Volume 2 - CH 10

“Okay, that should be everything you ordered. Thank you very much for choosing us for this job. We hope to do business with you again in the future.”

On a certain day, with the Festival of Sages fast approaching…

I was out in town on a weekday with Albert and Colette; Melissa came as well, following along as though she naturally belonged with us.

Not that we were skipping classes. At the moment, Academy classes ended earlier so as to make more time to prepare for the upcoming Festival of Sages.

As a result, classes ended after the morning session, and today, we spent the afternoon coming out to pick up the uniforms we ordered for our ‘cafe’.

And just now was the clerk from the clothing store, sending us off in hopes of another business opportunity in the future.

Having completed a request for around ten custom-made outfits, they were probably quite happy looking at their ledger; it was no surprise that they wanted us to do business again someday.

Well, I suppose I might just return again, if there came an opportunity — perhaps next year… No, it was a little too soon to be planning so far ahead.

In any case, having paid for and received our order, we the four of us left without further delay.

“With that, we have secured the clothes, and inspected them too! Ah, I so look forward to the day of the Festival!”

“Indeed, as do I! I simply cannot wait to see Mylene in this outfit!”

We left the store and began walking, and the two royals of our group were happily sharing a good mood and laughs with each other.

Meanwhile, I marched forward with heavy steps, and my shoulders were slumped over as though I was ready to drop the bags I carried.

Of course, it wasn’t because items I carried were heavy.

“Damn it all, I wasn’t expecting this… This is what I’m going to have to wear..?”

The finished clothes were… even more extreme than I expected.

Well, no, the uniform itself was fine. It used bright colors to emphasize a cute but faintly suggestive design. It also didn’t expose too much skin, as we didn’t want to get into trouble with the public morals committee.

And the quality was also quite good; I would even bet money that this was on par with the clothes I’d seen in some of the fancier cafes in the future.

The only problem was… the resulting outfit was more than what I was expecting.

“Hahaha! Well of course! And you know me: if I have to do something, I want to do the best I can!”

And this had happened because I had overlooked what Colette was capable of.

Back when we were placing the order, for some reason, Colette stayed behind to talk to the clerk for a little while longer.

At the time, I had thought they were just having fun talking together, and the last thing I expected was for her to have added onto what we had already ordered.

That was how we ended up with these outfits.

…And it weighed heavily on my mind. I thought I had gotten used to being a woman and wearing women’s clothes after all this time, and yet why was it still so embarrassing to even think about wearing clothes that expose even a bit more skin?

I mostly wore heavy clothing back then because of my line of work, but even as a man, I hadn’t cared about how exposed I sometimes ended up.

“Pl-please cheer up, Lady Mylene! There will be others wearing the outfit as well!”

“…I do not see anything embarrassing about the outfit, speaking as someone who will be wearing it.”

“You may be correct, but… Well, everyone has their own preferences, you know?”

That being said, it was my own fault for not suspecting Colette in the first place, so I couldn’t complain — especially since it already happened.

And it really was as Melissa said: there wasn’t anything embarrassing about the outfit. The design wasn’t bad at all in fact, I didn’t remember seeing anything of this quality in the future.

Well, as long as I made a clear break from it afterward, things would be fine.

“It’s still depressing…”

But if it were that easy, I wouldn’t be feeling so troubled over it in thef irst place.

So all I could do now was pray that the problem would fix itself over time… I tried as best as I could to not care or think about it, but still weighed heavily in my mind.

Well whatever. There wasn’t any more I could do, no matter how hard I thought. It was better just to stop thinking about it.

“This is going much smoother than I was expecting… Hm, this will impose a bit on our other classmates, but shall we take a moment to rest before continuing back?”

“I would appreciate that.”

It would be good to change the subject to try and lighten my mood, even if only a little.

And so at Colette’s suggestion, we found a teahouse to relax in.

“Is it really fine to be resting like this when everyone else is still working hard?”

Melissa asked, thinking about our other classmates who were still busy preparing the classroom for the Festival, but…

“If anyone asks, we can call it research. Yeah, just research.”

Sometimes you had to just cut loose; staying so stiff all the time would just burn you out before long.

Actually, we already had our menu and prices decided on, so there wasn’t much we might have needed to know. Still, it was enjoyable to be a little dishonest from time to time.

“We’ll have four iced teas.”

“Of course. It will be out shortly.”

We were seated at a table out front, and I confidently placed an order.

It was quite hot today. A cold drink would be delicious.

“You said coming here was for research, but… I must say, these kinds of casual restaurants are quite innovative. There are quite a number of interesting places here in Zelfoir.”

“Indeed there are. For me, it was the idea of drinking cold tea; it was surprising at first, but after learning how easy it was to drink, I cannot get enough of it, especially on a day like this.”

This teahouse was rather novel — ahead of its time, even. As a result, the two royals with us were quite absorbed in their admiration, and it became research for real.

And it wasn’t for no reason; this teahouse really did have some innovative ideas. There wasn’t much variety in the tea they offered, but there was a good selection of food available, ranging from light snacks to full meals.

In the future, it hadn’t been uncommon to find a place like this — a place to enjoy a meal and some tea at leisure. However, teahouses of this kind didn’t yet exist in Iltania, and, judging from Colette’s words, the same went for Colhoun.

Due to its location and importance as a hub of travel and commerce, it was no surprise that Zelfoire’s culture was ahead of other countries.

…Actually, where had ‘I’ been in the previous history? If I remembered correctly, ‘I’ should have been around the same age as ‘Mylene’.

Which meant…

“Here you are, four iced teas.”

“Ah, it’s here.”

As I wondered about ‘me’, our waiter arrived with our drinks in hand.

There were four glasses, full of tea and filled with chunks of ice. A faint white sheen coated their sides — condensation — making them seem even colder.

I resisted the urge to quaff it down immediately and drank with careful but audible gulps.

“Haa… That was good.”

I let out an involuntary sigh as I felt the cold tea make its way through my body, cooling it at its core.

“The flavor and aroma are rather weak, but it is quite pleasant nonetheless… Serving cold drinks, especially something like black tea, was not something I could have imagined.”

It was just as Colette said: serving drinks cold was an unusual idea, even for me, who has seen what the future held.

The tea was rather cheap, but it was harder to tell because the coldness made it taste much better… Or maybe it was because the tea wasn’t very strong that it was so refreshing?

“Zelfoir really is quite interesting…”

I quietly muttered to myself as I looked out onto the bustling streets.

Despite all that I’d seen of the future, I realized once again the narrow worldview I still had; there were still plenty of things I didn’t know anything about.

It might be a surprisingly not bad idea to spend time carefully seeing and experiencing more things.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself, Lady Mylene.”

“Hm? Oh… Yeah, I guess.”

Albert giggled as he joined me in watching the streets of Zelfoir.

“Now this is rare, an honest Mylene.”

“That isn’t true at all. The hell kind of person am I to you, anyway?”

I answered Albert normally but turned to give Colette a reproaching glance; she had a teasing grin on her face.

Just how they did they all see me?

“A cynic.”

“A fraud.”

“Both of you? Really?”

Colette and Melissa gave their opinions at the same time.

Colette aside, my relationship with Melissa has progressed enough that she would casually join in and make jokes with us.

“Unbelievable…”

“You really do seem to be having fun right now.”

“Really? I suppose I am. I’ve been well-behaved all the time at the Academy, but it’s pretty liberating when I don’t have to think about it.”

“I believe it would be fine if you stayed this way, Lady Mylene.”

“Do you really think so? It feels more special this way because Mylene only occasionally shows her true self to me… Actually, it seems you are no longer hiding that personality of yours from Melissa.”

“I was careless and revealed it by accident already. I would just look stupid if I kept trying to hide it.”

“I cannot say I was not surprised at first, but I believe this is fine.”

Come to think of it, I actually hadn’t told them anything about what had happened during that meeting with Melissa.

Well, it wasn’t like I needed to tell them everything I did, but…

…I couldn’t say that I had Melissa’s full trust, even after revealing my true self to her, but it was true that we were closer to one another.

“Grr… Is this… jealousy I am feeling? Did something happen between the two of you?!”

…And why was she jealous when I had revealed my true self to her from the very beginning?

Seeing Colette with her hands raised in light anger, I gave her a wry smile.

The ice in my tea had begun to melt before long, and the shrinking chunks made pleasant noises as they clinked against the glass.

The sounds of the ice seemed to create a moment of silence free from the hustle and bustle of the city.

“Actually, I must apologize to you, Mylene.”

“Huh?”

It was Melissa who broke the silence, her voice like a sunbeam coming through a forest canopy.

Her sudden declaration had caught us by surprise, and I looked over to see she was bowing to me from across the table.

“I, um, I have been extremely disrespectful, almost hostile, to you because of my mistaken presumptions, Mylene… and I want to make amends for it.

“Oh. Is that all this is about?”

I had wondered what she was going to say, but she just wanted to apologize for her attitude until now.

It seemed a little late to be addressing that only now, to be honest.

“It never really bothered me, so don’t worry about it.”

“But…”

Really, I didn’t care about that kind of thing at all.

Besides, it wasn’t ‘me’ that she hated; she just thought I was someone else.

And when it came to me, I had faced much worse treatment in the previous history.

“Let me put it this way: as the victim, I’m telling you there really wasn’t a problem, so don’t worry about it. And in case it wasn’t clear, I don’t mean anything else by that; you know how I hate speaking in circles and stuff.”

So she really didn’t need to think about it. I casually waved her off to dismiss the topic, but Melissa stood frozen with her mouth agape…

“Fufu, what are you even saying…”

…only to smile and giggle gently.

Albert and Colette smiled as well, as though following her lead.

It felt as though time had begun to slow as I basked in this moment.

The feeling I was getting here… it wasn’t unpleasant at all.

“…Ah, we shouldn’t hang around for too long. Let’s start heading back.”

I shook my head clear before returning us to reality.

The others nodded in agreement.

…I just realized I might have accidentally said something extremely embarrassing so I wanted to leave before the others realized as well, but as I awkwardly stood from my seat and turned to leave, I heard a gentle peal of laughter coming from behind me.