I See, So the Dessert is Sherbet Bread………
“Lucy, there’s no need to gently dab……”
“I am wet and being exposed to the flames of jealousy, steam is liable to start coming off of me if I don’t dry myself.”
“Right……somehow, sorry.”
Claudio tried to apologize, but Lucy shook her head as she didn’t really care.
At the same time, Lucy could feel herself slowly drying off from magic as the culprit of this time’s sudden downpour was afraid of Claudio. Lucy had no idea where the culprit was, but Claudio’s blue eyes were glaring at one corner of the schoolhouse, so they were probably around there. Like Ortensia, Claudio was able to follow the trail of magic to discover the perpetrators.
And then the sight of several people fleeing the scene with their tails between their legs just made Lucy want to sigh. He was simply performing his duty as the student council president, but she still felt like she had to thank him somehow.
But when Lucy parted her lips and had just spoken the word, “Party,” she found a pair of fingers placed squarely over her lips preventing her from saying any more.
“…….Claudio?”
“The ban on escort invitations has still yet to be lifted. Please wait to give me your response until then.”
“Is that how it is?”
“Ah, I have to wait for my answer else set a bad example for all the excited first years.”
Claudio spoke plainly, but the frustration was clear in his voice.
There is Lucy right in front of him, yet he has to postpone the answer himself. Unless he decides to circumvent the risk? Even now he has almost irritatingly good looks that make him appear as if he was a prince that had just jumped out of a storybook, but the expression on that chiseled face was unmistakably that of an ordinary young man.
Those thoughts gave Lucy a small smile, and so she pulled out the book she kept underneath her clothes.
“Claudio, I want to show you something good.”
“Something good?”
“I won’t give you a reply, but I do want to show you my most important book at least.”
“What kind of book is it?”
“It’s a book that I write only the most important things in. Oh, but don’t tell Ortensia you saw this. She still aims for it whenever I look away.”
If it was found out that Claudio had seen it, she would almost certainly call out, “I want to see it too!” and become even more bothersome. Realizing Lucy’s worries, Claudio smiled and let out a small laugh at the easily imaginable scene involving the young lady of the Rosedot family.
After affirming Claudio’s consent, Lucy slowly opened her book. The book itself was as small as the last joint of a person’s little finger, and while Lucy always kept it on her person, she used a constant barrier to keep it safe and waterproof. Of course that meant she was always using a small portion of magic power to keep it going……
And thinking that far, Lucy suddenly narrowed her eyes.
Always wearing it, always keep it close to her, always using magic. From as far back as her memories went she kept this with her…….
Always, always………what had she forgotten?
“……Lucy?”
Claudio called out to her, and Lucy’s mind returned to the present issue.
“Are you all right?”
“…..ah, yes. That’s right, the book”
Putting her past thoughts to the side for now, Lucy brought her attention to the small book in her hand.
Opening it to the latest page to be used, she moved the loupe over the words she had written.
‘Important! Going to a party with Claudio!’
“…..Lucy, this is”
“It’s not a reply. I am simply showing you what kinds of things I write in my book.”
Or so Lucy was insisting, and in turn Claudio softly smiled and placed his hand on the top of her head. He began patting her head as had become the usual…..and then after a sudden jerk, she was drawn in.
Lucy’s forehead was laid directly on top of his shoulder.
“…..Claudio?”
“Yeah, you just showed me a book.”
His face looked so peaceful that Lucy decided to not say anything more, and with a soft smile, she put the book and magnifying glass back underneath her shirt.
Conrad, who was having a leisurely stroll through the academy grounds at the same time, suddenly stopped his feet when he heard a loud, “Mi~!” in the distance.
Moving to where the voice had come from, he saw a group of several male students gathered together. Looking closely, you could catch glimpses of something inbetween the gaps of them……..straight golden hair.
Conrad watched on curiously for a second, but he quickly panicked when another scream, “Mi~!” came again. This one sounded worse than before.
“Lady Ortensia.”
When he called out her name, everyone’s eyes focused on him.
As expected, all of the men surrounding her looked to be very well off, and Conrad knew most of them purely by their reputation. Nevertheless he ignored the looks he got for interrupting them and continued to walk straight towards Ortensia.
Around him a few of the men snorted, “Is that Conrad?” but to him, their tones of ridicule in their voices and cold glares meant nothing. Not even worth getting angry over. After all Liztena Magic Academy is a school where social circles are formed based on the disparity of magic power and pedigree, this level of ridicule is a daily occurrence for someone at the bottom.
That was why Conrad never even bothered offering the men a sideways glance as his eyes were focused entirely on Ortensia in front of him.
“Lady Ortensia, Claudio was calling for you.”
“Mi~……….um, Claudio was?”
“Yes, sorry, but would you follow me?”
As Conrad urged her to, Ortensia eventually nodded and moved to follow him.
The surrounding men were reluctant to say anything to stop them after Claudio’s name came out like that. Conrad was bottom of the barrel trash far below any of them in family name, but there would be trouble of they crossed Claudio. That’s why everybody gave Conrad a deep scowl, and after making their displeasure apparent…….they made way for Ortensia to leave.
However, it seems that they had not given up on their initial goals as, “Please think about it,” and “It would be beneficial for us both,” and other entreaties followed after them as they left.
Once the two of them were completely out of eyesight from the would-be suitors, Ortensia released her held breath in a large sigh.
Those men had only introduced themselves to her using their family names, and after successfully escaping a group of men whose family names would rival that of even the Rosedot family, she and Conrad gave each other bitter smiles as all the hidden tension rushed out of the both of them.
“Thank you Conrad. I was at a loss for how to deal with them.”
“I didn’t know there were so many so desperate to escort you.”
“No, not me, the daughter of the Rosedot family.”
There was no color of pessimism in Ortensia’s expression, nor were there any signs of indignation against her own circumstances inside her calm, clear voice. She was simply stating an obvious fact.
The fact that those men only saw Ortensia as ‘the daughter of the Rosedot family’. The proof was in how she had been completely surrounded, each man selling themselves to try and obtain her.
“Those people, they thought I was surely going to be escorted by Claudio, but when he gave that flower to Lucy…so now they’re tripping over themselves to call out to me.”
“…..Honestly, there have been many guys coming up to me since this year started trying to get me to introduce them to you.”
“Having escorted the daughter of the Rosedot family would be a fine feather in anyone’s cap. Otherwise there would be no one who would invite a troublesome Mi~ Mi~ woman like me.”¹
“Lady Ortensia, such a thing…..you’re aware of it!?”
“Of course. People have been trying to use my family name since long ago!”
“No not that, the Mi~ Mi~’s!”
“That!?”
She was conscious of it, yet she did nothing to stop it! Conrad was so surprised by the revelation that he ended up yelling in surprise completely throwing off the mood of the conversation.
But then Ortensia followed up with, “So where is Claudio, and why did he send you?” The conversation had returned to the present matter…..and Conrad was forced to lower his head.
“……..Conrad?”
“I am terribly sorry. I have lied to you.”
“Lied?”
“I thought you were in trouble…..so I lied and said that Claudio was calling you.”
“……..Mi~.”
Ortensia mad a small sound as she breathed in.
Conrad on the other hand scratched his head while raising it up and let out a small sigh.
“It’s pretty pathetic having to borrow your friends name like that, don’t you think?”
“…..such”
“I couldn’t drive them away without using my friend’s influence. Even with the circumstances of my house being what they are, I am”
“Mi~!”
That’s not true! was what Ortensia’s stalwart Mi~ was conveying. —It’s solid proof of a habit that will never be cured because it has applications like now.—
Conrad raised his face at the sudden interruption, and for the first time, he really noticed the beautiful blonde haired girl with a deep red face pelting him with “Mi~ MI~” both long and small.
“……..Lady Ortensia?”
“I, that is, I have a pale color dress…….”
“A, dress?”
Why are you talking about a dress now? Conrad tilted his head to the side while Ortensia restless moved her hands in front of her chest.
Her cheeks were a deep shade of red extending all the way back to her ears, and in Conrad’s mind he started to marvel at how it had almost hit the same shade as his hair.
“I arranged it with flowers and ribbons…….a soft line dress²……..Also, I’ll have my hair done, tied up with a ribbon……..”
“Is that so, that sounds very…..”
Conrad was about to tell her how lovely that sounded before he forcefully swallowed those words.
A light colored dress decorated with flowers and ribbons, and hair tied up with a ribbon as well……..doesn’t that sound like nothing else other than his own personal tastes?
It’s exceptionally dead on……..
Just as he had told Lucy……..
“……..Or-Lady Ortensia?”
“Conrad, I……..I……..”
Ortensia looked right at Conrad as if she had come to a decision.
Her golden hair shook in the wind, but she did not care enough to hold it down. Her face was bright red, but her eyes looked straight on resolute with a deep breath to match those strong intentions……….
“I-I, to you! Miiiiiiii~!!”
and then she ran away crying.
“Miiiiiiii~!!”
“Yes, that’s why I told you, ‘You must absolutely give up on inviting him yourself!’ before.”
“Mi~, Miiiiiiii~!!”
“It’s because that’s how you talk.”
Lucy nodded while replying to Ortensia who was still crying.
After parting with Claudio, Lucy had been relaxing in her room when Ortensia came charging in and jumped in bed with her.
No matter what she asked her, “Miiiiiiii~!!” was all she got back, but after the first couple “Miiiiiiii~!!”, she was able to pick up the situation and understood the reason for all the tears.
“Although you definitely did well, since you are a high-ranking noble, the question of whether or not your feelings were adequately transmitted to Conrad remains to be seen.
“……..Mi~………Mi~, Mi~……….”
“Alright, I’ll listen to everything carefully.”
So being calmed down, and made a little less annoying, Ortensia was left sitting at the top of Lucy’s bed, holding Lucy’s pillow close to her, still sniffling a bit inside Lucy’s room, “…….thanks,” and just this one time, she meekly voiced her feelings in normal words.
Meanwhile, at a place exactly like Lucy’s room, in the same relative location as Lucy’s room just in the men’s dorm instead of the women’s,
“O-Lady Ortensia is, no way, I-I, towards me…..”
Conrad was left mumbling similar phrases to himself on repeat. He came straight to his room after eating dinner, but his head was filled with scenes from the previous matter the entire time.
As for his roommate Claudio,
“I bought that bread decorated with shredded bread along with that bread as a side dish, so should I splurge and have some of that baked bread placed on top of bread…….
that roommate was so caught up in his own ecstasy that he was spending all of his time pacing around their dining room making a meal with zero thought towards the ingredients.
1. This is the first time Ortensia used one of her “Mi~’s” in the middle of the sentence. So if you take them out, she is saying that nobody would want her. Leave them in though, and she is saying that nobody would want to deal with the Mi~’s.
2. Just in case you’re like me and don’t know what a soft line dress is, it’s another term for an A line style dress. So one with a skirt that starts at your hips and gradually widens as you work your way down.