“You really were lying through your teeth,” Eugene turned to Ciel and accused her as soon as they had left the Red Tower of Magic. “After all, I know for a fact that you’ve shoved all the gifts that Head Wizard Lovellian has sent you into a corner of your room.”
“And how is that a lie?” Ciel challenged him.
“Didn’t you say that they were decorating your room?”
“You just feel that way because you’ve got quite the poor sense of interior design. In your eyes, it might look like I just tossed them into a corner, but in my eyes, all of them are in their proper places as decorations.”
Was that really the case? Eugene felt her claims were absurd, but he couldn’t figure out how to refute Ciel’s words. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like she had just crammed them out of sight, but could they really have been arranged as part of her decoration?
“...But I think they were covered in dust the last time I saw them?” Eugene recalled hesitantly.
Ciel insisted, “That’s just because you weren’t looking properly. Do you really think I’d let my room get dusty? Something like that is impossible. If that really was the case, I'll immediately call my attendants and scold them as soon as I get back to the main estate.”
“Now that I give it a second thought, it seems like there wasn’t any dust.”
“I guess it must have been a pretty memorable experience,” Ciel smirked as she casually drew closer to Eugene.
“What was?” he asked.
“I’m talking about you coming into my room,” Ciel clarified suggestively. “It seems like it was so memorable that you can clearly remember every single thing that you saw there—”
Eugene interrupted her, “Sorry, but I’ve always had a good memory. I even remember everything I saw when I last visited Cyan’s room. Now that it’s been brought up, when you see Cyan, tell him to get rid of the strange books that he’s been hiding under his bed.”
Caught off guard, Ciel belatedly responded, “...What?”
“Cyan still seems to believe that he’s done such a great job hiding them so that no one else can find them. But it’s not just me, even Nina knows that he’s been collecting some pornography about women wearing strange bunny-eared headbands, ever since he was fifteen years old.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“Right? Nina was distraught that someday, when Cyan becomes the Patriarch, he might change the maids' uniforms to include bunny-eared headbands and stockings of different colors.”
“I’ll pass your words on to my mother.”
“But that’s a little…,” Eugene's reply trailed off with a troubled expression.
If the strict Ancilla got wind of it, it was clear that she would soon grab Cyan by the ear and scold him silly; but if that really happened, Cyan might just commit suicide out of shame.
“You should just try and insinuate it to him,” Eugene recommended.
“What should I say?” Ciel asked, puzzled.
“Just say that you don’t particularly like bunny ears,” Eugene started striding off, having successfully changed the subject.
After blinking her eyes in surprise at Eugene, Ciel quickly caught up with a hurried pace.
“If that’s the case, what type of ears do you like?” Ciel probed.
Eugene eyed her warily, “Why would you ask something like that?”
“You’ve said that you don’t particularly like bunny ears. If that’s the case, what kind of ears do you like?”
“Sorry, but I just prefer ordinary ears. If you really think about it, don’t you find it a bit weird and disturbing? If they have rabbit ears growing out from the tops of their heads, what on earth could there be in the places where ears usually go?”
“...Couldn’t it just be featureless?”
“If you saw something like that in real life, wouldn’t you find it creepy?”
“...If that’s the case… what if they just have ordinary ears in the usual spots?”
“That means they would have both a pair of human ears and a pair of rabbit ears? Isn’t that kind of disturbing as well?”
“...Ah… ahem,” Ciel hadn’t expected such a reply. With a sour look, she cleared her throat and said, “Let’s stop with the useless talk and go pick out a present for my mother.”
“But I don’t even know what Lady Ancilla likes,” Eugene complained.
“But I do, so why should that matter? You just need to follow me.”
“If you’re just going to have me follow you, why ask me to act as your guide?”
“You really do lack any courtesy. Then do you want me to just wander around all on my own? You’re going to abandon me in the capital of a foreign country, which I’ve never been to in my life, a place I know nothing about?”
“What do you mean by abandon…. After all, it’s not like you can’t take care of yourself.”
“Even if you say that, everyone knows you’re supposed to be following me,” Ciel warned him.
“Then I guess it can’t be helped. I’m sure that if I needlessly blow you off, I’ll be hearing about this for ages,” Eugene grumbled as he unclasped the Cloak of Darkness.
Although it was still too early in the season to wear a cloak like this that was bristling with fur, thanks to the various spells imbued into the cape, he could avoid feeling the heat even if he was in a desert.
“...Come to think of it, it was your birthday last month,” Ciel suddenly said.
“That’s right,” Eugene confirmed.
“Did you do anything for your birthday? How about a party?”
“I didn’t do anything. I was just reading books.”
“Books?”
“Inside the library of the Red Tower of Magic.”
“You really didn’t have a party? And you didn’t get any presents from anyone.”
“I didn’t get any. Although Head Wizard Lovellian and Miss Hera offered to get me some, I begged them not to because I would feel embarrassed.”
“Who’s Hera?”
“A wizard of the Red Tower of Magic.”
“Is Hera a woman?”
“Her name is Hera, so did you really think she would be a man?”
“What does she look like?”
“Like a wizard.”
“...And what do you mean when you say she looks like a wizard?”
“I meant it literally. She’s always wearing robes, donning a tall hat, and holding a staff.”
“What about her looks?”
Just as Eugene was feeling bothered about how to answer her question, he saw Hera walking down the other side of the street. She was hugging a large bag full of bread while breathing in the scent of the baguettes.
“That’s Hera over there,” he pointed out.
“Oh my, Sir Eugene!” came an answering cry.
Having just spotted Eugene, Hera smiled widely and waved her hand at him. In that brief moment, Ciel scanned Hera’s appearance from head to toe. Then she smiled innocently as if what had just happened was an illusion and bowed deeply to Hera.
“I am Ciel of the Lionheart clan,” she introduced herself.
Hera exclaimed, “Wha…! I-I am Hera Strillila from the Red Tower of Magic.”
Hera was unable to immediately process the situation and glanced at Eugene for help.
“...She came along with the Knights of the Black Lion,” Eugene explained.
“Oh… for the Cloak of Darkness! It seems that the deal went through swiftly!”
“Yep. Originally I was planning to head down to the laboratories, but she kept begging me to go with her.”
Hera felt Ciel’s subtle gaze rest on her.
“Ahem…,” she cleared her throat with a low cough and nodded in understanding, “I hope you two have a good time.”
“Huh?” Eugene made a confused noise.
Hera didn’t see any need to say anything further. With quick steps, she ducked around Eugene.
After looking at Hera’s back for a few moments, Ciel nodded and said, “She seems like a nice person.”
Still confused, Eugene hesitated, “Ah…. You’re right. She is a good person.”
“It might be because of the smell of her bread, but I’m feeling hungry.”
“Then why don’t we get something to eat first.”
As Eugene resumed his paused stride, he glanced at Ciel and said, “But you, did you really come all the way to Aroth just to buy presents?”
“Didn’t I say I was here to see you as well?” Ciel reminded him.
“But apart from that. I’ve known you for four years. Did you really think that I couldn’t read your reactions? It’s not like it’s some huge secret. So what do you want to do with Lady Carmen?”
“You really do notice the strangest things.”
“You’re just too obvious.”
“I’m in the middle of requesting her to take me as her squire,” Ciel replied with a shrug of defeat. “Since, in any case, my brother is going to become the Patriarch, and I have no desire for the position myself. Although it seems like Mother wants me to enter an arranged marriage—”
For a moment there, Ciel peeked at Eugene’s expression. However, Eugene's face didn’t show any changes.”
“—I hate the idea of arranged marriages. But I don’t want to be locked up in the main estate either and forced to act like a lady,” Ciel continued.
“So that’s why you want to join the Knights of the Black Lion?” Eugene confirmed.
“Although I cannot join right now, I want to become Lady Carmen’s squire and receive her personal guidance.”
“And has Lady Carmen accepted your request?”
“If she truly didn’t like me, then she wouldn’t have allowed me to accompany her here. Although you might not be aware of it, Lady Carmen has been fond of me since I was a little girl,” Ciel bragged with a smirk.
Eugene recalled Carmen’s stark-looking or rather pretending to be stark-looking, face.
“...That’s good,” he concluded.
Ciel asked, “What is?”
“It’s good to see you looking for something you can do yourself, rather than just relying on the main family. How’s Cyan doing?”
“He keeps talking about you. He also pulled me aside to talk about you before I left to come here.”
“About what?”
“But my brother asked me to keep it a secret….”
“It looks like you’re going to tell me anyway, so how secret can it be?”
“He wanted me to find out what Star of the White Flame Formula you’ve reached.”
“The Third Star.”
“It’s still the same as before.”
“What about Cyan?”
“He’s on the Second Star,” Ciel revealed.
“Well, that means that he hasn’t progressed either,” Eugene replied with a grin.
Unlike that hopeless Eward, it looked like the twins were working quite hard. Eugene was quite happy to see this. Cyan’s inferiority complex was fuelling his training, and while still as wicked and manipulative as ever, Ciel didn’t have a nasty personality that looked down on others.
Only Eward had grown up to be a dog.[1]
“...Have you heard any news from our older brother?” Eugene asked. “I heard that he’s gone back to his maternal relatives’ house.”
“Don’t know and don’t care,” Ciel spat out with a furrowed brow. “Although my mother was very pleased to hear of Eward’s fall from grace, it just pisses me off. It also put my brother in a bad mood.”
Eugene pressed, “But you should have still heard some news, shouldn’t you?”
“...I’ve heard that Lady Tanis might be looking for a wizard to hire as a tutor,” Ciel admitted.
“A tutor?” Eugene repeated in confusion.
“Funny, isn’t it? Even though he did something so foolish, I guess they still want him to learn magic. Even though they should just let him do what he likes since he won’t be able to become the Patriarch anyway,” Ciel mumbled as she clung to Eugene’s arm. “Let’s stop discussing such upsetting topics and get something to eat. Isn’t there a good restaurant nearby?”
“There’s a lot of restaurants, but their food probably tastes worse than the main estate’s cooking,” Eugene warned her.
“The taste doesn’t matter,” Ciel said with a roll of her eyes as she looked up at Eugene. “In the first place, when it comes to good food, it isn’t just taste, but the atmosphere is also important.”
1. This feels like a reference to the Asian idiom, ‘A lion does not give birth to a dog.’ The idiom implies that the children of great people aren’t ordinary either. Only in this case, Eward has failed to live up to this ideal, while the twins have been successful. ☜
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