C94
"What did you say?
I felt so ridiculous for a moment. Because it's no different from declaring that Michelle will meet me now.
I have no intention of revealing that I am the owner of Armand for the time being....
Michelle's dark green eyes trembled quickly as if she realized that I was looking at her face unintentionally.
"Why, why is it like this?"
"Nothing."
"I see. Yes."
The fifth princess intervened in the conversation as if she felt the uncomfortable air flow between Michelle and me.
"Is the place so good to the extent that you, the famous gourmet, speak so highly of it? There will be more research content for restaurants that sell a variety of menu ingredients and ingredients, rather than the store that only sells drinks."
Michelle suddenly delivered a passionate speech in response to the fifth princess's question.
"Armand is not just a dessert shop!"
"Oh! You surprised me."
The puppets attached to her fingers rattled like crazy, and I managed to suppress the scream as I bit my lip.
"It's a place that is deeply accustomed to customer consideration. Especially for young ladies, the main customer base."
"In what way?"
"The pockets of the skirt are much smaller than pants pockets, so young women often forget to bring a pocket watch."
"So the clock tower plays a useful role for young ladies who forgot to bring their watches to keep their promise."
"Yes."
Michelle was making sense of what I somehow missed.
"The paper cup is surrounded by a thin and delicate magical resistance that even I, a puppeteer, was surprised. Strictly speaking, it's more hygienic than porcelain or glass cups."
I see.
Arin really put in a lot of effort.
"Moreover, that place always cares about satisfying the five senses."
She continued with a faltering voice.
"The aroma that flows around has a great influence on the taste. Armand presents a variety of aromas suitable for the weather with a service called <Tea of the Day>, stimulating the desire to try another dessert that matches the aroma."
It seemed she had studied the store from various angles, as a gourmet, and was pointing out things I had overlooked.
She even focused on the advantages rather than the disadvantages.
"What is this? Such great luck."
When I want to promote the store in the future and expand the franchise, I felt that I could make good use of her thesis.
It's essential to exaggerate it to make it look bigger than it is.
"I will also put it in a guide distributed to Armand's acquaintances."
"Do you want to make not only the thesis but also the guide?"
Michelle made another enthusiastic comment.
"How many stars are there?"
"There are five."
"Is it the first one?"
"That's right."
If a famous gourmet lists my store as a recommendation, which the princess also knows, it could have a great advertising effect.
Besides, five stars seem to signify something good.
"She's a good and pleasant person..."
It seemed like I was looking at her with sentimental eyes unknowingly.
"Why, what's wrong?"
Michelle shrugged again.
"I think I've seen her somewhere."
I looked around abruptly.
"Oh, where?"
"I don't know. It must have been a different person."
Perhaps she doesn't resemble the person with ill feelings?
No way.
She rubbed her neck with a complicated expression somewhere.
When the mood turned bitter again, the fifth princess nodded with her arms crossed.
"I understand enough why you want to explore that place after hearing the explanation."
Michelle cleared her throat once and spoke.
"I think the owner of Armand must be a high-ranking aristocrat with a high level of insight, not a merchant who only seeks money."
Surprisingly, only the fact that she's a high-ranking aristocrat was correct.
Even though she originally was a common citizen.
Michelle's pale cheeks turned red.
"Perhaps she's an elegant and educated duchess. Actually, that's the person I really wanted to meet recently."
I'm sorry, but I don't have any thoughts of meeting anyone.
"I wanted to at least have a conversation about the kind of thinking she had to build a store like that..."
Michelle sighed and mumbled.
"I think it won't be easy since there are many people running the store behind the scenes. I don't even know her face, but I don't know why I want to meet her."
"I know that feeling well."
The fifth princess said quietly.
"At the moment I saw Princess Deborah at the Truth Research Meeting, I felt I could approach her even though we hadn't exchanged a word."
"It's possible that I can't control this emotion if we meet. I want to make a good first impression."
"The way to communicate is sincerity."
"I made a doll; will she accept it?"
"How could she refuse a doll made by the empire's expert puppeteer?"
When the conversation suddenly shifted to gift exchange, I felt lost.
That wasn't part of the plan, but I can't reveal that I'm the store owner.
"Right, Princess Deborah?"
"... That's right."
I had to struggle to hide my trace of uneasiness all the time.
"It's autumn, but why am I sweating so much?"
After the meeting, I sat in a suitable place around the Fraternity House and looked up at the increasingly deep sky.
The sky was blue with not a single cloud, but the trees were shaking vigorously in the wind, which was colder than the beginning of autumn.
---------------------------
Currently, billiard games are in full swing at Omicron's male fraternity house.
The atmosphere was noisier and busier than usual when Philap, who had been confined to his house for a while by Duke Montes's order, appeared at the gathering after a long time.
"Oh, what a waste. I should have hit him a little on the side."
"What do you mean by a waste? It's my turn."
Philap, holding a long cue, rubbed the chalk roughly and positioned himself.
Soon, one of the spectators stepped forward and voiced his doubts.
"Sir Philap, why not hit to the left? I think the yellow ball is the most convenient place to hit."
"I changed my mind. It's not fun if it's easy."
"Then I might lose to me."
"If I lose to you, I'll go to Montes Castle."
Philap snorted and then hit the white ball with such force that it made a crunch.
The white ball bounced twice at the corner of the table, accurately hit the violet ball, which was in a rather complicated position, and dropped.
"Wow!"
The sound of cheers erupted immediately.
"It was a success."
Philap, who managed to clear all the remaining balls from the table, threw the cue anywhere and picked up the drinks lined up at the billiard bar.
"Sir Philap, what have you been doing?"
An executive member of Omicron approached.
"Why do you ask if you know? I was stuck in a corner of the house because I couldn't beat my father's torment."
"You must have had a very tough time. You've lost a lot of weight."
The executive spoke while looking at Philap, who stood with a thin jaw.
His piercing eyes were even fiercer after losing weight.
"A tough time... You can also talk about the disease of anger elegantly like that."
While Philap muttered quietly like a growl, the executive clicked his tongue as if he knew everything.
"Must it be because of Mia and Diery? However, you don't have to worry too much. I heard that after Diery lost in the joust, he has recently been focusing only on swords, perhaps because the shock was significant."
Philap slightly raised his eyebrows with a dubious air.
In fact, he wasn't very interested in that news.
He already helped Mia a lot as his father requested.
"I gave her a very expensive gem and even put her in a club where insignificant, ruined nobles couldn't interfere."
He could offer more support if she wants since she's his savior, but he didn't want to disturb his father's temper, so he didn't actively think about taking a step forward.
Instead, it was Isidor's unexpected action that got on Philap's nerves during his probation.
He heard the news that a guy who kept a low profile suddenly competed in a joust and won the championship.
Moreover, he gave the glory of his victory to Deborah out of nowhere, which didn't make any sense.
He probably bragged about all kinds of things on the podium.
When the corner of Philap's mouth tightened firmly, he could hear the chatter of the nearby executive members.
Philap, who listened attentively to their conversation, suddenly showed a suspicious smile.
"Philap, where are you going all of a sudden?"
"It's none of your business."
He replied with a cold voice and quickly left the secret room.
-----------------------------
"It's cold because I've been sitting here for a long time. I should go inside."
After spending some time breathing the fresh breeze under a shaded bench near the Fraternity House, I walked towards the carriage waiting area.
"Oh..."
When I arrived, I suddenly remembered a fragment of my floating memory, so I stopped walking.
This was because a familiar carriage was parked near the carriage with the Seymour family crest hanging on it.
A black ebony wood carriage with the seals of the four spirits hanging from it.
That is, the four-wheeled carriage of the Montes family.
Why is that here?
The side of the Spirit Department is far from the direction of the east gate.
"Long time no see, Deborah."
I ran into someone I wasn't particularly pleased to see.
"It looks like you've been doing well."
It was Philap Montes.