A Woman with a Story (2)
A Woman with a Story (2)
Even in an area that resembled a theme park built around a casino for adults to enjoy, it was not as though there were no places to enjoy ordinary daily life.
There were certainly those who came literally to squander their fortunes, but plenty of ordinary tourists also arrived to simply enjoy the dazzling streets built thanks to the casino. In particular, it was said that many upper-class people who liked to travel here and there, even without any interest in gambling, often came with a lover, stayed at a luxury hotel, enjoyed the festival, and then left.
On top of that, many of the people who worked here were not particularly wealthy. Especially if their job was something like a servant.
So naturally, there were also restaurants where one could have an ordinary meal.
And there were quite a few restaurants and cafés for the poor people who worked here as well.
The place we were in was one of those.
Guided by Bella, we arrived at a shabby restaurant on a shabby street a little distance from the casino.
"Hey! What did I tell you about bringing customers to a place like this!"
Another bunny girl with green hair, who had been sitting in the restaurant, got angry at Bella. She was dressed as a bunny girl, but the outfit was crumpled here and there, and her hair was disheveled. The rabbit-ear headband she had been wearing was tossed carelessly onto the table. Judging by the glittering powder smudged across her face and chest here and there, it looked as though she had only just come back after working all night.
"Ah, sorry....... But I really wanted to treat the people who helped me."
Seeing Bella speak so timidly surprised me a little.
That attitude of Bella's suited her surprisingly well. Of course, I knew the background behind it well, but if I hadn't known, I might have simply accepted her as one of those characters with a past. ...... No, before that, her appearance had been shown a little during the scene where she talked with Alice, so I might have thought she was up to something.
"As if the kind of people who would buy you things would eat the stuff you're buying...... Haah, forget it."
The green-haired woman scratched her head roughly, then spoke with an expression that said she no longer cared either way.
"Well, since there are far more women than men among the people you've dragged here, I guess I don't really care. Judging by their clothes, they're noble students. They can't do that kind of thing anyway because of the school rules, right?"
Having said that, the woman cut off all interest in us.
Living like that was probably natural in a place like this. It was the kind of place where people rolled around here and there, hit rock bottom, and only then came to work. Of course, if you looked across the Empire, there were several places far worse than this. In that sense, you could say that Northwood was managing this place fairly well. Though it was hardly a sympathetic assessment from the perspective of the people who lived here.
"I'm sorry. She may talk like that, but she's a good-hearted kid inside......."
But before Bella even finished speaking, the green-haired woman raised her hand and made a V sign at us over her shoulder. The back of her hand was facing us.
It was a British insult that had become fairly famous worldwide by then.
Lena, who occasionally encountered the Imperial Army, and Charlotte, whose country bickered and fought with the neighboring Empire, both frowned, seeming to recognize that it was an obscene gesture.
"Haha......."
Bella gave a deflated laugh, then hurriedly urged us, "Please, sit here," as though trying to gloss over it.
Even the overly meddlesome protagonist's party seemed to understand that being rude to Bella's coworker would make Bella's life difficult, so they sat down without a word.
...... Though a mere thing like that wouldn't make Bella's life difficult. Well, among the people here, only Alice and I, fellow imperial princesses, knew Bella's true identity.
I had been together with Alice most of the time anyway, and I didn't particularly hide myself from public appearances, so my face was fairly well-known to people, but Bella's case was somewhat different. To begin with, Bella was also an official imperial princess, so even the nobles knew that 'such a person' existed, but Bella never once showed her face at official functions.
The Emperor's children who frequently showed their faces at official functions were Jaden, Lucas, and me, while the roles of handling the kinds of work where showing one's face was problematic fell to Bella and the last child.
Even when moving around inside the Imperial Palace, Bella went so far as to wear a mask or disguise herself as a completely different person, so it was only natural that even Charlotte did not know.
That division of roles was not something created by the Emperor. It had simply turned out that way as each of us went about according to our own personalities. Bella was someone who thought that hiding her identity would allow her to do far more interesting things.
"...... Do things like what happened today happen to you often?"
Charlotte asked seriously.
Even though this was an Imperial matter, it was not as though Belbur had no such places. Brothels and opium dens existed everywhere in the world. Thinking that such things would also be happening within her own country, this place was helpful from Charlotte's perspective as well.
"Not often, no."
"......."
Moreover, Charlotte herself had a righteous personality.
Perhaps she had on her mind the fact that she had come here, seen this, and muttered that it was vulgar.
The mood sank heavily.
"What'll you have?"
And then the owner asked, casually pushing aside that heavy atmosphere.
Before we knew it, the owner had come right up beside our table. He was wearing extremely old clothes. A dirty apron stained all over, and clothes worn through in many places. Whether he had the money to buy new ones but chose not to, or whether he begrudged even that much—judging by a cracked window I had seen when we came in, it might have been the latter.
"What food here is good?"
Charlotte asked Bella gently. The usual Charlotte would have been horrified by the state of the establishment or the owner's appearance, but considering the situation that had brought us here, this was not the time to quibble over such things.
Gratefully accepting the other party's sincere goodwill was the etiquette of a noble.
"Ah, please give us chicken stew for the number of people."
"Huh?"
The owner stared vacantly at Bella and said:
"You got the money to cover that much?"
"I-I have that much at least!"
Watching Bella say that while gauging the reactions of my party, I admired her inwardly.
If she had only been born about twenty years later, she would surely have become a great actor who left her mark on film history.
Although, thinking about her personality, I couldn't say for certain whether Bella would have done that kind of work or not.
The owner shrugged his shoulders, counted our heads, and turned his body.
"Are you really sure you're all right with this?"
Claire asked worriedly.
"It's all right. I have at least that much money......."
Just as the atmosphere was about to sink heavily again,
"Anyway, what the hell was that guy?"
Jake quickly grabbed hold of it and pulled it back up.
"He was someone who spoke to me, saying he had taken a liking to me. He made a few jokes, so I laughed to play along with his mood, but he must have thought I was sincere......."
"The reason you came over toward us was to get away from him?"
Having finally resolved to join this play, Alice opened her tightly shut mouth.
"Yes....... I'm sorry. In truth, I didn't know the mood would turn so hostile."
Though in reality, it was the opposite. She had probably wanted to create this situation.
"Was there a reason you spoke to us in particular? There were plenty of other people around."
"Well, that is......."
Bella spoke as though deeply embarrassed.
"Other nobles, if I spoke to them, would either avoid me as though I were filthy or, conversely, try to take me away themselves. It would be one or the other."
Charlotte flinched her shoulders. Though her expression did not crumble.
"You're all from Rondarium Academy, aren't you?"
Bella asked, looking at Leo. Leo, looking a little flustered, stammered for a moment.
"How did you know that?"
He came out with an incredibly clueless-sounding response.
"Because the uniforms you're wearing are the uniforms of Rondarium Academy. I've been in Rondarium myself for a short while, too. Back then, while passing near the Academy, I saw many students wearing the same uniforms as all of you."
She didn't say anything obvious like having admired the place since childhood, but precisely because she didn't, the line conveyed that feeling all the more.
Of course, that line must have been a fabricated line as well.
"So I thought, if you were students...... you might help me. I'm sorry......."
"......."
The mood grew uncontrollably heavy again, but among us, there was one person wearing an expression far more complicated than that.
That was Alice.
Since she had even declared that she would 'infiltrate' the place herself, the Bella before her eyes was, in effect, the role model she would have to follow.
The problem was, perhaps, that Bella's acting ability was too high a bar for any half-baked performer to follow.
.......
And I...... perhaps I might have to give off this kind of atmosphere as well...... I wasn't sure.
A bunny girl with a blank expression might be popular in its own way.
Could I really have maintained a blank expression to the very end even while dressed as a bunny girl?
Not long after that, the chicken stew came out.
Because of the atmosphere of the place, I hadn't expected anything at all, but the chicken stew was genuinely delicious.
Perhaps, at least as far as choosing this restaurant went, it might not have been acting but genuine.