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In short, she’s likely observing how I’d react to her exposition. If I respond with a perceptive comment, it’ll only fuel her suspicions, so I’ll steer the conversation elsewhere.

「Aren’t you speaking as though I’m a noble?」

I said with a light chuckle, and Princess Leshimiiya’s eyes widen in surprise.
However, she quickly composed herself and gave an artificial-looking smile.

「There is no one else here with courtesy and etiquette refined enough to meet even the First Academy’s standards, after all.
Even when you have talent, there are few opportunities to display it fully.」
「I see. It seems there’s no point hiding it then. In other words, I was chosen as your partner because I’m not a noble of this country, yet I am relatively capable when it comes to dancing.」
「Yes, on a surface level.」

I had hoped we would continue with just “surface-level” conversations, but things seldom go so well in your favor.
As royalty, she’s likely trying to discern why some unknown noble would choose to enroll in the academy in secret. To her, it’s implausible for there to be no reason behind it.
After all, there’s normally no reason to attend while incognito, and those that do tend to inform Ausente’s nobles or the royal family in advance.

However, she seems willing to have a direct conversation this time, which is somewhat of a relief. Perhaps she underestimated me based on my earlier comment? If so, I’d be glad.

「What do you mean by ‘on a surface level’?」
「Allow me to be direct. Miss Ailneige, who exactly are you?」
「I’m merely the adopted child of a nameless family.」

The phrasing is awful, but I didn’t say a lie.
Mother Fii has no family name; to her sensibilities, ours is simply one among many families in the world. Social status is something arbitrarily decided by mortals, so she just regards royalty, nobles, and commoners equally.

「Why do you wish to enroll in this academy? With your status, you must have already received education beyond what the academy offers.」
「You’re overselling me. I merely had the opportunity to learn courtesy and etiquette.
Besides, there are things one can only learn in an academy. And Ausente’s academy is particularly renowned. I’m looking forward to learning here.」
「… As a princess of Ausente, I am pleased to hear that.」

The princess fell silent with a contemplative look, but I wonder what’s going on in her head right now.
It would be nice if her brain short circuited then and there, but the princess seemingly collected herself and stared at me.

「Then, Lady Ailneige, are you familiar with the black-haired girl wearing a dragon mask?」
「Who might that be?」
「No, it you don’t know, please forget I mentioned it.」

I was caught off guard that she brought up the masked girl—Ainsel—but it seems she hasn’t realized that Ailneige and Ainsel are the same person.
Still, it’s troubling that she even made the connection. As far as I know, I shouldn’t have been left any evidence linking Ain to Ail.

Organizing the situation so far, Princess Leshimiiya has suspicions that Ailneige may have some connection to the masked girl and might possibly be Mother Fii’s adopted daughter. That should be the current assumption to take.

Regarding the former, while there is no concrete evidence, she did examine my eye and hair color when we met, so it’s wiser to assume suspicion.
As for her serious expression earlier, it might be because my features match Fiiyanamia’s adopted daughter—Cielmer—while my speech and demeanor do not align with her expectation of that identity, which probably confused her. I can only hope that she concludes that Ailneige and Cielmer are different people from that.

I am curious about how she managed to connect Ail to Ain, but in hindsight, I can think of one possibility. If I remember correctly, when I met the princess while wearing the mask, the red-haired noble girl whispered something to her.

『Do you have any idea how she recognized you, Ain?』
『When we first met Princess Leshimiiya, wasn’t there a red-haired noble girl with her?』
『There was. Didn’t she take the exam in the same room as us?』
『That she did. I suspect she might have an appraisal-type Job. If not, then I must have made a mistake without realizing it.』
『If that’s the case, it’s the appraisal-type Job. After all, Ain would never make that kind of mistake.』
『I’m glad that you believe in me, but we can’t rule out the possibility that I slipped up, you know?』

Ciel’s trust makes me happy, and I fully intend to protect her no matter what, but I wish she’d acknowledge that I can make mistakes too. While I’m confident that I didn’t miss anything, but it’s impossible to be absolutely certain.
To my words, Ciel giggled and replied, ‘I know.’

『But if we start doubting whether you failed or not, there would be no end to it. Most importantly, you’ve never once cut corners or let up your focus when it comes to protecting me.
Besides, it doesn’t hurt to consider the possibility that they have someone with an appraisal-type Job, does it?』
『That’s true, but there’s nothing more I can currently do against appraisal.』

What Ciel said is correct; I always give everything I have when it comes to protecting her, but hearing her say it so directly makes me a little embarrassed, so I quickly returned to the topic.

『Honestly, I think there are very few people with better countermeasures against appraisal than you, Ain. If that’s the case, we just have to accept the situation as it is, don’t we?』
『Well… That’s…』
『Ain, blaming yourself for things beyond your control is one of your bad habits, you know?
I do find that part of you precious, but it makes me worry.』

Admonished by Ciel, I replied『Thank you very much.』I don’t know why, but I just had the urge to say so.
I didn’t know what to say in this situation, but I still felt the need to respond to her concern somehow.
To that, Ciel answered cheerfully, 『Ain, you’re adorable.』 Ciel is really unfair.

Still, she’s right. It’s difficult to create countermeasures against appraisal beyond interference. After all, only those with appraisal-type Jobs understand—if they even fully understand—how to perceive and interpret the results of appraisal.
If I wanted to feed false information, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.
Besides, there are supposedly very few people even capable of appraisal interference.

If I couldn’t block it, they would have already confirmed that Ailneige and Ainsel are the same person and possibly noticed the switching between Ciel and me.
So in that sense, this isn’t the worst-case scenario. I’ve done everything I could, haven’t I? Then it should be good enough.

While Princess Leshimiiya remained deep in thought, I had this delightful yet slightly embarrassing conversation with Ciel. But before long, she snapped back to attention and called out once again.

And that ends this chapter! We are blessed with some adorable AinCiel in between our princess x ‘princess’ action!

I believe I’ve mentioned it before (maybe not) but I love how Ciel doesn’t really put Ain on a high pedestal, despite her usual praises. This builds from how she got ‘disillusioned’ with her idea of Ain as some perfect guardian after their first battle, where Ain showed vulnerability and Ciel had to step up. She isn’t ignoring Ain’s flaws, she loves Ain ‘despite’ her flaws, and that’s how love is. And I think ‘flaws’ are one thing lacking in many characters these days. Not just flaws, but ‘recognition of flaws’. Some characters may have flaws, but the story world itself seems to ignore it. When dealing with overpowered characters, I believe exploring character flaws are one way of keeping it from being stale. In short, character development. Just character development. In this story, Ain and Ciel’s flaws are consistently pointed out. And while they are now in a position where they can just bulldoze through everything, I like how there is a “want” for Ciel to learn more about the world and people (despite Ain and Mia pampering Ciel a bit on that regard). But that’s just me reading too much into it as always.

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay healthy, stay safe, and have a nice day~!

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