FSW Chapter 15

Misunderstanding

The young ladies were all reading the room, trying to gauge her intentions. Their faces said they couldn't tell what she was really after.

"Do you truly think so, Your Highness?"

Lady Orsini, who had been quiet throughout the tea party, asked in a measured tone. Her voice was monotonous, yet her eyes glinted sharp as cut glass—as though she were weighing whether Nishina's words were genuine or merely a probe. Even under that piercing gaze that might have made others flinch, Nishina nodded with perfect composure.

"Of course. I could never hope to match him, inadequate as I am. I admire my brother greatly."

At her decisive statement, the ambiguous expressions on the young ladies' faces grew even more complicated.

The blunt conclusion of her praise was clear: Therefore, my brother is better suited to lead. And it was Nishina herself—his competitor, no less—who had stated this aloud. Small wonder they looked bewildered. Even after her unexpected declaration, traces of distrust still lingered on their faces.

She wasn't disappointed. She'd never expected them to believe her sincerity from a single comment. She certainly hadn't hoped they'd support her outright. To make her intentions more explicit, she could mention Aiden's remarks at the recent council meeting and highlight his exceptional qualities once more. But forcing the issue too early would likely breed resentment. Besides, there was no need to appear desperate at their very first meeting.

Having successfully accomplished her purpose, Nishina took a sip of her remaining tea. In the heavy silence, only the sound of her swallowing echoed. Amid the young ladies who couldn't easily show their reactions, the first to respond was none other than Lady Laurent.

"I've never met His Highness the Prince directly, but from what I've heard from Carlos, he truly is an outstanding individual."

Nishina was secretly surprised by the well-timed agreement. To think that Laurent—loyal to the Emperor down to her bones—would voice support for the Prince.

It seemed less likely she harbored genuine goodwill toward Aiden and more probable she was helping Nishina navigate this awkward situation. Either way, it was a favorable response. Emboldened by Laurent's answer, the other young ladies who had been hesitant now murmured their agreement as well. After all, they could hardly show disapproval of the Princess's opinion.

"Oh, by the way, what hobbies do you young ladies enjoy? I've recently started learning piano, and I find it quite delightful."

With the radiant smile Nishina had described as "dazzling," Laurent smoothly steered the conversation in a new direction. The answer to the fresh topic she'd introduced with that bright expression came from Lady Orsini.

"Hmm, the only hobby I have worth mentioning is archery."

"Archery?"

"Yes. Father and I often go hunting together, you see."

Come to think of it, there had been calluses on the index and middle fingers of her right hand when she'd held her teacup earlier. Nishina had noticed but passed over them, more struck by the color of her hair—but they must have been traces of a long-held hobby. Archery, though. Quite unexpected, yet it suited her perfectly.

"Do you have a hobby, Your Highness?"

At Lady Orsini's question, Nishina took a moment to look back over her recent days. She'd been devoting time to developing new desserts lately, but she wasn't actually making them herself—just pestering the pâtissier with various ideas, which hardly qualified as a hobby.

'So what do I spend time on besides lessons and training?'

After a moment's consideration, Nishina found a straightforward answer. She usually spent her leisure time reading. The excuse she'd been able to use when she collapsed at Empress Kiyonné's funeral worked precisely because she stayed up reading so often it had become routine.

She enjoyed the act of reading itself, but more than that, she harbored the ambition of conquering every book in the imperial library. Of course, there were so many books there that even reading one a day until she died wouldn't get her through half of them.

"I don't have any particular hobbies—I just tend to read quite often."

"Oh my, you mean reading?"

She'd thought it a rather stodgy answer, but several young ladies' voices suddenly rose with excitement.

"I've been utterly absorbed in reading lately myself! Especially Madame Puresa's novels...!"

"Madame Puresa?"

"Yes! She's a master of romance novels, currently writing the books that are all the rage in the capital!"

"It's true! I've read all of her novels too!"

"Eek! Aren't they just incredible? The descriptions are so vivid you can picture everything, and the delicate emotional arcs, especially that—"

The claim that they were all the rage in the capital didn't seem to be empty flattery—more than half the young ladies blushed as they chimed in enthusiastically. They launched into effusive praise of Madame Puresa like devoted fans, then quickly began exchanging reviews of her works.

"My favorite is her debut novel, The Knight Who Does As He's Told. What about you, my lady?"

"I absolutely loved her most recent work, That Knight's Hidden Third Leg."

"Ah! That one's a masterpiece too!"

Intoxicated by the joy of sharing their tastes, the young ladies began describing the contents in vivid detail. What started as explanations of love stories between knights and ladies grew progressively more explicit.

Through it all, Nishina sat with her mouth firmly shut like someone who'd swallowed honey. The books she'd been thinking of were titles like 561 Useful Medicinal Herbs to Know, The Geometry of the Infinite, and The Rites of Fluxion and the Principles of Constant Motion...

Of course, she did read fiction—she enjoyed mystery novels with clever, innovative tricks. But the palace servants' overprotectiveness meant she'd never once read anything romance-related. To Nishina, Madame Puresa's novels were nothing short of shocking.

'Good heavens. Books with that kind of content actually exist in this world?'

At that level, weren't they less romance novels and more erotica? And yet the pen name was "Puresa"—meaning purity, innocence. What profound irony.

She'd received education in all sorts of subjects, so she wasn't completely ignorant in that regard... but the content was beyond what Nishina could handle. She'd somewhat anticipated the conversation might turn toward romantic topics with only young ladies of a certain age gathered together—but she'd expected the delicate pink of garden balsam, not the raw crimson of roses.

"The scene where she demands the knight who disobeyed her orders remove his shirt as punishment..."

"I absolutely love that scene!"

Apparently, the male protagonists in all her works were knights, described as having "exceptional physiques." It seemed she portrayed knights' stamina and bodies as quite... exceptional.

"I sometimes observe the knights' training sessions, and when they're drenched in sweat, their bodies become even more... revealing. They're definitely different from ordinary men, aren't they?"

"Indeed. I've even touched one before—it was definitely different. I felt like if I'd touched more, I could've understood exactly how different, but the knight ran away before I could, sadly."

'Um, isn't that sexual harassment...?'

As the conversation continued to dance along that dangerous line, Nishina unconsciously recalled one particular aspect where knights were exceptional.

Knights were also known to have better hearing than ordinary people.

Nishina carefully rolled her eyes to glance at Sir Hilton and the other knights standing guard at a distance. She desperately hoped they hadn't heard, but somehow they all had their heads bowed low.

The moment she caught sight of their reddened ears through the curtain of their fallen hair, Nishina had no choice but to drop her own head as well.

After removing all the dangling jewelry and stripping off the suffocating dress, she felt completely drained. Nishina hurriedly changed into more comfortable clothes and collapsed limply onto the sofa.

"You worked so hard today, Princess."

Ellis set a teacup on the table, but Nishina had no intention of touching it. For a while, she didn't even want to look at tea or pastries.

"I'm just glad it ended successfully."

Joy, who had been organizing the dress Nishina had worn, spoke with what sounded like relief.

It wasn't only Nishina who'd been stressed by the preparations. The pâtissier, her mother, and all the maids and servants including Joy and Ellis had worked hard. She planned to thank them properly later, but for now, she offered them heartfelt gratitude.

"Yes, thanks to you both. Thank you."

"Oh, come now. It was Your Highness's first time hosting a tea party—of course we had to do this much."

"Exactly. And I enjoyed helping fit your dress for the first time in ages."

Joy let out a rather ominous heh heh laugh.

In fact, Joy had been so perfectly in sync with the designer that they'd debated passionately about the outfit. The fitting alone had been so exhausting that Nishina had, for the first time ever, even given up on training that evening.

"By the way, did you become friendly with the young ladies?"

Ellis asked with expectant eyes.

The two of them, unaware of the tea party's true purpose, simply believed it had been for building personal connections.

"Mm, somewhat?"

Connections, was it.

Nishina recalled two young ladies who had left particularly strong impressions. If one was someone she needed to build a connection with, the other was someone she wanted to befriend.

The former was Lady Orsini, and the latter was Lady Laurent. House Orsini was one of only three ducal houses in the empire, and unlike the other two neutral houses, it was the only one that supported the Emperor.

There were only two people who could be said to be heirs to House Orsini—and one of them was a very young brother, so she would likely inherit the house. If so, building a connection with her was essential. Enough that she might one day support Nishina's own will rather than the current Emperor's. Though judging by her flawless demeanor—worthy of being called the model aristocrat—and her sharp questions, it wouldn't be easy...

And Lady Laurent, with her dazzling smile, had caught Nishina's interest on a purely personal level. She'd predicted they might get along well since they'd been close friends in the original story, but she'd been even better than expected—enough to surprise her.

Rather than finding Nishina's awkward remarks strange, she'd accepted them. She'd even helped smooth things over gracefully. Near the end of the tea party, she'd approached Nishina saying, "Um, Your Highness..." and smiled shyly, saying she'd truly enjoyed herself. When she'd said she'd like to see her again if there was another opportunity, her flustered manner had been so girlish and endearing that Nishina couldn't help but smile back.

"Maybe I should write her a letter..."

"Oh my, you'll even write letters?! I'll go fetch some stationery right away!!"

"Not right this—"

Bang!

Impatient Ellis dashed out without listening to the rest. Faced with the door that had shut so decisively, Nishina let her outstretched hand drop helplessly. Ellis could seem timid as a sparrow, easily anxious—but sometimes she bulldozed ahead like this. Truly unpredictable.

"Tsk, I wonder if she even knows where it is."

Joy, having finished organizing the dress, began removing the various ornaments stuck in Nishina's hair with a click of her tongue.

Only then did her aching scalp feel free. With the weight lifted from her head, she felt much more comfortable.

She let her now-wavy hair hang loose and squeezed her tired eyes shut. If only she could fall asleep like this—that would be bliss. But she couldn't. She still had an appointment.

If it had been Carlos's lesson, she'd have gladly skipped it, but this was her training session. She couldn't skip it just because she was tired.

"Are you going to train today too?"

"Yes, I have to."

Nishina, roughly tying up her disheveled hair, confirmed it.

Just as she gathered her energy to head out, the door swung open. She'd expected it to be Ellis returning with the stationery, but standing unexpectedly in the doorway was someone else entirely. It was Sir Hilton, who had briefly stepped away after being summoned by His Majesty—probably to report on the tea party.