Chapter 136: New Year's Greetings

While pretending to be intoxicated by the court orchestra’s music, I was doing my best to emit a “Don’t talk to me aura” toward the noble sons trying to strike up a conversation. Then, Grandfather approached from the other side. It seems the greetings have progressed to the Margraves. He seems to have brought a few people behind him, though…?

“Sakuraile, Happy New Year.” “Grandfather, Happy New Year. Um, who are those people…?” “Ah, Sakuraile was so small, I suppose you wouldn’t remember. This is my son, Guilford. He’s Ashley’s older brother.”

Oh, so this person is the uncle known as the “Young Lion of the Imperial Kingdom.” Like Grandfather, he has a trained physique and tall stature. His age is probably in his early thirties. He’s quite far apart in age from Mother. Since there’s apparently an aunt who married into another country between them, a ten-year age gap isn’t that surprising, I suppose. It seems I met him when I was little. I have absolutely no memory of it, though.

“I am Sakuraile la Philharmonie. I am delighted to meet you, Uncle.” “Well met, I am Guilford on Einsatz. Feel free to call me Uncle Gil. Just as Father said, you seem like a smart child.”

What did Grandfather tell him…? I am definitely not smart. I just have knowledge from my previous life.

“Let me introduce them. This is my wife, Milfa, and my son, Luke.” “I’m Milfa. Please call me Aunt Mil too, alright?” “I’m Luke. Nice to meet you, little cousin.” “I am Sakuraile. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Aunt Mil was a gentle-looking lady in her mid-thirties. My cousin, Luke, was of average height and build with no particularly distinguishing features, and compared to Grandfather and Uncle Gil, he had overwhelmingly less muscle. Is he the academic type?

“Luke, are you an Academy student?” “Yeah, I graduate this spring.”

Which means he’s eighteen, huh. Will he shadow Grandfather and help with the Margrave’s duties after graduating?

“Ah, I already spoke to His Highness the Emperor’s Brother about this, but I formally requested my retirement to His Majesty just earlier. And so, Guilford has officially succeeded me as the Margrave.” “Eh!? Grandfather, you quit being a Margrave!?”

He’s not at the age to retire yet… Wait, is it not that unusual in this world? Because his grandson has already come of age. If you never hand over the headship, rumors start to spread like, “Is there some problem with the heir…?”

“From now on, I’ll be living a carefree life in the Royal Capital at my townhouse. I can come see you frequently too, Sakuraile.”

He’s laughing “Wahaha,” but that wasn’t the main purpose of retiring, right? I was wondering if it was okay for him to be coming to the Royal Capital so often, though. We talked a bit more after that, and the Margrave family returned to making their rounds of greetings. Grandfather retiring, huh. Well, is it a good thing that it’s easier to go see him now? He looks like he could even train Bianca if he has free time. It might be because Elliott getting engaged to Risha allowed them to loosen their vigilance against the Empire. In a real emergency, he can return immediately using my kitchen car, too. A terrifying future where one misstep led to war and Grandfather’s death, as I heard from the Goddess. I’m truly glad we were able to avoid it. However, my ruin route still hasn’t vanished. I can’t let my guard down.

After ignoring the noble sons who seemed to be trying to talk to me for about an hour, Bianca finally arrived, and I was freed from my solitary state. The young masters who were hovering around me don’t seem to be rude enough to interrupt a conversation between girls, either.

“I mean, Kohaku-san, help me out…” 『I know nothing of it. Of course, I will act if it seems you will be harmed. Because my duty is that of a “bodyguard.”』

Feigning ignorance, Kohaku-san is digging into the roast beef piled on a plate on the sofa by the wall. Will he really do his job as a bodyguard…? I feel somewhat uneasy. Well, I don’t think there are many idiots who would cause harm or run wild at a party hosted by the Imperial Family. …No, well, there was one, wasn’t there… That idiot with the handlebar mustache…

Waiting a little longer while talking with Bianca.

“Lady Sakuraile, Estelle is here.” “Lady Sakuraile, Bianca! Happy New Year!” “Happy New Year, Estelle.” “Happy New Year.”

Estelle was wearing a dress with a design similar to mine, like the one she wore at the Autumn Cooling Party. By the way, Bianca’s dress is also similar. It feels like the three of us are matching. Though the colors are all different—mine is black and white, Bianca’s is blue, and Estelle’s is cherry blossom pink. Estelle’s family is a Baron house, a newly established one this year, so their greeting to His Majesty the Emperor is towards the end. Since several noble houses were abolished this year, quite a few people were ennobled in their place. It should be about time for Uncle Emperor’s greetings to finish. Repeating “Happy New Year” and “Umu, a joyous occasion” for nearly three hours must have made him considerably exhausted… I had Father pass him some stamina drinks and energy drinks from the convenience store, but I wonder if they had any effect. You’re not supposed to drink too many of those either, though.

Suddenly looking toward the orchestra, I noticed Pamela-sensei wasn’t there. Did she switch out to take a break? Playing continuously for so long is tough, after all. I’ve heard that something like Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung takes fifteen hours to perform. They apparently perform it over several days, but it’s tough on the performers too… It becomes a test of endurance.

“Bianca and Lady Estelle, Happy New Year.”

While I was holding feelings of respect for musicians, Elliott approached from the other side. Behind him were Jean and Leon. Like Bianca, Jean naturally wasn’t wearing his sword today. With Jean and the others arriving, it seems Elliott was finally freed from the noble young ladies as well. Greeted by Elliott, Bianca and Estelle offered their New Year’s greetings in return. Next to Jean and Leon as well. Things were a bit more casual over there, though.

“Compared to last year’s ‘New Year’s Banquet,’ it’s much livelier this year. The food and drinks are delicious, too.”

As Jean said, the venue was lively with nobles expressing surprise or recommending things to their friends upon tasting the food provided. Mainly the male nobles, that is. The women already have a little immunity from the Autumn Cooling Party. Even so, the sweets corner is currently occupied by the female nobles. …That’s a straight path to New Year’s weight gain… Speaking of New Year’s, the convenience store I summoned, ‘Seventh Heaven,’ was in its winter phase, so they were actually selling mochi (rice cakes). I held off eating them until New Year’s, but I’ll eat them when I get back. Isobeyaki (grilled with soy sauce and seaweed), kinako mochi (with roasted soybean flour), natto mochi (with fermented soybeans), and since they had edamame at the convenience store, zunda mochi (with sweetened mashed edamame) is possible too. Could I make ozouni (New Year’s soup) too? They had canned adzuki beans, so I think oshiruko (sweet red bean soup) is possible. If I’m not careful, I’ll be on a straight path to New Year’s weight gain myself…

While I was daydreaming about mochi, I suddenly started hearing a commotion from the venue’s entrance. I could hear several voices of surprise from the attendees. Wondering what was going on, I directed my gaze there and saw the youthful Duchess Concerto, who now looked no older than her late twenties. Ah… Great-aunt. Yeah, that’s surprising… The reactions of the ladies in the venue were a mix of joy and sorrow. The people in the same faction were delighted and filled with admiration at the effect, while the people in opposing factions seemed incredibly frustrated? Actually, there are a few other people in this venue who have benefited from the high-grade skin lotion. Even so, they haven’t experienced as massive a transformation as Grandmother or Great-aunt. That skin lotion seems to react to the magical power within a person’s body to cause the change, so simply put, the better the quality of a person’s magical power, the more youthful their skin becomes. In other words, although there are individual differences, it’s generally more effective on upper-class nobles and the like. Since Great-aunt was originally born into the Imperial Family, I figured the quality of her magical power was quite high. Yeah, that makes sense… Ah, Grandmother also entered from behind Great-aunt. The two of them instantly became the center of attention. Even if they had heard from their wives, daughters, or female family members who attended the Autumn Cooling Party that Grandmother had rejuvenated (which isn’t strictly true), seeing it with their own eyes must have been quite a shock. The male nobles were also standing dumbfounded with their eyes and mouths wide open.

“As expected, the effect is amazing…” “Thanks to that, the ‘Forcing Pot’ in our house is operating at full capacity. It’s painful that I can’t use it for my own research for a while…”

At Elliott’s mutter, Leon dropped his shoulders with a sigh and voiced his complaint. Hmm, it’s a joint venture with our house, after all. Sorry about that. The Traumerei Viscount House’s secret treasure that accelerates plant growth, the ‘Forcing Pot’, apparently cannot be used continuously and requires a certain interval and soil replacement each time. Well, if you grow things repeatedly, the nutrients in the soil will run out, right. For those reasons, the high-grade skin lotion cannot be mass-produced to that extent. After all, it’s not a one-time use disposable item; it’s something they will continue to use from now on. Once you know that effect, wanting to have it constantly in stock is just a woman’s nature. Therefore, we can’t carelessly increase the number of people we sell it to. If the balance of supply and demand isn’t maintained, the business will collapse. Though we can manage enough for Great-aunt. We have a few in stock, after all. It seems the Traumerei house is currently researching whether they can dilute the raw liquid to suppress the effect but increase the quantity in return. A mass-production plan, huh. Well, if they keep it as a ‘special reserve’ to use only during parties like this, I think it will last quite a long time. I leave the sales and such to my parents, so I don’t know the details. But it seems they are making a massive profit. I wonder how much they are selling it for… Apparently, a certain percentage of these sales is also being routed to my assets. Even though I only provided the shochu…

Eventually, Elliott and the others found other acquaintances and walked away. The venue has become bustling with many nobles too. Before I knew it, ambassadors from other countries and such seemed to have arrived, and Father and the others are exchanging greetings. Hm? Someone is coming this way… Ugh, those vestments are…!

“Lady Sakuraile, Divine Beast Kohaku-sama. I am extremely delighted to have been able to meet you on this joyous day at the dawn of a new year.” “Roulette-san… Weren’t you returning to the Gospel Kingdom?”

Standing before me was the Saint of the Gospel Kingdom I met at the Autumn Cooling Party, Roulette-san.