Pajama Party
Dinner was done, we’d all bathed, and now all that was left was to go to bed.
But unlike usual, we weren’t going to sleep right away—because tonight, I was having a pajama party with Belle, Zoey, Sarah, and Anny!
Normally, you wouldn’t do something like this with your servants. That’s why I had to beg both Mother and Nancy to allow it. We could’ve done it at the dorm, but I wanted to talk a bit more openly with Zoey and Sarah about things my father had told them.
We laid out a rug in my bedroom and placed a tray in the center—picnic style. Normally, no noble Young Lady would sit on the floor like this… but since I’m far from typical, no one said anything. Belle, naturally, plopped right down on the rug too.
“Alright! Cheers to our first pajama party!”
““““Cheers!””””
Belle and I were drinking non-alcoholic cocktails. The other three had real ones.
“Mmm, yummy. Is this really just mixed juice?”
“Yup, that one’s mirange juice and limon juice mixed together. They’re both citrus, so they go really well together!”
“They do! It’s perfect!”
“I’m glad you like it. How about you, Zoey? How’s your cocktail?”
“I never imagined mixing alcohol with juice… but it’s dangerously good. It’s so easy to drink, I could keep going forever…”
“Ahaha, right?”
“But I was surprised. I didn’t expect you to have memories of a past life…”
“Sorry for keeping it from you.”
“No, it’s fine now. Because you’re still Joan, no matter what.”
“Thanks, Belle.”
“So? What were you like in your previous life?”
“Hmm… I was a grandma with kids and grandkids. Personality-wise, I don’t think I’m that different from now.”
“A grandma? You?”
“Yup. Died at 82. But for some reason, after regaining my memories here, the older I get, the younger my mental age feels.”
“Huh? Is that even possible?”
“Well, my current mental age is supposedly in my twenties, so… maybe it is?”
(Munch munch… It’s because you’re Joan… munch.)
“““““……”””””
Pearl, while munching on jet bull jerky, just dropped a blunt truth.
“I-I mean… Pearl’s not wrong, I guess…”
“Belle?”
“But I think she’s right, to be honest.”
“Even you, Sarah…?”
“Everyone always says, ‘Well, it’s Joan,’ and just accepts anything, don’t they?”
“Hey, Anny! What are you—”
“She’s got a point.”
“Zoey, too?!”
(Told you so.)
(Joan, sometimes you just gotta accept it.)
Pearl looked smug, and Rosso was basically telling me to give up.
“But hearing that your mental age is in your twenties… explains a lot.”
“Like what?”
“Like how you get flustered. You know, by those… lean muscle types?”
“Wha—?! I do not get flustered!”
“The way you’re dodging it just makes it more suspicious~”
“What do you mean, ‘lean muscle types’?”
Anny, who wasn’t present for the earlier conversation, asked, and both Sarah and Zoey looked at me, eyes sparkling with curiosity. I had no choice but to explain it all again.
“Ahh, I think I get it now~ You mean, more of a Young Master Arandolph type than Chef Abe, right?”
“Wh-what?! Why those two?!”
“They’re the clearest examples! I don’t know many other muscular guys…”
“By the way, is there a better word than ‘muscular guy’?”
Belle asked.
“Ah… ‘Gorimacho’ (gorilla macho).”
“Kyahahaha! Gorimacho~ That fits Chef Abe perfectly~! Hahaha!”
Huh? Anny’s pretty tipsy, isn’t she?
Well, if it’s a happy drunk, I guess it’s okay. I don’t like crying drunks—they’re too much trouble.
“You’ve had enough, Anny. I’m sorry, Young Lady Joan, Young Lady Belle.”
“Ahh, don’t worry about it. She’s having fun… Wait, she’s asleep?!”
Anny, who had been laughing hysterically moments ago, was now out cold on the rug, making little snoring noises.
I gently placed a blanket over her to keep her warm, and she instinctively wrapped herself up in it like a silkworm.
““““Pfft… Hahaha.””””
“By the way, I’ve been wondering since earlier… your pajamas, Joan…”
“Huh? Oh, these? They’re modeled after what I wore in my previous life. I had our sewing expert make them. I asked recently and got them today.”
Belle was wearing a light, dress-style pajama—basically a negligee. Same for Zoey, Sarah, and Anny. I, on the other hand, wore a classic button-up pajama shirt with long pants. It’s spring, so they’re light. For fall and winter, I plan to ask for something like sweatpants or that fluffy “moko-moko something pique” my granddaughter Raika used to wear.
“With a negligee, it rides up while you sleep and your belly gets cold, right? But with this, your tummy stays covered.”
“What? It rides up that much?”
(Belle, Joan has terrible sleeping posture.)
“““Ahhh.”””
Hey—why do all three of you accept that so quickly?
Only Sarah’s actually seen it, right?
Wait—is that their image of me?!
“But those pajamas are nice…”
“Wanna get a pair made, too, Belle?”
“Eh? I can?”
“Sure. I’ll ask Mito to make them.”
“Thanks! But only if it’s not too much trouble, okay?”
“Anyway—Zoey, Sarah, do you have anyone you like?”
““Eh?!””
“J-Joan?! Where did that come from?”
“Ehh? It’s a pajama party! We’re supposed to talk about love, right?”
“W-Why us?”
“C’mon, love talk at age 17 is way more interesting than love talk at age 10, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, yeah, I wanna hear it too! So? Zoey?”
“Even you, Young Lady Belle…? There’s nothing I can really say, though.”
“What about your type then?”
“Hmm… someone bright and hardworking, I think…”
“Oh, so personality over looks?”
“Well, if they’re good-looking too, that’s a bonus… but personality is important.”
““Ooh~””
“What about you, Zoey?”
“Uh… I’m drawn to people stronger than me.”
“Someone from the knight course?”
“Not necessarily. If they’re in the magic course and have a great fighting style, that works too…”
““I see~””
I hope those two find someone nice someday.
As for Sarah and Anny… I guess I’ll have to screen their suitors myself.
They’ll need to be people who can truly make them happy.
What do you think about this chapter?
