“Hey, hey, what clique are you in Ayesha-chan? Who do you like?” I was suddenly asked while having dinner with Marietta-san whom I met at the dining hall. *COUGH*. I’m proud of myself for swallowing the stew cooked from summer vegetables instead of spitting it out. I went straight to the dining hall today after work so I was still wearing the eggplant coloured office uniform, but I wanted to avoid getting red tomato stains on it.

We were talking about our favourite menu until a little while ago……

Marietta-san stared at me with an excited expression on her face when I looked at her dubiously. Even if you’re expecting an answer, nothing is coming out of my mouth.

“… Errm…”

“You only listen to others and never join in yourself when we talk about this kind of things, right? Do you like someone from a hidden clique? Do you think that you have to hide what clique you’re in? As you know, I’m in Lancel-sama’s clique. He doesn’t act stuck up to commoners even though he’s a knight. He’s tall and his chest is broad… Ahh, I want to hug him.”

Marietta-san waved both her hands in front of her face. Her hair which were braided together shook around like a tail. Blood rushed to her face and it got red. She was probably imagining her small self hugging Lancel-sama’s large frame. That was very girly and cute. She was a year older than me but she seemed a lot younger.

“Now, tell me.”

As expected of an excellent civil official employed by the Royal Palace. She pointed at me and drew closer, making it hard for me to run away.

(Eerrrr, think, me.)

“I like H-His Highness Ludens. Well, his face is out of this world, isn’t it? (Let’s not get into his personality) He’s really attractive.”

Random words came out of my mouth ~!! This is a lie~!!

I kept a calm face but my voice got higher.

I thought I’d failed and looked at Marietta-san. She was shaking her face up and down while nodding, “Uh-huh. I see, so it’s like that.” She looked just like a town girl.

“Natasha is also in His Highness Ludens’ clique,” and “Leyard-sama is also attractive,” she kept saying, so I just nodded.

For Marietta-san and Harmie-san, who were commoners, nobles were out of their reach and they could admire them as much as they want. It seemed that they let out their everyday stress by talking about dreamy men.

When I asked her, “Aren’t there any dreamy men who aren’t nobles?” she replied with, “It’s easier to talk about someone that everyone knows, that way we can all get into it.” They’ve never meet the men before, so they could only use their imaginations to make the conversations exciting. It was different from the way my sisters, who were nobles from the Thousand House, talked about men. Because unlike my sisters, they can’t get married to these men.

Unlike nobles, it was a commoner’s privilege to be able to purely enjoy encounters with the opposite sex. There were an overwhelming amount of commoners who can actually experience love like in novels.

I managed to adjust myself to Marietta-san and I also felt that I could converse well now. It was really nice to eat with someone else. My tiredness from the day was blown away.

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

Dull rain clouds covered the sky and I couldn’t see the sun’s sparkling appearance at all. It was annoying how my hair frizzed because of the humidity.

It was probably annoying to go out in this steady rain because His Highness Ludens, Roberto-sama, Lancel-sama and Leyard-sama were all in the Royal Capital’s Public Order Consolation Room.

(Marietta-san, Harmie-san and Natasha-san would probably be happy if they saw this scene.)

Everyone was diligently sitting at their own desks and writing something. Most people probably couldn’t see these men working earnestly like this. I suddenly got chills because they looked so cool.

I was also used to making copies of the memos and the boxes in which I sorted them into only contained the ones that I’d just copied. Since I’ve become freer lately, I added data that could be used onto the memo copies and added book titles and pages for reference. I wonder if it’s helpful.

I timed everyone’s break.

The maids were preparing tea so that everyone could have tea time. All they had to do now was prepare the hot water.

His Highness Ludens looked up from his desk and glanced at his companions. He made eye contact with me in the end.

I brewed some delicious tea.

His Highness Ludens and everyone else sat down on the sofa.

(I can give them the chameleon plant medicine now!)

I put the chameleon plant medicine, which was placed in a much more expensive bottle than the one I’d given to Natasha-san and her friends, in front of each of them. I was looking for a bottle that would be fine to give to His Highness, so it took time to prepare. I put 10 times the amount inside.

“This is the medicine I made from the chameleon plants. I think that the effects are considerably inferior to the one everyone uses, but please use it.”

“Ooh, this is medicine from the Royal Palace witch. Thank you.”

(Huh? Witch?)

“Well, this is an honour. I can’t believe that the person you like most is me.”

“What’s that mean?”

“○▲××～～～～!!!! I will tell you how I made the medicine!!!!” I cut off Roberto-sama’s words in a way that was unbefitting of a lady.

Why does His Highness Ludens know that, “I like His Highness Ludens?” He said it in a tone that stated that he knew I was lying.

“Your face is getting red, Lady Ann.” His Highness Ludens said as he drank the tea and rested his chin on his hands. His gentle smiled looked forced. This is embarrassing~.

Somehow I was forced to teach Roberto-sama, Lancel-sama and Leyard-sama how to make medicine from chameleon plants. I couldn’t see His Highness Ludens’ face properly.

I only said those words when I was eating with Marietta-san. There was no one near us at that time. Which meant if someone heard this then they must have really good ears.

At any rate, I had to be careful of what I say. I’ve been a little careless since I left the Thousand House.

I have to be careful of His Highness Ludens, since he seems to know about a lot of things.