Behind the mother-daughter pair, the neglected Lord Theodore and Kira were talking.
“You’d better be careful, Theodore. I think mommy—er, Mamaropa is a much more formidable foe than that weirdo.”
“I-I’ll bear it in mind...”
✦ ✦ ✦
Meanwhile, at the Grand Basilica, the current saint was in the grips of a fit of rage.
“Ugh! I can sense it! Lady Evelyn getting cozy with mother! I can’t allow this—I must reclaim Lady Evelyn’s heart at once!”
Thus, the battle for Evelyn’s affections only grew more intense.
✦ ✦ ✦
“We should take this opportunity to snap a commemorative photo,” Lady Mamaropa suggested one day while we were camping.
“A photo? But there’s no studio nearby,” I said.
She started rummaging through her large backpack. “Well, I happen to have brought a small magical tool called a ‘camera.’”
“Wow!”
Kira exhaled, impressed. “That’s amazing. Cameras aren’t easy to come by.”
“That’s right,” Lady Mamaropa confirmed. “I was able to get this one through my husband’s connections. It’s an essential camping item.”
It was true that, while camping, one encountered all kinds of things worth preserving—beautiful scenery, rare wild birds and plants, and many other moments one would want to capture in photos.
Lady Mamaropa looked at us.
“Well? How about it?”
“Yes!” I readily agreed. “Let’s do it!”
Cameras were rare, and there was no telling if we’d get another opportunity to snap a photo with just us three.
Kira nodded too.
“Well then, I’ll set it up,” Lady Mamaropa said. “Shall we pose with the lake in the background?”
“That sounds perfect!”
Lady Mamaropa cheerfully prepared for our photo. The camera, set on a stand, was an incredibly handy device that would, it seemed, automatically take the shot at the exact right moment.
As I watched her, I thought, Wait, hasn’t something like this happened before?
Europa had once invited me to a photo studio in Laster, and Lord Theodore had come along...
Ugh. For some reason, trying to remember that day gives me an awful headache...
Surely I was not meant to remember it. I decided to let sleeping dogs lie and forget the pain of the past.
“Evelyn? You okay?”
“Y-Yes, I’m fine, Kira.” I put on a fake smile to reassure him.
“Shall we huddle together for the photo?” Lady Mamaropa asked.
“It’s gotten a bit dark. I’ll turn on a light,” Kira said. He held a lantern, perhaps so that Lady Mamaropa couldn’t hug him.
Though she appeared disappointed, she pulled herself together and looked at me. “Well, I’ll just huddle with Evelyn, then.”
She pulled my head and shoulders to her, clutching me tightly.
Surprised, I yelped, “L-Lady Mamaropa!”
“Yes, Evelyn?”
“Um, how should I say this? Your face is a bit close...”
“Is it?” she asked, her stunning features showing a hint of confusion. From close up. Very close up. Her blue eyes peered at me from beneath her long eyelashes, and her slender fingertips were stroking my hair over and over. “I don’t think so...”
Her soft breath brushed my cheek.
My shoulders jerked abruptly. “Fwah!”
“You’re so sensitive, Evelyn. It’s so cute...” she whispered in my ear.
Immediately, my face flushed hot. I shivered with something that wasn’t a chill and found myself growing restless.
“Kiraaa...” I pleaded, reaching for his shoulder.
Kira looked awkward for a moment, but then his eyes narrowed. “I think Mamaropa’s drunk.”
“Huh?”
“I can smell alcohol for some reason.”
“What?” I sniffed the air, panicking. I-It’s true!
Lady Mamaropa tilted her head, her eyes hazy. “Now that I think about it, while I was soaking in the hot spring at the bathhouse, they offered me liquor, on the house...”
That explains it! That had to be the reason for Lady Mamaropa’s weirdly seductive, loose behavior!
“Oh, Lady Mamaropa, I didn’t know you were a lightweight!”
“Hmm? Am I? I might be...” she said, smiling softly for some reason, and she brushed her long, slender fingertips over my chin. Perhaps due to intoxication, her cheeks were flushed a deep crimson, the same color as her alluring lips. “Whatever shall I do, Evelyn? However shall I sober up?”
“U-Umm...”
As I stood there, hesitating, the sound of the camera’s shutter clicking repeatedly echoed in the distance.
“Or perhaps...I do not need to be sober ever again...”
I gasped. This was it. At this rate, she’d open up a door for me and whisk me away into a whole new world of sweet delights!
B-But...I might...not mind...?
I swallowed. My body felt like a puddle of melted chocolate. If I could spend the rest of my days under Lady Mamaropa’s care, that’d...that’d be...
“Evelyn! Fight it!” Kira called out repeatedly as temptation threatened to swallow me.
And then—
“Guh.”
Lady Mamaropa was out like a light, and that broke the spell.
Holding her limp body, I urgently told Kira, “Hey! Let’s delete all the weird photos while we can!”
“Got it,” he said. “I hope there’s at least one decent photo...”
“I have faith!”
In the end, one photo was indeed salvaged. Upon seeing it, Lady Mamaropa beamed.