MPBAGS Chapter 96

"..recovered!"

Lady Totten raised her voice unusually as she cut off Gabriel's words. Then she sent me a look seeking salvation, so I quickly nodded in agreement.

Gabriel might make an exception for me since he fell for me at first sight, but he wouldn't go easy on Melech. No matter how good the intentions were, or that it was to help Lady Totten, controlling corpses isn't something that can be condoned by common sense.

Lady Totten didn't welcome visitors anyway, and Gabriel knew this well. In that case, there would be no reason to meet with Melech now, so it should be fine not to mention it.

Gabriel either didn't realize or was pretending not to know out of consideration - he didn't pick up on any loose ends. But when our eyes met and he smiled smoothly, I suddenly wondered if he had caught on.

While Lady Totten and Gabriel were awkwardly watching each other, creating a momentary silence, a knight dressed in the same uniform as Gabriel broke the silence and intervened.

"Captain, I apologize for interrupting your reunion, but we must also inspect Lady Rohanson's and Lady Totten's belongings."

"Uriel."

It was Knight Uriel, who had served as my escort at the temple before.

It seemed Gabriel's knight order had come to provide support, taking charge of baggage inspections before entering the banquet hall. Well, considering it was a birthday banquet hosted by none other than the Crown Prince, it made sense that the security would be strict. Given the historical setting, there could be assassination attempts and such. Besides, most of the attendees today brought birthday gifts for the Crown Prince, so those would need to be checked too.

"Excuse me, Lady Rohanson. You look truly beautiful today as well."

Uriel delivered his flattery with a completely expressionless face that wouldn't flinch even if stabbed with a sword. I do look pretty today... but why does he give compliments like someone who received customer service training, with no variation in tone?

Looking at it this way, knights were really no different from service workers. Their main income came from selling holy water to nobles anyway - wasn't this basically just an upscale bottled water business? Is this too irreverent a thought? No, it's fine. I'm a transmigrator, so it's okay.

While other knights checked the gifts for the Crown Prince, Uriel briefly inspected Lady Totten and me. Meanwhile, Gabriel turned around and looked in the other direction with his back to us. He throws around flirtations constantly, but he's surprisingly old-fashioned about things like this...

Looking around, I noticed other nobles were also quietly submitting to the body searches without any resistance. I would have expected at least one villain to refuse the inspection, asking if they were being suspected and telling them not to frame innocent people, but everyone was responding obediently. Ah, maybe that antagonistic villain role was originally supposed to be played by Evangeline.

"Captain, everything has been checked."

Uriel called Gabriel, saying the inspection was complete.

"You don't have any weapons?"

Uriel seemed somewhat disappointed. Why is he disappointed? Would he have preferred if I had weapons? Then I suppose I have no choice but to fulfill his expectations.

"I did bring a weapon, actually."

"What? What do you mean?"

I spoke teasingly and ominously, making Uriel panic at the mention of carrying a weapon. Getting into my villainess act, I silently raised my hand and pointed behind Uriel. There, knights were in the middle of opening and inspecting gifts intended for the Crown Prince. When they opened the elegant box Henna had prepared, an ornate dagger emerged from inside.

"A... sword?"

The knight who opened the gift box trembled in apparent panic upon seeing the sword.

"Captain, what should we do about this...?"

The knight called for Gabriel, then looked up to see me standing right next to Gabriel, causing his pupils to shake as he looked back and forth between us. It was obvious he was confused about what to do - he needed to report to his superior, but his superior was my partner.

"The young lady was just joking. It's decorative with no blade, so there should be no problem bringing it in."

Gabriel quickly covered for me. I also nodded with the smile I had practiced diligently.

"I-is that so? Let me draw it to check."

The knight glanced at me nervously, took a deep breath, and drew the sword. As Gabriel had explained, the sword had no blade - only a hilt and scabbard. The blade section was completely empty. After confirming this, the knight let out a great sigh of relief and put the sword back in the box.

"Yes. As you said, there seems to be no problem. Lady Totten's items as well."

Lady Totten had brought elegant cufflinks as a gift for the Crown Prince. I heard such decorative items were usually the safest gifts.

I had just brought it because the Count had given me a sword saying it would be perfect for the Crown Prince, and since I was too lazy to prepare something else, I just brought it along.

It was supposedly a relic from a kingdom that had fallen long before the Empire was established. Since it wasn't even a real sword and was a decorative item with historical value, I thought it would be appropriate as a gift and wouldn't cause any trouble. Just to be safe, I had asked Gabriel in advance and gotten it pre-approved.

"Were you surprised too, Sir Uriel?"

"Yes. My heart dropped."

Uriel was truly the epitome of expressionlessness. Who would believe someone saying their heart dropped with such a calm face? The imperial servants, not Henna, took charge of the inspected gifts. Henna was to wait where the other maids were stationed. I was relieved that Uriel offered to escort Henna.

"I'll enter first."

"Yes. See you inside, Lady Totten."

Even though she was my chaperone, we couldn't enter together, so Lady Totten stepped into the banquet hall first. A servant who checked the guest list loudly announced Lady Totten's name.

"Lady Kinder Totten of House Marquis Totten!"

Wow, how exciting! So they announce names like this when entering? This is totally like a romance novel! Oh right, this is inside a romance novel.

"Shall we go in now?"

I guess it's our turn to enter. Gabriel hesitantly extended his hand to escort me.

When I lowered my gaze slightly, his long, moist eyelashes fluttered like they were trembling with moisture. At first, I didn't notice because he was smoothly giving compliments about stars or whatever, but Gabriel was indeed unusually nervous today. Was he nervous because I dressed up? Well, after getting the full styling treatment, I did look villainously pretty.

But it seemed Gabriel wasn't nervous for that reason.

"Though touching me must be unpleasant for you... since you said you'd go along with me, please endure it just for today."

His words came out as if crushed, and his fingertips trembled as if resonating.

I had thought he was nervous about filming a romance by himself, but that wasn't it. Gabriel was just being cautious, remembering my past words and actions. Because I had asked him to casually get along as usual, he had complimented me like before and acted nonchalant.

When we parted last time, Gabriel didn't offer his hand during the farewell, and it seemed he had assumed I would find contact with him unpleasant.

Who destroyed this guy's self-esteem! Oh right, me. I felt guilty and my conscience was pricked seeing Gabriel being so humble. Gabriel alone is overwhelming enough - how do people who manage multiple romantic interests while playing the field live with their conscience? Managing a harem while playing push-and-pull is too exhausting...

"It’s not unpleasant. Rather, I told you that I find you quite appealing."

I placed my hand on Gabriel's in a comforting manner and gently squeezed it. Honestly, it had only been a few days, so there wasn't any major change in my feelings, but I did reflect on being too cold to Gabriel.

Gabriel looked at me with a complicated expression. Yeah... you don't understand why I keep going back and forth, do you? But that's how managing a harem works - you have to maintain appropriate distance through push-and-pull. You need to understand.

"Is that because I know my place?"

"Excuse me?"

"No, it was nothing. Please don't mind it."

How can it be nothing! I'm a villainess, not a sunshine heroine, so even small mutterings don't get filtered out and I hear everything clearly. Seeing him keep his place so thoroughly that his self-esteem was crawling on the floor made me feel even more guilty.

While I was struggling with what to say, wondering if my comfort would be deception, we ended up entering the banquet hall.