As per usual, Ladies" Day.
Today however, was different from usual.
"Is it your day off?"
"Yes."
I told Marie-san that I no dance lesson today.
Did the teacher have urgent business to attend to?
I thought it was strange and a maid brought a letter to me on top of a tray.
Marie-san took the tray from the maid and presented it to me.
"Instead, an a.s.signment has been a.s.signed to you by the manner"s lecturer."
Marie-san said. I took the envelope from her and looked at the back.
"An a.s.signment?"
The envelope was sealed with wax and there was a crest on it.
It was a family crest from somewhere, but which family was it?
I felt like I"ve seen this crest somewhere before.
I learnt all the crests of important aristocrat families in cla.s.s.
The crest being familiar meant that it was one of those families.
It wasn"t the royal family.
I obviously remembered the royal crest.
I couldn"t remember which family it was straight away so I decided to read the contents of the letter first.
Marie-san opened the seal and gave me the letter contained inside.
I read the contents of the letter and it seems that I"ve been invited to a tea party.
It was held today in the afternoon.
It was held in…… The Royal Palace?!
It must be an invitation from someone in high power since they were having it at the Royal Palace.
Who the heck is it?
I tried to confirm the name of the sender while pondering but noticed that they didn"t write it.
This meant that I had to derive this fact from the crest?
That family crest was from……
"Sei-sama, would you like to wear this dress today?"
I was startled because someone suddenly called out to me.
I was too absent-minded.
I looked at the dress that the maid presented to me and thought about what to do.
"I was invited to a tea party this afternoon."
"Oh my! You should wear a more gorgeous dress today then."
"What? Hey!"
It appears that Marie-san didn"t know the contents of the a.s.signment.
Then after stopping me, she quickly started ordering the maids around.
They prepared an outfit more glamorous than the ones I usually wore while picking this and that.
I looked at the maids who were having more fun than usual and didn"t have the heart to stop them.
Which family was it?
"Is something wrong?"
Marie-san looked at me worriedly because I was scrunching up my eyebrows while thinking.
"I was thinking about who the sender was. They didn"t write their name on the envelope."
I said and gave the envelope and letter to Marie-san.
Marie-san looked at the envelope crest after reading the letter.
"The name of the sender really isn"t written anywhere."
"Is the a.s.signment to find out who the sender is from the invitation?"
"Maybe but isn"t the a.s.signment also to attend the tea party?"
Certainly.
Marie-san was quite right.
I also learnt the mannerism for tea ceremonies and thought that it would be possible for me to attend one because we had finished the lessons on that topic.
The sender was still unknown. If part of the a.s.signment was to find out who the sender was then there was a high possibility that Marie-san won"t tell me which house they are from even if I ask her about it.
But, I"ll try to ask anyways.
"I have a feeling I"ve seen this family crest somewhere before but I can"t seem to remember where from. Marie-san, so you know which family it is?"
"Well, it"s a very famous family. It"s Marquis Ashley"s family crest."
She surprisingly answered my question.
I should have remembered this crest because there wasn"t many Marquis Households to begin with but I had completely forgotten about it.
But did I know someone from that household?
"If it"s from Marquis Ashley"s household then the person who invited you is probably their daughter."
"Really?"
"Yes. Their daughter is also Prince Kyle"s fiancée."
What?
Prince Kyle as in that Prince Kyle, right?
The Crown Prince.
I see, so even that has a fiancée, huh?
The people of this kingdom became adults at 15, so he was more or less the Prince.
It wasn"t odd that he had a fiancée.
It was rare for this to happen in j.a.pan but it wasn"t unusual here.
But is his fiancée someone who could host a tea party at the Royal Palace?
Normally people couldn"t host tea parties at the Royal Palace even if they were engaged to the royal family.
Was she already living in the Royal Palace with the Prince?
"Is his fiancée living in the Royal Palace?"
"No. She normally lives in Marquis Ashley"s estate in the capital."
"She doesn"t live at the Royal Palace but she"s hosting the tea party at there?"
"This is because it"s Sei-sama"s a.s.signment."
Marie-san was trying to say that the reason the tea party was being hosted at the Royal Palace this time around was because it was connected to me.
Perhaps Marquis Ashley"s daughter also heard this from the teacher.
That"s right.
I handed the invitation to Marie-san because it was my a.s.signment but we didn"t know if the host knew the situation or not.
So the tea party this time might not be that big.
When I saw that the party was held at the Royal Palace, I panicked wondering how big it would be.
Even if someone tells me that it"s alright for me to attend, I didn"t want my first tea party to be a big one.
I was a little relieved.
My hair and makeup was finished while I was talking to Marie-san and the preparations are done.
I looked at myself in the mirror and could tell that the maids had put more effort into my hair and makeup.
The maids had a look of accomplishment on their faces.
It really doesn"t look like me.
The me in the mirror was laughing tiredly.
"Do you like it?"
"You all did an amazing job."
The maids were happy at my words. I guess it"ll do.
Then I headed to my morning lecture.
I had lunch like I usually do after my morning lecture.
However, I didn"t eat anything because the tea party would be held soon.
I asked my teacher this morning and as I thought, my a.s.signment was to attend the tea party.
It seems that the tea party would only consist of me and the host so I calmed down a little.
The organiser, Marquis Ashley"s daughter, had manner lessons under the same teacher as me.
Thus, she ended up helping with my a.s.signment this time around.
Marquis daughters held high positions so they wouldn"t normally help someone out with their a.s.signment but I heard that she was a well-balanced person and she immediately agreed to help this time.
I appreciate it.
But I also felt a little nervous because I was receiving help from a high-ranking Young Lady.
Has she even talked to me before?
I"ve been talking to Marie-san and the others about fashion lately so I think that I can talk about fashion trends.
But I still think that it isn"t enough.
The tea party was held at the palace pavilion 1)She says this in j.a.panese and then later says it in English… So I used a different word.
It was a western style place so it was also called a gazebo.
It happened while I was enjoying the autumn garden and I thought that I should enjoy talking with the host too.
I walked through the beautiful garden guided by Marie-san.
I could see the gazebo in the distant and I also saw someone who was probably the host seated down on one of the chairs.
She also seemed to have noticed me because she got up from her chair and came out of the gazebo to greet me.
"Liz?"
I could see the person"s face as I got closer and was surprised because it was a face that I was familiar with.
The person standing there was Liz.
"Welcome to my tea party, Sei."
The smiling Liz was as beautiful as ever.
Her smiling face looked somewhat deceiving and it also felt as if she was telling me I did well.
"Mm…… Thank you for inviting me today?"
I managed to squeeze out the greetings.
My intonation rose at the end and it sounded like a question. Please forgive me.
I was that surprised.
I sat down on the seat as Liz had suggested and the maids, who were waiting on the sides, poured tea into our cups.
I stared at them blankly and then Liz spoke.
"This is the first time I"ve seen you in a dress Sei. It"s a refreshing change from your usual self."
"Ah, yeah. I guess so."
"The dress is very beautiful and suits you well Sei."
"You think so?"
"Yes!"
It was embarra.s.sing because she was praising my dress.
No, that"s not it.
"You"re Marquis Ashley"s daughter?"
Yup.
The person who invited me to the tea party today should be Marquis Ashley"s daughter.
Liz should be Marquis Ashley"s daughter judging from the words, "Welcome to my tea party", but……
Come to think of it, did she introduce herself as "Elizabeth Ashley" the first time we met at library?
I"ve been calling her Liz ever since so I forgot her surname.
Liz smiled when I tilted my head and asked in confirmation.
"Didn"t I tell you?"
"You didn"t say anything about being a Marquis"s daughter, you know."
She chuckled at me when I answered in disappointment.
You"re a convicted criminal, aren"t you?
"I heard that you were hosting this tea party because of my a.s.signment."
"Yes, I am. You haven"t been coming to the library recently Sei, so I happily agreed when I heard about it from the teacher."
After I started taking lectures,I visited the library less often.
The reason was simple; I was just too busy with cla.s.ses.
Liz still went to the library many times even though I stopped going.
Now that you mention it, I only meet with Liz in the library.
Even then, we never planned to meet. We just met because we happen to be at the library at the same time.
Therefore, I haven"t met with Liz at all recently.
"I"m sorry. I haven"t recently been going to the library at all."
"It can"t be helped. You"ve been busy, haven"t you?"
"I have…… by the way, you didn"t invite anyone else besides me?"
"It"s just the two of us today. Well, let"s take our time talking while drinking tea."
Thus, the tea party began.
I had to pay attention to my mannerism because it was part of my a.s.signment. Therefore, I"ll drink the tea first.
Today"s tea smells somewhat like Darjeeling tea.
All the teas served at the Royal Palace was delicious but this was the first time I"ve drank something that is similar to Darjeeling tea.
"This tea is delicious. It"s the first time I"ve drank it."
"I"m glad you like it. It"s from a plantation contracted to my family."
"I see."
As expected of a Marquis family.
It"s probably an exclusive contract, right?
Slightly sweet confectioneries were a trademark of this kingdom.
The tea didn"t have anything in it so it was fine.
I felt like I was hyped up because my lecture had been extended.
I told Liz what I thought and she smiled happily and replied with:
"This is, of course, my first tea party with Sei so I tried my best."
Of course, proper preparation was also needed at normal tea parties but it seems that this tea party with me was special.
She didn"t know what I liked so Liz picked all her favourite things.
Although Liz was still growing, I had a feeling that she would be extremely gorgeous in the future and she had a lot of beautiful colored dresses.
However, when I looked at the sweets on the table today, it seemed that she preferred cute things.
All the sweets were berry-type sweets and pinkish. Even the sweet decorations looked cute.
Liz nodded in embarra.s.sment when I pointed them out.
Of course, all the dresses that she wore were ones that suited her so they were different from the ones she would prefer to wear.
She told me that I was the only one here today so she let her preferences show.
We started talking about something that had recently happened while deep in conversation.
"I"ve heard things about the Saint-sama recently."
Liz began the conversation like that.
I was in the middle of drinking my tea and had a hard time trying not to choke on it.
"Saint-sama?"
"Yes. I heard that she"s a magnificent user of recovery magic and that she saved a lot of knights."
"Heh, hehe. Is that so?"
"I also heard that the knights who had lost their arms and legs during the subjugation had regained them back thanks to the Saint-sama. They"re really grateful."
"Oh ~."
"Being able to recover lost limbs meant that she"s this kingdom"s number one recovery magic user. But, I"ve heard that Saint-sama is very humble and didn"t brag about it at all. The knights are already worshipping her like a G.o.ddess."
Yup, I"m a bit troubled.
Worship meant them right?
The Knights from the 2nd Knight Order.
I really want to believe that the people from the 3rd Knight Order are still okay.
I wanted to play dumb and reply with, "I wonder who that is?" while listening to Liz"s story but she probably won"t forgive me for that.
"I didn"t know that you were that good at recovery magic, Sei."
"Ah, no way….yeah, I suppose."
I thought that it wouldn"t do if I don"t tell her the truth since she was smiling like she knew.
We haven"t talked that deeply into things like this.
The reason was that we didn"t need to talk about things deeply so I thought that it would be alright to take this chance and tell her a bit more about myself.
"I"ve only recently became able to use magic."
"Really?"
"There was no need to use it before that."
I said and Liz continued to faintly smile while looking at me.
What is it?
"You didn"t use it because your original world didn"t have magic so you weren"t familiar with it, isn"t that right?"
"Huh?"
"Sei, you were summoned here, weren"t you?"
My eyes reflexively widened.
I think that a lot more people who knew that I was summoned here by the 【Saint Summoning Ceremony】than I thought.
Of course, I didn"t spread it around.
If I tell people that I was summoned here by a ceremony, wouldn"t it be the same as telling them that I was the 【Saint】?
That"s why I definitely don"t go around saying it.
That most likely mean the people who do know found out from the people at the Royal Palace.
The Director and the Captain weren"t the only ones who knew about this, the knights and mages probably knew too, right?
The maids probably also know about it.
The researchers weren"t told so half of them suspected something and the other half didn"t know anything.
I somehow felt that from the researcher"s reactions.
There was a difference in their reactions probably because the Royal Palace distinguished between those who are trustworthy and those who are not.
The knights and mages are on the nation"s defence force so I think they have to know.
The maids were all people who were gathered to look after the 【Saint】so I"m sure they know.
I didn"t think that Liz would be also be included in the list of people who knew about it.
That"s why I was surprised that she knew.
"So you knew?"
"Yes."
"Since when?"
"From the beginning."
"From the beginning…… So you knew from the time we met at the library?"
"Yes. But, it was a coincidence that we met there."
According to Liz"s explanation, it was really a coincidence that we met at the library.
However, she said that she knew that the 【Saint Summoning Ceremony】had been performed and she guessed from my hair colour and eyes that I was probably a summoned person.
It was an unusual colour to have in this kingdom.
She also said that she was convinced when she started talking to me in the library.
She concluded this from the fact that I could read various languages but I didn"t understand anything about the grammar of it.
It was certainly unbelievable for someone to be able to read something without understanding the grammar behind it.
"The other person is also the same."
"Really?"
The other person is probably Airchan.
Come to think of it, Liz also attends the Royal Academy, doesn"t she?
Are they cla.s.smates?
"I"ve heard that she can also read Slantania and the ancient languages, but she doesn"t know grammar or anything like that."
"I see. Anyway, are you and Airchan cla.s.smates, Liz?"
"No, she"s a year above me."
"Oh."
"Other than that, you also know about her, Sei."
"Well, yeah."
I heard about Airchan from the maids and civil official at the beginning.
She"s the girl who was summoned with me.
Therefore I"m interested in her.
I haven"t seen her since then. I wonder about her sometimes and I"m was worried about her after all.
"Is she doing well?"
"Well…… She doesn"t seem to be ill."
Liz looked troubled when I tilted my head at her hesitation.
"Did something happen?"
"Yes, well……"
Then Liz suddenly raised her hand and the maids left.
What"s that? Amazing.
Liz was confirming that the maids were gone while I was admiring her. And then she slowly began to talk.
"Do you remember the time when I told you about that troublesome cla.s.smate of mine?"
"Errrr ~……"
Which reminds me, we did talked about something like that before.
If I"m not mistaken it was about a cla.s.smate who had the popular guys wait upon her.
I wonder what"s wrong with that child?
Don"t tell me……
"Don"t tell me that it"s Airchan?"
I asked and she nodded sadly.
I unintentionally averted my gaze upwards.
"I told you that it was a cla.s.smate at that time but it"s definitely Airsan."
"Is that so?"
Well, whether she was a cla.s.smate or not wasn"t something that Liz could explain in detail.
"I"ve put in a lot of effort to try to solve the problem but it"s not going very well."
"Were we talking about how it isn"t good for someone to get intimate with men who have fiancées?"
"That"s it."
"Ah ~……"
I accidentally looked away.
Even in j.a.pan, it"s frowned upon to cling to someone that was engaged.
It was the same for those who had lovers too.
However, it was harder for it to become a problem in j.a.pan.
There were many actions that may not cause problems in j.a.pan that could cause problems here.
For example, lifting up your skirt when it"s hot or showing your bare feet to the opposite s.e.x.
I was also scolded by Liz.
Airchan might be the same.
If she acted the same way as she did in j.a.pan towards her friends without knowing the standards of them country then……
Huh?
But didn"t Liz and the others warn her multiple times?
"You warned her personally, didn"t you?"
"Other people did but I heard that they told her directly."
"I see. But nothing changed?"
"She seems to be aware of it now?"
"I see……"
Liz asked about it so I told her what I was thinking about before.
I told her about the degree of difference in problematic actions between j.a.pan, the country that Airchan and I were from and here.
j.a.pan was more lenient compared to here.
Airchan might not know that.
"I don"t think she"ll get it if you just told her to think about the person that they are dating or it would be a problem for you to get along with men."
"Is that so?"
"I realized when you told me, Liz. Well the boys around her might have told her about it."
"They didn"t."
Liz said clearly even though she was laughing as if she was troubled.
It didn"t show on her face but I felt that she was clad in a scary aura and chills ran down my spine.
I couldn"t see it but it felt like a black aura was covering her back.
Mhm, Liz-san?
What"s wrong?
"If they were that considerate then it wouldn"t become the big problem it is today."
"Th-that"s true.
You are quite right.
It"s just as she said.
Liz said in a somewhat appalled voice. How scary.
But why was she so angry?
I thought and remembered what Marie-san had told me.
Which reminds me, Liz"s fiancé is……
"Hey, don"t tell me your fiancé is also in that group of boys?"
"Yes."
The answer to my timid question was YES.
I want to think that the black aura growing behind her is just my imagination.
"Liz, you"re fiancé is that, right? Mm……"
"It"s Prince Kyle."
I could only laugh dryly at that predicted answer.
I see, that is her fiancé, huh?
"I"ve heard that he"s caused you extreme displeasure."
"Mhm? Yeah……"
I could only laugh when I remember what had happened when I was summoned.
Yeah, serious, that.
Liz smiled stiffly and correct her posture.
She was looking at me really seriously.
"I will apologise on His Highness"s behalf for what happened at that time."
"Huh? It"s not something that you should apologise for, Liz."
"But……"
"It"s fine. It"s not your fault."
I somehow laughed and appealed to Liz that it wasn"t her fault because she still looked anxious.
I can understand apologising on behalf of your fiancé but Liz didn"t do anything wrong so I didn"t know how to respond to her.
"Let"s think of a way to solve the Airchan problem?"
"Oh Sei……"
I would be stumped if we kept talking about the Prince so I forcefully changed the topic.
Liz seemed to have noticed my intention and mumbled in worried tone but she didn"t push the topic.
I appreciated her subtlety.
From there, we talked about how we should improve the circ.u.mstances around Airchan.
We exchanged various ideas and before we knew it a lot of time had pa.s.sed.
We had finally found a way to solve the problem. It should be fine if I leave the finer details to Liz, right?
Thus, my first tea party ended without a hitch.
Translator: Blushy
Editor: CrimsonJade
My editor is currently busy with finals… If I can find someone else to edit in the meantime then I will post the chapters per usual but if not, please be patient and thank you for reading!