Episode 9: This is an Otome Game Character

Several minutes later, I was sitting next to Eleanore.

A mysterious servant right beside the seat of the main guest of honor.

Naturally I was drawing attention, and my stomach was churning with anxiety. Actually, it still is.

The gazes of everyone present were temporarily directed elsewhere by the performance of the entertainment dancers, but it was really bad when I rushed over to Eleanore earlier.

They must have thought I had some errand to run, but instead I had a seat prepared and started sitting down, so of course they’d be paying attention.

Wondering just who the hell I was.

“Aru.”

I couldn’t leisurely watch the dancing, and as I bit the inside of my cheek with my gaze fixed on the floor, she called my name with what seemed like concern.

“Yes. What is it?”

“Are you feeling unwell? You don’t look good.”

When I turned my gaze toward her, I saw Eleanore’s face peering at me.

My heart jumped with a thump, and I hastily straightened my posture.

But wait, that question.

“…Just whose fault do you think that is?”

“Fufu. I thought you’d say that. But it’s Arcs’s fault, you know?”

Quietly moving her seat closer, she smiled mischievously.

“My fault?”

“Because Arcs, even though you’re my butler, you weren’t by my side this whole time.”

Her tone and gaze were accusatory.

Though it didn’t seem truly serious, and with her cheeks puffed out, her manner of speaking seemed joking.

Despite her very refined appearance, she still showed an innocent side in moments like this.

“I had some other work to do… Besides, Nanai-san was there, wasn’t she?”

“She’s Father’s servant, isn’t she? Arcs, you’re my butler. There’s no substitute for you.”

“Is that how it is…?”

Both Nanai-san and I have servant contracts with her father, Adalbert-kyou, but… I guess that’s not what she’s talking about.

Though we’re both in charge of Eleanore, so there isn’t much difference really. Well, I suppose if asked whether an educator or a caretaker should be close by, it would seem to be the latter.

“But there’s no need to have me sit here, is there? A mere servant sitting next to the guest of honor…”

When I said that, she looked a bit annoyed and closed the distance even more.

If everyone understood we were friends that would be one thing, but in this situation with many people who know nothing about it, it’s a somewhat unnatural distance.

I tried to put some distance between us, but just moving my hips didn’t move the seat as I hoped, and I failed.

As if my actions were nothing at all, Eleanore whispered in a voice just loud enough for me to hear.

“Arcs is not a mere servant.”

“…I’m grateful for that, but the guests…”

“Besides!”

Her voice pitched up slightly, growing louder.

Wondering if those around us had heard, I shifted my gaze that way, but everyone seemed absorbed in the dancing, and no one was watching us.

Taking a small deep breath to compose herself, she opened her mouth once more.

“A-Arcs should also be… celebrated, I think.”

Her voice was trembling slightly. Whether from nervousness or embarrassment.

Looking at her expression, it was probably weighted more toward the latter.

“Me too…?”

“Arcs, you’re the same age as me, right?”

“Yes, most likely.”

“And yet… Arcs hasn’t been celebrated by anyone… have you!”

…Ah, I see.

This is her way of showing consideration… or something like that.

It’s true, I’m turning 10 years old and no one has celebrated it.

When the year began, a fellow servant just said “So you’re turning 10, congratulations,” and there was nothing formal like receiving gifts or having a party.

It can’t be helped since my exact birthday is unknown and I’m a servant.

She must have found that strange. Or perhaps she felt sympathy for me.

So she had me sit next to her to be treated as an equal guest of honor… I suppose.

Ah, what a beautiful heart. What a beautiful spirit.

As a friend, as a servant, I can only say I’m deeply moved.

To think that she, who was once so dark and pessimistic, has grown to be so considerate of others!

Then I can’t possibly reject this.

“Eleanore-sama… I am truly, deeply honored.”

“…”

Eleanore blushed while her gaze darted around restlessly.

Finding her somehow endearing, though it might be treating her like a child, I tried to pat her head.

But I might mess up her styled hair, so I lowered my hand that was reaching upward and tried to touch her cheek instead, but this too might ruin her makeup.

So in the end I settled it on her shoulder.

Since it was bare skin, even though I was wearing gloves, her pleasant warmth transmitted through to me.

To her as she trembled slightly, I opened my mouth with a smile.

“However, I… no, I am fine with this. As long as I can be by your side, that’s enough. Besides…”

I released my hand from her shoulder with a stroking motion, and gently grasped the hand she had placed on her knee.

Again, she trembled like a cat.

But to Eleanore who had also frozen stiff, I whispered gently.

“Just having you celebrate for me, Eleanore-sama, is more than enough.”

Well, I’m saying something quite, very embarrassing.

If it were my past life self, I feel like I would have been slapped hard.

But those lines delivered with this life’s face, and to someone with whom I have a deep relationship, seemed to pack quite a punch.

“I-i-i-is that… so. I… see.”

Her speech, blushing red as a boiled octopus, was broken like a malfunctioning machine.

Her jewel-like black eyes spinning, she gripped my hand back.

“Yes, so…”

Still holding that hand, I slowly began to rise from my seat. But perhaps sensing it instantly, or maybe by chance.

Eleanore pulled my body back with a tug.

“Th-then. I shall celebrate enough for everyone. So… stay by my side all day today!”

The confusion hadn’t cleared, but she looked at me with eyes harboring a firm light.

I found myself at a loss for words and froze in that state.

“I… under…stand.”

As if being sucked into those eyes, my gaze remaining fixed, I lowered myself back into my seat.

…Really, I’m no match for her.

I had tried the method of accepting her feelings without dismissing them while leaving the scene, but it had no effect.

One of the characters in ‘Celestia Kingdom’ had done something similar… but does it only work on the protagonist?

Or perhaps I reflected too much of my own will.

I tried to perfectly copy the original, but my first-person pronoun ended up as “boku,” and I ended up putting too much emotion into it.

But still, a perfect copy in that situation was asking too much. After receiving words like that, I was too deeply moved to keep up appearances.

I have no choice but to meekly accept this VIP seat… I suppose.

Trying to regain my composure, I reached for the water placed on the table.

That’s when I suddenly noticed.

The murmuring had returned to the venue.

Until just now, it had been quiet with everyone absorbed in the dancing.

And one more thing.

Gazes were directed at us.

Not all the murmuring in this venue was about us, but at least several people had noticed our situation and were whispering to someone.

Ah… this is not good.

“U-um. Eleanore-sama, just a bit…”

I tried to suggest that she, now practically pressed against me, move away.

Tried to, that is.

My words were interrupted the next moment by different words.

“Oi.”

It was quite a rough tone. You could call it a bratty tone.

Both Eleanore and I turned our gazes in that direction simultaneously.

She seemed to regard them with suspicion as to who they were.

But for me… it was more a feeling of shock.

“Eleanore Anciness, daughter of Count Anciness, dance with me.”

Another rough statement followed.

But it was an attitude that matched exactly what I had imagined.

At the end of my gaze was a boy of the same height as me, or slightly shorter, with dark blonde hair and eyes, wearing a detestable smile.

He was one of those two boys who had caught my eye earlier.

And now, the identity of that nagging memory I felt then became clear. And that was also the identity of the boy before me.

“You are… Razer Kilmond… Viscount’s son.”

Again at a young age, but there before me was the form of a character from ‘Celestia Kingdom’ and a capture target.