My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage Chapter 38
Translated by d6y (ko-fi)
Chapter 38
"I-I…"
"Have a nice drink. I'm not an emotional trash can that you can dump your tears in."
"How could you… how could you say such harsh things?!" Aronia raised her voice, so I couldn't keep quiet.
"What about you? Is it okay to steal someone's ball invitation? Am I supposed to forgive you because you have an unfortunate life?"
Her face paled.
"That, how did you..!"
How did I know? I heard your inner thoughts, that's how I know.
"Should I forgive you because you grew up in an unfortunate circumstance? Should you get unconditional compassion since you had a poor life, so whatever you've done should be forgiven and then forgotten?"
Don't make me laugh.
You just wanted to give yourself a pass for your wrongdoings, to justify them and defend yourself.
How ridiculous.
Your situation and your fault are two different things.
"I-I…" Aronia hissed, her face flushed red, whether from drunkenness or anger, but no words came out of her mouth.
I spoke up, "Was 500.000 francs not enough?"
"W-What?"
"I gave you a cheque to start your business again. How did you spend it?"
Her face hardened.
"I gave you a chance, I didn't even have to, yet I did."
"Don't pretend you've done a good deed now!"
I sighed when Aronia yelled sarcastically.
"Don't get me wrong, I didn't mean to do it in the first place. I didn't give it to you because I'm nice, I just did it because I'm tired of you constantly trying to pick fights with me. Aronia, I hate you as much as you hate me too."
"..."
Finally, Aronia shut up. It seems like her brain, which hadn't been working properly due to her drunkenness, was starting to work.
Though, that's none of my business.
I turned to her and said coldly, "I hope you don't appear in front of me again from now on. Of course, I'll avoid you before you do me, since you're 'dirty'."
With that, I left, leaving Aronia alone on the balcony.
The guards at the entrance to the balcony glanced at me, wondering why I was the only one out.
"Lady Aronia wants to get some air on the balcony by herself, so she said she'd come out in a bit."
"Ah, yes."
They nodded, but their gazes remained on me.
I wondered what else was wrong until I heard their inner thoughts.
'I want to smell the cat's paws that Princess is holding.'
'The cat is cute... when will I get a cat...'
Ah.
Only then did I realise that I was still holding Viscount Artisina.
I glanced down at him in his cat form, it looked up at me from my arms awkwardly.
"Aaah, aaah..."
It made a strange noise. Is it broken?
What the hell should I do with this cat-viscount anyway?
"Hey, do you want it?" Desperate to get rid of him somehow, I held out the cat to the guards.
They were greatly perplexed.
"Oh, no, no, no, how can we take the Princess' cat?"
"Really? I don't mind if you keep it..."
The cat purred and clung to my arm. Its golden eyes blazed at me.
It was as if it was announcing, 'Abandon me and I will appear in your dreams.'
I should have left it on the balcony.
I regretted it, but it was too late. I couldn't just leave the cat wherever and then run away.
In the distance, nobles were glancing at me.
If I abandoned the cat here, I would probably be mistaken for an animal abuser.
I trudged back to the ballroom with the cat still in my arms.
Let's get out of here.
Before that, let's say goodbye to Lancer and his family.
Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I've seen Hubert. While I'm here, I'll take the opportunity to say hello.
Determined, I set out to find Lancer and his family.
I'll have to take care of this first.
I glanced down at the cat in my arms. People kept blatantly staring at me and it.
Luckily, there was an empty room among the powder rooms for people to take breaks.
Bam. I slammed the door shut as soon as I was inside.
The cat jumped out of my arms as if it had been waiting for this moment.
In an instant, the short, plump dark fur transformed into the elongated form of a human man.
"Did you intend to give me to a guard?"
Those were the first words out of the Viscount's mouth as soon as he returned to his human form.
I rolled my eyes, "You can't go home with me."
"How can you expect me to be carried by someone else?"
"Be quiet, Viscount. What if someone outside hears you?"
There must be someone coming and going around the powder rooms right now.
No doubt they would find it odd that they could hear the Princess talking when she was the only one there.
"I'm going to go now. Go on your way, Viscount."
"Wait a minute."
The Viscount stopped me from leaving.
"Are you sure you want to leave me here?"
"Of course."
"But wouldn't others look at you strangely if the cat you were holding suddenly disappeared and ask where you'd left it?"
It was a well-reasoned argument, but it was different from his inner thoughts.
'Please pick me up, Princess! Take me away!
"..."
This guy loves to play tricks until the end.
But unfortunately, he was also right.
While coming here to the powder room, the grey cat has gained a lot of attention.
So if I were to suddenly go back to the ballroom without it, I would seem suspicious.
A sigh escaped my lips.
The Viscount, on the other hand, was already playing out scenarios in his head about seducing me.
'Hoho, I'm going to be in her arms, and then I'm going to take her to Kaerun Duchy.... and then I'm going to find an excuse to stay in my cat form the whole time!'
"Instead, please leave when we get to the carriage." I cut off his scheming at once.
Momentarily flustered, he smirked and tried to persuade me, "I'm sorry, Princess, but don't you think your coachman and maid will be delighted to see me as a cat?"
'Now say you will keep me!'
"Phoebe is allergic to cat hair."
At those words, the Viscount looked and turned into a grey cat.
"I pity the Princess for not recognising a cat's cuteness."
It grumbled and flopped down on the spot.
Someone else might look at it and say, "It's a cat bread!" but to me, it looked like a turkey waiting to be de-feathered and put in the oven.
"Follow me."
I said as we approached the door to the powder room.
"What? You're going to have to carry me!"
"You're heavy."
"Well, yes, but it runs in my family to turn into a chubby animal! My father used to shapeshift into a chubby squirrel every time!"
"Ah, yes."
I opened the door after my stammering reply, the panicked cat began to run after me as it mewed.
Stepping back into the ballroom, I was once again greeted by the scorching air of crowds.
Many people loitered around me and cast glances at me. It seems like they were interested in me since my first dance with the Crown Prince.
Although, they could not come close to me.
"Excuse me, Princess Skyla..."
"Nyah!" The cat threatened those who approached me. Startled, they backed away.
I picked up my pace, and to my delight, the cat matched my stride and looked up triumphantly.
"What do you think, did I do well? Yeah, you're kind of useful.
I nodded, indifferent towards it.
The reason I didn't want to talk to anyone else was simple: there was no one here who was close to me in the first place, so the nobles who approached me now were just a bunch of random people trying to get information out of me.
I had no time for people I didn't even know.
As I wandered around looking for Lancer, I heard the voices of some of the younger nobles standing with their backs to me.
"Isn't Lord Lancer so cool? You should ask him to dance with you..."
The young lady who said that was a girl with pinkish curly hair. It seems like she just made her debut in society.
The other young lady, who's supposedly her friend, smiled at her.
"My dear Artbury, are you out of your mind? My friend's sister sent a letter to Lord Landseer asking him for a dance, and he never replied!"
"Well, you never know; he's sitting by the window all by himself, don't you pity him?"
Lancer is sitting by the window?
My ears perked up at that information.
I was about to approach the pink-haired lady to ask her which window she had seen Lancer from, but then she said something that caught my attention.
"Isn't Princess Skyla too much?"
"..?"
What did I do?
I stared at the back of her head, dumbfounded.
I can't believe she's gossiping in such a public place. It's so obvious now that she just made her debut in society.
Unaware that I was standing right behind her, she continued to talk sh*t about me.
"After toying with Lord Lancer for so long, she suddenly switched to the Crown Prince. Princess Skyla is such a bad person. I can't imagine how hurt Lord Lancer must've been… I knew it, I'm the only one who can heal his wounds! Yay! Go, me!"
As she turned to go in another direction, she spotted me.
"If you're looking to heal a man's wounds, why don't you volunteer at the hospital?" I said while staring straight at her.