Now, stage three of dealing with difficult customer. Let’s jump straight into the finale.
Sensing the ominous situation, Mariposa flinched and shouted. “W-Why did you bring that thing?”
Despite its appearance, it was a magically treated item—essentially a trash bag made of material similar to modern plastic bags.
“Didn’t you tell me to change out of my dress earlier? What a coincidence—I found something that suits me perfectly!” I smiled at her like sunshine, then waved the pitch-black bag I’d prepared in advance.
“E-Eeek!”
I knew this would happen, so I’d punched five holes in the black trash bag!
I slipped through the large hole at the top, then quickly stuck my hands and feet through each of the holes. This is what you call a trash outfit. I elegantly spread my arms and fluttered my trash dress.
“Do you like it better now?”
Mariposa looked like she was about to faint. “Y-You… Have you gone crazy?”
“Yep~ Giselle’s gone crazy!”
Viscount Milpianne had the same expression of someone about to pass out. He glared at me with gritted teeth, then spat out his words. “I thought you were at least well-behaved despite the bad rumors, but what is this! Such a person with no breeding…! This engagement announcement is void! I’m calling it off!”
“Yep. Giselle agrees too! Let’s make this engagement null and void!”
The hall was left in complete chaos.
Mariposa whispered coldly. “You dare, without knowing your place, to try to outwit me?”
Actually, no. Is throwing off a wig at a social gathering really what a clever person would do? It’s the kind of response only someone who throws all logic out the window would make. But I nodded with a smile to make her even angrier.
Seriously, how does our dear Mariposa even survive in this world with such a dumb brain?
“Fine. I won’t sell you to the Milpianne family—I’ll sell you to somewhere more proper. I’ll take good care of you my way from now on, so look forward to it.”
It was a threat.
I turned my head theatrically to look at her with pity. “Oh, how could you…”
Just as her eyes sparkled, thinking she had the upper hand—
“But, will you still act this way if Count Florette returns?”
“…What did you say?”
Count Florette was a friend of my biological father, Count Sehera. When Count Sehera and the countess died simultaneously, and the count’s title—which could only be inherited by a single heir—along with all the family’s wealth completely vanished into thin air, Count Florette was the one who gladly took me, who had nowhere to go.
Though he’s not here right now.
He had been sailing the seas for many years, searching for my biological father’s belongings. In the meantime, the family had been left in the care of his younger sister, Mariposa, and the senate.
“When Count Florette brought his ‘poor divorced younger sister,’ Madam Mariposa, into the family, there was a condition.”
Perhaps because I deliberately raised my voice, the gazes of the people in the social gathering who heard me turned sharp.
The only sore spot for Mariposa, Count Florette’s younger sister, was precisely the fact that she had returned to her family home like a fugitive after her divorce, bringing her son with her.
“To raise me warmly like your own daughter—or niece.”
“You, right now…”
“That’s why when I was little, I often called Madam ‘Mother’ by mistake.” However, she always looked disgusted whenever I called her mother.
Mariposa’s face flushed red as she whispered quietly to me in a threatening tone. “Shut your mouth. Co-Count Florette is dead.”
Well, it’s true that contact had been cut off after the last telegram saying he’d discovered a spice island. Recently, most people assumed he was dead and were preparing for his funeral.
“Who knows? Maybe the count’s ghost will return.” And bring divine punishment upon his dear sister.
With a wicked smile, I pulled up my trash bag dress and strutted confidently toward the exit. The rustling sound echoed through the silent hall!
* * *
Giselle swears to the heavens, Duke Vientin Kalinos witnessing her ‘rampage’ was definitely an accidental occurrence.
It was when Giselle was in the midst of causing her rampage. Duke Kalinos entered the gathering hall with the pink blood of a monster stained one of his arms. Though his attitude seemed utterly indifferent and unconcerned with worldly affairs, the people surrounding him could never maintain the same composure.
“Du-Duke Ka-Kalinos is…”
“No, calm down. He’s probably just killed someone and co-come here, you know, like Duke Kalinos normally does.”
It wasn’t true.
Duke Kalinos recalled his own appearance. His hair was neatly groomed, and he wore a clean uniform. He had simply conducted an experiment within the margin of error regarding ‘how much monster fluid comes out when disposing of a monster with one hand.’
The attendants’ legs trembled as they saw his brow furrow.
“A-As expected, the blood…”
“I didn’t kill any humans.”
He was just getting ahead of that ridiculous nickname ‘Bloody Villain’ before anyone could bring it up. But as soon as he opened his mouth, murmuring began around him.
“H-He’s going to kill us.”
“Come to think of it, I-I think I just saw him slice a monster in one stroke. R-Run.”
There were no monsters here. It was a party venue, after all. But unfortunately, the situation grew increasingly dramatic.
“If you don’t want to die, keep your eyes down.”
He had merely offered one explanation, yet they began foaming at the mouth.
How tiresome. He gave up on all explanations and walked on, ignoring the foam-mouthed attendants.
He had come here to fulfill the exhausting duty of meeting all the ladies of high society. Approaching the slightly open door of the hall, he spoke to the doorkeeper in a voice that was not indifferent but persuasive, dripping with honey. “Open the door.”
“Y-Yes. Yes.”
“I have someone to meet.”
Seeing the corners of his mouth curve up gently, the servant quickly bowed his head and said, “S-So there’s someone you need to k-kill. Understood! I’ll open it right away!”
As expected, wearing a kind smile makes persuasion so much easier. He had followed the advice from a book called ‘Social Life Theory’ that said to always smile when dealing with people. It was quite satisfactory that the frail servant hadn’t fainted.
Unaware that the servants guarding the party venue had cowardly and quickly fled, he met the horrified gazes directed at him through the crack in the door. How am I supposed to socialize with the ladies?
He barely had time for his work, let alone such exhausting thoughts. However, from his grandfather to his little brother, everyone wanted him to get married. Even his family senate argued that marriage was necessary to further solidify the power structure.
Duke Kalinos was being terribly bothered by this great moral duty called marriage. Just as he entered the social hall entrance under his family’s pressure, the ladies who should have been targets for socializing scattered in all directions as if they had seen an object of terror. But then, something bizarre entered his field of vision.
“…Trash?”
At the end of his gaze, a trash bag with arms and legs was moving.
“No… human trash?”
The moving trash bag was, surprisingly, a woman.
Who is that woman? It was a face he’d never seen before. Her features were indistinct, but she seemed cheerful even while wearing a trash bag and making a commotion.
…The woman in the trash bag quickly passed by him and ‘bolted.’ Judging by her smile that seemed calm yet tinged with madness, that woman appeared to have orchestrated this chaos.
“Perfect.”
A perfect lunatic.
And just then—
“So-Something se-seems to be happening. Anyway, p-please go in. The ladies will be waiting.”
…Ah, right, there is a watchdog. It was an aide whose name he couldn’t quite remember, sent jointly by his mother and grandfather.
“Is that so?”
“Yes. You must get married, Your Grace!”
“So basically, as long as I get married, that’s all that matters? Anyone will do.”
The dim-witted aide blinked his large, frog-like eyes. He seemed to sense an ominous premonition. “Y-Your Grace means as long as it’s a lady, right? You know commoners won’t work, right?”
“I know. As long as there’s nothing that conflicts with imperial law, right?”
“That’s true, but…”
Once the sound of the rustling trash bag faded completely, and once the ladies inside finally noticed the presence of Duke Kalinos and froze, the duke’s lips twisted in amusement.
“I see. Understood. Cancel all my social engagements.”
“What? S-Suddenly?”
“Yes. I’ve got a new research subject.”
It was rare for him to find something interesting. This only happened when he discovered ingredients for rare potions, when he met a monster tamer, or when he found a decent research subject.
In an instant, sweat trickled down the aide’s spine. T-This will be okay, right?
