53 – After Party – 2
Ten minutes before 6:00, I arrived at the meeting place, the school gate, as always. It is one of the few advantages it has had from Earth. Keeping promises like a knife. It’s natural, you might wonder what’s the advantage, but there are too many people in the world who don’t even keep that obvious thing well. Fortunately, none of the four of us were like that.
“Are you here?”
As expected, Seol-ah and Hestia came out faster than me this time, and were waiting. Both are light and comfortable clothes. While the two of them were having a good conversation, Seol-ah spotted me and shook his hand. I also waved lightly in response. Hestia was still ignoring me as if she was a little irritated.
“Hestia, you pretended not to want to go, so why did you come out so quickly?”
“Because I still don’t want to go, right?”
Hestia glared at me. Still, the poison in his eyes was less than before. She thought she had been betrayed earlier, but it seemed like beams would come out of her eyes.
“Are you upset?”
“Who gets pouting?!”
Hestia screamed. People who get angry get angry when you ask them if they are angry. A person who is originally angry will never say that he is angry with his mouth. It’s the same as being drunk. Just like a person who is originally drunk never says he was drunk with his mouth. If you have the mind to say that you are drunk with your mouth, you are still less drunk.
Seola smiled and comforted Hestia.
“Miss Hestia, don’t be too angry that this has happened, just have fun. Yes?”
“Oh, no. I’m not angry…. After… , sorry. I was thinking too much of myself. That’s right, I’ll make sure you don’t blush any more.”
“Yes. If you keep blushing, you’ll only lose the taste of the alcohol, right?”
Hestia nodded her head as if persuaded by Seol-ah’s story that she kept getting angry and complaining about things that had already been decided. As for Hestia, she returned to her usual calm self.
“You never blush? Are you confident about Hestia?”
“Yourself?”
“I didn’t know I was so confident in my drinking. Hestia, your skin is so pale that even a little bit will show through right away, right?”
I imagined Hestia getting drunk and blushing and giggling. Looking forward to it. I’ll have to try my hand at least to see the scene with her sane mind. It’s time to show off your drinking skills that you’ve cultivated at college gatherings and club dinners.
“To begin with, I’m not going to drink very much.”
Hestia waved her hand at my words. She talks about me at a drinking party, and I’ve never seen anyone who doesn’t really drink. Besides, wouldn’t Cordelia be excited and working hard even if I didn’t put much effort into it?
“Miss Hestia doesn’t seem to like alcohol very much.”
“Sure. Is there any reason you don’t like it?”
Hestia muttered in a crawling voice at Seol-ah and my question.
“… It is.”
“What?”
“It doesn’t taste good. It’s just bitter, and it smells good, but it just smells like strange alcohol.”
She hung her head, ashamed of why she hated alcohol.
“Why are you so shy?”
“It’s a bit like a child…. Everyone likes it and drinks it well, but only me….”
I don’t think she’s childish just because she can’t drink. Is it an extension of what children think of as adults when they drink coffee or alcohol? Hestia has a childish side in strange places. She said that’s the cute part too.
“No. Drinking isn’t something to brag about, and you don’t have to think of it that way.”
Look at that. Seol-Ah is already looking at Hestia with the same gaze as her elementary school-age nephew, who insists on drinking her black coffee. She is so cute that I don’t know what to look at. She’s something I’ve thought about before, but whenever she shows something like that, I feel like an adult. She really hates it when she says things like this to herself.
“Does Mikhail think so too?”
“Well, of course. If you can drink or not, you have nothing to do with adults. How many drinkers are like children?”
Hestia asked me with her brighter face than before if she gained strength from Seol-Ah’s words. I readily agreed. It’s not that I hate alcohol, but I don’t want to sound like a kid saying that I can’t drink or that I’m losing half of my life. Rather, that would be a more desirable and wholesome life.
Hestia smiled as if she was feeling a lot better at my answer. Looking at that point, I also think that being so pure suits Cordelia well with each other. As soon as she thought of her, she walked towards us with light steps. Isn’t it, if she’s a duke’s daughter, she’s definitely a noblewoman. When Cordelia saw all three of them gathered, she started to gasp.
“Sorry! Are you late?”
“No. There are still five minutes left.”
Hestia pointed at the clock tower in the center of the campus. Cordelia stroked her chest as if relieved.
“Whew, I thought it was late. Why did everyone come out so soon?”
“It’s just that, I didn’t have anything to prepare, so I came out right away.”
At Hestia’s words, Cordelia sniffed and began to smell Hestia.
“Why is this?”
“No, Hestia, looking at you well, you’ve put on makeup and sprayed perfume? There’s nothing left to prepare.”
These days, when people say that their beauty keeps rising, there must have been a situation like that. Hestia panicked like a person who had a big secret.
“Originally, I did this much!”
“Well, if you are, then it must be like that.”
Cordelia smirked.
“Hestia is pretty even without that.”
“Noisy!”
Hestia was ashamed of her blushing in 5 minutes, as her words that she would not blush were overshadowed.
Looking at Hestia and I, Cordelia clicked her tongue once and asked as if nothing had happened.
Wait, did you click her tongue? Cordelia’s expression, however, was not displeased at all, but she had a happy smile on her face. Is it because of her mood?
“Then, where shall we go?”
“Isn’t that something you thought of?”
“Isn’t it?”
Cordelia answered immediately with a refreshing voice. She said earlier she screamed when she went out for a drink, so of course she thought she was talking about finding a nice shop. It seems I overestimated her.
“Then I have to decide where to go first.”
The faces of the members here have to be a bit flashy to act youthful and drink at any decent shop you see while passing by. Excluding Seol-ah, the three of us are outsiders, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. I don’t have many friends. However, that does not mean that you will be protected from the eyes of the people around you.
Since they are members whose looks are good looks and their families are also family members, their eyes will always follow them no matter what they do. As Seol-ah was also at the center of a scandal with the crown prince, she is not free from the gaze of others. In fact, it is rather miraculous that no rumors have been heard about her until now.
First of all, there shouldn’t be too many people, and the price doesn’t matter, so the food and drink should be okay.
“Can’t we just go to any store?”
“I don’t care, but ask for other people’s opinions.”
“How is it?”
Cordelia whined about going into a random store, probably because she was quite hungry. When I told her to ask someone else, Cordelia immediately grabbed Hestia and Seol-ah and asked.
“Any store?.”
“Somewhere over there.”
At Hestia’s words, I immediately extended my finger and pointed at a shabby tavern that could be seen from the front door. It is a place where the academy’s handymen, other shopping district residents, and students with low pockets usually go, and it has been there since the academy was first established. Honestly, there’s nothing I can’t do if I’m really in a hurry, but is it a suitable place for a fun after-party? There are not many people I thought before, and the price is okay even if it is expensive, so it is a place that is completely opposite to the condition that food and alcohol are delicious.
Hestia’s gaze rode my finger towards the store. As soon as I finished my words, a plump mouse crawled out of the entrance of the store. The rat was big enough to be clearly discernible with the naked eye, even though it was quite a distance, adding a bit of exaggeration about how much food it picked up and ate.
“Ugh. I kinda….”
“Yeah, I’m like that too.”
Hestia looked at the mouse, and her expression twisted as if she was upset. Cordelia also expressed disapproval. See how she doesn’t like it when she says she wants to go anywhere, but she really chooses a place.
“So, let’s decide where to go first. Lady Adamas, do you have any recommended shops?”
“Why don’t you ask me and Hestia, but only ask Lily?”
Cordelia tackled her in her disgruntled voice. I was dumbfounded and asked again.
“Then, why don’t you recommend Cordelia as well?”
“Uh… , hmm… , anywhere?”
She was just worried about um oh, and she finally said that she was fine anywhere, just like the first time. It’s going to be a good night. What kind of shops do you recommend when you don’t usually drink alcohol? Seol-ah, I asked last time because I wanted to recommend a restaurant and if there was an original buff, but those two couldn’t possibly know of a good bar near the academy. Not to mention Hestia, and Cordelia also knows that Hestia is worried about her own drinking habits, since she’s never gone out for a drink with her.
I looked at Cordelia with a look in my eyes. She was a little resentful, but she shuddered, but was there anything special? She eventually gave up and took a step back.
“Well, there is one nice place.”
After much thought, Seol-Ah opened her mouth.
“There are not too many people, and the food is delicious. It’s just that it’s a shop with that kind of atmosphere, isn’t it okay?”
“That kind of atmosphere?”
“There are few people, but it’s loud, open, and the food and drinks are cheap.”
She winked at the old tavern I pointed to earlier. Cordelia trembled and asked if she remembered the little mouse she had seen earlier.
“Do mice come out there too?”
“No. The atmosphere is like that, the store is clean.”
“Then I like it! I wanted to go to a place like that.”
Cordelia readily agreed.
“I just wanted to go to a tavern, drink beer, listen to rumors, and try something like that. If you quarrel at the table next to you, he will scold you.”
“I don’t think it will happen like Miss Cordelia expects.”
Seola laughed at Cordelia’s delusion. Whether she’s at an inn or a tavern, hearing rumors and arguing at the table next to her is the rule of the country wherever she goes.
“How about Ms. Hestia?”
“Well, as long as it is clean…. I’m fine too.”
“Then is it a decision?”
–
“Mikhail! Who is the one who doesn’t give a rat? I don’t know?”
“Hestia, you are very drunk right now. Don’t think about regretting tomorrow morning, let’s stop drinking now. Huh?”
“Because I’m not drunk!”
Actually, I knew it would turn out like this. However, he did not expect that Hestia would do this, not Cordelia.
“All drunkards say they are not drunk. Hestia, calm down. I have to go to the dormitory.”
“hehehe. Mikhail….”
She scolded me, then suddenly turned 180 degrees and clung to me with a silly laugh. The beer in her seat is still half full. Oh my God, half a glass of beer is enough to go crazy. Isn’t this enough to get drunk just by smelling a brewery?
“Please stop laughing and do something for Hestia.”
“Why? It’s nice to see.”
“Mihaiiiiil…”
Seola laughed. Hestia, meanwhile, was rubbing her own cheek against my chest. The drinking habit I expected was not to completely become a dog like this, but to be a bit more charming or honest. Honestly, it’s cute, but that’s it, and it’s difficult because I can’t leave it like this.
“The only normal people here are me and the young lady.”
It’s just that Cordelia didn’t taste as good as Hestia, but her eyes are half-opened and will stretch out sooner or later. Mikhail’s body was so strong that he hardly got drunk, but Seol-ah was even less drunk than me. She said that her liver was made of what kind of steel.
“Originally, bad plans and alcohol are inseparable. In the original film, there was never a scene where Lily was drunk.”
“Is it okay if I just talk?”
“They won’t remember anything about what happened tomorrow morning anyway?”
Seola smiled. She gulped down her fruit juice placed in front of her. Wow, it’s really poisonous.
“I drink too!”
At that moment, Cordelia flashed her glass in front of her and poured the rest of her drink down her throat.
“Crazy.”
I felt a cold sweat run down the back of her neck and run down her spine. Seol-ah also felt uneasy, so she spat out a low-pitched disgust. I grabbed Seol-Ah’s wrist as she tried to get up from her seat.
“Don’t even think about running away.”
“Could you let go of this?”
“Originally, cleaning up drunk people is the role of normal people.”
I swallowed her saliva and watched Cordelia’s condition. It’s best if you stretch out right there and fall asleep. I hope she please don’t cry.
Cordelia was much more relaxed than before, her unfocused eyes shining brightly. She wiped the beer that dripped down her lips with the back of her hand and opened her mouth.
“Mihaiil. You, I said that, but you ran away.”
Oh please.
–