I Don’t Care About the Story, I Want a Cat ～Transmigrated into an Otome Game～ - Chapter 6

The Tea Party

“Sigh… Tiger, please pray for me, ok? And make sure to comfort me when I come back.”

“Amy, you can’t avoid it forever. Just go and get it over with.” 

Tiger had finally moved over to their house a few days ago. And now, the day to meet with the Third Prince had finally arrived. 

Amy, who didn’t want to go to the meeting, and her mother’s way of speaking about it, both were unusual behaviours for aristocrats. However, the Northland family was thoroughly against this sudden marriage proposal. The Count’s staff understood this very well, and were hardly surprised at the reluctance of their mistress. 

“Come now, it could be fun. It’s a formal garden party so all you need to do is say a few words, then you can let the other candidates take over and just enjoy yourself. The Royal Garden is said to have beautiful flowers blooming at all times of the year. And you can drink the tastiest tea there, I’m sure.” 

“…… they might also have cake.” 

“Yeah, with lots of cream on it. But if they only serve biscuits then just leave and come back.” 

Amy’s spirits, both in body and mind, felt lighter at the happy teasing of her mother. But her heart still felt a bit unsettled.  

This would be the first time she’d visit the Palace. She knew it was a great honour to be allowed into the Royal Residence without even having debuted into society yet. The palace looked magnificent from the outside, so it must be equally beautiful and luxurious from the inside… she could imagine how excited she would have been if the purpose of her visit had been an ‘educational tour’ instead.

Amy believed that even if, like her mother had said, this wasn’t the world of the otome game, it was still quite similar to it. 

Starting from the portrait of the Third Prince to her brother, and the son of the Duchess who had given her Tiger… all of them looked exactly like the characters she had seen on the opening screen of the game. 

Although they were all currently younger than the characters on the screen, their features, that is the colour of their hair and eyes, and even the expressions on their faces, all of this was very similar to the characters. She had spoken to Alexander a number of times after, and each time she met him, her conviction that he was a capture target became stronger and stronger. 

If it wasn’t for the current situation, she would have greatly admired the artist’s ability to capture their likeness in the illustration.

Tiger mewled at her in a sweet voice when she withdrew her hand from stroking his soft fur. The lonely look on his face made it harder for her to leave. 

She hugged him one last time before leaving, and was engulfed in the fluffy coat of his fur. It felt like a soft blanket… last night she had been so nervous she had hardly gotten any sleep. But now, surrounded by Tiger’s smooth fur, and his warmth, Amy felt herself begin to doze off before her mother, Isabel, pulled her away from the cat.

“Ah, Tiger, my blanket!”

“You’re going to attract attention if you arrive late.”

“I-I’m leaving, yes, I’ll leave right away.”

And then, with great reluctance on Amy’s part, they finally left the Count’s house.

They had just arrived in the Royal Garden. Amy, who had barely made it in time, was the last one to enter, and the gate behind her was gently shut close.

Amy stood there not knowing what to say or do when her mother’s carefree voice entered her ears.

“Oh, look there. A fountain.”

“Eh? Oh, yeah…”

She was forced to turn around and face the garden. Her eyes widened at the sight; various flowers were blooming beautifully with not even a single withered branch. It was a perfect, well-tended garden. Small streams of water meandered gently along the path, just like a real stream, and connected to the white marble fountain in the middle. 

The Count of Northland himself had a fairly decent garden. The garden was part of a forest that entered their territory. However, even then, it wasn’t as finely maintained as the Royal Garden.

Amy was honestly impressed by the garden, and felt herself lost in admiration of it. She had never been that interested in plants or gardens in her previous life. But in this world, where other entertainment was scarce, she had developed a keenness for aesthetic beauty. 

“It’s so pretty, mom.”

“It was worth coming here just to be able to see this, right? We can’t enter otherwise, it’s closed to the public.”

The flowers and greenery was beautiful, the refreshing sound of running water. Amy gazed around, enchanted, as they slowly followed behind the maid attending to them.

The rest of the candidates were already seated when they arrived; there were about 10 other families there. Small tables were placed at various locations in the clearing, and the families on them seemed to be enjoying themselves by drinking tea or admiring the flowers. 

The visit today had been disguised in the form of a ‘tea party thrown by the Queen for young ladies of aristocratic families’. The Queen’s plan was to announce she wasn’t feeling well at the last minute, and send the Third Prince as her replacement.

Currently, it was only the families who had been invited, and their maids and knights, that were present in the garden. There was still no appearance of anybody from the Royal Family. 

Even Amy herself had to pull herself together at such a formal atmosphere. She and her mother chose a table near to the building, and far from the entrance. They had a good view of the garden from there.

The delicate clawfoot legs of the chair creaked as Amy sat down on it…… she was reminded of her own weight but, rather than feeling anxious about it, she felt reassured.  

It had been 3 months already since she’d made that resolution. Her weight had increased favourably, and Amy had turned out splendidly chubby. Amy wasn’t obese or anything, but for the fashionable noble ladies who considered their appearance equal to their lives, and in a society where the trend was to be so thin you looked like you could break at any point, Amy’s body was impossible to grasp. 

The maid and the knight who had escorted them here had both widened their eyes in surprise when they’d first seen her. But as expected of Palace staff, within seconds, they had gone back to their jobs as if nothing had happened. Amy, feeling impressed at their poker faces, had thanked them for the escort with a full smile on her face.

Looking around, she could see that single lady had a slender body, and was dressed in lavish clothes. The design of their clothes was made to perfectly show off their bodies; for example, almost all of them wore a princess line dress which showed off a slender waist.

Since they were looking for a candidate for the 13 year old Prince, all the ladies, including Amy, were still young, close to the Prince’s age. However, the Marquess’ daughter sitting across from her looked to be about 16. As expected, she had the atmosphere of a grown woman, she had a certain allure even at daytime.

Amy’s dress, on the other hand, had an empire waist. The bodice ended just below her chest, and the skirt flared out gently from there.

Her waist was hidden under the loose skirts of her dress, but one could easily determine her figure from her unobtrusive collarbones, her soft upper arms visible through the see through lace of her sleeves, or her cheeks that were so round it made one want to squish them.  

“…….Yes!”  

The ladies in the garden had given one look at Amy before they turned their gaze away in relief. Amy had been reassured, from their reactions, that she would not be chosen, and had pumped her fist in triumph under the table.

The party seemed perfectly amiable at a glance, but Amy could see young ladies who were close in age, or those who were dressed in a similar manner, sending heated glares to each other. Even the parents seemed to be on edge with each other. It was apparent that, among all this, Amy had not even been considered as a rival.

She had automatically been placed outside the competition, and so she could enjoy the tea in a relaxed manner. The two enjoyed the elegant scenery from the back of the garden, and ate the creamy fruit tarts with the fragrant tea, with their hair fluttering behind them in the gentle breeze.

“How amazing. They only gave me a glance at first, and now on one is bothering about me.”

“Haha, right? But, you know, my Amy is the loveliest out of them all!”

Amy didn’t think her mom’s words, spoken out of favoritism for her, were true. But she still felt happy that her overly-fond mother thought so.

The Northland mother and daughter did stand out as they chatted and giggled, their heads close to each other. But they were too distracted in their conversation to notice.

Just as they had finished drinking the first cup of tea, an announcement came from the Queen saying that she couldn’t come to the party due to suddenly not feeling well. 

It was announced, the Third Prince, Edward Leo Roderich would attend in her stead. The people, who had just been exaggeratedly lamenting about the Queen earlier, suddenly became lively at the news. Even though it was all planned beforehand, Amy, who hadn’t known of this before, became overwhelmed.

“I don’t like this anymore… I want to go home quickly and hug Tiger.”

“We still have two more hours.”

They were busy talking to each other when they suddenly heard a bunch of excited, high pitched cheers coming from the other side. It was hard to see through the crowd, but it looked like the Third Prince had arrived.

Amy stayed at the table while the other girls rushed to see the Prince. She had no desire to go into the crowd. Besides, the Prince had to greet every single candidate at least once, so she just had to wait patiently for that.

Although Amy was determined to turn down the fiancee position, she was still a little curious to see the prince; she wondered if he really did look like the character from the ‘otome game’. Well I have come this far, she thought as she strained her back a little to try and get a peek. 

The Prince was tall for his age, a trait he must have inherited from his father, she could see the dark blonde hair of his over the heads of the young ladies around him.

“What a lovely colour.” Amy murmured.

“I suppose it is. They say he has the same coloured hair as his older brother, the Second Prince.”

“Hmm, blue wings covering yellow feathers… isn’t this a red-flanked bluetail*? But it’s not the right season yet.”

(TN: *red-flanked bluetail is a small bird with blue and yellow feathers.)

“Huh?”

Amy had been distracted by the small bird resting on the branch of the tree in front of them. She seemed to be more interested in the bid than the Prince. A maid of the Royal Palace, who was standing near them, stumbled a bit in surprise, but Amy didn’t notice. Her sparkling eyes were fixed on the cute bird above them.

Ah, I see, Isabel thought as she too turned her attention to the bird.

“I thought this bird didn’t show up in front of people.” She said.

“Well, I don’t think it has to worry about being caught here in this garden. Besides there are no other animals that would prey on it either.”

“Must be a relief for it, huh.”

In her previous life, the red-flanked bluetail was said to be ‘a pleasing bird that can also be spotted in cities’. But Amy had actually never seen one before. She didn’t know if it was the saem bird, but it’s blue feathers were certainly very pretty. She had never expected to see it here, in this place. I must make a sketch when I go back home, Amy thought, as she tried to burn the figure of the small bird into her memory.

A beautiful garden, delicious tea, and a rare-to-see bird. Amy had wanted to go back as soon as possible before. But, today was a good day, she thought now with a satisfied smile as she watched the bird fly off. 

“……what are you looking at?”  

She was lost in watching the bird fly away when a voice suddenly shook her out of it. Instead of turning around, she looked up to her mother and was surprised to find her hand holding the cup suspended halfway to her mouth.

Feeling a sense of unease, she rushed to get up on her feet but was stopped as the voice continued.

“Nice to meet you. Is it okay to sit here?”

“Y-y-yes, of course. Please, go ahead…… nice to meet you.”

He was surrounded by two knights, and an older maid. One of the knights pulled out a chair while the other one looked around in alertness.

The person who had just sat down at their table was none other than the ‘Prince’ who she had seen in the portrait.