I Will Quit the Entourage of the Villainess

Chapter 84 – Second Arc: Third Chapter

“I didn’t expect her to like sweet potatoes this much…” I said, still in disbelief… To swear allegiance over some sweet potatoes? I just can’t understand it at all.

“Well, the Douglas family is of a knight lineage, so it’s understandable. I thought this custom was dead by now, but I guess some families still stick to it.” Sisie replied while removing the dust from her dress.

“What do you mean with dead custom…?” I asked her.

She opened her eyes wide at my question… What? Did I say something strange? “The old custom of asking for something of someone who has a higher standing of you. By receiving a symbolic gift, you offer your loyalty to the one who is above you… What do you think she was asking you?” Sisie explained.

“Eh? She didn’t just want to eat sweet potatoes?!” I asked her.

Sisie stared angrily at me, “Lady Priscilla asked, ‘Lady Cosette, would you please give me something that is yours?’ did you not hear it?” Sisie asked.

Scary… Sisie seems to be getting angrier with each passing second, but… I don’t remember hearing that at all.

“I… I didn’t hear it.” I confessed while cold sweat poured down my back.

Sisie sighed so heavily, that it felt as if her soul was about to come out from her mouth, “I knew it… You were in a daze again, weren’t you?”

“Yes…” I couldn’t deny it. I couldn’t even raise my face to look at Sisie.

Sisie sighed once more, “Well, not much can be done now that she already offered you her loyalty, as it would be absurdly rude to take back your words at this point… However, neither of you are knights, and you most likely won’t get caught up in anything dangerous, so it’s probably fine to just think of her as a friend.”

“I certainly won’t do anything as dangerous as what knights do…” I replied.

Yeah… Sisie is right. Let’s look at the positive side of this loyalty offer and think of her as a friend.

“That said, keep this experience in mind and don’t go entering a daze while in the middle of a conversation anymore. While I doubt there are many nobles who still follow old customs like this one, you ought to make sure you don’t make any mistakes like you did just now, where you replied thoughtlessly to her question. Do you have any idea of what this kind of behavior can do to you? What if you had been insulting to the other party and…” Sisie then started scolding me.

“Yes… I’m sorry…” I couldn’t say much more than this, since she was right.

From the scolding though, I also ended up learning that this custom that miss Priscilla followed is over 300 years old… Nowadays it seems to only be used when a king directly appoints a knight though, so it seems like I was really unlucky.

But then, after who knows how much scolding, when Sisie stopped for a second to catch her breath, I felt a hand tap my shoulder.

“Yes?” I asked while turning around… And then I saw a large amount of students lined up behind me, “Huh!?”

“Lady Cosette, would you please give me something that is yours!?” One of them said.

“To me too! I want to serve the next queen!” Another one said.

“No way! I’ll be the first to become her vassal!” A third one said.

“I pledge my allegiance to the future queen!” A fourth one said.

Each of those ladies seemed to be desperately wishing to receive my sweet potatoes… “N-no! I don’t need anyone’s loyalty! And I’m not the next queen!” I told them.

Why did this have to happen!? I wanted to distribute the sweet potatoes here at school, but even though the perfect opportunity presented itself upon me, I have to refuse it with all my might!

Just as I started trying to deal with this dreadful situation, a small person jumped in and positioned herself between me and the other students, “You cannot force yourselves upon lady Cosette! Please make way and let her move!” Miss Priscilla exclaimed while holding the sweet potato that I gave her on her hand… She seemed to be so proudful at this moment, that it was almost as if this sweet potato was actually the Edelweiss family crest.

“Absurd!” One lady exclaimed.

“You can’t monopolize lady Cosette!” Another lady shouted while glaring at miss Priscilla.

“Calm down, everyone… You don’t really need to fight for my favor…” I tried telling them.

But then, miss Priscilla held the sweet potato high up in the skies, “No matter what any of you say, I was the first to pledge my loyalty to lady Cosette! This relic proves that she acknowledged my devotion to her!” She exclaimed.

… A relic? The sweet potato is a relic now?

“The first one was me though…” Sisie muttered.