The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

“Leo, greet them. These are the esteemed princesses of the Azerna Empire.”

“Greetings. I am Leo Grace, the eldest son of the Grace family. It is an honor to meet the two noble princesses of such distinguished bloodlines.”

At my words, Leo politely greeted the two princesses. His demeanor was the very epitome of a ‘gentleman.’

This was a complete contrast to how he had acted when he first met Alice and me.

Of course, when I say ‘the first time we met,’ I’m not referring to after time was rewound. I mean before time was rewound, back when this ‘current situation’ was happening. Leo, who had clearly recognized both Alice and me as princesses, had turned pale every time he saw us.

Especially when Claire openly called me ‘sister’ and acted informally with me, Leo had been quite distressed. It was a miracle that his hair didn’t fall out from all the stress.

Even in the original story, early on, Leo turned pale whenever he had to deal with Alice, and that had become a bit of a comedic element, so it was understandable.

However, there was no trace of that on Leo’s face now. His expression when greeting Claire and Alice was calm and composed.

In this timeline, Leo wasn’t meeting the two of them for the first time, either.

Unlike Claire, who had solely dedicated herself to swordsmanship, I had directed my talents in slightly different ways. Despite my current appearance, I had worked diligently, studying as I rewound time. Rather than cramming everything for the exam, I believed it was more useful to repeat lessons until I truly understood the material. And I had continued with that approach up until now.

As a result, most of the material I was taught in my younger years was already known to me. If I had only crammed for exams, I wouldn’t have remembered and would have had to rewind time to study again, but since I had properly learned and moved on from many things, there was no need to rewind time multiple times.

...Although, I had rewound time once or twice to revisit some forgotten details, but still.

Instead of excelling in swordsmanship, I gained the attention of the Grace family through ‘studies and etiquette,’ and thanks to that, I grew up as the daughter of a baron. While I couldn’t practice archery like I did in the palace, I used my spare time to practice proper noble etiquette.

Even though the Grace family’s title had been directly granted by the previous emperor, it was impossible for a baron’s daughter to simply visit a princess without any reason. To meet royalty, there needed to be a justification. To build the ‘relationship,’ one at least had to have met the person face to face.

So, the option I chose was the ball.

The reason nobles attend balls is to build such relationships and justifications. Though it’s called a ‘social gathering,’ in reality, it’s more of a battlefield of looks and words. Even the smallest promises are calculated and executed.

I thought that if I became well-known by frequently attending these events, even Claire and Alice, who previously had no interest in this kind of thing, would eventually understand what I wanted.

The problem was that being a baron’s daughter and making a name for myself wasn’t as easy as it seemed. No matter how pretty I was or how good my figure was compared to my peers, that wasn’t enough. The Grace family was close to the royal family, but they weren’t exceptionally outstanding in any particular way. Originally, the family was more famous for their swordsmanship than anything else.

It took years before I gained the strange nickname of ‘The Black and White Lily of Grace,’ a title that would make anyone’s hair stand on end.

As a result, it took Claire and Alice a long time to understand my intentions, and we had only met face-to-face twice before.

At least, one of those times had been used under the pretext of ‘getting to know each other for the first time.’

Since I didn’t have any fiancé—though I did have a certain standing with a few people, I deliberately ignored them—whenever I went to the ball, my partner was always my ‘younger brother’ Leo.

Thus, Leo had seen these two before.

But even then, they had only met face-to-face twice. It was considered impolite for a man to listen in on a conversation between women, so Leo always stepped back when we spoke, and naturally, he rarely had the chance to converse with these two.

Even so, the fact that Leo wasn’t even the slightest bit flustered now, and hadn’t been flustered during the two previous meetings, was undoubtedly a different side of ‘Leo’ than the one I knew.

This was the decisive reason I had started to believe that not everything that had truly happened had been completely undone by time rewinding.

“Did you just say ‘sister’?”

Typically, when a man says, “Greetings,” the other party would naturally reply with a respectful tone as etiquette dictates.

But the word “sister” Leo had said when I called out to him earlier seemed to have triggered something in Claire’s temperament.

“Huh?”

Leo raised his head, looking startled as he responded. I studied his expression carefully. As expected, he wasn’t frightened or pale.

He just looked confused.

“Sylvia called you her ‘sister.’”

“Claire.”

As Claire continued with her words, her irritation visible, Alice quickly stepped in to stop her.

“Well... Sylvia is truly my sister, you know?”

Leo, still not fully understanding the situation, asked again.

“Why?”

Claire suddenly asked, and Leo scratched his head before speaking.

“Well... my sister always acts so mature, and whenever there’s something I don’t understand, she kindly explains it to me. Sometimes, even when I make mistakes or do something wrong, she’s there to cover for me.”

“......”

At Leo’s words, both Alice and Claire turned their gaze toward me. Well...

In fact, it wasn’t intentional that Leo began calling me ‘sister.’ Back then, when I was playing the role of the ‘emotionless cool beauty,’ I was now playing the role of a perfect baron’s daughter. And I could firmly say that this was much harder. I had to be cautious in everything I did in my daily life, so Leo must have seen me as a dependable older sister.

But even after hearing such an explanation, Claire still wore a somewhat dissatisfied expression. Leo, finally realizing something, asked.

“Oh, maybe you call me ‘sister’ because I’m in the same class as you?”

“No, no, it’s not that. You know...”

“Claire.”

Alice quickly stepped in front of Claire.

“......My sister was rude. I’ll apologize on her behalf.”

“Oh, no, it’s not like that...”

Seeing Leo roll his eyes, I took a step forward and responded.

“It’s something you might be curious about. However, it’s an internal matter of the Grace family. I’m sorry, but it’s not something I can just talk about here.”

“No, no, I was the one who was wrong. Claire.”

Alice glanced slightly at Claire before speaking.

“Since you’ve made an apology, do it properly.”

“Ugh, really!”

Claire, though clearly wanting to say a lot, eventually sighed and stood still for a moment before muttering an almost inaudible apology.

After seeing Claire’s reaction, Alice nodded before speaking.

“Also, there’s no need to use such formal language. We’re all students here. According to the academy’s rules, we’re all equals, right? I’d like for us to be comfortable with each other at least until we graduate. What do you think?”

She then extended her hand toward Leo for a handshake.

“Uh...”

Leo, looking a bit confused, glanced at me. I nodded at him.

Then, with a slight smile, Leo grabbed Alice’s hand gently and said.

“Alright, then. Until we graduate.”

Yes, that would be the case.

Leo doesn’t fully remember everything.

But he definitely knows something. He just hasn’t realized it yet.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to accept Alice’s words so calmly.

And if Leo is like this, the other children must be similar.

“Then I’ll keep it casual too.”

Claire, who had been speaking informally since the very first moment, said this. Leo, seeing her like that, just awkwardly smiled.

“I’m not exactly familiar with the Empire’s social circles, but...”

On our way to the student council room, Charlotte spoke.

“It’s a bit unusual for a baron’s daughter to have her name spread across the entire social scene. Especially since her name reached even Belvur beyond the border. I’ve heard that the Grace family is much more famous for its martial prowess.”

“I’ve just worked hard to refine my manners.”

“Impressive. I can see why people would have a good impression of you. It’s not surprising that the student council nominated you directly. ‘The Black and White Lily of Grace.’”

One day, I’ll find the person who gave me that nickname and tear out their insides.

I vowed to make them feel pain far worse than the twisted gut pain I felt.

Leo, walking proudly beside me, wasn’t the issue. The two princesses beside him were barely managing to hold back their laughter.

...Could it be that I already had that nickname in the past?