I’m Not Even an Otome Game Mob Character - Chapter 27

Autumn has started. In a short while we’ll have to start gathering leaves.

As the turn of the season came, I was helping arrange the flower beds.

What I was arranging were flowers that were still going to be in bloom for a short while. I moved them away from entrances and exits that saw a lot of foot traffic from the servants. Then I wait for those which would bear seeds to do so, and when the time comes I plant and raise them. Plants like tuberose and turmeric are bulbs, so we cut only the flowers off, wait a short while, bury them and leave them in a storing area to spend the winter.

Then I put the last Black-eyed Susans and Lady’s Mantles in pots, put those on a cart and bring them near the servants’ doors. The path from the entrance to the mansion extends all the way to the door on the wall leading into the kitchen. If we place the pots by that path, we can guarantee their sunlight.

The flower beds have a sizable area to them. So round trips cover some distance, and the work takes a few days. It needs muscle but it’s fun watching the carpet of flowers change little by little. Dad plants new flowers and I take away the ones that are finished blooming.

By early afternoon I finish taking away the plants for today. If I take all day doing this then I wouldn’t be able to inspect the whole garden. As I wipe off my sweat with a towel, someone I know appears from the servants’ door.

“Good afternoon, Katherine-san. Are you buying something?”

“Good afternoon, Isaac-san. Yes, I’m buying more coffee beans and tea leaves.”

I greeted Ojou’s personal maid, Katherine-san, and she greeted me back. She carried a small pouch that probably had a purse in it and a memo.

She seemed kind of weak so I asked.

“How much will you buy?”

“For the coffee beans, it depends on the quality.”

She showed me the memo. Sure enough, it seemed a bit much for Katherine-san to carry by herself. I thought a bit and tried asking her.

“Um, will I be a bother if I go with you to carry the luggage?”

“Eh…”

“I don’t have any opportunities to visit any expensive stores geared towards nobles. I’d like to see one, even from outside.”

I knew that a commoner like me wouldn’t be allowed to enter. But if I could just look at the outside decorations, it might help me make my own garden.

After this, Dad and I will make our rounds through the garden. I’ll be with Dad so I should also be able to get some reference. And I don’t mean to make light of that, but a noble’s sense of garden beauty isn’t completely enough for me. I feel like as I am now, I won’t be able to make a garden like Dad does.

“I do not mind.”

I stared, and Katherine-san gave me permission.

“Then I’ll tell my Dad. Please wait, I’ll be right back.”

“There’s no need to hurry…”

I immediately broke into a dash as I heard Katherine-san’s worried voice from behind me. She’s probably worried about me falling down. I tried waving one hand to show I was okay.

I got permission from Dad and headed to the stores by the central road with Katherine-san. It was a different street, hence different people and different sights compared to the market street. Carriages came and went, and the only people outside were the ones near the entrances to the shops and those sitting on cafe terraces. Only servants like me walked.

I carried the pouch for coffee beans and came to a specialty tea shop which dealt in things like tea leaves and sets where I waited for Katherine. The stores at market street are more or less organized by their goods, but today I learned that there are stores which specialize in a single genre among high-class stores. There was a glass behind which commodities were displayed. Like the show-windows in Japan.

The symmetry of the building reminded me of the gardens near the front door of the Ernst mansion. As I thought, nobles like things like symmetry that bring a sense of order. I also think it looks nice, but I prefer flowers and trees blooming and growing without constraint. So I have to get used to this sort of style, too. I think I’m still not good at pruning.

It’s a good thing the people at the Ernst house like elegance, not extravagance…

Most of the shops in my sight had big windows that displayed their goods. Even apart from those that dealt in precious metals, there were those that decorated their displays with shiny ornaments and artificial flowers that looked like roses. Yes, it hurt my eyes.

I don’t know which one wants to stand out more: the commodities or the decorations. Anyway, the store Katherine-san is entering has a velvet cloth on its display table by the big window. A pure white cloth is laid out through it as if to cut a line through the space. Then there was an assortment of pots and teacups of the same design and probably of the same brand. They were laid out as if someone was just about to drink from them. I don’t know if there was anything inside, but there were tea leaf cans next to the pots with the store’s logo on them. They were placed casually but you could feel their quality.

I can see employers’ preferences by how their stores are designed. It was a good idea to tag along here.

While I was feeling good about myself, a carriage passed in front of me.

The road is wide, but I take a step back for good measure. My eyes end up following it to a cafe.

It looks busy, probably because it’s early afternoon right now. Even the terrace seats are taken. Since the sun is out, umbrellas are set up on the tables. They mostly defend the customers – mostly women – from UV rays. I wonder if the people in this world know about UV rays. Well, I guess you don’t need to know about them to not like getting sunburned.

For some reason I stare at the customers under the umbrellas. Then I spot two particular people.

One of them is a noble girl. She’s in a dress so extravagant that I think she could take it to a party and thick makeup. Frankly speaking it’s gaudy. I’m not good with her type.

The other is a boy around my age. Beautiful enough to put women to shame. The color of his wavy hair reminds me of Lilacs. The cafe itself was targeted at beautiful people so I wasn’t surprised, but right when I laid eyes on them, I smelled a sweet scent that gave me the impression of Gardenia.

He looks bad.

The reason I was looking at them was because even if you count the fact that they’re under an umbrella, the boy looks pale.

Just by seeing it I know that it’s because of the girl next to him.

Even though we’re not related, I feel strangely close to him. She holds his cheek and rubs them dreamily. Her eyes look inappropriate.

A molester?

No, just its unevolved form: a sexual harrasser. If she’s doing this as his superior or something, it’d be power harrassment. The boy isn’t resisting outright so that’s also a possibility.

“Isaac-san, thank you for waiting.”

Katherine-san comes out from the tea shop with a can of tea leaves in hand. I turn from the cafe to her.

“No, I learned a lot. Thank you very much.”

I say with gratitude. Katherine-san smiles slightly.

“…Fufu, I’m troubled because I know you don’t lie at times like this. I should be thanking you.”

Troubled, she says as she laughs at me. I tilt my head. Why would she thank me anyway if I was the one who asked her?

Katherine-san tried to leave with me, but I got curious about the boy and looked back at her one more time.

“Is something the matter?”

“No…”

This time Katherine-san tilted her head. She knows I don’t come here often, so she has no idea what has my attention.

I only came to accompany Katherine-san, and I know in my mind that there’s nothing I can do. But I can’t ignore someone like me making that kind of face.

He’s not just scared. He’s terrified. The girl next to him isn’t being considerate. It’s like she’s playing with a doll. She’s looking at him like he’s not a person, and I know how scary that is.

I looked around, noticed a certain person and called out.

“Hey!”

“If it isn’t Zac. Fancy seeing you here.”

I met one of our chefs. He’s relatively young and I often see him preparing vegetables. His head is shaven which also makes him look like a new addition to a baseball team.

“Are you buying something too?”

“Yeah. We smelled good mushrooms so one of those geezers told me to get some…”

“Then can you please take her home too? Katherine-san, I’m sorry for leaving you in the middle of our trip. Please go ahead with this guy.”

This was the perfect time to run into an Ernst chef. I give him the bag of coffee beans I’d been holding on to and bow my head to Katherine-san without missing a beat. Then I leave them there and run away, one hand raised to signal “Please go ahead.”

I heard them call out to me, but I didn’t turn around.

After I wave through carriages and foot traffic and approach the cafe terrace, a smell unlike food penetrates my nose.

It smells like a more concentrated version of Liles. A sharp, strong smell like Winter Daphne. I’m not good with either of those scents. I breathed it in and felt bad. Several people around us were also cringing.

“Aunty, you stink.”

“Huh!?”

I said to the woman’s face. The woman looked at me disrespecting her in astonishment.

“If you put on that much perfume, none of the food, tea or alcohol will taste good.”

I don’t enjoy when I’m eating and another scent interferes with the scent of the food. One of the biggest reasons many stores in Japan prohibited smoking was so that people could enjoy the food to its fullest, including the smell.

There was a time when I was in highschool in my previous life when I wanted to smoke. But when the science uncle did it the food would taste bad, but apparently when he stopped, his blood vessels got thicker again and food tasted better. Then he clapped his stomach and said he’s getting hopelessly fat. That’s when I gave up on smoking.
(TN: Apparently quitting smoking actually does tend to make you fat. The more you know)

You can regulate cigarettes, but perfume is under the category of fashion so it’s hard to regulate. Looks like that’s the same for Japan and this world’s Arventroat. A few patrons from around us gave me the stinky eye.

“Perfume should smell a little but not that much. Do you not know that much despite being a lady?”

My little sister from the previous world told me that but it probably still holds. Oku-sama is like that too, after all.

“~What impolite riffraff!”

I saw the woman’s face redden from rage as she stood up and grabbed both of the boy’s arms. His eyes were wide from what I’d been saying and he looked at me fearfully. So I looked back from right in front of him.

“If you wanna stay here then shake off my hands. If you don’t, we’re running.”

“Eh?”

I said in a voice only he could hear, pulled his arms and started running.

“Stinky Aunty, I think you’ll be better off with thinner makeup.”

I said a few words before leaving the noble lady with thick makeup.

Even as the boy fumbled over his steps, he ran as I pulled him along. But he was slower than me. Maybe he wasn’t used to physical activity.

I heard voices telling us to stop from behind and took a glance to see two men who looked like that lady’s bodyguards. At this rate we’d get caught.

I took a sharp turn and entered one of the tiny alleyways in between the stores. They were narrow enough for an adult to just barely fit in. It was dark so I covered us with darkness magic just in case. It’s my first time doing so while running so I’m not sure if it’ll work. I’ll be really thankful if it becomes even a little harder to detect us.

We passed the alley and arrived at market street. The crowd entered our sight all at once.

I’m used to seeing them as a commoner so I don’t hesitate to enter. The arm I was holding hesitated for a second but followed me instead of backing out.

Once we entered market street, the shadow membrane broke. It’d be a herculean task to find two kids among this many adults. The boy I’d been bringing along kept silent until we could no longer feel any pursuers.

“…W-Wait!”

I sighed, stopped, and turned around to see a boy breathing with his shoulders following me around, a sheen of sweat covering his whole face. We couldn’t run in this crowded street so we could only brisk-walk. It seemed that was hard work for this boy.

“You don’t have any stamina, do you?”

“I’m no, warrior or knight, I’m a noble, so of course I wouldn’t, train my body…”
(TN: commas are for panting)

“But Leo could keep up just fine.”

“Who’s, that…”

He wouldn’t believe me even if I told him he’s the prince. No, is Leo actually just weird? If nobles don’t usually train because of their bloodline, is it normal for royalty to train? I don’t really know.

Come to think of it, Leo’s minigame was a tactical RPG where you commanded a force of soldiers. Was that him showing off?
(TN: In the game, characters get minigames if you didn’t remember)

Anyway, we made a lot of distance so this’ll probably be okay. I walked normally, keeping pace with the boy. Once he catches his breath I introduce myself.

“I’m Isaac.”

“Er, Isaac. Kun. Why did you save me?”

“I didn’t.”

The boy is surprised, and I tilt my head too.

“You escaped with your own two feet. How did I save you?”

I grabbed his arms gently enough so that he’d be able to shake me off if he chose to. Now I’m not even holding them anymore, but we’re walking together.

The boy was at a loss over my words.

“And besides, you just ran away. You have to make a plan.”

“Ah…”

The boy noticed that he had only escaped for a little while, and as if he imagined what would happen from here on, his face grew pale. I slapped my palm on his back, but maybe I put too much force into it because he stumbled forward a little.

As if he had never experienced getting treated like this before, the boy looked at me in perplexity. But his face got less pale so I grinned.

“Come on, let’s go.”

“N… Now that you mention it, where…?”

“Somewhere to hide. I have no idea since I’m a commoner so I’m thinking of asking someone.”

“Who??”

The boy followed me with his head tilted. We pass the servants’ entrance, and I walk towards the garden. The boy kept following me with visible dread.

“Is this alright…”

“They’ll know what to do, and if it’s not alright we’ll just get scolded.”

We passed a small forest of trees and I made him crawl under the hedge. He breathed out a breath he had been holding.

Right now, the area around the fountain is decorated with verbena in bunches of red, white, peach and purple in that order which surround it. They’re lower than the edges of the fountain, so I encouraged the boy to sit on the edge.

“You, what’s your… I mean, it’s a bit late but should I speak politely?”

“Heh, it really is late. No need.”

He laughed at me exasperatedly. Well, I guess this is better than getting looked down on, I thought as I sat next to him.

“I am Nicolaus Von Rudolstadt.”

“Then once more. I’m Isaac Baumgartner. The gardening apprentice of the Ernst family.”

When Nicolaus heard the name Ernst, his eyes widened.

“Eh!? So this is the Duke’s garden!?”

As Nicolaus looked around himself in panic, we heard a rustling from the hedge. His shoulders jumped.

“Ah, Ojou. I was just about to call you.”

“Zac, I knew you would be here. Dennis is worried about you since you’re late.”

You shouldn’t take detours, Ojou scolds me as she takes off her outer robe. I think Dad is mad, not worried, but still Ojou is kind for looking for me. As for my Dad, I won’t be coming back for some time so I should prepare to eat his knuckles.

While making my mental preparations, I smiled and thanked Ojou.

“Thanks for looking for me Ojou.”

“I-It’s not like that. I was just coming to see the verbenas bloom.”

She cuts herself off as her eyes turn towards the fountain where flowers are blooming. I also looked there to see Nicolaus scared, hiding and peeking at us from behind the fountain.

“Ah, Ojou. That’s Nico.”

“…Nicolaus.”

“Yeah. Sorry, I forgot ‘cuz it’s so long.”

“Not… a spirit, but a human…? Zac, whose son is this!? Why is he here!?”

“I’m safeguarding him.”

Ojou was shocked, surprised, and heaved a long sigh.

“He’s not a cat…”

“But he was being molested.”

“Waah, what are you saying to a lady!?”

Ojou was staggered by the word molested as Nicolaus’ cheeks painted themselves with shame. He panicked and shut my mouth. I shook off his hand and turned around.

“We’re gonna consult Ojou. It’s faster to just say it.”

“Wha… Why a lady~?”

Nicolaus looked like he was gonna cry. He probably feels embarrassed and pathetic to consult a lady despite being a young lord himself. I don’t really mind since I’m a common man.

“Women have opinions too. Hey, Ojou, what do you think when you look at this guy?”

Ojou stared at Nicolaus as he tried to hide behind my back. After a brief period of silence, she said her thoughts with a sigh of astonishment.

“His beauty draws me in…”

“I knew he was a pretty boy.”

Even though he’s prettier than many women, for some reason you can’t mistake him as a girl. Ojou is also gorgeous enough for you to mistake her for a fairy, even if just for a second. I’m not sure, but I think this guy exudes something. Like pheromones.

“Ah, please excuse my manners. I am Lydia Von Ernst. I sincerely apologize for the rudeness of my servant.”

“M-N-No, not at all! I’m Nicolaus Von Rudolstadt.”

“…Hey, don’t talk as if I’m not here. And why should Ojou apologize?”

Since Nicolaus was hiding behind me, I stood in between them while they conversed.

“Zac’s impropriety is nothing new.”

“That doesn’t mean you should apologize for me. If it’s my mistake I should apologize. Sorry Nico. It seems like I’ve been rude.”

“Seems like it, huh… It’s fine. Your rudeness saved me. Anyway, you’re not gonna remember my name are you?”

“Sorry for that too.”

As I apologized again, he smiled wryly and told me that I could call him that.

“But why are you trying to hide?”

“I mean, it’s a girl…”

Nico has been hiding from Ojou’s sight for a while now. But my personal practice garden has nothing in it but a sunny fountain. There was no place to hide so he used me as a shield. It seemed as if in his experience avoiding perverts, he was subjected to certain thoughts and gazes, even from girls of his own age, and they too had become objects of fear.

“Ojou is okay. She’s resistant to things like Leo.”

“What did you mean by that? You are being rude to Roy-sama now. First of all, Nicolaus-sama is a different kind of person.”
(TN: Gonna translate -sama in the raws as sama and Lady/Lord as such. They are different words.)

“Ehhh. So you don’t want to sexually harass Nico?”

“I don’t know what sexual means, but there’s no way that I, a Lady, would do anything rude to Nicolaus-sama.”

“Just what you’d expect from Ojou. So cool-”

Ojou stuck out her chest and declared. I clapped with deep admiration. But maybe because I called her cool, Ojou looked at me with her eyes half-closed. Even though I was complimenting her.

We still hadn’t really asked her. So I sat down on the fountain and urged Nico to do the same so we could listen to his circumstances and make a plan. I sat next to him and patted my lap.

“Here, Ojou.”

“? What?”

“If you sit like that your skirt will get pollen on it.”

Ojou tilted her head for a second, understood my intentions and blushed bright red.

“That’s okay!! If I’d have to sit on top of Zac I’d rather stand.”

“Unthinkable, if we are making a lady stand then I will also stand!”

“You have a seat so why not sit?”

“Why did you plant the garden like this anyway!?”

“I thought it looked cute.”

The whole fountain was surrounded by colors. I left it like that because I thought it looked like a frame of flowers. When Ojou asked me, I answered and the two lost their energy.

“That’s enough…”

“Lydia-sama has it rough.”

Ojou seemed tired at something and Nico gave her considerate words. He must’ve been sympathizing with her about something.

Anyway, as we sit I take Ojou’s head and pull her to my lap facing to the side. This will make it easier for her to talk to Nico, and the flowers won’t get caught on her dress.

Ojou strangely seemed to stiffen up. Maybe I’m just imagining it. Or I guess it might be uncomfortable to sit on a man’s lap.

“Nicolaus-sama, may we ask about your circumstances!?”

“Uh, yes.”

Ojou hurried him and Nico started to talk even as he was afraid of her.

“I’m from the house of a count, but because my father works as the prime minister I often encounter higher nobility. So my mother also takes me out to tea parties often… she’d invite me herself with reasons like helping people pick out gifts for their nephews. Then, uh, I couldn’t turn her down…”

Nico’s spirit dampens the more he speaks. Of course he can’t refuse an offer from someone above him, but to be forced to deal with women without even being allowed to resist, he must have felt overwhelmingly pathetic as a man.

“Then I got caught up with that mean auntie and she brought me there.”

“Aunt… nevermind. In that case, they must be panicking since you got taken away by a commoner child. Let us tell the Rudolstadt house that I happened to see you wandering around and invited you to my mansion.”

“That was quick.”

“Zac, you probably don’t know that they’re relatives of the Ernst house. Nicolaus-sama, you haven’t brought any money with you so I take it you will leave right away?”

“Of course.”

“If I recall, my Mother is close with the Rudolstadts. Now that we have met, please come to this house if anything happens. Although… Although I intend to hide your circumstances when I ask for cooperation from my Mother, please be aware of the possibility that she finds out.”

“U-Understood…”

“Even if you have somewhere to run to, we need to do something about the actual problem.”

“But it’s a woman…”

“Yeah-.”

If it were a man we could just beat him up, but if we do something like that against a woman then the people around Nico will treat him like a criminal. As Ojou and I pondered, Nico’s face gradually darkened.

“Well, for now let’s have you let off some steam.”

“Huh?”

Nico looked at me confused. I had Ojou get off my lap, took out a drawstring pouch and opened it. I had taken it from near the laundry area on our way here.

“What is that?”

Ojou and Nico looked at the leather pillow-like thing I had produced from the pouch curiously.

“It’s for hitting.”

I’d brought a tool for training with Master but I didn’t know what it was called. It’s that thing where you put your hand in one side to hold it up like a shield. It’s reasonably big so you could use it for kicks too.
(TN: I think he’s talking about focus mitts.)

“Alright, come at me from anywhere.”

“Eh? Eh?? H… How should I…?”

As I put the leather up, Nico is bewildered. It seemed that he hadn’t ever even been in a fight before, let alone done martial arts training.

“Hit this as hard as you can. Think about how she’s a creep or an old hag.”

“What’s a creep?”

“It means creepy.”

“What do you mean…?”

“You’ll feel refreshed.”

It didn’t look like either of them understood. I encouraged him to just hit it, and although slowly Nico made a fist and hit it against the leather bag.

“Weak. Do it as hard as you can. And put your back into it.”

“Ei…”

Stronger than last time but still weak.

“You’re not using your voice. Try saying creep.”

“Th-That’s…”

“No one can hear you from here. You can curse her as much as you want. Come on.”

Though Ojou is here.

Just to be safe, I gestured for Ojou to block her ears and she did. Seeing that, I spread out a membrane that blocked noise from Ojou’s surroundings. I can’t completely block it, but I can make it harder to hear. Well, even if she heard I don’t think she’d remember. Ojou barely ever even speaks ill of someone.

After hesitating for a while, Nico thrusts his fist forward with a loud voice.

“C-Creep…!”

I finally heard a heavy noise. As if he’d felt a new sensation in his fists, Nico’s eyes sparkled.

“Isn’t it nice?”

“Yeah, this is kinda refreshing…”

I put it up again for another hit, and he struck with a shout. As he hit it again and again, Nico started to vent on his own.

“Gross gross gross gross… you disgusting old hag!!”

Whack. He lands a good hit.

“Dad told me to say if anything’s wrong… as if I can say anything dumbass!!”

Another good hit. Nico, aren’t you becoming harsher than me? Well, I guess that’s just how stressed he was. In a way it’s impressive how even his enraged face is beautiful.

Nico finished punching the bag and wiped his sweat with his sleeve with his shoulders heaving. He took a deep breath to fix his breathing and showed us a bright smile.

“Aah, I’m refreshed!”

“That’s good.”

“…I don’t understand men.”

I dispel the membrane and tell her she can unblock her ears. Ojou looks at us with bewildered eyes.

In my previous life, there were times my buddies and I went to batting centers and shouted random stuff together, but I’ve never seen a girl do that. Maybe they don’t get this feeling. Like yelling the name of a ramen. It’s fun even though it doesn’t mean anything.

After we finished stress relief, we thought about what to do after this.

“I can’t always be with my Mother. And she doesn’t know anything so it’s possible that the other party will come to her…”

“How can you avoid them…”

“Ah.”

I raised my voice, and the two looked to me.

“Why not just stop being a target?”

“What do you mean?”

“If Nico changes how the other party thinks of him, they’ll stop coming to meet him. Then you won’t have to go out of your way to avoid them.”

Enemies are always enemies in games. It just becomes a matter of encountering them or not. But in reality you can avoid making one your enemy in the first place.

“You can do that?”

“Probably, but…”

“But?”

“There’s a risk for Nico too. It’ll be harder for you to make friends, and you might suffer for it if you meet a girl you like… no, you will.”

“I’ll do it.”

I’m surprised that Nico decided so quickly without even hearing the plan.

“…You’ll need to resolve yourself. Is that alright?”

“She makes me so disgusted that I’d do anything. Besides, I don’t have any male friends because they’d all be jealous from how many women come to me, or they’d badmouth me for my good looks. And I don’t feel like I can, but on the off-chance that I do find a girl I like, I’ll need to get a better body!”

“Y-Yeah…”

He spoke with urgency and dread in his voice. Next thing I knew, Nico was right in front of me. That bad, Nico? Even Ojou seems to feel how bad it is for him with how earnest he looks. That’s how she’s looking at Nico.

I put my hands on his shoulders, take some distance and say my plan.

“You just need to become a transvestite.”

“A transvestite?”

Both Nico and Ojou repeated my words, not understanding what I meant.

“You just have to pretend. Make your masculine speech and manners more feminine.”

“People will look at me differently for that, but will it work?”

“You’re a target because they think of you as someone from the opposite sex. Then if you make them think of you as someone from the same sex, they should stop targetting you.”

“Is that how it is?”

“Feminine speech and manners…”

Nico looked like he was thinking of something. He looked at Ojou and I warned him.

“Not like Ojou. She’s too cute.”

“Wha…!?”

Ojou’s face suddenly went all red. Is she mad that I said not like her? I wasn’t badmouthing her. If he tried intimating Ojou, Nico would probably become a – what was it? Like, a guy who’s a guy but gets a job change. I heard my little sister from my past life complain about how one of her friends supported that, she didn’t and they didn’t see eye-to-eye. Not a transvestite. If he became like that he’d probably get even more assailants.
(TN: Yes, the raws do say job change)

“So how should I act?”

Nico smiles wryly at Ojou’s reaction and asks me.

“Errr, refer to yourself as me, and when you express your ideas… don’t make it firm.”
(TN: The me here is feminine. There’s a feminine and masculine ‘me’ in Japanese. I can’t begin to imagine how I’d translate it naturally.)

“But like, I feel like I have to act firm…”

“You’re pretty so you can just act domineering. Instead of physical offense, you can use your beauty as a weapon.”

“Use this face as a weapon…?”

It seemed that Nico had never thought of using the beauty that put him through so much as a weapon. His big eyes widened, flanked by his long eyelashes.

A few seconds passed. I’ll do it, Nico muttered, seeming to have gathered his courage. We make to do some practice so he’d get used to speaking, and we have Ojou help us check if it was working. It must’ve taken guts for him to do that with a Duke’s daughter without faltering.

Nico takes a deep breath and opens his mouth.

“The young lady Lydia may be a little cute, but her looks don’t stand up to my beauty.”

Nico fires off high-handedly while giving his hair a light brush. Then Ojou gets peeved.

“…I will not object, but I feel somewhat annoyed.”

“Aah, I’m sorry. Lady Lydia!”

“Don’t be sorry, Nico. It’s working.”

“Eh…”

“Ojou, how’s it feel?”

“I feel like I’ve just received a comment from another girl. If you act like that, people won’t think of you as a man.”

Hearing that, Nico’s face brightened as if he felt like it was working. It’s weird to be happy about not being seen as a man, but it’s understandable with Nico’s circumstances.

“This… This can work!”

Nico pumped his fists with effeminate speech, but he seemed stronger than before.

“Ohh, do your best. Come here if you want more stress relief.”

“Thanks.”

Nico nodded with a smile that filled his whole face. Ojou looked at Nico filled with determination and whispered to me.

“…Zac, I’ve thought of something truly strange.”

“Really?”

“This seemed like such a deep problem, but now it feels somewhat ridiculous. It’s strange.”

“I see.”

Knowing that that wasn’t praise, I smiled.

I’m glad to see Nico’s face so different from when I met him. Sometimes you won’t know until you try, and I think it’s important that Nico looks forward.

On that day, Nico and Ojou returned to the mansion and she sent him off in a carriage.

One month later, as I was gardening, Ojou visited me like always. There was another person behind her. That person moved their hands dramatically and sped past Ojou.

“Zaaaac, I’m heeere.”

“Ojou. Nico. You’re here.”

“Why is it that you’re always here when I come to see Zac even if I don’t tell you when that is, Nicolaus…?”

“Oh no, Lady Dia. Haven’t I been telling you to call me Nico-chan?”

Nico unnaturally puffed his cheeks to Ojou’s unamusement.

“Are you not going too far?”

“Ara, I have to be thorough or we might get exposed.”

“Nico seems like he could become an actor.”

I muttered. Nico smiled sweetly.

“That would also be nice. Well then, Zac-”

He flexed his shoulders with a smile on his face.

“Let me beat it.”

It sounds bad because he’s so direct, but I’m used to it. Nico seems to have taken a liking to our stress relief. He’s been asking me for it every once in a while. Though it doesn’t look like he’s being sexually harassed anymore so maybe it’s just a hobby.

“I’ll finish cleaning in a bit. Wait.”

“Hurry up-”

I was cleaning up fallen leaves but Nico couldn’t wait. He clung to my back and hurried me.

“Get off me first.”

“Yes, please don’t obstruct Zac’s work!”

It wasn’t too hard to clean but it was getting hard to move around so I told him to get off of me. Ojou also told him to get off.

“No way, Dia. You jealous?”

“N-No!!”

Ojou pouted as Nico teased her. Then they started arguing, so I told Nico to keep it down and focused on my work.

Recently my “work music” has been getting lively.

Well, at least Ojou won’t get bored.