Chapter 86 (1/2)

It was simply a coincidence.

Chris only saw her as a rival because of a plain old coincidence, a gift of good fortune to a child like Surfania. Surfania herself knew this more than anyone else.

It has all started with her older sister.

“Today, I met quite an interesting child!”

Her eldest sister had said.

It had been Chris’ first entrance into high society, the royal ball. Surfania had excused herself from participating, since even then she was already introverted and had no interest in the party. As such it was the eldest Calibrachoa daughter who had met Chris. It seemed she was the current student of Eder Sister’s former tutor, and from there they had talked more.

“With that flower petal on her head, she was so cute looking – like a fairy.”

It seemed that pointing this out had started their conversation. I wasn’t interested whatsoever in hearing what my sister was talking about with that ‘fufu’ laughter and flowey smile. Not wanting to hear any more of her the story, in a lonesome fashion she retreated to her room and ignore her sister’s voice.

The second time she heard about Chris, was from the middle sister.

“That child, she’s such a good kid!”

As her sister reported with eyes sparkling, it became increasingly unpleasant.

Without Surfania even knowing, it seemed that her eldest sister had invited Chris over to their house at some point. Now that her middle sister had met Chris she could only keep highly praising that child. Chris was polite and courteous, yet her stories were funny. She was sweet, but had an abundance of knowledge, after they had thoroughly praised every word she had said did the report finally end.

“Rather than reading books all day, you should follow that girl’s example!”

It felt like something was stuck in her throat.

Even as Surfania faced away, unresponsive, her sister continued to squawk on about this and that. Once more she retreated into her own room.

The young daughter of the Noir family was highly praised by her two elder sisters. But Surfania didn’t have any desire to meet that child. From what had been said the Noir child sounded like an obedient social butterfly, and Surfania believed that a surly introvert like her could never get along with such a person.

Regardless, when Chris was invited over a second time, Surfania reluctantly couldn’t avoid meeting her face to face.

“Good day, Ms Surfania. I am honoured to finally meet you.”

Smiling with eyes that seemed to dazzle, she perfectly performed a curtsey. Surfania refused to leave her room no matter what her sister’s said, and so the young lady that had come all the way to Surfania’s door to greet her, seemed absolutely flawless.

“I am Christina Noir. I have had the privilege of spending time pleasantly with Miss Surfania’s older sister.”

“…Hmm”

As Surfania tried to digest the perfect manners displayed in front of her, remembering the middle sister’s words, words of rebellion came out of her mouth.

“What’s with that fake smile?”

There was no getting around it, she was flat out insulting her.

In fact, Chris’ smile at that time was flawless. From her gestures to her facial expression, there was nothing that seemed unnatural. That was why the middle and eldest sisters had held so much praise for this girl.

That’s why Surfania’s appraisal hadn’t come up with a single fault in Chris. She only felt this strongly because she would never have to meet this girl again after insulting her.

So she had thought, but her words had a rather unexpected effect.

“…Oh?”

Chris’ eyes narrowed in surprise before her expression broke into a broad smile without a trace of her perfect lady’s mask from a moment before.

“Amazing. This is the first time anyone has ever seen through my second form.”

Surfania was taken aback by the sudden transformation.

In the blink of an eye, in that very Chris way, she had closed the distance between them.

“I was so sure I had perfected it since it had never been seen through by older kids or even adults. As for Charles…well he completely thought I was a different person.”

Surfania could hardly understand the words she was hearing. Unlike her lady mask, her face showed all her honest expressions as she spoke and her eyes seemed to pull a person in.

“What…? What are you?”

“Fufu. I am what I am. My name is Christina Noir. And I am a genius!

The girl who threw out her chest as she said her name didn’t appear to even have a trace of the etiquette of a noble daughter, but she was so much more fascinating than she had been a moment ago.

“Well than, Surfania. From today onwards you are my rival! My genius rival. You should feel honoured!”

“…Self centred. I know this because I’m the youngest in my family, but you don’t have any younger siblings. They would surely dislike you.”

“Wh- what?! Th-that’s not true! I am super close with my younger sister!”

Ah, I discovered her weak spot.

Thinking she could now easily win since she knew the easy to read, fluttered Chris’ weak point, Surfania felt relieved.

Actually, Surfania already knew that Chris was an amazing person.

Although Chris could have chosen to be around anyone, to Surfania, it was comforting that she had chosen to stay by her instead.