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“Oh my, I didn’t expect to see you here, esteemed daughter Katalina.”

The first one to respond was the other woman. As it was nearly impossible for me to assume the ages of western women correctly, I was thankful that in the English language; you don’t discriminate your words depending on the age of the person to easily identify who is older or younger.

“It’s been a while, Lady Stella.”

On the outside, they were simply greeting each other, but to me, it looked like they just had declared war. Besides that, calling her by the title ‘Lady’ means that she’s also someone from nobility or high title, and I was doubly certain since Katalina always uses more courteous words when talking with someone from a noble background.

“In any case, I wonder what had transpired you to bring you all the way here, to Harrods?”
“I don’t think you have any right to know that, Miss Stella.”
“Oh my, are you getting angry, Miss Katalina? Looks like your short temper is still the same.”
“Well, I still think it’s better than being an Artificial Human, if I ‌say so myself.¹”
“… Ugh.”

Artificial human, huh? Is Katalina saying that Stella had plastic surgery done to her? Well, even though the number of people who had plastic surgery is very little, I could still imagine that if what she said was true, Stella must have done a lot to her face in fixing everything to warrant that insult from Katalina.

“If you frown so much, you’ll damage the silicone inside your face, so please be careful. Hoho.”

Katalina covered her lips with her hand and laughed like a graceful lady, as if satisfied with her perfect counter. Stella’s face became even more crumpled hearing insults slung at her.

But then Stella suddenly fixed her face before making a wicked smile and opening her mouth.

“Oh dear, I didn’t think you would spit out such vile insults in a public space like this. You really are a vile woman, Miss Katalina.”
“I ‌wished for more people to hear about the truth that had already been spread far and wide, I had no intentions other than that, honestly.”
“So you say, hmm? Then I’m sure that the truth about you having an engagement with a homosexual partner that’s leaving a stain in the nobility world isn’t that much of a problem either.”
“…”

Katalina didn’t expect Stella to make such a comeback, and though she kept her cool enough to not be surprised by it, she still couldn’t help but frown slightly.

Even though same-sex marriage was legal by law, many people latch on to the gossip about it purely because such things differ from what ‘normal’ people do, which makes it practically as much controversial as having major plastic surgery done.

“Hoho. To think ‌the noble and esteemed daughter Katalina would ‌be homosexual, it truly brought despair to many young male suitors among the noble families. How about you realize the mistake ‌you’ve made and face the reality, esteemed daughter? It makes you look terribly immature.²”

I became worried since I saw Katalina’s body ‌shake in anger, and her face becoming bright red trying to repress the emotions boiling up inside. Stella looked smug and confident in her expression, completely opposite to how she looked a moment ago.

This is why fights between women are scary. Though there aren’t exchanges of fists and blows, their cutting sarcastic remarks are truly painful when you are the victim.

“I guess the distinguished family of Kent and your highly regarded Wimbledon family will be finished in this generation. Even if you spend years together, you won’t have a child‌. I’m sure you’ll have to end up picking some kid off the street to continue your line.”
“… Why you…”
“Why you? As the esteemed daughter of the duke, I ‌wish for you to uphold courtesy to others, esteemed Katalina. Besides that, I heard that once the esteemed Elizabeth who’s barely clutching onto her life in the hospital dies, you would inherit all of her wealth. Did you perhaps only make the engagement, hoping that would be the case?”

Katalina looked as if she was ready to explode. I decided that now would be the time to butt in.

“Please leave it there, Miss Stella.”
“Hmph, and who are you? I’ve never seen a woman like you among the esteemed daughters of noble families. How dare a peasant like you try to butt into a matter between nobles like this.”

Amusing. She was still going on about the difference in class and title even though it’s the modern age, and the way she talked differed completely from how she was desperate to keep everything formal just a moment ago.

“Ah, it looks like I was late in my introductions, Lady Stella. I guess I would be the person ‌you were talking about, barely clutching onto their life at the hospital.”
“Y… You…!? No way…!”

Her domineering expression disappeared immediately as her pupils shook with surprise and fear.

“Elizabeth Kent. I am the official heiress of the Kent family, the one ‌you were so worried about having their lineage cut.”
“Ahh…”

Perhaps she realized the terrible situation she had put herself in, as despair rang out from her voice³.

It would be silly to just stand there and keep silent when your family name is being insulted, and even if that wasn’t the case, ‌that one of the most precious people to me was being directly insulted had driven me to take action.

“P… Please forgive my rudeness.”
“Being uninformed is not a crime.”
“Ah! Are you saying you’re going to forgive me then?”

She immediately brightened up. Sorry, but you always have to hear what someone has to say right to the end.

“But you must pay for the insults you’ve thrown at our family names, is that not right?”
“Please, forgive…”

Hearing the cold tone in my voice, she desperately pleaded.

I then had a thought at that moment. How do I do it so ‌I give an adequate punishment to her? And would that really be enough for us? But it was difficult for me to figure it out, since I had no idea about how it’s done within the system of noble families.

In the end…

“You will definitely pay for the insults you’ve thrown at us‌, esteemed daughter Stella.”
“I apologize.”
“Could you please get out of our sight now?”

I pushed the punishment into the future and sent her away with a glare. Seeing her skitter away like a scared mouse without even knowing whether to give a proper goodbye amused me a bit.

The employees and customers ‌were in shock, all immediately turned away their heads when I glanced at them.

“I hope that you all will forget everything you’ve seen and heard just then. If rumors are to spread about anything that happened here, I guarantee that I will make your life very, very peaceful right away.”

My voice came out so chillingly cold that it even surprised me, and everyone present nodded repeatedly.

However, that was still not enough.

“And this is my gratitude for doing so.”

I bought several diamonds that looked expensive. I then shared them among the people. They looked bewildered by my action, but I could clearly tell that they were excited about the free wealth they received.

They probably wouldn’t speak out loud about it since I’ve given them diamonds. I thought for a moment that it was a bit too excessive, but for me, it was nothing but spending a little leftover change.

“Ellie…”

It looked like she had finally calmed down somewhat, as Katalina walked towards me with tears in her eyes.

“Are you doing better now?”

Instead of answering, Katalina came into my embrace. It was so surprising that I was confused, but I didn’t push her away. People naturally read the mood of the situation and went away. The bodyguards did their best to look in our direction, as they made sure that no one from the surrounding can come close.

I lightly patted her back. I got the feeling that the front of my clothing was slowly getting wet. Is she crying?

For me, I wasn’t able to understand what her tears meant. Upset about not being able to fight back? Thankful for protecting her? Many questions went through my mind, but they were all assumptions ‌I had no concrete proof of it being true.

The only thing I could do was for her to calm down soon and stop making my clothes wet.

‘Ugh… She’s going to make my underwear wet at this rate!⁴‘

I wasn’t sure how long we stood there like that. Katalina’s shoulders that were repeatedly shaking up and down as she sobbed slowed down until she fully stopped.

And after some time had passed, even after that, Katalina finally raised her head.

Katalina’s makeup was already smudged in several places due to her tears, and the front of my clothes was covered in tears and makeup‌.

“Hehe. Sorry, I ruined your clothing because of my tears. I look terrible right now, don’t I?”

She definitely looked terrible. But her makeup was pretty light, and it ‌had some charm to it being smudged. Even though ‌she looked pretty crazy right now.

“No, you don’t, you’re still beautiful even now.”
“Lies.”

I was speaking honestly, but she wasn’t believing in me at all. But even still, she gave a faint smile as if she was still thankful for my words.

“If you laugh after crying…”
“Hm?”
“Ah, nothing…”

I almost slipped out a vulgar popular phrase that I used to say often when I was young, where it goes ‘If you laugh after crying, you’ll grow hair on your bum’, which was a way of making a light-hearted joke to brighten up the mood. I let out a sigh of relief in my mind since I could stop myself from letting it slip out. Katalina suspected me with a curious expression, wanting to know what I was going to say and repeatedly asked what it was, but I knew that it would cause a major problem if I were to, so I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

“Not telling me, ‌you’re so mean.”

She pouted her lips outwards. It looks like she has completely calmed down now.

“Hmm. For that, shall I buy you a present?”

As the location was suitable for doing such a thing, I thought it would be good to buy her some nice presents to keep the mood bright as we head home after this.

“But Ellie, you used a lot of your money buying diamonds for them. I’m fine. It’s enough that you were so thoughtful to me.”
“If that’s the case…”

I can’t keep pressuring her if she doesn’t want it. And so I turned around and…

“Huh?”

Katalina became very flustered. Hehe. I knew she’d be like that.

“What’s wrong? We should go home now.”
“Ngh…”

It seemed like my cunning act was working properly on her, since Katalina’s expression changed as if she was ready to cry again. This is pretty amusing.

We arrived at the escalator. I’ve told Katalina to go to the car in the parking lot first and that I will be there after visiting the toilet.

Katalina insisted on coming with me, but I argued that I’m no longer a child or anything so there wouldn’t be any need to go together, which she finally gave up and let me go alone.

After checking that she took the elevator and went down as I peeked from the corner of the wall far away, I quickly went towards the jewelry store once again.

“Oh my, you’re here again!”

Seeing me come in again, the employee greeted me with joy and excitement. As she was quick with her thinking, she probably already knew what I came back here for, since she produced beautiful large diamonds all ready for me to look at before I could even open my mouth.

“These are original diamonds that don’t even come close to being compared to the ‘Hope Diamond’ out there.”

Hope? Original? I thought ‌diamonds are always just diamonds, but then I was hit with a serious shock by the truth. Are they saying that there’s a tier thing between diamonds similar to the 14k, 18k golds? On top of that, the fact that there were diamonds of various colors like blue and yellow on top of completely clear ones blew my mind‌. They didn’t like, color it with paint or anything, right?

“It really is stunningly beautiful.”
“Yes, it is. Only the diamonds that are rated ‘Excellent’, ‘FL’, ‘D’ and ‘100 Carat’ on the 4Cs⁵ are put into these accessories, so I’m sure you’ll be satisfied with the quality.”

My mind spun with the enormous amount of specific terminology that I didn’t know about. What does the ‘4C’ thing mean⁶? I was curious, but I didn’t have the courage to ask. They say that if you don’t know, picking the most expensive one is usually the right thing to do, right?

Although I rarely trust that phrase, I felt that I should believe in it this time.

As I thought ‌diamonds should definitely be crystal clear with no dominating color, I decided not to choose any that has any strong shade of color.

The only terminology I knew about diamonds was ‘carats’. It indicated the size of the diamond, and since she had said that it was 100 carat, I thought it would be quite big, but it wasn’t as big as I thought.

There were rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings, but it seemed to me that choosing the necklace would be the best. The one I chose ‌is a diamond shaped like a tilted crescent moon. The diamond forming a helix shape around its frame looked quite beautiful.

“I’ll take this one.”

The employee repeatedly praised the choice I made with sweet words as she pulled out the necklace I pointed at. Trying my best to not look at the price tag as it was paid through the card, I said that I require a certificate of authenticity, which I received and hurriedly went to take the elevator. It all took quite a long time for just a quick toilet break.

Arriving at the parking lot in a hurry, I received guidance from the clerk to the location where my car was parked.

“You’re late!”

I saw Katalina repeatedly checking her watch from afar, and when I came close, she spoke with a slight frown on her face.

“Sorry, sorry.”
“It’s fine. What was it, was your stomach hurting?”

It was another way of asking if I had to take a number two.

Several bodyguards that didn’t follow me back at the shopping department cracked a smile. It was hard to tell whether Katalina was intentionally saying such embarrassing things, but it definitely seemed like she was just worried about me. But still! Make sure to only ask that kind of question when it’s just two of us together! If I really had a stomachache, it would have been a very embarrassing situation.

I felt a little devilish and thought about not giving her the necklace, but then decided that I might as well since I bought it for her as a present for her after all.

“Come over here for a moment.”

I grabbed Katalina’s hand and pulled her as we both went into my car.

Katalina was going ‘Huh…?’, confused at what I was trying to do, as she came into my car and stared at me with confusion on her face. Her expression then turned into one of half worry and half anticipation as she stared at me.

Goodness… I tried to move fast before the mood between us got any weirder and pulled out the necklace from my pocket and wrapped it around Katalina’s neck.

“Huh!?”
“Do you like it?”

Katalina couldn’t answer my question for a moment as she was stunned, but then she gave a glowing smile back at me.

“It’s really beautiful. So you said you were going to the toilet just to buy this for me?”
“Yep, well, you’re right.”

I scratched my cheek as I felt slightly embarrassed.

“Thank you, so much!”

And this time, I was the one who became confused, as Katalina’s lips were suddenly pressed onto mine.

“Mph!”

The sudden kiss surprised me, but the sweet sensation made me lose my strength and made me not able to do anything but to enjoy the moment.

Huh…? Wait, that’s a little too far, she’s trying to push her tongue in⁷!! I spent some time trying my best to defend myself from Katalina’s ‘attack’ where she tried to turn it into a deep kiss. Finally, Katalina pulled away her lips with a pouty expression.

“Tsk! I was aiming to make your first kiss into a deep kiss, you know… You’re so mean, Ellie!”

So you really were trying to make my first kiss into a deep kiss!?

Author’s Note

Looks like Katalina got her. -_-;;;
In any case, this Act will end here… From the next one forwards, I will cautiously promise that there will be more about the video game rather than daily life occurrences… (As if…)⁸

1. Robinxen: Do people say this?
2. Robinxen: Lolwut?
3. Robinxen: I am satisfied
4. Robinxen: Pffffff
5. Silva: FL? D? 4Cs? Speak English please
   ok, I looked up the terms, FL is Flawless, D is the highest or rarest and most expensive diamond color.
6. Silva: The four Cs are the carat, cut, clarity, and color of a diamond and are used to determine its value.
7. Robinxen: I support this motion!
8. Robinxen: Author-san?