Chapter 10 - Volume 01; Behind the Scenes: Part 01 (1/2)
Volume 01; Behind the Scenes: Part 01
Side Story 01: Behind the Scenes (Males)
(Alexei’s POV)
I had been stunned when I met that girl for the first time.
Her silvery-golden hair that was close to silver. The fluffy aura that lightly coloured her as if it was melting, and the mysterious air around her that was transparent in the day and highlighted her pretty features.
Her hazy eyelashes covered her ashy-blue eyes. Her small nose bridge and lips. Her slender body and white skin.
――― She is a beautiful girl who looked like a doll.
That was my, Alexei Strasser’s, first impression of her.
It was honestly surprising. Is this secluded young lady really someone from the Bernstein House who is also known as the『Brains of Southlynd』?
Unfortunately, I have little memory of her debut. I only remember that Christopher, my cousin, childhood friend, and the Crown Prince of this kingdom, had been restless.
I did know that he has been persistent about her since long ago.
She was given the title of his fiancée about a month after her debut, and I was shocked rather than surprised… No, I take my hat off to his skill. I wished that he was that enthusiastic about political matters though.
Shortly after she started coming to the royal palace, I came home to find my sister, Theresa, awfully excited.
“――― Brother!” I can hear you even if you don’t shout. It was shameful for her to show that kind of expression as a Duchess, even if she was in front of her family.
“Argh! Stop making that scary face. That’s why your migraine never goes away.”
Who is the one making my migraine worse?
“Anyway, hey! The Queen’s tea party was today, wasn’t it? I met Miss Elianna for the first time since the engagement party…”
Come to think of it, there was something like that. I remembered.
My sister, Theresa, had just turned 15 this year. She has the same black hair like me and reddish-brown eyes from father. She is a beautiful and dignified lady, even if I take away my bias as her brother.
My sister was at the top of the list for fiancée candidates for Prince Christopher because they were close in age and because of our parentage before Miss Elianna showed up. But, she was also kept at a distance because mother was the former King’s sister, and their blood relations were too close.
The expectations of the lazy Prince, who wouldn’t choose a fiancée, became apparent, and I couldn’t cause a fuss in the royal court. This was probably also true for my sister and the ladies who were considered as his fiancée candidates.
When I wondered if his ex-fiancée candidates were invited to this tea party, my sister blushed for some reason and started shaking.
I questioned this, and she began to laugh because she couldn’t hold it in anymore.
… Theresa. I’ll have you spend twice the time with your etiquette tutor tomorrow.
“Brother…! Don’t look sly. You look like a black-hearted officer of the devil!”
Rude.
According to what I heard from sister when she managed to calm her laughter down:
At the tea party, the table surrounding Miss Elianna was occupied by the young ladies who were admirably given the title of His Highness’s fiancée candidates.
As soon as the tea party began (――― sister heard the bells chime), they all attacked Miss Elianna.
They said, “… Even if she’s from a Marquis House, there’s a limit to how shameless someone from the lowest rank can be. A country bumpkin who doesn’t know her place. I wonder how many men she has deceived with her docile appearance. She’s just like a poisonous insect. Like a poisonous moth that has infested the royal palace. But it seems like she’s still a larva right now…”
“Hohoho,” the young ladies laughed together, and Miss Elianna opened her mouth.
『The period for larvae have already passed.』
“Hah?” One of the ladies blinked her eyes as if she had heard wrong, and Miss Elianna explained indifferently.
『The fresh green season is already here, so the poisonous moths should have evolved from larvae into pupae. They will become adults in about half a month and gather around light, like the ones outside. We have to be careful in their breeding season. Some eggs are injected with poison to protect them from predators.』
“What…?” The lady next to her seemed to have forgotten to hold her fan to her mouth.
『Some species are even dangerous to touch because the adults attach their poisonous hairs on their eggs. Poisonous moths mainly lay their eggs on rose plants.』
Was it intentional or accidental when she stared at the hair of the most arrogant lady as she said that?
“Eep,” the lady said as she panicked and ripped off the rose from her neatly arranged hair. She turned pale, probably because she had imagined that the insect’s eggs were in the rose she wore.
Apparently, Miss Elianna didn’t seem to care and kept on speaking.
『The larvae of poisonous moths cling to the poisonous hairs shortly after hatching and pass winter with the group. That kind of hairy variety is generally called caterpillars. There are poisonous and non-poisonous kinds… By the way, the opposite of that is a hairless caterpillar.』
Then, Miss Elianna talked about the ecology of hairy caterpillars and hairless caterpillars in detail, and when she ended the conversation by saying that some varieties in the southern islands had a habit of eating larvae from trees, the ladies shrieked, 『Stop already!』
The ladies who had met at the table looked miserable.
A certain lady, who had prepared her hair especially for today, was nowhere to be seen, half the ladies at the table looked pale and nauseous, and the rest were in tears while crying out, “Please stop it already.”
“…”
I was also speechless. I wonder how my sister is since she was happily saying, “It was a masterpiece, Brother!”
“I talked with Miss Elianna after the tea party.”
“Bravo,” apparently this was a sincere compliment from Theresa. Because Miss Elianna had crushed the former candidates head-on and had also met the expectations of the Queen and her court ladies, who had gathered at one table.
Miss Elianna tilted her head because she didn’t understand what was going on, and Theresa indirectly pointed out what had happened earlier…
『Everyone seemed interested in insects.』
“I only told them what I knew,” Miss Elianna, who had replied sincerely, honestly thought this, and seemed to have attracted sister’s interest.
“She didn’t take it badly. Although it’s not like she can’t feel emotions. She’s interesting, Brother. Introduce me to Miss Elianna.”
Sister, who was leaning forward with her eyes sparkling, made my head hurt.
I still don’t know Miss Elianna’s nature yet, but it’s sheer stupidity for me to introduce a lady who remained composed as she caused a commotion to my openly pleased sister. I don’t want to imagine what would happen.
I treated my sister coldly, and she grumbled in dissatisfaction, “Fine. I heard that Miss Elianna is on good terms with the three Storrev sisters. I’ll get them to introduce me…”
I’ll tell mother and father that it’s better to keep Therese in the house with the private tutor for a while.
◊♦◊♦◊♦◊
Another time.
Glenn casually mentioned the topic of the Hero King’s dragon extermination to Miss Elianna.
“――― Ah. It’s a thief story.”
“Th-thief…?”
It was an adventure drama that every man in Southlynd has read in their childhood. Glenn looked as if he had misheard her, but Miss Elianna quickly nodded before he could say anything.