The Villainess Will Not Bring Dishonor To Her Family

39 - Strengths and Weaknesses

I want sake!

After I arrived back at the castle the civilians ambushed me with flowers. I've been in war many times, but this has never happened before. No no, at best they bow or fall into dogeza in awe or appreciation to show their respect.

My view was actually nearly blocked just by the amount of flowers at one point. No no, I understand that you are grateful for the protection, but why are you tossing flowers at me?! No, I suppose it's because they're happy... but... is this tradition here?!

I nearly stopped riding just from momentary confusion. I believe the word for what happened in that moment is 'Culture Shock'. People here are... overwhelming in their affection... as these... public displays of affection were never part of my former life I am... not used to it... and neither was Lily. As such, neither of us appear to have immunity to their cheers and affectionate eyes... or the flowers. Especially the flowers. I just barely managed to send them back an expected smile as well, though I nearly solidified.

So, after somehow getting through giving my report to Eric he declared the following:

"A feast for victory!"

And everyone cheered. No, I did notice the civilians being quite well dressed... did they expect it? Eric... were you springing a surprise party on me with everyone else knowing about it?

As we made our way to the inner ring I found out my suspicions had been right. Long tables longer than anything I'd seen except in winter court at the clan kyuden... People bustled everywhere and the entire area buzzed with life. It became a party before we even sat down, with alcohol and fried... red... meat... vegetables, tiny sized potatoes and thankfully:  fish.

I haven't told you about this, but for... religious purposes I cannot eat red meat... Lily kind of has to though... Ah, but, since we live near Lumere we almost always get fish for dinner, but today appears to be an exception... as there's a calf... an actual roasted calf... Actually... it's not just the meat, it's also the wolf mantle. Fur has always been a no-go as well... but I can't say no, and Lily doesn't care at all either...

So... for all of these reasons I want alcohol.

"You can't, you're only 8," Eric denies me with a scowl as I reach for the wine barrel.

I nearly click my tongue at him.

"I can conquer a Fort but my lord still won't let me have a cup of wine." I say to the guard captain next to me with a smile, but he just laughs in return.

"You would probably faint with your body being as small as it is," he attempts to meditate between us.

I am already aware of that though, but I really need it to mitigate the feeling I'm sitting with right now. I mean, no matter when, there is always a pair of eyes on me, gazing at me with their intense and sincere admiration. I'm not used to getting this kind of attention, furthermore... all the men have been making weird looks at me and to each other for a while now!

It's clear they are planning something. Their playful looks are frazzling my nerves that were already wearing thin from bad sleep and the flower throwing from earlier. I am overwhelmed, I want to rest a bit.

By the way, you'd expect the heroine to be here, right? But apparently they'd left while I was still at Fort Brightstone. Well, it wasn't a surprise. Since Claire had gotten the protection of a light fairy she couldn't be ignored any further. Jacqueline likely took her daughter to the Baron she had her with. In the end the timing was pretty much the same in the story, however, Claire wouldn't be introduced to the public until she entered the academy. Well, she was incredibly valuable and the Baron wouldn't have enough power to protect her for all those years if people knew about her. It was likely something like that.