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“Hello, sisters~!”

A limousine stopped in front of the mansion, and Esther got out of the back seat smiling brightly as she waved at us.

“Welcome, come in.”

Holding my thigh which still stung from Katalina’s pinching, I greeted Esther while trying not to expose the pain I was actually feeling through my expression.

“Welcome!”

The annoyed expression Katalina had on just moments ago was gone and was replaced with a bright smile, as she greeted Esther.

I inwardly yelled, ‘you sly fox’ at her.

“Hehe. Thank you for taking in a poor refugee who had no place to go to, your highness~”

Walking elegantly, Esther gave a playful smile as she came to me and gave me a courtesy greeting by bowing while holding the hem of her skirt and bending her knee slightly.

“No problem at all, my lady.”

Hearing her playful greeting, I also replied in a way that a knight would greet a lady by holding one of her hands and giving it a kiss on the back.

“You’re pushing it.”

As Katalina responded with annoyance to what I did, I turned and did the exact same thing to Katalina, giving the back of her hand a kiss.

“Hmph!” Katalina turned around in a huff, but it still looked like she enjoyed it.

“Now now, the night is cold so let’s all go in.”

So I held the hands of the two ladies and went inside the mansion with them.

“Oh my, your highness. Who is this person?”

It was late at night but due to the guest who had just arrived, the servants were all busy in preparation for her. During all that, Sara saw me and the newly arrived guest and came to us.

“Ah, this lady is the second daughter of Marquess Chester.”
“Oh my, Lady Esther, please forgive my rudeness.”
“It is fine. I’m the one who should apologize for coming in so late at night.”

And so they apologized and got to know each other. After having some conversations, I put in a request to Sara.

“Sara, could you guide Lady Esther to the best quality room that we have?”
“Of course, your highness. Lady Esther, please follow me.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll see you later sis.”
“All right.”

I watched Sara and Esther go off for a moment before I grabbed the attention of a servant that was passing by and spoke to him.

“Excuse me.”
“Ah! Your highness. What do you need?”
“I was just wondering, what was in that van that was with Lady Esther’s vehicle when she arrived?”

That’s right. Not only was there Esther’s limousine but there were actually two extra vans that had followed behind her. I felt it was a little awkward to directly ask her what was in the vans.

“Ah! We are not sure about the details, but we’ve heard that they contained Lady Esther’s personal luggage and goods.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem at all, your highness.”

The servant bowed before moving on to where he needed to go. However, two whole vans for just her own stuff, huh.

“Fufu… was this the reason why she had called herself a refugee?”

She was definitely not staying just for a day or two here.

“Hmph! Esther probably assumes that you’ll give her permission to stay longer. I may not know her too well but she’s quick to notice the mood of people after all.”
“Is that so?”

That I actually didn’t know. To think that Esther who had always been on the short end of the stick for things would have been deemed someone who’s quick to notice the mood of situations by Katalina…

Perhaps I’ve been underestimating Esther this whole time? I think that the probability of that being true was high. It was obvious that Katalina who had spent many years with her would know a lot more things about her than me who had only a month of memory.

“You really think that a guild leader who created and managed a guild all the way to becoming one of the top major guilds was just because she was a high ranked user and had some money?”
“Yeah.”

Since I had felt that way, I answered her truthfully.

“…”

As she had been aiming for me to say ‘of course not’, Katalina heard my answer and glared at me with tightly closed lips.

“… I mean, yeah, I don’t think so.”

Not only does she willingly use violence and threats on me, she now even stops me from saying anything I want.

“In any case, since the first moment she created the guild, she has been able to prevent it from being ruined. Now being recognized as one of around a dozen guilds that were able to stand on their own shows just how talented she is in playing the game. And did you really think that it was just your relationship as her friend that she decided to join our cause?”

Instead of saying no, I decided just to shake my head.

“That’s right. She saw and understood who you are, which led her to join the alliance.
Because of your skills and background.”

Was that the truth? I didn’t really know. The reason I shook my head wasn’t me saying ‘of course not’ but rather because I didn’t know why at all.

But after hearing what Katalina said, I remembered that I sometimes see in Esther’s eyes a similar yet slightly different gleam to what Katalina has, but I was definitely sure that it was kindness.

“Let’s say you’re right. So what are you trying to say?”

I gave a mischievous smile as I asked Katalina.

“… Do you really need me to say it?”
“You want me to look at only you and not her?”
“…”

It seemed like I hit the nail on the head since she kept her mouth shut and stared into my eyes. Then I let out a sigh.

“Sigh… it’s my fault. It’s always the one who falls in love with the person who suffers the most.”

I don’t think that’s the case though?

“Aren’t you misunderstanding something here? I have no romantic feelings towards Esther at all.”
“Can I really believe that lie of yours?”
“Ugh…”

Hearing Katalina’s peculiar tone, speaking as if she was saying ‘As if you don’t’, this time it was me that was speechless.

Katalina spoke in a particular tone of voice as if to tell me not to stop talking nonsense, this time it was me that was at a loss for words.

I tried to question myself. Do I really have not even a single tiny bit of interest in Esther? Really?

‘Why are you asking when you know the answer?’

The dark part inside of me answered.

“Of course, I will admit that I have the slightest bit of interest in her. But it’s not like I really do love her. And even if it’s true, do you think Esther would like me back?”

That’s right. Anyone would agree that people with homosexual preference are a minority. To be honest, you couldn’t say that Katalina was a true homosexual either. She simply loved me, and never showed any interest in any other women. I would even say that her romantic preference was pointed towards men instead. Though that’s a separate thing from like and love.

“You do have a point there with your excuse… but do you know the emotion that majority of people with homosexual preference experience for the first time?”

How would I know that?

“No.”
“It’s an emotion of longing. Though you can’t say that such emotion will always grow to turn into a feeling of love, but from my point of view, Esther definitely looks to be feeling that way for you.”

Is she just saying she understands that feeling since she is actually in love with me? It could also just be her assumption as well. Yeah, it’s not like her claim is certain anyways. But still, I couldn’t deny that she was right.

“I understand why you are worried, but it really isn’t that.”

I spoke with honesty in my voice.

“All right, I’ll believe in you but I’ve definitely told you, okay? That I never like being a secondary lover!¹”

Yeah, I definitely remembered that. I wanted to ask the same question like I did last time as well after all.

Esther’s luggage was quite numerous, and completely filled up a whole empty room. Because of that, the employees were all dead tired but I comforted them by giving them a rest day tomorrow.

Of course, I didn’t forget to tell the butler to give them some bonus the next day. Though the employees weren’t being paid for work outside of their duty, they still worked hard for me so I wanted to help them out a bit.

“I didn’t think you’d bring in your capsule as well.”
“Fufu, oh sis. Of course I would bring my capsule in these tense times. Oh yes, where did you leave your capsules?”
“Ah, in Ellie’s room. It’s the biggest room after all.”
“My capsule as well?”
“Yeah, I’ve told them to install your capsule in my room as well. Why, do you want me to move it back to your room again?”

Worried I may have made a mistake, I carefully asked Esther.

“Ah, not at all. I’m actually thankful that you did so. I always wanted to connect to the game together with you all.”
“It’s just connecting to the game in the same room, it’s not that big of a deal.”
“Even so. Do you not like connecting together with me, sis?”
“That’s not the case, but…”

Esther spoke with a voice that sounded slightly sad and depressed from Katalina’s cold reception. Because of that, Katalina’s expression turned to one of confusion and embarrassment.

I guess Katalina has a strong outer appearance, yet weak on the inside? And I felt that for Esther, the exact opposite was the case. I felt that Katalina’s assumption from before was actually correct.

In any case, it seemed like Esther had just finished taking a shower as her slightly wet skin and glossy red hair gave off a kind of enchanting look about her. Thinking that I may end up in danger of looking at her for too long, I turned my gaze back to Katalina just in time and spoke.

“Beer? Wine?”
“Beer!”

A cultured lady from a noble family’s household would always want to drink wine, but it seemed like in this household, there were no cultured ladies.

Honestly, while wine has a nice scent, it’s not like it has a particularly nice taste anyway. I felt that there was nothing better than beer when you’re drinking alcohol to enjoy it.

“But don’t you think we’ll get fatter if we drink in the middle of the night?”

Esther asked a sensitive question, to which I thought that we could end up getting fatter but I soon shook my head and answered.

“Haven’t you read on the news that just connecting to Blue Sky has a massive workout effect on your body? In my point of view, seeing as how you and Katalina still have prime body figures, I think it’s fine.”
“Really?”
“Is that true?”

Wait, are they asking because they will only believe if it’s me who said it? Or have they not seen the news? I kind of wanted the latter to be the truth in this case. There’s nothing more dangerous than blind belief in a mutual relationship after all.

“What do you want to drink then?”
“The same one as Ellie.”
“Then I’ll have the same as you, sis.”

Tsk, seems like I have to pick one out.

Anyway, I pulled out three bottles of beer that I usually enjoyed the most. Looking at the beer bottles, I remembered the incident of where I fell to her trick and it made a stinging pain in my heart for a moment.

Knowing that if I were to take my revenge on her she would definitely return it tenfold, I had half given up on taking my revenge against her. On top of that, we have Esther as a guest today after all.

Pop!

As the refreshing sound which felt like popping off a cork in my heart rang out, the lid of the beer bottle was opened.

“Here you are.”

I have to make sure to properly show who’s the priority here. I gave the opened beer bottle to Katalina first.

“Thanks, Ellie.”

Katalina smiled as she received the beer bottle from me, and soon I opened up another beer bottle and handed it over to Esther.

“Thank you, sis.”

She also smiled as she received her beer. As for me? None of them were thinking of opening one for me so I bitterly smiled to myself as I finished off opening the final bottle of beer by myself.

“Ahh! I was going to open one for you!”
“Me too!”

Then you should just do it instead of thinking it… is what I thought in my mind.

“Now then, shall we have a toast?”
“All right.”
“Okay!”
“Now then, let’s have a toast to Camelot, as well as all of us here.”

Agreeing with my decision, each of them lifted up their beer bottle and bumped our bottles together.

Clink!

A cry rang out at the same time as the sound of glass bottles clinked into each other.

“Cheers!!!”

And on that day, we kept drinking until all the beer in the fridge ran out. And because of that, the fact that we had to delay the beginning of unification from morning to afternoon that day was a secret only between the three of us.²

1. Robinxen: As long as she’s the first wife it’s all okay.
2. Robinxen: Weird people.