Chapter 56

Seraphine Rosalind Valtoria.

The Third Princess of the Argentian Empire and one of the main heroines of Luminor Academy.

She was also a character famous among Luminor Academy players in many ways.

…She was more remembered for bad reasons rather than good ones, though.

After Ethan explained that the banquet to be held at the palace today was a masquerade ball, I belatedly remembered what kind of person the Third Princess was.

…And his words that the masquerade ball was her chosen banquet concept could be understood at once.

‘The Third Princess is a bit of an airhead.’

All people are equal regardless of status and have the right to be respected equally.

The words of the people carry the same weight, whether they are nobles or commoners.

That was the pure and easy-going personality of the heroine princess of Luminor Academy, Seraphine Rosalind Valtoria.

Anyone who had played Luminor Academy would naturally know this character.

That’s because not only was this character a ‘mandatory character’ that had to join the party in the story among the main characters, but she was also a kind of ‘cancer character’ where nearly half of all of the episodes started with the inconvenience she caused.

For example, she’d be pickpocketed by a little thief, and the stolen item happened to be an essential item needed for game progression.

…Or she’d disappear somewhere when the party briefly separated and reunited, only to suddenly be captured by a demon disguised as a human.

…Or she’d use most of the loot obtained from the Dragon Subjugation episode for village reconstruction funds without any consultation.

There were quite a few cancerous episodes that anyone who had played Luminor Academy had to see and move forward from at least once.

She was a character who belonged to the ‘disliked’ category in the game but in a different sense from Ethan.

「Title: “What’s wrong with selling some dragon loot and using them for village reconstruction funds?”

Content: (Image of Seraphine)

“I’m pretty, aren’t I?!”」

Such memes were popular in Luminor Academy communities, so this alone could roughly explain the princess’s character.

As a mandatory character, she couldn’t be kicked out in the middle of the story and even had an invincible body that didn’t get hit by the Curse of Erosion that could one-shot the main character.

She was also the only character among the heroines that I tried to put the Curse of Erosion on.

…Because in multiple playthroughs, there was no other annoying girl who hindered story progression as much as her.@@novelbin@@

…Still, well, she was really pretty enough to spawn the “I’m pretty, aren’t I?!” meme.

If a popularity vote was held based solely on appearance, she would have definitely been in the Top 3 along with Lilith, but…

‘In reality, she ranked in the middle due to the troublesome things she did in-game.’

Anyway, the reason I mentioned this airhead princess wasn’t for nothing.

It was to explain why the birthday banquet of the Empire’s Third Princess became a ‘masquerade ball’ and the psychology behind Seraphine, who held such a banquet.

As I said before, she was the type of person who argued that commoners and royals were all the same people.

Setting her birthday banquet as a masquerade ball was also a kind of performance claiming that she wouldn’t discriminate based on status.

‘Of course, in reality, it probably wouldn’t work well.’

Usually, in this kind of masquerade ball, most people attended wearing a half mask that only surrounded the eyes but didn’t cover them.

Also, nobles didn’t have face recognition disorders, so they were bound to recognize each other even with that level of disguise.

It’s not like the masquerade ball was the only place for socializing, and most nobles were used to familiarizing themselves with each other’s faces at other gatherings or social events.

Just by looking at hairstyles, voices, outfits, and physiques, it wasn’t very difficult to identify who the other person was.

In fact, Seraphine’s masquerade ball was a banquet held for her own self-satisfaction rather than for practical purposes.

…The only useful thing in such a masquerade ball would be what Ethan just mentioned.

“At Princess Seraphine’s masquerade ball, it’s okay for a commoner maid to attend. Asking for the other person’s name or status at the banquet hall is strictly forbidden.”

“…Is that so.”

“I’m not thoughtlessly taking you to a place where you might be in danger, Maid. If this banquet wasn’t the Birthday Banquet of the Third Princess, I naturally wouldn’t have made such a proposal.”

“……”

“If there’s still any reason why you shouldn’t participate, please tell me.”

…As if there could be any.

He had already refuted all the reasons why I shouldn’t attend the banquet one by one.

Now, he probably couldn’t find someone else to replace me, and in the first place, Ethan said he had already informed them in advance through a letter that I would be attending the banquet.

There was no longer any suitable excuse to run away.

…I had no choice but to meekly accept attending as Ethan’s partner.

“I understand. If that is truly the young master’s wish, I will also attend the Princess’ birthday banquet.”

“You made the right decision, Maid.”

“…I will return to my room to prepare. I’ll see you later, young master.”

“Yeah. See you in the evening, Maid.”

The door to Ethan’s room opened with a creak.

With all sorts of complicated thoughts still lingering in my mind, I carefully moved my reluctant steps to the corridor.

Isabel and Catherine, who were waiting for me in front of Ethan’s room, asked me quietly.

“Li-Lilith…?”

“…Yeah.”

“Wh-what’s going on…? Are you going to the banquet…? Or has it been canceled…?”

“H-how did it go, Miss Lilith…?”

Not knowing what conversation I had with Ethan inside, Isabel and Catherine asked in a careful voice as if gauging my emotions.

As it’s now impossible to escape from the banquet, I answered the two with the most nonchalant reaction, as if nothing had happened.

“It seems there was a misunderstanding. I thought that my participation in a noble banquet might be considered disrespectful, but fortunately, the young master had already taken care of it in advance.”

“I-I see, Lilith.”

“Sorry for causing you unnecessary worry, Isabel. And you too, Senior Catherine.”

“No! It’s fine as long as nothing happened to you!”

“I-I’m fine too… P-please don’t apologize, Miss Lilith…”

“Will you help me put on the banquet dress, Isabel?”

“Sure!”

“I-I’ll help too, Miss!”

With the help of Isabel, who returned to her original self with a bright smile as soon as she heard that nothing had happened to me, and Catherine, who still had the strange misunderstanding that I was a noble lady, I completed my transformation into a noble lady in a crimson dress.

To attend the masquerade ball hosted by the Third Princess and the Imperial family.

As Ethan’s partner.

Inside the carriage engraved with the Blackwood family crest…

A deep crimson dress, high-heeled shoes, and a formal mask covering the eyes.

With a few accessories, including a ring, I had transformed into a noble lady and was blankly watching the scenery outside the window change, staying quiet inside the carriage.

“……”

“……”

An awkward silence inside the carriage where only Ethan and I were sitting, excluding Dittmeyer, who was sitting in the driver’s seat.

It was unavoidable. Although I was going to the banquet as Ethan’s fake partner, in reality, I still wasn’t that close to Ethan.

The days of despising him like the hated Ethan in the game had long passed, but in the first place, human emotions weren’t divided into simply liking and disliking.

These days, the emotion I felt towards Ethan was neither positive nor negative, but closest to indifference.

To be precise, from the moment I became convinced that Ethan wouldn’t do anything strange to me, I also stopped caring much about Ethan’s whereabouts.

‘It would be a bit difficult to be friends with him at this point, anyway.’

Our first meeting was an uncomfortable one to begin with. Not to mention, there was still a clear difference in status between me and Ethan.

Plus, the not-so-good conflicts that arose from it.

This was a gap that could never be bridged, at least not unless Lilith somehow rose in status for some reason.

So, the day I could understand him as a noble would probably never come, and the same could be said for him.

If that’s the case, rather than forcibly patching up an awkward relationship, it was better to maintain a relationship with a bit of distance.

Ethan would disappear to the academy in a year anyway, and 2 years after that, I could also settle my debt maid life.

In the first place, it was absurd for me, a maid, to take the initiative to build a friendship and approach him.

As I said before, I was someone who believed that one must know their place.

It was too brazen, even in my opinion, for a maid to open her heart just because her strange noble master had been a little kinder lately.

Around the time the carriage carrying two people in awkward dresses, awkward makeup, and an awkward relationship was heading towards the Imperial Capital, Ethan quietly called out to me in a low voice from the left.

“Maid.”

“…Yes, young master.”

“We’ll arrive at the palace in an hour. You know what to do, right?”

“Yes. Stay by the young master’s side, clearly show that I am the young master’s partner, minimize my words in all responses, but occasionally show the ring on my left ring finger and make an expression as if it has some meaning, correct?”

“…I’m glad you know it well.”

“I have it memorized accurately, so you can rest assured.”

…Since I’ve already accepted it, I should do it properly.

I had no intention of taking revenge by intentionally acting awkward at this point.

In the first place, doing such a thing wouldn’t benefit me at all and would only cause the inconvenience of getting involved in bothersome matters.

Strictly speaking, the situation of attending the Imperial masquerade ball itself wasn’t that bad.

It was a good opportunity to see other characters from Luminor Academy besides the people of the Blackwood family for a change.

‘I’ll be able to see Seraphine, the Third Princess, in person. Maybe Agnes of Marquis Elizabeth will attend too…’

While I was picturing the characters of Luminor Academy one by one in my head like that, Ethan’s voice calling out to me from the next seat was quietly heard.

“Maid.”

“Yes, young master.”

“…Don’t call me young master from now on. From now on, Ma-…Lilith will be pretending to be my fiancée.”

“…Ah.”

Well, after going through the trouble of disguising as a noble lady, the moment I used titles like Maid or young master, it would be the same as openly revealing my identity.

Nodding my head at Ethan’s words, the moment I tried to call his name, a question suddenly flashed through my mind.

‘Just calling each other by name, huh… Isn’t that too weak to pass as fiancés?’

Just as I called Isabel and Catherine by their names, calling each other on a first name basis was something that could be done only between friends.

It didn’t seem like that meaning would fade, even if the relationship were homosexual or heterosexual.

Of course, there was no problem with using it just to express some level of intimacy and hide one’s identity, but I still wanted to do it clearly if possible.

…But using titles like honey or hubby seemed too nauseating.

After thinking of a few candidates in my head, I quietly gave Ethan a slightly different name.

“Okay, …Ed.”

“…AHEM, ahem?!”

…I had put some thought into coming up with a nickname, but was it really that bad?

Seeing Ethan making such a fuss over just removing one consonant from his name *1 made me feel a bit annoyed.

Someone was attending the banquet, even pretending to be a fiancée, to help his political actions.

…Yet he showed such a reaction because the nickname that came out of my mouth, Ed, was awkward?

…Somehow, seeing that made me want to call this noble by this nickname I just thought of even more, only because I hated the sight of it.

Pretending to be nonchalant, I brazenly established Ethan’s new nickname that I had just thought of.

“To create an atmosphere where Ed and I seem like fiancés or lovers, this would be much more effective than just calling each other by name.”

“Th-that’s true…”

“So, I will continue to call you by this title until we return to the mansion, Ed.”

“O-okay… If Lilith prefers that…”

Ethan, whose face had turned bright red, averted his gaze from me.

Seeing him turn his head as if he didn’t even want to make eye contact out of awkwardness, it seemed like there would be some fun in teasing him throughout the masquerade ball.

I set my second goal for this banquet to call him Ed as much as possible whenever I had the chance.

Let’s see you die of embarrassment throughout the masquerade ball.

With the honorifics changed like that and the atmosphere becoming awkward instead, the carriage of the Blackwoods had already passed through the walls of the Imperial Capital and entered it.

The palace where tonight’s ball would unfold was also gradually getting closer.