Helena arrived late to the party.
“Oooh! Helena, you finally made it! We’ve been waiting for you with bated breath.”
Luke warmly welcomed Helena as he approached her.
Although he received prior notice that she would be late, he still thought it was a relief that she wasn’t any later.
“It’s a relief that you’re not too late. We just finished cutting the cake.”
“Because of the academy… Hmph, I’m not as free as others, you know? You should be grateful that I came at all.”
Helena replied gruffly.
It couldn’t be helped; they wouldn’t let her leave until the academy was over.
Well, it’s exam season, so she understands that much.
And truth be told, the reason she was late was also largely because of Luke.
She had missed the top spot recently, which led to the extended academy sessions.
At that time, Luke had been the one who came in first.
So it was true that her first impression of Luke hadn’t been very good.
She hadn’t initially intended to come to the party at all, but…
“What a pretty dress you’re wearing. The new hairstyle suits you very well. You look great.”
As soon as Luke saw Helena, he complimented her as naturally as if he were conversing with an old noble.
After all, good manners are a skill to make others feel better.
Helena’s dress was modest compared to her own, but it was still a quite beautiful color.
It could be compared to her slightly over-the-top outfit, so specific compliments would probably be better than vague praises.
Also, Helen’s hair, usually styled in twin tails, was changed to a two-sided updo for the occasion.
It was a cute hairstyle that suited a girl like Helena quite well.
Helena was not used to such compliments.
“Th-thank you… you too… um.”
Helena stammered as she swallowed her words.
It was indeed difficult to praise others.
She sometimes felt envious that Luke could compliment others so effortlessly.
Well, normally she wouldn’t have much opportunity to praise others anyway.
“But where are the others?”
“They’re all in the banquet hall. Come on, follow me. I’ll guide you there.”
Luke started to lead Helena directly to the banquet hall.
——
Helena felt a sense of admiration from the moment she saw Luke’s attire as he came out to greet her.
Where on earth did he get such a dress?
Setting aside how well it suited him, it matched the mature aura he usually radiated perfectly.
Moreover, Luke’s elegant and tidy behavior completely matched the outfit he was wearing.
From the way he held his skirt while descending the stairs to how he smoothed any wrinkles in his clothes, even the way he smiled and gestured while pointing at something…
It was perfect.
He truly seemed to have etiquette ingrained in him.
Helena could recognize just how much effort it took to move so gracefully.
That was because she also had some experience in such education.
She was still receiving it now.
So Helena understood.
To have a bearing as refined as Luke’s was absolutely impossible with just general home education.
It was not merely a matter of mimicking adult behavior.
‘Luke must have grown up in a good family.’
If not, then all of his abilities and demeanor simply wouldn’t make sense.
As the doors to the banquet hall opened, Helena was quite surprised by the scene before her.
“Wow, this is a better party than I expected.”
“Right? I put quite a bit of effort into it.”
Looking around, the level of the party was nothing like what she had initially imagined it would be—definitely not just a gathering of kids.
It felt like a very serious gathering for adults.
‘I do like this luxurious atmosphere.’
Helena didn’t dislike this kind of vibe at all.
Kids certainly have the desire to mimic adults, and Helena thought of herself as someone who had already grown up quite a lot.
So there was no way she could dislike this adult-like and luxurious atmosphere.
Especially, she really liked the landscape painting hanging there.
The realistic color scheme of the sunset forest was incredibly beautiful…
Helena paused for a moment, gazing at the large painting and murmuring.
“Where on earth did you get such a painting?”
Although she had never had a hobby due to being buried in her studies, there was one field she was quite interested in.
That was ‘paintings.’
Well, for now, doodling in the corner of her notebook or study sheets was all she did, but she had thought about wanting to learn how to paint someday.
When she doodled, it was incredibly fun.
Then Luke immediately responded.
“I painted it. I did it little by little in the school art room. I also had help from the art teacher. What do you think?”
“What?? No, really?”
“I’m serious. It took a bit of time to finish in a week, but. Haha.”
Luke chuckled as if it were a bit of a big deal.
However, Helena couldn’t fully accept that smile with joy.
He was good at studying, sports, and music, and now he could paint as well?
What on earth could this girl not do?
Aside from studying, all she could do was to doodle.
What she thought was a field she wouldn’t have to compete with Luke had turned out…
Somehow, she felt a little pathetic.
“If you’re interested in my painting, I could paint one for you later, would you like that?”
“…No, it’s fine.”
“Hmm, I see. Well then, enjoy the party.”
“Okay.”
Luke thought as he looked at Helena, who seemed a bit weak.
‘Looks like something tiring must have happened today.’
He didn’t know what it was, but he was worried that she might have overdone it.
He wondered if he should have brought some kind of energy recovery drink, but regrettably, he hadn’t been able to prepare that this time.
He had already consumed everything himself while preparing for this party.
Then what should he do…
“…”
While deep in thought, Luke soon noticed Helena glancing over at Shirud.
‘Ah…’
Helena was interested in Shirud and had come to his party.
That could probably be taken as something akin to love, couldn’t it?
Although he may not understand the feeling of ‘love’ exactly, he had gathered a sense of it from observing Dayton and Yerna.
You could forget about weariness just by being together, and you couldn’t stop smiling because you were simply so happy.
Well, it was that kind of feeling.
It was quite fascinating to think that emotions could have such effects.
As a mage who blocked excessive emotions that interfered with rational thinking, this strong psychological reaction was an area he could hardly understand.
But then, maybe it was possible to soothe Helena’s fatigue using this emotion?
Of course, if they were in a situation where they disliked each other, it would cause negative feelings and have the opposite effect, but that wasn’t the case right now.
Helena seemed to want to get closer to Shirud, and Shirud was not treating Helena coldly either, so they could already be seen as having some interest in each other.
In that case…
Luke placed a piece of the cut cake onto a plate and handed it to Helena as he said.
“Helena, could you take this cake over to Shirud at that table?”
“Why should I do your errand?”
Helena answered rather brusquely.
Luke maintained his smile and replied.
“Well, I have some things to discuss with the others. Shirud seems to be a bit tipsy right now and probably can’t get up from the table to take the cake himself. Could I ask you to do that? After that, we can eat the cake that I made just the two of us together.”
Luke distinctly remembered Helena saying in the past that “she didn’t like sweets,” and had thus made a sugar-free cake specifically for her.
Originally, he had intended to just give it to her, but due to Pyris’s overeating which unintentionally instilled a perception of “poverty” among people, it had been difficult for him to eat freely, leading to him not being very full.
If he’d gorged himself without any restraint in that situation, that perception would never be reversed.
He did manage to eat enough so that there wouldn’t be any sounds of hunger, but there was still a shortage of food.
Yet, the party’s host couldn’t just leave the table alone, making it a rather complicated situation.
However, if he shared a ‘dessert’ with a ‘friend,’ then that worry would be resolved for the time being.
Helena, however, likely wouldn’t know about Luke’s thoughts.
“…Alright.”
“Thank you for that.”
Helena replied as if she had no other option.
After all, there was no way she could completely dislike Luke.
How could she refuse when he had gone out of his way to bake a cake just for her?
Helena was weak to such kindness.
Also, she felt a bit sorry for Shirud, who had been sitting at the table, holding his head since earlier.
————
After receiving the cake, Shirud thanked Helena.
“Thank you, you’re kinder than I expected.”
“Hmph, I just felt sorry for you sitting there like a fool. Don’t get the wrong idea.”
Now that she thought about it, Helena always spoke sharply but didn’t act that way in the end.
Just like when she had lent them her villa.
Even when Luke didn’t show up at school, she would come to class every day and annoy them by asking whether they had contacted Luke, which she honestly hadn’t liked much.
Helena looked at Shirud and asked.
“By the way, how on earth did you end up drinking fruit wine?”
“Ah, I thought it was juice…”
“What an idiot.”
“…”
He had no rebuttal.
To be honest, he thought it was a foolish thing to do.
Helena picked up the glass Shirud had used and asked.
“Is this it?”
“Yeah.”
“How much did you drink?”
“About half a glass…”
Helena shook her head and sighed.
“This is fruit wine, but it has almost no alcohol. Well, there’s no way they would serve strong drinks at a party with so many kids around. You really have a low tolerance for alcohol.”
At Helena’s words, Shirud puffed up, shouting.
“What? How do you know that? Have you had a taste?”
Helena calmly retorted.
“I’ve had a couple of glasses myself. My father runs a fruit wine business at Beriton. Well, that’s how I naturally got the chance to know about it as my father’s successor.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah, why would I lie about something like that?”
Thinking about it, it made sense.
Shirud was slightly surprised to learn an unexpected fact.
He had never been that interested in what other kids’ parents did.
“Anyway, eat some cake. Dad says that eating sweets makes the hangover go away faster.”
“Okay… thanks.”
“Alright, I’ll be on my way then.”
As she turned to leave, Helena suddenly stopped and looked back.
“Oh, by the way, I wanted to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
Helena hesitated for a moment before decisively saying.
“Do you happen to know Luke’s weakness?”
“What? Why are you suddenly curious about that?”
Shirud replied sharply.
Helena was somewhat flustered by his response and quickly defended herself.
“No, don’t misunderstand. I’m not trying to use it for any harm or anything. I’m just curious. That girl seems like she can’t do anything wrong.”
“…Was that all?”
Shirud sighed.
He understood what she was feeling.
Luke could be a bit too much sometimes.
Feeling a strange sense of kinship, Shirud thought it would be okay to share the only weakness of Luke that he knew with Helena.
“Luke can’t swim.”
“Swim? You mean, like swimming?”
“Yeah. He can’t do it.”
“Ah, I see.”
Helena nodded.
So Luke couldn’t swim…
That was an unexpected piece of information.
As Helena was wearing a satisfied smile at her newfound knowledge, another thought popped into her head.
“Wait a minute, how did you know that? Did you go to the pool together or something?”
“Uh? No, that’s not it… We went to the beach once.”
“The beach? Just the two of you? Are you two dating or something?”
Shirud simply averted his eyes.
His face was extremely flushed.
