The day after my spontaneous kiss with Ethan during the play, the inevitable happened—word had spread to the members of the hero's party.
Naturally, the news of how Ethan and I stepped in as the leads after Bo was injured and Penelope refused to perform had reached them. It also included how we boldly kissed in front of around 200 spectators.
Though none of them had witnessed the event firsthand due to being preoccupied with running the café, they didn't seem to doubt the rumors.
"Keh, keh... If it's Rosewood, I can definitely imagine it happening, heh heh..."
"If it's Lady Lilith, I think it's entirely possible."
"Lady Lilith does tend to be bold at times, so I don't find it strange at all!"
...What kind of image do these guys have of me, anyway?
I could understand Guimo snickering since he knew my real identity, but I didn’t expect Thomas and Natalie to think of me this way as well. I had thought I was relatively well-behaved in front of them, compared to Guimo and Agnes.
"Today, Prince Antonio and Lady Agnes are taking a break. Without the prince here, handling any customer-related issues might be harder, so I ask that Young Master Ethan and Sir Guimo be especially cautious."
"Understood, Lilith."
"Yes, Lady Rosewood."
"Thanks to Prince Antonio’s efforts, we shouldn't have any troublesome customers today. I’ll assist Sally in the kitchen in Lady Agnes' place..."
With the absence of Prince Antonio and Agnes, the hero’s party started the fifth day of café operations with a morning briefing, figuring out how to cover their roles.
Since I was filling in for Agnes in the kitchen, it would be difficult for me to deal with any issues that arose in the dining hall, but there was a silver lining: I now had an opportunity to talk one-on-one with Guimo, who was the main chef of the Maid & Butler Café.
After making sure Syllena, who was busy sorting through the mountain of dishes, was occupied, I quietly approached Guimo, careful to avoid her attention.
"Hey, Guimo."
"What is it, Karjang?"
"Knock it off, you idiot. If Ethan hears you call me that, I'm done for!"
"...And what about the way you shorten my name? Sounds like a pet name to anyone listening."
"You son of a—!"
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Ugh, this guy always knows how to push my buttons.
His remark, which made me want to gag just thinking about it, caused my expression to twist.
"Ugh, shut up! Stop saying stuff like that—it’s disgusting. What, do you think I'm actually the original Lilith or something?"
"...I mean, yeah, I phrased it wrong, but is it really that offensive? I get that you think I’m not on Ethan’s level or whatever, but I'm still a handsome hero, right?"
"..."
...I’d almost forgotten that he still thought I had been a girl in my previous life.
Well, how could he possibly guess that the person who kissed Ethan in front of hundreds of people used to be a guy in a past life? For my honor, that secret had to be kept until the day I died. If anyone found out, I might actually die from shame.
"Look, it’s not about who's better looking. It’s just that I find the idea of a girl harboring feelings for two guys absolutely revolting. You know I can’t stand that kind of thing."
"...Right, you were always like that, even back in your past life. No wonder you were one of the three chaos lords of LuaGal."
"Funny, coming from the guy who played Luminor Academy all the way to the end of Part 4 using my walkthrough."
"Back then, I thought you were just a serious guide writer, not a chaos lord. I was a newbie in LuaGal when you were writing guides."
"......"
"But now that I think about it, isn’t it kind of strange? Usually, it's men who preach about a woman maintaining her purity. You were a woman in your past life, yet you constantly posted about how women should stay chaste?"
"So what? Can’t a woman preach purity? Got a problem with that?"
"No, I was just curious, no need to get so defensive..."
"...Just drop it, okay? And don’t call me 'Karjang.'"
"Yes, yes. Understood, Lady Rosewood."
“Hey, you two—what are you talking about?”
“...Huh? What do you mean, Syllena?”
“I just asked how long the croissants and tea would take, since they need to be served together next.”
“...Is that so?”
Thankfully, Syllena didn’t seem to catch the real content of our conversation.
With her sudden interruption, our conversation naturally came to a halt, and it looked like I had successfully avoided any mention of my past life as a guy.
...Though it was a bit frustrating not being able to discuss the important matters I had intended to bring up.
'The Seraphine kidnapping event... it shouldn't happen this time around, right?'
In the original game, it was the main event toward the end of Part 3 during the Luminor Festival. Caraham, who had suddenly taken a leave of absence in his third year, had secretly been planning Seraphine's kidnapping, driven by the August family’s desire for revenge after Lizzie’s supposed death.
In the original timeline, the event was triggered because Seraphine had chosen to save Agnes instead of Lizzie during the masquerade ball. But in this world, both Lizzie and Agnes had survived, thanks to my and Ethan's interference.
There was no reason for the August family to hold a grudge against Seraphine or the imperial family. Besides, both Lizzie and Caraham were still attending the academy, so it would be ridiculous for Caraham to attempt something like that now.
Not to mention, Seraphine had only allowed herself to be kidnapped in the original because of her guilt over not being able to save Caraham’s sister. But if it came to a one-on-one fight, Seraphine would never be overpowered by someone like him.
'So, naturally, the kidnapping event shouldn’t happen in this world...'
Still, something about it made me uneasy.
In games like Luminor Academy, these kinds of festival events often brought unexpected incidents. It was a gut feeling—a gamer’s instinct after having played through Luminor Academy 24.9 times.
Although my instincts had been wrong a few times recently, it was still better to be prepared than caught off guard.
Knowing the hero’s cautious nature, he was probably already preparing for any possible danger.
'...Surely nothing will happen.'
At the very least, we didn’t need to worry about facing the mid-boss Caraham in his demonized form. Everything should be fine... right?
I pushed the unease out of my mind and focused on catching up with the drink orders I had been neglecting.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
"Good job, everyone. You all worked hard today."
"Thank you for your hard work!"
"You did great today, too, hero..."
As the fifth day of café operations came to a close, the employees of the Maid & Butler Café exchanged farewells.
After five days, I was getting used to the sight of everyone in their maid and butler outfits. Even Ethan’s butler uniform, which had startled me at first, had become quite familiar.
Oddly, I felt a little sad knowing tomorrow would be the last day of the festival.
...Though if someone asked if I wanted to do this for another week, I’d definitely pass.
"Tomorrow’s the last day, so there’s no student council inspection, and Seraphine and Luke will be helping out too. Plus, no one’s taking the day off, so things should go much more smoothly."
"Th-that’s a relief... T-today was especially busy... and Lilith was in the kitchen too..."
"What? Was there a problem in the dining hall?"
"Princess Rainey visited this afternoon. It seemed like she was looking for you, Lady Lilith, but since Lady Agnes wasn’t here, Young Master Ethan handled it in your place."
"Oh, I see. That’s a relief, then."
In all likelihood, Rainey had come to see Ethan, not me, so it was probably for the best that he dealt with her.
"And Professor Harold also stopped by this afternoon. Princess Mezzlen greeted him."
"Well, Princess Mezzlen has always admired Professor Harold. She handled the situation well."
Thomas, who had been assisting Natalie since childhood, had done a good job handling the unexpected visitors while I was busy in the kitchen. Just as I was about to give him a reminder, a strange feeling of unease hit me.
"...Wait a moment, Thomas."
"Yes, Lady Lilith?"
"You said Princess Mezzlen greeted Professor Harold... Where is she now?"