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Translator: Nonon
Proofreader: Silavin
At first I thought that it was just a vacation.
I thought that since they loved Lady Violet so much and were worried about the rumors.
I thought they wanted to be by her side even if they had to use up their rest days.
Next, I thought that they were observing us.
I thought that perhaps they would observe us in those few days and decide whether they would take Lady Violet away or come to Shiki to work for us depending on the circumstances.
In the end it turned out that I was right on both accounts. But apart from that, I also found out that they had received an order from the Valentine family. Lady Violet doesn’t know this yet, but they have been put in charge of… guarding and transporting us for our next scheduled trip to the capital, or more concretely, to the Azalea Academy’s school festival.
“Uuu, that’s right… I must fulfill my duty for Milady’s sake…”
“If we do anything wrong at this time of the year, Milady will be forcibly taken away…”
If this was just an invitation sent to somebody related to the academy, they would have sent a word to the Valentine family or my parental house to not come, but since this is a royal invitation… functionally an imperial edict, they can’t ignore it either. Rather, not going would look worse.
Since they found out about Lady Violet’s whereabouts through rumors, they probably wanted to make up a purpose and make it easier for other watchdogs to have a grasp of her actions rather than antagonize her by acting out.
“If that happens, my duties will be lifted, my actions will be restricted and I will never be able to smell Milady’s fragrance, so I have to endure it, endure it…”
“If we don’t look for a better timing, her reputation might be damaged… I don’t want to hear an anxious sound from Milady.”
Well, Valentine family probably couldn’t even imagine that they had those kinds of fetishes and loved Lady Violet enough that they would contemplate taking her away.
“Lord Clo, it’s okay now so can you please let us go?”
“Ah, yes.”
After they regained their composure(?) at my words, I let go of their collars.
I’m glad they didn’t go crazy in a weird way. For the time being I need both of them to control their emotions.
“… By the way, Lord Clo. Are you wearing some kind of perfume?”
After I let them go and they turned to face me again, I was worried about what to start talking about, when Ms. Amber asked me with a questioning look on her face.
“No, not really… do I smell weird by chance?”
“My apologies. That is not the case. I just smelled a strangely good smell when you grabbed me just now.”
“Is that so?”
I smell good?… I don’t get told that much about this.
But unfortunately I don’t use perfume. I sometimes wear a light fragrance in social situations, but it’s too expensive to use on a daily basis and I’m not a big fan of it either.
I’ve just finished working outside, so I had expected that Ms. Amber, who has a keen sense of smell, would hate it instead… hmm, I don’t know what to think about this. I have a bad feeling, as if something that I know is impossible is going to happen.
“Lord Clo, may I ask you a question?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
Then, Mr. Burnt also asked a question, as if Ms. Amber’s question had also made him question something, or as if he had realized something.
“Lord Clo, you usually use honorifics not only with us, but also with Milady… but that is not the case with everybody, correct?”
“Well, yes. I don’t use honorifics with people like Gray and Cyan.”
“In other words… you talk with them with the same voice and tone as the ‘hey now’ you said a moment ago?”
“Embarrassingly enough, you would be right.”
“I see… You have a nice voice, Lord Clo.”
“Well, thank you very much. Where did this come from so suddenly?”
… Okay, really, where are they going with this?
I have a really bad premonition. I feel like I’m in the kind of danger where I have to get away from them right this instant. I feel a great need to tell them that they’re misunderstanding something…
Despite my bad premonition, Mr. Burnt and Ms. Amber made eye contact for some reason and had a silent conversation, after which they nodded to each other and turned towards me.
“Lord Clo, may I suggest something?”
“Whether I accept or not depends on the suggestion itself, but please go ahead.”
“We love Milady. This is a fact unrelated to her scent or sound. This is something I want you to understand very well.”
“Yes.”
After seeing that situation, I’m not sure if I can agree without hesitation, but I do understand that.
Sounds and scents might have been a part of the reason why they were so enthusiastic to serve Valentine family, but they continued to support Lady Violet so she could become the mother of the nation, due to their strong feelings of admiration towards her, rather than a sense of duty or leaving things to a chance and Lady Violet came to trust them as well.
“However, it is also true that we like scents and sounds. We have come to a realization with your words, Lord Clo, but if we keep suppressing our desires while interacting with Milady, we will surely lose control one day.”
“More specifically, I will bury my face in Milady’s body to listen to the sounds inside her through my whole body, and my sister will continue to hug Milady and take deep breaths.”
“…O-okay.”
Yeah, that would be a problem. Mr. Burnt is completely out of question, and while Ms. Amber might be a girl, that would be dangerous in various ways. And if this did happen, Lady Violet would most likely start to feel afraid of interacting with others.
“Therefore, we had an idea. In order to stop ourselves from running out of control, we should replenish our deficits every now and then in small quantities.”
“Replenish in small quantities?”
“Yes. By the way, Lord Clo. I was so distracted by Milady’s fragrance that I didn’t notice it, but — you also smell good. Just like Milady and Gray.”
“…Pardon?”
“And you also have a nice voice. Just like Milady and Gray.”
“…”
I see, so this is what they’re implying.
“… You want to use Gray and me to split the objects of your desires. Is that what you are trying to say?”
“Yes.”
“You are absolutely right.”
Don’t you ‘yes, you’re absolutely right me’, you freaks!
Have their desires become more pronounced as a result of them becoming self-aware?… If that’s what happens, is it my fault?
“Won’t your desires only grow if the number of targets increases? Just like opium.”
“No, it’s important to replenish, no matter how small.”
“It’s something like water to us. We don’t need a surplus.”
“… I see.”
If an action window appeared right now, it would probably be:
[Fight]
[Run Away]
[Persuade]
If it was Ms. Kriemhild, who’s the heroine of Ring of Fire, her choices might have been:
[Is your head okay?]
[Alright, come on!]
[If you beat me in a fight, I’ll fulfil your wish].
The correct answer in this case is probably the third one. Alright, why don’t I use her as an example?
“If you beat her… ahem, me in a fight, I will fulfill your wish. If I win, you will ask the residents of Shiki to work together with you and find a way to help you endure your urges and until I decide that your problem has been solved, I will not let you get close to Lady Violet and Gray. By the way, the same will happen if you refuse combat.”
“… What if we win?”
“I will provide you with my voice and scent in any situation you like. Other than that, I will make sure that you can work in the same room as Lady Violet and Gray during your stay and I will let you stay as close to us as possible during escorting missions. Please refrain from touching anyone other than me as much as possible though.”
“Let’s do it.”
“We are trained to protect Milady… we will not go easy on you.”
Alright, it was the right choice. As expected from Ms. Kriemhild(in my mind). If I imagine what kind of choice she would make, things seem to go pretty well… I kind of feel like this is just my imagination, but I must be imagining it.
Then, there was a knock on the door and when I replied that it was okay to come in, Lady Violet entered the room.
“I’m sorry, Lord Clo. I can’t seem to find Burnt and Amber… Oh, you guys were here? Burnt, Amber, it’s almost time for dinner, but nobody seems to have prepared anything. Should we do the preparations?”
“My deepest apologies, Milady. Right now we have to participate in a battle that we cannot afford to lose. We will prepare dinner after that.”
“Amber?”
“Milady, I… I won’t lose! I cannot afford to lose in order to protect my dignity!”
“Burnt? What’s going on, Lord Clo? Something seems strange…”
“Lady Violet… I won’t lose. I will win this battle for the sake of our family!”
“Lord Clo?!”
Author’s note:
Kriemhild at that time
“I’m not sure, but I think that I’ve been treated weirdly somewhere… but looks like I was useful so whatever!”
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