Chapter 94

What did you say?

I couldn’t help but be shocked for a moment. Michelle had just declared that she was going to meet me.

I didn’t intend to disclose that I was the owner of Armand for the time being…

As I looked intently at Michelle’s face without realizing it, her dark green eyes shook quickly.

“Wh-what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Ahh. Yes.”

As if there was an awkward atmosphere flowing between me and Michelle, the 5th Princess intervened in the conversation.

“Is that place so great that a gourmet like you speaks highly of it? Restaurants that handle a variety of menus and ingredients should have more to research than a shop that sells only beverages.”

At the 5th Princess’ question, Michelle talked with great enthusiasm.

“Armand isn’t a simple dessert shop!”

‘Ah! That scared me.’

The dolls connected to her fingers clattered like crazy, and I barely suppressed a scream by biting my lips.

“It’s a place where consideration for customers is deeply entrenched. Especially for young ladies, who are the main customer base.”

“In what way?”

“Skirt pockets are much smaller than trousers pockets, so the young ladies often forget to carry a pocket watch.”

“The clock tower plays a useful role in helping the young ladies who forgot to bring a watch to keep their appointments.”

“Yes.”

Michelle was giving meaning to what I got by chance.

“The paper cups are surrounded by such fine and sophisticated resistance magic that even I, a puppeteer, was surprised. Technically, it’s more hygienic than porcelain or glass cups.”

I see.

Arin really took care of a lot of things.

“Also, that place always cares about satisfying our senses.”

She continued speaking with a clear voice.

“The fragrance that flows around has a huge impact on your palate. Armand offers a variety of scents suitable for the weather with a service called “Tea of the Day,” stimulating the desire to try another dessert that matches the scent.”

As expected from a gourmet, she seemed to have studied the shop in various ways, and she was also talking about things that I had overlooked.

It was an advantage rather than a disadvantage.

‘What? This is an amazing lucky charm.’

I felt like I could use her thesis in the future while promoting the shop, when I increased the franchise.

Because it was very important to exaggerate it to make it look even better than it really was.

“I will also include Armand in a guidebook that I will share with my acquaintances.”

‘You’re going to include it not only in your thesis, but also in a guidebook?’

Michelle made another intriguing statement.

“How many stars?”

“Five.”

“Is it the first time?”

“Yes, exactly.”

If a gourmet, who was so famous that even the Princess knew her, put my shop on a recommendation list, it could enjoy a great publicity effect.

Besides, five stars sounded like a good thing.

‘She’s a good and nice person…’

I must have been looking at her with indistinct eyes without realizing it.

“Wh-what is it?”

Michelle’s shoulders flinched again.

“I thought I saw you somewhere.”

I roughly made up something.

“Wh-where?”

“I don’t know. It must have been someone who looks like you.”

“I don’t look like someone who you have bad feelings towards, r-right?”

“Of course not.”

She touched her neck, with an expression of having somewhat mixed feelings.

When the mood got awkward again, the 5th Princess crossed her arms and shook her head.

“From your explanation, I can fully understand why you want to investigate that place.”

Michelle cleared her throat once and opened her mouth.

“I think Armand’s owner must be a high-ranking noble with a discerning eye, not a businessman who only seeks money.”

Surprisingly, only the fact that it was a high-ranking noble was correct.

Even though it was originally a petit-bourgeois.

Michelle held her hands together and her pale cheeks turned red.

“Maybe it’s an elegant and sophisticated noblewoman. In fact, they’re the person who I want to meet the most these days.”

‘I’m sorry, but I have no intention of meeting you.’

“I’d like to talk to them about what their thoughts were for creating a shop like that…”

Michelle sighed and muttered.

“It won’t be easy since there are a lot of people who run a business without showing themselves. I don’t even know their face. I have no idea why I want to meet them this much.”

“I know how you feel.”

The 5th Princess said quietly.

“When I saw Princess Deborah at the fact-finding meeting, I felt like I could get close to her even though we hadn’t exchanged a single word.”

“I may not be able to control my excitement when I meet them. I want to make a good first impression.”

“Sincerity is the way to go.”

“If I made a doll, would they accept it?”

“How could they turn down a doll made by one of the most famous puppeteers in the Empire?”

I was at a loss at the sudden talk about giving a gift.

Even so, I couldn’t reveal I was the owner of the shop when I didn’t have any plan.

“Right, Princess Deborah?”

“… Right.”

I struggled to hide my agitation the whole time.

‘We’re in autumn, why am I so sweaty?’

After the meeting, I sat down in a suitable place around the frat house and looked up at the deepening sky.

The sky was blue with no clouds, but the wind, which had become even colder than at the beginning of autumn, was shaking the trees.

***

The men’s frat house at Omicron was in the middle of a game of pool.

As Philap, who had been confined at home due to Duke Montez putting him on probation, appeared at a gathering for the first time in a while, many gentlemen attended late, and the atmosphere was noisier and more bustling than usual.

“Ah, that’s too bad. I should have hit it slightly to the side.”

“What’s too bad? It’s my turn now.”

Philap roughly rubbed the chalk on the tip of the long cue stick and held his position.

Soon, one of the spectators stepped forward and questioned him.

“Mr. Philap. Why are you hitting to the left? I think that yellow ball is in a position that is the easiest to pocket.”

“I changed my mind. It’s not fun if it’s easy.”

“Then you will lose to me.”

“If I lose to you, I’ll go to the Montez Castle.”

Letting out a snort, Philap hit the white ball hard enough to make a sound.

The pool ball, which bounced twice around the corner of the table, accurately touched the purple ball, which was in a rather tricky spot, and dropped it down.

“Wow!”

Soon after, the cheering echoed loudly.

“It worked.”

After succeeding in pocketing all the remaining balls on the table, Philap threw the cue out as if it was nothing and picked up the juice that had been placed on the pool bar.

“Mr. Philap. What have you been doing?”

One Omicron executive approached him.

“Why do you ask me when you know? I couldn’t beat my father’s pestering, so I was stuck in a corner of the house.”

“You must have had a hard time. You lost a lot of weight.”

The executive said as he looked at Philap, whose chin was sharp as a knife.

His sharp eyes were getting fiercer because of the loss of weight.

“A hard time… I guess you can refer to an anger disorder elegantly like that.”

As Philap mumbled in a low voice as if growling, the executive kicked his tongue as if he knew it all.

“It was because of Lady Mia and Sir Diera, right? But you don’t have to worry about that. I heard that Sir Diera was in shock after losing the match at the jousting competition, and he has only been absorbed in swords lately.”

Philap slightly raised his eyebrows in a puzzled mood.

In fact, he hasn’t been really interested in news about him.

As his father had said, he had already given much to Mia.

‘I gave her expensive jewels and even put her in a club where a petty, ruined noble family couldn’t get its feet on.’

She was his lifesaver, so he could give her more support if he wanted to, but he didn’t intend to actively meddle as he didn’t want to go against his father.

Rather, it was Isidor’s unexpected behavior that got on Philap’s nerves throughout his probation.

He heard that he, who didn’t do many outside activities, suddenly participated in a jousting competition and won.

On top of that, he gave Deborah the honor of winning out of the blue, and the more he thought about it, the more dumbfounded he was.

Maybe he was intentionally acting arrogantly on the podium.

Since most of the knights in jousting competitions participated with the objective of looking cool in front of the ladies.

As Philap’s lips stiffened, he heard the chatter of executives nearby.

Listening closely to their conversation, a fishy smile came to Philap’s mouth.

“Sir Philap. Where are you going all of a sudden?”

“You don’t need to know.”

Responding with a cold voice, he quickly walked out of the secret room.

***

‘I’m cold, sitting here for a long time. I should go inside.’

After spending some time sitting on a shaded bench near the frat house, enjoying the cool breeze, I walked towards the place where the carriage was waiting.

“Oh…”

By the time I arrived, I recalled a fragment of my memory and stopped walking.

It was because a familiar carriage was standing near the carriage with the Seymour seal hanging on it.

A carriage made with black wood, with the seal of the four spirits hanging from it.

‘That’s the Montez family’s four-wheeled carriage.’

Why was that here?

The Spirit Department was quite far from the east gate.

“Long time no see. Deborah.”

I encountered a person who I wasn’t very happy to see.

“It looks like you have been well.”

It was Philap Montez.