Chapter 294: Possibility
When Nora Ashwell and Floria Florence arrived at the room together, they each sat on one of the two sofas, facing one another.
“Well then, may I ask you to tell me about today’s event right away?”
“Yes! Of course!”
As always, the pitiful Floria Florence, who hadn’t been invited by Elizalina, had come to hear about it as if begging her.
Seeing that, Nora Ashwell, in an extremely good mood, replied cheerfully.
Then she continued.
“But before that, the important thing is why I was invited to today’s event and you weren’t! The most likely explanation is that Elizalina-sama realized I’m more capable than you, Florence! I think you know this too, but Elizalina-sama is a very good judge of character… so she must have realized that my loss to you in that swordsmanship tournament was just a fluke—”
“That point is certainly very interesting as well, but may I first ask you to tell me about the event itself?”
Why Nora Ashwell had been invited while Floria Florence had not was certainly important, but Floria Florence did not believe she had been passed over based on ability.
It wasn’t because she had absolute confidence in herself, but because she suspected there was some other intention behind her not being invited this time.
And in order to probe that intention, she urged Nora Ashwell to talk about the event itself.
Nora Ashwell opened her mouth and said,
“Hmph! You really want to know that badly? Fine, I’ll stop teasing and tell you what happened today!”
Then Nora Ashwell lowered her voice slightly and spoke in a comparatively calm tone.
“First, the thing that surprised me the most when I arrived at the venue was that Rodwell-kun was there.”
“!? Lux-sama was…?”
She had heard that Elizalina was gathering people, mainly from ducal families, but she had never expected the name of Lux, the man she loved, to come up here.
When Floria Florence showed her honest surprise, Nora Ashwell nodded.
“Yeah, he seemed puzzled about being invited to Elizalina-sama’s event, but from my point of view it was only natural that Rodwell-kun would be invited, and inviting him just shows how sharp Elizalina-sama’s judgment is!”
Nora Ashwell nodded repeatedly at her own words.
However, Floria Florence felt doubtful.
Certainly, if it’s Lux-sama, there would be nothing strange about him being invited to the Second Princess’s event… but.
In that case, it made it all the more incomprehensible why she herself had not been invited.
As an objective fact, Floria Florence excelled both academically and in swordsmanship. She was the daughter of a ducal house that held great power in this country, and she was also a schoolmate of Lux and Nora Ashwell, who had been invited to the event.
When the facts were laid out like this, it would be stranger if she had not been invited.
As she reaffirmed that thought, Nora Ashwell continued.
“And this was the most surprising part. The main purpose after the event was to announce that Elizalina-sama had found a man she wishes to be engaged to, and to celebrate in advance the future birth of the next king in case she ends up united with him!”
“The Second Princess has a man she wishes to be engaged to…?”
“That’s right! It seems it’s only a wish for now and not decided yet, but it means that for the first time, one of those three princesses has said she wants to get engaged to someone!”
“…”
Floria Florence knew all too well that Felisiana wanted to become engaged to Lux, so it wasn’t truly the first among the three princesses.
Even so, the news that Elizalina wanted to become engaged to someone was unexpected.
As she was thinking that, Nora Ashwell said something even more unexpected.
“After that announcement, Elizalina-sama came over to where Rodwell-kun and I were!”
“The Second Princess came to where you and Lux-sama were…?”
“Yes, I was surprised at first, but it seems Elizalina-sama and Rodwell-kun are close, and since she said she wanted to talk with him alone, I left them there! After that, the two of them apparently moved somewhere else and talked by themselves.”
Inside Floria Florence, the pieces of information began connecting one by one.
Lux and Elizalina were close. She wanted to speak with him alone. The man she wished to be engaged to. The reason Floria Florence had not been invited.
Connecting those pieces of information, Floria Florence arrived at a single possibility.
Could it be that the person the Second Princess wishes to be engaged to is Lux-sama, just like the Third Princess and me…?
It was a far-fetched leap, an idea that even seemed more likely to be wrong.
But once Floria Florence reached that conclusion, she could no longer let go of that possibility.