“Waaaaaaaah!!!”
There I was, back at the Manilas estate three days after the end of the Summer of Evelyn Camp, bawling my eyes out.
Much had happened since I’d first left to clear my head and my note had been mistaken as a farewell letter. Lord Theodore and I had finally made up, and our petition for marriage had been formally accepted. Things were going smoothly, I thought! Finally, I could aim to become an intelligent, elegant, magnificent countess!
Silly me.
Nothing’s changed! Nothing!
Indeed. I was in the exactly same place I’d been before I left the estate.
“Evelyn, your instructor told me that she was moved to tears by your wonderful bearing in today’s walking lesson—so much so that she fainted,” Lord Theodore said as he walked into the guest hall, his spirits high.
“Lord Theodore,” I mumbled, glaring sharply at him. “It wasn’t even a lesson! All I did was put a book on my head!”
His eyes widened. “You put a heavy book on your head? Oh, Evelyn, how hardworking you are! It’s so admirable!”
“Listen! Let me finish!”
The problem was what had happened after.
“Then the instructor said, ‘Oh my! Lady Evelyn, what a shapely head you have! Round and large, like that of an innocent baby! Truly, a miraculous shape! To put a book on such a world heritage of a head is unacceptable! No, this simply won’t do! Lesson over! You’re a perfect lady! Farewell, then!’ and went home! Just like that! Can you believe it?!”
Despite my best attempt at imitating my absurd instructor, Lord Theodore just...nodded firmly.
“I see it.”
What?!
“I, too, am enamored with the shape of your head. I think the instructor and I would get along.”
I was speechless. This was pointless. He wasn’t getting it.
Deciding to ignore the smiling Lord Theodore as he gazed dreamily at my head, I turned to Kira, who was on the couch reading a bestiary.
“Kira, this is so strange! Why is this happening again? I made sure to ask Lord Theodore to request an instructor who wouldn’t go easy on me and would actually teach me etiquette!”
As he turned a page, Kira looked at me and gave a small tilt of his head reminiscent of a small bird’s.
“You don’t get it, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“The thing your instructors are doing. That’s not them going easy on you.”
I stared blankly at him. “Huh?”
“The people of this country all love you to a ridiculous degree,” he explained. “None of them are trying to flatter you. They genuinely feel that way about you. Their praise is sincere, Evelyn. Mamaropa said so too, didn’t she?”
I thought back on the night the three of us had spent at the lake.
“Everyone loves you. That’s why nobody scolds you or gets mad.”
Well...she did say that.
It did make me happy that so many people loved me as the saint. But that had nothing to do with this! If I kept getting heaped with praise every time I did anything at all, I’d never improve!
Oh! I’ve got it!
Inspiration struck me then. Up until now, I’d been making an honest attempt at my lessons. But if my instructors kept coddling me, I resolved to become the world’s most spoiled woman. A true problem child. Maybe Lord Theodore would understand the gravity of the situation if he sensed that possibility!
Yes. This was a sound strategy.
“Well, in that case, I guess no one will mind...”
I let out an appropriately melancholic sigh, and Lord Theodore and Kira both turned to look at me curiously.
“I guess that’s fine, then,” I said, swirling the hem of my vestments. “Since I can’t learn how to walk properly in a dress, I’ll just have to go to the ball completely naked! I simply have no better option.”
The two instantly flushed red. So did I, of course. There was no way I wouldn’t be embarrassed to make such a bold statement. But I endured the shame!
Lord Theodore’s face twisted. “C-Completely naked? Absolutely not! I will not allow anyone else to gaze upon your skin.”
“See, that’s what I’m saying!” I exclaimed, my face lighting up at the thought that I’d at last hit the mark.
But then Lord Theodore said, “So I’ll just have to slaughter everyone at the venue.”
“U-Um, that’s a bit—”
“Right. Slaughter is going too far. I’ll make do with gouging out everyone’s eyeballs.”
Was he tired? Was that why he was saying such terrible things?
“Please stop it with the slaughtering and gouging! What I’m trying to say is, I don’t want to be a useless adult! Get me an actual teacher!”
“You’re not useless, Evelyn. You just want to be naked.”
“Will you stop smiling nicely at me like that?!”
Now he thought I had a weird hobby! Why was this happening?!
“Ms. Saint, you have a visitor,” Karin said as she knocked on the door from the outside.
“A visitor?” I said, my fatigue draining slightly. “Who might it be?”
My eyes opened wide at the person who walked through the door.
“Lady Mamaropa?!”
“Good day, Evelyn, Kira, Theodore,” she said, standing there cutely.
But...Lord Dadapopa was supposed to have taken her back to the Duchy of Caté after the Summer of Evelyn Camp! I remembered this clear as day! We’d tearfully exchanged goodbyes and everything!
“What brings you here, Lady Mamaropa?” I asked, rushing over.
She took my hands in hers and smiled warmly. “I was concerned about you and couldn’t sit still, so I camped all the way from Caté to Semme.”
“Lady Mamaropa,” I mumbled, my eyes growing moist.
She’d come all this way for me! What a thoughtful woman. My heart was full.
Wait! That’s it!
Inspiration struck me a second time. Lady Mamaropa was a distinguished duchess. If she taught me, I could grow to unprecedented heights!
And she wouldn’t exempt me from class just because my head is shapely!
I squeezed both of her hands in turn. “Please, Lady Mamaropa, would you become my instructor?”
“Instructor?” she asked, puzzled.
But surely, I thought, she remembered me lamenting this situation before! Which she did, as she nodded after thinking for a bit.
“Well, if you think I’d be a good fit, I most certainly do not mind.”
“Really?”
“But...are you content with me being only an instructor?”
“Huh?”
“If you wish, I could take on one more role...” she suggested, winking lightly.
My heart throbbed. Truthfully, I’d wanted to jump into her warm bosom since the moment she walked into the room. Embarrassing as it was that she’d seen right through me, I couldn’t hold back any longer, and decided to follow my heart.
“Mommyyy!”
“Hee hee. You’re such a good girl, Evelyn” she said, patting my head as I hugged her gently.