“Why are you using formal speech with me? Do you feel a wall between us or something?”
“That’s not it, though…?”
As I gave a puzzled expression to Claire, who was getting angry, she groaned for a while, then said,
“Then why! Do you use formal speech with me while you’re casual with Alice! And!”
Having said that, Claire suddenly lowered her voice slightly and added,
“Besides, you spoke casually with me back then.”
“Back then…? Ah.”
It seemed Claire was referring to the time when we turned back time together.
“Back then, there wasn’t really time to think deeply.”
“And now, are you thinking deeply?”
“Because the situation is much more relaxed than it was back then.”
“Ugh.”
Claire let out a short, disbelieving sigh and turned away.
I was startled, thinking she might be angry and going home, but she turned toward the café entrance instead. Even though Claire usually didn’t bother much about the eyes around her, it seemed she still acted like a noble lady. The fact that she didn’t just jump over the fence was proof of that.
It was a bit amusing that we passed by the counter to order her drink. Perhaps she thought that even if she was angry, she still needed to eat, right?
And that was very much a Claire-like action.
Following Claire, who was fuming, was Leo with a smile on his lips.
Claire’s angry expression… Well, I hate to say it, but it wasn’t that scary.
Claire could certainly adopt a serious expression when she wanted to. If someone were to stab me with a knife, she might very well look fierce enough to be intimidating.
But Claire wasn’t very good at acting. She didn’t have the personality that could show genuine anger through acting.
Right now, Claire’s expression looked like a child who had their cookies or toys snatched away, and honestly, it was hard to suppress laughter while watching.
“You really do have terrible taste.”
“…….”
Then, noticing my expression, Alice shot me a glance and said that.
It seemed like we used to bicker a lot in the fantasy world, but did some affection develop in the meantime? Judging by how she was siding with Claire.
“So, you’re really not thinking of speaking casually with Claire?”
“I plan to speak casually with Leo as well.”
It felt a bit unfair to only speak casually with Claire. Claire was my sister, but Leo was also my brother. I had decided that during the previous conversation with Baroness Grace… I mean, ‘Mother.’
“Did you speak casually to Leo when you were Leo’s sister?”
“That was not the case.”
I shook my head.
“…In that situation, if you suddenly spoke casually to Leo, wouldn’t he be confused?”
“That’s why I plan to do it.”
“Your taste is really terrible.”
Alice made a face of disbelief.
But that expression wasn’t perfect. From her slightly raised corners of her mouth and eyebrows, it seemed Alice was secretly enjoying the situation.
“…I think both of you are the ones with bad taste.”
Charlotte, who had been listening to our conversation, said that. Unlike Alice and me, who could read each other’s feelings from expressions, Charlotte likely guessed our emotions based on our dialogue. Or maybe she learned a bit about our mannerisms over the past year.
On the other hand, Mia seemed completely lost with question marks over her head. It’s as if she couldn’t follow the conversation flow. Perhaps she took our conversation at face value but was a bit confused by what Charlotte said beside her.
Mia was usually quite mature, but she turned back into a child whenever food was involved.
As we were chatting like this, there was a thud thud sound from over there.
Claire stomped her foot, coming toward us with a somewhat exaggerated pose as if saying, “Look at me!”
Who was indulging young Claire’s childish whims, her father or mother? Hmm, based on my experiences in the fantasy world, it was probably her father. He appeared strict on the outside, but he was likely a doting father at heart.
“Sister, I think we need to think seriously about this matter.”
She emphasized the word “think” twice, saying that. If you wanted to emphasize something, it would probably be better to emphasize “seriously” than “think.”
“About what matter?”
“I mean, the way you’re talking right now.”
Claire pulled out a chair and sat down. She folded her arms and looked at me as she spoke.
“So far, I’ve endured it. I thought you’d been in the Imperial Palace for quite a while, and that’s why formal speech had stuck with you.”
“That’s not wrong.”
Hearing that, Claire frowned and glanced at Alice.
Ah, right, that’s true. Even though Alice is a Crown Princess, she speaks casually with anyone her age. The highest-ranking person using formal speech around me is none other than Charlotte.
And strictly speaking, Charlotte was different from Alice and me. She had been on a clear elite path since birth. Alice and I had been somewhat neglected in that regard. Charlotte had been guided accurately by someone. The “formal speech” Charlotte used probably stemmed from that reason.
“No, that’s a lie.”
Claire saw right through my lie in an instant.
“The only person using formal speech in the Imperial Palace is you, or the servants, or the non-royal nobility. All the royals I know have spoken casually to me.”
And in some ways, that was to be expected. Just as I had lived as a daughter in Grace’s Estate, Claire had also been a Princess.
“Sister, that’s acting, isn’t it?”
…
And Claire surprisingly dug right into the essence of the matter.
“You don’t need to do it, but you’re doing it on purpose. I don’t know the reason…”
Hmm.
The reason.
The reason…
To secure my own stake among these colorful characters—
Calculating how long I’d keep up the cool beauty image and how this cool beauty would fight through its weaknesses… it had become a carefully constructed character trait.
Simply put, it was ‘playing a character.’
“……”
“So, sister—”
“I got it.”
I answered quickly before Claire could dig any deeper.
“Really?”
Claire’s face lit up instantly. It might just be my imagination, but it felt like the ambient light increased slightly.
“Really? You’re not going to suddenly switch back to formal speech after speaking casually, right?”
“Right.”
I nodded and looked over at Leo.
“Of course, I’ll speak casually with you too. I’m ‘older sister’ after all, right?”
“……”
Just not long ago, Leo teased me by calling me “big sister,” but now he looked utterly bewildered by my statement.
It seemed like he would take a while to get used to me speaking casually.
As I had this conversation with my siblings, Charlotte and Mia watched us with somewhat bewildered expressions.
…In the midst of that, Alice was squinting her eyes at me.
I hope she didn’t realize I was playing a character completely.
*
After school started, news that I had switched to casual speech with Claire and Leo spread through the school in no time.
Honestly, there was no reason for it not to. I had been speaking politely with everyone.
Of course, I occasionally talked informally due to being able to rewind time, but generally, my speech was polite.
The problem was that I had divided the people I spoke casually with and those I spoke formally to.
Casual speech was only for Alice, Claire, and Leo, while I spoke formally to everyone else.
At first, I didn’t pay much attention to the reactions around me, but after about two weeks, it seemed the rumors started circulating among the students.
“Sylvia, could you please unify your speaking style?”
“Is there a problem?”
“If it’s a problem, it’s a mountain of problems.”
Charlotte looked a bit flustered at my response.
“You’re not pretending not to notice, are you?”
“……”
No, I really wasn’t aware.
Perhaps she could infer my reaction from my silence, as Charlotte rubbed her forehead.
“So, the other students think you’re separating people.”
…Huh?
Isn’t it natural to separate people?
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