101. Remnants of Malice (2)
After asking her elder sister Arina a favor, Flora left the study and bumped into Karsein as soon as she did.
Her cheerful smile instantly turned into a worried frown, and thinking that Karsein might refuse, she went back up the stairs and watched from nearby.
“When will he come out…?”
It took quite a while for Karsein to come out of her elder sister’s room.
Her elder sister had definitely said she would put in a good word for Karsein. But the fact that it was taking this long was making Flora anxious.
Come to think of it, her elder sister, who always said she would grant her requests right away, seemed to be hesitating a bit this time…
“Was it too much to ask…?”
If so, that would be terrible.
But on the other hand, she also had the feeling that Karsein might not accept the invitation to the tea party.
Flora hung her head in frustration.
Just then.
Carstein opens the door and exits.
-Click.
“Oops!”
Flora quickly covered her mouth and hid her body beside the stairs.
He couldn’t have heard me.
No, he probably didn’t. Since he didn’t hear me here either.
“You should learn a lot from being there. If you change even a little after going, you’ll have no problem regaining your authority to participate in the meeting.”
Her older sister’s voice. Flora’s ears perked up.
Judging by how she’s telling him to learn a lot from being there, it seems Carstein replied that he’d go to the tea party?
Any anxiety she had about Carstein refusing fluttered away like a butterfly at her older sister’s words.
However, she hadn’t thought at all that Carstein would come walking this way. Thanks to that, Flora had to suck in her breath and become incredibly tense as soon as she met Carstein’s eyes.
“What are you doing here?”
“Huh? Ah, well… that…”
What should I say?
Flora, whose eyes were darting around in that moment, said whatever came to mind.
“W-what’s it to you if I’m here!”
“…Pardon?”
Carstein let out a hollow laugh as if he was taken aback.
Then, Flora reacted as if she were a thief caught red-handed.
“I can go up too! You were just here a moment ago! Is there a reason I can’t be here?”
Isn’t it my natural right?
The youngest daughter of the Duke’s family walking through this place. It was a perfectly natural thing.
Flora confidently stood her ground, thinking that there was nothing she could be criticized for even if she were here.
Of course, she had no idea that it made her intentions all the more obvious.
“Who said anything?”
“…Huh?”
“I didn’t say anything, so why are you getting so worked up all by yourself? Honestly.”
Carstein hadn’t said anything, yet Flora was the one getting all worked up.
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With the situation seemingly sorted out, he had nothing more to say.
Flora, displeased with that, threw a tantrum.
“How can you talk to me like that? You got an opportunity from my sister because of me. If I hadn’t asked you this time, you wouldn’t have received the authority to participate in the Eastern noble meeting!”
“So what? Do you want me to thank you?”
“Y-yes, you should!”
He let out another hollow laugh at her affirmation.
“Ah. Right. Let’s leave it at that. Where and when is that tea party?”
“It’s at Viscount Gelgeton’s villa. The time is…”
“It’ll be in about two hours from now.”
“…How did you know?”
“You there. Have a carriage brought around.”
Carstein didn’t answer her question, and called for his attendant, saying he would prepare to go out.
Really, how could I not?
***
Two hours later.
Flora, meticulously dressed by the maids, looked like the precious youngest daughter of the Duke’s family, just as usual.
So cute and pretty.
The maids were all in a flutter, some clutching their chests and others shivering with a strange thrill.
Looking at them, Flora suddenly felt as if nothing had changed much, from the past to the present, and she became filled with anxiety instead.
“By any chance, is Karsein getting dressed?”
The maids asked back, “The young master?” to the unexpected question, then giggled and said that there was no problem, easing Flora’s worries a little.
Flora asked once more just in case, but they told her to stop worrying and smiled warmly, seeing the close relationship between the siblings.
Flora came down after finishing her dressing.
She didn’t need to ask where Karsein was; he was standing in front of the carriage.
‘Was Karsein originally… like this?’
Even though he was leaning against the wall, he was so tall that she had to look up to see him.
And it wasn’t just his height that was tall.
She had thought that his thin body was not very handsome. However, the Karsein she saw now felt clearly different from the skinny boy he used to be.
Why has he changed so much?
Flora looked at Karsein blankly and thought so.
“What are you doing? Over there.”
“Uh, uh-huh?”
“If you’re here, let’s go quickly. It’s not good to be late.”
That’s right.
It’s not good to be late. It’s an unwritten rule among nobles to arrive a little earlier than the appointed time.
However… Karsein’s current appearance didn’t sit well with Flora.
“Why are you dressed like that?”
“What. I’m properly dressed.”
“Where did you get that! It’s a place where only nobles gather… You should have dressed more properly!”
That’s right. Karsein is too plain right now.
It is true that nobles dress modestly to some extent in order to maintain the virtue of humility, but this is not moderately plain but severely plain.
There is no decoration on the dull fabric.
There is no symbol of the nobility or dignity.
Even that, the crest of the Vagrant Duke’s family should be there, but there is no such thing on the clothes. All he had was a sword.
Flora was dissatisfied because the outfit was too neat.
“It’s a tea party. It’s just a gathering to drink tea, isn’t it? Why would I, a man, wear such a flashy outfit there?”
“But… you’re a noble too…”
“You invited me to a place where only noblewomen gather, and you want a man in a fancy outfit to join them? Isn’t that just asking for trouble?”
If you dismiss it as a tea party, there’s nothing to say.
However, this is not an ordinary tea party.
“The other ladies will bring someone to talk to! It’s not like you’re the only man!”
Didn’t everyone say they would bring one person each?
It wasn’t necessarily a place where only women gathered.
However, Karsein did not respond.
“Alright. I don’t have time, so should we just go?”
“…”
“If you’re really worried, you can drop me off and go. I heard Claire is at the mansion.”
“Ah, really. I see! You can’t just go!”
To say you’re worried and drop me off.
That’s absolutely unacceptable.
What kind of opportunity is this?
For Flora, the purpose of this tea party was to properly introduce Karsein, clear up the rumors, and change his perception.
Her outfit didn’t matter too much. The most important thing was to get him there.
However, a part of her wondered what would have happened if she had said something different. She wished he would dress up a little more, just a pure wish.
Soon, the carriage that the two would ride in arrived.
‘Why are there two?’
Flora tilted her head and looked back and forth between the two carriages.
One carriage would have been enough, so she couldn’t understand why two had been called.
Karsein was the one who had prepared the carriages.
Does that mean he plans on bringing more people?
‘That could be it. Like Camilla… Yeah. That could be it.’
She had heard that young ladies from other families sometimes prepare a separate carriage for their servants. Thinking about it that way, it didn’t seem so strange.
After all, Karsein had been talking to Camilla a lot in his office lately.
In the meantime, Karsein approached the carriage first and opened the door.
Realizing that he was preparing to escort the young lady, Flora ran over and grabbed Karsein’s hand.
The escorting process was infinitely smooth. No, it was so smooth that it was perfect.
Flora was on the shorter side, so when the height difference was this great, she usually had a shorter servant escort her to alleviate the inconvenience.
Even so, the fact that there was nothing wrong with Karsein’s escort meant that he was very considerate of others.
“…Did you practice because of your fiancee?”
“What?”
“This escorting thing. Did you practice because of your fiancee? You didn’t know how to do it before, right?”
“Yes. I learned in many ways.”
“…”
Flora felt inexplicably upset at his straightforward admission.
“What are you doing! If you’re done escorting me, shouldn’t we go quickly! We’re going to be late at this rate!”
She even threw in a useless tantrum.
With a strange feeling of irritation, Flora got into the carriage.
“…?!”
Suddenly, the door slammed shut.
Without a word, Karsein had closed it.
Flora hurriedly got up from her seat and opened the door again.
“Hey, wait a minute!”
“Why?”
“Why won’t you get on? … We’re going together.”
We’re going together but you’re not getting in the carriage?
Thinking that perhaps he was only pretending to go, she immediately jumped out.
However, as if there were no problem at all, Carsein replied,
“Since we’re going together, I’m riding like this.”
“Wasn’t that carriage something you prepared separately for the servants to ride in…? Like Camilla.”
“Why would I call Camilla to a tea party that you wanted to go to? It’s the same for the others.”
“…Then by any chance, you prepared two carriages so that you could ride separately from me?”
No way.
There’s no way that’s true.
No matter how much he dislikes me, riding in a separate carriage…
“Why are you asking when you know the answer?”
At those cold words, the blonde girl’s chest immediately tightened.
A feeling of being stifled. That single sentence brought on an unbearable frustration.
“Tch…!”
Flora, who had been watching Carsein get in the carriage right behind her, immediately got out of the carriage she was in.
Then, she ran with quick steps towards the door of the carriage Carsein was in.
“Heyron! Open this carriage door! I’m going to ride in this carriage too!”
“…I understand.”
The carriage door opened at Heyron’s hand.
Carsein was sitting in the seat reading a book. As soon as the door opened, he met Flora’s eyes, but without showing any sign of being annoyed, he turned another page.
“I’m going to ride in this carriage too!”
“Whatever.”
Flora shouted with her lips tightly pursed, but Carsein didn’t even lift his eyes from his book, let alone snort.
Even though she got in the carriage with Heyron’s help, she felt somehow uncomfortable.
Soon, the carriage began to move, but Carsein didn’t say anything.
Flora, who was feeling uncomfortable for no reason, spoke first.
“We could ride in just one, so why did you call for two?! It’ll just make it harder on the servants!”
“Well, I don’t think there’s anyone in the dukedom who would think you and I are close.”
“…!”
“Oh, there must be some new maids who don’t know. Not no one, but a few who don’t know. Actually, even if it’s just that, it wouldn’t be strange for me to call for two carriages, right? Even if that weren’t the case, since we’ve fought more than we’ve gotten along, we would have had to call for two anyway to go without any problems.”
Groan.
Flora clenched her fists as if denying it.
He wasn’t wrong.
But why did it bother her so much?
She wanted to deny it. No, she had to deny it.
“No! No! You’re wrong! We could just have ridden in one carriage!”
She hadn’t brought Carsein to get him angry like this.
It wasn’t as if she had ridden in the carriage with Karsein just to shout and scream like she was doing now.
Yet, with her lips jutted out, she had become the Flora Vagrant of the past, without a doubt.
“Tch…! You idiot!”
From the start, the very first button was already twisted and tangled.