Someone seemed to be yelling in a sternly angry voice. And the faint happy noise of the party, which had been faintly heard until they went to the bathroom, was completely gone.
“Is this yours?”
Dianne and Neris opened their eyes wide almost simultaneously. The two girls’ steps became more cautious. Finally, after descending the stairs, they hurried toward the banquet hall door.
The banquet hall door was kept open because the party was ongoing, and the noise from inside the hall leaked out into the corridor, filling the entire building with echoes.
“Look straight!”
A sharp voice rang out again. The two girls cautiously entered the banquet hall.
In the center of the banquet hall, all the partygoers had gathered in a circle. The two girls quickly identified Angarad and Alecto in the center of that circle.
Angarad’s face was flushed, and her hair was disheveled, while Alecto chuckled at her appearance.
“Oh my, ladies. Both of you, please don’t fight.”
“Lady, you shouldn’t act roughly.”
Angarad’s maid and Alecto’s maid were both sweating as they tried to calm their respective masters, and Angarad’s hair was a mess.
Looking at the creamcolored ribbon in Alecto’s hand, Dianne covered her mouth. Neris raised an eyebrow.
Alecto angrily shook the ribbon in front of Angarad.
“You thief! Have you nothing to say? Why steal someone else’s belongings? And you want to shamelessly hold a party wearing the stolen goods? A party with bugs?”
“What are you talking about? Why is Angarad a thief?”
Dianne whispered to a nearby child who was watching the situation with amusement. The child replied without lowering his voice much.
“Angarad Nain stole Alecto’s ribbon.”
At that, Dianne frowned.
“Why? She has her own ribbon.”
“It got wet with a drink last time.”
“She must have washed it.”
“Don’t know if the stain came out or not. Anyway, Alecto had embroidered her initials on her ribbon, but it seems to have been found on the ribbon Angarad was wearing.”
The child then shifted his gaze to Neris and asked,
“You were friends with Angarad Nain when you were young?”
“Well, I don’t remember.”
“When were you and I that close? Don’t talk to me. The kids might get the wrong idea. What if they think I’m a thief too?”
“What was the reputation of the Duke and Duchess Trued, the parents of Princess Neris? It’s embarrassing to speak ill of the dead. But, yes……. If it were me, I wouldn’t have supported the plight of a lord who couldn’t be served by her husband anymore. Wouldn’t that be ‘theft’? It’s clear what you learned……. ”
Neris felt as if she heard the voices of young Angarad and grownup Angarad simultaneously.
In the old days, when Neris was really a freshman, a child had lost a gold coin during a party. It was common for children to lose things while playing, but the problem was that some people pointed at Neris as the thief.
Including Angarad.
The whole class gathered around and turned Neris’s bag inside out. A gold coin came out from inside.
No one could tell if that gold coin was the same item lost at the party, but no one paid attention to that fact. There was even a claim that Neris had been ‘seen’ stealing the gold coin, so naturally, it must be the same item, right?
Neris’s sincere explanation that she didn’t know why she had such an object was of no help, of course.
This incident became the catalyst that brought the previously subtle alienation to the surface.
Insects or dead leaves frequently got into Neris’s possessions, hair, and clothing. In some years, the popular game among the new students was to see who could put more stones or caterpillars in Neris Trued’s “bushy and dull” hair.
At the time, Angarad, pretending not to notice, drew a line with Neris, fervently, humorously, and blatantly enough for others to want to emulate.
And whenever he had the chance, he fostered camaraderie with the children, using moral criticism of Neris’s behavior as an excuse, regularly mentioning it lest the children forget the theft incident.
Among the rumors that Angarad spread in social circles after he grew up was one related to this event.
At the time, Neris was sad and aggrieved, but she couldn’t figure out who the real culprit was. She had never stolen anything, and she didn’t know what Angarad had seen.
But now, thinking with a clear mind, not cornered…
“At that time, the only one who could have accessed my bag was Angarad.”
In the mobile classroom of the Academy, students rarely left their bags unattended. Maybe when they went to the bathroom, a friend sitting next to them would look after it.
During her freshman year, Neris’s closest human relationship had been with Angarad.
And then.
“Angarad started organizing the class meetings around that time.”
It was a strange thing.
Unlike the precisely nine noble families, the criteria for a lower noble were not clear. However, the Nine Barons were poor rural lords with no connection to the Imperial Capital, so most of the children considered Angarad to be a lower noble.
How dare he host class parties that included even the children of great nobles throughout his school days? Although Angarad was not the sole organizer, it was still strange.
Being the one to issue invitations implied considerable power in the empire’s social culture.
There’s no way that weak Angarad fought for such a great role, right?
Unless someone “all the children would accept” allowed Angarad that role in exchange for something big.
And Neris seemed to know who that person was.
The imperial heir, who would not have been questioned even if she had stuck to upperclass gatherings, but who had always been part of class parties since some time.
“It was really fun yesterday, Angarad. You’re the one giving the invitations for the next class meeting, right?”
“Thank you for always coming, Megara. I, I, of course, want to do that next time……!”
Whether as a child or an adult, Angarad might have acted that way for survival. But Neris no longer cared or wanted to know about such excuses.
Because she wouldn’t give him the opportunity to say such things.
The one who had chosen the easier and more cowardly path was on the other side.
“Angarad seems to think we were good friends, but I…… Well, it feels wrong to speak ill of him in this situation.”
“Why do you feel wrong? Did you tell him to steal the ribbon or what?”
The child said so and laughed, and Daian asked patiently.
“What’s this about bugs?”
“Right, don’t drink the peach punch. A spider came out of it.”
“Eww.”
Daian and Neris frowned at the same time. The child shrugged.
“It’s an old building, so it’s not strange for spiders to wander around.”
“That means there could be more spiders anywhere.”
“Yes. So everyone is leaving.”
Indeed, the servants were slowly coming in to take care of their masters. Angarad screamed through his tears.
“No! I didn’t steal it! It’s my ribbon that Masa washed for me!”
The Villainous Demon Lord Laid an Egg for Her (Female-Dominated)
Several months after transmigrating into a book, Yu Wu found herself facing the demon lord Li You, who could no longer conceal his dragon horns. With one hand on her aching waist and the other gripping a sharp sword, she stared at him.
The demon lord’s eyes were red with fury:
“This is all your doing! Today, I won’t rest until I kill you!”
Yu Wu rubbed her temples. Putting aside the taboo against bloodshed during pregnancy, wasn’t it this very man who willingly walked into her trap that day?!
Warnings:
- Male pregnancy.
- Height ratios are set to mirror typical male-female height proportions.
- Characters include a foot-loving demon lord and an eldest daughter from an immortal family’s concubine lineage.
