Chapter 1: Their Everyday Lives
“Sia? Sorry to bother you for a moment.”
“Yes!”
It was Thursday evening, four days later.
After returning home from what could be called a typical day at the academy.
Byleth, who had stopped Sia as she was diligently working, asked her the following as she hurried over with quick steps:
“So, about the dinner party coming up in two days… how should we handle the greetings? I heard quite a number of people will be attending.”
“What do you mean by ‘how should we handle it’?”
“Well, it’s embarrassing to say, but I’m having trouble matching faces to names of the other nobles. I’m worried I might make a faux pas.”
(Maybe it’s because I was avoided due to bad rumors, but my memory of these things is pretty hazy… I should have studied more about the people around me earlier, though it’s a bit late now…)
As he internally chided himself, he sent her a look asking for help—and she showed it.
Narrowing her round eyes, she gave him a reassuring smile that made him feel he could rely on her.
“Please don’t worry about that! You can ask me!”
“You mean if there’s a noble I want to greet, you’ll give me information about them beforehand?”
“Yes!”
Sia nodded vigorously, making the necklace he had given her as a present bounce.
It was clear she was confident she could answer any question he might ask.
“Thank you. I’ll be counting on you then.”
“Leave it to me! Ehehe…”
Pleased at being praised, Sia smiled sweetly and took small steps to close the distance between them even further.
Just as he wondered what she was going to do, she stretched up on her toes and thrust her head forward with a “Hmm~”.
“Haha… Just a little, since you’re working.”
Though he didn’t say it out loud, he understood what she was asking for.
He reached out to touch her well-groomed hair, gently stroking it.
Sia had been especially clingy today, ever since the morning.
So much so that when praised, she would initiate actions like this on her own.
(I guess yesterday’s incident had a big impact…)
As he continued moving his hand, he thought back to what had happened late last night.
In a moment alone together, she had opened up and expressed her thoughts about the future, saying,
“I really don’t want to serve anyone but you, Byleth-sama… I want to support you in the future as well…”
He had accepted her feelings and held her hand as he escorted her back to her room.
Although it was all talk of what would happen after graduation from the academy, that conversation seemed to be the trigger for this sort of indulgence, where she would ask him to do things she wanted.
(Is someone like me really good enough for Sia…? Really. She’s already this beautiful at sixteen, so she’s bound to become even more gorgeous. Her career prospects will surely expand too, and her personality is as you can see…)
Given his past of bullying her, it goes without saying that he feels she’s too good for him, and surely a partner worthy of her will appear in the future.
(What am I thinking…)
Not only would such thoughts undermine the feelings she had courageously expressed, but they might also make her misunderstand that he disliked her.
He stopped stroking her hair and instead placed his hand on her cheek, looking at Sia.
(I need to make efforts not to be abandoned from now on… It would be sad to part with Sia, and besides—)
Selfishly, he also felt that he didn’t want to let her go to serve other nobles.
As he entered his own world, mulling over various thoughts in his head—
“U-um, um, Byleth-sama…”
“Hm?”
“Y-your hand… your hand is…”
“Oh! S-sorry. I was just spacing out a bit.”
He snapped back to reality at her call.
He had been staring at her childlike face with his hand still on her cheek.
He hurriedly apologized to Sia, who was blushing as she let him touch her, and quickly removed his hand.
“…”
“…”
Silence fell.
And Sia stood there, frozen like a statue with her hand over her mouth.
As if she had made some grand misunderstanding.
“Hm? Eh? …Wait!? I wasn’t trying to do anything weird!”
“O-o-of course I understand that!!”
“You definitely misunderstood, didn’t you?”
“I-I wouldn’t make such a presumptuous misunderstanding given my position!”
“R-really? But still… um…”
He couldn’t believe her explanation as she opened and closed her mouth, but he couldn’t say anything more.
However, it wasn’t good to continue with such an embarrassing topic.
Trying to calm down, he racked his brain and somehow managed to find a different subject.
“Oh, right. Changing the subject, but is Lady Aria from the Duke’s family, who’s participating in this dinner party, really such an amazing person?”
“Of course she is! It’s no exaggeration to say that Lady Aria’s singing has further strengthened her family’s power and connections with other nobles!”
“I see…”
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Neither a feeling of surprise nor astonishment welled up. That’s because it was something that remained faintly in his memory.
“Hey Sia, I’m sorry to ask while you’re working… but could you tell me a bit more about Lady Aria? I’ll have to greet her at the dinner party, so the more information I have, the easier it will be to navigate.”
“O-okay!”
And so, partly with the aim of giving Sia a break, he had her spare some time.
“Refined”
“Graceful”
“Strikingly beautiful”
“The treasure of the Duke’s family”
Various words flew from her mouth, and she concluded by saying that Lady Aria was “flawless in every aspect,” just as Elena had.
The next day.
On the eve of the dinner party with numerous participants, after school.
“The conversation room?”
“Yeah. Elena told me to come. To be honest, I don’t really want to show my face in a place where students gather. Haha…”
Byleth was heading towards the conversation room, a spacious area like a party venue with a terrace, accompanied by his personal maid, Sia.
“Um, is it alright for me to come along too? If I’m in the way…”
“I was told to ‘bring Sia too,’ so it’s fine. Besides, I’m happy and feel more at ease with you here, Sia.”
“Oh, thank you very much!”
“No, no.”
It wasn’t flattery or just being considerate, but simply his honest feelings.
Mentally, he couldn’t enter the conversation room alone.
Imagining the reactions of those around him when he, whose bad reputation had not yet been wiped clean, entered the room.
“Sia, I’ll tell you in advance, I’m sorry if things get weird.”
“Yes?”
“Well, I think it’s going to be quite something.”
“I-I understand!!”
Perhaps due to her strong loyalty, she gave an energetic reply even though she didn’t seem to fully grasp the situation.
As they were having such a conversation, the moment they entered the conversation room built on the upper floor of the academy:
Amidst the chatter of those around, people who noticed them let out a succession of startled “Ah!” sounds—and then fell silent.
Perhaps because he was used to attracting negative attention, he could roughly read the emotions from the gazes directed at him.
Agitation, surprise, dread, fear.
Needless to say, the atmosphere had changed.
“Well, I guess this is how it goes…”
“…”
Looking apologetically to his side, he saw Sia with an expressionless face.
While Byleth’s reputation had apparently improved among the servant class, it was clearly not the case elsewhere, as they could see.
(Oh…)
Just now, he thought he saw a black aura behind Sia.
Maybe she was angry at this situation.
“Um, Sia…?”
“Yes!”
“I-I’m okay, you know? Yeah…”
The moment he spoke to the blank-faced Sia, she put on a smile and changed to a cheerful voice.
As he blinked repeatedly at this too-quick change, it happened.
“Byleth, over here.”
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