Chapter 142

Report, Contact, Discuss [Part 2]

"What... a beautiful sight..."

"T-This is the appearance of a goddess and an angel..."

"Why? I want to keep seeing it."

"No, I want to watch over them..."

"No, I want to stan them!"

"What is this mixed, heart-throbbing feeling of shame and thrill in me?"

"Rose-sama... I seem to have misunderstood her all this time."

"So beautiful. So precious."

"To think the delicate Emma-sama is that close to Rose-sama..."

"Rose-sama... is definitely a good person. There's no mistaking it."

"Emma-sama is smiling... Rose-sama must be a good person."

One hug with Emma was all it took for Rose's favorability level to skyrocket, a huge difference from how it had been rock bottom until a year ago and only rose little by little recently. Rose and Emma themselves, however, remained oblivious of this fact.

"..."

"..."

"Say... William... You know, this... The evening party hasn't even started yet..."

"Nee-sama... probably has the disease of attracting everyone's attention at one stroke at evening parties?"

Looking very speechless like how they always did with Emma, George and William looked at the two hugging and then to the surrounding people's reactions.

"If it's a disease... then it can't be helped." The two sighed, feeling resigned.

♠♠♠

"Shall we go, Emma-chan? I came here to call you up!"

Rose took Emma's hand happily and led her to the front of the venue.

"Eh? Eh? Ro-chan?"

"George-kun, William-kun, and Count Stuart too, c'mon."

The Stuart family, with a big question mark above their heads for being called out to the front out of nowhere, was taken by Rose to the platform which served as a stage.

"Um, Rose-sama? What's... the meaning of this?"

They had no choice but to follow if the royal concubine asked them to, but Leonard still hoped for an explanation from Rose.

"Don't be shy. After all, House Stuart is the main character of today's evening party."

"...Huh? "

Some puzzling words came out of Rose's mouth.

"Hm? His Majesty said that he has finally talked the Stuart family through to accept the reward, which was why he was so delighted last week, you know?"

"..."

"..."

"...Ah!"

"Now that you mention it..." George covered his mouth with his palm and went "Oh, crap" as if he had just remembered something.

The memory of how the King persisted on giving a reward when he came to House Stuart... and how he felt like the King was being a pain, so he only gave him a half-assed answer of "Emma will respond to that later"... all came back to George.

Obviously, he hadn't said anything about that to Emma because he only remembered it now.

"...Nii-sama...?"

He is not a king who would quietly wait for a reply from Emma.

Now that they observed it closely again, in this evening party whose invitees were mainly nobles with a title above Count, the young nobles who got along well with the three siblings at the academy also got invited.

Isn't this an inescapable encirclement for us to accept the reward?

I've completely forgotten about it after all those things with the ninjas, Mother's business trip to Imperial Japan, dresses, and the normies... No matter how George thought about it, they couldn't get away from this tonight.

"Emma... sorry... About the reward from His Majesty... Please do something about it."

George knew that he was asking Emma for something unreasonable, but the former commoner Tanaka family didn't want a higher title... no, they couldn't afford it. A larger territory... also had no benefits. Money... They already earned enough, so even if they were to accept it, it would only make the relationship with other nobles troublesome.

"...Huh? ...Onii-sama...?"

To think that the price for answering the King half-heartedly would come at the royal castle's evening party filled with nobles...

As expected of His Majesty. He is set on making House Stuart accept the reward. And yet... the only card our Stuart family can use is Emma with her zero common sense. George lamented.

"Wai—? Onii-sama? Eh? Reward? Eh?"

Being pulled by Rose, Emma was approaching the stairs to the stage in no time. Still, she noticed that George's expression somehow looked off for quite a while now.

Emma realized it later on.

That reporting, communicating, and discussing[1] was important.

♠♠♠

Author's words: It's been a while since Rose last appeared.

[T/N 1: ] Report, Communicate, Consult is the standard business attitude in Japan.