After my belongings were stored in my bedroom, I went to the room where I would be taking lessons the next day. It was there that the instructor gave an introductory address.
The twin princes went to attend their duties, while Mary and Sophia joined me, and we sat on the chairs that had been prepared for us. There were many other young men and women in the room with us, presumably nobles who were here to attend the seminar too.
The instructor, an old man, told us that we would be studying from dawn to dusk.
This could be the first time I have to study this much in a single day… Back at the academy my talented friends were always there to help me cram the night before the exams.
I did study a lot before the high school entrance exam in my past life, though, motivated by Acchan’s promise that she would lend me her otome games for as long as I wanted if I passed.
“Lady Katarina, you seem to be spacing out… Is everything alright?”
“Are you not feeling well?”
My two friends spoke up, dragging me out of my musings and back down to earth.
“I was just thinking that we’ll have to study a lot. Doesn’t it sound harsh?” I asked them.
“It really does. We shall work together and do our best,” Mary said.
“As long as we work together, we will be fine!” Sophia added.
“Thanks! Let’s do this together!” I thanked them with a smile, feeling grateful that I had such reliable friends.
The old instructor’s address ended, and it was about time for dinner.
I went back to my room and changed clothes, but when I came out, I found that Keith still hadn’t come back. So I supposed I’d only be having dinner with Mary and Sophia.
“I wonder what we’ll be eating,” I said, looking forward to the food that we’d be eating here in the castle for the duration of the seminar.
We met Jeord at the T-shaped intersection between two hallways.
“Oh, Katarina, perfect timing. Let us go have dinner together,” he said with a smile as he gave me his hand, meaning to escort me.
Wait, what?
“The royal family is going to have dinner together with the guests?” I asked.
I’d heard that the people who were staying at the castle to attend the seminar or for work would have dinner together in a specially prepared room, but I didn’t know the royal family would be joining them. I had no problem with Jeord and Alan, who I knew, but dining with the other members of their family would make me very nervous. However, my fear proved unfounded.
“No, my family is going to eat by themselves, as usual. I am the only one who is going to eat with the guests, because I wish to have dinner together with you, Katarina.”
Oh, that’s fine then, I thought, relieved, and I reached for Jeord’s hand… but, out of nowhere, Mary showed up and walked in between us.
“Prince Jeord, you may be trying to ignore us, but we are also here as guests. And Lady Katarina is going to have dinner with us.”
“Oh, Lady Mary, so you are here as well. It has been a while since I have had the opportunity to spend some time with Katarina, so I ask that you reconsider. Instead, may I suggest that you dine together with my family? It would be the perfect opportunity to strengthen your relationship with your fiancé, and, incidentally, there is an empty seat at their table tonight.”
“Thank you, but the relationship between Prince Alan and I is already strong enough. And I, too, have not had an opportunity to spend time with Lady Katarina in quite a while. I ask that you be the one to reconsider intruding on this fun time between ladies and, instead, go back to eat with your family. I am sure that your brother is missing you.”
As Mary and Jeord were talking while smiling at each other, Sophia and I were left to wait by the side.
“Oh, Big Brother!” said Sophia, noticing Nicol approaching us from the end of the hallway.
“Are you all going to dinner?” he asked, noticing us and elegantly moving closer.
“Yes,” his sister replied briskly, “we are going to the dining hall.”
“Perfect. Then let us all go together,” he said, looking happy and slightly embarrassed.
Sophia later told me that to Nicol, who had very few friends because of his superhuman attractiveness (which made people fall in love with him before they could become friends), sharing a dinner table with so many people was a rare and fun event.
Nobody could refuse him, seeing how happy he seemed at the prospect, so we ended up dining together while sitting around a large table.
Keith eventually joined us too, so Alan was the only one left out. I later heard that the prince was appalled by this fact when he found out.
Nicol, who was the one to propose that we dine together in the first place, ate as usual: with no expression on his face and without starting any conversation. However, according to Sophia, he was actually overjoyed. He certainly didn’t look it, but if my friend was happy, I was happy too.
Given how late it was by the time we were done eating, we all went directly back to our respective rooms to sleep. However, Mary and Keith locked my door for, as they said, “safety reasons.”
The castle was so safe that I didn’t see the point, but they insisted so much that I let them do it and quickly fell asleep onto the castle’s soft, luxurious bed.
“Lousabre, located just north of Sorcié, is still facing problems with national security, and, as such, the border is constantly patrolled. Etran, the country right next to Lousabre, has been an important trade partner of ours for years, and is also the birthplace of our former queen. Xiarmah, to the east, is home to a culture much different from ours, but, nonetheless, we are on very good terms with each other. Further yet to the east is Ethenell, which is also undergoing a period of social turmoil. However, this does not pose any threat to us due to the sea dividing us, and we trade with them, with safety inspections at the ports.”
The old lecturer was standing in front of a map of Sorcié and its neighboring countries as he explained the politics and relationships between them.
Nobles were taught about these countries by their private tutors from childhood. However, as the political situation continuously changed, they had to hear updated explanations several times during their education. This meant that even I remembered enough about them.
Sorcié stood out as the most peaceful, secure, and wealthy country in the region, which meant that hearing about the turmoil in other countries lacked a sense of realism for me. The only not-so-safe place I had ever visited so far was the border near Lousabre, back when Keith was kidnapped, and that made me realize how much I still had to learn before meeting with people from outside Sorcié.
I realized that, sure, but… the lesson which had started as a basic explanation of international politics had now started delving into difficult, specialized topics.
After lunch the lesson became considerably harder, and I was doing my best to listen without moving from my desk. I had to take lessons like these back at the academy, too, but at least then we had practical magic training, so we never spent the whole day sitting down. Passively listening to theoretical lessons wasn’t my forté (though it wasn’t like practical magic training was either), so I was already exhausted.
The explanations were very concentrated due to the tight schedule, with lots of information to take in in very little time. When that day’s lesson was over, I could literally feel that my head had become heavier.
While I was eating dinner, holding my heavy head so that it wouldn’t fall down, Mary, who didn’t seem half as tired as me, said that there was a large shared bath and invited me to take a dip with her. Unfortunately, I was so spent that I had to refuse and just walked back alone to my room
Anne prepared the bed for me and I collapsed onto it.
“I’m so tired…”
The day-long lessons were even harsher than I had expected. Knowing that the next day had more of the same in store for me (and since the basic explanations were all over, all that was left was the harder stuff), I was in despair.
Just as I was starting to sink into depression, I heard a light knock on the door.
“Who is it?” I asked from the bed, since Anne had already left.
“Big Sister, are you still awake?” a familiar voice asked me back.
I jumped out of bed, opened the door, pulled Keith inside (kind of forcefully) and made him sit on the couch.
“The lessons were so difficult. Even worse than I expected,” I said, sharing my thoughts on what we had to learn that day and my fear regarding what we would have to learn tomorrow.
“Just as I thought,” Keith said, grinning wryly.
I gave him a confused look. My brother apparently knew how I would be feeling from the start.
“You had trouble with the lessons at the academy, which weren’t that long, so I knew you would be struggling even more having to sit down and learn all day long,” he explained with his usual calm smile.
He understood me perfectly, and realizing that made me feel a bit better. We had lived together since when I was eight years old, and now he knew me better than I did myself. He would come to check on me whenever he felt I’d need it. I suddenly got the urge to have him comfort me like when we were kids.
“Keith, can you stroke my hair like you used to do back in the day?” I asked, sitting next to him on the couch, looking up to him.
I was so exhausted that I felt justified in asking that much, but Keith groaned, and his face stiffened.
“I guess you can’t…” I mumbled, looking down as I expected to be scolded for behaving like a child.
But then, I felt something warm and soft on top of my head — he had granted my request. Keith, deep down, was a really sweet boy.
My mood got instantly better as he gently caressed me, and I started to feel that I’d be able to withstand another day of the seminar.
Hehehe, having my head stroked feels so good. He used to do it all the time years ago, unlike now.
Maybe that was a privilege unique to children… but Father, if I asked him to, would probably still have complied without a second thought. The problem was that his stroking was so energetic that it was painful rather than pleasant, and it also messed my hair up. I wished he’d learn from Keith’s gentle caressing, which, as I just noticed, had become even better as he grew up.
And his hands are so much bigger too, I thought, grabbing the hand that was stroking my head to take a closer look.
Having it right in front of my eyes, I could tell just how much it had grown, and I examined the long fingers, the pale complexion, and the smoothness of the skin.
This looks like it would be…
I tested my hypothesis by placing Keith’s hand on my cheek, and it turned out I was right: it was incredibly soft and pleasantly smooth, probably even more so than my hands, despite all the trouble that Anne was always going through to take care of them.
Keith, however, retracted his hand in surprise.
I wanted to enjoy that a bit longer… I thought, but Keith got up and left my room in a hurry.
He was already outside before I had time to say anything, and was now making a metallic clattering noise on the other side of the closed door.
“K-Keith? What’s wrong?” I asked him through the door
“Think of what you did, and maybe you’ll realize what’s wrong…” he said, with a hint of anger in his voice.
“I’m sorry,” I said, apologizing for something that I must have done without noticing, “But… what’s that clattering?”
“I’m locking the door.”
“What? Why? And why from the outside?!”
“If the door is locked, you won’t get any crazy ideas…”
“Why would I ever do that?!” I asked, unsure of why I was being treated like a wild animal, but Keith didn’t reply.
“I’ll give the key to your maid. Good night.”
I was still confused, but if Anne had the key, I could just ring for her tomorrow and have the door opened, so I went to bed.
I tried thinking of what I had done, as Keith had said.
Hm… Was it because a lady isn’t supposed to rub someone’s hand against her cheek without permission?
That was the only explanation I could come up with, so I decided I’d apologize for that in the morning.
However, with my troubles stroked away, I felt I’d be able to sleep without any problem. On top of an apology, I owed Keith a thank you.
I made a mental note to give him both of those the next day and then fell into a deep slumber.
★★★★★★
I went back to the guest room that had been assigned to me and, with my back to the door, I slid down onto the floor with an exhausted sigh. My face still felt as if it were on fire, and I imagined I was visibly red.
“I’m glad I had the key with me,” I murmured to myself.
I had taken that key to protect my sister from Jeord, but I never expected to use it to protect her from me…
She wouldn’t have been safe if the door was unlocked, because when I said, “If the door is locked, you won’t get any crazy ideas,” I was actually speaking to myself.
I needed to restrain myself not to enter her room, put my mouth over her soft lips, and push her onto the bed.
The way she had tempted me today was just that bad, but, of course, she didn’t have the faintest idea.
She didn’t know anything about the ways in which men and women courted each other. Or maybe she did from all the raunchy romance novels she read, but without ever imagining that those things also applied to her, which was why she was always so helplessly clueless.
I was terrified of what would happen if I did not exercise the utmost restraint in response to that temptation.
I let out a second sigh, putting a hand on my forehead as I thought that I had to do something about how feverish I was. But this gesture, unfortunately, made me recall the situation from earlier.
She had looked up at me, asking me to stroke her hair in her sweetest voice.
I knew how bad that could prove for me, but considering how tired she was, I tried my best to please her. She was leaning onto me, pushing her lightly clothed body against mine as her expression melted in pleasure, and I was already on the edge… and then she took my hand and stroked it against her face!
How much are you going to tempt me?! What is this if not an invitation to lay with you?!
Well… at least it would have been that if it had come from anyone except Katarina.
I mustered what little restraint I had left and ran out of the room, but I wondered if, after that, she was fine by herself.
…She probably is. I’ve listened to her complain about the lessons, and I’ve also stroked her hair as she asked. I’m sure she’s already asleep by now.
And I was sure that, on the next day, she would come to apologize to me without actually realizing what she had done. I had confessed my — romantic, not brotherly — love to her, but she had likely already forgotten about it. I would need to explain it to her once again.
The priority, however, was to impress upon her that she could not appear in front of men in her nightgown.
A lot of different thoughts ran through my mind, but none intense enough to make me forget about Katarina and how lovely she had looked while sitting next to me.
The feverish heat burning my face showed no signs of subsiding, and I prepared myself for a sleepless night as I let out that day’s third — and deepest — sigh.
★★★★★★
In the morning, as soon as Anne woke me up, I went looking for Keith to thank him and apologize to him.
I thought that he was mad at me for doing something unladylike, and I was probably right, because he told me not to let people inside my room when I was in my nightgown.
He said that he was going to work. But, noticing the dark circles under his eyes, I got worried and suggested that he rest for a while, because he looked tired.
“This has nothing to do with being tired. If anything, right now, I want to work to clear my mind,” he said, leaving me there alone and confused as another long day of study was about to start.
“…And this is how the Assembly of these five countries came to be. This concludes our morning lesson,” the instructor said, and I rejoiced while stretching out, already exhausted. Finally.
We had lunch in the same hall where we’d had dinner the previous day. After eating with everyone, I went to the toilet and then for a little stroll, just for a little change of pace. With the Assembly right around the corner, the castle was bustling with activity, and all the servants were coming and going, looking busy.
I tend to forget, but the Assembly is really going to be a huge deal…
Among the instructions and orders that the servants were giving each other, I could faintly hear something like music.
Oh, I heard it again… It’s coming from here, I thought, following the sound.
I reached a sort of open-sky courtyard, decorated as if it were going to be used during the Assembly, and found the source of the music: a large piano in the middle of it.
The man behind that beautiful performance was none other than Alan. It had been a while since I last heard him play, and I lost myself in his music until the piece was over.
I shouted, “Encore!” and Alan, surprised, noticed me.
“What? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be attending the seminar?”
“We’re taking our lunch break right now, so I heard your music, followed it, and ended up here. Why are you playing in this place?”
“You really just do whatever comes to your mind, huh…” Alan commented before replying to my question. “I am practicing here because I was asked to perform during the Assembly.”
“That’s wonderful! I’m sure that your music will charm people from all countries!”
“Now, that’s… Do you mean you were charmed?”
“Yes! I absolutely loved it.”
Alan’s performance was so beautiful that even I, who knew next to nothing about music, loved it.
“I see… I was thinking of playing another practice piece. Do you have any requests?”
“I can make a request?”
“Well, someone could request a piece during the real performance. I have to train for that.”
Alan was really serious about practicing. He’s so diligent…
“In that case…” I said, requesting a famous piece that anybody in the kingdom knew.
“Sit down,” Alan said, pointing to a chair behind the piano, next to a window, before starting to play.
Once again, I lost myself in the beautiful sounds he created.
This is so relaxing… The warm afternoon sun feels so good… I’m still full from lunch and the music is sublime… I’m kind of… sleepy… Oh, the piece is over.
“One… more…” I mumbled, and, half-asleep, I heard Alan scolding me for falling asleep on the chair.
★★★★★★
I was busy practicing the piano in preparation for the Assembly performance when Katarina Claes, my brother’s fiancée, appeared out of nowhere.
Seeing her roam around the castle without a care had already shocked me enough, but not as much as when she fell asleep while listening to me playing. Not only was it rude because she had requested that piece herself, but, as a noble lady, you’d think she’d be careful enough not to sleep in a place like that.
When I called her name, it was already too late — she was already deep in slumber. And, what’s more, when I approached her and tried to wake her up, she rested her head on my shoulder.
We were facing each other, and someone looking from far away could have thought that we were hugging.
I felt her breath on my skin, and I had her delicate nape in front of my eyes… My heart skipped a beat.
I had never told this to anyone, but I was actually in love with Katarina. And I had been for a long time, but I didn’t plan on hindering my brother’s engagement, so I was mentally prepared to eventually set those feelings aside.
I was prepared, yeah, but this situation was… problematic.
As a healthy young man, being this close to a girl was titillating enough, but the girl in question being the very one I’ve secretly loved for years made it that much worse… It was almost torture.
Stop mumbling that close to my face! Stop smelling so nice! Stop having such a sexy neck! This girl… she’s always acting like a wild animal, so why is she being so feminine now of all times?!
Lamenting my pain was fine, but I had to do something — and quickly. If somebody saw us like this, they’d probably get some weird ideas, and, more importantly, I couldn’t resist much longer. Both mentally and physically.
I made up my mind to grab her shoulders and push her up. Even she ought to wake up if I do that.
However, as soon as I put my hands on her shoulders, she started leaning to one side, and I had to catch her before she fell down.
“Phew, that was close,” I murmured, before realizing that things had gotten even worse. She had gone from resting her head on my shoulder to leaning against my chest as I hugged her.
Now we were definitely too close. Our whole bodies were pushed against each other.
And these soft things I feel pressing into me must be… No, don’t think of that. Stop thinking about it, I said myself, but to no avail. She was too soft, and she smelled too good.
I was on good terms with Mary, my fiancée, but I’d never exchanged much physical contact except for escorting her or dancing. The sensation of Katarina’s soft body between my arms was a first for me, and it was very pleasant. I wished that we could stay like that forever, or even that I could lift her up and carry her to my room.
My dangerous thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.
“Lady Katarina? Where are you? The afternoon lesson will be starting soon!”
The voice, coming from a distance, belonged to Mary.
I snapped out of it, sat Katarina back onto her chair, and opened the door.
“Mary, she’s here,” I said, and she noticed me.
“I was practicing the piano, and she fell asleep. I’m busy, so take care of her. See ya,” I said before immediately running away.
I really was busy, but all I could do at that point was to go to my room and try to calm down and cool off. And the memory of Katarina’s soft body between my arms made that difficult as hell.
★★★★★★
I fell asleep while listening to Alan play, and if it hadn’t been for Mary waking me up, I’d have missed the afternoon lessons.
I realized how rude it had been to sleep through the piece I had requested, and made a mental note to apologize to him at the next opportunity.
However, my short nap had also recharged me, and I didn’t get sleepy while listening to the lesson. This made today, as a whole, a lot less exhausting than the previous day. All’s well that ends well.
After refusing their invitation and going straight to bed the day before, I made up for it by inviting Mary and Sophia to the shared bath.
“Oh, that sounds wonderful!” Sophia replied, but Mary looked troubled.
“A-An invitation from Lady Katarina… I-I am not ready for this…”
“Are you going to pass, Mary?” I asked her.
“Not at all, I will be coming,” she quickly replied.
Yay! Bathing with my girlfriends!
I went back to my room, asked Anne to help me prepare, and then went to the bath.
It wasn’t like the baths we had back in Japan, where everyone could just walk in — it was reservation-only. I had decided to go on that same day, but luckily someone canceled at the last second, so we were able to get a reservation. I’d heard that a lot of ladies liked to reserve the whole thing for themselves.
I was so excited that I ended up arriving early, and neither Mary nor Sophia were there yet. I decided to take a peek inside, and saw that the bath was around as big as a small public bath. It still looked luxurious, though — it could probably fit ten people all at once. We did have a bathtub at home, but it wasn’t much bigger than a normal household bathtub from my old world.
I was expecting something like a merlion-shaped fountain, but while there wasn’t anything of the sort, the place was beautifully decorated. It had that kind of elegance which noble ladies like.
While I was admiring the bath, Sophia arrived.
“I have never been in a large shared bath!” she told me, visibly excited. She stepped inside and exclaimed happily, “This is wonderful!”
I know, right? I’m excited too. I want to dive in already.
Sophia and I, both thrilled, were eagerly waiting for Mary to arrive… She was late.
We were starting to get worried, because Mary wasn’t the kind to be late, when her maid came looking for us.
“Lady Mary offers you her apologies. She is not well, and cannot come.”
“Mary’s not well?!”
Maybe when I invited her earlier and she hesitated, it was because she was already starting to feel sick…
“It would not feel right to enjoy bathing here while Lady Mary is unwell,” Sophia said as her expression fell.
“You’re right. Let’s go check on her! We can always bathe here another time,” I proposed to Sophia, but Mary’s maid shook her head.
“Lady Mary just needs some rest; it is nothing serious. She would like for you two to enjoy yourselves without worrying,” she said. Apparently, there was no need to check on her.
After hearing that, it would feel wrong not to enjoy ourselves… It was a shame that Mary wasn’t with us, but we thought that the best we could do was have even more fun to make up for that.
“Oh my! This is so large!”
“We could swim in here!”
We went inside wearing nothing but towels wrapped around our bodies, and now that I was able to take a proper look, the bath seemed even larger than it had before.
“Please do not swim, young miss,” Anne, who had come with me, immediately replied. Noble ladies were usually followed by their (fully clothed) maids when they bathed, and that took away the freedom of being naked inside of a tub of hot water. But anyway, I was proud of how ladylike I’d become over the past few years, so I wouldn’t have started swimming.
“Lady Katarina! There is a pleasant smell coming out of the water!”
“Oh, you’re right! It kind of smells like roses.”
“They must have mixed a fragrance oil with the bathwater,” Anne explained, seeing how Sophia and I were reacting.
A rose-smelling bath was a luxury worthy of the castle, and it was easy to imagine why all the ladies were taking turns to come here.
We poured hot water on ourselves, bathed in the perfumed tub, and then washed our bodies with a soft, bubbly soap.
We thoroughly enjoyed our bath, and I hoped that Mary could come along too next time.
★★★★★★
I, Mary Hunt, went back to my room alone, holding back tears. The reason for my dismay was that I could not partake in what I had looked forward to so much: bathing with Lady Katarina.
I had reserved the bath in advance, but when Lady Katarina had refused my invitation yesterday, I thought that I would have to give up, as making another reservation for that popular bath would be too difficult.
Yet, today she invited me to go with her, and good fortune had it that somebody had just canceled their own reservation. What wonderful news!
I had been looking forward to bathing with her since I started staying at the castle… no, much earlier! I had dreamt of it for years.
I was enthusiastic, rejoicing at my luck as I imagined myself laughing and playing alongside Lady Katarina.
In order to preserve my fame as a paragon of propriety, I usually behaved in the most elegant, refined way possible. But, confronted with such news, I forgot all about elegance and refinement and expressed my excitement with so much fervor that, for the first time in at least ten years, I started bleeding from my nose. Atrocious.
I thought that keeping my nose pinched would be enough to stop the nosebleed, but it was not. In fact, I kept bleeding for so long that one of the servants even called a doctor.
“It’s only overexertion. She just needs to rest in a cool place,” he declared.
The servants, relieved, all started saying how glad they were… but there was nothing to be glad about!
I must go bathe with Lady Katarina! I have no time for cooling my nose down!
I tried reasoning with them, but the servants refused to let me go, saying that bathing would be too dangerous.
I never behaved like a spoiled child, but on this occasion I insisted so much that the old maid who had been taking care of me for my whole life had to intervene.
“Young miss, you are not a child anymore. You should understand that you cannot take a bath with that nosebleed. Even if you went, you would just make your friends worry. They would not invite you anymore after that,” she said coldly, so I had no choice but to choke back the tears and give up.
I could not let myself be seen bleeding like that, so I asked my maid to tell my friends that I would not need to be visited. I then laid on my bed, crying onto my pillow.
I swore to myself that I would not miss the opportunity to bathe with Lady Katarina next time, and I would find a way to prevent nosebleeds.
What I did not expect was for her to recount her experience bathing in the castle so enthusiastically to the other nobles that everyone became interested in it and the reservations immediately piled up, making it impossible for me to try again.
It seemed I must wait even longer for my dream to come true…
★★★★★★
The next day, we were relieved to see that Mary had showed up to the classes looking completely normal.
In the morning we would listen to the usual lecture by the old instructor, but in the afternoon, we would have a dance lesson. I never liked dancing, but I was so tired of sitting all day in front of a desk that I was happy I could do something different. So I looked forward to the afternoon while I listened to the old man talk about the politics of our neighboring countries.
“…and so, the new king of Ethenell, after being enthroned, has started a series of reforms. And this concludes our lecture for today,” the instructor said, putting down his book.
The morning lessons were finally over, so it was time for lunch — and then, dancing.
When I reached the room where we would be taking the dance lessons, I found someone unexpected.
“Prince Jeord?” I said, surprised, and he walked towards me with his usual smile.
“Oh, Katarina.”
“Why are you here?” I asked, so puzzled by seeing him there that I forgot to greet him properly.
“It goes without saying: to act as your dance partner,” he replied as if it were obvious.
Of course I would need a partner to dance, but there were lots of people here, so it felt weird that the prince, busy as he was, would have to bother.
“But Prince Jeord, you are so busy with work, so…”
“This is also an opportunity for me to refresh. Surely you would not mind?”
Once he said that, I had to give up on my original plan of kindly refusing his offer.
“Of course not…”
And so it was decided that I would be dancing with Jeord.
Of course, it wasn’t that I didn’t like dancing with Jeord. We had been engaged since we were eight years old, and, even after growing up, we had danced together several times at balls. But lately, he…
“Here, Katarina, come closer.”
As soon as the lesson had started, he pulled me towards himself. “You are as lovely as always,” he whispered in my ear with the sweetest voice.
That was so intense that I almost fell down, and he took the opportunity to pull me even closer, to the point that he was basically hugging me.
I could feel my face getting hotter. Lately, he was taking every chance to get physically closer to me and say sweet romantic things.
Of course, as a love interest in an otome game, his face and voice were perfect. I used to squeal with happiness in my previous life when I heard him say those things through a screen… But now that I was hearing them in reality, I couldn’t even manage to make a sound. I only started feeling weak at the knees.
I had no romantic experience in either of my two lives, which made me react that much more strongly to whatever he did these things.
At this rate, I’m not going to learn anything about dancing. I can’t let him have it his way!
My face was still burning hot, but I tried to regain some composure and looked up at Jeord, staring him in the eyes.
“Prince Jeord, I’m trying to learn how to dance. There is no need to stay this close, and, please, stop whispering sweet things into my ear,” I told him.
“…Katarina, making that request with that expression on your face is not going to persuade me to stop. If anything, it will make me wish to forcefully carry you to my room,” he said, looking entranced, and hugged me even tighter.
Expression? What expression? I’m probably blushing a little bit… Is that the problem? And we’re even closer than before…
I could smell something nice, which was probably coming from Jeord. As expected of a prince, even his smell was handsome.
The way he was touching me had gotten more audacious. My heart started beating faster, and I was seriously worried about what would happen next.
“Prince Jeord,” someone called out to him, “the song is almost over, so may I ask that you dance the next one with me?”
It felt like heaven had sent an angel to rescue me.
“Oh, Lady Mary. I am enjoying dancing with my fiancée after so long, so may I ask that you find someone else?”
“This is supposed to be a lesson,” Mary replied with a smile, “and dancing with several different people would provide the best practice.”
Elegantly, but somewhat forcefully, she took Jeord’s hand and pulled him towards herself. “You must be tired. Rest over there for a while,” she said to me, entrusting me to Sophia.
I gladly did as she told me, since I was physically and mentally exhausted from Jeord’s romancing. I sat down in a corner of the dance hall, and Sophia, thoughtful as always, even brought me something to drink.
The cold drink helped me cool down my feverish face, and my heartbeat slowly went back to normal. After emptying my glass, I sighed.
“Lady Katarina, is something the matter?” Sophia asked.
“I’m just a bit tired.”
I was too embarrassed to say that Jeord’s advances had been too strong for me to take, so I simply repeated what Mary had said.
“I am glad… I cannot forgive that perverted, handsy prince…”
“Huh?” I asked, because she had spoken the second part of the sentence in such a whisper that I couldn’t hear it.
She just smiled as if nothing had happened.
Anyway, I was very grateful to her and Mary for saving me. If it hadn’t been for them, I might have passed out in the middle of the dance hall.
Extremely relieved, I drank the new drink that Sophia had brought me.
Jeord and Mary were dancing together, and their moves were perfect in their elegance. They looked so beautiful.
★★★★★★
I, Sophia Ascart, with the help of Lady Mary, had just saved my friend Lady Katarina from the hands of a shameless, perverted prince.
She was nervously blushing because of him… but when I offered her a drink and some rest, she thankfully returned to normal.
Only the seminar attendees were supposed to take the dance lessons in the first place, so I was very surprised when I saw Prince Jeord casually stand in the middle of the room, then take Lady Katarina to dance with him.
Even from a distance, it was easy to tell that he was keeping her too close to himself. I stared as if in a trance as he led her across the dance floor, but Lady Mary could not withstand it.
“Lady Katarina is in trouble! We must help her!” she said, and I snapped out of my daze.
Had it not been for our prompt help, Lady Katarina would have certainly fallen into much more trouble. Doing such things in public, in front of so many people… I could not forgive that perverted prince!
But then again, if Lady Mary had not intervened, I would have done nothing but stare at them… unable to take action. I may never reach Lady Mary’s level, but I would like to act in a more cool, decisive way.
“Mary and Jeord dance so well. They look so good next to each other — a handsome man with a beautiful woman,” Lady Katarina said nonchalantly while I was reflecting on my actions.
To me, it looked like Lady Mary was trying to stomp her heels onto Prince Jeord’s feet, and he was doing his best to dodge it, but… Lady Katarina was always Lady Katarina.
To be honest… I did not understand “real” romance. I greatly appreciated it within the context of novels, but, possibly because of my peculiar looks, I had never fallen in love with a real man. This is why I suspected that my understanding of romance was lacking when compared to other girls my age.
However, there was someone who understood even less… Tens of times less. Lady Katarina. Seeing her being courted for years by both Prince Jeord and Master Keith without realizing the intentions of either had me in awe at her slowness.
She now finally understood what those two felt for her, but… the same could not be said about Alan’s or Nicol’s feelings.
It took Prince Jeord and Master Keith an explicit confession for Lady Katarina to realize the truth, and I knew that Big Brother would never do anything of the sort, which in turn meant that his love of many years would never bear fruit, and that Lady Katarina would never become my sister-in-law.
This made me sad. Big Brother was a wonderful young man, much better than Prince Jeord, but he would have to give up just because the latter had become engaged to Lady Katarina first!
Even now that we were staying at the castle, making for a rare opportunity to see her since she started working at the Ministry, Big Brother had barely spoken with her at all despite being here too.
Prince Jeord was relentless in his approach, Master Keith was staying in the room next to hers, and even Prince Alan, yesterday, was playing music for her…
It is so unfair that everyone but Nicol is able to be with her!
I wanted this to be an opportunity to make Big Brother and Lady Katarina become closer, and, possibly, for him to charm her. But… knowing him, I was painfully aware that he would never actively approach her…
In that case, I, as his sister, shall help him!
I thought up a plan, and then started talking with Lady Katarina, who was still staring at Lady Mary and Prince Jeord dancing together.
★★★★★★
After I had fallen prey to Jeord’s romantic attack, Mary had somehow managed to make him dance with the other ladies, so the dance lesson ended without him approaching me anymore. I was grateful, since I knew that I would have passed out in the middle of the dance floor if he had.
When the lesson finished, we all had dinner and went back to our rooms. I loved the shared bath, and would have liked to go there again. But unfortunately, the reservations were full.
I lay on my bed and started rummaging through the romance novels I’d sneaked in from home, and amongst them, I found a book with a cover I’d become very familiar with. It was the Dark Covenant, which I had been instructed to keep with me at all times. I’d tried to make sure to store it properly, but somehow ended up putting it in with all the other novels.
Cyrus and Larna would get mad at me if they found out…
I tried reading it for the first time in a while, but because I hadn’t summoned my Dark Familiar (Pochi, that is), the floating black letters didn’t appear over the normal text of the book, which was a manual on basic magic… Or so I had heard from Maria and the others, since I couldn’t read that either. It was still written in ancient script, after all.
Lately, things had started happening to me — such as finding a Dark Familiar and the Dark Covenant — that were straight from FL2’s script. That had me worried, but now that I wasn’t at the Ministry, I figured I could relax.
The protagonist (Maria) wasn’t here at the castle, so the Assembly probably had nothing to do with the game. All that I had to worry about was avoiding any major screw-ups at the Assembly itself.
I was thinking about that and flipping through the covenant’s pages when I heard a knock on the door. Anne had already gone to her room, so I put the book down and went to answer the door myself. I found Sophia waiting for me there.
Hm? I thought she wasn’t able to get a reservation for the bath today, I thought to myself, confused, as I invited her inside.
“I am sorry for intruding all of a sudden,” she said with a bow.
I personally was the intruding-all-of-a-sudden type, but it was rare for her to show up without saying so beforehand. I have a lot to learn from her, I thought, seeing as she was an example of good upbringing with her respectful apology. If I were a bit more like Sophia, maybe Mother wouldn’t scold me as much.
“Don’t worry, I was just reading to pass the time,” I told her with a smile. “Did you come for any reason in particular?”
“Indeed. I wanted to invite you to tomorrow’s morning tea party.”
“A morning tea party?” I asked, confused. I had never heard anything like that — tea parties usually took place in the afternoon.
“Yes. I found a wonderful spot near the room where I am staying. When the morning sun shines on it, the greenery around it sparkles, and it feels like a place from a fairy tale. I wanted to have tea with you there so that you could witness that beautiful sight,” she said with eyes full of excitement. She was the type of girl to make an invitation like that, since she liked fairy tales just as much as she liked romance novels.
I agreed immediately. After all, I was a girl as well. Having a tea party in a gorgeous fairy-tale-like place got me excited too. The starry sky didn’t have a single cloud, so the sky on the next day would also probably be clear. No reason to delay our tea party.
Sophia would be handling the preparations, and all I had to do was to get up slightly earlier than usual and go to her room.
We decided the time for our meeting, she went back to her room, and I lost no time before getting in bed, seeing that I’d have to get up early. As I was close to falling asleep, I wondered who else would be coming along.
I should have asked Sophia about that… I thought, but only for a second. Very soon, all of my thoughts disappeared, giving way to dreams.
Asking Anne to help me make sure I got out of bed in time paid off. If it hadn’t been for her, I wouldn’t have made it.
I was still drowsy, but Anne was already working at full speed to help me prepare to reach Sophia in time. I really owed a lot to my diligent maid.
I knocked on Sophia’s door, and she immediately opened it, smiling and completely ready to go.
“Good morning, Lady Katarina. I am so happy that you could join me today,” she said with an elegant curtsy.
“Thank you for inviting me,” I said while doing the same.
Sophia then showed me to the place where we would be holding our tea party.
“Over here,” she said, leading me with an unusually fast stride to an indoor garden near her room.
The place reminded me of a forest. The plants, rather than being neatly trimmed into shape, looked as if they had been allowed to grow as they wanted. The morning sun was shining in through the leaves, creating the beautiful sight that Sophia had told me about the day before.
I stared at it, moved by how magical it looked, and Sophia looked at me with a smile that seemed to say “What did I tell you?” before leading me further inside the garden.
“We will be having the tea party here,” she said, showing me a smallish table and some chairs that had been set up there. The table, probably prepared by Sophia, was already set for tea.
Wait, why are there three chairs?
“Will there be three of us?” I asked her.
“Actually, I wanted to invite my brother as well, as a surprise. Would that be a problem?” she replied, her voice suddenly lowered. Sophia’s attachment to her brother was as cute as always.
“Of course not! But if you’re enjoying time with Nicol, wouldn’t I be a bother?”
“Not at all! He will greatly enjoy having you here too,” she said, vigorously shaking her head.
And so, we both went together to his room.
“By the way, why did you want to make it a surprise?” I asked her, and she blushed a little.
“Big Brother has been very busy preparing for the Assembly, and I would like to give him a pleasant surprise to get his mind off work.”
Sophia was such a good sister… She prepared a tea party in such a beautiful place just to please her brother!
Maybe I should do something like that for Keith, to show how grateful I am to him.
Sophia knocked on the door of her brother’s room.
“Big Brother! It is me, Sophia,” she called, but we heard no response.
“Usually he is already up at this time…” she said, preoccupied, and knocked again.
This time, we heard a sluggish reply.
“…Yes, the door is open…”
That was definitely Nicol’s voice, but I had never heard him speak like that. Maybe he wasn’t a morning person?
Now that she had heard his groggy response, Sophia stepped through the door. I stood there, unsure whether I should follow her, but she dragged me inside.
I was expecting to find Nicol sleepy… but instead, he seemed to be actually asleep. He was sitting back on the couch with his eyes closed, wearing a loosely fitting nightshirt.
“Normally, he would already be up. He must be very tired,” Sophia commented while looking at him worriedly.
He was staying in the castle just like us, but unlike us, who only had to study, he had to actually work. It must have been tough for him.
“Oh… I did not expect him to still be asleep. I wanted to invite him to have tea with Lady Katarina in that beautiful garden! Big Brother, please wake up!” she said, and reached for Nicol, but her hand stopped halfway. “Of course! Lady Katarina, please wake him up!” she said with the enthusiastic face of someone who just had the best idea ever.
“What? Why?”
“He would be very happy if you were the one to do it! He does not like mornings. Please!” she said, pulling me in front of him. Come on! Do it! her smiling face seemed to tell me.
Her eyes were so full of expectation that I couldn’t bring myself to refuse. Not that she had asked me for anything particularly difficult — I just had to wake up a person sleeping right in front of me.
I looked at him sleeping on the couch, and thought that he must really have a problem with getting up early if he didn’t wake up even with Sophia and I talking so much. When he replied to us earlier, he must have been talking in his sleep. Finding out that the “Alluring Count” had such a weakness was pretty funny.
This was the first time I had ever seen him sleeping… and he was really handsome. Apparently handsome people are even handsome when they’re asleep.
His eyelashes are so long… His lips are so shiny… His skin is so smooth…
I realized that if I kept staring at him so closely, I would fall prey to his legendary allure. I had to concentrate on my mission and complete it as soon as possible. So I did my best not to give in to his charm and tried waking him up.
“Nicol, please wake up! Your lovely sister has a surprise for you!” I said, bending down slightly to shake his shoulders.
When I touched him, he finally came to and slowly opened his eyes. His dark eyes gazed up at me, looking even sexier than usual, maybe because of how sleepy he was. I thought I was going to be sucked into them.
“Nicol… Your sister has prepared a…” I tried to say, but his long arms suddenly grabbed mine, pulling me down.
“Eek!” I squealed in surprise, and felt my body bend even further.
I’m going to fall!
I closed my eyes, preparing for the impact with the floor, but… Hm? Is this the floor? It’s not hard, and it’s also kind of warm…
I opened my eyes and saw Nicol’s beautiful face very close to mine.
“Wha?!”
Surprised, I tried to jump back, but my body didn’t move an inch.
I tried looking around to figure out what was going on, and I realized that I was lying on Nicol, and he was holding me tightly in his arms!
Why?! How did this happen?! I asked myself, panicking at the sight of Nicol’s sexy features so close to my eyes.
And then, still looking sleepy, he touched my cheek with his hand. I twitched, but, apparently not even noticing, he started gently caressing my increasingly hot face.
What exactly is going on? I thought, and that was when I heard him whisper as if to himself.
“…What a pleasant dream.”
So he thought that this whole thing was just a dream. He was caressing me so kindly, so lovingly… Could it be that, in his dream, he was mistaking me for the girl he liked? In that case, all I had to do was tell him who I was, and the whole thing would stop.
“Nicol, it’s me, Katarina. It’s Katarina Claes,” I said desperately as I looked into his eyes. But his expression just turned into a sweet, satisfied smile as he pulled me even closer!
H-He didn’t understand me! This is bad! Bad bad bad! I’m being charmed so much that I can feel steam coming out of my face!
Unable to resist any longer, I closed my eyes, and then felt something soft touch my cheek.
This feeling… Is this…?
“I love you,” he whispered into my ear with a voice as sweet as honey…
With that, I promptly lost consciousness.
★★★★★★
I, Nicol Ascart, just had the most wonderful dream.
In this dream, I witnessed something that I could never hope to see in reality — waking up to find Katarina in my room, smiling down at me.
I have been in love with Katarina Claes for almost ten years now, but I have no intention of confessing this to her. The reason for this is that she is engaged to Jeord, third-born prince of Sorcié and childhood friend of mine.
I could have ignored that fact if it had been a purely political engagement, but Jeord clearly loved Katarina from the bottom of his heart. After witnessing his feelings for her for so long, I could never consider taking her from him.
Therefore, I buried my love deep in my heart, knowing that I also had to find a spouse to properly succeed my father as count. However, dreams like this were proof enough that I was still under Katarina’s spell, and that I was still very far from forgetting about her.
I pulled on her soft, supple arms and drew her closer to me. Of course, had that been reality, I could have never done something so audacious. But it was only a dream, so I had no reason to stop.
During the day I could only gaze upon her lovely face from afar, so I took the opportunity to enjoy having it so close to me. I looked at her clear blue eyes, her plush lips, and her pale, smooth cheeks, now slightly tinted red. I moved my hand towards her face, and as I caressed her, she blushed even more and her eyes became slightly teary.
It was an expression I had never seen on her face, but an ever so lovely one.
What a wonderful dream. I wish I could never wake up, I thought, and the dream then became even better.
“Nicol… It’s me, Katarina,” I heard her call to me with her adorable voice, stating, for some mysterious reason, her own name.
Oh, my lovely Katarina, how could I ever not know who you are? How could I possibly mistake you for anybody else, even as far as you may be from me? I have looked at you for so, so long…
The face reflected in her blue eyes belonged to none other than me, and this alone made me ecstatic.
It is only a dream… I should take as much advantage of it as I can.
I placed my lips on her beautiful cheek, and, while keeping her in my arms, I whispered those words that I never could have spoken in reality.
“I love you.”
Hearing this, she leaned harder against me, as if she had no energy left in her body.
We were as close together as we could ever be, and I felt her softness, especially around where my chest was, but every last inch of her body was soft and warm. That sensation felt scarily real, as did the pleasant smell that reached my nose every time I breathed in.
Her softness, her warmth, her smell… Have dreams always been so realistic?
As soon as I thought this, the fog that hung over my brain quickly cleared.
I opened my eyes fully and looked around, finding myself in a guest room in the castle, with Katarina in my arms. My sister, Sophia, was standing close to us with her mouth hanging open in disbelief — so I hurriedly tried to get up without dropping Katarina.
Despair threatened to overwhelm me as I realized what had happened, but I had to tend to Katarina first. I slowly pulled her up and laid her down on the couch before turning to look at Sophia, who was still frozen still.
“Sophia, would you explain to me what has happened?”
She finally started moving again, and her face clearly showed her embarrassment.
“I had found a wonderful place for a tea party and had invited Lady Katarina there, and then I thought to invite you too, as a surprise. We came here and found you asleep, and I believed that you would be happy to be woken up by Lady Katarina, so I asked her to do it…”
Oh, I see now. Sophia had done this with my best interests in mind, but…
“It is not very proper for young ladies to enter the room of a sleeping man,” I warned her.
“…But you told us that we could come in…” she replied.
I had probably invited them in while I was still half-asleep. Mornings had never been my forté, but lately things had gotten even worse. I was so busy, and therefore tired, that I let my guard slip… Anyway, while that was a problem, there was a much more pressing issue that I needed confirmation on.
“So, Katarina and you stepped in here, and she tried to wake me up… and then?”
Since I still wasn’t completely awake, I was uncertain of my memories. The things that I had done believing I was dreaming… How much of them had I actually done in reality? I could tell that I had pulled her into my arms, but it was crucial that I knew how much of the rest I had done too.
“Well, you see…” she started speaking, fumbling for words. Her face grew redder with each detail, up to the point where it seemed that it would catch on fire.
This time, after she finished, I had reason enough to properly despair. All of the things that I had done in what I believed to be my dream, I had actually done to the real Katarina.
Hugging her, caressing and then kissing her cheek, and even whispering my love to her… these were all things that I thought I could only get away with in a dream.
I was so shocked that I could no longer even think anymore. However, I had no time to lose. I had to decide what to do next.
“Sophia,” I said.
“Yes?” she said, anxiously straightening up, her face still red and frowning. She probably thought that what happened was ultimately her fault.
“You and Katarina were coming to my room to invite me to the tea party, but she felt unwell and passed out along the way, which is why you brought her to your room to rest. Am I right?”
“Wh-What…? Big Brother?” she asked me, confused, but I kept on talking.
“What happened here shall be kept secret. This risks compromising both me and, especially, Katarina herself. We could even be ostracized from noble society as a whole.”
“You really think that could happen?” she said, her face pale with fear.
Of course I doubted that things would take such a disastrous turn, but, just to be sure, I made sure to overstate the gravity of the situation.
“Yes. Which is why you two, today, have not seen me. Katarina passed out before she could ever reach my room. If she believes that anything else has happened, tell her that it was just a dream. She is the kind of girl to believe that.”
“I understand,” she said, nodding.
We stealthily carried Katarina to Sophia’s room, and I went back to mine.
I had made the most careless mistake of my whole life, but at least the only witness was my obedient, understanding sister. And I believed that the other interested party, Katarina, could easily be fooled into believing our story.
Some would say that Katarina was too kind to doubt people, others would say that she was too obtuse. Whatever the case, if Sophia and I both agreed on the story, she would probably believe it.
I sat back on the couch where I had been sleeping and let out a big sigh. It was an exhausting morning, but I couldn’t fall back asleep even if I tried.
I looked at my arms, which I had used to embrace Katarina. I could almost feel the sensation of her soft, warm body against mine.
And that pleasant smell, and the smoothness of her face… I placed a hand on my lips. The white, smooth cheek I had kissed was, without any doubt, Katarina’s. The more I thought about it the more the memories came back, incredibly vivid…
Realizing that I was never going to calm down at this rate, I left my room to start work early.
★★★★★★
I was in a familiar place. Pink walls, a black table, and a metal-frame bed with azure duvets and blue cushions.
In my previous life I’d spent a lot of time in that room, as it belonged to Acchan, my dearest friend.
“Okay, let’s continue,” I heard myself say in Acchan’s voice.
I must be inside Acchan again, I thought as if it were a completely natural thing.
I’d already had dreams like this a few times, and they were always an opportunity to gather information on Fortune Lover II!
I was now fully focused (in the dream, at least), ready to watch as Acchan played to learn as much as possible about the game.
She turned on the TV and the game’s opening sequence started playing. She selected the “Continue” option. Jeord appeared on the screen with an overly sweet smile on his face.
“Should you need anything, just let me know,” his line read, followed by Maria’s internal monologue.
“Prince Jeord’s approach has never been this overt… And to think that I’m staying in the same castle as him! The thought alone makes me blush…”
Maria staying in the same castle as Jeord?
“No! Now I have to concentrate on my work at the Assembly!” came the second line of monologue, as I was still trying to figure out what she meant.
I didn’t think Maria was supposed to join the Assembly… But the next line of monologue clearly read “The Assembly begins!”
Excuse me, but…
“What does this mean?!” I screamed, jumping up, finding myself in an unfamiliar room.
Where am I? I thought while scanning my surroundings. That was when I saw Sophia, staring at me with her eyes wide open with shock.
“L-Lady Katarina… is everything alright?”
“Sophia? What is this place?” I asked, and she kindly explained what had happened so far.
It seemed that she had invited me to a morning tea party, but I felt unwell and lost consciousness. I say “it seemed” because the dream I just had surprised me so much that the memories of what had happened before that had gotten hazy.
I also kind of remembered that Sophia wanted to invite her brother, and we made for his room… According to her, I passed out before we could reach it, and she called a servant to carry me into her room, where I slept for a while until, just now, I woke up.
I couldn’t really remember, but anyway, I thanked Sophia and went back to my room. I had to think about that dream.
I lay on my bed and immediately started thinking back on what I had just seen.
In the game, Maria said that she was going to take part in the Assembly, but I hadn’t heard anything like that from her back at the Ministry. She was the protagonist, sure, but she was a commoner, so there was no reason for her to take part in an event for nobles.
I wondered what that meant. Could it be that my dream wasn’t real? Maybe I just had it because I was so stressed.
After thinking about it for a while, I realized that I didn’t have enough information to make predictions at this point, so I just stopped.
No point in thinking about things I don’t understand!
I was ready to go to take the morning lessons, which I honestly wasn’t looking forward to. But since I’d passed out, I was told that I could skip them and rest in my room until the afternoon.
“Young miss, how do you feel?” Anne asked as she came to check on me.
“Hm… I feel totally fine, really,” I said while lying on the bed.
Sophia said that I passed out because I was feeling unwell, but I felt fine, so the whole thing was a mystery to me.
“I see. Still, it would be better for you to rest, at least for the remainder of the morning, just in case.”
“Okay,” I replied, turning around in my bed. Just lying there doing nothing was boring, but I didn’t want to think about difficult stuff either.
Oh, I know!
“Anne, get me one of my romance novels!” I said, planning to read one to recharge, but she looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Young miss, please rest properly.”
“But at times like these, I can’t get sleepy…”
It was so weird that I couldn’t fall asleep now that I was in bed, yet during lessons I always had trouble staying awake.
Anne let out a small sigh. “I will brew some hot tea then. Please drink that and rest.”
“Yay! And bring snacks too!” I said, jumping out of bed.
“Please stop jumping and calm down,” she complained.
Moments later, she came back with some delicious tea and my favorite snacks.
“This is wonderful… But you know, lately I’ve been so busy with lessons that having tea in the morning feels weird,” I said with my mouth full of snacks.
“You have really been working hard since coming here to the castle,” Anne replied with a smile.
“Well… the same goes for everyone,” I said, slightly embarrassed at being praised, which wasn’t something I was used to.
I felt closer to all of my friends while staying at the castle, and so it was easier to work hard. I was never the most diligent girl, but I worked well if everybody around me did the same. This stay at the castle, however, would be over soon.
“The Assembly is getting close…”
I had to put what I had learned at the seminar to use and do my best not to embarrass myself in front of all those important people from other countries.
“By the way, what’s the Assembly like, anyway?” I asked Anne, who looked bewildered by that question.
“Is that not what you have been studying at this seminar?”
“Yes, but… I still haven’t heard from someone who has actually attended, so I was wondering what it actually looks like. Have you ever been to the Assembly?”
“I am not high-ranked enough to attend it myself, and I have always been your personal maid since reaching adulthood, so I have not accompanied anyone there either. But I believe that your father and mother have participated in it in the past.”
That was reasonable, since only high-ranking nobles and their personal servants attended the Assembly. Anne came from a baron’s family, and had only been my personal maid since then, so she couldn’t have attended.
The security at the castle was so tight that going back home just to ask my parents for their opinion was too much of a hassle…
“Could you not ask Prince Jeord or Prince Alan? The Assembly has not been held in our country in ten years, but perhaps they have attended it in one of the other countries as part of the royal family,” Anne smartly advised as if she had read my mind.
“You’re right! I could just ask them!”
Anne is so smart! I decided that the next time I saw either Jeord or Alan, I would ask them about the Assembly.
I finished my tea, Anne put me back to bed, and I rested quietly until afternoon.
Once fully rested (even though I was feeling great to begin with) I was ready to go to the afternoon lessons, when Jeord walked in.
“I have heard that you were unwell. Have you recovered?” he asked worriedly.
“Yes! I’m all fine,” I replied briskly, and he seemed relieved.
“You have been putting in a lot of effort lately, so you must have been tired. Make sure you do not overdo it,” he said, sounding like Anne had earlier.
“Yes,” I replied, blushing again at being praised, and then I remember my conversation with Anne. “Prince Jeord, you have participated in the Assembly in other countries before, right? How was it?” I asked, and he laughed.
“I am used to it by now, but… Katarina, you certainly change topics out of the blue. Why do you ask?”
I told him about what Anne and I had talked about earlier.
“Indeed, there are many things about the Assembly which you could not understand from a simple theoretical explanation,” he said, and then thought for a while before going on. “…However, the Assembly I attended was in another country, and one that, being the birthplace of our queen dowager, was on very friendly terms with us. Owing to this, the Assembly played out relatively smoothly. I believe that the country in which it is held and the people who participate in it make all the difference. In particular, this year, there will be more people than usual.”
“A lot of people from other countries are going to come because our country is so safe, right?” I said, repeating what I had learned in the past few days.
Jeord gave me a smile of approval. “Exactly. Our kingdom is the wealthiest and most advanced country in the region, and therefore more people than usual come here, trying to gather knowledge that they could make use of at home,” he said.
Then he paused, and his face turned slightly dark. “The more people attend, the higher the risk of problematic individuals joining. I believe that none would be so foolish as to harm a high-ranking noble such as yourself, but I have heard that, in other countries, people of lower rank sometimes engage in acts of violence. I wish I could stay by your side for the duration of the Assembly, but unfortunately, I will not be allowed to. Please be careful.”
“…I will,” I replied, taken aback by the unusual seriousness of his words.
As I nodded, he went back to his usual smile and patted my head like one would to a child. It was nothing like his recent romantic advances. It felt pleasant and warm.
It seemed that the Assembly was a much more complex and dangerous thing than I believed.
Immediately after that, Mary and the others came to my room and we all went to afternoon lessons together.