「Look, I’m not the one going around saying 『Please buy this!』 or anything like that. They’re the ones who get all fired up on their own, turning it into some kind of bidding war, jacking the prices higher and higher… And then, once the dust settles and they see the final total, their faces go pale as ghosts. That’s bad enough, but then they start whispering behind my back like 『How dare they make me spend this much…』 Isn’t that completely unfair?!」
「Yeah… I can see how that would be frustrating.」
「And if that wasn’t enough, some of them come crawling over afterward going 『I can’t pay it all at once, so please let me take out a loan…』 Are they stupid?! You’re supposed to shop within your actual budget, right?」
「I… don’t really have an opinion on that…」
Inel-kun gives a vague, polite smile and quietly returns to his paperwork.
The auction the other day was ridiculously successful.
Like, “nobles who’d been hoarding savings for years suddenly decided to live like there’s no tomorrow” levels of successful.
Apparently, His Majesty got so heated on purpose, to egg the nobles into spending wildly.
And my ikemen oniichan who explained all this to me?
Yeah, I personally witnessed him giving the king a serious lecture afterward.
The instigator ended up becoming the biggest spender of them all.
Classic case of “be careful what you wish for”.
By the way, the auction had another hidden purpose.
The whole thing was designed to encourage noble overspending.
When it was explained to me, the first thing that popped into my head was the Tokugawa shogunate’s sankin-kōtai system, making the lords spend so much money traveling back and forth to the capital that they’d never have enough left to plot a rebellion.
Same idea here: drain the nobles’ coffers so they can’t build up too much independent power.
As a result, an absurd amount of money ended up flowing straight into my pockets…
But everyone assures me the Draguknight family, famous for their fanatical loyalty to the royal house, would never dream of doing anything shady with it.
Yeah.
They really wouldn’t.
It’s way too much hassle.
And more importantly, from my perspective?
I just want to spend my days peacefully with Noie.
Succession wars, internal power struggles, hard pass.
I’d rather stay a loyal lapdog wagging my tail for the royal family forever.
「Thanks to all that, I’ve been buried under loan documents since yesterday. It’s been hell.」
「Um… I’m the one actually writing them out, though!」
「……The checking and double-checking is what’s killing me.」
「Please don’t rephrase it like that!! Think about how a daughter feels having to write out her own father’s IOU!! What is this, some kind of emotional torture?! And anyway… the things he bought were… um…」
「Crostpurge-sama ended up with that full-nude statue of some woman named whatever, and the full-nude painting of some other woman named whatever-else, right? Plus, a few other pieces.」
「Don’t bring up the nudes!! Talk about the other stuff!!」
You just said it yourself in your anger, didn’t you?
Look, now she’s realized it and her whole face has exploded into bright red.
The reaction is unexpectedly cute, honestly.
「I hate this so much… Ever since I started this job, all I’ve been learning is the embarrassing parts of my family…」
「Ah, um… Krea? Don’t cry, okay?」
「Shut up, idiot～!」
Inel-kun tries to comfort her, but… yeah, that’s probably rude in this situation, huh?
Whatever. When someone’s sad, sweets are the best medicine.
「……She’s late.」
「Is something wrong?」
「I placed an order for sweets this morning. With Noie.」
「With Noie-sama?」
Inel-kun has apparently learned over the past few days, from watching her come pick me up every time, that Noie is, well… a little different from “normal”.
「Yeah. It’s about time for the squad’s regular report day, right? So while she was handing over the report, I slipped her a note asking her to pick up a Blostash cake on the way.」
「Then… well, that should be fine.」
Yeah. Even Noie can handle something as simple as passing a note to the vice-captain.
But suddenly Krea’s face drains of all color. She starts frantically looking around the room.
「Wait… today is report day?」
「Yup～」
「……My stomach! It’s suddenly acting up! All that backed-up stuff is finally moving, so I have to go handle it right now! I’m off!」
What kind of confession is that?!
Girls, you really need to get enough fiber, you know?
She stumbles toward the door in a panic, nearly tripping over her own feet,
*knock knock*
「Excuse me. It’s Frea von Crostpurge.」
「!」
Perfect timing.
The knock and immediate entry bring the sisters face-to-face for the first time in this room.
I’ve never actually seen them standing together like this before.
「……Krea?」
「………Y-you’ve got the wrong person.」
She whips her head away at full speed and forces out the weirdest, squeakiest voice imaginable.
Frea’s eyes narrow into dangerous slits.
Her expression is dead serious.
「Krea von Crostpurge!」
「!」
Krea’s entire body starts trembling like a frog frozen under a snake’s glare.
I quietly duck behind the desk, peeking out with just half my face like a little woodland creature, watching the drama unfold.
「Argusta-sama」
Inel-kun waddled in like a duck, crouched low with his hands pressed between his knees, looking equal parts embarrassed and determined.
「Maybe… Krea hasn’t told anyone that she’s working here?」
「Who knows? She doesn’t really like talking about that kind of thing.」
Yeah, if she’s keeping it a secret from her family, she’s definitely not going to spill it to people at work.
Besides, ever since Krea started coming here, the only squad member who’s actually visited is Noie.
It’s only a matter of time before it all comes out anyway.
「No, no, no. I’m not this ‘Krea’ person you speak of…」
「Oh? In that case… it should be perfectly fine for me to mention that my little sister Krea wet the bed until she was ten, right?」
「Hauu!!」
「Wet beds are one thing, but… I seem to remember a certain someone also had a little ‘brrrrt’ accident when she was eight?」
「Th-That was… because I wasn’t feeling well…」
One devastating revelation after another.
Krea’s position crumbles faster than a cookie in milk.
「And then there was the time she tried to sniff a flower, got stung right on the nose by a bee, and ended up with a huge puffy dango nose for days～」
「Hauuuu!!」
「Oh, and don’t forget, when a friend said ‘My chest is starting to grow’, Krea got all competitive and blurted out ‘Me too!’… which meant she had to make it happen no matter what. So she kept slapping and slapping and slapping her own chest until it was covered in bruises, and everyone laughed their heads off.」
「You absolutely cannot say that one out loud～!!」
…Well, yeah.
Girls go through phases like that sometimes, I guess?
Frea stands there looking triumphant, gazing down at her little sister whose shoulders have slumped in total defeat.
It was a pointless battle… but what exactly did winning it accomplish?
「So then, Miss Not-Krea? Are you still going to keep making excuses?」
「……Shut up.」
「Eh?」
Krea’s whole body is trembling as she slowly lifts her face.
Her eyes are watery, cheeks burning red, and her voice comes out small but sharp.
「Shut up… you black-underwear-aggressive-lingerie-obsessed pervert!!」
Whoa, her glare suddenly swings my way like a death beam.
Time for emergency dive, straight under the desk.
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