“Leo, introduce yourself. These are the esteemed princesses of the Empire of Aetherna.”
“Greetings. I am Leo Grace, the eldest son of Baron Grace’s Estate. It is an honor to meet two noble ladies.”
Leo politely greeted the two princesses. He was truly a model of a ‘gentleman’.
This was a completely different demeanor from when he first met me and Alice.
Of course, by “the first meeting,” I don’t mean after rewinding time. I’m talking about before that, specifically “before this situation.” Leo had recognized both of us as princesses and would turn pale every time he saw us.
Especially with Claire, who openly called me “sister” and acted casual, Leo struggled quite a bit. It was a miracle he hadn’t lost all his hair.
In the original story, he also turned pale every time he got involved with Alice early on, which made sense as it added to the comedic elements.
But right now, there was none of that on Leo’s face. His expression while greeting Claire and Alice was very composed.
This wasn’t the first time Leo was meeting these two in a semi-public sphere either.
Unlike Claire, who was focused solely on swordsmanship, I had diverted my talents a bit. Despite appearances, I had diligently studied while rewinding time. I thought repeating classes until I understood everything was far more useful than memorizing test problems, and I had continued that way up until now.
Thanks to that, I had already learned most of what children typically learn in their early years. Had I crammed just for exams, I wouldn’t have remembered much and would have had to rewind time to review, but since I had already adequately learned many subjects, I didn’t need to turn back time multiple times.
…Still, I did rewind once or twice for the small things, but anyway.
I had earned favor in the eyes of Baron Grace and his wife, not through ‘swordsmanship’ but through ‘studies and refinement,’ allowing me to grow up as a baron’s daughter. While I wasn’t able to practice shooting like in the Imperial Palace, I used that free time to practice proper noble etiquette.
Even though Baron Grace’s title came directly from the previous emperor, it would have been impossible for the baron’s daughter to meet a ‘princess’ without any particular reason. To meet royalty, one needed to have a justification. To build a ‘friendly relationship,’ it was necessary to have at least met in person.
So, I chose a banquet.
Nobles attend banquets to build such friendships and justifications. Although it’s called a ‘social gathering,’ it’s really more like a battlefield of wit and social cues. It’s common to calculate and present every little promise one makes.
If I became famous by actively participating in places like that, I thought it would soon be clear to Claire and Alice, who previously had no interest in that kind of thing, what I wanted.
The problem was that it wasn’t so easy for a ‘baroness’ to make a name for herself. No matter how pretty her face or good her figure, that alone wouldn’t suffice. While Grace’s Estate was close to the royal family, it wasn’t particularly outstanding in any notable way. Originally, it was more famous for swordsmanship than for anything else.
It took me years until I got the strange nickname of ‘The Black and White Lily of Grace,’ which sounded like a bad omen just to hear.
Thanks to that, it took an extremely long time for Alice and Claire to understand my message, and we had only met twice before.
One of those times, I had to waste as a ‘first face-to-face introduction and time to get to know each other.’
Since I had no particular fiancé—although there were some connections—I purposely ignored such people, every time I attended balls, my partner was my ‘younger brother,’ Leo.
Thus, Leo had indeed seen these two.
But even so, they had only exchanged glances twice. It was considered rude for a man to listen to a conversation between women, so Leo would take a step back every time we spoke, which naturally meant he had almost no opportunity to engage with them.
Despite that, his lack of fluster and ease now was clearly different from the ‘Leo I had known.’
In addition to time feeling strangely accelerated, this served as a decisive reason for me to be convinced that not everything from those previous events had been completely cancelled.
“Did you just say ‘sister’?”
Generally speaking, when a man says ‘greetings,’ it’s customary for the other side to respond politely as well.
However, it seemed that the ‘sister’ remark that Leo had made earlier had irked Claire.
“Excuse me?”
Leo lifted his head, looking flustered as he answered. I observed his expression closely. Indeed, he wasn’t scared or turning pale.
Rather, he simply bore a confused look.
“Because Sylvia said ‘sister.’”
“Claire.”
Claire couldn’t conceal her disgruntled expression as she continued speaking, and Alice quickly stepped in to intervene.
“Well… Sylvia sister really is my sister, you know?”
Leo pondered the situation without comprehending it.
“Why?”
As Claire abruptly asked, Leo scratched his head and replied.
“Well… sister always acts maturely, studies well, and explains things kindly when I don’t understand something. Sometimes she covers for me if I make a mistake.”
“…”
As Leo spoke, Alice and Claire turned their gazes toward me. Well.
Honestly, I never intended to be called ‘sister’ by Leo. When I was portraying the ‘emotionless cool beauty’ in the past, now I was acting as the perfect noble baroness. And I can confidently say this is much harder. By being cautious in my everyday life, I must have appeared to Leo as a reliable older sister.
However, after hearing that explanation, Leo seemed to remember something and finally asked.
“Oh, is it because I’m a fellow freshman with you, sister?”
“No, no, that’s not it. There’s this thing. Earlier—”
“Claire.”
Alice hurriedly stepped in front of Claire.
“…My sister was rude. I’ll apologize on her behalf.”
“Ah, no, that…”
Seeing Leo roll his eyes, I took a step forward and chimed in.
“It’s something you might be curious about. However, that story concerns the internal matters of the Grace family. Sorry, but it’s not something I can go around speaking about.”
“No, actually, the one who was wrong here is us. Claire.”
Alice glanced slightly back at Claire and continued.
“Since we bothered you, hurry and apologize.”
“Ah, seriously!”
Claire seemed to have so much to say, yet after wrapping her head, she stood there for a while, then spoke in a tiny voice, “…I’m sorry.”
Seeing her like that, Alice nodded and said.
“And there’s no need to speak so formally. We’re all students here. According to the rules, we’re ‘equals,’ right? At least until we graduate from the academy, I hope we can all get along easily. What do you think?”
Then she extended her hand to Leo as if to shake hands.
“Um…”
Leo looked a bit flustered as he glanced my way. I nodded at him.
Then, Leo, with a slight smile, took Alice’s hand and replied.
“Alright, then. Until we graduate.”
Yeah, that seems right.
Leo doesn’t have a complete memory of ‘what happened.’
But it’s clear that Leo knows something. He just hasn’t realized that he knows it yet.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so easily able to accept Alice’s words.
And if Leo is like this, the other kids likely are similar.
“Then I will continue to be casual as well.”
Claire, who had been speaking informally since the first moment we met, said that. Leo just awkwardly smiled at her.
*
“I’m not too familiar with the imperial social chair,”
Charlotte said while walking toward the student council room.
“But it does seem a bit strange for a baron’s daughter’s name to spread throughout all social events. Especially that it’s even reached Velbur across the border, it’s quite remarkable. As far as I know, Grace’s Estate is much more famous for swordsmanship.”
“I’ve just worked hard to polish my refinement.”
“Impressive. It’s no surprise you’ve caught the student council’s attention. ‘The Black and White Lily of Grace.’”
Someday I’ll hunt down whoever gave me that ridiculous nickname and have them spilling their guts.
I swore I’d make them suffer far more than they had when they twisted my insides.
While Leo wore a proud expression, the two princesses beside him struggled to suppress their laughter.
…Please tell me I didn’t have such a nickname before, right?
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