BXBX NOVEL Chapter 31 - Volume 3
That night in the garden, surrounded by roses, a small wax candle was lit up upon a table. The person sitting next to it wore an indescribable expression.
The rest of the people there didn’t seem to mind such a trivial thing.
The sounds of someone lazily pouring tea, the sounds of the teacups filling up, and the sounds of breathing were all that could be heard… it was a quiet and enjoyable tea party for everyone.
Well… everyone other than me.
“Yurushia-sama, would you please stop clinking the cups.”
The silver-haired beauty, Millaine, suddenly cried out and stood up from her seat.
“But it’s dark.”
My eyesight in darkness isn’t much different than a normal human being.
Although my eyes don’t get tired and my vision doesn’t worsen and I can see magic and read faraway characters, something like night vision isn’t part of my Demonic powers.
I’ve been worried about dry eyes, recently.
*Clack*. I put my cup down, but since it was dark, I accidentally knocked a plate flying, the maid demon, Tina, caught it immediately, returning it to its position under the cup as if nothing had happened.
“How unrefined… Are you even an Aristocrat?! Are you even a Demon!?”
“Ehhhh… even if such a dreamy girl tells me that… ”
It seems that Millaine is holding on to an idealized belief about how nobles should behave.
What a serious child.
I’m a bit worried that the girl was drunk on the idea that Demons would say things like ‘In the world of Darkness’… Seriously.
All of a sudden, I felt like saying [My right eye is throbbing] (read: Chuunibyou reference)
Since that night, Millaine and I have been holding regular [Moonlit Tea Parties].
There were no human participants. That is, this was a tea party for the [Non-Humans] that lived in the Holy Kingdom.
By the way, even with their reduced numbers, Millaine had her maids in attendance. I also brought my attendants along. Those children devoted themselves earnestly as my attendants, melting away into the darkness, so it’s hard to tell if they’re actually here.
“You seem grumpy. You should eat more minerals. Would you like some wakame seaweed?”
“No thank you.”
Yeah, I really don’t want it either. I just really needed to get rid of the stuff since there is so much of it.
Even though I’m distributing it to the [Society for Turning Brightness to Darkness]’s members for free, the positive responses were few. It smelled strange to them.
“That seaweed? Yurushia-sama sent one wagon’s worth of the dried stuff, but I suffered when my stomach swelled after the meal, not to mention it tasting horrible…”
“………”
Did you actually eat it? Despite being a vampire?
My four attendants behind me also look surprised… Hey, Fannie? Your face became a Harlequin mask, it’s not good to laugh at that, you know…?
What a low amount of common sense, for a demon.
Really, Millaine-chan is quite dangerous. That child is too straightforward and adorable.
“Besides, no matter how good the tea is……”
“Well…… that is true.”
With my words, Millaine sat down angrily.
She understood, after all. Both demons and vampires don’t feel that human food is tasty.
Vampires like Millaine haven’t even noticed why.
“By the way, Millaine … I’d like you to try this.”
“Wha-, what… ”
Because of her terrible experience with the dried seaweed, Millaine drew away a little. Don’t give me those eyes…… I didn’t think that you would eat them.
“There isn’t a need to be so on guard… Noa.”
“Understood.”
As I called his name, the butler demon Noa bowed gently, and placed a newly-prepared cup of tea in front of Millaine.
“…This, is this just normal tea?”
Millaine is correct, but there’s more to it than that.
Noa took out something that looked like white haze, and, squeezing it like a fruit, several drops of something dripped into the tea.
“Millaine-sama, please try it.”
“………”
Millaine narrowed her eyebrows in suspicion.
Well, go on, go on. Although it was obviously suspicious, as she understood how [Strong] Noa was, she knew it wasn’t possible to refuse his suggestion. She accepted with a [Smile] and a “-Sama.”
Millaine timidly, put the cup to her mouth……
“ …… !?!?”
The [Flavor] made her eyes open wide, and I could see my reflection in those beautiful purple eyes.
“How do you like it, Millaine? The taste of a high quality [Soul]……”
Finally, with the help of my four followers, I am at last able to improve my [Eating habits].
To get rid of the likes and dislikes in the souls, we used the wisdom of ancient cooks and chose to mix them up.
Thanks to his [Unleashing] ability, Noa has made great contributions to producing this exquisite taste.
“Soul…? This? Really…”
She might have remembered the taste. Millaine was surprised at the [Soul-tasting tea], quickly gulping it down, setting aside her noble behavior.
“… Do you have any more?”
Millaine seems to have liked it quite a lot.
But…
“I’m sorry, Millaine. At the moment, I can’t easily give away a soul with [Karma] as deep as this [Traitorous 40-year-old Priest].”
In his youth, this pitiful man had no money to hire a healer to save his younger sister, who died from illness. As a result of his deep affection for her, he resented the church, and tried to drag innocent believers into his multiple-decade revenge plot on the church…
“When Fannie was taking a night stroll, she came across this present and took a slice of it.”
“Ehehehe”
When I patted her on the head and praised her, Fannie looked innocently happy.
Besides the Harlequin mask…
“Is that so …”
As Millaine gave a dejected expression, I jumped into the main topic for the night.
“Um, as I was saying, you should come take a stroll with me tonight, Millaine.”
“…Eh?”
A purpose of tonight’s tea party was to try to teach the vampires the taste of [Souls] and also to [Feed the Animals].
The other purpose was to have Millaine and her [Underlings] manage some of the [Underground Community] in the Holy Kingdom.
I smiled sweetly at her with a Demonic smile, and grasped her hands as I unfurled my wings.
“After this, we’ll teach you how to differentiate between the deliciousness of [Souls].”
＊＊＊
Although we moved to the Royal capital for the sake of going to school, there’s been practically no change to our lives.
I get to have Shelly’s fluffy sweetness during reading lessons and I was forced to have etiquette lessons with Betty. It seems my opportunities to play with them have increased.
And now we come to the problem, which is the talk going around the Magic Academy.
I expected there to be [Issues] from my performance during the opening ceremony, but underestimated them.
I’d enter the school, at first being drawn in and having my perspectives broadened, I’d become friends with my classmates, even if there were only a few, we would help each other in our studies, exchange side dishes from our boxed lunches, stray off into a forbidden flower garden where only upperclassmen could enter, spy on our elders, be helped by an attractive school council president after being persistently bullied…
I used to have those sorts of delusions daily.
Let me show you the reality.
*Zawa*…
Even though there are a lot of aristocrats at the school in the Royal Capital, they’re still children. Rather, due to the self-indulgent upbringing of many of these noble children, the unthinkably luxurious cafeteria in the school campus was very noisy. Suddenly, a commotion happened, and hundreds of people fell so silent that you could hear a pin drop.
But… I just showed up.
*Katsun*…
“ … Tch”
In the middle of that silence, a commoner girl a little in front of me dropped her spoon, unable to take the tension, and it rolled in front of my feet.
The nearby girl and the students around her instantly turned pale.
“……”
In that frozen atmosphere, Nia, who wore a weak smile, and Tina, who was perfectly expressionless, went out quietly ahead of me and gave the girl a quiet look.
The girl’s face passed through blue and went ghastly pale, trembling while visibly.
Upon seeing it, Nia leaked out a dangerous presence, and in the silence where one could hear a pin drop, Tina murmured “…Termite…” under her breath.
“……”
Ah, not good. This no-good servant.
Why did they become like this? Yep, it’s my fault.
Although all students are supposed to be treated as equal, regardless of whether they are nobles or commoners, a girl who was cherished by the Royal Family, with the wealth and power of a Ducal house, who was the [Princess], the [Face] of diplomatic relations for the Holy Kingdom, who displayed the power of a [Saint], and was treated by church officials like a tumor; if I was a normal girl, I’d never approach them either.
Now, what attitude should I be taking here…?
Option one. Riding on the flow of the mood, I ignore the girl and move on.
Actually, this would be the least harmful thing to do. The [Evil Ojou-sama] route is a straight ahead.
Option two. I pick up the spoon and hand it to her.
Although it sounds good, to put it bluntly it’s just self-satisfaction. If I get careless both she and [I] will be judged by the surrounding people.
Option three. Leave no witnesses. Although this would be the easiest to do, it’s a poor choice overall.
The result: The first option… Well, whatever. Properly thinking about it, things shouldn’t change too much.
It’s necessary for me to behave [Like a Human] for the sake of my peaceful life. After all, an inconspicuous life is for the best, really.
That being the case, when I tried to pass right by in my [Prickly (TL: Tsun)] Duke Daughter mode, I felt the release of a little Demonic magic from Nia, who was eagerly playing the role of a rough-mannered guard.
“Tei!”
I instinctively did a hand-chop to the back of Nia’s head, and she hits the floor.
Again, the dining hall became painfully quiet.
I’ve done it again.
A large shock wave moved through the air from the swing, if I acknowledged it, it’d be my loss.
Still, Nia is sturdy. Despite me having loaded enough magical power to shatter the thin bedrock, Nia lightened the blow considerably with [Absorption]. She looked up at me and sulked while rubbing the back of her neck.
“Sorry for the commotion.”
Saying that before anyone else could play the straight man and correct me, I hurried to the back of the dining hall.
My daily school life went on like that.
Let’s pray to not enter a suspicious [Route].