You're Pretty
With a groan, I stretched my stiff body and pushed myself up from the bed. Still half-asleep, I rubbed my eyes, climbed out, and splashed some water on my face to wake up properly. It was an unusually early start to the morning. Even though it was Saturday.
Yesterday—Friday—I had returned to the Academy, washed up, and was about to fall asleep when I received a note. In short, the Astria Count family… meaning Father and my older brother were staying nearby and wanted to see me.
……I forgot.
Since I had transmigrated into Felice's body, I knew I would eventually have to face Father and my brother. Yesterday had been the perfect chance, but I'd been distracted by other things and completely forgotten. So Father, who hadn't seen his second son in about a month, had finally summoned me.
Since the Academy allowed relatively free outings on weekends, I decided to head straight to them first thing in the morning. After roughly drying my damp bangs, I yawned and got dressed. At least I didn't need to wear anything overly formal like yesterday.
Rubbing my still-heavy eyelids, I stepped out into the hallway and walked calmly down the quiet corridor. Since I'd finished getting ready early, I had time to spare and strolled leisurely across the campus like I was taking a walk.
When I reached the spot where I'd boarded the flashy imperial carriage yesterday, I spotted a carriage bearing a familiar crest.
……Astria Count family.
It wasn't my memory, but Felice's. Recognizing the crest from Felice's recollections, I walked toward it.
"……Felice!"
"……Helena?"
Standing beside the carriage was the familiar figure of Helena.
"What are you doing here……?"
Helena, who had been staring at me, puffed out her cheeks and marched over, then drove her fist into my side.
"Hup……!"
I tensed my stomach to block it, and Helena burst out laughing.
"Uncle said I should come too."
"……Really?"
Father did? I blinked slowly at the sight of Helena waving a piece of paper stamped with the Astria Count family crest, then shrugged and headed for the carriage.
"Why all of a sudden?"
"He just said we should see you together."
Helena and Felice had been childhood friends. Even though there was a slight difference in status, Father wasn't the type to care about such things, so Helena called him "Uncle." Hearing her say it like that almost made me feel like I'd returned to the modern world.
"Well, it's been a while since you've seen him too."
Given Felice's father's personality, it was entirely possible. He treated Helena like his own daughter.
I answered casually and was about to climb into the carriage when I noticed Helena smoothing down her skirt. She wasn't wearing her usual Academy uniform, but an elegant black dress. It looked beautiful against her fair skin.
"……Why are you so dressed up today?"
"H-huh…? Does it look weird……?"
Helena asked, her cheeks flushing bright red.
Weird or not……
"It's pretty, though?"
It was pretty. Helena's beauty wasn't actually inferior to Silvia's. When you thought about it, she was quite lovely. And now she was wearing a cute, high-quality dress? Of course she looked beautiful.
"R-really……? Th-then that's fine."
Helena let out a silly little "Hee…" and climbed into the carriage ahead of me. Tilting my head at her reaction, I followed her inside.
"So why are you dressed up like that?"
"B-because it's been a while since I've seen Uncle……?"
"……I see?"
No matter how handsome Father was, he was a married man……? Feeling a bit sorry for Helena and her impossible crush, I ruffled her green hair and turned to look out the window.
Does she actually like Felice's dad instead of Felice?
The thought surfaced, but I pushed it away. What did it matter? She could never be with Father anyway. And the Felice she used to like was no longer in this world.
I'm Felice, and Felice is me.
So in the end, the old Felice she'd liked had been gone for a long time. There was nothing I could do about that part.
"Was the banquet fun yesterday?"
"Huh? Nah, not really."
If anything, it had given me a headache. The one silver lining was that I'd at least made some kind of connection with Degorsis.
Helena tilted her head at my indifferent expression. With that pretty face, even that gesture was ridiculously cute.
"Why? It was an imperial banquet, wasn't it?"
"Ah, the food was good."
The meal had been on another level. Far more luxurious than Academy cafeteria food.
"I wanted to try it too……!"
"Why didn't you come?"
Helena could have attended if she'd wanted to. The Deigrefy family was still a noble house, even if only a barony, so they should have been able to participate.
"Father wasn't going, so why would I……"
"He didn't attend?"
That didn't make sense. The reason Helena and I were childhood friends was because the Astria Count family and the Deigrefy Baron family had some degree of closeness. In fact, Father and Helena's father, the head of the Deigrefy family, were on such good terms that they called each other brothers. So if our family supported Achillea, the Deigrefy family would have supported her too. From the very beginning.
Even a baron family, if they were a meritorious house, should have attended the banquet. So why hadn't they?
When I voiced my question, Helena shook her head.
"Our family was put in charge of managing one of the businesses centered around the Astria Count family, so Father's been busy with that."
"……Ah."
It was probably related to Achillea. As a meritorious house, they seemed to be focusing on expanding their influence. That was a good sign. It meant they were both growing their power and earning Achillea's trust.
I nodded in understanding, and Helena puffed out her cheeks again, drumming her fingers on the carriage seat.
"I wanted to go to the banquet too……!!"
"……You can go next time."
"Will there even be a next time……"
There would be plenty of imperial banquets and parties in the future. Especially since, as a meritorious house aligned with Achillea, the Deigrefy family would receive many invitations. But what Helena was probably worried about was whether her increasingly busy family would even have time to attend.
Seeing how dejected she looked, I smiled wryly and stroked her hair to comfort her.
"If it really comes down to it, I'll take you myself, so don't be too upset."
"……Really?"
"Yeah."
No matter how much attending a party or banquet as someone's partner implied a certain kind of relationship in noble society, doing it once or twice wouldn't be a big deal. Besides, Helena and I were childhood friends, and the fact that the Astria and Deigrefy families were close was common knowledge among the nobility.
At my words, Helena smiled brightly and held out her pinky.
"Promise!"
"Would I lie about something like this……"
"I can't trust you, Felice!"
"That actually hurts a little."
With an awkward smile, I hooked my pinky around hers. After we pressed our thumbs together to seal the deal, Helena finally looked relieved and grinned.
I let out a small sigh at her childish behavior and turned to look out the window with a helpless smile. Helena, clearly delighted, was bouncing her feet and laughing.
"……We've arrived, young master."
After a short ride, the coachman's voice called out.
"Good work."
After greeting the coachman who had worked since early morning, I opened the carriage door and stepped out. Even though Father could have stayed in the capital's center, he'd chosen a place close to the Academy out of consideration, and I was grateful as I climbed down.
"Hup……!"
I took Helena's hand to help her down safely, then blinked as a realization hit me.
"……Which room?"
How was I supposed to find Father? The note hadn't mentioned it. When I stared blankly at Helena, she gave me a look that said, "If you don't know, who would?"
"Um……"
Even if I just walked in and asked where Count Astria was, I doubted anyone would answer. Scratching the back of my head in thought, I eventually made up my mind.
Right. I'll just shout. If someone wakes up and gets mad, so what? I'm a noble.
Just as I was about to open my mouth with that shameless thought—
Thwack……!!
"Little brother……!!"
"Aagh!!"
I screamed as a thick hand smacked me hard on the back. Wiping the tears from my eyes after the spicy impact, I turned around to see someone who looked almost exactly like Felice smiling at me.
"Brother……?"
It was Felice's older brother.