.
The distance made it hard to hear their conversation, even from afar, she did not look the slightest bit nervous in this setting. Her demeanor suggested she belonged here. It might even be fair to say that Elina-san was someone very important.
Elizalina’s Side
“I’d like a table for two. Do you have any open seats? If possible, we’d prefer a private room.”
Elizalina was wearing a red hood. At the establishments she frequented, it was customary for her to wear it whenever she visited incognito, not as Elizalina, but as an ordinary person. A figure in a red hood was rare enough on its own, but the moment the tuxedoed man at the front heard her voice, he recognized her without needing to see her face and responded with respectful formality.
“Elina-sama, thank you very much for coming again today. We currently have two private rooms available. Please, feel free to use one.”
It was also customary to address her as “Elina” when she wore the red hood.
“Got it~”
When she spoke, Elizalina sounded like any ordinary seventeen-year-old girl. But the fact that she helped maintain peace throughout the nation was common knowledge, so the man at the front remained completely composed.
“Elina-sama, if I may… isn’t this the first time you’ve brought someone else with you?”
“Yeah, it is. Oh, and by the way… it’s strictly confidential that I came here with someone, okay?”
“…Understood.”
Whatever the reason, if the second princess Elizalina ordered silence, the man could do nothing but comply.
With the exchange at the front complete, Elizalina returned to the entrance where Lux was waiting and called out to him.
“Lux, we got a table. Let’s go!”
“Y-Yes!”
Still visibly tense, Lux followed Elizalina as she led him into the private room.
Inside, a table draped in a red tablecloth stood beside flower-adorned vases and chairs.
Once they sat across from each other, Lux spoke, trying to mask his nervousness.
“Do you come to places like this often, Elina-san?”
“Yeah, I do.”
Elizalina frequently wandered through the city to see the peaceful streets she had helped preserve, and simply because she enjoyed delicious food and cute clothes and loved trying them on herself. Among royalty, she was unusually active in the city. And as for whether she often visited high-end establishments like this one, the answer was naturally yes.
Hearing this from Elizalina, Lux responded with a somewhat nervous smile.
“I see… I haven’t really been to places like this before, so I can’t help feeling a little out of place.”
“I see. Lux, are you a commoner? Or nobility?”
Elizalina asked the question already assuming, based on her vast experience with people and knowledge of human nature, that Lux was a commoner.
But someone like Lux being a commoner feels like such a waste. I should ask Father to make him a noble.
That thought had barely settled in her mind when Lux’s next words struck her like a bolt from the blue.
“I’m from a count’s family.”
“Wha!?”
A noble, and not just any noble. Someone from a count’s household, ranking higher than a baron or a viscount. Completely unpredictable.
Compared to her two royal sisters, Elizalina was far less skilled with a sword. But when it came to intelligence, especially anything involving psychological insight or rhetorical prowess, she far surpassed even Felisiana.
For Elizalina to miscalculate something this thoroughly was rare. No, it might even have been the first time.
Shaken by the realization, Elizalina asked Lux another question.
“…Have you always been one, since birth?”
“Yes, I have.”
Naturally, Lux had no reason to lie here, and Elizalina, whose words had helped bring an end to civil war in the kingdom, had spoken with enough people throughout her life to tell at a glance whether someone was lying. There was no doubt. Lux was telling the truth.
He was born a count’s son, and yet he’s grown up to be this kind and humble? Why? How?
Elizalina’s thoughts continued to spiral.
Does Lux have a wish? What are his hobbies? What time does he go to sleep? What time does he wake up? What’s his favorite food?
The gentle, comfortable, and utterly unpredictable Lux seated across from her was a wellspring of endless fascination.
With that thought, Elizalina felt her mood rise higher than it ever had before, only for her eyes to catch a glimpse of her red hood, pulling her soaring heart abruptly back to the ground.
“…”
If she took off this hood, every man would either be enchanted by her or begin harboring impure thoughts. Maybe it was partly thanks to her skill with words, but even if she wanted to win Lux over right now, all she would need to do was remove the hood and think a little strategically, and she could make it happen.
Whether that was truly possible or not would become clear the moment she took off the hood.
If Lux’s attitude or emotions shifted even slightly upon seeing her face, Elizalina would notice it instantly. From the smallest change in his expression to the subtlest movement of his body.
She hesitated over whether to remove the hood… but eventually, she told herself she couldn’t keep living in a dream forever, reached for the hood, and spoke.
“Come to think of it, I promised I’d take off the hood next time we met, didn’t I? So… I’ll take it off for you.”
“You did… But you don’t have to force yourself, just because of a promise—”
“No, I’ll do it. Goodbye, Lux…”
With a sad voice, Elizalina pulled back the hood, revealing the beauty of her face in full.
And as she did, she wore a soft, resigned smile, as if she had already accepted the outcome.