CHAPTER 27………………………………………..

If it weren’t for the people in the estate, it wouldn’t have been surprising if she had starved to death at that time.

This was how the stories Rasiel often heard would begin.

“Your father was truly unfortunate. Such a kind man…”

And in these childhood stories, there was one person who was particularly baffling.

It was Ujire herself—Rasiel’s mother, and the current Duke of Lesean.

Out of the blue, she had decided to go down to the estate to “make a friend,” and came back with Rasiel in tow.

Then, she put Rasiel down in front of her and said something remarkable:

“This is your friend.”

At the time, Ujire had no friends at all.

But she at least should have known that friends don’t get “made” like that!

“I hope she realizes it soon, anyway.”

Irenes wasn’t the type of person Rasiel thought she was.

She was polite, but all her kindness and warmth was reserved solely for Rasiel.

Whenever those violet eyes sparkled, Rasiel was always at the edge of her gaze.

All the clear emotions Rasiel looked for were always nearby.

And even if Ujire didn’t realize it, she probably felt some affection for Irenes too.

“If she didn’t, would she grow her hair out just because of an offhand comment?”

This, too, was a story from childhood.

Back then, Irenes’ hair was short, and she had been quite fond of Rasiel’s soft, fluffy hair.

She had said it would be a shame if it got shorter… and might have even cried about it.

Since then, Rasiel’s hair had never been above her shoulders.

Probably for the same reason Irenes’ silver hair always reached below her waist.

Rasiel herself seemed to retain only a subconscious memory of that time.

“Wait, is Sir Sieren also a problem?”

He had too long a history of being interrupted by ghosts.

Now, even if things went somewhat according to plan, he would still get flustered.

And because of that reaction, Rasiel often misunderstood him, creating a vicious cycle.

From what Rasiel heard, he had initially thought the partner request was a confusing joke.

“Why did you think that?”

“He was so shocked when I accepted it.”

“……”

Apparently, he had taken the joke seriously.

At this point, Ujire wanted to tell him he had always been oblivious.

From the perspective of someone observing, it was funny—but from the one being acted upon, it must have been frustrating.

“Should I go and reject it now?”

“No… leave it. No one is rude enough to joke with a partner request.”

“Really?”

Rasiel was always lucky to follow Ujire’s advice when it came to social matters.

“You must have thought I’d be your bodyguard.”

“Ah, well…”

Fortunately, it seemed that no new misunderstandings had arisen this time.

Helping a friend with their romance was already proving more exhausting than expected.

The ball hadn’t even started, and Rasiel was already beginning to feel tired.

“What color should the decorations be?”
“How many fresh flowers should we order?”
“Blue… what shade of blue?”
“What about the orchestra?”
“The food! We need to prepare the food!”
“We need to get fitted for dresses!”

Once the preparations for the ball truly began, the exhaustion only grew.

The mansion’s staff had only experienced balls from over a hundred years ago, making things even more chaotic.

Rasiel, responsible for communicating with Ujire and the staff during the day, remained the most composed.

“Trying to escape from paperwork alone?”

“Traitor!”

Though she ignored Elian’s complaints and Luzea struggling under the paperwork,

“I don’t know how to do this, what should I do?”

Her childhood efforts to avoid paperwork had not been in vain.

“It’s payment for making me duel.”

Besides, Luzea often subtly pushed duels onto her.

If a duel came from the Young Duke of Lesean, the argument was that a famous bodyguard should go instead.

“……”

Next to a temporarily silent Luzea, Elian groaned.

The stillness in the office broke immediately after.

“Are we inviting this person too?”

Elian had panicked upon seeing the name on the invitation list.

“Why Miss Karen… Are you planning to get rid of her?”

“Not necessarily.”

It sounded as if there was at least a partial intent.

“And why Miss Arel…?”

In some ways, she was even more antagonistic toward Ujire than Direna Karen.

She always tried to provoke Ujire whenever they met.

The reason Ujire left Janes Arel alone was simple:

“She’s cute.”

Being naturally timid, she would panic at anything resembling a ghostly event.

Even at a lightning strike, she would hug whoever was nearby.

Ujire herself had been on the receiving end of that hug several times.

“Are you trying to torment her?”

“If we don’t invite her, she’ll be a nuisance.”

Despite constantly causing trouble, she always wanted an invitation from Ujire.

She seemed to have her own ambitions, though…

“I think that’s a lie.”

Everyone knew Ujire regarded Janes like a slightly sharp-clawed kitten.

And there was one person silently observing the conversation.

“Am I… allowed to sit here?”

Irenes Sieren had come to discuss the ball attire with Rasiel and had ended up caught up in the situation.

The problem was that Ajien was the only tailor in the estate.

Since everyone would get their clothes fitted anyway, it made sense for everyone to be in one place.

So, until Ajien arrived, Irenes had no choice but to sit still.

“When will they get here?”

Considering that Ajien was also handling the jewelry work, it seemed unlikely they would arrive quickly.

Finally giving up on escaping the situation, Irenes focused on Rasiel.

She was, as always, beautiful, impressive, cute, had a lovely voice, and in general, a remarkable knight…

“I’m here!”

As Rasiel had mentally listed around six hundred and sixty-six of her qualities, Ajien entered the room.

“Who should we start with?”

“I’m busy… start with Sir Zaen and Sir Sieren.”

“Ah, right, they’re going in as partners!”

What followed was much the same as when they had clothes fitted in the capital.

They only realized that the estate had its own unique customs.

“Will the clothes be exactly the same color? In the capital, they do that.”

“Is it different here?”

“We usually make them match the other person’s eye color. Do you have a design in mind?”

Neither Irenes nor Rasiel had much knowledge in this regard.

And they had no intention of imposing a different design on the tailor.

They simply nodded, thinking Ajien’s suggested design would be fine.

“Maybe this will go well after all?”

Moreover, Irenes’ attention was entirely focused on the fact that she would be going to the ball with Rasiel.

Rasiel would look good in anything, so the dress didn’t need much concern.

Wait… speaking of a dress…

“Would a dress be alright?”

If luck was bad, Rasiel might have to fight, and a dress could be cumbersome.

Even if something happened, Rasiel would win, but it would be inconvenient to fight in it.

Her regular uniform cloak was already somewhat restrictive; a dress would be far worse.

“I hope it’s alright.”

“…Yes…”

Irenes suddenly remembered something she had heard before.

Rasiel wearing a dress was almost like a ritual, a semi-joking comment from the past.

As long as she wore it, no one would dare challenge her to a duel—it was almost like a prayer.

Now it seemed that was not a joke, but the truth.

“Should we make it a little less frilly? There’s a perfect design already, it would be a shame not to use it!”

“Do as you like.”

Rasiel replied.

The more excuses for someone to challenge her to a duel, the better.

And the more visible the excuse, the better.

“We’ve measured everything, so we’ll leave now. Look forward to it!”

With that, Ajien opened the door.

Ironically, it was Irenes, not Rasiel, who started feeling excited upon hearing that.

“In a dress…”

Rasiel rarely appeared in anything other than her knight uniform.

“Whenever not in uniform, it was always a simple shirt and pants.”