Episode 41. We’re Competitors
“Wait a minute, I have something to say.”
“Go ahead, say something.”
I deliberately stared at him intently so as not to be fooled by his appearance.
“But I think the way you treat me has changed a little? The way you speak, etc...”
“Yes. It’s changed.”
He spoke so coolly that I was a little taken aback.
“Why?”
“We’re competitors.”
“...”
Is that how it is?
It was obvious, but strangely shocking.
Of course, when the competition starts, the Princes and Princesses will compete, so the maids will also become competitors. However, it didn’t feel real to me at all.
More importantly, it seemed that I had no reason to believe that I had become the maid of Her Highness the Princess.
He continued with an indifferent face.
“But let’s not be enemies, Miss Lorisha.”
“...”
I could finally understand what he meant. What his subtle change in attitude meant, and why he had come over to my room window in the middle of the night.
But it was a bit funny. Who wouldn’t know that the upcoming competition would be a fight between the First and Second Princes?
It was unexpected that he was wary of me as well. Prince Kydel seemed to be a person who lived with worries and concerns more than he looked.
Whether he knew what I was thinking or not, he spoke with utter seriousness.
“I would like you to pretend that our past never happened. In any case, even if it benefits our respective masters.”
What past events? The time I was mistaken for a thug on the street? The time on Zebron Beach? Or the parasite of Prince Grayon? The royal library?
Come to think of it, we had many adventures together. Oh my.
He even snuck a carriage out for me.
He was the one who made my coming-of-age day perfect...
But when I called him a rival or enemy, it felt unrealistic.
I tried to speak calmly.
“I had already forgotten everything, but did you know that it came to mind because of you?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll forget the things that come to mind right away. No, right away, maybe tomorrow morning? I forget the little things when I wake up.”
Then he smiled brightly. But his eyes weren’t smiling.
That was a male social smile.
I looked straight at him and said with my own social smile.
“Then, does that mean you won’t ask me about that letter anymore, Your Excellency?”
“...”
I felt a thrill of joy when I saw his eyes waver for a moment.
You didn’t expect me to be treated like this, did you, Your Excellency?
But he shook his head firmly.
“No. That won’t do.”
“Ha! You said we should pretend that the past never happened! How can someone go back on their words so quickly? Are you that kind of person, Your Excellency?”
“No, that’s not it, that’s it, and this is different!”
“What’s different? How is it different?”
“The letter is a personal matter between you and me. It’s completely separate.”
Do I know that or not?
It was actually Prince Kydel who didn’t know.
Prince Kydel is trying to protect His Highness the Second Prince, and I am trying to protect myself. Of course, I am more important than His Highness Grayon.
“It’s not separate. You said it was a long time ago. But I don’t know why it’s not a long time. Personal? What was the most public thing that happened in the past?”
“Miss Loire!”
Prince Kaidel called me indignantly.
But I also said solemnly.
“If you want to silence me, you’ll have to kill me. You already know very well where I am.”
“...”
He looked at me as if he were angry and closed his mouth.
“Don’t worry. Even if Lord Rond is with me, he won’t bother to protect me. Killing me would be a piece of cake.”
“Lord Rond will be disappointed if he hears that.”
He said that because he thought he knew what I was doing in the backyard, but it was a slip of the tongue.
I quickly explained.
“No, it’s not that Lord Rond is a bad person, but I’m not the Princess. Would the person who should be protecting the Princess take risks to protect a maid? That’s not right! Lord Rond is a responsible person.”
“...”
I checked Prince Kydel’s expression to see if I had gotten through the crisis safely, and he was still looking at me with a stern face.
With one slip of the tongue, Keryl ruined Her Highness’s plans for today, and I almost made the same mistake.
Let’s be careful with our words!
But his silence made me feel more and more uneasy.
Isn’t this guy really weird? What’s that letter? I’ve heard that crazy guy from Prince Grayon so many times that I’m sick of it, so why is there something to feel bad about now? In the meantime, Prince Kydel slowly got up and came towards me. As the distance between us grew closer, I had to lift my chin to look him in the eye.
He was a person who lacked all the aspects I liked.
He said coldly.
“Let’s make a deal.”
“Uh, is there anything else we can make a deal with?”
“The list of palace visitors.”
“...Ah.”
A record of my entry into the Third Palace under the name of Lorisha Loba while delivering medicine to Director Royman.
If it had been like before, Prince Kydel would have just kept his mouth shut, but now the situation was different.
The small offense I committed in the past could have been a crisis for the Princess and the Count now that I was the Princess’s maid.
I squinted my eyes at him, and he grinned.
What bad luck!
“Do whatever you want!”
That was the end of our deal.
I would keep quiet about everything related to Prince Grayon. And he would keep my alias on the palace entry list, but he would maintain the right to continue to pursue the letter issue.
I was really dumbfounded.
Prince Kydel said calmly.
“Miss Misha is learning her own way of surviving, and there’s probably nothing you can do to help her. Well, that’s it.”
He left. His usual polite manners were gone, and his attitude was as if he were parting ways with a friend or an enemy.
Anyway, even if I tried to look at him kindly...!
I stared at his back as he walked away, then returned to my room.
***
“Hmph...”
Locard quickly hardened his expression as a servant passing by in the hallway looked at him curiously. However, his wry smile soon came back to life.
When he thought of Lorisha getting drunk and trying to kill herself because she was going before him, he couldn't help but feel happy.
Her reaction was as he had expected, but the pleasure he felt from it was far greater than he had expected.
However, when he returned to his room and opened his book, he felt a little empty. This was because he had thought of a few more stories that would get on her nerves.
'I should have teased her earlier.'
Today's situation was unexpected in many ways. He had just gone to sneak Lorisha out of the Princess's palace.
It was obvious why Princess Miliora had called Misha Loire. She had brought her legitimate daughter to tear Lorisha's soul apart and crush her today.
That was Tagar's cruelty.
Even if Lorisha was a strong woman, it was unfair to put someone under that kind of pressure. Locard thought so.
If asked why he would deliberately blow the chance to make his future rival fall, he had no answer.
It was just that Lorisha was not the kind of person who deserved such a thing. She had to make him happy from now on.
So he didn’t want to see her thrown out of the palace in a state of ruin before that.
However, he was a step too late, and when he received the message from Whined, Lorisha was fine. So fine that she was worried about Misha Loire.
It was an unexpected turn of events.
He conducted a secret investigation into Lorisha. He couldn’t help it after he found out that Lorishia Lore was the real top student in the academy this year.
He had to find out why she took the entrance exam under a false name and disappeared, making herself the fake top student.
The investigation didn’t give him the answer he wanted, but it did give him a guess.
Most of Lorisha’s life story that he learned about stemmed from the unfair treatment she received from the Countess and Misha Loire.
If he hadn’t known that, he might not have taken a step forward for her today.
And yet, she could worry about Misha Loire.
As time went by, he could not understand Lorisha Loire.
Locard would have been sensitively wary of her if that incomprehensibility had been considered dangerous. He might have decided to eliminate her before the buds grew.
But strangely, it was the opposite. Earlier, she had been worried about Misha as if she were her own sister. Although she would never admit it herself.
Everyone in the academy knew that Misha Loire was working as a maid for Lady Ankart. And that Misha's unnatural rise in grades was the result of that.
But that was not something Lorisha could interfere with. She had better focus on her own life problems.
The things she was going to have to deal with in the future would be difficult, even if she tried her best.
First, she had to learn how to distinguish between friends and enemies. Because in the palace, there were no friends or enemies. So it was dangerous to make friends with the wrong enemies.
This complicated expression would be understood only by those who had lived in the palace.
“Are you outside?”
Locard called the servant and had him bring macarons. The servant did not even understand his request right away.
He felt faint shame as he repeated the word “macaron” to the servant.
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