The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 119
EP.119 Memory (5)
Amazingly, the embarrassment came a beat too late.
At first, I hadn’t thought much of wearing a dress.
I had already donned a bunny girl outfit once—a costume that left almost my entire chest exposed. If you were to judge by sheer modesty, it was an outfit most people wouldn’t even consider wearing. So I thought wearing a dress—something people commonly wore—wouldn’t be particularly shameful.
It wasn’t like it revealed my chest, nor did it expose much of my shoulders. It was simply… a normal outfit one might expect from a noble lady.
Even the skirt was far longer than the one on my usual uniform. Naturally so. Frankly, given that the game had “beautiful girls” as one of its main selling points, the skirts on our uniforms were shorter than those in real life. Objectively speaking, there was no logical reason for me to feel embarrassed wearing this.
Even Alice, who saw me earlier in the morning, had only been slightly surprised and didn’t make a big deal out of it.
But I didn’t realize until after I left for breakfast.
Embarrassment, I discovered, wasn’t dictated by the “objective level of exposure” but rather by how people around me reacted to my outfit.
When I had worn the bunny girl outfit, Alice had been beside me, and though I had felt deeply self-conscious, Claire’s reaction had been one of sheer astonishment rather than judgment. Plus, there had been plenty of excuses I could use to justify it.
But this dress? I had chosen it myself, willingly.
And that fact seemed to be the focal point of everyone’s reactions.
“Wow!”
Claire, who had stared at me blankly for about three seconds, suddenly lit up. Her face brightened as she clasped her hands together, her eyes sparkling as she approached me.
“Big sister, it looks amazing on you!”
At the word “big sister,” I noticed the baroness standing nearby arch one eyebrow ever so slightly. However, she maintained her composure and approached with graceful poise.
“Your attire from yesterday suited you well, but this outfit is truly splendid.”
“Is that so?”
And those reactions felt… far more embarrassing than when Leo had blushed at the sight of me in the bunny girl costume.
Even Leo’s reaction wasn’t much different.
Normally, he would have gawked at me with his mouth hanging open, but whether it was because he was at his family home or because he felt closer to me after spending a semester together, he walked over with his trademark “protagonist’s smile” and said,
“It suits you really well.”
It was then that I realized something.
There was no “Sylvia Fangriffon” in the original game, but if this scene had existed in the source material, it would have undoubtedly been one of her affection events.
I could practically see an empty heart gauge below the name “Sylvia Fangriffon,” and imagined one of the hearts slowly filling halfway with a pink hue. The thought sent shivers down my spine.
“Really?”
But what else could I do? If I were to deny it outright, that would have been just as much of a cliché.
It was reassuring to know that my character seemed to resonate well with everyone, but that didn’t mean I wanted to feel like I was being “wooed.” No matter how long I had been living as a woman in this world—ten years, to be precise—my soul was still that of a man.
“I’m sure the kids will feel much more at ease around you now, big sister.”
Claire said, completely unaware of the thoughts running through my mind. Well, to be fair, nobody around here seemed to notice. The idea that this world was just the setting of a game probably never even crossed their minds… not that they’d even know what video games were in the first place.
Even if they did exist, it was unlikely they’d imagine such a thing.
“Is that so?”
Once again, all I could respond with was a simple “Is that so?” Alice, standing beside me, was staring intently at me. This was the same Alice who had given me an impassioned lecture earlier about achieving the “graceful shoulder line of a true lady.”
Alice’s expression didn’t reveal much, as usual, but for some reason, I felt as though there was a hint of satisfaction behind her gaze.
*
Daniel, however, still blushed slightly when facing me.
For a moment, I considered the possibility that Daniel might recognize me.
In my previous life, I had never entertained the thought of being anyone’s first love. The truth was, I wasn’t exactly good-looking enough to be anyone’s first crush.
But “Sylvia Black” was different.
While every child from that orphanage had grown up to look relatively decent, there weren’t many who had developed into someone you could definitively call a “beautiful girl,” like Claire or me. Most of them were simply too young at the time for such distinctions.
On top of that, I had been one of the few people at that orphanage—if you could even call it that—who had treated the children with kindness.
If anyone harbored feelings of admiration for me, it wouldn’t surprise me. After all, Claire had felt the same way.
“This way, please…”
After breakfast, the baroness had excused herself early. She had mentioned being busy, but I suspected it was partly to give me space to reconnect with the children.
“Everyone seems to be gathered here.”
Daniel said as I followed him.
“Ah, I see.”
I replied.
He nodded.
“Not all in the same room, of course, but those with similar duties tend to stay in similar areas.”
That made sense.
It wasn’t practical to house butlers and maids in the same quarters, let alone guards. Even though the barony wasn’t particularly vast, it wasn’t small enough to be managed by just two or three people. Given the need for round-the-clock surveillance, it made sense to employ a significant number of people. If all the children from the orphanage had been hired, most of them would have likely become guards.
Even considering that over half of the orphanage’s children were girls.
“This is the place.”
Daniel stopped in front of a building located a bit away from the main residence—a separate annex that I had noticed when we first arrived at the estate.
For a mere “lodging,” the building was remarkably well-constructed. If this was where the staff lived, it was clear that the Grace Barony provided excellent welfare for its employees.
Daniel opened the door and stepped inside, holding it open until we had all entered.
It felt somewhat awkward and uncomfortable to have a boy shorter than me perform such a gesture, but that was just how things were in this world. Even Claire, Leo, and Alice acted as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Once inside, the heat seemed to dissipate slightly. There appeared to be some kind of cooling system in place, whether powered by steam or magic.
The interior was surprisingly reminiscent of a hotel—not an overly luxurious one, but something akin to a quaint, old-fashioned inn you might find in the European countryside. However, the lobby counter was unstaffed.
“Each room houses two people,” Daniel explained. “The ones Her Highness wishes to meet are…”
He hesitated, his gaze shifting to Claire.
Claire beamed and nodded.
“The kids who used to stay with you and me.”
“Understood.”
Daniel glanced at me for confirmation.
“Then… I’ll bring them here,” he said.
I nodded in response.
*
After sitting on the lobby chairs for a few minutes, one or two children began to cautiously emerge.
Including me, Claire, and Daniel, there had been twelve of us who had escaped together back then.
The children who slowly made their way into the lobby didn’t seem much younger or older than Daniel. However, most of them were taller than him, regardless of whether they were boys or girls.
“Hi!”
“Sis!”
A girl with short, dark brown hair and an energetic demeanor waved at Claire. Her cheerful exclamation was cut short when she noticed the rest of us standing behind Claire. She quickly clammed up.
I see.
It seemed the children who had escaped together had lived as though they were siblings, depending on one another for survival.
When her gaze fell on Alice and me, she must have recognized us as nobles. The girl, who had been on the verge of running over, adjusted her steps into a more reserved pace as she approached us.
She curtsied politely, lightly holding the hem of her skirt.
“Greetings.”
“……”
I was too preoccupied trying to recall her name to respond to her greeting.
Before the girl could introduce herself, more children began emerging from the hallway.
Red hair, blonde hair, gray, blue… Now that I noticed, their hair colors were remarkably varied. Could it be that the old woman who had bought the children had considered hair color as one of her criteria?
Lost in thought, I hadn’t realized the children had all gathered.
There were nine of them.
Not a single one was missing.