Proof (2)
Proof (2)
"What are you thinking about so deeply?"
At Claire's question, Leo's shoulders flinched in surprise.
"What, it's you?"
Only when he realized it was Claire who had spoken did Leo breathe a sigh of relief.
"What's with that relieved expression? It's oddly irritating."
Sensing that he didn't see her as a woman, Claire made an annoyed face. Of course, Claire didn't see Leo as a man either, so there wasn't any real reason for them to get angry over such a thing.
It was just, how to put it, the kind of thing that could still be annoying.
...... Leo thought to himself that he didn't even know what he was thinking.
It was late at night. The weather outside was finally becoming bearable. Contrary to its name, Northwood was located farther south than the capital, so even on a night like this, the temperature was a little higher than on the Imperial Island.
The name Northwood was acquired back when it used to be a different kingdom, although by now it had been completely annexed into the Empire and not even the name of a kingdom remained.
"What'd you come out here for?"
"What do you mean 'what for'? I'm allowed to take a walk too."
But Claire's expression as she said this to Leo showed a hint of worry.
Before Leo could even ask what that worry was, Claire quickly made a teasing face and said,
"What, is that chest still lingering in your mind?"
"......."
Leo glared at Claire, but Claire didn't bat an eye and merely shrugged her shoulders.
"...... That's not it. I just feel sorry that Miss Bella is in that kind of situation. And there could be a lot of people like that here."
"That's...."
But when Leo actually said that, Claire couldn't keep teasing him.
Leo had heard about Claire's past to some extent. On the night Claire was supposed to be sold off, Sylvia helped her and the children escape the orphanage, and thanks to that, Claire and the children were able to be placed in the care of House Grace without further incident.
Though it seemed that in the meantime, Sylvia had gone off to the Imperial Palace.
After hearing that story, he had considered whether Sylvia might have been with the Imperial House from the very start... but no matter how generously he estimated Sylvia's age, she didn't seem more than two years older than Claire. Even if he assumed she was two years older, that meant Sylvia was just seven years old at the time. No matter how capable she was, it was hard to imagine the Imperial House would deploy a seven-year-old child as some sort of field agent.
"Hmm."
Upon hearing Leo's words, Claire crossed her arms and closed her eyes.
And then, bowing her head deeply as if pondering for a moment,
"Alright."
She suddenly lifted her head and said that.
"Alright?"
"Let's go to the casino."
"Huh?"
Unable to keep up with Claire's train of thought, Leo asked back.
"You're worried, aren't you? About Miss Bella."
Claire shrugged her shoulders again and said,
"Because honestly, I'm worried too."
"......."
As Leo stared at Claire with his mouth hanging open, Claire scratched the side of her head with a finger and said,
"Right. Maybe it's just pointless meddling. Actually, if you think about it, there probably isn't anyone here without a story of their own. But still......."
Claire gave Leo a wide grin and said,
"I can't just pass by someone in trouble right in front of me and ignore them. Because we're Graces."
"Even if you cannot save everyone, do not pretend not to see those in hardship right before your eyes."
At Claire's words, Leo murmured the family motto.
"It's thanks to that motto that I'm standing right here."
Claire said with a refreshing laugh.
*
......I felt incredibly exposed.
I thought I had made quite the cool entrance alongside Alice, spouting some impressive lines, but now I was starting to wonder if we should have looked for another way.
A part of the body that normally wasn't exposed to the outside world except when changing clothes or bathing was now boldly revealed.
Even though it supposedly covered more than half my body, the black fabric really only covered the lower part of my chest. The white skin above it was completely exposed to other people's eyes.
At least we hadn't gone and sprinkled glitter on our chests the way Chiara Berati had.
"...... Don't fall too far behind, got it?"
"I'm right behind you, so please rest assured."
She'd declared with such confidence that she would 'prove her worth as a princess,' but it seemed the outfit was actually causing her extraordinary embarrassment.
Alice always wore extremely neat and proper attire. To be fair, being surrounded entirely by nobles, who wouldn't? Although, in my memory, Claire wasn't originally a character who dressed that neatly.
Of course, Claire too... thinking of her game model, she was definitely big. Well. At least, bigger than she looked on the outside.
And the same went for Alice.
Even in the game, while they cut corners on background textures and recycled character motion rigs, they meticulously modeled the chest area in different sizes for each character. Especially when they modeled this bunny girl outfit, they put such careful detail into even the parts where the flesh was compressed that in the player communities, people were calling the dev staff real perverts.
But come to think of it, it wouldn't exactly be polite for a character-driven game not to have that sort of detail.
I didn't know exactly who on the dev team had decided to put Alice in the sky-blue bunny suit, but Alice's golden hair and that sky-blue outfit went together far too well. The color wasn't too flashy, and the faintly visible skin through her stockings matched perfectly.
On top of that, the 'embarrassment' that was so clearly visible even past her white half-mask was perfect for seizing the gazes of everyone around us.
......I honestly couldn't understand how the version of me from before I rewound time had failed to recognize her.
And, well, it was a bit awkward to put it that way—
My chest, um, was it a bit weird to express it like that?
'Sylvia Fangriffon's' chest was also splendidly sized, not being outdone by Alice's at all.
I saw this often enough normally, but how could I put it... With an outfit like this, where the upper chest was visible, the shape was slightly altered by being pushed up from below, making it look far more pronounced than usual.
Whoo—
I heard someone whistle at us, but we paid it no mind.
It wasn't something to get worked up over. A lot of people here were probably first-timers who hadn't been humbled yet and acted all high-and-mighty. And there were probably also people who took delight in breaking those types.
"I'll say it again. If anyone tries to touch you—"
"—Kick him in the groin. Got it. I've heard it a bunch of times already."
Even if the guards came running, we'd just reveal our identities immediately and that would be that. No matter what, who would dare lay a hand on the imperial princess?
...... Of course, it would be safer to rewind time and give Alice a chance to go in a different direction instead.
"I have the information, so don't worry. I'm not interested in wasting time either."
It seemed she had gotten some kind of tip from Bella beforehand.
"Hey, over here—"
I was carefully following behind Alice, trying hard not to bump into anyone, when someone shouted like that. Between the fingers held up high, several banknotes were tucked.
Of course, we tried to walk past without paying any attention—
"Hey there, you ignoring me?"
Yeah, of course there had to be guys who acted like this in these situations.
It was a cliché, wasn't it?
...... Though it wasn't a very welcome cliché.
As if annoyed that we had simply walked past, I heard the sound of someone getting up from behind.
Honestly, I didn't know what they were trying to get us to do when we weren't even carrying any drinks... no, wait, maybe they just intended to sit us on their lap and toy with us. Although, judging by the height of the man who had stood up, he was shorter than both of us in our high heels.
But despite being short, he was a thuggish-looking man.
"Let's go."
It seemed Alice had heard the voice too, but she immediately grabbed my wrist and pulled me along. Just looking at that, she seemed really reliable.
But there was a limit to how fast we could move while speed-walking in high heels we didn't usually wear.
"You there, didn't you hear me? I said you caught my eye."
I felt a rough hand snatch my wrist.
It was a coarse, calloused hand.
I would have liked to keep my legs moving immediately, but with Alice holding one wrist and this guy grabbing the opposite hand, my arms were stretched out on both sides, leaving me stuck in a state where I couldn't do anything.
...... Damn it, being pulled from both sides while wearing this outfit was genuinely, deeply humiliating.
At the moment my mind was about to go blank in confusion, frozen in place—
"You there."
Not surprisingly at all, another cliché of such scenes approached.
"Let go of this hand."
"Huh? And who the hell are—gargh!?"
It was Claire, whose grip strength, contrary to her appearance, was terrifyingly well-trained.
Moreover, right now her face looked a little angry.
...... It was an expression I'd seen a few times in the game, but the look on her face right now was way more forceful than in the game.
The man's hand that had been gripping my wrist fell away.
"...... No rule says a guy has to be the one doing the taking, right?"
Before Alice or I could react, Claire pulled a banknote from her pocket and casually tucked it between my breasts.
...... The fact that her fingers didn't touch anything in the process was something of a skill, if you could even call it that.
"Your High—Alice, this way."
And Leo, who was almost always around when Claire was, appeared beside Alice at some point and put his hand on the small of her back—
—no, he couldn't quite bring himself to actually rest it there, but keeping his hand near that area, he guided Alice toward him.
Oh, so, uh.
So that was why Alice, Leo, and Claire had all come spilling out at once a little while ago.
As I was pulled along by Claire, I thought that to myself, desperately trying not to feel embarrassed.