/p>

(It’s hard to have a father who had a great love, isn’t it....)

Cordelia secretly sympathised with Vernoux in her mind.

“By the way, you said that you wanted to see this.... Vernoux-sama, are you interested in flowers?”

“Honestly, not really. But if you can control the temperature, then you can raise birds from the southern kingdoms.... Well, it’s not like I don’t want them.”

So that was it, he probably wanted to go to the greenhouse to get away from the parlour. But Cordelia got unforeseen information from him when she raised the topic.

“There’s also talk about making something similar to this at the Royal Castle, too. It seems like the Queen wished for it and the Prince also seems interested in it.”

“.... You’re well informed.”

“That’s because I study together with His Highness.”

As expected, he was already acquainted with the Prince and, judging from the way he spoke, they already got along really well.

That fact strengthened the caution that Cordelia had loosened for a moment. She didn’t do this consciously, she’d only reacted unconsciously to the danger word 『Prince』. However, Vernoux didn’t hesitate to tell her about the Prince; so it was probably safer to avoid him after all. She didn’t hate him, but to her regret, that connection was dreadful. Her life was at stake.

However, while she thought that, Cordelia suddenly noticed a reverse possibility.

Vernoux knew the Prince’s tendencies and would be a useful source of information for her to avoid the Prince with. Was there a better way to avoid the Prince than to hear about him from someone who is close to him? Instead, wouldn’t getting closer to Vernoux be a good plan?

(He might become an existence like a joker, though....)

She was thinking about such things, so her expression became just a little serious.

Vernoux just stared at Cordelia, who was acting like that, and he slowly softened his expression.

“.... You’re really unusual, aren’t you?”

“What is unusual about me?”

“Aren’t you interested in the Prince?”

“.... Why would you say that?”

It wasn’t like she wasn’t interested, it was just that her interest was the opposite of 『wanting to get close』.

Cordelia returned Vernoux’s question with a question. However, his amused expression remained the same.

“Everyone would immediately react to the word, ‘Prince’. No matter if they are noble boys or girls. Even though they turn red when looking at me, they would persistently try to get close to me. For some reason, you seem different from them.”

Hearing those words, Cordelia felt even sorrier for him than she did when she heard that the Marquis brought him around because of his love story.

historical

Under normal circumstances, he was the heir to that Flantheim House. She could imagine that he had a comfortable position just from looking at his outward appearance. Moreover, if he were used not only for that but also as a foothold towards the Prince, then he’d have something to be dissatisfied about. It might be because of that, that she was able to catch a glimpse of a calculated front, different from innocence, despite him being young.

“Well.... I respect His Majesty’s regime, but I haven’t talked with His Highness.... Also,”

“Also?”

“My father seems like a more wonderful man to me than His Highness, whom I have never seen before.”

Cordelia laughed, and Vernoux nodded looking convinced.

“Indeed, I really can’t seem to understand a woman’s heart. It’s too complicated. But it’s easy to talk with you; if you ever have something you would like to talk about, it would be great if you can come to me for advice.”

“Same here. Please treat me kindly from now on.”

“Would you mind if I called you Dilly?”

“By all means.”

Thus, Cordelia succeeded in making a connection with a promising future friend of the Prince. Of course, she didn’t have any intentions of using him only as an information shop. If he said that he wanted to understand the thing called a woman’s heart, then she thought about giving him advice, anytime. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any experience in love, but she didn’t dislike listening to love stories.... However, whether she could be helpful or not was a different story. However, she felt that his experiences would be disastrous if his love standards were influenced by that Marquis’s story. Thus it would certainly be useful to listen to『the advice of others』when he felt lost. However, she felt that it was necessary for Vernoux to generally understand a woman’s heart.

“But I really think that it would be better if the goddess statues in this greenhouse were a bit more voluptuous. It’s the Goddess of Fertility, isn’t it?”

.... She definitely thought that it was imperative to teach this eight-year-old child about a woman’s heart.

“Vernoux-sama, do you know that in this world there is a word called modesty?”

(Being an honest child is good, but being too honest could also be a fault.)

Cordelia shrugged her shoulders at her childish but grown-up friend.

References

1. ↑ An alcohol patch test is similar to an allergy patch test, but supposedly reveals alcohol tolerance:

2. ↑ omiai