Charlotte is a French name.
And Charlotte is just the English pronunciation of that Charlotte.
Of course, even though there are no hard feelings between the Empire of Aetherna and the Kingdom of Velbur right now—well, there are no apparent bad feelings on the surface—still, it is rude to call someone by their name in your own country’s way.
In the original story, it took a while for the friends to start calling Charlotte “Sharlotte.” It only began after they grew very close, when Charlotte urged them to call her that comfortably.
Then, when Aetherna was about to invade Velbur, Charlotte distanced herself from her group and asked them not to call her Sharlotte.
So, this current situation is astounding.
…Could it be that they became this close just from meeting once back then?
“Are you Princess Sylvia? It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Charlotte greeted me politely while looking at me beside Alice.
I hesitated for a moment as to whether to stand up or not, but ultimately decided against it. After all, I agreed that we were just students here. Even if that’s not actually the case, treating it like that would make it easier for me to face the others in the future.
“I am Sylvia Fanggriffon.”
“I’ve heard stories.”
Charlotte smiled as if delighted.
“You came as a representative of the Empire instead of His Majesty the Emperor last time, didn’t you? My father praised you greatly.”
Was that not gossip?
She had behaved so rudely that it wouldn’t be surprising if she had turned around and just cussed me out!
Moreover, that trilateral meeting was known among those who were aware of it as a meeting where the kingdom ended up eating dirt.
While the Empire sent me, a princess, the Pope sent a Cardinal, but only the king of the Kingdom came in person. Of course, from the Kingdom’s perspective, they could say, “Since there was a meeting, the king showed his consideration,” but I wondered if even the high nobility saw it that way.
The Empire was a hegemonic country that could easily crush the military power of other nations, so that’s one thing. While the Papal State has a tremendously small territory, its influence on the world is massive. Although it can’t quite be said to be the benchmark of world religions, it is one of the single religions with the most followers.
Furthermore, all the Cardinals and priests in the Papal State are also citizens of the Papal State. Although it might seem like mere formality at first glance, the more a country has followers of the Goddess Church, the more undeniable its influence becomes. As the number of believers increases, so does the social status of the clergy.
The Kingdom of Velbur, which is directly adjacent to the Papal State… I mean, Velbur was one of the countries that lent some of its territory when the Papal State was being founded, and the proportion of believers in that Goddess Church was quite high. Even if it doesn’t quite reach the level of being called a sole religion, it is likely the largest single influence.
So, it wouldn’t be entirely fair to disregard the influence of the Papal State.
That said, sending Charlotte in place of herself wouldn’t have happened either.
Originally, it was fortunate from the standpoint of Velbur that the details of the meeting weren’t widely known, and if she’s bringing those details up to others, then Charlotte’s mind is like a bouquet…
…That cannot be.
She’s kind. There can be no feigning of virtue. Such a thing does not automatically equate to “not smart.”
Charlotte is someone who gets along well with various people, but at the same time, she also knows how to pick out the most important individuals and get close to them.
Charlotte is an entity that moves for the people of her own country. In other words, she is the kind of person who can boldly do unpleasant things when necessary. Of course, she won’t hide the fact that she dislikes it.
“…Is that so?”
In that sense, it seems that Charlotte hasn’t openly harbored negative feelings towards me yet.
However, her expressions when talking to Alice and when talking to me were subtly different. Her clear gray eyes stared straight into mine without a hint of wavering. As if she were trying to see through my inner self.
“At that time, I had a lot of conversations with Alice. Your name, Sylvia, came up several times.”
Alice.
That’s the French pronunciation of her name.
I see. It seems those two called each other in that way at the time.
“……”
“I-I said nothing particularly bad!!”
As I glanced over at Alice, she blushed a little as she spoke.
“That’s right. I would never insult Sylvia. I can swear to that.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
I replied while looking up at Charlotte.
“Sorry for bringing it up rather late, but I’ve heard that it’s a rule here to talk without regard for our statuses. Would it be troublesome if I called you by your name?”
“No, not at all.”
I replied once more.
If Charlotte truly deemed it fine to get close to Alice, then it was only natural that she would get close to me too. Given the situation, it seemed that Alice and I would likely stick together quite often, and whenever I met Alice, I would inevitably meet her.
Charlotte, who had been silently observing me, tilted her head.
“Do you usually not talk much?”
“……Yes.”
Unless it was before Alice, I did try to keep my words to a minimum in front of others as much as possible.
Of course, since Charlotte is one of the main characters in the original story, she was on my list of people I wanted to get close to. But that said, breaking my poker face from the very first meeting wouldn’t liven up the atmosphere.
…Thinking this way, does it make me seem overly committed to my character concept?
“Um, excuse me.”
While we were in the middle of our conversation, someone interjected.
I could tell who it was without even looking at her face.
Claire seemed to have already confirmed my identity. She had a strangely persistent side in the original story as well, and it seemed that trait was intact.
“Sylvia?”
When I turned to look, Claire was standing there.
And beside her stood Leo, looking quite fidgety.
…This atmosphere seemed to suggest that he was having a hard time speaking in front of two princesses and one baroness, but when I thought about it, isn’t this the vibe of a harem setup? The slightly clueless and stubborn younger sister, and the older brother who nervously tries to manage his sister’s friends… thinking of it that way, I couldn’t recall any specific work that matched that scenario.
“……Claire.”
I decided to clear my mind.
“Oh, sorry. Were you in the middle of a conversation?”
“Not at all.”
In response to Claire’s words, Charlotte tossed her shining silver hair behind her ear and said,
“We were just deepening our friendship. I happened to find someone I knew and was greetings them. But what a situation this is. There seems to be almost no one familiar here.”
“Ah, are you from abroad?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Charlotte slightly lifted her skirt in a gesture reminiscent of what Claire had shown me earlier, but it was far more graceful from her. That’s not to say Claire’s was lacking. It was merely the difference between someone who has that action ingrained into their body and someone who does not.
“I am Charlotte de Velbur.”
“Gack!”
Suddenly, there was the sound of someone choking, and all our gazes turned to one spot.
At the end of our stares was Leo.
He was covering his mouth with both hands, wearing a look as if he might burst out at any moment.
“De Velbur…?”
“Indeed. She’s the princess of the Kingdom of Velbur.”
Charlotte said in a playful tone. It seemed she found Leo’s reaction amusing.
You might wonder why a mere baron’s child wouldn’t know the face of the neighboring kingdom’s princess, but while I didn’t know how things were back in the 20th century, at least in this world and era, leaving photographs instead of portraits was considered a disgraceful act.
Despite photography being expensive, it was still far cheaper than hiring an artist to create a portrait, and above all, while photographs were in black and white, portraits were in color.
That said, it’s not that people didn’t take pictures casually, but putting one’s picture in a newspaper is another story altogether.
If someone’s picture is published in a newspaper so prominently, it could be cut out and used for derogatory purposes.
While it was a time when the words freedom and democracy were on the verge of surfacing, the Empire and Kingdom were still close to an absolute monarchy. Strong media censorship always existed. Who knows what it will be like in about fifty years from now though?
Thus, even though thin modern films and small portable cameras began being sold at the beginning of the year, the photos of nobility or royalty hardly ever appeared in newspapers.
That’s how the gap in information was created and ‘nobles and royalty whose names you’ve heard of but whose faces you don’t know’ came into being.
“Charlotte, is it?”
Should I praise Leo for not making a noise after hearing that?
“I’m Claire. Claire Grace, the eldest daughter of Baron Grace’s Estate.”
If we were to dig into the details, Claire is technically older than Leo. She was born first, but no one would be able to prove that. The only reason I know that fact is that I’ve read and memorized the setting book thoroughly.
“Is that so.”
There was no way Charlotte would know about Baron Grace’s Estate. She wouldn’t be living in a world where she memorizes names of nobles from neighboring countries. However, that doesn’t mean she was stupid enough to disregard the nobility of another country outright.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Claire.”
“Yup!”
Claire had the expression of ‘I already have three friends!’ while Leo, standing beside her, had a look as if his heart might not hold up much longer.
“So, may I ask what the reason is that you approached me?”
“Oh, right.”
I asked Claire while sitting back and quietly observing their conversation, and she clapped her palms together excitedly.
“Is it possible that after class ends, if you have time—”
But before Claire could finish her sentence,
Bang!
the classroom door swung open.
It was opened so forcefully that the ‘creak’ sound of the door was omitted.
And the only person I knew who could open the door in such a manner was one person from the original game.
“Hey, everyone!”
A woman in her mid-twenties with wild black hair shouted, crossing her arms.
Though she was wearing the uniform of an imperial officer, several buttons of the shirt underneath were undone. Over her shoulders, she had a coat draped like a cape.
And on that cape, there were four medals hanging.
“Outside!”
There was only one person in this academy who would say something like that before the class even started.
Jennifer Winterfield. The rebellious granddaughter of the headmaster.
And she was the homeroom teacher of Class B.
*
It wasn’t until the bell rang, ringing off the time left in break, that I was finally able to break away from the instructor’s back and get out to the playground.
Hearing the bell ring ding-dong-ding-dong, the students showed expressions of slight annoyance, but I wasn’t particularly surprised since I knew that the first meeting with Jennifer would be like this.
There was not a single person in the playground. No matter how physically demanding the subject may be, there’s hardly any teacher who would gather students out in the open from the very first day.
Dressed in imperial military attire and speaking like a soldier, Jennifer, however, wasn’t the type to teach students in a strict military style. She didn’t force them to line up or anything and didn’t care if the students were clustered around in the playground.
“My proud academy’s students!”
After gathering us roughly, Jennifer stepped up to the platform and shouted, even without a microphone.
Nonetheless, her voice was loud enough to make my ears buzz.
In the game, Jennifer’s speech font would enlarge tremendously in these situations. The kids would cover their ears or have expressions of shock.
It was the same now. Alice was frowning, and even Charlotte had furrowed her brow.
“I am your tactical instructor Jennifer, here to enhance your practical skills!”
That’s right, tactical instructor.
Since it was a place that also served as a sort of military academy, there were classes like this.
“However, even if you teach tactics written in books, it’s useless if individuals cannot follow them. The situation on the battlefield can vary depending on the weapons used by each soldier and their skill levels. So!”
Students who had relaxed their shoulders at the slight decrease in her voice suddenly flinched again at Jennifer’s raised voice.
“I will ascertain your skills here and now! How you prefer to wield your weapons!”
Clap!
Jennifer clapped her hands together with vigor as she spoke.
“And the best way to measure your weapon usage and skills is through a duel!”
Jennifer continued with a smile.
“Feel free to request any weapon style you want; we’ll gladly provide it. Now, let’s see you all give it your best effort!”
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