PMZ 077 – George is a cat person.

John had already been pacified when I returned to center square with Maria, Lav, and her guards, although the circumstances were unknown.

He was propped up on a table, unconscious.

“Oh, you’re here, Lav?”

“Yes. Oh, honored brother, what’s wrong with this man?”

George retorts, “What? Honored Brother!?” his reaction is relatively fresh, but the siblings decide to ignore him. {past Lav never use honorific}

“This person tried to hijack my magic power, so I retaliate, don’t worry, it’s just a bit, and I didn’t go too deep. I’m sure he will wake up soon.”

“Yeah, I knew it…”

Lav made eye contact with me.

I think this confirmed it. Maria’s magic power has been hijacked by this person.

She nodded and gave me a sign of affirmation. She then whispers to Hayato as if she want to covey some secret story.

From the way Hayato’s gaze moved, I think she was telling him what she had just seen. He looked at Maria, me, and John alternately, and his eyes became a little grim.

“–Okay. I’ll let him sleep all night. So, what should we do? Should we turn him in to the guards?”

“What? Why?”

Maria muttered anxiously as she leaned closer to John.

I’m sure she wouldn’t understand even if I explain the situation to her. The priority now is to pull him away and let him sleep in a secured area so he can’t run away.

If I wanted to turn him in, I could do it after the party over.

“Lady Maria. He seems to be a little tired, so let him rest. In the meantime, you’d better eat something. You’re a little too malnourished.”

“… okay.”

This Maria is so honest.

I don’t know what to feel anymore. In fact, I’m starting to pity her.

“You should start with some soup because the burden will be too much for your stomach to take heavy stuff all of a sudden. Betty, where can I get a soup?”

“Right-o, don’t worry, I’ll get it for you.”

“Thank you.”

I watched Betty run off and let Maria sit at an empty table.

Finally, I understand what his highness felt when we were at school.

I can’t leave her alone, can I?

“Alice, do you have a minute?”

“Yes, what is it?”

Hayato sits down next to me, puts his face close to mine, and asks me a question.

“Are you sure you want her to stay with us tonight?”

“I have no choice but to do so. I can’t send her back to that guy.”

“But still. We don’t know what he’ll say when he woke up. I think it’s better if we don’t try to handle this on our own.”

“What should we do then?”

“We’ll get help from adults. I’ll talk to the priest and the sisters.”

“Okay.”

It’s true that this Saint Mary’s mode is temporary.

It might not be a good idea to get too close to her.

When she saw Hayato heading towards the priest, Maria giggled.

“Alisha and Hayato are really close, aren’t you?”

“Do we look like that?”

“Yes, very much. I’m so jealous.”

…. I think it’s fine if she stays like this.

No, Stop, that’s just unethical.

–But if you think about it …I feel some familiarity between us.

What’s the difference between having your personality changed by regaining your previous life memory come back or by someone else magic power? I’m pretty sure we are pretty similar.

What would I do if someone told me that the memories of my previous life are a foreign factor and I should remove them?

I think I would say, “No thanks, it’s already a part of me, and I can’t think of it as a foreign object,” but will Maria react the same way?

I mean, we haven’t lost sight of who we really were.

If the person is convinced that there’s no harm to be done to their surroundings, isn’t it okay to leave it like this?

Depending on the perspective, I think it becomes bad when someone intentionally changes it.

I still don’t know what the correct answer to this is. But I’ll stop thinking about it. Anyway, what’s important now is the fact that John is exploiting Maria. If that’s the case, we must separate them.

Maria slowly took a sip of the soup that Betty had brought her.

She smiled softly and said, “It’s delicious, thank you,” Her current persona was precisely the reason that makes people want to protect her, and I couldn’t help but hope that she would become this kind of person on her own someday.

While I was sullenly thinking about it, suddenly a buzz was heard around me, and the carriage of the Muller family broke through the crowd and entered.

It seemed that Lady Esmé had arrived.

Lady Esmé disembarked from the carriage, dressed in a luxurious dress befitting a noblewoman, holding a fan made of gold thread with a phoenix tail.

“Lady Alisha. You look beautiful.”

Brigitte and Cecilia came down from behind, also dressed in similar outfits.

The trio princess of a prominent noble family, even one of them, is already unusual sight in this downtown area, but now that there were three of them, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this was a powerful sight.

The crowd quickly receded, creating a space around the carriage.

“You’re coming in a very flashy way. Isn’t it dangerous?”

“Don’t worry. I was properly cautious too. Anyway, congratulation… wait, why are you alone?”

“Oh, Hayato is away for a while, but he’ll be back soon.”

“I see. I brought my fiancé here tonight so that he could see the two of you together.”

“What? Julius is here as well?”

“Yes. We had a long talk last night, As a family. It ends up with Julius cried; it was a sight to behold. I wish Alisha could have seen it.”

“I’d rather not see that.”

“Oh, well. In the end, we decided to continue our engagement. He was sorry for what he had done, and we were able to reestablish our connection on very favorable terms for my family and me. Tonight, I wanted to make Julius realize just how narrow-minded he is.

…Hm? That person over there… could it be…?”

Lady Esmé gasped when she caught sight of Maria.

“What she’s doing here?”

“It’s a long story. A lot has happened. She seemed to be having a hard time, and I couldn’t leave her alone.”

“You can’t leave her alone!? She reaps what she sows; what befall on her should be none of your concern!”

“You probably can say that, but thanks to her, I am happy now. If I abandon her, I felt like I will be punished by heaven.”

“*sigh*… is that so? If the person itself has said that much, then I have nothing to say… by the way, Julius, won’t you show yourself already?”

When Lady Esmé called out to the carriage, Julius got out with a somewhat grim expression on his face.

“…Good evening, you are truly beautiful. It is a great honor to be able to see a lady like the incarnation of a goddess tonight.”

Disgusting! {cringe!}

No, I shouldn’t think that rude to someone else’s fiancée! I shouldn’t! But……!

“T-Thank you…”

After I said that, Hayato came back with the sisters.

“Sorry to keep you waiting… huh? Lady Esmé, you really came.”

The Quinby and Julius, seeing the silver-haired Hayato for the first time, open their eyes wide.

“What? It’s really you, Hayato?”

“It’s true that it changes color, isn’t it? This is certainly like a chameleon. Your atmosphere changes a lot.”

“Really? It’s still the same on the inside.”

No, that’s not true.

It’s a little bit different, but just a little bit. I won’t say it because it’s still within an acceptable margin of deviation.

I glanced at Lav and saw that she was smiling wryly.

Behind Hayato, the sister calls out impatiently.

“… Hayato. Where is the girl in question?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Sister, it’s the girl with the pink hair eating soup over there. And the guy is the one sleeping over there.”

“Alright, …Father went to call the military guards earlier, so let’s leave the man to him. The girl will be kept in the church for a while. Is that okay?”

“Yes. Thank you, Sister.”

“Don’t worry about it. We have a lot of girls like that. Girls who lack self-preservation and need to be educated properly. This is one of the missions that the Goddess has given us. Leave it to us.”

The sister’s back was full of motivation as she headed towards Maria.

This is indeed the sister who raised Hayato and the others. They are reliable.

Then Esmé tugged on Julius’ elbow, put her face close to his, and spoke to him.

“Come on, Julius. Do you see that? Take a good look. He can gather so many people with just one call, and when a problem arises, He won’t hesitate to immediately ask the most suitable person to take care of it. Can the current you do the same?”

“…. no, I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“All you have to do is understand. There’s no point in competing with a commoner orphan who became a viscount at the age of sixteen, alright? I understand your frustration, but our strengths are too different.”

Julius turned his head with a regretful look on his face. Esmé wrapped her arm around him and snuggled up to him.

“But I like the you who just a little bit more than ordinary.

You don’t have to be a genius to find your worth. To me, you have always been the most important person in the world, from when I was a child to this very moment.”

Lady Esmé said it with a maiden look on her face.

She glanced at Hayato and me and said, “I used lady Alisha’s approach as a reference.”

“I’ve never said anything like that before…”

“Once more, I want to hear it again.”

“You’re the most important person in the world to me.”

“Thank you.”

The reason why it sounds so stiff probably because you overused those sentences before. That’s probably it.

“Alice is also the most important person in the world to me.”

“Thank you.”

The emotion may have seemed shallow, but the joy and meaning remained the same.

After all the warmth you felt in your heart is love, all there’s into it.

Julius, urged by Esmé, uttered an apology, “Viscount Ridill, I’m sorry about the other day…” Hayato nodded silently and stroked my cheek.

Then, beside me, George said, “How nice… I want to get married, too. Betty, how about me?” He said.

“Eh…? I’d rather have Mr toy poodle over here.”

“What? Me?”

“Not you! The dog~!”

George laughed when he saw Ted and Betty panicking.

“I see. Too bad. I’m more of a cat person.”

A small laugh erupted, and the light music returned. The Esmé’s were intrigued by this unfamiliar kind of melody.

“My, that sounds interesting. Hmmm, is that’s how you dance. … Dear Bridget, Cecilia! Let’s dance!”

“Yes!”

She handed the fan to her attendant and spun around lightly with their joined hands, changing one partner after another.

While the aristocratic dance is focusing on sticking close together and moving smoothly and swiftly sideways, the downtown dance more about bouncing vertically without sticking to each other bodies.

To put it simply, just like the dance snow white did with the seven dwarfs.

Julius was offered alcohol by George and drunk it.

Even if you’re 15 years old, you’re not allowed to drink while you’re at the academy. …Well, a little is okay, I guess.

Julius, who gradually became more and more cheerful, pushed his glass to George and went to Esmé and asked her to dance.

The two genuine nobles smiled happily and bowed before the dance. The people around them whistled and cheered them on as they danced like commoners.

The position left by Esmé was replaced by Lav. These two siblings really do have a fearless personality.

When the song is over, Esmé smiles happily and asks for the next song. The players said they were going to take a break and started drinking.

It’s not like we’re paying them to play. This much is expected.

“Eh—” Esmé and Julius looked at each other while voicing their dissatisfied voices. The air between them is much more relaxed now.

“…Hayato. Why don’t we present our song for the two of them?”

Just for today, a piano is set up in Fountain Square.

Betty had borrowed it from a nearby bar, saying she needed music for the party.

As for the other instruments, there’s a guy with a violin. I can borrow it from him.

“Okay. What do you want to play?”

“Umm… how about, Scent of a Woman?”

“Understood.”

A tango piece that I had loved in my previous life.

I always think that this world is full of products similar to my past earth, like music, food, and so on. Well, it’s based on a Japanese otome game, to begin with.

“Excuse me, may I borrow your violin?”

“Oh? Sure, sure, go ahead, use it!”

“Thank you very much.”

After successfully borrowing the violin, I headed for the piano with Hayato.

“Esmé, Julius. We’ll play a song for you if you allow us to.”

“Oh? Thank you. Julius, let’s dance.”

Julius nodded, looking a little embarrassed.

Hayato and I matched each other’s timing with our eyes and played the first beat in unison.

TL note

For myself, double-check this chapter, a lot of friggin complex words inside.