The Tea Party Finally Begins
The tea party at the Hohenberg Marquis House was finally being held.
Haaah... this is weighing on me.
Father and I had already subtly informed the noble houses near the barony that Landfas would be attending. Every single house had made bitter faces over it, and one young noble I was acquainted with had even burst into tears.
If Landfas did something to any of the boys or girls there, I was to step in immediately. And afterward… honestly, I think apologizing with gifts for this kind of thing is wrong, but still, the Marquis-sama had informed the attending houses that apology gifts would be sent afterward.
“Niichama, please cheer up.”
“Thanks, Tiffany. Haaah, you’re adorable today too.”
“Niichama looks wonderful too.”
The twins, Tiffany and Zeke, were blond. Absolute angels. They probably took after Mother there.
I had black hair like Grandfather.
For today’s occasion, I gave Tiffany a hair ornament made from rose quartz, pink crystal, that I’d desperately refined through alchemy to increase its purity.
Ore containing gold and silver also had quartz, crystal, mixed into it, and sometimes colored pieces would come out too.
Pink was incredibly rare, but all that slow, steady collecting had paid off.
She looked so cute it was unreal. Seriously, an angel.
“Zeke. Be careful not to get dragged into anything by Landfas, alright?”
“Yes. Sir Robert is with me, so I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“Sir Robert. Please look after Zeke.”
“Yes! Leave it to me, Dermut-sama.”
Sir Robert didn’t actually have a particularly fierce face. But apparently when Landfas pulled one of his usual stunts, Sir Robert had glared at him once.
Landfas wet himself on the spot.
Ever since then, Landfas avoided Sir Robert completely. To Zeke, he was basically a charm that warded Landfas away.
“Alright then, I’m going to keep an eye on Landfas from a distance. Tiffany, don’t wander all over the place and get lost, okay?”
“Niichama, you are way too overprotective. Tiffa is not a child anymore.”
You’re still five.
“I’m a lady.”
A five-year-old lady, huh. Yeah.
But honestly, Tiffany puffing out her cheeks like that was adorable too.
I waved goodbye to the two of them and headed toward the main hall of the tea party.
And of course, it started immediately.
“Owowow, that hurts!”
“Ahahahahahaha! What’s with this weird hairstyle? Want me to cut it for you, huh?”
The one yanking on the hair of a young noble who apparently had natural curls was unmistakably Landfas.
“Land!”
“Hm? What is it, Dermut? Need something from the great me?”
Oh, now it’s “the great me,” huh. The guy gets more arrogant every year.
“Not exactly. I was looking for Zeke.”
“What? That crybaby Zeke came too?”
Landfas grinned wickedly.
You’re the reason he cries, you idiot. Zeke’s two years younger than you.
Still, while thinking that, I casually stepped beside the young noble whose hair had been pulled and guided him behind me.
“I hope he hasn’t gotten lost in such a large venue.”
“Lost? Kukuku. Then I’ll go find him for you.”
“You’d do that? Thanks, Landfas. Sir Robert’s searching too right now, so could you look together with him?”
The instant I mentioned Robert’s name, Landfas’s smug grin froze and his face turned pale.
“Geh! R-Robert!? T-that guy’s here too!?”
“Of course. Zeke and Tiffany are still only five, after all. Chichiue and Hahaue are attending the adults’ tea party, so the only grown-up who could look after the two of them is Sir Robert…”
“Th-the great me just remembered I’ve got something to do! Later!”
“... Yeah, yeah. See you.”
I muttered the last part quietly enough that he couldn’t hear it.
“W-Wait for me, Land-kun!”
Good grief. Even a guy like that can get followers, huh. If I remember right, that was the heir of the Gransh Viscount House. The small territory neighboring the count’s land.
The kid looked timid. His parents were probably forcing him to stick around Landfas.
Well then, next.
The young noble whose hair had been yanked. I patted his head gently while fixing up his messy hair.
“Sorry about my cousin doing something so awful. Here, let me make you something as an apology with alchemy. What would you like? What’s your favorite animal?”
“U-umm... horses...”
Well, that’s about what you’d expect from a young noble boy.
Most noble houses kept horses. There was even this whole attitude that boys who couldn’t ride horses were embarrassing. Because of that, boys tended to admire them.
“A horse, huh. Margaret.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Most of the young nobles attending the tea party had maid attendants accompanying them. Well, not everyone, but most.
Margaret had become my personal maid last year. Her mother had originally worked for Grandfather’s count house, and came along with Father when he established his own household.
“Sorry, Margaret. For making you carry heavy luggage.”
“Not at all, Young Master. It’s only light wood. Gold and silver would’ve been impossible, though.”
She smiled as she said that.
Sure enough, the box she carried only contained lightweight wood. Well, plus a tiny bit of colored crystal mixed in.
I took out a piece of wood and a tiny black stone, black quartz.
Then, alchemy.
“A-a magic circle!?”
“So pretty~!”
The surrounding young lords and ladies all gathered around.
My alchemy magic itself wasn’t a secret. The official story being…
“My alchemy is magic that can process wood instantly… look, a wooden horse.”
“Wooooow, that’s so cool!”
Fufufufu. Right? Right?
I’d set the black quartz into the horse’s eyes. They were already tiny little stones to begin with, so nobody would notice I’d polished them slightly with alchemy.
“It looks like it could start moving any second. That’s amazing.”
“Fufufu. I trained really hard, after all.”
“Huh? Trained?”
“Yeah. By my little sister Tiffany. Every single time she’d criticize me. ‘It’s not cute!’ ‘It’s ugly!’ ‘You’re terrible at this!’ ‘Observe the real thing more carefully!’ Three years of that trained me up, and now, here we are.”
This is a true story.
“Pffft. Dermut-sama, you’re funny. Can I really have this?”
“Of course. And I’d like you to call me Der. You’re Cedric from the Tuce Barony, right? Is it okay if I call you Cedric?”
“Yes! T-then... D-Der! I’ll treasure this horse!”
Good. He smiled.
Somehow, I managed to smooth things over here, but seriously... I just hope that idiot Landfas doesn’t cause any more trouble.
What do you think about this chapter?
