人与ZO〇交

TL: I hope you readers in America had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Happy reading everyone~!

The news arrived a week before the Royal Ball.

I was summoned to the reception room and headed there with Leon.

When I knocked on the door, I heard my father\'s voice urging me to enter.

"Father, you wanted to see me?"

My mother and brother had also been summoned to the reception room.

As I sat down next to my brother, my father placed a letter on the table.

The room had been cleared of people by then. With the exception of Marie, who was standing near the door.

"This is an invitation to the Royal Ball."

"What about it?"

The invitations to my parents and brother should have arrived a long time ago.

"The invitation is for Rio."

"Wait a minute! But Rio hasn\'t made her debut yet!"

My brother reacted before I could.

Judging from his reaction, it seems that my brother didn\'t know about the invitation.

"Because of its content, your father was the first to check the invitation. Rio, take a look at the invitation."

I picked up the invitation and turned it over. It was indeed the coat of arms of the royal family of Findalia stamped on the wax seal.

The seal was already broken by my father, so I took out the contents.

Upon opening the fine paper, I found that my name was indeed written on it, along with an invitation to attend the Royal Ball.

My hand trembled slightly as I held the invitation, and my heartbeat quickened.

"Why? It’s still before my social debut."

I could barely utter aloud.

"Actually, there was another message. It seems that Her Royal Highness Princess Christina will also participate. That\'s why it seems that she would like Rio to accompany her."

Alarm bells were ringing in my head.

The children of the aristocracy do not make their official appearance until they are fifteen years old when they make their debut in society. Before that, they only hold informal tea parties, but they don\'t appear on official occasions.

Chris is the princess, so there is no set age for her debut in society. However, as is customary up to now, the age of fifteen has been set.

It was the same for the Crown Prince. Since there is no set age for his debut, he will make his debut in the social world this year.

In the past, there was a king who ascended to the throne at the age of twelve, but that was an exception. The current King is still alive and in good health, so there is no need for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to be the regent.

"It\'s okay if you refuse. You can make up as many reasons as you like to be absent."

Mother was concerned about me, but I shook my head.

I have a bad feeling about this. But I can\'t face the challenges to come if I run away here.

"I’ll go!"

"Are you sure, Rio?"

Leon stared at me intently. I nod. He exhaled.

"As I recall, nobles are allowed to have a knight escort them, right?"

Leon asks Father.

"Yes, but there is a limit to the number of people you can take with you."

"I will accompany Rio as her escort knight."

Leon, as an escort knight?

"Leon, do you know how to wield a sword?"

If you want to be an escort knight, you have to carry a sword.

"It\'s just a passing interest, but it\'s good enough. Lend me Sieg’s sword. You can use it in case of emergency, right?"

This means that in case of emergency, my brother will be ready to receive the sword from Leon.

"I feel relieved that Leon-sama will be with Rio, but is that alright?"

Father slowly asked Leon.

"Leave it to me."

Leon was lounging around in his cat attire, but it was crazy to see him looking so awkward.

I went back to my room and prepared for tomorrow\'s class.

"I never knew Leon can handle a sword. I\'ve never seen you wield one."

"Did you know that the Marquis Grandeur defended the border during the war period?"

I nod. Of course, I know it because I learned a lot about the history of our family while researching Marion-san.

"Marion was a female marquis and trained in sword fighting. That\'s when I was assigned to accompany her."

Two hundred years ago, I was Marion. I know this in my head, but when Leon mentions her name, I still feel a slight pang in my chest.

"So Marion-san was able to use a sword. Her diary said that she didn\'t like to fight, so I didn\'t expect her to wield a weapon."

"She said that she hated fighting, but that she had to pick up a sword to protect her people."

I listened to Leon as I prepared.

"I willingly took up sword fighting, though, didn\'t I?"

I sarcastically replied, comparing myself to Marion-san.

Leon chuckled.

"Just because you have the same soul as Marion, doesn\'t mean you have to follow the same path as her. Rio can follow any path she likes. I will accompany you on your path."

It was as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. I hugged Leon and fluffed him up.

“Truly. Leon, will you always stay by my side?"

"Of course, I promised to be with you forever."

After all, Leon\'s fluffiness was soothing.

The day after I received the invitation, I talked with Chris at the academy about the Royal Ball.

"I see. Rio was invited to the Royal Ball, huh?"

Chris crossed her arms and mulled it over.

"\'Chris hasn\'t been told anything about it?"

"\'Only that Father asked me to invite Rio to attend the Royal Ball so that he could talk to you."

I\'m not sure if it\'s the king\'s suggestion or not. I\'ve been thinking about it in an unpleasant way, but are my fears unfounded?

“I\'ve made up my mind to attend the Royal Ball. But I have a problem. There\'s only one week left, so I won\'t be able to make my dress in time.”

The dress I made for Tria and my brother\'s engagement ceremony still hasn’t arrived.

My mother has been looking for a place to tailor my dress for the royal ball, but she can\'t seem to find one. It\'s no wonder. There is no way they can make a dress in a week.

"Then how about altering a ready-made dress from the Sandorion?"

That might be a good idea. The dresses at Sandorion are beautiful even if they are ready-made. A week would be enough for a resizing.

On the way home that day, we decided to make a detour to Sandorion.

Chris also came with me.

I\'d already given Laura a heads-up. Thanks to the fact that I had told her the approximate time, she was waiting for me in front of the store.

"Welcome. I\'ve heard about it from the Marquess de Grandeur. I have just the thing for you."

Did Mother tell Laura about the dress?

We were ushered into a room upstairs, and a few moments later Laura came in with two dresses.

Both dresses didn\'t look ready-made.

"These dresses?"

\'When Rio came to order the dress, Marie and I had a design discrepancy. So we decided to see which one would look better on Rio."

I didn\'t know that Laura and Marie were having such a contest. When I think about it, I remember that it took them an absurd amount of time to do the preliminary stitching.

"Now, which dress do you prefer, Rio?"

"There\'s no need to rush, Laura-sama."

Marie appeared from my shadow. I was very surprised.

“Tsk! That reminds me, Marie can use shadow-walking."

Laura clucked her tongue.

Marie had a dark smile on her face.

"I will be there if milady is in danger."

It\'s not a crisis right now, but .......

"Let\'s keep it black and white, shall we?"

"As you wish."

I can see the flames behind Laura and Marie.

"Rio, choose."

"I dare not tell you which dress is my design, milady. But I have known you a long time. You should know which one is my design, right?"

I felt a tremendous amount of pressure.

One is a blue gradient princess line dress with a large flower corsage at the waist, and the other is a moss green dress with a princess line back bow.

Both dresses were stunning.

"Let me guess, you were split between the flower corsage or the back bow?"

Chris observed the dresses and murmured.

"I couldn\'t possibly choose, they\'re both so beautiful. But you\'re right. The flower corsage on the back bow would be a nice, discreet detail, don\'t you think?"

Laura and Marie looked at each other in surprise.

"That\'s a brilliant idea!"

"As expected of milady, ・・・・・! You\'re a genius!"

"I\'m going to alter the dresses right away! It will be completed in three days."

I called out to Laura, who was leaving the room in a hurry.

"I will buy both of them, so can you make the same design?"

Different colors will give different impressions even with the same design.

"I will help too."

Marie followed Laura and left the room.

"Thank you, Chris. Thanks to you, I got a flash of inspiration for the idea."

"You immediately took both of their opinions into account. Nice work, Rio. By the way, did you recognize the dress?"

This was just my own speculation, but I figured that the dress with the flower corsage was Laura and the dress with the back bow was Marie.

When I told Chris that, she looked at me strangely.

"Why did you think so?"

“Recently, Marie has been fond of the phrase \'a long sash that flutters in the wind\' from The Ninja Law Records . I\'m guessing that\'s how she came up with the back ribbon.”

"I\'m convinced. We’ve known each other for a long time."

Marie and I grew up together like real sisters and I have a pretty good idea of what she likes.

"You never know what a woman is thinking."

Leon hmmed and wondered.

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