Well, after I got away from that horrible old man and his creepy granddaughter who was giving off a certain amount of discomfort.
I got lost really fast.
Well, not really lost, I just didn't know where to go at all.
That's what I mean by lost.
Since I had no purpose at all, I didn't know where the hell to go or what to do.
I knew that if I recognized someone, I should go and say hello to them, but there were so many people that I didn't know where to start.
At any rate, I approached the nearest man who seemed to have some kind of presence, but I didn't know what to do when I saw that it was our family's Onmitsu-san, who was on a secret mission.
No matter how I looked at him, he was just an ordinary nobleman.
I'm impressed that he's so dedicated to his work, gathering information even in a place like this.
As I was talking to him, vaguely thinking that I wanted him to work in moderation so that he wouldn't die of overwork, I suddenly began to feel depressed and started to fret.
When I asked him about it, he told me that she thought that my specs were so great that I didn’t need him
Hn, I want to say it out loud.
How can that be?
I can't possibly have the communication skills, networking skills, or research skills of Onmitsu-san while acting like this ojisama at all.
No, if I work hard, I might be able to do it, but it would be a bit of a learning curve. Maybe.
I don't know what my specs are yet, so I don't know when they'll come out.
In this respect, it is really helpful to have someone with high specs like Onmitsu-san or Shitsuji-san to cover for me.
So, there is no need for him to feel depressed at all.
No matter how much of a girl you used to be and no matter how much of a communicator you are, there are things you can do and things you can't do.
So I comforted him with that thought, but I felt like I had failed.
I don't know why that Ossan was looking at me with sparkling eyes, you know?
Hn, I'm sorry, I really don't get it.
The right thing to do here would probably be to smile while carrying a shadow or something like that?
In addition, in the middle of comforting him, a passing wind spirit-like figure said, “Skirt flip!!” while cackling and lifting the hem of my coat innocently before leaving, really ruining it.
Why did you try to pull up Ojisama's skirt, you wind spirit-looking thing?
I’m not wearing something like a skirt.
No way, you're a pervert.
Oh no, I almost imagined it. Calm down me.
That won’t do.
Soon after that, I walked away from the place and came back to the terrace to get away from the glittering eyes of the onmitsu-san
Because I can't stand it.
Basically, I haven't done anything to be respected.
I don't understand why it became like this at all.
I mean, after all this time, I've suddenly realized something.
...... This castle has a lot of spirits.
I hadn't been able to see them before because I didn't have much time to spare, but if I just look around with my eyes, i'll see them, little spirit-like lights.
I guess at night they look like a lot of fireflies.
They were puffy, and the spirits were chasing each other, and it was beautiful, but there was something about them.
In particular, there were many light green balls of light that looked like wind spirits.
Suddenly, I saw a place where there was a particularly large crowd of wind spirits, so I looked over there.
They were blowing a light breeze on the head of a person who was obviously wearing a wig, and were enjoying the brink of falling or not.
Stop it!
He's so confused! He's in a hurry!
He's sweating so hard, he's on the edge of her seat, wondering if it's going to slip out of place!
Stop it, you poor thing!
"Hey, look, it’s Duke Werstein."
"That? What?"
When I was unconsciously getting nervous.
I heard such a voice coming from somewhere.
It sounded very strange, suspicious, or doubtful
"No, no, you're lying, no matter how you think of it."
"But that's what His Majesty called him."
I don't know where it's coming from, my body's specs are too high for me to have figured it out in that instant, but I'd better not pretend to notice.
Pretending to look for a drink, I listened to the conversation, but still kept a certain distance from them as I walked past.
"So you're sure that's the pig duke?"
"Hey, he can hear us?"
Yes, I can hear you.
But I ignored them.
Because it really was a pig, and there's no point in worrying about it.
"Well, well, Duke Werstein is still letting such a person tell him what to do... Where has the pride of the Duke gone?"
In a somewhat insistent and sarcastic tone, I heard the voice of a man whom I did not know but whom Augusto-san knew.
It was a low, kind of nice voice, but it sounded fishy.
It was that kind of voice of a ojisan
"I thought the Duke I knew was more honorable…, I wonder if I'm overly beautifying my memories."
He's saying something like that to me, but is he talking to me?
No, but I'm talking to myself, aren't I?
Or maybe it's the result of my adhering to the aristocratic rule of not talking to people of higher status until they talk to me.
Maybe I should talk to them?
I know where he's coming from, and he's right around the corner, but I don't know.
I feel like he's a huge pain in the ass.
I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to do. The glory of those days is nowhere to be seen!
Oh, no, this is the type of man who escalates and becomes more and more annoying.
I started to walk away from this place to go through it, but he still followed me all the way and was still talking about it, I'm sure of it.
" What a cruel thing, the passage of time is!"
What's this guy doing? He's starting to say something out loud.
I don't want to get involved.
... But it's obvious that if I leave him alone, he'll just become annoying.
It's really annoying, but I can't seem to choose not to talk to him, so I'm going to try my best to talk to him.
Hang in there, I'm a fighter.
You can do it, you can do it!
"Hmm, look at all that noise, it's you."
While exuding an irreverent attitude, I turn around, trying my best to look as graceful as possible, wondering who the hell I really am.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, there stood a nice middle-aged man with, how should I say, an exquisitely subtle appearance.
He was dressed in some kind of luxurious nobleman's clothing with gold embroidery and trimmings on a blackish brown base.
His height was a little shorter than the current me, or rather Augusto-san’s.
His long slit eyes are sharp and reddish brown.
His hair, which is the same color as his eyes and looks a bit stiff, is pulled back tightly.
His face is neat and tidy, but the problem is the beard around his mouth.
This beard made the appearance of the man in front of me exquisitely disappointing.
I saw him somewhere, but where was it.
No good, I tried to remember, but all I could come up with was Colonel Sanders.
It's not the Colonel's mustache, not that, it's a figure eight with a curled end.
Something like that.
Anyway, that beard was exquisitely ill-fitting.
I don't know why, maybe it's because of the light color of his hair.
The beard is that color, too.
Also, maybe it's because he has a baby face?
I don't know what it is, but when someone with a baby face grows a beard, it doesn't look good.
I wonder what that thing is.
Anyway, the beard doesn't look good on him.
I mean, maybe it's the beard's shape.
“You don’t plan to change the shape of your beard?"
"Oh, it's Duke Werstein! It's a pleasure to see that you remember me!
It has been a very long time, I am Richard Ironhide, the senior count of Ironhide."
The male noble deliberately acted cheerful, as if he had just noticed me, and politely bowing to me as a nobleman would to his superiors.
I think he's really worried about it because his mouth is twitching.
As I looked at him, I searched the database in my brain, and found one match.
Richard Ironhide.
Augusto-san's classmate.
He was always poking fun at him, giving him sarcastic remarks, making fun of him, and for some reason he just looked at him like he was the enemy.
When he went out into the world, the same thing happened every time he saw him, but he left him alone because he was harmless.
... This guy was a poor Ossan who was neglected for a long time.
What? You've been ignoring such a dense guy, Augusto-san.
On the contrary, you're amazing, Augusto-san.
I don't know if he's sensitive or brazen.
I briefly searched through my memories, and yes, she was a pitiful person.
I want to say, Why don't you take care of him a little bit? I feel like crying at the memories that I've been letting slide so smoothly since I was young.
I'm not going to cry, though.
It’s that kind of me but actually, surprisingly, I like such people.
What can I say, I like straightforward people who honestly and honestly express their malice and don't try to trick me behind my back.
From Augusto-san's memory, he was the only one who had this attitude.
This means that he probably thinks of Augusto-san as his ongoing rival or something.
Even so, Augusto-san is a real devil.
I personally want to take care of him because I feel sorry for him, but I wonder what the right way to do it is.
... For the time being, I think I'll just return the greeting normally first to see how things go.
"It's been a while since I've seen you. I'm sorry that I've caused you so much worry.
As you can see, I've regained my old weight, so you can relax."
It sounded like a greeting or a small thank you, but I wondered if it was enough.
I wondered if it was okay.
As I was thinking this, my mouth moved as if it was a reflex.
"By the way, aren't you going to shave your beard?"
Hey! I just said something I shouldn't have, but I did!
"..... I'm not sure if you've heard of it Duke Werstein, but this beard is on trend right now…"
"Hmm, yes, but it doesn't look good on you at all."
St, St, wait, wait!
What the hell is wrong with my mouth!!
Eh? What? This is what I get for trying to be nice to you!?
Is this the way Augusto-san treats you? Is this the standard?
"… !!"
Aaah! He's staring at me with that scary red face! His eyes are so strong! It's scary!
Because of the shame and frustration, plus the wall of status you can't say anything right, I’m sorry!
"Excuse me!"
I opened my mouth to apologize in a panic, but all that came out of my mouth was
"Okay, well, I'll see you soon."
It was an extremely arrogant line.
"… !!"
He stared at me vigorously without saying a word, as if that had really upset him, and I was really scared inside, but I guess I had no choice.
Yes, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to!
But why!? I don't know what to do, but I'm going to do it! I hate this!
But with me in a state of confusion, he turned himself around and walked away, looking indignant by all accounts.
Yes, I’ve done it ahh!!
I let out a breath, desperately suppressing the urge to crouch down with my head in my hands.
Richard Ironhide was a classmate of Augusto Werstein.
The dukes of Werstein and Ironhide have been producing knights for generations, and as students of the same knightly department, they had taken the same classes in the same classroom.
At the time, Richard was pursuing his dream of becoming a Knight Commander.
However, he was overwhelmed by the reality that no matter how much effort he put in, he could never reach the level of Augusto.
If Augusto had been studying every day to become a Knight Commander like Richard, he would not have been so cynical.
But Augusto had made the choice to take over the family name without becoming a knight.
Because he was the eldest son and his father was a knight commander, he probably just wanted to take care of his family, but the choice that only smothered Augusto's abilities made Richard furious.
It was possible to inherit the family name even if he became a knight, so he must have felt that way even more.
In addition, people's rumors that if you are as good as Augusto, you will be able to lionize yourself as a knight in no time, spurred Richard's emotions.
Why don't I have that ability? Why that man and not me?
It was jealousy and envy.
Richard, who had straightforward roots, criticized him head-on.
Augusto, however, was completely unconcerned and simply let it slide.
Over and over again, he graduated, came of age, and got married.
Then the war broke out, and as a knight, Richard fought against the mysterious epidemic that was spreading throughout the country.
When the war was over, he met Augusto, but he was not the Augusto Richard knew.
He was a desperate, unprincipled fool.
Seeing Augusto like this, Richard realized one thing.
He realized that he had longed for Augusto.
That's why he couldn't admit that Augusto was like that.
He couldn't even forgive him.
He could not forgive the existence of Augusto, who was becoming so stupid, that even though he was going to be under Augusto's son as the deputy knight commander, he could not care less about it.
One day, I wanted him to stand as a Knight Commander.
And he wanted to stand beside him as his right-hand man.
He was still living as a knight, unconsciously holding an unfulfilled dream.
It probably felt as if he was being overruled.
“Aren’t you glad, dear."
“Wh, What, what is!"
“Ah, here, have a handkerchief."
Richard's body recoiled in surprise at his wife's sudden appearance next to him.
"Shut up and leave me alone!"
“Even if you say that, your nose is showing"
“How could I have a retracted nose!”
I refused the handkerchief offered to me, but there was no way to disguise the moisture in my voice, and I was tended to with great care.
"It's not that, it's just that, um... Your nose is running...
“... !?"
“Aah, look, tears"
“Gah, noisy, I’m not crying!"
“Fufu, really, I’m glad for you"
"... Hmm! I don't know what's better. He's just as sarcastic as he was then."
“That’s right, I’ll leave it at that"
"What's that warm look in your eye? It's disgusting! Let's go home!"
"Yes, Richard-sama."
The wife smiled quietly at Richard's hoarse command, which seemed to try to cover up everything.
The wife knew.
She knew that Richard, who had always declared his dislike of Augusto and called him out on it, was an unconscious, deep-seated fan of Augusto.
She smiled with relief at the sight of her companion, who had regained his former vigor.
So the Uncle's default setting for dealing with Count Ironhide was ad hominem insult... welp, it's lots better than scheming and backstabbing.
Oooh that was sweet, hahaha
A fan! Thanks for the chapter.