Haunted Duke’s Daughter - C123

C123

“Next! Don’t keep Aldis-senpai waiting!”

Liana rushed the girl next to her. The girl who was rushed turned to Lilia with a pale face. After several deep breaths, she opened her mouth.

“I’m Tanya……!”

She seemed to have bitten as hard as she could and gagged, holding her mouth. The other two were pale, wondering what she was doing, but Liana was holding back her laughter and gently patting the shoulder of the girl who had called herself Tania.

“Tania, you know. It’s…….Are you okay?”

She asked, concerned because she was in so much pain, and Tania stood up hurriedly and said.

“I’m fine!”

“So……Heh.”

She couldn’t hold it in and let out a laugh. Tania turned bright red and slumped down.

“I’m sorry.”

She then turned completely blue. When I tilted my head to see what was wrong, Sakura laughed.

S–I was afraid that something would happen sooner or later. You can’t blame her for being afraid that something might happen.

L–I don’t intend to do anything like that.

“I’m not going to do anything, so I hope you won’t be so frightened.”

When Lilia said this, Tania bowed her head, saying she was sorry, with the whitest expression on her face. Deciding that it would be useless to say more, she stopped talking.

The boys then step forward. One of them said, with a nervous look on his face.

“I’m Amos and this is Elk.”

“Don’t take my introduction!”

The other boy called Elk complains to the boy named Amos. Amos turned his exasperated eyes to Elk.

“You’re even more nervous than I am. How can you introduce yourself like that?”

“Of course I can, don’t be ridiculous!”

Elk turns to Lilia with vigor. She may not be aware of it, but she felt as if she was being stared at, which made her more than a little uncomfortable. When Lilia frowns, Elk lets out a short scream but he puts more strength into his eyes and looks at Lilia once again.

S—He-he……

I wait for him to speak, slightly revising my assessment of Elk upward. Elk takes a small deep breath and opens his mouth.

“……!”

No words came out.

“Elk…….”

At the sound of Amos’s voice, Elk turned around with a tearful look on his face.

“Because she’s a duchess! And it’s the infamous Liliane! How can I not be nervous?”

Lilia frowned at Elk’s loud voice. It was not because she was in a bad mood but because she was disappointed that she was still recognized as such.

She wondered if she wasn’t trying hard enough. Shouldn’t she be doing something more? As she was thinking that, Sakura said with a wry smile.

S—Lilia, you’re worrying too much. It’s fine.

L–I’ll let you know……….

S–I know. You can start with them first. Take it easy, little by little. Right?

Lilia gave a small sigh and nodded that she understood. Then she turned her gaze back to Elk again. All four of them looked at her, and this time even Liana paled.

“Elk, you can’t say that in front of her!”

Amos spoke and Tanya interfered immediately.

“Amos that makes it sound like you’re not denying it but admitting it…….”

“Oh …….”

“Enough! Bow your head! Now!”

Liana says hurriedly. Then all four bowed their heads in unison.

“I’m sorry!”

“I’m back……..What’s this?”

Ray froze, his eyes darting around.

L–Sakura, what can I do?

S–Well…….

Sakura also sounded puzzled and Lilia sighed inwardly.

Ray distributes drinks and sits in a chair next to Lilia while Liana and the other three sit opposite them. All four of them were completely embarrassed but Lilia did not know what to do and her cheeks were slightly drawn. Ray was the only one who was holding back his laughter.

“I’m really sorry…….”

Liana said fearfully, and Lilia gave a small shrug.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t know what would have happened if it wasn’t for me.”

“Yes…….”

The four of them slumped down as if depressed. Lilia said nothing more and turned to Ray.

“So? What have you been doing?”

Lilia asks the reason for his absence until now. Ray made a meaningless “ah” sound, then gave a troubled smile.

“I told you that I came from Claviles to study abroad, didn’t I?”

Lilia raised her eyebrows suspiciously at the way he said that, but nodded without saying anything. She guessed that it was Ray’s ‘set up’.

Relieved that Lilia did not say anything, Ray continued.

“Do you know about the newspaper?”

Lilia nodded at Ray’s question. There are two types of newspapers in this country, one for the nobility which should be delivered to Aldis’s residence every morning and one for the commoners, which she was told is bought in town by the servants.

S–Oh, my God, I didn’t know there was such a thing!

L–Shall we buy some next time we go to town?

S–Yes please.

She looked at Ray to prompt him to go on with the story, and he said, that’s it.

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

“Liana and her friends are trying to create a newspaper for the school. They want to introduce our neighbor country, Claviles, as their first feature, and I was talking about it.”

“Oh…….Do they give them out to everyone?”

“No, she said she couldn’t do that, so she wrote it on a big piece of paper and put it up in the hallway on the first floor.”

Could it be called a newspaper? Lilia tilted her head, but Sakura seemed to know something about it.

S–It’s what you call a wall newspaper.

L–A wall newspaper?

S–Yes. It means, as it is, a newspaper that is put up on the wall. That’s how I understand it. You can’t hand it out to everyone, but it can be seen by many people. If it’s something that students make, then it’s good enough.