Employment Negotiation (1)
The appearance of Princess Seraphin was enough to seize the attention of everyone around her in an instant.
Granted, the princess had spent the past month as a student of the Combat Department, sparring and socializing with plenty of her classmates, and in more ways than one her reputation within the Academy had settled into that of a somewhat 'familiar celebrity'—but.
She was still the Third Imperial Princess of the Argentia Empire, which made her the second-highest-ranked person among all the students currently attending the Academy, behind only the Fourth Prince of the Spear Department.
And so, the moment Lizzie and I found ourselves facing her, we both rose from our seats in unison, our bodies defaulting automatically to the proper etiquette owed to royalty.
"Greetings, Princess Seraphin. It is a true honor that you remember my name."
"It would be harder *not* to know the name of Lizzie, the young woman talented enough to take second seat in the Pharmacology Department. This is the first time we've met since the entrance ceremony, isn't it?"
"It has been a while, Princess Seraphin."
"It has indeed, Lilith... Lady Blackwood Rosewood. You were a great help to me at the masquerade."
"...It was I who was indebted to *you*, Princess Seraphin."
Technically, our last encounter had been back in the Blackwood territory, right before I met Ethan—but that had been a strictly unofficial meeting arranged for the sake of swapping my identity, so.
It wasn't exactly something I needed to bring up in front of Lizzie, and I simply nodded along with her words.
...So, why on earth had she shown up here out of nowhere?
It wasn't as though she'd appeared to watch over someone showing no particular promise in the Magic Department entrance exams like me, so perhaps she had some personal business with Lizzie, the second seat of Pharmacology.
Honestly speaking, that was about the only plausible reason I could come up with.
After all, if someone of Seraphin's caliber was going to act differently from the original story, the only real trigger would be an original character like me setting things in motion.
"Could it be that you've come to enjoy some of our café's tea and pastries as well, Princess Seraphin?"
"No, nothing of the sort. I merely happened to be passing by, and seeing Lady Lilith sitting at one of the outside tables, I came in on a whim."
"......Me?"
"Yes, you, Lady Lilith."
Caught off guard by being singled out by a princess, I pointed at myself with a finger and asked her to confirm, but Seraphin simply nodded without a hint of denial. Left with nothing but the question of why she would suddenly approach *me*, I tilted my head and asked quietly.
"Wh-what business could you possibly have with me...?"
"Well now. If it wouldn't be an imposition on you two, might I join you at your table?"
"I-I don't mind, but we would need Miss Auguste's permission as well—"
"I don't mind either, Princess Seraphin. In that case, shall we order two more teacups—for your escort there behind you as well?"
"Luke."
"Yes, my lady."
"A gathering of 'noble ladies' only, for a private chat. Would you mind taking a stroll nearby for about thirty minutes?"
"......Understood."
For a moment, Luke hesitated, looking at me with wounded, aggrieved eyes, but she soon nodded and made her way out of the café. I avoided meeting her gaze and turned my head away, feeling like a guilty criminal for no good reason.
Luke had known me since before I'd even become a baronet's daughter, after all—so it made sense she'd feel slighted by Seraphin's remark about a gathering of noble ladies.
Still, she was, by nature, a tight-lipped one, so at least there was that small mercy.
"One extra teacup should be quite enough, then."
"...Yes, I suppose so."
Truthfully, there had been no real need to send her escort Luke away in the first place. As I'd just noted, Luke was a character who kept her mouth firmly shut—she would never have breathed a word of anything overheard in a place like this to outsiders.
And yet Seraphin had dismissed her escort anyway, which could only be read as a deliberate demonstration of how much she trusted Lizzie and me.
Whether that display was meant for Lizzie and me, or for the other students who'd witnessed the scene, the message was the same: dismissing one's escort was, in effect, a declaration of trust in the people sitting before you.
Being brutally honest about it, though, it's not like either Lizzie or I could take her on even if we both jumped her at once—so maybe she really can afford to be this cavalier.
The 'Moon Shadow Princess' was not a powerhouse only on nights when the full moon hung in the sky. Granted, she did tend to grow stronger under a full moon than usual, but even on her base ability alone, she could comfortably handle the top student of the Academy's Combat Department.
Even so, the mere act of setting aside her own shadow, Luke, for a little while had already delivered a certain message to Lizzie and me, loud and clear.
Taking her seat at the table between Lizzie and me, Princess Seraphin met my eyes once, and then opened the conversation.
"How has Academy life been treating you lately, Lady Lilith?"
"Quite well, thanks to the care you've shown me, Your Highness."
"...Is that so? No one bullying you within your own department, or male students making unwanted advances?"
"...No, Your Highness. Thanks to that incident on my first day of school, the male students seem rather reluctant to approach me at all."
"That incident was quite the commotion, wasn't it. Even I never anticipated that Lord Ethan would draw his sword without a moment's hesitation in that situation."
"H-hahaha... "
...Well, I suppose Seraphin's Future Sight isn't something she can use whenever she likes. If her once-a-month precognition hadn't shown her the entrance ceremony incident between me and Ethan, then of course she couldn't have predicted it.
And even if she had seen something, it would most likely have been one of the protagonist's recent main story arcs. Compared to my and Ethan's Academy life, Luminor Academy's main storyline and its protagonist took clear precedence in her visions.
"I truly never imagined that Lady Lilith would enroll in the Academy as Lord Ethan's personal maid... It never crossed my mind."
"...I-is that so."
"Yes. Which is why, as a matter of fact, I had been keeping my own personal maid position vacant—just in case I might hire you. Even for royalty, only one personal maid position may be filled through Luminor Academy, you see, so it needed to be held open as a contingency."
"......"
"But Lady Lilith is already Lord Ethan's personal maid, so I imagine it would be difficult for you to accept my offer?"
"Yes, that would be—"
"Is it truly, absolutely impossible?"
"......"
...What is this? Why is there this strange, creeping pressure radiating off Seraphin?
Her words sounded like graceful resignation—as if she fully expected me to keep my place as Ethan's personal maid—but the atmosphere around her was subtly, insistently coaxing my heart to waver.
I should have been suspicious from the moment she singled *me* out for conversation with Lizzie right there in front of us—someone who outranked me in both status and grades.
I moved to give the princess my answer regarding her proposal first, but the one who spoke up before I could was not me. It was Lizzie.
"If I may—"
"...Just a moment, Princess Seraphin."
"Is something the matter, Lady Lizzie?"
"Forgive me, but isn't this a somewhat abrupt move on your part? I was speaking with Lilith first, you know?"
"Yes, I'm well aware."
"...And yet you—"
"Which is why, out of courtesy, I waited a full three weeks, did I not? In order to honor my family's word to House Auguste, I gave you ample opportunity to speak first—but for three entire weeks, not a single word reached her. That was you, wasn't it, Lady Lizzie?"
"......"
"Just how long do you intend to monopolize negotiations with Lady Lilith all by yourself, Lady Lizzie?"
......Huh?
Wait—what on earth are you two talking about?
Watching Seraphin and Lizzie suddenly start talking over my head as if I weren't even there, I was struck for a moment by pure, incredulous disbelief.
But regardless of how I felt, the two of them were exchanging words in a distinctly frosty atmosphere.
"...I was planning to bring it up today anyway."
"Were you, Lady Lizzie? But haven't I already spoken to Lady Lilith before you did?"
"Yes, I know. But that doesn't give Your Highness the right to block what *I* intend to say to Lilith, does it?"
"...Well, no, I suppose it doesn't."
The two of them turned their heads away from each other, as if they'd just traded one round of a catfight I'd never even known was happening.
And before I'd even finished answering Seraphin's proposal, Lizzie turned to me and made a considerably more direct offer of her own.
"Unlike Princess Seraphin, I won't dance around it. I'll say it plainly."
"I'm sorry—saying *what*, exactly?"
"Lilith. How would you feel about working with me as my secretary at the Auguste Trading Company?"
"......I'm sorry, what?"
"I'm well aware that you've appointed yourself Lord Blackwood's personal maid, but given that you're engaged to him, that title is really just a formality for you anyway, isn't it? The Auguste Trading Company, on the other hand, genuinely needs talent like yours, Lilith."
"N-no, wait. First of all, Lord Ethan and I aren't even actually engaged—"
"...To whatever sum the Auguste Trading Company has quoted you, I will add one gold coin per month."
"......I'm sorry, *what*?"
"That is, if you'll take my currently vacant personal maid position. Of course, that would mean giving up your place as Lord Ethan's personal maid, but still."
"One moment, Your Highness. Just how much do you think I'm offering Lilith, that you so confidently claim you'll add a gold coin on top?"
"I can make a reasonable estimate of what it costs Lady Lizzie to employ a personal secretary, at the very least. And I have more than enough budget at my disposal to add a gold coin to that."
"...Then I'll add *two* gold coins to whatever sum Princess Seraphin offers, Lilith."
"Isn't that overextending yourself? I hardly think you can swing a budget like that from your current position, Lady Lizzie."
"...That is none of your concern, Your Highness."
...No, seriously, what is *wrong* with you two all of a sudden?
Watching Lizzie and Seraphin plunge headlong into a bidding war with each other before I had even said a single word about wanting the job, I was briefly swallowed whole by sheer, mind-boggling absurdity.
And the two of them, still locked in that peculiar battle of wills that only women seem capable of waging, began pressing me for my answer.
"So then, Lady Lilith. Have you made up your mind?"
"Y-yes, huh?!"
"Which of our offers appeals to you more—mine, or Princess Seraphin's? Lilith?"
"Y-you want me to choose *right now*?!"
"Yes. Choose, Lady Lilith."
"It's me, Your Highness—no, it's me, isn't it, Lilith?"
"If you're thinking about your future, it would be far better to come with me than with Lady Lizzie, wouldn't it, Lady Lilith?"
It was a situation straight out of a branching choice screen—if one were playing *Luminor Academy*, a prompt would surely have popped up right about now—and for a brief moment, I wavered.
But I quickly gathered my flustered wits and conveyed to the two of them the answer that had surfaced in my mind.
Because when I thought about it with a cool head, the answer I could give these two in this situation had, in truth, been decided from the very beginning.