“Why have you been acting like that since earlier?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Sigh, fine, but can you put that down first and then talk?”
Whitney’s sudden change into actively initiating skinship was, to put it plainly, the epitome of awkwardness.
“I really don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“…You, ugh.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
In fact, it was only natural when you think about it: a villainess who, in both her past and present lives, had zero romantic experience and barely any human interaction.
The fact that any skinship between the two even happened at all was practically a miracle.
“Whitney, stop it.”
“…I don’t want to.”
“You little…!”
Thus, the scuffle that had suddenly begun between them quickly developed into a rather rare sight: Whitney desperately trying to hug Meredia, and Meredia trying just as desperately to push him away.
Of course, if any gossip journalists or busybodies had witnessed it, they would have paid a fortune to watch, but for the mansion’s staff, the scene was pure agony.
Especially for those who had heard the rumor that servants who witnessed sensitive matters within the mansion often mysteriously disappeared by the next day.
“From this moment, everyone, you haven’t seen or heard anything.”
“Eek.”
“…Understood?”
And right at that moment, Sasha, who had been staring blankly at the garden, began to whisper warnings in a low voice, causing the new servants to look even more distraught.
“Oh my, look at that…”
“The young master is surprisingly aggressive…”
“…Are you all insane? Lower your eyes immediately.”
A few young maids, who had been sneaking glances with flushed cheeks, were promptly scolded and lowered their heads.
Regardless, the servants of the Lingard mansion once again silently buried another ghost story deep in their hearts as they dutifully went about their work.
“Um, Lady Meredia.”
“…What?”
“You do realize that you brought this on yourself, right?”
Meanwhile, Meredia, who was glaring at Whitney with a half-murderous look despite all the attempts to restrain him, perked up at the cheeky voice of Parsha coming from beside her.
“What are you talking about…”
“You exposed the pheromones entirely because you were curious whether Master would fall for a beauty trap or not, didn’t you?”
At those words, which pierced right through her weak spot, Meredia quickly withdrew her murderous gaze and averted her eyes.
“Thanks to that, the master is now practically marinated in pheromones. In short, he’s completely lost his mind.”
“…Yeah, that was definitely my fault.”
Since it was true that she had caused Whitney’s sudden change of behavior, Meredia had nothing to say, even if she had ten mouths.
“But that b*tch was blatantly flirting with him right in front of me.”
“…Haha.”
“I was planning to kill him if he fell for it, but looks like I’m lucky.”
Still, the biggest culprit was actually Ferris, who dared to flirt with her fiancé right before Meredia’s eyes, so under normal circumstances, there should have already been a bloodbath.
“…Maybe I should kill her quietly after all.”
Fortunately, thanks to Meredia’s thoughtful consideration not to ruin the founding ceremony of the Lingard family’s new knight order, peace was barely maintained.
“Wow, but it really seems like the master genuinely likes you, Lady Meredia.”
…?
Noticing that Meredia was still visibly uncomfortable, Parsha suddenly brightened her voice and casually started a conversation with her.
“Even though there are so many women around here, the master’s target is only you.”
“……”
“This is almost like a miracle, isn’t it?”
At that, Meredia looked around briefly before clearing her throat and replying.
“Since a mere count’s son has managed to land the empire’s only lady, isn’t it only natural that he should see nothing but me?”
Though her words were stiff, her voice had clearly softened quite a bit.
“…Now that you mention it, that’s true!”
Thinking that this pattern felt strangely familiar, Parsha tilted her head briefly but quickly decided to just go along with it and reinforced Meredia’s words.
Then came a short silence.
“…Hug me.”
Breaking the silence, Whitney spread his arms and smiled innocently.
Meredia, who had been chewing her lower lip and hesitating, eventually wore a look of complete resignation and quietly leaned sideways.
“Lady Meredia, you smell like perfume.”
“…Shut up.”
“Haha….”
If those who still insisted that Meredia and Whitney’s relationship was just a marriage of political convenience had seen this, they would have been shocked.
“Hey, you. Get a grip. How far do you think you’re going?”
“…Is that bad?”
“Do you seriously want to die? Can’t you see all the people around?”
At first, it might have been an amusing sight, but as the skinship gradually escalated, it surely must have become painfully awkward.
“Come on… Ouch, ouch, ouch!”
“…Die.”
Of course, the burden was heavier on Meredia’s side, who had to endure the increasing physical affection from a Whitney completely out of his mind from pheromone overload.
“I think we need to temporarily suspend the interviews!”
As the scuffle showed no signs of ending, Parsha finally announced the temporary suspension of the knight order’s interview sessions.
“…I’m really not used to things like this.”
Meanwhile.
Unexpectedly unable to handle the scene, Runiel covered her eyes with both hands but still peeked through her fingers at the situation.
“Runiel, this is perfect timing! Why don’t you take a breather?”
“…!”
“Your younger siblings are next, right?”
Startled by Parsha’s voice beside her, Runiel hurriedly shook her head.
“That… that was just a tie to the past.”
The youthful and soft expression she had briefly shown had already hardened again.
*****
After the sudden commotion caused by a dizzy spell during the interviews was somehow resolved.
“Alright then… um, well.”
“…Take it.”
“Ah, y-yes.”
Barely regaining my senses and returning to my role as the person in charge of the interviews, I hastily accepted the documents handed to me by Lady Meredia, struggling to pull myself together while stammering with a dazed expression.
‘Lady Meredia’s perfume smell is all over me.’
No matter how hard I tried to focus, the lingering scent of Lady Meredia’s perfume clinging to my body kept disrupting my concentration, likely because of the rather rude skinship I had engaged in during my momentary lapse.
…Was Lady Meredia originally someone who wore such strong perfume?
But thinking about it for a moment, wasn’t Lady Meredia the type who absolutely hated noticeable perfumes or ornaments?
Could it be that she wore perfume today, something she normally wouldn’t, because of me?
No, that might just be my self-consciousness going overboard.
“…What are you looking at?”
“Nothing at all.”
I had the urge to casually ask Lady Meredia about it, but the icy gaze that hit me as soon as I turned my eyes sideways made me suppress my rising curiosity and focus back on the documents.
“Alright then, next in line… Ah.”
Only then did I realize the reason why the atmosphere among the other interviewers, excluding myself, seemed a bit subdued.
“Richard Mistilane, and Evangeline Mistilane. Please come in.”
Normally, a family reunion should be accompanied by tears and emotional embraces, but not everything in the world follows the norm.
There are, naturally, many people in this world who, upon hearing the word ‘family,’ can only recall feelings completely opposite to warmth and unity.
As soon as I finished calling their names, the two sisters and Runiel appeared, and the chilling, spine-tingling air that began to flow between them was, unfortunately, a textbook example of such a case.
‘Is it really okay for them to be in the same room together?’
Though I was the overall supervisor of the interview, I still found myself intimidated by the heavy atmosphere emanating from Runiel and the two sisters.
“…This is a disaster.”
“Huh, what is this supposed to be?”
As I awkwardly scratched my head, trying to break the tension somehow, suddenly Parsha and Lady Meredia spoke up in cold voices at the same time.
“What’s wrong?”
“Those two have no intention of participating sincerely in the interview.”
“They didn’t come here willing to risk failing — they came already intending to fail.”
Hearing their common analysis, I momentarily doubted my ears and tilted my head.
“They came intending to fail? I don’t quite understand.”
“Right? I don’t really get it either.”
“I’m the same. But it seems they do have another goal, so let’s watch and see what they try to do first.”
Parsha and Meredia answered my question, but Runiel simply lowered her head and remained silent.
“Hey…”
“…Let’s just leave it be for now.”
Seeing Runiel’s demeanor, Lady Meredia tried to say something, but I decided it would be better not to press and just quietly observe.
‘Though I don’t know the details, it’s a shame they have no intention of passing the knight order interview…’
How much time had passed like that?
Finally, the two sisters slowly opened their mouths to speak.
“…I am Richard, eldest son of the Mistilane Count family, renowned for swordsmanship.”
“…And I am Evangeline, the second daughter.”
The gazes of the two, who introduced themselves like that, were filled with clear hostility.
The problem was that the hostility was blatantly directed at Runiel.
‘At this point, I’m really starting to wonder what happened between them.’
While it’s a boss’s duty not to invade the privacy of subordinates, at this level, it seemed necessary to understand the situation for Runiel’s sake.
“Thank you for participating in the interview—”
As I was thinking that and trying to move the interview along, it happened.
-Gooooo…
Suddenly, an overwhelming pressure began to fill the entire garden.
“!”
The two siblings, who had been glaring at Runiel with hostile eyes, flinched and immediately straightened their postures.
“…Lady Meredia?”
“I can’t stand to watch cocky kids showing off.”
Apparently, Lady Meredia, who had been resting her chin on her hand with a bored expression, had unleashed her pressure on the two.
“…Still, they’re bearable, I suppose.”
“Ooh.”
The key point was that despite the intense killing intent, neither of them fainted nor collapsed and remained standing firmly.
For reference, when I faced similar pressure from Lady Meredia before, I had passed out on the spot right in front of her.
Even now, being aware that the power of dominion resides within me, I’m confident I’d still instantly faint if I faced her killing intent again.
Therefore, at the very least, those two could be considered to have reached the ranks of those strong enough to somewhat endure standing before Meredia.
“The test ends here.”
“…Huff, huff.”
“Haah.”
Even so, when Meredia withdrew her killing intent, both of them wiped away cold sweat and exhaled deeply in relief.
“Well then, moving on to the real thing…”
Of course, what just happened was merely Lady Meredia’s personal test.
The real trial — to test the power of dominion — was still ahead, so I was quietly gathering my strength when—
“…Master, I apologize, but I have a suggestion.”
Runiel, who had remained silent even with the arrival of her blood relatives, finally spoke.
“For the second part of the interview, may we proceed in the format of a duel?”
“…Huh?”
Of course, the words that came out of her mouth were slightly different from what I had expected.
Cliche Novel 