The place where the banquet was held was definitely cramped.
But that didn’t mean the overall area was small. It was just smaller compared to other noble estates. After all, it was a mansion, not a castle.
Unlike noble estates that typically have separate banquet halls, this place was simply using the mansion itself as the venue. As long as guests didn’t enter the rooms that required separate access, they could use the space freely.
In fact, there weren’t that many guests to begin with. Since there were hardly any other noble territories nearby, the invited guests mainly consisted of the Duke’s retainers and a few high-ranking officials from the Colonial Governor’s Office, with the rest being students from the academy.
The students looked quite normal aside from their uniforms. After all, the children of the Baron and knights weren’t even invited. Those from a Count’s family were likely to be quite familiar with social circles.
In that sense, our group could be considered quite unique in various ways.
Only those accustomed to society and high-ranking people.
Charlotte seemed to be quite famous in her country’s social circles as a princess, and Jake, as a prince, had also made quite a name for himself in various social settings. Though he had a light-hearted image among friends, he was known for being serious and reserved within the territory… at least, that’s how it was portrayed in the game.
The last one among us, Roti, was familiar with social circles in a slightly different sense. Since Jake was always hanging out with her.
And then there was—
“Um, can we drink something like alcohol?”
Claire cautiously asked as she approached me.
In the direction Claire was looking, the students from Noble Class B were chatting while holding champagne glasses. They looked slightly flushed, suggesting they had at least one drink. However, they didn’t appear to be outright drunk.
“Just thirty years ago, we would have been considered adults at our age. It’s not a big deal to have light drinks at a banquet.”
“Really…?”
Claire looked surprised.
It wasn’t that she had never been to a banquet. However, she likely accompanied her parents, Baron Grace and his wife, when she did, and at that time, she would have been younger and probably wouldn’t have dreamed of drinking.
“Claire.”
I stopped Claire, who was eyeing the line of champagne glasses on the table with curiosity.
“If you want to drink, please do so in moderation.”
I said with a serious expression.
“Uh? A, ah….”
“Do you understand? Moderation. If you feel even a little dizzy, you must refrain from drinking any more.”
“Okay…. ”
When I warned her again with a serious expression, Claire responded, looking a bit dazed.
In the original work, Claire was a heavy drinker.
Just because she could drink a lot didn’t mean she wasn’t affected by it. In fact, the character Claire was known for causing a ruckus while being conscious but not collapse.
Looking at the current Claire, there was no way I’d think she could handle a lot. The character had gone through a lot of things that shouldn’t have happened to her in childhood.
“Leo.”
Just in case, I called out to Leo.
“If Claire tries to drink more than one glass, please stop her.”
“Got it.”
Leo, the epitome of a well-behaved guy, wouldn’t even consider drinking when he was told it was “acceptable.” He nodded seriously and trailed behind Claire.
“Aren’t you going to drink?”
Alice asked me, a smile playing at her lips.
“Alice, don’t you plan on drinking?”
“Well… um, not yet.”
Exactly. Even though Alice was a princess, she wasn’t that accustomed to such places. She thought that attending such an event would take away precious time she could spend studying to surpass me.
Probably her not drinking was because she didn’t know how much she could handle. If Alice were to research her drinking capacity, she would probably experiment in her room, gradually drinking until she found out how much she could drink, and then do just that in front of others.
“You thought well.”
Charlotte said, responding to Alice’s comment.
“In fact, even if you do drink, it’s not all that enjoyable.”
“That’s unexpected.”
Alice shot back at Charlotte’s comment.
“Velbur is one of the main wine regions! That champagne is even named after a region of Velbur. But can a Velbur resident not drink?”
“…Then can Alice eat eel jelly or something?”
“Eel… what?”
Alice questioned Charlotte’s somewhat random rebuttal.
“It’s a jelly made by solidifying both eel oil and eel meat at once.”
“Why would you eat something like that?”
Alice said with a look of disbelief at my explanation. Well, indeed, if there’s an eel, you should think of grilling it instead of preparing it in such a way.
“It’s a proud traditional dish of the Empire of Aetherna, you know.”
Well, it wasn’t exactly traditional, but it was indeed true that it was an imperial dish.
“…”
Alice had no rebuttal to Charlotte’s comment.
*
That said, not all foods from the Empire are inedible.
In fact, dishes like eel jelly and toast were fundamentally prepared for people to eat, so they could be consumed without issue. The problem was that they didn’t taste good.
Mostly, such odd dishes were created from strange ingredients because of unfortunate circumstances, but it didn’t usually lead to fatal endings… Uh, well, sometimes it did, but they weren’t exactly life-threatening.
However, such foods were generally the fare of the impoverished lower classes, and the dishes served at a banquet like this were completely different from those.
“Lady Crowfield.”
Even though Mia Crowfield was formally invited as the Count’s daughter and not just brought in by Jake, she was still separated from the others, unable to mingle joyfully.
In fact, she didn’t have many friends at the academy either. She was the type who wouldn’t say much unless someone else approached her first.
Even though she had the title of Count’s daughter, it seemed not many people were inclined to approach her especially after the incident involving Count Crowfield’s murder.
If someone were to have the Duke title, they probably wouldn’t pay much mind to such things, but those types were generally kind to all noble youths.
“The party—”
I was going to ask if she was enjoying herself, but then I caught sight of the biscuits in Mia Crowfield’s hands and fell silent.
It seemed she was indeed enjoying the banquet in her own way.
Noticing my gaze, Mia Crowfield couldn’t put the food down, nor could she shove everything into her mouth at once, and was fidgeting restlessly instead.
I silently walked over, picked up a biscuit from nearby, and put it in my mouth.
“It’s soft and delicious.”
I commented. The fact that it tasted good was genuine. I had given Mia Crowfield time to chew and swallow what she had in her mouth.
“Y, yes, it is.”
Mia Crowfield barely managed to swallow the biscuit I had given her time and then responded. Unfortunately, she still had one biscuit in each hand.
“It seems you aren’t used to coming to places like this often.”
“Well, um, right?”
Why was her answer phrased as a question?
Was she still that scared of me?
Well… I mean, if we switched places and looked at it that way, it wouldn’t be so easy to settle feelings. No matter how bad a guy her father was behind her back, he must have been a good father to Mia Crowfield… well, it’s questionable whether he really was a ‘good’ father after reflecting on what he did behind closed doors, but at least he must have treated her kindly when she was in front of him.
If someone like that got murdered and the murderer was right in front of her, well, that makes sense.
Mia Crowfield was now fifteen years old.
Thinking it might just raise her guard if I continued to engage in conversation, I shrugged and attempted to back away. Even though I was an outcast, I knew that outcasts generally don’t like being fussed over. Letting them have their time undisturbed was actually better for relationship improvement.
“Um, excuse me.”
But as I was about to back away, Mia Crowfield called out to me.
Of course, she did it verbally, as her hands were still busy with biscuits. Well, even if they were empty, it wasn’t like she’d have anything to hold on to anyway.
When I turned to look back, Mia Crowfield had a surprised expression on her face. She seemed surprised by the fact that she had called me over.
“Um….”
Mia Crowfield looked conflicted as she fumbled with her words, glancing around, and finally asked,
“Are you, um, enjoying yourself, Your Highness?”
“…”
I turned my gaze.
In the distance, Claire and Leo were quarreling about something. Charlotte and Alice were bickering with each other, and Sophia was somehow caught in the middle of it. Jake was as always flirting with Roti.
Even among the students all dressed in the same uniforms, those kids stood out like a splash of color in a black-and-white photograph to my eyes.
“Yes, I’m enjoying it.”
“R, really?”
And then there was a pause in our conversation.
Mia Crowfield seemed to have something to say but didn’t seem to know how to continue the conversation, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly.
“I’m just glad the two of you are enjoying yourselves.”
Then, someone else jumped into our brief conversation break.
He was a tall man with golden mustaches, curled at the end like a painting, and his skin bronzed like Jake’s from the sun.
Although his aura was similar to Jake’s, the heaviness of his presence didn’t carry the same hooligan feel.
“Princess Fanggriffon.”
The man bowed gracefully toward me.
“And Lady Crowfield.”
Then he bowed once more toward Mia Crowfield.
“Duke Lindbergh.”
As I responded to his greeting, I noticed Mia Crowfield’s mouth slightly agape.
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