Volume 2 - CH 9

Several days after we had decided on individual practice, a discussion about the school festival took place in Class A of the butler’s course.

In theory, the one who should have taken the lead in discussing the matter was me as the class representative, but it was a given that I would be fully devoting myself to the Student Council’s play.

Therefore, the one who was going to run the whole operation would be the vice-class representative, Luke. He stood in front of the teacher’s desk, seriously discussing what the class could choose to do for the festival.

“It’s kind of a shame that you won’t organize it yourself, Cyril.”

I was standing in the corner of the classroom, watching over the debate when suddenly Raymond appeared next to me and began talking.

“Are you dissatisfied with Luke as the representative?”

“Nothing of the sort. It’s just that, at the welcome party for the new students, the people who worked with you all said that doing things your way is definitely best. I would have liked to try working under you as well.”

I let out a laugh, sounding somewhat embarrassed. I fondly thought that the Raymond that defied me over and over when we first met was now completely different from the Raymond now.

“If that’s the case, there is no need for you to worry. At the previous event, I had him as my aide, so he is definitely well-acquainted with the way I run things.”

“…He was?”

Raymond set his gaze on Luke, who was taking note of everyone’s opinions at the teacher’s desk. Normally, the one who would stand at that place was Raymond, as the runner-up. I was a little worried that he might try to start some trouble, like he had done in the past. However, I turned out to have been worrying needlessly. Raymond had properly matured compared to back then. 

“Then, that means that as long as I watch him, I’ll be able to learn how you run things, right,  Cyril?” It was obvious that he desperately wanted to learn how I operate, it was written all over his face. I was sure that Raymond, as he was now, would get along with Luke and the others just fine.

I could truly sense how hard he worked for the sake of his family, and how much he had grown up. It was a little heartwarming.

After the discussion about the class’ performance, a regular class took place. There were still almost two months before the cultural festival, so the schedule was a lot more relaxed than it had been for the new students’ welcome party.

However, it couldn’t be said that those of us who were appearing on the stage had any time to waste. I had finally begun the individual acting classes after school. I had already commenced Lady Sophia’s individual lessons, but it was only that day that I began the lessons with the others as well.

It had been decided that, after I reserved a practice room, I would be teaching Lady Alicia first. However…

…before I could meet up with Alicia, I ran into Lady Sophia in the hallway.

“Why do you not look my way alone?”

“Incorrect, my Lady. The line has no ‘alone’ it’s just ‘my way’, isn’t it?”

I corrected Lady Sophia who all of a sudden began to perform. However, Lady Sophia didn’t answer, and, with an imperceptible pout, drew closer.

“Cy.ril. Why. do. you. not. look. my. way. alo.ne?”

“If I were to look at you alone, Lady Sophia, I wouldn’t be able to protect you from enemies. That is why I have to pay attention to other things and people besides you, Lady Sophia.”

“~~~hmph.”

With her face turning red, Lady Sophia glared at me with apparent frustration in her eyes. I could never grow bored of looking at my Lady’s adorable form, but Lady Sophia herself had been the one pushing for me to teach Alicia and Alforth.

She didn’t seem to have started her true descent into darkness, but it was true that something felt off about her. I had to check why she was suddenly giving me this kind of response.

“….My Lady, did something happen?”

“There’s a kiss scene between the heroine and the prince in the script, isn’t there?”

“That’s the last scene, yes. Is there a problem with it?”

“…During practice, you will be taking on the role of the other person, like when you train with me, right?”

“Naturally, that was my plan…”

‘Why is that such a problem?’ I tilted my head in puzzlement. It wasn’t related to Lady Sophia’s line at all…  is what I thought when, suddenly, realization hit me.

“…Lady Alicia is playing the role of the maid, though?”

Lady Sophia had a look on her face that said: ‘What excuses are you trying to come up with now!’ But right after, she tilted her head in confusion. She must have mistakenly thought that Alicia was playing the heroine, after all.

“That… is right. Alicia is playing the maid. Why did I believe that she was playing the role of the heroine?” 

I watched the young lady’s puzzled expression and suddenly felt a slight chill. Could the memory of the villainous daughter’s character exist inside of Lady Sophia’s mind?

Unexpectedly, even though she couldn’t feel any yearning towards the Second Prince, that didn’t mean that her descent into darkness could be limited to that sole motive. It could happen in some other way. I would have to pay close attention, just like I had been up until now.

“Incidentally, my Lady, if I do not get going soon, I will be late to Lady Alicia’s practice.”

“Ah, t-that’s right. I apologize for delaying you.”

“…Will you be alright if I go?”

After all, Lady Sophia was my top priority.

If she had told me that she didn’t want me to go, I would have needed to find an alternative for Lady Alicia. I was already thinking back over the list of the theatre groups in the royal capital when Lady Sophia smiled and said that it was alright.

“As long as I’m here, you won’t leave, will you, Cyril?”

After saying that, Lady Sophia turned on her heel. I kept looking at Lady Sophia’s back as she walked away with her hands clasped behind her, when, suddenly, she looked over her shoulder.

“Cyril, come back quickly, alright?”

This time Lady Sophia had left without further delay, leaving me with a somewhat embarrassed smile.

Afterwards, I finally made my way to the practice room where Alicia and I were supposed to meet. It was a room that was primarily used for practicing dance and musical performances, so it had a brightly polished wooden floor.

“Since I have preparations to make, please wait for just a moment,” Alicia said.

“As you wish.”

‘What does she need to prepare for?’ I thought, tilting my head in confusion while politely bowing my head. Alicia, who disappeared into the preparation room together with Melissa, returned to the practice room soon after.

When I caught sight of her, my eyes went wide.

Vermillion.

It was generally said that boys had a lower level of hue recognition when it comes to the colour red than girls. Therefore, girls were more likely to like the colour vermillion, while boys tended to give it a wide berth.

However, this vermillion was a gentle red that made whoever looked at it feel at ease.

No, I didn’t even care about the vermillion.

More importantly, the issue was the clothes that Alicia was wearing. The fabric looked soft, and she had put on a vermillion coat over a white shirt. As for her lower body, she was wearing pants, also vermillion.

No matter how I looked at it, I could only picture someone wearing a tracksuit jacket on top of a gym uniform.

“Lady Alicia, what are these clothes?”

“It’s my gym uniform and a tracksuit jacket.”

So it was that indeed…I stopped myself from saying.

Ah, right, this was the world of Espressivo of Light and Darkness. The setting for this world was fundamentally the aristocratic society that existed a long time ago, but this one part of it had been replaced with modern elements.

The academy’s school uniform was exactly like this.

However, since the people attending the servant course were obviously working in their school uniforms, I had completely forgotten that tracksuit jackets were a thing that existed in this world.

How should I put it… Seeing a noble lady wearing a tracksuit jacket felt out of place.

“Um, Cyril. Is something wrong?”

“Nothing of the sort. The combination of your black hair tinged with blue and the reddish colour of the jacket makes you reminiscent of the golden hour.1.”

“…Magical hour?”

“It’s the one moment when the sun has just begun to sink and a boundary between day and night surges on the horizon.”

The horizon dyed by the setting sun and the night, spreading across the sky. It was said to be the most beautiful time of the day. I joked that it looked just  like Lady Alicia right at that moment, and her cheeks turned bright red.

With this silly exchange, Alicia’s nervousness melted away and I began her acting lesson.

It was her first acting lesson, but a great deal of the basics were things that were part of the etiquette training as well. First, a review of the basics of one’s bearing and manners. After that followed the vocal exercises.

I praised and expanded on her strong points and gently pointed out her weak points, correcting them. After a short while, I noticed that Melissa was looking at me, as if astonished by something.

“…Is something the matter?”

“Up until now, I’ve been present to Lady Alicia’s lessons countless times, but this is the first time that I can clearly see results. So you being Lady Sophia’s tutor was true!”

“You can’t say that, Melissa!”

Alicia immediately interrupted Melissa, who was speaking rudely without a care.

Me being Lady Sophia’s tutor, was something said by Lady Sophia herself at the tea party. Therefore, connecting both their statements together, she was doubting Lady Sophia’s words.

My position as Lady Sophia’s tutor was taken as a joke most of the time. Neither me nor my Lady would have gotten angry over something like this.

However, Melissa, who was usually the one to admonish the reckless Alicia,was now being criticised by Alicia due to her improper words towards me.

The relationship between these two was a little funny.

“I deeply apologize, Cyril.”

“No, there’s no need for you to worry about something like this. It is natural that calling a child like me a tutor would raise doubts.”

“Yes, well… that might be so. Originally, in your case, I had doubts about whether or not you are truly twelve years old… you aren’t lying about your age, are you?”

“I’m just as old as I look.”

In the same fashion as I always did when someone asked me about this in the past, I muttered in my head: ‘I did transmigrate, though.’

“More importantly, let’s continue Lady Alicia’s acting lesson without further delay. While the foundation is, of course, important, for the performance at the cultural festival, perfecting it is equally essential2.”

If we were to continue with these lessons, the foundation would always be important.

However, what was essential to the young ladies was to give a performance that wouldn’t embarrass them at the cultural festival. Since that was the case, I suggested that we should follow a lesson plan specifically serving this purpose

“I understand. Then, I will attempt to perform now.”

Standing in the middle of the practice room, Alicia placed her hand near her chest and began her performance.

It seemed that she had properly memorized her lines, as I expected. Although she was holding the script in her hand, she only briefly glanced at it at the beginning of the performance, and hadn’t looked at it even once after that.

However… Alicia’s performance was clearly that of an amateur. Lady Sophia, who briefly listened to my opinions and then showed me a perfect rendition of the game’s villainous daughter, seemed to be the exception.

As I thought about how practice was necessary in that regard and that for now, there was no helping it if she was unskilled, I read the prince’s lines out loud.

“Elvira ordered her butler to hunt Aurelia down!”

It was the scene in which Elvira and her butler’s evil deeds were exposed during their trial.

The prince presented a large amount of evidence, and convicted the villainous daughter. In this scene, the maid Karin testified that she had been together with her lady when she was attacked, however —

“Why are you so fixated on it happening like that!? Lady Sophia and Cyril wouldn’t do such awful things, you have to thoroughly review the incident one more time!”

For some unknown reason, Karin, or rather, Alicia, was enraged. These lines weren’t performed in the same amateur way as the ones up until now had been. Instead, it was a realistic performance.

“No, um, Lady Alicia. This is a play. Although the roles of the villainous daughter and her butler are being played by Lady Sophia and me, it’s not like we are actually being judged.”

“Eh? …Ah, th-that’s right. I’m sorry.”

She looked disheartened.

It seemed that it wasn’t a performance, and instead she had been truly angered.

As we kept on going through the play from the beginning to the end, eventually, she wasn’t able to concentrate any longer. I decided to tell Lady Alicia that we should take a break for now, and I went to prepare her some black tea.

In the corner of the practice room.

Alicia, sitting on a chair, drank her black tea and sighed in contentment.

“As expected, the black tea you make is delicious, Cyril. Thanks to you, Melissa’s black tea has also become very delicious.”

“I’m honoured to have been of any help to you, Lady Alicia.”

Being able to please someone was something that still made me happy. Thinking about this, I smiled, and Alicia let her gaze roam freely before she quickly averted her eyes.

“Is something the matter?”

“It-it’s nothing. I wasn’t startled by the strangely dazzling sight or anything like that3.”

It was the same as an actual answer.

However, it wasn’t like I was using my magical powers. Alicia’s teenage girl imagination4 was describing a non-existent light.

“By the way, what are your impressions about your first performance?” 

“It’s very difficult. Somehow I can’t relate to her.”

“Can’t relate… to Karin?”

Alicia was a person that was used to being served. While it was a shame that she couldn’t empathize with the feeling of devoting oneself to serve, it wasn’t unreasonable once I considered the difference in their positions. That was what I thought, but then, Alicia tilted her head to the side.

“Since Melissa is always by my side, I do understand how Karin, who devoted herself to serving others, feels. It’s just that I couldn’t empathize with Aurelia.”

…Was she completely refusing the role she herself was modelled after? 

There were differences between them, like me replacing the Second Prince as the person she liked and Alicia pushing against her parents’ opposition to enter the academy, which she wasn’t supposed to attend until three years later. Yet I still believed that their personalities weren’t that different from each other.

However, being unable to sympathize with the character she was modeled after was just too unexpected.

“However, I believe that Aurelia isn’t two-faced, and she has a personality that makes everyone like her. Which part of her can you not sympathize with?”

“To begin with, I think that her lacking a dark side is merely a pretense.”

“Is-is that so?”

“That is what I believe.”

That- that was no good. A situation where one completely disavowed the character they were modeled after… that was just too bizarre. ‘Are you pretending that you don’t have a dark side?’ I had trouble controlling my urge to ask Alicia this.

“Moreover, I cannot sympathize with the way she is stealing the prince from Elvira.”

“…Why is that?”

Alicia was rather the type of person to determinedly and stubbornly push forward no matter the situation, just like her game character. After all, up until now, she asked me to dance at the party hall, and demanded for an exchange of partners, saying that she wanted to become my dance partner. Therefore, I was sure that she would have been able to empathize with Aurelia. 

“After all, didn’t Aurelia get close to Alfred by meeting up with him without Elvira’s knowledge? I cannot forgive her for stealing someone’s fiance in such a sly way.”

This time, she was rejecting Espressivo of Light and Darkness’ main story line from its very core.

No, well… now that she mentioned it, it was exactly like that.

However, it was necessary for Alicia to perform as Karin. For that reason as well, she needed to sympathize, or at least understand, Aurelia’s thoughts. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to perform her role well.

I thought about it for a while, and then decided to make her think about it as a situation that applied to her specifically.

“Then, if you were in the same situation, Lady Alicia, would you give up?”

""

“No, I definitely would not.”

“However, your beloved has a fiancée. If you won’t give up, isn’t it necessary for you to be prepared to steal one’s beloved as well, just like Aurelia?”

“Certainly, I believe that it’s necessary to be prepared to steal her beloved. However, that is why I believe that drawing the prince’s attention slyly when Elvira is not present is cunning.”

“I see, I understand now.”

Certainly, while Aurelia was proactively trying to draw the prince’s attention, she never tried to interact with Elvira. Even though she knew that he had a fiancée, she kept on meeting up with the prince.

In noble society, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it adultery.

Thinking about it in this context, Aurelia was the one who seemed like the villain. No, more importantly, Alicia was also of the opinion that secretly meeting up with the prince when Elvira wasn’t present was cunning. In other words, she was saying that she would rather challenge Elvira openly, winning her lover over in that way.

Thinking back on it, Alicia had invited me to dance publicly, in front of everyone, with Lady Sophia by my side as well. Even if it was just a matter of being her temporary partner, she wouldn’t have kept it a secret from my Lady.

That was what it meant, didn’t it?

While I was harbouring these thoughts, Alicia, turning her gaze towards me, declared with a determined look on her face.

“I would challenge my rival fair and square,” she said.

‘Please, don’t challenge her, I’m begging you,’ I wasn’t able to say, since it would have just brought me unnecessary trouble.

Big thank you the person who donated 9 dollars through the Foxaholic Ko-Fi to me for picking up the novel, I was all flustered!!! Thank you so much for your generosity!!