Chapter 43
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The Princess and the Mage (4)
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“Wait, more importantly, how the heck did you meet the Princess?!”
“I'm going to be Her Highness's exclusive maid for a while.”
Claire covered her face with both hands and let out a deep sigh.
She looked like she just couldn't accept this reality.
Meanwhile, the ever-cheerful and refreshing Princess Celestina glanced around the clubroom. When her eyes met those of the frozen club members, she let out a bright A! and smiled radiantly.
“Nice to meet you all. I'm Celestina Belhart, a first-year in the Magic Department.”
Introducing herself not as the princess but as an ordinary Magic Department student must have been her own way of being considerate.
“I heard from Lunaris. Only four members, so the club might disband, right?”
“Well, yeah... We're desperate for one more. It'd be amazing if Your Highness joined~”
Sylvia, the club president, had already snapped back to her usual self, grinning mischievously as she replied.
“But really, are you sure? This place is way scarier than it looks.”
She added in a teasing, spooky tone, as if telling a ghost story.
“We don't just talk scary stories... We go out to the sites to meet the ghosts ourselves!”
“Oh, perfect timing!”
The princess clapped her hands, her eyes sparkling.
“I love ghost stories and adventures.”
“Whoa...!”
Sylvia's eyes lit up.
She had the look of someone who'd just discovered a promising new ghost story enthusiast.
“You'd fit right in with our club! But...”
The president glanced at the guards crowding the clubroom before continuing.
“Having everyone swarm in like today is a bit of a problem.”
The ghosts would all run away, you know?
Sylvia winked as she said it.
The princess nodded readily.
“Got it. Next time, I'll come without the guards.”
“Your Highness!”
The captain of the guard went pale.
But today's princess was incredibly firm.
“Club activities are another kind of class.”
“But Your Highness, it's too dangerous. Even this clubroom could collapse any second...”
“It's fine.”
The princess sidled right up to me and naturally pulled me into a tight hug.
“Lunaris will protect me.”
“Ugh... Can't... breathe...”
My face was buried in her chest, suffocating me.
I flailed my arms, but her embrace only tightened.
“Ahaha! Great! Welcome to the Ghost Story Research Club, Princess Celestina!”
“Looking forward to working with you, President Sylvia.”
Come to think of it, Sylvia wasn't exactly normal-minded either.
How many people could chat so casually with the princess?
As the princess and president murmured about future activity schedules, I finally escaped those soft mounds and averted my gaze.
“Ugh... This can't be real...”
Thomas, the vice president, caught my eye. His face was ashen, and he was trembling.
“Top of the year wasn't enough... Now even the princess... Something's off... This is weird...”
Claire poked at the muttering vice president from the side, teasing him mercilessly.
“Vice President, jealous much~? Total harem vibes, right?”
“Wh-what?!”
“Come on, the only guy in a secluded clubroom with four girls? You're blessed!”
“?!??!”
An earthquake hit Thomas's pupils.
Right then, the princess's guard captain suddenly slapped a hand on Thomas's shoulder.
He lowered his voice with a stern expression.
“Not that it'd happen, but if you ever try anything with Her Highness...”
-Shing.
A sharp metallic ring leaked from the sheath.
The cold blade glinted in the dim clubroom light.
“...Gulp.”
Thomas's eyes finally rolled back white.
*
“Oh, were you just coming back, Your Highness?”
Late afternoon, on the way back from the Ghost Story Research Club room.
I'd thought nothing else would happen today, but I ran straight into Senior Miriel sipping tea in the Linea Hall lounge.
Come to think of it, she'd said she'd be having tea time in the dorm for a while.
Senior Miriel set down her teacup as if she'd been waiting, scanning the princess and me in turn.
The corners of her lips curled up.
I didn't have the skill to read the meaning in her expression, but I could tell this wasn't just a greeting.
“Yes. The weather was so nice, I went for a little stroll. Enjoying tea time, Senior Miriel?”
Princess Celestina headed into the lounge without a care, making for the seat next to Senior Miriel.
“Mind if we join? Sorry if we're interrupting your alone time.”
“...Not at all. It's an honor to have the chance to spend time with Your Highness.”
The princess sat on the opposite sofa and turned to me.
“Lunaris, want to sit next to me?”
“I'm good. A maid sitting in... it'd be weird.”
Not like I'll choke on tea or anything.
“Really? I don't mind.”
Your Highness might not, but the lady in front of us seems to mind a lot.
“No wonder I didn't see Lunaris all day.”
Senior Miriel's gaze raked me up and down.
“Looks like you've become Her Highness's exclusive maid.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Hmm~”
Senior Miriel let out a meaningful hum as she set down her teacup.
“That's strange, Your Highness.”
Her eyes shifted from me back to the princess.
“From what I heard, Your Highness promised Lunaris she wouldn't make her do anything.”
“...?”
“Right after Lunaris got disciplined, you use royal privilege to keep her under you? That's awfully proactive.”
Princess Celestina turned to me with a puzzled look.
I felt a bit awkward and forced an embarrassed smile.
Come to think of it, I'd lied to Senior Miriel to brush her off.
Saying the princess didn't want anything from me...
I hesitated on how to explain, but the princess spoke first.
“Ah. Yeah, I guess I did say that.”
As expected of the quick-witted princess.
She grasped the context in an instant and continued innocently, eyes gleaming.
“But watching her work so hard as a maid made me feel bad. Just giving her a breather.”
She pouted, insisting she hadn't actually ordered me to do anything despite the exclusive maid title.
“Isn't it weird to even say you're 'demanding' something?”
“...”
“Between friends, I mean.”
The princess turned to me and smiled brightly again.
Her smile was so dazzling that I lost myself for a moment, blinking blankly.
“Right, Lunaris?”
Her follow-up snapped me back, and I shrugged with an awkward grin.
“...Yeah, sure.”
*
“Okay, care to explain now?”
The moment we got back to the room, the princess grilled me(?), her smiling face sparkling with curiosity.
“What did you tell Senior Miriel that made her think I promised not to make you do anything?”
“It... wasn't a big deal.”
No reason to lie, and making excuses sounded annoying, so I just came clean.
“Senior Miriel made a scouting offer kinda thing... Didn't want the hassle, so I name-dropped Your Highness.”
“How?”
“Said you wouldn't make me do anything, like that. Sorry if it upset you.”
The princess blinked in mild surprise before chuckling and waving it off.
“No, it's fine. I don't mind. Actually, good job.”
She gazed at me with a smile, then asked in a timid voice.
“But... did you really think I wasn't making you do anything?”
“...”
“Am I... a bother?”
A bother?
Hmm, honestly speaking...
“Well, a little annoying, yeah?”
“...”
My bluntness made her face fall instantly.
“But hey, that's normal, right?”
Even I look super annoying from the outside.
“Friends and all.”
Her violet eyes slowly widened.
She mulled the word friends in her mouth a few times before breaking into a radiant smile.
“So, we're destined besties who have to stick together forever.”
“...Huh?”
Wait, that's a stretch...
“Meaning you have to put up with me being even more annoying from now on!”
“No, that's not—”
“Guh.”
Before I could finish, my face plunged back into those mounds.
Why does this person love hugging so much?
“Ugh... C-can't... breathe...”
“Just a little. Let me stay like this a bit.”
Something warm and moist touched the nape of her neck, exposed by her updo.
My gut screamed not to look up, so I sighed inwardly and patted her heaving back.
*
-If I may offer some unsolicited advice, it's best not to get too close to the Third Princess.
During the biweekly regular meeting.
Vice Captain Albert's sudden advice made me tilt my head unwittingly.
“Didn't you tell me to get friendly with her?”
-I did say that, but I didn't expect it to go this far.
The vice captain sighed before continuing.
-Getting deeply involved in imperial affairs won't do you any good. Faction struggles—if you get tangled up wrong—won't end with just annoyance.