The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

"Does anyone here know what kind of food the children in orphanages eat?"

"......."

No one answered.

Sophia's eyes flickered briefly, and Claire nodded. Now that I thought about it, Sophia had been raised as a spy from a young age. I’d never given it much thought before, but maybe she had spent some time in an orphanage. As for Claire, she had been in the same place as me, so she would understand immediately.

"The place I was in served thin porridge. It was heavily watered down and barely seasoned. There was hardly any taste, and there was almost nothing in it to chew."

"......."

As I spoke, I wondered if someone would interrupt me, but fortunately, no one did.

"And even that wasn’t in large amounts. Looking back now, it wasn’t really fit to be called food."

Not that porridge itself was unfit for consumption—but that porridge wasn’t something a person should have been given to eat. If anything, calling it porridge was a stretch. Food should at least contain something edible.

"We survived by sharing what little we had."

"No."

This time, someone did contradict me.

Claire raised one hand slightly, her expression serious.

"That’s not true. You were the only one who shared. You always gave your portion to us and made do with just a few spoonfuls. The rest of us fought over food—we never shared it."

Oh.

Had that been the case?

Now that she mentioned it, it did seem familiar.

At the time, I had been the same age as Claire. Physically, there was no real difference between us.

But regardless of my physical age, I had been an adult inside. No matter how desperate the situation was, I could never bring myself to take food away from starving children.

And back then, I had known exactly what kind of place that was. I had believed that I couldn’t change the future, that those children would inevitably meet the fate waiting for them. So at the very least, I wanted to give them a small memory of kindness before their time was up.

There were still children I hadn’t been able to save. So it wasn’t something to be proud of.

"......."

Claire’s words left the room in silence.

"And you used to tell us old stories."

Claire added.

I had nothing to say to that. Those "old stories" were just fairy tales I had cobbled together from the ones I knew.

I hadn’t been particularly skilled at storytelling, so whenever I forgot details, I made things up as I went along. And when I couldn’t remember how a story ended, I simply gave it a happy ending.

Alice had heard this before, but the others hadn’t. Charlotte, in particular, had an expression that was truly worth seeing.

She looked at me as if she had just taken a massive blow.

Why? Was it really that surprising that I could tell fairy tales?

Well... yeah, I guess it would be.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Now that I thought about it, this was actually a pretty effective contrast. A "cool beauty" character who had once been warm and kind—it was practically a cliché.

"...And because I grew up in that kind of place, I hardly ever had sweet foods."

I quickly steered the conversation forward before Claire could continue listing off things about me.

"That’s why I like sweet things, especially desserts."

To be fair, I had always liked them. But I couldn’t exactly say that out loud here. The only reason I had even told Lena about it was because it was connected to her father.

...Most of my personas and lies had already been exposed. Keeping at least one small secret wouldn’t hurt.

"And that’s why I wanted you to speak casually with me again."

As soon as I finished speaking, Claire chimed in as if she had been waiting for this moment.

Noticing everyone’s attention on her, Claire shrugged and continued.

"You spoke casually to us back then."

"...Wait, don’t tell me the reason you started speaking so formally is..."

Charlotte murmured to herself, but I didn’t respond.

I couldn’t exactly admit that it had all been an act.

"......."

Hmm.

At first, I thought this would just be another moment where one of my ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ secrets got exposed and I’d end up embarrassed, but... in some ways, this had actually gone pretty well. I wasn’t sure if I’d call it a success, but at least it wasn’t a disaster.

I was thinking of wrapping up the conversation and calling it a day when suddenly, Charlotte shot up from her seat.

"Let’s go to a café."

She looked at me with a determined expression.

"...Huh?"

"Right now."

Looking closer, I noticed that the corners of her eyes were damp.

...Had she actually cried after hearing my story?

That... hadn’t been my intention.

"I—I’ll go ahead and wait outside, so hurry up and get ready. Got it?"

Charlotte said hurriedly before turning on her heel and marching out of the room.

......

What was this situation?

If I followed them, I had the distinct feeling that, in a situation where I couldn’t rewind time, I would end up having to eat every kind of parfait in that café.

"Then, I’ll wait outside as well."

The next person to stand was Lena. She gave me a small smile before turning and leaving the room.

"...Sorry for telling you not to do it. So this is your true self, huh? If you’ve taken off your mask, then congratulations. I hope that one day, I can be like you too."

Then, Sophia patted my hand, said that, and followed after Lena.

"I was too caught up to say anything and just listened, but I think I understand the situation now. If you’d like, I can teach you how to make desserts. I’ll do my best to teach you properly."

Lottie spoke in a very polite voice before leaving the room as well.

"There are plenty of cafés in the capital. I’m sure there are other good ones, too. When we have time, let’s go explore and find them together. I like sweet desserts as well."

Mia spoke with a strangely serious expression before exiting.

"......."

All of this had happened in quick succession before I could even say a word, leaving me somewhat dazed.

"If it was going to turn out like this, you should’ve just told us from the beginning."

Claire grumbled under her breath.

"Yeah, seriously. Why couldn’t you have just been like this from the start?"

Alice narrowed her eyes at me as she spoke.

"...I had my own reasons."

Hearing my response, Alice stared at me for a while before finally letting out a deep sigh.

"Well, fine. I won’t argue with that. Thanks to it, I can be comfortable around you now too."

"Same here. Whether you speak casually or formally, you’re still my sister."

Claire smiled as she said this, then suddenly added,

"But, sister, do you realize that you just spoke formally while explaining all that?"

"Ah."

Did I?

I had spoken that way for so long that it must have slipped out naturally. Whenever I was explaining or defending myself, I had always used formal speech.

And given the atmosphere of this conversation, it had probably just come out that way.

"Well, it’s fine. It’s not like it’s wrong or anything. You are trying to fix it. Hmm, actually, that’s very you. You seem perfect, but you always have these little gaps—that makes you human."

"Honestly, even that ‘perfection’ is just layers of imperfection stacked on top of each other, like painting over a blank canvas."

Alice added from the side.

"...Are you making fun of me or complimenting me?"

Maybe she was just trying to make me feel embarrassed. If so, it was working—I was embarrassed.

"Look, now that you’re out of tricks, your real self is showing."

Alice burst into laughter.

"But that’s what makes you Sylvia."

"You didn’t know this until now."

I muttered in protest, but Alice just shrugged.

"Let’s go. The others are waiting."

"...If I go out there, I’ll be dragged straight to the café and forced to eat desserts until I’m stuffed."

Especially since Charlotte seemed completely serious about it.

"That’s why you shouldn’t have said something like that. Saying you love sweets because you grew up starving—of course, people are going to want to feed you."

"Don’t worry too much. I’ll help you out."

That café probably had a "one set per person" policy. I could just order coffee, but...

"...Let’s go find Leo and Jake first."

If it really came down to it, I’d have Leo help me.

I’d been a good older sister for so long—just for today, maybe I could be a bad one.

Alice and Claire must have seen right through me, because they both burst into laughter.