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THEN, finally, it was the day of the graduation party.
Nina sighed for the umpteenth time, now in her dress and already at the venue with Dino. That should satisfy the part in the contract about her going to the graduation party with him.
Unlike the evening soirée before, the hall was filled with celebratory joy at graduating and a sense of release.
The tablecloths were all replaced as they were a different color from the party. It seemed a bit wasteful to a commoner like Nina, but this entire building was only used for the soirées and celebration parties anyway.
Maybe to any regular noble, the idea of using the same tablecloths was quite unthinkable.
The chandeliers glittered overhead, the aroma of the food wafted around her, and the floral decorations were beautifully arranged. There were more seemingly closer couples mingling about. Spending a year together in the academy must have sparked some flames of romance.
Nina looked around at all the partygoers having fun and let out yet another sigh. “…Will everything be okay?” she asked.
There was, as expected, quite the uproar that the engaged prince had brought another girl—a commoner, at that—to the party. The emotions flooding the room seemed utterly normal: disgust at Dino, sympathy for Clarrisa, and revulsion toward Nina.
But no one actually said anything; they all just greeted them. It was like the calm before the gloat storm, the main event. Once the relish started, Nina’s fall from grace was inevitable.
She didn’t have any problem with the fact that she’d worked so hard to make this exact thing happen, but there were several parts about this situation she was objectively unhappy with.
“Nina, are you okay?” asked Dino. “Clarissa should be showing up any minute now.”
That was when she realized she’d been standing there in a daze. The contract was coming to its end—and to her planned downfall. It was the most crucial scene. She couldn’t lose focus now.
Aida may not be there anymore, but Nina got enough blessings from this job to feel grateful. She had to work hard for Ed’s and Dino’s sake too.
“I’m okay,” she replied. “Thank you for everything you’ve done, Your Highness.”
“It was nothing. And it’s not over yet. By the way…that dress looks really nice on you.”
Nina’s mouth dropped open, even that was the sort of thing boys always said in this kind of situation. “I’m not surprised a prince would be good at flattery too,” she noted.
“It’s not flattery. Did Ed give you that dress?”
“Hm? No. Well…I actually don’t know. It was sent by the god, so I assumed they picked whatever they thought would work,” she answered as she now took in her attire.
It was made from a pale aqua fabric and had a cute, delicate silhouette. Pink beads were scattered across the dress while flowers of the same aqua fabric with yellow- and blue-beaded centers decorated her waistline.
“The god picked it out? But the beads— Oh, looks like Clarissa just arrived,” announced Dino, looking toward the imposingly beautiful girl in her flaming red gown.
The red of her dress against the plum color of her hair was a rather clashing color combination. It made Nina’s eyes hurt a little.
More than that, she couldn’t help but notice how happy Clarissa looked, as if she’d turned into the embodiment of excitement and couldn’t fully hide her emotions. It was obvious she’d been looking forward to this day for a long time.
“Your Highness,” she greeted. “What is the meaning of this? You are my betrothed; why are you here with this commoner?” Her eyes gleamed as she jabbed her finger toward Nina.
Maybe it was only natural that she was like this since today was the day of the long-awaited gloat. She’d played the villainess role with everything she had all for this moment.
She might be impatient, bad at following through with her plans, and more suited to a flawed heroine role, but, in her heart, she was the perfect villainess.
With the three contracted actors there for the usual comedic play, the rest of the students around stopped and watched, surrounding them from afar.
They might not want to get involved, but maybe it was at least fun to watch. Either that or they did want to get involved, but the god wouldn’t let them get any closer.
If it were up to Nina, she would rather be a laid-back observer.
Once the other students took their places, Dino stepped forward, his face grim. “This might not be an appropriate place to say this, but there’s something I want you to hear.” His voice carried well. All the students and Clarissa were glued to him. It couldn’t be only Nina’s imagination that made it look like Clarissa’s expression practically screamed, “This is it!”
Dino took a deep breath, looked deep into Clarissa’s jade eyes, and declared, “Nina is always weeding the flower beds and vegetable patch. She’s also very passionate about watering.”
“Uh… What?”
A long time passed before Clarissa even managed to get that single word out. Apparently, this was the part corresponding to the line in the contract that said, “Everyone learns of the heroine’s deeds.” Probably?
Ed must have decided that the heroine’s “deeds” could be anything, but Clarissa’s expression was terrifying. Unsurprisingly, she’d glower like that; she surely was going for her “bullying” of the heroine as a misunderstanding, where she would expose the heroine’s terrible personality once the heroine blamed her for that.
But, if the god’s power wasn’t interfering, it meant that whatever was happening was okay with the god. Maybe everything outside the scope of the contract was far more open to interpretation than Nina expected.
“What is this about?” demanded Clarissa.
“It is number five of the contract,” came the voice of a white-haired boy, who appeared behind Clarissa in her confusion. Those beautiful blue and gold eyes, the far too handsome features that threatened to send Nina’s heart fluttering. There was no doubt it was Edmund.
He was as beautiful as ever, and the formal clothing suited him well.
Nina was just as taken aback as Clarissa was since she never imagined he’d come. Actually, all the students around them were surprised too, but why?
“Ed barely goes out to social events, let alone to the academy, and you know what he looks like. He was basically raised in a tower, but the people who know about him definitely know about him,” Dino quietly explained for Nina’s sake.