Demon King of the Royal Class

Chapter 363

I was at the Granz ducal mansion.

I couldn’t hide my surprise as soon as I stepped into the annex building, not the main mansion. The dining room of the annex was filled with the delicious aroma of food. Naturally, the table was laden with numerous dishes.

However, the food wasn’t the most important thing.

“You’ve come,” said Ellen.

“...”

Harriet remained silent.

“Y-You’re here...” Adelia greeted me.

Even Cliffman was there. “Uh, um... Reinhart. So, you came?”

“What is all this?” I asked, not understanding the situation. Riana nudged my side with her elbow.

“What do you mean, what is it? You looked like you were in a bad mood, so we thought we’d do something for you and decided to just throw a party.”

The food was impressive, but seeing everyone in aprons suggested they had made everything themselves. They’d noticed my dour mood, but hadn’t asked why.

However, in an attempt to cheer me up, they’d planned a surprise party, not knowing what else to do.

This wouldn’t solve any of my problems or alleviate the anxiety I was facing. The more I saw how much they cared for me, the more fearful I became of the future.

This was useless. The better things were now, the more I feared for the future. This was something I didn’t need. I knew that, one day, I would end up longing for this moment.

“Uh... Are you crying?” Riana’s trembling voice broke the silence in the dining room. She sounded genuinely flustered, and the others stared at me with their mouths agape.

“What the hell are you talking about! I’m not crying!”

“Oh, no... No, this, this guy. He, he’s really crying?” Riana fussed, seemingly having seen something wrong.

‘I’m not a child. I’m way past the age of shedding tears over something like this.’

“I’m not crying!” I insisted.

‘Would I cry just because they threw a little surprise party? Do they know how old I actually am?’

Ellen approached me and offered me a tissue. “Here.”

‘I’m not crying, so why would I need that?’

“I’m not crying,” I repeated.

I hadn’t cried. Maybe something had come out of my eyes without me realizing it.

I didn’t know what was happening.

“Yeah, I know you’re not crying, so here.”

In the end, I accepted the tissue Ellen offered.

“Damn it...”

Somehow, it felt like I had lost, even though I hadn’t really been defeated.

There was also always that one person, the one who would start crying just because someone else is crying.

A sob broke out from the other side of the room.

“Hey... why are you crying?”

Riana was bewildered for the second time as Harriet suddenly started to cry.

“I... I don’t know...” Harriet sobbed, and Ellen handed her a tissue as well.

“Th-Thanks...” she said as she sobbed.

***

I wasn’t crying, but Harriet had ended up crying. At least that was what I believed.

Of course, the others seemed to think differently, but that wasn’t my concern. In the end, this was a surprise party, and a lavish feast had been laid out. It was only right to eat.

It wasn’t like a social party with musicians and people dancing. It seemed clear that Riana disliked such things.

I couldn’t quite imagine Riana in a dress, dancing at a social party. She’d probably sit with her legs crossed, giving the cold shoulder to any guy who dared approach her and telling them to get lost. Or not. It was hard to know what she’d actually do.

A lot of food had been prepared. I already knew that Ellen could cook well, but it was surprising to find out that Harriet, Adelia, and even Cliffman had helped.

“... Were you dragged into this?” I asked Cliffman.

“Well... They said they might need more hands...” Cliffman replied.

“I see.”

It seemed Riana had brought him along as an extra.

Had he become Riana’s personal servant? It was one thing if he was secretly enjoying it and saw it as a reward of some sort. But if he genuinely disliked it and was forced into it, then wasn’t he just being bullied?

Then again, it seemed a little ridiculous to be talking about schoolyard bullying at this age.

I was genuinely curious to know who had made what.

Nom nom nom.

Ellen was eating whatever was in front of her, so it was hard to tell what she had made.

Twitch!

It was obvious what Harriet had made. She would watch me with anticipation whenever I reached for a particular dish, her eyes full of hope.

I had to admit that the cream pasta in front of me was quite fascinating.

Judging by the way Harriet was watching me, it seemed clear that she had made the cream pasta.

‘But honestly, in this kind of scenario, a character like her should definitely be bad at cooking, right? It should look fine but would have sugar instead of salt or something like that.’

In the end, knowing she’d be terribly disappointed if I didn’t try it, I closed my eyes and took a bite.

“How is it? How is it, how is it?” Harriet asked eagerly, her face lighting up as soon as I took a bite.

‘Huh? Why does it taste good?’

It wasn’t an extraordinary delicacy, but knowing that Harriet made it probably helped it taste better than it probably was, thanks to a sense of endearment.

“... Why is it actually good?” I asked, and Harriet furrowed her brow.

“What do you mean? If it’s good, it’s good. Why are you asking why it’s good?”

“No, I mean, how do you know how to cook?”

“I just followed the recipe in the cookbook.”

‘Ah. So she followed the recipe to the letter, and that’s why it could never taste bad.’

She approached cooking with the same methodical approach as she did her studies. When I considered it that way, it seemed impossible for Harriet to be bad at cooking. Still, for a first attempt, this was impressive.

Did she have a hidden talent for cooking?

The different dishes each had their own feel. Anything that tasted particularly good was Ellen’s doing, while the ones that were decent were mostly Harriet’s.

“...”

“...”

There was one dish that tasted terribly bad, though.

“Well, it was my first time... so...” Adelia said.

“No, if it’s your first time, this is actually normal. I don’t think you did anything wrong,” I reassured her.

Adelia had taken on the role of the bad cook, though it wasn’t fair to call her that. Harriet being that good on her first try was the real anomaly. Cliffman seemed to have handled the prep work and other miscellaneous tasks.

Eventually, the hearty meal came to an end.

“Anyway, thank you, everyone,” I said, honestly expressing my gratitude and acknowledging that they had all come together to do this just because I seemed down.

***

The party in the annex building wasn’t over yet. Since we were visiting Duke Granz’s mansion and there were plenty of empty rooms, we all nodded in agreement when it was suggested we stay the night. I wasn’t particularly busy that day, so I could spare the time.

Even though it was just an annex, it was as large as the main wing of most mansions. Riana’s intentions were obvious. She clearly planned to have everyone gather for a drink later. It was still broad daylight, and with the servants around, it wasn’t the right time, but she was definitely waiting for the opportunity.

She had likely brought us to the annex to avoid the eyes of the servants and other family members in the main wing. Of course, any drinking session would only start around evening.

“Still, it’s winter break, so I want to go somewhere,” Riana murmured, lying with her head on Cliffman’s thigh as she trimmed her nails.

Cliffman was frozen, unable to do anything. At a glance, it should have seemed sweet and romantic, but Riana seemed to merely think of him as a convenient pillow.

“Hey, you,” she called.

“Uh, uh... y-yeah?” Cliffman stammered, his face flushed, unable to meet Riana’s gaze as she looked up at him.

“Is there anywhere you want to go?”

“Me, me? Me?!”

“Yeah, you, I asked you. Did you think I was asking someone else?”

“O-Oh, Uh U-Umm... that...”

“... Why are you so flustered?” Riana chuckled as she looked up at Cliffman. “Oh, did you think I meant just the two of us?”

“N-No?! No, no. No, I didn’t.”

“This guy’s so sly. What, do you want to go somewhere with just me?”

“No, no! No, I don’t!”

“What? You don’t? Are you saying you don’t want to?”

“N-No, no, I didn’t mean...”

“So, you do want to? You want to go somewhere with just me?”

“S-Spare me... I’m sorry for whatever I did...” Cliffman, pale as a sheet, declared his surrender, and Riana laughed heartily, while Harriet looked at her in disbelief.

Harriet tapped my shoulder and whispered softly.

“Riana is kind of... sometimes, you know...”

“A menace,” I replied, and Harriet widened her eyes. She seemed to want to disagree, but the fact that she didn’t say anything suggested she agreed wholeheartedly.

Adelia, unable to bear the sight, turned bright red and couldn’t even look in their direction.

Nom nom nom.

Ellen, indifferent to it all, continued munching on macarons.

Aside from teasing Cliffman, Riana genuinely seemed to want to go somewhere before winter break ended. This led to an impromptu discussion about where to go during the break.

Interestingly, despite his social anxiety, Cliffman was rather engaged, though he stammered a lot, and spoke the second most after Riana.

As the conversation continued, I felt a bit awkward since I wasn’t sure if I could join them, so I stepped outside under the pretense of taking a walk. It seemed Duke Granz had been informed of our visit, so we were free to roam around.

Was I being too much, though? Visiting a friend’s house and not even greeting her parents seemed impolite.

Was this discomfort a sign that I hadn’t completely shed my Confucian upbringing?

Despite my unease, I wasn’t about to go in and greet Duke Granz on my own, as that would have been ridiculous.

I wandered around the garden near the annex. It was winter, so there were no flowers, just well-maintained shrubbery. The garden wasn’t as extensive as the one in the Spring Palace, but the fact that the Granz family could own such a large estate in the capital was a testament to their financial and political power.

Being able to support a daughter like Riana, who spent money as if it were water, almost indefinitely was evidence enough of the Granz family’s power. When I thought about it, most of the students with strong backing in our grade were in Class A, both in the original story and in this altered timeline.

Vertus de Gradias.

Riana de Granz.

Harriet de Saint-Ouen.

Heinrich von Schwartz.

Of course, Erhi was also a noble, although not from a particularly powerful family. On the other hand, in Class B, the only other noble excluding Charlotte was Anna de Gerna, though, like Harriet, she was more from a family of mages than traditional nobility.

Anyway, after wandering around, I ended up at the main wing of the Granz mansion. In hindsight, if I had asked Riana to show me her house, she would have brought me anytime, so it wasn’t a particularly difficult place to visit.

As I walked through the winter garden, someone I never expected to meet here was being led in by a servant through the mansion’s main gate.

“Hmm?”

“... Oh.”

“Mr. Reinhart, I didn’t expect to see you here,” said a middle-aged man, tipping his fedora in greeting.

“Ah... It’s been a while,” I replied.

‘Why is he here? In this situation, and in this place?’

Seeing him sent chills down my spine.

It was Owen de Getmora, the guildmaster of the Merchants’ Guild.