3 bar menu

Death’s Daughter Chapter 114

Author: “FoodLovingPanda”

CHAPTER 114: THE PARTY AT EARL’S MANSION

“I love your dress Viscountess, you must be trying to impress the Crown Prince as well. You must have heard the same whispers, as we all have to dress like this. I guess it is true that His Majesty is forcing the Crown Prince to take a wife.”

I have no idea where those rumors came from, but I sure do hope it wasn’t because of our bet at the tournament. And with the King being so insistent on marrying me to the Crown Prince I should be happy that the rumors aren’t about the two of us being engaged or dating or something along those lines.

“Not at all Lady Amelia. You see, I am an adventurer first and foremost and no matter how much I dress up it cannot hide that fact. I could never hope to impress anyone, especially not when you are standing next to me. You will definitely be able to steal the show tonight and grab everyone’s attention. I simply cannot compete with you.”

I was dragged by the ladies to spend time with them. Apparently this is the norm whenever such parties are being held. Men talk with men and women hang out among themselves. This is even truer for noble ladies that are unmarried. What an outdated way of thinking and behaving. I was not really happy about this outcome since the only reason I was in this place is to not insult the King and maybe find out where that person is.

“Oh, you say the sweetest words Viscountess.”

I felt like I said those complimenting words a hundred times already. All of the women here were looking for a man and I really felt like the odd one out as I was absolutely uninterested in any of the guys present here. Looking at them and admiring the beauty that they have is fine, but any form of further interaction is pointless. If I could choose, I would simply slip away and disappear so that nobody else could bother me. And I probably would have done so if the King didn’t arrive with Vitou-sama to greet the guests.

“Greetings, I am honored that so many of you have joined this gathering on such a short notice. I must thank you all for this and give special thanks to Earl Orzak for giving us the place to hold this party.”

A round of applause was followed by countless personal greeting from each of the nobles, after all, the King was in attendance and such action was needed since it would be rude to ignore him. Since I was a noble myself I lined up alongside others to make my greeting after which I plan on leaving this crowded place.

The line moved slowly, which was really unfortunate for me. I still needed to confirm the identity of the mysterious gardener that I couldn’t find earlier and the sooner I leave the sooner I will be able to confirm if my hunch was correct or not. However, since the King decided to chat with everyone for a bit I felt like ages have passed by the time it was my turn.

“Viscountess Maeda Naoko sends her greeting to His Majesty, the King.”

“Naoko-chan, no need to be so polite, aren’t we friends already? I am glad you made it. The dress you are wearing really makes you shine unlike anyone else present. Come and join us, I am sure Vitou will also be happy to chat with you.”

There he goes again trying to pair me up with Vitou-sama. I wanted to frown at his suggestion, but was able to hold back. This was neither the time nor place to let my emotions take over so I decided to simply deny politely.

“I am honored Your Majesty, however, I do not want to hold up the line for too long. I have already talked with Vitou-sama earlier so I will let others occupy his time. I am sure many have lots of words to speak with him.”

I bid him goodbye and left the room to finally catch some air. I shouldn’t have come here in the first place. Dealing with nobility is ten times harder than fighting monsters. Making sure that nobody sees me I went inside the garden to resume my search from before.

“Maeda-san what are you doing here? Everyone is at the house.”

“Oh, Ishikawa-kun it’s you. I’m here because everyone is back there. What about you? How come you are not next to Vitou-sama?”

Ishikawa-kun was walking in the garden when I was noticed. I am glad it was him and mot some other noble because this way I don’t have to put up with any of the pretenses.

“I am on a patrol, just finished the rounds. You know I never imagined I would end up being a bodyguard when I first arrived in this place, but I have to say that this is quite an interesting job. At least more interesting than just travelling around hoping that something might happen. Plus the benefits improved when I became one.”

“From our encounter at the tournament I also didn’t think you would settle down like this. How are the rest of the Heroes, mainly Hii-chan, I mean Hiiro.”

“You can’t call this settling down, it is more exciting than what we did previously. But you can say that Nakamura and I are still on probation. As for the others they all went their own way, but should be coming to Kapitalia soon within a month or two. You see it will be a year since we arrived here soon and according to past heroes something happens each time a year passes. Nakanishi is with Inoue-san the two of them are as lovey-dovey as ever. I think he was disappointed that he wasn’t chosen like Daisuke and me but it didn’t bother him much from what I saw.”

So he is with Inoue-san. I am happy that he found a girlfriend, but I wish I knew where he was, that way I could visit him from time to time. After all he is my friend and I don’t want to sever that tie. He is the only one that stayed by my side even when everyone else ostracized me. That is why I don’t want to sever our bond.

“Thanks for telling my all that Ishikawa-kun, I will be staying in the gardens while there is still some light and get some fresh air. I don’t want to be responsible if you get called out for not doing your job.”

I waved him goodbye as he walked away. It was time to go deeper into the garden. I could still see the lights from the tea party, but I couldn’t hear the music anymore. The silence of the evening in the sunset was comforting. I leaned on a fence and closed my eyes simply enjoying this feeling.

I thought about my mysterious man and how he always comes in unexpected ways. He was elusive and secretive. I wanted to reach out and grab a hold of him, but every single time he would disappear before I could do that. Even now; I thought he would be the gardener that gave me this dress, but before I could find him, he vanished without a single wisp of his presence or aura left at the mansion.

Maybe, just maybe he will appear if I wait here for a bit longer. This thought was the one preventing me from leaving this place and heading back home.

“Tonight you look utterly stunning Naoko-chan. That dress really suits you.”

I opened my eyes and turned around at the sound of a man’s voice. I was expecting to see someone, however the person that greeted me wasn’t who I wanted to see the most at this moment.