Chapter 71 - Volume 3 (2/2)

For example, the following happened when Klanven was changing his clothes. I had to leave the room for what was only like a second, and when I would return he would show me his empty tea cup, which was full but a moment ago, demanding another cup just like a child throwing a temper tantrum. And since there was no more water in the pot, I had to leave the chamber again and go get a new water just for that. It was difficult, to say the least.

「Umm, perhaps …」

「Are you talking to me?」

Suddenly I heard a voice behind my back and come to a halt. Looking back, there were a few girls coming through the corridor, accompanying a noble woman dressed in a fancy dress with lots of frills and lace. That woman was looking straight at me.

The group came closer to me and surrounded me, effectively pushing me against the wall. The girl at the front came even closer to me, seeing as though she must have been the group’s leader, and put her hands right in front of her while making a pleading expression.

「Umm! Are you the one who’s been charged with taking care of His Majesty Klanven?」

I had to blink a few times. It is true that I am now the caretaker of His Majesty, but most of all I was known as the wife of the Court Magician, Agedilus Von Lancent. That fact was well known throughout the social world, but my face, on the other hand, was not. So these girls probably didn’t know that I was that man’s wife. That’s why they were acting so overly familiar with me. At least I think that was the reason.

「Yes, that’s right. However……」

So what if I am? But before I could answer like that, the girl’s hand fly forward and enclose around my own hands. Although surprised at her sudden behavior, I could only look back at the girl who’s been shaking my hands vigorously right now. Then the other girls urged her and she opened her mouth in a hurry.

「If possible, I would like you to tell me everything that you know about that knight that was recently appointed as His Majesty’s guard!」

「You mean…… Edilka-sama?」

It was a dangerous situation. For a moment out there I was about to call Edilka-sama by his real name. Luckily, the girls failed to notice that, being busy saying stuff like: “Ah, so his name is Edilka-sama!”, or “What a wonderful name that is!”.

And just like that I noticed that their target was not His Highness, but the knight Edilka Vince. I see how it is. They didn’t have enough courage to go and ask him directly, and so they came to me to get some intel first.

Oh my, how cute of them. It’s a small wonder, since the blonde knight wearing his elegant uniform was quite an eye catch around the court. Of course the people would notice him. Even though only a few people knew about the knights serving as guards to His Majesty, there was already a fan club of girls dedicated to Edilka-sama.

「I am terribly sorry, but when it comes to Edilka Vince-sama, I cannot help you. Aside from his name, I don’t know anything about him.」

After all, Edilka Vince is nothing more but a front. From his name alone you could probably guess that he wasn’t from a noble house, but that’s about it. You could probably learn more about him if you were to ask directly, but doing so was probably way beyond the capabilities of those girls. Especially if they were to do so while being alone with him.

「Is, is that so?」

Hearing my answer, the girl looks down, clearly disappointed.

I managed to drive my point across, but the result was quite shocking for me. I never would have thought that something like that might happen.

My only consolation was that it would happen only once and never occur to me again. I was wrong. Not only those young ladies, but also men and women of the castle, government officials, doctors, magicians, all of them would sometimes speak to me when I was alone. Each and every one of them wanted to know a thing or two about Edilka-sama, and every single time I had to disappoint them. Even if I knew something about him, there was no reason for me to tell them.

I thought that by keeping the information about Edilka-sama to myself, his popularity amongst the people would surely die down after a while. But that was also wrong. It was quite the opposite, actually. His “Mysteriousness and wonderfulness” boosted his popularity even more, to the point where I didn’t know what to do with it anymore.

Again, this was only a subject of rumors. Just like that, a few days have passed. The preparation for the upcoming festival were all going full steam ahead. Right now, I was pouring His Majesty a cup of his favorite tea, all the while letting out a deep sigh.

「Why such a long face? It is sad to watch, so please cheer up. It’s such a waste to see such expression on a pretty face.」

「……」

Even if it was a compliment, for me it didn’t sound like such, not in the least. For now, I wasn’t really in any kind of mood for jokes, and as I continue to pour the tea into the cup my face was retaining its sour expression and my sighs would not stop. Ahh, how do I miss the peaceful days back at the house.