Chapter 157 - After the Tea Party
"Welcome, Dahlia. You're early."
Just as Dahlia finished her second cup of green tea, Volf entered the drawing room without much more than a perfunctory knock.
She wondered whether that was proper etiquette, but Guido's expression remained perfectly composed.
"Thank you for inviting me. Um… I arrived a little early, so I had some tea and cake."
"…Brother?"
Volf seemed to sense Dahlia's hesitation. His golden eyes turned toward Guido with a hint of suspicion.
"We were having cheesecake. Didn't I tell you to let the cook here show off his skills once in a while?"
Guido replied with an unruffled expression before turning back to Dahlia.
"Oh, Rossetti-dono, feel free to tell Volf everything we discussed earlier afterward."
"Um…"
"You don’t have to think too much on it. I mean exactly what I said."
Despite his words, Guido's slightly troubled expression bore a certain resemblance to Volf's.
"Lord Scalfarotto, if you don't mind, I think it would be better to tell him yourself. If you have me relay the message, I’m afraid it will cause the distance between you to grow."
"Cause our distance to grow… I see. You're right. There's no reason to make you explain it. Volf, sit beside Rossetti-dono."
Volf, who had been watching their exchange with a puzzled expression, finally took his seat.
"I invited Rossetti-dono an hour before the time I informed you of. I wanted to speak with her privately."
"What for, Brother?"
"I wanted to find out what kind of person she is. Her merchant company has you as its guarantor, supplies the Monster Subjugation Squad, and has her serving as an adviser. But that's merely the official reason. In truth, she may be a woman who could become your weakness. I wanted to assess her character, as well as determine what you mean to her."
"If that was what you wanted to know, couldn't you have asked when all of us were together? There was no need to summon Dahlia alone…"
"I asked her this: 'If I were to ask you to break off your relationship with Volf, how much money would you require?'"
Guido repeated the very same question he had asked Dahlia earlier.
In an instant, a chilling presence erupted from right beside Dahlia and spread toward Guido with enough force to feel like it might pierce him.
The retainer immediately stepped into position beside Guido.
A sword had somehow appeared in his left hand, while his right hand rested on its hilt. His knees were slightly bent, his body poised to draw the blade at any moment.
Dahlia clenched her back teeth, but the oppressive pressure continued to intensify until it became difficult to breathe. A sensation of icy cold spread rapidly from her fingertips to her toes. Unable to move, she kept her eyes fixed straight ahead.
Across the table, neither Guido nor his retainer showed the slightest change in expression.
"Rossetti-dono told me she needed neither money nor another noble to take your place as her company’s guarantor. She said that if you decided, as a friend, that you wanted to sever your relationship with her, then she would accept that. If she became a nuisance to you, she would keep her distance."
"I have no intention of ending our friendship or distancing myself from her."
"That’s alright. As your older brother, I believe I understand, at least to some extent, how much a friend like that means to you—someone who has no ulterior motives and wasn't drawn to you because of your appearance. I sincerely congratulate you on finding such a good friend."
Guido replied with a smile, looking every bit the older brother.
The cold, oppressive presence scattered in every direction, and Dahlia was finally able to breathe again.
"Thank you… But in the future, I'd appreciate it if you avoided putting Dahlia through anything troublesome—or giving me a heart attack."
"If anything, I'm the one who should be worried about my heart. Has your Intimidation skill grown another level stronger?"
The retainer stepped away from Guido's side and quietly approached Dahlia.
"Pardon me, but it seems your hair has become a little disheveled… Allow me to show you the way."
"Oh, thank you."
The retainer offered her a hand in a white glove, and Dahlia placed her hand in his without hesitation.
He escorted her out of the room.
Volf had started to rise from his seat, but rust-colored and blue eyes fixed on him, firmly holding him back.
"Um, where is Dahlia…?"
After the two had left, Volf asked, his expression a mixture of confusion and displeasure.
His brother let out a deep sigh.
"Volf, you need to learn how to treat women a little better. Think about what happens when you unleash that much Intimidation right beside a lady who isn't a knight. Fortunately, Rossetti-dono seems to have some resistance to it, but…"
"If I've made her feel unwell, I need to apologize to her right away…!"
As Volf began to rise again, a flurry of cold frost drifted from Guido's right hand.
Volf instinctively froze, and his brother spoke in a low voice.
"Volf, sit down. Stay right here and behave yourself."
"But… where has Dahlia gone?"
Guido gave a slight cough and turned his gaze toward the window.
"…The restroom, I imagine."
・・・・・・・
"Phew…"
Dahlia let out a long, deep sigh.
Thanks to Volf's freezing Intimidation, she had developed a rather urgent need to use the restroom, so she was very grateful that the retainer had escorted her out of the room.
However, when a maid told her, "I was informed that you spilled green tea," and offered her a complete change of clothes, including underwear, Dahlia declined with all her might.
Please, she wished they would stop that misunderstanding. At the same time, she wanted to avoid explaining that it was a misunderstanding in the first place.
The thought that Volf might somehow have gotten the wrong idea made her want to head straight back to the tower without stopping anywhere else.
In the end, it took her fifteen minutes to leave the restroom, having agonized over the situation while desperately composing her expression.
Afterward, the maid escorted her to a detached building in the garden, outside the main residence.
The little building was about the size of an ordinary commoner's house, surrounded by greenery on two sides and encircled by flowers. Amid the expansive estate, it felt almost like a small vacation cottage.
Inside, Volf was cheerfully setting up four portable magic stoves on a pristine white table.
A familiar assortment of ingredients lay piled up beside them. Dahlia could tell what he intended to do without even asking.
She decided to keep quiet and stand as close to the wall as possible, avoiding eye contact.
"My brother said he wanted to try having a meal using the portable magic stoves, so I thought this would be better than a tea party."
"I see quite a few unfamiliar things on the table. What are they?"
"Crimson Cattle skewers, dried kraken tentacles, overnight-dried green squid, vegetables, and dipping sauce."
Dahlia knew that Volf had recently become fascinated with dried fish and overnight-dried seafood.
They had tried all sorts of varieties together and grilled quite a lot of them back at the tower.
Even so, this was absolutely not the sort of meal one should prepare using four portable magic stoves inside a room furnished with such elegant decor, even if it was in a detached building on the estate.
The Crimson Cattle meat itself was one thing, but were skewers really appropriate for nobles? And what about dried fish and overnight-dried squid? Were those acceptable dishes to serve them?
Volf was the one who had prepared the ingredients and was now serving them, yet Dahlia found herself feeling strangely responsible.
She walked over to Volf and spoke up.
"Um, if we grill these here, the smell might linger in the room…"
"Oh, right. Should we open all the windows?"
"No, even then, the smell will cling quite strongly to the carpets and walls."
The aroma of dried seafood absolutely did not belong on this soft, fluffy, pale blue carpet.
There was a painting of a flower field on display, ivory wallpaper patterned with raised butterflies, and gleaming furnishings in shades of white. Filling this room with cooking fumes would practically be sacrilege.
"Perhaps we should do it in the garden instead? If we use the west side, we can eat standing up without anyone in the main residence seeing us. I've also had the area cleared of people, and with Jonas and Volf present, we won't need any additional guards."
"Lord Guido, surely standing up to eat is going a little too far…"
The retainer spoke from slightly behind him, but his words did nothing to deter Guido.
"Then let's call it a standing party. I'm in charge of the Royal Capital district, so I can't accompany the Monster Subjugation Squad on its expeditions. I've always wanted to try eating outdoors while standing with Volf, and grilling skewers to eat them straight off the stick, too. Just once."
Guido laughed with such delight that he looked younger than Volf.
Dahlia had apparently taught something terribly ill-mannered to someone who absolutely should not have been taught such things.
Beside her, Volf was nodding with an exceptionally pleased smile.
Dahlia couldn't even find the words to stop them. She glanced around helplessly, only to find the retainer looking just as troubled.
His rust-colored eyes turned toward her, wavering with a complicated glint.
I want to do something about this, but there's nothing I can do.
They exchanged no words, yet somehow, Dahlia felt they understood each other perfectly.
In the end, the four of them held a "standing party."
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