Chapter 5
“It’s a black dragon egg. Do you like it?”
“Are you giving it to me?”
When I asked in surprise, the count smiled warmly and nodded.
“I don’t know when it will hatch, but if Yveline takes good care of it, I’m sure it will come out of the egg sooner.”
“Yay! I’m so excited! Daddy is the best!”
Even now, it still felt deeply moving.
This wasn’t like buying sweet potatoes from a street vendor on the way home. This was a father who casually gave his daughter a dragon as a present after one business trip.
As expected, our rich Count Monstera really had a completely different scale when it came to gifts.
I grinned widely, hoping my dragon would hatch soon.
Then Elissa asked,
“Yveline, what is this dragon’s name?”
“Hmm. It looks like a big black bean, so it’s Bean.”
“Bean?”
“Yep!”
When I answered energetically, Elissa hesitated for a moment.
A little later, she rolled her eyes and said,
“Th-that is a very… intuitive name.”
“It has to be intuitive so it’s easy to remember.”
I answered like I knew everything, while Elissa forced a smile.
Then she brightened up as if she had just heard a very clear answer.
“As expected, Yveline is so thoughtful!”
Her reaction was much different from her earlier lukewarm response.
Her praise was a little strange, but I didn’t pay it much mind.
Elissa still seemed curious, because she asked another question.
“When will it hatch?”
“I don’t know. Father said it should hatch sooner if I take good care of it.”
“I can’t wait. I want to see Bean’s face. When it hatches, do I have to be the first one you show it to, just like today?”
Elissa’s eyes sparkled as she grabbed my hand tightly.
She looked so earnest that I couldn’t help smiling.
“Okay.”
Elissa seemed satisfied with my answer and smiled brightly.
After that, we watched Bean for quite a while before returning to the banquet hall on time.
The party hall was crowded with invited nobles.
The Montes region was a country territory far from the capital, but it was still a fairly large estate.
It was especially famous as a vacation spot, so there were many nobles who had moved here because they liked the place.
At that moment, the count was introducing Cassis to the guests.
Cassis was dressed neatly, as the main figure of the party.
“Yveline, you’re too late.”
At that moment, Mother grabbed my hand and chided me.
As she led me away, I whispered to Elissa,
“See you later.”
“Okay! Go on, Yveline.”
Elissa waved.
Then she headed straight to the room where the children were gathered.
The children attending the party were meeting in a different room, not this one.
I followed Mother toward the place where Cassis was.
Mother adjusted my clothes one last time and reminded me,
“Yveline. You need to take good care of Cassis, okay?”
“Don’t worry, Mother.”
When I answered with a bright smile, Mother gently patted my head.
Seeing him up close, Cassis’s expression looked a little stiff.
He looked frozen, probably because he was nervous being surrounded by adults.
Well, it would not be easy to talk among grown-ups.
At that moment, Baron Poem, who was with my father, noticed me first and spoke.
“Yveline, that dress suits you very well today.”
“Right? Daddy picked it out for me.”
When I answered brightly, Father smiled with satisfaction.
He was probably pleased that his daughter liked the clothes he had given her.
I quickly went over to Cassis and grabbed his hand.
He was startled and looked at me.
“I’ll introduce you to my friends.”
I’ll save you from this.
I tried to pull Cassis away from the boring adults and take him to the children his own age.
Then Father laughed heartily and said,
“That’s right, Cassis. You must have had a hard time being surrounded by adults. Now go play with children your own age.”
“Not at all. I was very grateful for your consideration.”
The Count seemed moved by Cassis’s words, because he laughed again and lightly patted Cassis’s shoulder.
Cassis lowered his head slightly at the count’s kind reaction.
When I tilted my head to look at his face, I saw the corner of his mouth rise for a moment before quickly dropping again.
Was he happy?
I watched his expression carefully, trying to catch that faint smile before it disappeared.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he raised his head and greeted the adults.
“Let’s go, Yveline.”
“Okay!”
I answered energetically and led the way, trotting across the hall and up the stairs.
We were walking toward the room where the children were when he suddenly let go of my hand and stopped.
“Cassis?”
I called him softly after he came to a stop.
Even after I called him, he didn’t say anything for a while.
Then he suddenly spoke in a cold voice.
His face held a little embarrassment and irritation.
“Can you stop grabbing people’s hands like that?”
I stared at him in surprise and couldn’t even respond.
He continued,
“You’ve been doing it since before. Suddenly grabbing my hand, then suddenly hugging me. Don’t you know any fear?”
I stared blankly at Cassis, whose ears had turned bright red.
Come to think of it, every time I touched Cassis, he reacted like this.
Maybe he really didn’t like physical contact.
Thinking that I had unintentionally made him uncomfortable, I fidgeted with my fingers and apologized.
“Sorry. I just have a habit of holding hands… I really didn’t know you disliked it. And the hug was an accident, not on purpose. Can’t you let it go?”
When I blinked at him and begged, Cassis quickly turned his head away.
After a moment, he spoke in a slightly calmer voice.
“No, then what am I supposed to do when you apologize like that…”
Kid, what exactly am I supposed to do with you?
I stared at him, annoyed that he complained either way.
By now, his ears had cooled back to their normal color.
Without thinking, I pointed at his ears and asked,
“Do your ears turn red first when you get embarrassed?”
“N-No, they do not!”
Cassis snapped back sharply and quickly covered his ears with his hands.
But he was clearly very embarrassed, because now even his neck had turned bright red.
I thought it might be funny to tease him and say his neck was red too, but I held back.
If he got angry and went back to his room, I would be the one in trouble.
I remembered Mother’s words about taking good care of Cassis, and I gently caught his sleeve and pulled him.
“Come on. The children are waiting.”
“Haah.”
Cassis stared at his own sleeve for a moment before letting out a small sigh.
As if he had no choice, he motioned for me to lead the way.
With his head hanging low, he looked like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
Honestly, he never agreed to things easily.
I urged him on and kept walking.
As soon as Cassis arrived in the room, the children who had been chatting and playing turned their attention to him.
Elissa was not in the room at the moment; she had apparently gone somewhere else.
The children gathered around Cassis.
Everyone was welcoming the new friend.
“Congratulations! You finally escaped the adults.”
Philip said cheerfully while patting Cassis on the back.
His gesture was so friendly it looked like they had been friends for ten years.
Cassis seemed flustered and responded awkwardly.
Unlike the nobles’ children in the capital, the children living in Montes rarely discriminated based on status.
Compared to the capital, this territory was much smaller, so everyone was connected through neighbors and acquaintances.
Of course, not every child was innocent.
I noticed someone unexpected and stared at her in surprise.
It was because Luna Barnessa was standing in the crowd, dressed especially glamorously.
What is she doing here?
I found it strange that someone I had thought would never come was here at our castle.
Luna Barnessa.
She was the daughter of a marquis family. In the original story, she had been my best friend, but now she was someone I had deliberately kept my distance from.
Luna and her group were among the exceptions I had mentioned earlier.
If it had been the old me, I would have acted the same way as them. But thanks to my memories of my previous life, I had managed to avoid them.
If I had mixed with that group, I never knew what I might have done to Elissa.
Maybe I would have been led astray and started looking down on her too?
Remembering how Luna had provoked me in the novel until I bullied Elissa, I shuddered.
Just the fact that Luna, who thought our group was low-class, was here made me nervous.
What was she here to do this time?
I hid my suspicion and asked her,
“Luna, what brings you here?”
“What do you mean, what brings me here? I came because I wanted to see your face after such a long time.”
Luna spoke warmly and acted close to me by crossing her arms.
I stared at her, wondering why she was suddenly pretending to be friendly, when Luna revealed her true purpose.
Her gaze immediately turned toward Cassis.
“Hello, Cassis. I’m Luna Barnessa.”
Only then did I realize Luna’s real reason for attending the party was Cassis.
Well, there was no other reason for the proud Barnessa marquis family to come all the way to our house for a visit.
Starting with her introduction, Luna began talking to Cassis in earnest.
“You came from the capital too, right? I was in the capital until not long ago, so it’s kind of nice to see you.”
“I see.”
Cassis gave a light response, and Luna smiled brightly as she continued.
“Ah! Cassis, do you like Marie cookies? I mean the cookies made by the most famous pastry chef in the capital.”
Everything she said somehow turned into a capital story.
I half-listened as Luna kept praising the capital again and again today.
Then Cassis smiled softly and replied,
“Yes, I like them.”
Oh? Look at him.
Why is he so different with her?
I was shocked by Cassis’s double standard.
So I stood there with a sulky expression and watched the situation like an observer.
Luna beamed and said,
“Oh, really? Then if you ever want some later, you can come to our house anytime. We have lots of them.”
“Sure, I will.”
When I talked to him, he was always blunt, but with Luna he was actually polite and gentle.
Was he not just behaving well in front of adults, but simply being mean only to me?
No.
What exactly had I done wrong?
I pouted as a sudden question came to mind.
Then I thought about whether I had ever done anything that might make Cassis dislike me.
But no matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t find anything that would justify it.
