The Young Lady Has Disappeared

Time flowed on and the day of the ball drew near. And as time passed, the relationship between Lillian and Catherine was becoming increasingly awkward.

'If I only knew the reason, I could try to resolve it somehow.'

Lillian inwardly sighed and glanced furtively at Catherine.

Catherine was folding laundry with an expressionless face. It looked no different from usual, but Lillian had clearly realized recently that Catherine was avoiding her. She didn't know since when or why, but lately Catherine often didn't return to the room, using the excuse of being busy with work.

Could it be, though it was a thought she really didn't want to entertain, that it had something to do with Yulia?

Such suspicions were starting to arise. That they had become lovers or something.

No, that can't be. Come to think of it, Catherine usually wandered outside rather than meeting with Yulia. Of course, they could have met outside, but recently, when Catherine wasn't around, Yulia usually came to visit her room, so the probability of the two meeting separately was extremely low.

When asked why she came to visit when Catherine wasn't around, Yulia had smiled brightly and said, "Because Lillian might be lonely?"

Remembering this, Lillian sighed inwardly again. She felt frustrated by the unsolved questions.

"Young lady. A letter has arrived."

"Hmm? To the academy? Ah, it must be from the atelier. Yes, that's right. It's a letter asking us to come pick up the dresses. Could you go get them?"

"Yes, young lady."

Lillian looked at Catherine for a moment, recalling the surprise gift she had prepared for her, but Catherine had already nodded and was ready to leave. Seeing this, Lillian finally let out an audible sigh and mumbled hesitantly.

"W-Well, have a safe trip."

"...Thank you. I'll be back safely."

Normally, Catherine would have cautioned her about sighing, but perhaps a bit flustered, she left the room without any admonition.

Lillian, watching her back as she left, lay down on the bed. What on earth should she do about this hellish atmosphere?

After wringing her brain for a while, but realizing there was no way to solve it right now anyway, Lillian blankly stared at the ceiling and started pondering about the upcoming story.

In the game, major events were divided into six chapters, and the upcoming ball was the first chapter. It was the first appearance of the secret club 'Animal Party', which aimed to overthrow the student council and achieve freedom for the students behind the scenes of Aptem Academy, and the event where the authority of the imperial princess studying at Aptem Academy would be undermined - the student uprising.

As Aptem Academy was an academy where people from all over the continent enrolled to build connections, it also gathered children of influential families who were hostile to the empire or the imperial family, and Animal Party was a secret club formed by such individuals.

Animal Party, a name that was childishly brilliant and utterly ridiculous, but its members were each children of influential families with power that played central roles in their countries.

Mainly the son of Duke Elpeltaine, who led the nobility faction that stood in opposition to the imperial family, and the princess of Salaman Kingdom, the largest country with grievances against the empire. Added to that was the prince of the Grand Duchy of Endain, which had recently become engaged to the Fortus family and had successfully achieved military independence from the imperial family for the first time.

The uprising incited by these people, who had roped in failing students, was a fierce wind blowing through the academy, though they weren't armed.

Even the student council members couldn't easily suppress it, which led to the undermining of the imperial princess's authority, who could be seen as overseeing and supervising the student council.

There were already many who were dissatisfied with the fact that the imperial princess, who wasn't even a member of the student council, was managing the student council that drafted major student policies at Aptem Academy. And because of this incident, the imperial princess was inevitably forced to step back from the front lines.

If there was any consolation, it might be that the reputation Yulia built up in the process of treating the injured also helped the imperial family.

Come to think of it... originally, Lillian was also one of the individuals who joined Animal Party, seduced by Prince Belrus's persuasion.

'Then who's in it now?'

For a moment, such a question flashed through her mind, but well, it wasn't something she needed to worry about anyway. Yulia and the imperial princess would handle that part of the story well. Without the Fortus family involved, they would be dealing with even easier opponents.

Come to think of it, since that incident where those knights were defeated, Prince Belrus hadn't contacted Lillian at all. Had he given up?

But for Prince Belrus's ambition, the Fortus family was too good a card to give up. Too difficult to give up.

'An uprising... an uprising.'

Anyway, as it was expressed as an uprising, it wasn't such a peaceful protest. Not only were troublemakers mixed in, but the cause packaged under the pretext of an uprising was vulgar and frivolous to the extreme.

But the problem was that the student council members didn't know this.

If they only knew, they could use it as a pretext to disperse the uprising. Of course, Lillian had no intention whatsoever of informing the student council about this cause. If she did, she would have to explain how she knew from the start, and besides, she had no intention of getting involved in this game's story even a little bit.

She planned to avoid getting entangled in the Chapter 1 uprising by hiding in a secluded corner of the ballroom.

After perfectly checking her plan like this, she smiled with satisfaction and rolled around on the bed.

* * *

Clatter clatter, clatter clatter.

The discomfort of the carriage running on an unpaved road hits my bottom. It's uncomfortable. It might be partly because I didn't rent an expensive carriage like when I carried Lillian and Yulia, but this discomfort also originated from my heart.

I let out a deep sigh. It was something I would never do normally, but it should be fine now since no one is around.

Normally, I wouldn't have let my guard down even if no one was around, but right now I had no composure. No, I think I don't have any. To be honest, although I had somewhat found my bearings after the conversation with Yulia, it was extremely awkward dealing with Lillian right now.

So, um. How should I put this? Should I say it feels like I've gathered materials to pave an unpaved road, but I'm still feeling uncomfortable because the road isn't paved right away?

Let's stop this, recalling that I've never had any talent for making analogies since long ago, I sighed once again.

Somehow, I felt like I've been sighing a lot more these days. To be precise, it was the story since the current 'Lillian' took over the young lady's body.

To be honest... the initial disgust and anger had long subsided. After all, she was showing perfectly 'Lillian-like' behavior externally, while also treating the servants and people around her kindly. To the extent that many people who originally knew her were surprised.

Especially becoming friends with Yulia was quite surprising even for me.

Not only becoming friends with others, but becoming friends with Yulia, who wasn't even a pure-blooded noble, but currently a commoner.

Of course, excluding such social barriers, Yulia was a very good person, so it's not strange that they became friends.

It's not strange, but um, if the subject is Lillian, this is how it turned out.

Well, there's absolutely no reason for 'Lillian', who seems to be an Earthling, and moreover someone from South Korea, to be at odds with Yulia, but um, to be honest, it felt a bit artificial. A feeling as if the world revolves around Yulia. As if she were the protagonist.

No, is she the protagonist? Because she's the only person in this world with a mystery.

Until now, there had been almost no occasion to display her abilities, but if she were to display them, wouldn't it be quite a spectacular sight? After all, it would be the first appearance of a mystery since mana, the mystery, disappeared from this land 3,000 years ago. Of course, it's different in terms of being divine power.

I had wanted to see her exercise her divine power at least once someday. But not to the extent of asking her to show it privately, so I had kept my mouth shut until now.

"We've arrived, miss."

"Ah, yes."

After paying the fare to the coachman, I looked around the northern square of the free city where the atelier was located.

As the northern square was nicknamed the 'Merchant Square', all sorts of shops were in disarray. Seeing even an alchemy shop that was almost out of business, I could once again realize that this place truly lived up to its name as a 'free city'.

Karl's atelier is inside the square. Considering the laundry that still needed to be folded when I returned, I had to walk briskly.

Come to think of it, if I go through the alley near here, won't it save time? Although it's in a secluded place, I'm not weak enough to get beaten up by thugs...

It would be an alley I couldn't enter with Lillian and Yulia, but for me, who was originally a street urchin, born to be an alley kid, it wasn't such a dangerous place.

After pondering for a moment, I entered straight into the dark alley.