“What are you thinking so hard about?”
At Claire’s question, Leo flinched, startled.
“What? It was you?”
Once he realized it was Claire speaking to him, Leo let out a sigh of relief.
“What is it? Seeing that relieved expression oddly pisses me off.”
Noticing that he didn’t see her as a woman, Claire made a face of irritation. Of course, it was natural for Claire not to see Leo as a man, so she had no reason to get mad about it in the first place.
It was just, how should I put it, a reason that could be annoying.
…Leo thought to himself that he didn’t really know what he was thinking either.
In the dead of night, the weather outside was finally tolerable. Northwood, unlike its name, was situated below the Imperial Capital, so the temperature was a bit warmer than in the Capital even on such nights.
The name Northwood was acquired when it was a different kingdom in the past. Now, it had been completely absorbed by the Empire, and even the name ‘kingdom’ was no longer relevant.
“Why are you here again?”
“Why do you think? I can take a walk too, can’t I?”
But there was a hint of hesitation in Claire’s expression as she said that to Leo.
Before Leo could ask what was bothering her, Claire playfully said, “What? Is your mind still lingering in your chest?”
“….”
Leo shot her a sideways glance, but Claire merely shrugged with no change in her expression.
“….It’s not that, I just feel sorry for Miss Bella being in such a situation. And there might be a lot of people like her here.”
“That’s….”
However, once Claire heard Leo say that, she couldn’t continue to tease him.
Leo had a general understanding of Claire’s past. The night Claire was being sold, Sylvia had helped her and the other children escape from the orphanage, and thanks to that, Claire and the children were able to be taken to Grace’s estate without any issues.
It seemed that Sylvia had gone to the royal family in the meantime.
Hearing that story, Leo had considered that Sylvia had been affiliated with the royal family from the start, but… no matter how much he thought about Sylvia’s age, it didn’t seem like there could be a two-year gap with Claire. Even if he gave her two extra years, Sylvia would have been seven years old at the time, and even if she was competent, they wouldn’t treat a seven-year-old as a disposable asset in the royal family.
“Hmm.”
Listening to Leo’s words, Claire crossed her arms and closed her eyes.
After pondering for a moment, she suddenly lifted her head.
“Okay.”
“What do you mean okay?”
“Let’s go to the casino.”
“Huh?”
Leo couldn’t quite catch Claire’s train of thought.
“You’re worried, right? About Miss Bella.”
Claire shrugged again and said, “Actually, I’m worried too.”
“….”
As Leo stared blankly at Claire, she scratched her head with her finger.
“You’re right. It might just be unnecessary meddling. If you think about it, there’s probably no one here without a backstory. Still…”
Claire smiled at Leo and said, “We can’t just walk past someone in trouble right in front of us. We’re Grace after all.”
“We might not be able to help everyone, but we can’t ignore those in difficulty right in front of us.”
Leo muttered under his breath at Claire’s words.
“Without that person, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
Claire said with a bright smile.
*
…It feels very empty.
I thought I had arrived with Alice, delivering a somewhat cool line, but I started to wonder if I should have found another way after all.
Usually, unless it was time to change clothes or take a bath, there’s no part of me that would be exposed like this.
Even though most of my body was covered, the black cloth only hid the lower part of my chest. The white skin above it was completely exposed to other people’s eyes.
At least, I didn’t sprinkle any glitter-like dust on my chest like Kiara Verati did.
“…I really shouldn’t wander too far, got it?”
“Don’t worry, I’m right behind you.”
Having confidently declared, “I will prove I’m the Crown Princess,” I realized I felt immensely embarrassed about this outfit myself.
Alice usually wore very neat attire. Of course, since everyone around her was a noble, who wouldn’t? But in my memories, Claire wasn’t a character who always dressed so neatly.
Of course, thinking back on Claire’s model in the game, she was certainly large. Well, at least her visible part must be larger than the first impression one would get.
And this could be said for Alice as well.
Even in the game, while they might have skimped on background textures and recycled character motions, they took care to differentiate the size of the character models, especially the chest area. When modeling outfits like bunny girl costumes, they painstakingly designed even the parts where the flesh would be pressed in, leading players to jokingly wonder if the production team might have some unusual fetishes.
But come to think of it, not having scenes like that in character games would also be inappropriate.
I didn’t know who the producers were that had Alice wear that sky-blue bunny outfit, but it suited her golden hair perfectly. The colors were not too gaudy, and her skin tone peeking through her stockings matched incredibly well.
Moreover, the ‘shame’ that was visible even through her white half-mask was enticingly capturing the attention of people around her.
…I seriously couldn’t understand how I hadn’t recognized her until just prior to reverting time.
And, though it feels a bit inappropriate to express it like this—
My chest, um, I’m not sure if this expression is a bit odd.
Sylvia Fanggriffon’s chest was equally impressive enough to not lag behind Alice.
This was something I often saw, but how should I put it, given how the outfit accentuated the upper chest so much, the shape of it was slightly altered, looking far more emphasized than usual.
Whoooosh—
I could hear someone whistling at us, but we paid it no mind.
It was no surprise. Those who came to a place like this for the first time might act high and mighty. Some might even take delight in breaking such people.
“Cautioning you once more, if anyone tries to touch me—”
“—I’ll kick them in the groin. Got it. I’ve heard it a few times already.”
Even if the guards came running, revealing our identities straight away would settle things. After all, who would dare to casually lay hands on a Crown Princess?
…Though it might be safer to turn back time and give Alice an opportunity to go a different route.
“Don’t worry, I have the information, I won’t waste your time.”
It seemed she had already received some hints from Bella.
“Hey, here—”
Carefully making sure not to bump into people, I diligently followed Alice from behind when someone shouted out. A few bills were stuck between their raised fingers.
Of course, we were planning to ignore it and just walk past—
“Hey, are you just going to ignore me?”
Yeah, naturally, there had to be people like this in a situation like this.
It’s a cliché, right?
…An unwelcome cliché, however.
It seemed my ignoring them felt bad to him, as there was a commotion from behind.
I couldn’t quite figure out what they expected us to do when we weren’t even carrying drinks… Well, no, they might just want to sit us on their lap while having some fun. The person’s height seemed smaller than both of us in high heels.
But even if he was short, he had a rough appearance for a man.
“Let’s go.”
Alice seemed to have heard that voice but quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me along. From that alone, she looked quite reliable.
Yet, when walking urgently in heels she wasn’t used to, there was only so fast she could go.
“Hey, didn’t you hear? I said I’ve taken a liking to you!”
I felt a rough hand grab mine.
It was a coarse, calloused hand.
If only I could just waddle away, but with Alice grabbing my wrist in one direction and this man’s hand pulling me in the opposite, my arms flew out, leaving me in a predicament.
…No, being pulled like this in this outfit is incredibly embarrassing.
As I found myself at the brink of zoning out mentally, just then—
“Hey.”
Unsurprisingly, another cliché moment was about to hit.
“Let go of that hand.”
“Huh? What the heck are you doing!?”
Despite the appearance, Claire had an incredible grip from training.
Moreover, she looked a bit furious right now.
…It was a familiar expression I had seen in the game several times, but the intensity in her expression right now was much more impactful.
The grip on my wrist opened up.
“…You can take her away, without being a man, right?”
Before either Alice or I could react, Claire pulled out a bill from her pocket and awkwardly shoved it into her chest.
…In the midst of which, if not touching with her fingers is a technique, it certainly is.
“Crown… Alice, over here.”
And with Claire there, Leo had also shown up next to Alice, moving his hand to his waist—
—Stopping just shy of laying it there, but drawing close enough to pull Alice towards himself.
So, um, I guess that explained why Claire, Leo, and Alice all poured words all at once earlier.
As I was pulled along by Claire, I thought hard to not be embarrassed.
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