Abington wandered around Clarisse a few more times, repeating the word ‘friend.’
Clarisse, unable to hold back any longer, finally screamed menacingly at him today.
“Don’t bother me! I really hate it!”
As he flinched, Abington muttered, “…you don’t like?” and quickly ran away.
According to later eyewitness accounts, he reportedly sobbed and returned to his room.
When she returned to the study room after losing her temper, there was a stone in Clarisse’s seat.
It wasn’t a special stone, just an ordinary pebble, but when she lightly touched it, she felt warmth.
“Abington left that behind a little while ago.”
One of the test takers across from her chimed in, “I got one too,” and showed their warm pebbles.
“If you hold a pen for a long time in the winter, your fingertips will get cold, so I guess he asked the priests to prepare it. Is there something special? He really does all the things like representatives of test takers.”
Glancing around, Clarisse noticed other test takers holding warm pebbles one by one.
“Ah.”
As Clarisse played with the pebbles, she remembered the conversation she had had with Abington earlier.
｢Miss Grezekaia! In the study room…｣
She didn’t listen any further after that and got very angry. He might have been trying to tell her that he left the pebble for her.
“Ugh.”
Clarisse touched her forehead for a moment.
* * *
Later on, Clarisse decided to apologize to Abington for her earlier outburst. While she found him annoying, she believed it wasn’t fair to scold him without understanding what his business was.
“He’s an evil person after all, taking advantage of the girl’s weakness to pebble.”
“If you apologize for no reason, it gives him a chance to crawl in even more. Why bother doing that?”
Noah and Valentine grumbled but followed Clarisse.
And there was another party besides them, that is.
“In any case, it is true that Abington today had no bad intentions.”
It was Eugenie.
When Clarisse said she was going to Abington to apologize, she said she would go with her and came forward first.
“Miss McLeod, why are you coming with us?”
“I just don’t like to keep debt.”
As she said that, she was also holding a warm pebble in her hand. It looked like she was going to say thank you.
They arrived in front of Abington’s room and knocked on his door.
But no matter how long they waited, there was no answer.
“Where did you go?”
As Clarisse tilted her head, a large hand suddenly came out from behind and grabbed the doorknob.
“Just check.”
It was Valentine.
“W, wait! Prince!” There was no time for Clarisse to stop him.
“If he weren’t in the room, he would have locked the door… Oh, it’s open?”
He opened the door without permission.
“Ah really! I’m sorry, Belleville…Uhm?”
Clarisse, who was about to apologize for opening the door arbitrarily, stopped, but…
Abington was lying motionless in the middle of the floor. It took a moment to just look at this in surprise.
Valentine cautiously asked Clarisse a question. “You, no way… Did you kick him too?”
“I didn’t hit him!”
After answering that, Clarisse immediately ran to him and checked his condition.
“I think he has a really bad fever?”
“Did he sob because he caught a cold?”
Eugenie also approached, swept his forehead, and took a deep breath.
“Let’s move to the bed first.”
The moment Clarisse tried to pick him up, Noah used magic to lift Abington and safely move him to the bed.
Meanwhile, Eugenie went out to call the medical priest, and Noah quickly placed his cold hand on his head.
Abington, who seemed to have come to his senses a little because the cold feeling on his hot head felt good, smiled and tried to hold Noah’s hand.
“I will kill you if you grab my hand.”
At the moment Noah warned in a dreary voice, Abington trembled his whole body and became calm.
Noah took off his glasses and put them on a nearby desk.
Soon the priest arrived and they stepped back for a moment.
“It looks like you caught a cold that was popular among priests. You too can catch it, so you’d better be careful.
It seems that many people caught colds while clearing away the snow that suddenly fell recently.
Abington must have gotten sick because he often meets priests as the representative of the test takers.
“How long will it take to get better?”
“It will take a week. Just make sure you don’t stay here too long either.”
He hurried out, saying that other priests also had to go for examination.
“If you’re not feeling well, it would be good to ask for a bit of help. I don’t know why you were suffering alone in the room.”
Clarisse grunted, feeling somewhat sorry.
“Maybe he thought he shouldn’t say anything weak. Anyway, he’s strangely obsessed with his position as test taker representative.”
“There is a certain level of obsession.”
Valentine clicked his tongue and gently shook his head at Eugenie’s words.
“It looks like he’s awake.”
Noah’s words rushed everyone near the bed.
He slowly got up and just looked at the group with a slightly embarrassed expression.
Clarisse wondered if Abington was a little moved. When you’re sick and unwell, you’re bound to be touched when someone stays by your side.
Clarisse was really touched when she found out that the Duchess had taken care of her when she was young.
Maybe he will reflect on his strange actions so far and be reborn as a true friend…
“As expected, my popularity is… ha.”
“Just go to sleep.”
Clarisse sighed, lightly pushing his shoulder and laying him down on the bed again.
“You should have told me a little while ago if you were this sick.”
He mumbled and answered cautiously when she spoke to him while covering him with a blanket all the way to his neck.
“…because you don’t like me.”
“Of course. Mr. Belleville hates me, too.
He was startled and asked carefully.
“H, how…? I really wanted to hit you in the back…”
Wow, does he really want to fight?
But the only thing Clarisse would gain from hitting a frail man who was drunk and making noises was dishonor.
“Why do you keep asking me to be friends when you hate it so much?”
“That’s…” He answered with a dazed expression on his face. “To look good in the royal family.”
“…because I’m the one sponsored by the royal family?”
“Yes.”
“Well, now that I know, I’m sure you’re all better.”
Clarisse thought he’d tell him something important when he got better.
The royal family wouldn’t think particularly favorably of Belleville if they became friends.
In other words, his efforts were in vain.
“Someday, really… the back of the head…”
….don’t say it. Phew, that’s annoying.
Clarisse laughed, hiding her fists behind her back for no reason.
Anyway, she liked that it was much easier to deal with him now than when he asked to be her friend.
“…I’m going to hit you.”
Abington, who mumbled like that for the last time, finally fell asleep.
“What’s wrong with him?”
When asked by Valentine, all Clarisse could do was shrug her shoulders.
“Anyway, I think we should probably take turns bringing meals. Because he needs to take medicine.”
Everyone made expressions of obvious annoyance, but that didn’t mean they could tell a contagious patient to go to the restaurant, so they nodded.
Clarisse raised one hand first.
“Noah and I have plans for the weekend, so I think we’d better take care of weekdays.”
“What?”
Then Valentine was surprised and looked at the two people in turn.
“Then do you think I won’t have an appointment on the weekend?”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No. I don’t.”
“….”
“But please be considerate by asking first. Above all, where are you going?”
“It’s nothing special. I just wanted to visit Madam Curno for a moment.”
“Why, on that day?”
That probably means why go there on such a complicated day when the owner of the Marquis changes.
But luckily, Clarisse had a good excuse to answer this.
“The Madam asked me to come, and this time the Duchess will join us.”
The letter that arrived yesterday said that Brielle also wanted to say thank you to the Marchioness.
Even so, it was nothing short of heavenly luck for Clarisse, who was trying to somehow prepare a place for the two to be together.
“The Duchess is going there on that day? I’m sure the new future Marquis will be quite happy.”
She doesn’t know who the new Marquis will be, but the Duchess’s behavior when meeting the madam on ‘Cecilia’s thirtieth birthday’ will not be pleasant.
That part must have been something Brielle was worried about as well. Because this was added to the letter.
“She said there was no political intention. Above all, she plans to ‘quietly’ come out of the third wall.”
“Hmm. Well, then it’ll be okay.”
Valentine’s fine hair was a mess.
“On the weekends, I take turns preparing meals with this guy.”
Then Eugenie quietly looked at him and asked.
“Why does Prince think I don’t have anything special to do this weekend?”
“What? Do you have plans too?”
“No. I don’t have plans.”
“….”
“But it’s important to be considerate by asking first.”
Eugenie’s smiling face as she answered like that somehow looked similar to Valentine’s.
Now that she thinks about it, they are both tall and have similar refreshingly elongated body shapes, so the more she looks at them…
‘Huh? What am I thinking?’
What nonsense is it that these two people look alike?
In that sense, Noah also resembles them.
All three of them have longer arms and legs than others, so when they are side by side like this, they look great together.
Only Clarisse was an ordinary human being.
‘That’s kind of sad.’
Just as Abington complained, “Because of the talk, my head hurts…,” so they quietly slipped out of Abington’s room and arranged the meal order.
* * *
Devina was nervous.
Even after she decided not to leave Brielle alone, things didn’t work out for her.
Maximilian didn’t leave his wife’s side, as if he knew about Devina’s plans.
On one occasion, she even went to congratulate her in person and presented a gift… Even at that time, Maximilian, unaware of embarrassment, continuously stayed by his wife’s side.
‘That child is not Max’s child!’
Devina had to swallow her words, which stuck all the way up her throat, and only let out her smile.
She didn’t even have time to try the poison she had obtained from someone she trusted.
What if the day comes when everyone knows Brielle’s identity?
One day, her head felt like it was going to explode with anxiety.
Another letter arrived for her.
She was anxious to see if it was her father’s, but…
‘Abington Belleville.’
She sighed as she saw the name written on her envelope.
This stuffy test taker was faithfully following the instructions to become friends with Clarisse to the point of being useless. To the extent that he sometimes sends ‘friendship reports’ like this.
The content was always nothing special.
All she did was make a fuss about sharing friendship with that obnoxious person, Clarisse, who only talked about providing trivial help or sharing food.
Srrk.
Devina tore Abington’s letter into pieces. Because she didn’t have time to listen to such idle talk.
Then, from a piece of a letter that suddenly fell…
“…Uhm…?”
One sentence caught Devina’s eye.
[The Duchess also spent the weekend…]
It appears that she didn’t see Abington’s words. She blinked her green eyes several times and read it again.
Abington wandered around Clarisse a few more times, repeating the word ‘friend.’
Clarisse, unable to hold back any longer, finally screamed menacingly at him today.
“Don’t bother me! I really hate it!”
As he flinched, Abington muttered, “…you don’t like?” and quickly ran away.
According to later eyewitness accounts, he reportedly sobbed and returned to his room.
When she returned to the study room after losing her temper, there was a stone in Clarisse’s seat.
It wasn’t a special stone, just an ordinary pebble, but when she lightly touched it, she felt warmth.
“Abington left that behind a little while ago.”
One of the test takers across from her chimed in, “I got one too,” and showed their warm pebbles.
“If you hold a pen for a long time in the winter, your fingertips will get cold, so I guess he asked the priests to prepare it. Is there something special? He really does all the things like representatives of test takers.”
Glancing around, Clarisse noticed other test takers holding warm pebbles one by one.
“Ah.”
As Clarisse played with the pebbles, she remembered the conversation she had had with Abington earlier.
｢Miss Grezekaia! In the study room…｣
She didn’t listen any further after that and got very angry. He might have been trying to tell her that he left the pebble for her.
“Ugh.”
Clarisse touched her forehead for a moment.
* * *
Later on, Clarisse decided to apologize to Abington for her earlier outburst. While she found him annoying, she believed it wasn’t fair to scold him without understanding what his business was.
“He’s an evil person after all, taking advantage of the girl’s weakness to pebble.”
“If you apologize for no reason, it gives him a chance to crawl in even more. Why bother doing that?”
Noah and Valentine grumbled but followed Clarisse.
And there was another party besides them, that is.
“In any case, it is true that Abington today had no bad intentions.”
It was Eugenie.
When Clarisse said she was going to Abington to apologize, she said she would go with her and came forward first.
“Miss McLeod, why are you coming with us?”
“I just don’t like to keep debt.”
As she said that, she was also holding a warm pebble in her hand. It looked like she was going to say thank you.
They arrived in front of Abington’s room and knocked on his door.
But no matter how long they waited, there was no answer.
“Where did you go?”
As Clarisse tilted her head, a large hand suddenly came out from behind and grabbed the doorknob.
“Just check.”
It was Valentine.
“W, wait! Prince!” There was no time for Clarisse to stop him.
“If he weren’t in the room, he would have locked the door… Oh, it’s open?”
He opened the door without permission.
“Ah really! I’m sorry, Belleville…Uhm?”
Clarisse, who was about to apologize for opening the door arbitrarily, stopped, but…
Abington was lying motionless in the middle of the floor. It took a moment to just look at this in surprise.
Valentine cautiously asked Clarisse a question. “You, no way… Did you kick him too?”
“I didn’t hit him!”
After answering that, Clarisse immediately ran to him and checked his condition.
“I think he has a really bad fever?”
“Did he sob because he caught a cold?”
Eugenie also approached, swept his forehead, and took a deep breath.
“Let’s move to the bed first.”
The moment Clarisse tried to pick him up, Noah used magic to lift Abington and safely move him to the bed.
Meanwhile, Eugenie went out to call the medical priest, and Noah quickly placed his cold hand on his head.
Abington, who seemed to have come to his senses a little because the cold feeling on his hot head felt good, smiled and tried to hold Noah’s hand.
“I will kill you if you grab my hand.”
At the moment Noah warned in a dreary voice, Abington trembled his whole body and became calm.
Noah took off his glasses and put them on a nearby desk.
Soon the priest arrived and they stepped back for a moment.
“It looks like you caught a cold that was popular among priests. You too can catch it, so you’d better be careful.
It seems that many people caught colds while clearing away the snow that suddenly fell recently.
Abington must have gotten sick because he often meets priests as the representative of the test takers.
“How long will it take to get better?”
“It will take a week. Just make sure you don’t stay here too long either.”
He hurried out, saying that other priests also had to go for examination.
“If you’re not feeling well, it would be good to ask for a bit of help. I don’t know why you were suffering alone in the room.”
Clarisse grunted, feeling somewhat sorry.
“Maybe he thought he shouldn’t say anything weak. Anyway, he’s strangely obsessed with his position as test taker representative.”
“There is a certain level of obsession.”
Valentine clicked his tongue and gently shook his head at Eugenie’s words.
“It looks like he’s awake.”
Noah’s words rushed everyone near the bed.
He slowly got up and just looked at the group with a slightly embarrassed expression.
Clarisse wondered if Abington was a little moved. When you’re sick and unwell, you’re bound to be touched when someone stays by your side.
Clarisse was really touched when she found out that the Duchess had taken care of her when she was young.
Maybe he will reflect on his strange actions so far and be reborn as a true friend…
“As expected, my popularity is… ha.”
“Just go to sleep.”
Clarisse sighed, lightly pushing his shoulder and laying him down on the bed again.
“You should have told me a little while ago if you were this sick.”
He mumbled and answered cautiously when she spoke to him while covering him with a blanket all the way to his neck.
“…because you don’t like me.”
“Of course. Mr. Belleville hates me, too.
He was startled and asked carefully.
“H, how…? I really wanted to hit you in the back…”
Wow, does he really want to fight?
But the only thing Clarisse would gain from hitting a frail man who was drunk and making noises was dishonor.
“Why do you keep asking me to be friends when you hate it so much?”
“That’s…” He answered with a dazed expression on his face. “To look good in the royal family.”
“…because I’m the one sponsored by the royal family?”
“Yes.”
“Well, now that I know, I’m sure you’re all better.”
Clarisse thought he’d tell him something important when he got better.
The royal family wouldn’t think particularly favorably of Belleville if they became friends.
In other words, his efforts were in vain.
“Someday, really… the back of the head…”
….don’t say it. Phew, that’s annoying.
Clarisse laughed, hiding her fists behind her back for no reason.
Anyway, she liked that it was much easier to deal with him now than when he asked to be her friend.
“…I’m going to hit you.”
Abington, who mumbled like that for the last time, finally fell asleep.
“What’s wrong with him?”
When asked by Valentine, all Clarisse could do was shrug her shoulders.
“Anyway, I think we should probably take turns bringing meals. Because he needs to take medicine.”
Everyone made expressions of obvious annoyance, but that didn’t mean they could tell a contagious patient to go to the restaurant, so they nodded.
Clarisse raised one hand first.
“Noah and I have plans for the weekend, so I think we’d better take care of weekdays.”
“What?”
Then Valentine was surprised and looked at the two people in turn.
“Then do you think I won’t have an appointment on the weekend?”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No. I don’t.”
“….”
“But please be considerate by asking first. Above all, where are you going?”
“It’s nothing special. I just wanted to visit Madam Curno for a moment.”
“Why, on that day?”
That probably means why go there on such a complicated day when the owner of the Marquis changes.
But luckily, Clarisse had a good excuse to answer this.
“The Madam asked me to come, and this time the Duchess will join us.”
The letter that arrived yesterday said that Brielle also wanted to say thank you to the Marchioness.
Even so, it was nothing short of heavenly luck for Clarisse, who was trying to somehow prepare a place for the two to be together.
“The Duchess is going there on that day? I’m sure the new future Marquis will be quite happy.”
She doesn’t know who the new Marquis will be, but the Duchess’s behavior when meeting the madam on ‘Cecilia’s thirtieth birthday’ will not be pleasant.
That part must have been something Brielle was worried about as well. Because this was added to the letter.
“She said there was no political intention. Above all, she plans to ‘quietly’ come out of the third wall.”
“Hmm. Well, then it’ll be okay.”
Valentine’s fine hair was a mess.
“On the weekends, I take turns preparing meals with this guy.”
Then Eugenie quietly looked at him and asked.
“Why does Prince think I don’t have anything special to do this weekend?”
“What? Do you have plans too?”
“No. I don’t have plans.”
“….”
“But it’s important to be considerate by asking first.”
Eugenie’s smiling face as she answered like that somehow looked similar to Valentine’s.
Now that she thinks about it, they are both tall and have similar refreshingly elongated body shapes, so the more she looks at them…
‘Huh? What am I thinking?’
What nonsense is it that these two people look alike?
In that sense, Noah also resembles them.
All three of them have longer arms and legs than others, so when they are side by side like this, they look great together.
Only Clarisse was an ordinary human being.
‘That’s kind of sad.’
Just as Abington complained, “Because of the talk, my head hurts…,” so they quietly slipped out of Abington’s room and arranged the meal order.
* * *
Devina was nervous.
Even after she decided not to leave Brielle alone, things didn’t work out for her.
Maximilian didn’t leave his wife’s side, as if he knew about Devina’s plans.
On one occasion, she even went to congratulate her in person and presented a gift… Even at that time, Maximilian, unaware of embarrassment, continuously stayed by his wife’s side.
‘That child is not Max’s child!’
Devina had to swallow her words, which stuck all the way up her throat, and only let out her smile.
She didn’t even have time to try the poison she had obtained from someone she trusted.
What if the day comes when everyone knows Brielle’s identity?
One day, her head felt like it was going to explode with anxiety.
Another letter arrived for her.
She was anxious to see if it was her father’s, but…
‘Abington Belleville.’
She sighed as she saw the name written on her envelope.
This stuffy test taker was faithfully following the instructions to become friends with Clarisse to the point of being useless. To the extent that he sometimes sends ‘friendship reports’ like this.
The content was always nothing special.
All she did was make a fuss about sharing friendship with that obnoxious person, Clarisse, who only talked about providing trivial help or sharing food.
Srrk.
Devina tore Abington’s letter into pieces. Because she didn’t have time to listen to such idle talk.
Then, from a piece of a letter that suddenly fell…
“…Uhm…?”
One sentence caught Devina’s eye.
[The Duchess also spent the weekend…]
It appears that she didn’t see Abington’s words. She blinked her green eyes several times and read it again.
