A Skillful Feat
Lux’s Side
After having dinner with Elina-san, I returned home and began studying in my room as usual.
I had been studying for several dozen minutes when someone knocked on my door.
“Master! May I have a moment of your time?”
That was Siana’s voice, loud and clear. Maybe it’s something urgent.
“Sure, come in.”
As soon as I said that, Siana opened my door and stepped inside.
Now that I think back, Siana wasn’t at the mansion when I returned today. Maybe what she wants to talk about is related to that… I turned to Siana, who was standing beside me, and she asked me a question.
“Master! Did anything happen today?”
“…Huh?”
Today… did something happen?
The way she asked made it clear she was anxious, but with only that question, I wasn’t sure how to answer. I decided to ask for more details.
“Um… when you say ‘something,’ do you mean at the noble academy?”
When I asked that, Siana shook her head.
“No! I mean after you left the noble academy!”
After leaving the noble academy… so she’s talking about when I went into the city.
But why would Siana ask about that… Could it be that she was also in the city today and happened to see me?
And then… oh, I see. Maybe she saw me walking with Elina-san, the person wearing the red hood from her perspective, and got worried.
To confirm, I asked her.
“Siana, were you in the city today by any chance?”
After a brief pause, Siana answered.
“…Yes! I saw you walking alongside someone wearing a hood, and if you were involved in some kind of trouble, I wanted to be of help!”
So I was right… But if that’s the case, I need to put her mind at ease right away.
“If that’s what this is about, you don’t have to worry. I wasn’t caught up in anything. I just had dinner with that person.”
“But… why would you have dinner with someone you don’t know?”
“It’s not like they were a complete stranger. We happened to talk once before at a clothing store, and since we ran into each other again today, she invited me to eat.”
“…So then, it really was just dinner, and nothing else happened, right?”
“Nothing else…? Yeah, that’s all it was.”
I wasn’t sure exactly what Siana was so worried about, but since all I did with Elina-san was have a meal, I told her the plain truth.
I assumed that would reassure her, but Siana still didn’t look convinced.
I’m the one who made her worry, so I want to do something to cheer her up.
“…Master, if it’s alright, could you tell me that person’s name or appearance—”
“Oh, right! Siana! There are only a few days left until our outing together this weekend!”
“Ah…!”
I decided to shift the topic to something more cheerful, no, not just to ease her concern. This was something I genuinely wanted to talk about with Siana.
“There are so many places I want to go with you, Siana.”
“I-I see… But still, I would like to know more about the person in the red hood—”
“How about you, Siana? Is there anywhere you want to go with me?”
“Th-That is… um…”
I watched Siana with warmth in my heart, and as I did, her anxious expression suddenly transformed into one of joy.
“Yes! There are lots of places I want to go with you, Master!”
“Really!? Where do you want to go?”
“First, I was thinking…”
Then the two of us began happily discussing where we’d go this weekend for our outing.
I really do love seeing Siana smile like that.
Violet’s Side
“To think that a conversation ordered by Ojou-sama, meant to gather information about the person in the red hood from Rodwell-sama, was so easily transformed into a discussion about where the two of them would go on their next outing… Such a feat is surely beyond even First Princess-sama or Second Princess-sama.”
Even as she muttered to herself, Violet watched the two of them cheerfully making plans for their weekend and couldn’t help but feel envious.
“I, too, wish I could be with Rodwell-sama in that way… It’s strange, truly strange… I thought I had long since abandoned the life of a woman expected to be sought after. And yet, when I look at Rodwell-sama, those thoughts flood my mind once again… I wonder, if I were to wear a dress, what kind of expression Rodwell-sama would make? I know I would never look as beautiful as Ojou-sama, Second Princess-sama, or Florence-sama, but even so… would he think I looked at least a little lovely…?”
Realizing what she had just said, Violet felt a flush of embarrassment spread across her cheeks and she shook her head.
At the same moment she spoke the word “lovely,” her eyes fell upon her own hands. She gently placed her left hand atop her right and whispered.
“These bloodstained hands… and yet, Rodwell-sama said they were beautiful…”
Violet, who had once loathed her own hands, now touched them with a tenderness she had never shown since meeting Lux.