Forbidden Love? (4)
Forbidden Love? (4)
As befitted a hotel that looked spectacular from the outside, the interior was the same. It was a place of appropriately refined luxury—neither excessively opulent nor overly austere. Precisely because of that restraint, it looked far more expensive than someplace decked out in a riot of jewels.
Normally, if your family ran a hotel this flawless, you would be inclined to show it off a little. In fact, House Grace took pride in cultivating the only green lawn in the middle of that dingy city; Winterfield was proud of its hardy domain-folk; and Northwood openly displayed its pride in its dazzling streets.
No—this place, too, was displaying its splendor openly. It was simply that the person who was set to inherit it wore only a faint smile and showed no inclination to boast.
Jake, if anything, was remarkably composed, unlike the way he was at the academy.
"You'll already know your room assignments. I've grouped you with people you can be reasonably comfortable with, so there's nothing to worry about."
I was rooming with Alice. They could have crammed students into four-person rooms, but instead they put two in each spacious double. That arrangement probably had more to do with the Lindbergh family's wishes than the academy's intentions.
It was a demonstration that they possessed the largesse to provide this much, and a declaration of intent to make sure we would use this exact hotel whenever we visited on business in the future.
Extending the same treatment to the Commoner Class had likely been possible, in a sense, because House Lindbergh was "progressive." Among all the noble houses, it was the most keenly sensitive to money. It was also a house perpetually short on manpower. Whether a Commoner Class student became bourgeoisie or entered a profession, it wouldn't hurt to befriend them early.
Of course, that word "progressive" probably only applied to pure-blood Imperial citizens, or more precisely, to white people.
"You've spent several days traveling to get here, so I imagine you're all quite fatigued. Rest well today. However, as I mentioned earlier, if you leave the hotel you must first report to a teacher waiting in the lobby—myself included. And you must go in groups of at least three. One more piece of advice: don't let just anyone lure you in with sweet talk."
Laughter rippled through the students at Jennifer's parting words, but her expression was quite serious.
"The area here isn't bad as far as public safety goes, but it also isn't as good as the imperial capital. Stay sharp and conduct yourselves accordingly. Dismissed."
Well, most of the students here weren't from the imperial capital in the first place, so they presumably knew about places with far worse public safety. Still, some students might never have gone to a place with poor public safety in person.
"Sylvia."
Once Jennifer finished speaking and the students began murmuring and gathering into their own groups, Alice tapped me on the shoulder.
"Shall we go take a look at our room? I believe it's on quite a high floor."
The expression on Alice's face as she said that looked rather excited, so I simply nodded without a word.
*
It would be a lie if I said I had never once felt excited since coming to this world.
The moment I realized the world I had entered was the world of my favorite game series. The moment I somehow ended up beside Alice as an Imperial Princess.
When I entered the academy the protagonist's party attended, or when I got swept up in the main story alongside them—
There had been plenty of times when I had to rack my brain in worry, but at the same time I also felt a flutter in some part of my chest. Honestly, I did not know whether anyone could avoid feeling excited after waking up inside a game they loved.
In possession stories and the like, everyone starts out saying they're screwed or the world is doomed, but in the end they meet the heroine and wind up living happily ever after.
...... My case was a little different, but still.
"It's impressive. I think I understand why they went to the trouble of putting us up in this hotel."
Alice spoke while gazing out the window.
The seventy-second floor. The very top.
No matter how large the hotel was built, you could hardly cram all those students' rooms into a spot with a view this fine. The fact that our room, the two of us, occupied the place with the very best view probably meant the room assignments had not been random.
Outside the clean glass window, the roads were perfectly straight. They truly looked as though they had been laid out with a ruler, stretching all the way to the faint edge of the city on the horizon. I could also see one road cutting diagonally across the city.
The city was openly declaring that it had been planned and constructed from scratch on empty land.
At the edge of the view, an industrial zone appeared to begin immediately. Beyond the city's boundary I could see black smoke and white steam rising. Farther still, there were probably plantation farms and the like.
"If we'd been housed at the Lindbergh domain castle, as we would have been anywhere else, I doubt we would have gotten this feeling."
"Lindbergh Castle is actually plainer than the domain castles on the Imperial mainland."
Unlike the literal "castles" that served as the center of other domains, House Lindbergh's building was simply a mansion in the middle of the city. Not small enough to dismiss with a simple "simply," of course, but still too ambiguous to call a castle.
It had taken that form, supposedly, because it was built in an era when there was no reason for houses to wage medieval siege warfare against each other.
"A new form of enterprise for a new age......"
Alice murmured quietly, gazing down at the view outside.
"Well, all right. We've checked the room and our luggage, so let's go outside and look around the neighborhood. Charlotte must be dying to go out, so if we gather everyone and all go together—"
Before Alice could finish her sentence, I heard the sound of someone knocking on our door. Knock, knock.
"I'll get it."
Hearing the sound come from the door, I more or less guessed what this was about.
After all, this was one of the story events that had appeared in the original as well.
As I crossed the wide room toward the door, the knocking did not sound again. Whoever had knocked did not urge us on, but simply waited quietly outside the room.
I pulled open the heavy door, and my eyes met Lottie's where she stood outside.
"Your Highness."
Lottie gave a slight bow. Even when we encountered each other at the academy, Lottie had always greeted us with more grace than the other students, but this greeting was something else again.
It was an elegant bow, bending her knees while lightly holding the hem of her skirt.
Maybe calling it a "curtsy" would fit better.
"Is something the matter?"
I knew perfectly well what was going on, but it would have felt unbearably awkward to ask nothing at all, so I said that.
"This is a message from Duke Lindbergh. He wishes to invite the two Imperial Princesses to a banquet this evening at the Lindbergh estate."
As she spoke, Lottie dipped her head respectfully and held out two invitations, one atop the other.
I accepted them and looked. In elegant cursive, one was addressed "To Her Imperial Highness, Princess Alice Fangriffon" and the other "To Her Imperial Highness, Princess Sylvia Fangriffon." Both were in deep purple envelopes, nearly black, sealed with red wax. The crest pressed into the wax depicted a horse rearing on its hind legs.
"It would be an honor if the two Imperial Highnesses would attend the banquet and grace the occasion."
Lottie spoke in an impeccably deferential voice.
"...... Lottie?"
Alice's voice sounded from behind me.
Perhaps curious about what we were discussing, she had followed along, and when she saw Lottie greeting me with such formality, she looked startled.
After all, Lottie still wore her school uniform, but her posture was as if she were wearing a maid's uniform.
Without a word, I handed Alice the invitation meant for her.
"We've been invited to a banquet being held tonight in the Lindbergh domain."
"...... Is that so?"
Alice looked down at the envelope with a slight frown, then looked back at Lottie.
"Lottie, you don't need to be that formal about delivering it. Right now, you and I are wearing the same uniform."
"But the invitation was conveyed in Duke Lindbergh's name."
The words carried many implications.
Lottie was Jake's personal maid. Therefore, when delivering something like this, she naturally had to deliver it as a maid.
It meant that uniform or not, when the moment came to treat a noble as a noble, Lottie was faithful to her proper duties.
"......I see."
Whether because she read that meaning, Alice nodded.
Lottie bowed her head deeply toward us once more, then took one step backward, retreating with a backward step.
And she remained standing right there until I closed the door.
"I see. So Lottie is Lindbergh's......"
"Maid, I assume. Although Jake maintains she's a childhood friend."
"Actually, that does seem the more natural way to think of it. After spending so long at the academy, I keep forgetting facts like that."
Alice wore a complicated expression.
I didn't think that was a bad thing, but I didn't go out of my way to say so.