Around That Time…
In the ducal House of Halterius, a family related by blood to the Royal House of Olfonse…
Evangeline, the granddaughter of the current duke, was a good child who happily ate anything put before her.
And for the sake of that adorable granddaughter, the duke gave her every kind of dish and sweet imaginable...
The result… a figure far too overweight for a five-year-old.
Evangeline herself was somewhat concerned about it, but she thought, “Once I grow taller, my weight will eventually balance out like the other children’s.”
But the day she realized “eventually” wasn’t good enough came all of a sudden.
She had been invited to a tea party hosted by the close-knit Hohenberg House, and as usual, she was feeling a little down after hearing people whisper behind her back.
Then nearby, an adorable girl around her age tripped and fell, and Eva hurriedly reached out a hand to help her.
A tiny, delicate girl, her complete opposite.
It was a face she had never seen before, yet the girl smiled at ugly, overweight Eva and thanked her.
That made Eva happy.
There was no falsehood in that carefree smile. She could tell the girl truly meant her gratitude.
But this was not the moment when Eva became conscious of her weight.
That came afterward.
The voices of children mocking her drifted over from farther away.
Trying to flee from them, Eva attempted to leave the hall.
But her pudgy body tended to stumble even over the slightest step, and just like the girl from before, she fell over.
“Ojousama!”
Even then, she heard the children laughing.
She did not quite think “how miserable”, rather, she tried to stay positive. “Someday they’ll stop laughing. Once I grow taller, everything will work out.”
Still, it was true that her appearance left her with few friends.
That alone was a painful reality for Eva.
(Ahh... no one would offer me a hand.
If only I were lovely like that girl, perhaps someone would reach out to me too.)
It was while she was thinking that…
“Please, use this.”
“Huh?”
Having just gotten back to her feet with her maid’s help, Eva turned at the voice from behind her.
Standing there was a slightly older boy with black hair and amber eyes.
There was a handkerchief in his hand. It looked like he had dampened it.
“For the dirt on your hands.”
The boy handed the offered handkerchief to the maid standing beside Eva.
The maid tried to refuse, saying it would get dirty, but the boy smiled and said,
“It’s already wet anyway, so please use it. Otherwise I won’t look cool.”
That smile made Eva’s heart skip a beat.
Aside from the eldest son of the Hohenberg family, whom she had known since childhood, there had never been a boy who smiled at her like that.
Without caring at all about her body, he smiled kindly at her.
(What a... what a gentle person…)
As Eva stared at him, the boy turned away, saying his younger brother was calling him.
(I have to ask. His name…)
Driven by that single thought, Eva gathered up her courage.
“Ah, um!”
“Yes?”
“Y-your name...?”
The voice she managed to squeeze out was tiny, but apparently he heard it.
The boy answered with a smile.
“Ah. My apologies. I’m Dermont Spanberg, eldest son of Baron Spanberg, Young Lady Evangeline.”
“Dermont… -sama...”
He knew her name.
That alone made Eva’s heart dance.
“Ojousama, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine, Melinda. Sorry for worrying you.”
“Not at all. I’m simply glad you’re unharmed. Come, let us return to the waiting room for tea. The head chef prepared some truly splendid sweets for today.”
Because of all the eyes on her during the tea party, Eva had refrained from eating much.
Her plan had been to thoroughly enjoy the snacks she had brought with her afterward, to her heart’s content…
“No, Melinda. I don’t need any snacks.”
“Eh? O-Ojousama?”
From a slight distance away, Eva gazed at the Baron son, Dermont.
Beside him stood the delicate girl Eva had helped earlier, and the young noble looked at her with a gentle smile.
(Dermont-sama probably likes slender girls more than overweight ones.)
And so she decided.
“I’m going on a diet!”
Love makes girls strong.
At the same time, love also makes girls blind.
After all, Eva completely misunderstood the delicate girl beside Dermont, not realizing she was actually his little sister.
---
At the same time, inside the Marquis’s mansion…
“Damn it! That cursed knight! How dare he glare at me, the heir to a count’s house... I’m telling Papa on him!”
“L-Land-kun... let’s go back to the tea party...”
“Shut up! If you wanna go back, then go by yourself! I’m gonna rest in a waiting room!”
If he went back outside now, he would run into Robert, the captain of the baron household’s knights.
That was scary. Enough to make him wet himself.
“Where’s the waiting room? Ahh, whatever. Any room’s fine.”
“L-Land-kun, you can’t! If you enter a room without permission, they’ll get mad at us!”
“Shut up! I’m a guest, alright!? Nobles are supposed to, uh... what was it again? Anyway, I can rest wherever I want!”
Landfas opened a nearby door and checked whether there was a sofa inside to relax on.
“Alright, this room looks comfortable enough.”
“L-Land-kun...”
Inside the room were a luxurious sofa and table set. There was also a large standing mirror and a vanity.
The moment Landfas flopped down onto the sofa with his shoes still on, Gustav Gransh, who had accompanied him, turned pale.
Gustav followed Landfas around because his father had ordered him to, but honestly, he didn’t want to be with him. Landfas was quick to resort to violence, quick to anger, and mean-spirited.
But he was the son of the man who had taken over his father’s debt, so Gustav had no choice.
As a side note, the money used to repay Gustav’s father’s debt had come from Saul, Dermont’s father.
End of side note.
“Ahhh... Hey, Gustav. Go bring me food and drinks from the hall.”
“Eeeh? M-me, by myself?”
“Hah? Of course. Why the hell would *I* go get them? I’m gonna rest here and… oh, what’s this?”
Landfas reached toward a box resting on the table.
Inside was a necklace adorned with a large emerald. Surrounding it were countless small diamonds, so beautiful that even a child could instantly tell it was valuable.
“L-Land-kun!?”
“Ohh. A necklace. Lots of jewels on it. Looks expensive.”
“Land-kun, don’t! It belongs to the marquis family, so if you touch it without permission, you’ll get in trouble!”
“S-shut up! I was invited here because the marquis family begged me to come!”
No. They had neither begged him nor invited him at all.
But Landfas was the sort of child who only interpreted things in ways convenient for himself.
“This’d look good on Mother.”
“I said no, Land-kun!”
“Man, you’re noisy! Fine already. You just want me to leave the room, right?”
Relieved, Gustav hurried toward the door before Landfas could change his mind.
He grabbed the large door and opened it.
“Land-kun. Come on, let’s go.”
“Yeah. Let’s.”
At that moment, Gustav should have noticed.
That Landfas’s pocket was bulging.
What do you think about this chapter?
