CH 80

[Hated Hero, Enjoying the Party]

The party finally started.

About 30 guests were in attendance.

It gave the party a VIP-only vibe.

That being said, I reckoned that this party was held with the purpose to strengthen our foundation.

After all, the attendees were made up of those with a close relationship with the Alberses, like Jarvis’ house.

And those attendees were surprised, to say the least, seeing me and Tayte so close.

We had never been together in public even though we were engaged before, but now we were smilingly talking with our arms linked, putting our closeness in full display.

“Oh, look at how much you have grown up.”

“And so beautiful as well, just like your mother.”

“N-no, that’s…”

It had been a long time since she had last attended a gathering held by the House of Albers, and Tayte received a lot of attention. The attendees seemed to have caught wind of the rumors that I—or rather, Barrett had mended his ways as there was no end to people coming up and initiating a conversation with us, which I presumed to confirm the truth of the rumors.

Of course, I responded to them sincerely.

I paid attention to my language and manners, spoke with a smile, and flirted with Tayte from time to time. It worked wonders.

They all were on guard at first—likely doubtful if I really had reformed myself—but as our conversations went on, they gradually relaxed as though they had become convinced that the rumor was true, making for very enjoyable conversations.

In the middle of that, I secretly looked around to see how the others were doing.

Jarvis was chatting with other attendees just like we were doing. The Lekrusts seemed to be eager to use this occasion to expand their connections.

Still… the fact that Jarvis was a girl would surely come to light sooner or later.

Honestly, I thought Jarvis should just reveal her real gender.

After all, it seemed to me that Jarvis herself was reaching her limit in living as a boy. Jarvis herself wanted to live as a girl, but her family circumstances forced her otherwise, which made her agonized.

If possible, I’d like to release her from her suffering… but I still didn’t know the real reason why she was pretending to be a boy.

Maybe I should ask her about it after the summer vacation was over.

Tayte’s personal maid Eureka, on the other hand, was following Tayte around closely, carrying out her duty faithfully.

I was terribly curious about her relationship with Raul—I’d thought that Mr. Klaus would use his status as Holy Knight to sneak in, but there was no such surprise.

Well, even if he were to do so, Raul would surely not tag along, considering how tense he was facing Eureka back then.

I had to dig into their past relations sometime.

Moving on, Reina and Mr. Abel caught my eyes next.

Just like us, they were having pleasant conversations with all sorts of people. Given their age, they looked like a couple of lovely newlyweds.

“Barrett.”

As I was watching them, Tayte called my name.

When I turned around, I found her holding a glass filled with small slices of fruit in her hand.

I guessed she’d got them for me.

How considerate~, as I was moved by her consideration, Tayte picked one of the slices, and…

“Say ah♪.”

…she said that while holding it out in front of my mouth.

Is this… the “Say ah♪” that everyone always goes on about…?”

How terrifyingly destructive!

Seeing her beet-red face and trembling hand, she must have mustered a lot of courage to do this. Just how cute can you be!

“O-okay, here I go.”

Pretending to be calm, I ate the fruit.

If I was being honest, I couldn’t care less about the taste at that point.

However, the surrounding guests suddenly broke into applause.

As anyone in my position would be, I became really embarrassed, but this should be more than enough to prove that the relationship between me and Tayte had improved and that we were getting along well.