Chapter 171

nferiority

After finishing my dance with Claire-sama, I went over to the side of the hall where food was lined up to take a breather .

As a result of all of the hard work that was put into making improvements, the food that was served at the ball became quite delicious .

There was a large variety of creative new dishes from both the Empire and other nations all lined up .

“It tastes better now!”

“Yeah, it’s much different than before!”

I was happy to hear such positive reception from the attendees at the ball as they ate .

It seemed that the people of the Empire were not the only ones who found the food delicious .

“Eh, were there always this many types of sausages?”

“This ‘pretzel’ thing is also super, super delicious . ”

“To think, I once made fun of the Empire’s cuisine… . I regret it…… But I’ll eat it!”

It appeared that some of the international students from Bauer were facing a bit of culture shock as well .

Don’t think your cuisine is superior and look down on the Empire’s food .

Food is constantly evolving, after all .

Dancing with Claire-sama was my primary objective for today, so all I had left was to enjoy the food .

I started with the sausages, but right as I picked them up to put on my small dish,

“Ahh, so you were here, Rei . ”

Hilda approached me .

She was wearing an evening dress today as well .

Hilda, who was the beautiful ice-cold type much like Misha and Eve, wore a long blue dress .

It looked so refined on her that it made her seem unapproachable .

“What’s the matter, Hilda-sama?”

“I would like to express my gratitude towards you . ”

Hilda gave me her usual smile as she spoke .

“Thanks to you, the diet in the Empire has improved significantly . Plus, you managed to make it in time for the princess’s public debut, so really, thank you so much . ”

“No, I really didn’t do anything special . ”

“Rei, being modest isn’t necessarily a virtue all the time . You’re being credited for your efforts right now, you should take some pride in it . ”

“Haah……”

Honestly, I didn’t think I was trying to be modest or anything, though .

“Hilda! You were here!”

“Princess, I see you are in excellent spirits . ”

Philine came over to us as well .

I had already seen her dance with multiple partners already, so she was probably just here to take a short break .

“Princess, would you like to have a taste as well? The food here is incredibly delicious . ”

“Thank you . But I feel like I won’t be able to move as well afterward, so I’ll refrain . Hey, Rei . Where’s Claire? I would like to have a dance with her . ”

“If you’re looking for Claire-sama, I think she’s somewhere in the hall . Perhaps you passed by her without noticing?”

“I see…… Since it’s Claire, she’s probably in high demand right now . ”

“Yes . As her partner, half of me feels proud, while the other half of me is kind of jealous . ”

“…… That’s just how it is, huh . ”

When she heard the word “partner”, Philine made an unamused face .

Even if you make that kind of face, I’m not going to just hand her over, you know?

“Anyway, will you dance with me?”

Hilda made such a proposal .

“Yes, that’s fine . ”

“Ah, princess, I was actually asking Rei . ”

“…… Eh……?”

Unlike what happened before, Philine’s complexion turned pale .

It seemed that Hilda didn’t notice it .

“What do you think, Rei?”

“I’m sorry, but I decided that I wasn’t going to dance with anybody other than Claire-sama . ”

“Is that so? That’s unfortunate . ”

“You’ve got some sort of ulterior motive, don’t you?”

“You can tell?”

“Well, of course . ”

While we were in the middle of searching for each other’s true colors,

“…… I-I’ll be going back to the main hall . ”

Philine said before parting from us .

“…… Was that on purpose just now as well?”

“You could tell?”

“Was that really alright, though? It’ll impact your chance at a promotion, you know?”

“The princess’s popularity is currently on a decline . You, on the other hand, are becoming more useful to me . ”

It seemed that she no longer tried to keep her intentions hidden .

“I’m not a citizen of the Empire, though?”

“Even so, you are close to Her Majesty . Perhaps even more than the princess is . ”

“Don’t you think you’re really overestimating me?”

“Is that so? Her Majesty hardly even takes notice of the princess, but you’re a different story . That goes for Claire François as well . ”

After saying that, Hilda had a curious smile on her face .

It was different from her usual smile .

This was a smile from her truest, scheming self .

“Hilda-sama, you’re being quite cruel . ”

“What are you referring to?”

“I’m talking about Philine-sama . Out of everybody involved in the Imperial family, you are the one that she is the fondest of . ”

“Oh, where did you even learn of that information?”

“Rather, I think I should ask you something instead . Why are you assuming that I wouldn’t know about it? It’s something that practically every student at the Imperial Academy knows about . ”

Even Anna, the girl who provided me with information on Philine’s affection levels, knew about it, and she wasn’t particularly special either .

“Fufu, well, this is tough . Why can’t you just let yourself get caught in one of my tricks already?”

“I don’t really care about how high my value is . Philine is a strong woman at her core, but even she has her limits . She won’t be able to bear it if she feels like she got betrayed by somebody she really trusted . ”

“You sure are aware of where you stand right now . ”

Hilda giggled .

I thought Philine was currently a little unstable .

Claire-sama, the person that she liked, was already taken by me .

Plus, it might sound like I’m bragging a bit, but I was starting to get praised for my achievements during the revolution .

I had also earned the favor of her blood-related mother, Dorothea, and on top of all of that, Hilda started giving priority over to me, so it would be more strange if she wasn’t feeling inferior right now .

“Besides, working with me doesn’t sound so bad for you either, right? You want to change things within the Empire, after all . ”

“This isn’t the right place for this type of conversation . ”

I separated from Hilda .

Up until now, we haven’t been harmed by the Empire in any way, but that might not necessarily be the same in the future .

I didn’t want to add any unnecessary fuel to the fire .

Haah…… what a pain .

Was this a positive or a negative thing in our plan to ensnare the Empire?

Most likely negative .

Our original plan was to get Philine all riled up so she could put an end to the Empire’s aggressive foreign policies .

However, right now, it seemed like she was feeling uncomfortable with me .

This most likely called for a change in our strategy .

“What’s wrong, Rei-sensei?”

After walking for a while, I bumped into Lana .

As she mentioned before, she had no intention of dancing, so she was just grabbing food to put on her plate .

“Ah, well, it’s nothing . Where’s Eve?”

“She went to go dance with Joel, since we’re here anyway . Surprisingly, that girl’s the type to follow the crowd sometimes . ”

Lana said as she laughed brightly .

I was incredibly grateful for her usual and unchanging lightheartedness .

Especially since I was exhausted after searching for Hilda’s true intentions and vice versa .

“You really don’t plan to dance, huh, Lana . ”

“Yeah . I’m really hopeless when it comes to things like that . ”

Lana smiled brightly again as she spoke .

“Doesn’t the Imperial Academy offer dance classes, though?”

“Yeah, but I really don’t think I’m suited for things like that anyway . ”

“I see…… Well, that’s the same with me, though . ”

“If I could dance, I would’ve wanted to dance with you, sensei . Ah, but if anything, do you wanna try dancing in other ways tonight? I’m really good at that sort of thing, you know?”

Lana said while wiggling her body around .

“Don’t say such stupid things . ”

“Ow!?”

The person who smacked Lana on the shoulder was none other than Claire-sama .

It seemed that Claire-sama came over for a short break .

“Claire-sama, did you ever run into Philine?”

“Yes . She asked me to dance with her, but I was feeling a bit tired, so I turned her down . ”

“Oh dear……”

That’s some horrible timing .

“Did something happen?”

“Well, to be honest……”

I explained what happened with Hilda from just a while ago .

“…… . So that’s what happened…”

“Do you think you could find her and dance with her?”

Even though I wasn’t a fan of the idea, as long as she liked Claire-sama, our original strategy could proceed as planned .

“I think it’ll be counterproductive . If Philine ends up wondering why I refused her in the first place, I fear that she might notice our true intentions . ”

“Is that so……”

Seemed like that plan wasn’t going to work then .

In the end, the ball ended without a hitch .

Except for one thing .

The guest of honor, Philine, had left partway through .