“There are two main reasons people get nervous: either they’re not used to conversation, or they lack confidence in their words and actions. If we eliminate the former, the answer naturally presents itself.”
“…………”
“Sorry, I have a personality that makes me pursue anything I’m curious about. I know that humans are creatures who can’t change what’s rooted in them, but let me advise you that this isn’t befitting of royalty. We are beings who must constantly guide the people and show them the way. Even if we make a wrong statement like saying crows are white, we must be confident.”
Then, Sherry placed her hand gently on Lily’s head.
With kind, gentle eyes.
“Well, do your best. As a fellow royal, I’m rooting for you.”
Saying that, Sherry removed her hand.
She mentioned something about joining the three now and took a step forward.
But at that moment, Lily’s hand reached out just in time to grab Sherry’s sleeve.
“Um…! I-If it’s okay… could you teach me various things? Like, how to be useful to the people… and such…”
Sherry’s eyes widened at Lily’s statement.
Why was she suddenly asking such a thing? From someone she’d just met, someone from another country.
However, Sherry immediately relaxed her expression and grasped back the hand that had grabbed her sleeve.
“…This is just right.”
“Eh…?”
“Of course. Since I’m staying here for a while anyway, wanting to demonstrate results after satisfying intellectual curiosity is also a fine form of Inquiry.”
The meaning of her words was, in other words, agreement.
Therefore, pleased, Lily showed Sherry a smile for the first time at that moment.
“Thank you so much!”
—But at the same time, a similar smile appeared on Sherry’s face as well.
Whether the meaning of that smile was the same, no one present could tell.
Time flows quickly, and before you knew it, five days had already passed.
The Salemabart territory was approaching its quarterly tax settlement, so Phil had been chased by an unprecedented workload these past few days.
Thanks to that, he’d been cooped up in his office so much that he’d tilt his head wondering “what’s outside air again?” Sometimes he even slept in the office.
On top of that, unfortunately, his activities as the [Hero of the Shadow] were year-round with no days off. Whenever someone from the underworld contacted him via communication, he’d fly off to help, so his fatigue was considerable.
And yet he still tried to reach out his hand to help—Phil’s kindness was truly something else.
—However, sadly, the servants didn’t know about the [Hero of the Shadow] activities or that he was holed up seriously working.
The former made sense, but you’d think they’d know about the latter.
The reason they didn’t was because Phil thought, “I can do it alone anyway, no need to say anything,” so he hadn’t told anyone.
Officially, it appeared that his parents were the ones handling it, not Phil.
Of course, that wasn’t actually the case, but that’s why until recently, people had been gossiping behind his back calling him a [playboy].
When Kahlua first saw Phil holed up on settlement day, she’d said, “Why don’t you just tell them?”
Even so, the reason he didn’t say anything was probably because it felt too late at this point.
—However, having finished that hellish settlement work on the fifth day, Phil was finally liberated and was currently relaxing in his room.
“Ahh… I’m dead tired. If kids found out that an idol who suddenly became famous is actually a corporate slave at home, what kind of dreams would they have?”
When he said “relaxing,” he was actually collapsed face-down on his bed with no strength.
Phil’s face was buried so perfectly in the pillow that you’d worry if he could even breathe properly, and his voice had absolutely no vigor.
Watching such a Phil, Kahlua, who was beautifully peeling an apple, let out a small sigh.
“That’s why I keep telling you to have the other servants help. Or go to the ranch and hire some corporate slaves who can handle accounting.”
“That would be fine too, but then I’d have to explain everything to the servants, right? Isn’t it embarrassing to say now, ‘I’ve been doing it all by myself—how about that!’ at this point?”
“Then work hard again next quarter.”
“That’s cruuuel.”
Boo-boo. Phil grumbled complaints through his pillow.
It was completely a situation of his own making, but it seemed he couldn’t help venting his grievances.
Seeing such a helpless master, Kahlua sighed once more, placed the peeled and cut apple on a plate, and sat down on the bed.
“Come on, Phil. I cut it for you, so eat this and cheer up.”
Slowly rising, Phil was lured by the apple bait.
Then, Kahlua picked up a piece and brought it directly to Phil’s mouth.
“Here, say ‘ahhh.'”
“Eh, no way, I’ll eat it myself, it’s embarrass—”
“Say ‘ahhh.'”
“M-my eyeeeeeees!”
Just from that scream, you could sadly imagine what had happened.
“How strange. I heard men like this sort of thing. Was my information source wrong? Maybe ketchup after all?”
“Before regretting your own mistakes, regret playing with food first…!”
Unable to open his eyes, Phil complained to Kahlua, who he could tell from her tone wasn’t repentant. Whether it reached her or not was unknown.
“But either way, if you can’t open your eyes, you can’t eat, so just obediently let me feed you.”
“Don’t blame me if my eyes sue you someday for being dragged into this farce!”
“What the hell,” Phil said, rubbing his eyes while leaning his shoulder against Kahlua’s as if checking the distance.
Perhaps happy about that, Kahlua’s face broke into a smile full of bliss.
“Here, say ‘ahhh’ ♪”
“Ahhh.”
The sound of chewing apple echoed through the room.
Phil eating obediently like this looked unusually childlike. It was quite hard to imagine from his usual slovenly, fooling-around appearance.
Whether it was his sleeping face or his childlike appearance, Kahlua thought something girlish—that she wanted to watch forever.
It was at that moment—
“So you’ve finally finished work, Phil-Salemabart!”
Without even knocking, the door burst open vigorously with that voice.
The one who appeared was Ilya in the maid outfit they’d become all too familiar with lately. Perhaps having run here, her smooth brown hair that reached her waist was slightly disheveled.
“Don’t be all lovey-dovey in broad daylight! Why is there a pink atmosphere drifting around just in this spot!? If you don’t ventilate, you’ll catch a cold!”
“W-we’re not exactly pink…”
“Ehh, are you getting embarrassed now…? The fact that you two are hot for each other is common knowledge, you know?”
Kahlua’s cheeks flushed as she showed a slightly embarrassed appearance.
Seeing her maiden-like figure, Ilya’s cheek twitched.
“So, what does Miss Small-Common-Sense, who mercilessly threw her manners on the roadside and entered without knocking, want with me?”
“It’s suspicious! Super suspicious! Really! I’m not lying!”
“Hmm… With that statement lacking any subject whatsoever, you’re certainly the suspicious one trying to make me believe you.”
“Normal people don’t call themselves suspicious!”
That said, without any subject, he had no idea what she was talking about.
“That woman! I mean that woman who suddenly showed up all sarcastic!”
That woman… probably meant Sherry.
Recently, Phil had been living an unwelcome shut-in life due to the settlement and hadn’t seen her, but apparently she’d been visiting for the past few days.
He didn’t know what kind of state she was in or what she was doing, but anyway, it seemed Ilya thought Sherry was suspicious. Her unusually desperate appearance didn’t seem like she was joking.
“What’s suspicious about Sherry-sama? Even if you carved memories you don’t want to remember on the first day, you can’t judge based on first impressions, okay? Even stew is actually creamy and delicious.”
“You used to hate it.”
“It was surprisingly good when I tried it.”
“Phil-Salemabart’s picky eating doesn’t matter! Just come here and actually look!”
Saying that, Ilya desperately raised her arm.
Probably intending to lift him with gravity and forcibly take him along.
Then—
THWAAAAAM!!
Phil got embedded in the ceiling.
“…………”
“…Ah.”
It’s just a side note that Ilya got lectured for about two hours after this.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
Having been head-butted into the ceiling, Phil was led by Ilya, who kept insisting “suspicious,” to the courtyard.
The Salemabart Count family’s mansion was reasonably large.
The courtyard was spacious enough for walks, and there was even a terrace prepared so you could view the scenery of beautiful flowers arranged in rows, tended daily by the gardener.
On that terrace, Sherry and Lily appeared to be having a tea party.
“[Regarding that earlier question, my country advocates democracy. We gather the opinions of each citizen, line them up relatively, judge whether it’s acceptable to act not on the royal family’s arbitrary decision but on the loudest voice of the people, and if there’s no problem, we execute it. That way, voices of dissatisfaction naturally disappear—do you understand why?]”
“[Because it’s their own opinion!]”
“[Fufu, correct. However, there are of course demerits as well—]”
Were their conversations blooming? Despite the difference in size, both wore smiles.
Phil’s group was secretly peeking at that scene from behind cover a short distance away.
“See? Just like I said.”
“Don’t ‘see’ me. No matter how you look at it, it’s a harmonious scene.”
However, it apparently looked suspicious to Ilya’s eyes.
There was no sign of Lily disliking it, and Sherry showed no particular gestures of trying to do anything.
From Phil’s perspective, even if he tried to find suspicious elements, he couldn’t seem to find any.
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