Another Guest
"Welcome, young master Weinstein. We've been waiting for you."
It wasn't Leje or Alma who was waiting for him when he arrived at the Dukedom's mansion.
"I am Frishe, the head maid of the Dukedom."
She was a woman with light sky-blue hair and eyes so tightly closed that one might wonder how she could see. Her emotionless, mechanical voice was striking.
"Hello."
"The young lady and the head maid are unable to come out as their preparations are taking longer than expected."
"Ah, I see."
It wasn't something Rudell couldn't understand.
After all, this birthday was the occasion where Leje would be recognized as a full-fledged adult.
Naturally, there would be a lot to prepare for.
Perhaps even ten bodies wouldn't be enough.
"This way, please. I'll guide you to the waiting area."
"Ah, yes."
Frishe bowed politely to Rudell, who was lost in thought, and he followed her.
A moment later…
'It's been quite a while since I've been here.'
After walking down the familiar hallway for a few minutes…
"Please wait here."
He arrived at a place familiar to him.
"This is…"
A garden filled with countless flowers and plants.
It was the garden he had visited on his second visit to the Dukedom.
"If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask the maids on standby."
"Yes, thank you."
Rudell nodded to Frishe as she bowed, and she turned and left the garden.
The door closed with a heavy sound, and Rudell turned to look around the garden.
The sound of water flowing from the fountain in the middle of the garden.
The sound of the spring breeze rustling through the leaves.
Even the sound of small birds chirping, hidden among the bushes.
Everything was exactly as he remembered it.
"This is still here."
Just then, he saw a familiar table.
A table polished so brightly that it reflected the face of anyone who looked at it.
"You asked me to be your friend here."
Rudell stopped in front of it and recalled the memory of that time.
[I want to be your friend.]
"It's been a long time…"
Seven years, to be exact.
It was enough time for a boy and a girl who used to play hide-and-seek to become recognized as adults.
As he reminisced about old memories and smiled…
"Huh? Who are you? I've never seen you before?"
"…?"
A voice came from behind him, and Rudell turned his head at the unfamiliar voice.
And he saw a woman.
She was a head taller than Leje and had a voluptuous figure.
She was a beauty with mature features, dark red hair, and striking golden eyes that sparkled beneath it.
"Being here means you must have been invited personally by Leje…"
"Nice to meet you. I'm Rudellheit Weinstein, Princess Karens."
Rudell knelt, observing the woman who was looking at him with narrowed eyes.
Cayley Jane Karens.
Like Leje's Lagrind Dukedom, she was the princess of the Karens Dukedom, one of the five Dukedoms in the Kingdom.
"Weinstein? Ah! You're Leje's boyfriend!!"
"Boy, boyfriend!?"
Rudell exclaimed in surprise at Cayley's words, as if she had remembered something.
To be honest, Rudell had thought of himself as Leje's friend, but never as her boyfriend.
"Aren't you her boyfriend? If you're a boy and a friend, aren't you a boyfriend?"
"Ah, is that what you meant…"
Considering her personality, she must have said it with the awareness of them being in a relationship.
In the original story, her role was to tease Leje.
Of course, Rudell couldn't openly question it.
In some ways, she was even more dangerous than Leje.
"By the way, I was curious about what kind of guy Leje made friends with, but you're quite decent looking?"
"…"
The fact that she could say rude things without hesitation meant that she held a high position.
Someone with sufficient status and power had no reason to consider the feelings of those below them, right?
"Oh, I'm late to introduce myself. I'm Cayley Karens, the daughter of the Karens Dukedom, as you just said. Nice to meet you."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Karens."
Although she tended to speak rudely, it wasn't because she was inherently bad.
She simply had a very straightforward and unpretentious personality, unbound by authority or status.
In fact, in the novel, she often took good care of the people around her and provided crucial help to the main characters when they were stuck.
This meant that she was a trustworthy ally.
"You were invited by Leje too, right?"
"Yes, I was."
Her saying "too" meant that she had also been invited by Leje.
By now, Rudell could guess Leje's intentions.
She must have wanted to introduce him to Cayley.
"Come on, don't look so serious. Come sit over here."
"Then I won't decline."
Cayley took a seat at the table, and Rudell nodded and sat across from her.
"Hey, can you bring some tea and snacks?"
"Yes, Princess Karens."
At Cayley's words, a nearby maid went to fetch them, and Cayley narrowed her eyes at Rudell.
"Hmm. You pass for now."
"Pass… you say?"
It wasn't hard for Rudell to understand what she meant.
"Let me say it again, I'm not in that kind of relationship with Princess Lagrind."
"Hmm…? Is that so?"
Cayley's eyes narrowed, and Rudell felt a sense of foreboding as she looked at him.
"Then what about me? Aren't I much more beautiful than Leje?"
Cayley stood up and approached Rudell with a seductive smile.
Her thigh brushed lightly against his knee as if to tempt him…
"I can give you anything you want."
It was true.
Politically, Cayley's Karens Dukedom was far more powerful than Leje's Lagrind Dukedom.
But…
"Princess, with all due respect, I think your joke has gone too far."
Rudell hadn't become friends with Leje to gain power from her.
It was for a greater cause, to prevent a future where she and those around her would be hurt or killed.
"It seems I've misjudged you. You're certainly different from those common good-for-nothings."
Apparently satisfied with his answer, Cayley sat back down with a smile, as if nothing had happened.
"I apologize. I couldn't just stand by and watch my dear younger sister go out with some useless guy."
"I understand."
He would have reacted the same way if he saw Leje hanging out with a bad guy.
Cayley's actions just now were understandable to Rudell.
"So, I guess it's time to hear the story, right?"
"What story…"
"Hehe. It's only natural, isn't it?"
Cayley rested her chin on her hand and looked at him with a mischievous smile.
"How you two met."
"…"
So it was going in this direction…
Her personality was playful at best…
At worst, she was a bit of a bully.
Leje, when are you coming…
He needed Leje to come as soon as possible to escape this situation.
Rudell felt a longing for Leje more than ever as he tried to stall for time.
-BAM!
The garden door burst open with a loud bang…
"Sisteeeeer-!!"
Leje appeared, dressed in a light green dress and breathing heavily.
"Oh my. Our little sister is here?"
Cayley chuckled at the sight of her, and Leje strode towards her and slammed her hands on the table as if she were about to break it.
"Rudell, are you okay? Did my sister say anything weird to you?"
"Oh, come on. As if I would say anything weird to your boyfriend."
Cayley gave a playful smile in response to Leje's question, her eyes narrowed.
And at that moment, Rudell saw it.
Cayley glared at him with sharp eyes.
'Say anything and you're dead.'
That's what her eyes seemed to be saying.
"I-It's… nothing happened…"
She was a princess from the same Dukedom as Leje.
Rudell had no choice.
"Really? That's surprising… Wait! What do you mean boyfriend!?"
"If he's a boy and a friend, he's a boyfriend, what else would he be?"
"This sister of mine, really…!!"
The once peaceful(?) garden of the Dukedom.
A storm began to brew within it.
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Pls upload more chapter
ReplyDeleteShe is also girl and friend that mean she is?
ReplyDeleteTwo head maids?
ReplyDelete