Actively looking far and wide

ー

The garden party proceeds calmly without any fuss.

“This mini parfait is delicious.”

“This tart is also delicious, Konomi.”

In the first place, Benedict has an escort that sticks close to him all the time, and there is not much we can do.

Dominique suddenly opened his mouth as he ate the mini-cakes, while keeping an eye out at the invited guests for any strange behaviour.

“…I am just saying this.”

“Yeah?”

“I have one thing I want to hear about.”

I and Eileen look at Dominique at the same time. What does he want to hear about?

After a hesitating for a while, his words resumed,

“What… I… The chess board I gave you. What, did you do with that?”

“Huh?”

It took a while before I realized that it was a question that was directed at me, not Eileen.

Dominique turns away.

He talked about it again as I was silent.

“That day, the game. It’s been a long time since I was beaten in such a way. In addition… even though she is a girl, she didn’t flirt with me, but instead, just faced me with just her game skills. Something like that…”

Why are his ears red?

Our eyes met for an instant, but he immediately diverted them.

He turns around and continues in that manner,

“…No, never mind. Anyway, that chess board. Have you polished your skills since then?”

“Oh, that’s it.”

I eat a cake with the tea I just received and― well, I can’t lie here.

“I gave it to a fan of Senpai.”

………

“……Huh――!?”

Dominique screams and the people turn towards this place at once.

He himself returns to his senses immediately but, that’s too late. “Ah no!” He kept saying, which left me annoyed. How helpless. I’m gonna have to do a follow up.

I gave a fake smile and giggled.

“Ufufu. That’s no good Gonneau-senpai. You shouldn’t shout like that just because a hornet flew near your nose.”

“Ah, sorry, hahaha. Pardon me.”

He immediately caught on and scratched his head embarrassedly.

Students he is acquainted with looks at the scene heartwarmingly. The other people around us soon lost interest.

―However

Dominic totally does not lose interest.

He looked at me and asked without bothering to hide his panic.

“W-wha, what, what’s that? What did you do!?”

“Right right, thank you very much for helping me out with that thing! It really helped with the negotiation back then!”

“Wait wait wait, wait a minute!”

Even if it was just the other party doing things their way, I think I have to thank them if they helped me.

But why is it that Dominique seems strangely dissatisfied with me saying my thanks?

That’s why, as he said, I closed my mouth, but he glared at me for some reason.

“What were you talking about just now!?”

“Well, the story about what happened with the chessboard and chess pieces Senpai gave me.”

“I! Gave! You! A chess set! To you! Whomever did you give it to?”

“I gave it to a student of the girl’s dormitory.”

“Whyyyyyyyy?!”

So I could retrieve the invitation letter.

I shook my head as Dominique looked straight down at me and grabbed my shoulders.

“I guess you don’t know even though you are a gamer. Senpai, isn’t it natural to use the items you obtained most effectively?”

“No, well, maybe you can say it like that. However…!”

Is he feeling dizzy from standing up too quickly? He is holding his eyes and looking up at the sky.

He’s thinking, ‘efficiency isn’t the only thing life should be about’, or, ‘why do think of life as a game?’?

But maybe he decided to not say whatever he wanted to say, and dropped his shoulders.

This response is probably because he had said that he wanted to hear about something, and I even gave him words of gratitude. After all, he isn’t a person who does not understand that.

I tilt my head and look at Eileen.

She just released her mouth from a straw she was sipping juice with, and said,

“Konomi, I wonder if”

“Yes”

“You had done a bad thing?”

“Huh?”

I don’t know how she came to the conclusion, but I don’t want to be told what is “no good” by the Villainess Young Lady.

I tried to protest to Eileen.

However, before I did that, she trusted an empty glass in front of me.

“My drink is finished. Konomi, get me a new one.”

“Yes yes.”

I look around after receiving the glass.

Every servant is dealing with another guest. Let’s call out when someone is open― as I am thinking of that and put the glass on a table,

“You guys are really lively. I can tell exactly where you are in the garden.”

I heard a cheerful voice saying that.

Looking back, there is,

“Well, if it isn’t His Highness Benedict. Doesn’t simply looking at you tells that you are 『today’s protagonist』?”

“Stop with the ‘Highness’ business, Dominique. Be at ease.”

Dominique smirks with his hands in his pocket and grins.

Benedict then returned a wry smile.

Dominique’s attitude looks impolite, however, the men who seem to be escorts seem cool with it.

I had a little doubt earlier, but they really seemed like old friends.

Benedict turned to us and I bowed with Eileen.

“Your Highness, thank you for inviting us today.”

“No, no, don’t mention it. Thank you for coming, Konomi, Charlotte.”

He gave us a gentle smile.

Dominique then poked him on his side with his elbow.

“Hey, Beni. What’s ‘Konomi’?”

“Yes? It’s her nickname.”

“Why is your nickname that? In the first place, your name is 『Eileen Aldington』 How do you become 『Konomi』?”

“Huh!? That is…”

“Un? What’s the matter, Dominique? You don’t like it because it seems like she got along with me better than with you? Hmm?”

“Nobody’s saying that…! In that case, I’ll call you Konomi too! Okay!?”

“Haa― Well, do as you please.”

Where does their gentlemanly rivalry come from?

Also, personally, it is easier for me to respond when they call me Konomi.

Dominique pointed with his thumb at his friend, Benedict, and said, “I’m sorry about him” as the latter kept on chuckling and laughing.

From both their gestures and tone, I can easily tell about the relationship between the two.

……However, Benedict’s smile disappeared quickly. He looked at the both of us and said,

“I’m sorry to get you involved this time. I simply called you without thinking about your circumstances, but there really was no other but you I could rely on.”

Benedict’s eyebrows get closer only by a little as he says that. It at the very least doesn’t seem like he’s playing around. Someone really must be targeting him.

I want to follow up, but I can’t come up with the right words to say to lighten his mind.

―What do I say?

While I am thinking of that, Benedict’s interest shifted to something else ― the empty glasses on the table.

“Do you need a new drink? Here, someone――”

“Pardon my impoliteness.”

When Benedict raised his hand, just one female servant came.

There are some glasses on the silver tray in her hand.

The colors of the liquid in the glasses are different depending on the type of drink they contain. Red, yellow, white――

“What drink would you like? Ei… Charlotte?”

“I want apple juice.”

“Here you go, Oliver-sama.”

She smiled, took a glass from the tray, and presented it to Eileen.

Then, something really stands out to me for some reason.

I burned the thought in my mind, “left.”

“I will trouble you too. I’ll get the same thing.”

“Pardon me.”

The servant again takes a glass from her tray and passed it to His Highness.

――Oh?

“Charlotte Oliver. I wish you a toast. Konomi, Dominic, you too.”

“Well then, now――”

“―Charlotte, Your Highness.”

I called them with a smile.

I didn’t call Dominique, but he stopped reaching for the glass.

“What’s wrong, Konomi?”

“If you’d like, let me show you one magic trick for entertainment. I’d like to borrow your glasses for a little Your Highness, Charlotte.”

“Magic trick. Hmmm, it looks interesting. ――Konomi, Dominique did lost a game to you the other day. Are you good at misleading other people’s hearts?”

“Ufufu. I wonder. I hope I can do this well.”

Dominique talks remorsefully about that event, but I don’t apologize as I had no fault in it.

I smiled with the glasses from Benedict and Eileen in my hands.

“Now, here are the two glasses that have been prepared. There are some tricks with them.”

“Hmm, what kind of thing?”

“Soon Your Highness, I will reveal it. Then next, Gonneau-senpai…… Oh, that one.”

Then I smile at Dominique and Benedict’s escort.

Only then did the look on the escort change. “I’m in the middle of a job and want to refrain from doing it” he might have thought.

But I ignored the feelings of the escort.

Then next, I,

Point to the woman who brought the glass with her right hand――

“Please restrain that woman.”

The woman’s complexion immediately changes, but Dominique’s reaction is faster! He immediately pressed the woman against the ground and seized her.

A beat later, the escorts gathered from around to protect Benedict.

Her tray and glasses fell and made a loud noise, which attracts attention from everyone.

I continued,

“Oh, it’s alright everyone. But, it looks like her condition has gone worse. Gonneu-senpai, servants, please tend to her as soon as possible!”

Dominique restrains her by pressing her against a table.

His mouth moved without raising a voice.

――It seems to be on purpose.

I too am silent in return.

Everyone had their eyes focused on me, and I spilled the contents of the glasses into the flowers under my feet.

After seeing it, Eileen makes a short scream and clings to my arm.

……The flowers

Poor things. Their colours changed instantly.

ー

TN: Please support me on https://www.patreon.com/TlukLoh or https://paypal.me/tlukloh.

Thank you very much to my patrons 『Lan Hoang』 and 『Isabell Zultner』

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