An Ode to Divorce - Chapter 21

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

#21

I cut off Linos’s attempt at scheming right there.

“I know I might be misunderstood too. But that’s not what’s important. So, can you do it or not? If you can’t, tell me quickly. I need to find someone else.”

“Of course I can do it!”

As soon as I provoked his pride, Linos shouted angrily. As expected, the approach of ‘Can’t you do this?’ was immediately effective with Linos.

Realizing what he’d said, Linos’s expression became complicated. But since he’d already spoken those words, he couldn’t take them back.

“I can take you to any social gathering. But I don’t know which gatherings Gert attends either.”

Linos said with a forced smile. He seemed to think I would back down in embarrassment at those words.

But I hadn’t come to find Linos without any plan for that point either.

“I know about that. He said he’s attending the coming-of-age ceremony for the youngest daughter of the Tindal Count’s family in a few days.”

“…How on earth do you know that? You couldn’t have bribed Hilias, that stubborn fool. Don’t tell me you actually asked Gert?”

Linos’s eyes were full of curiosity. I casually shrugged my shoulders and answered.

“If you ask the birds and mice, you can find out anything.”

“….”

“I was worried at first about what would happen if Gert’s senses noticed, but since Gert is so strong, he doesn’t seem to notice the gazes of weak creatures.”

Like how humans don’t notice the gaze of ants, he seemed to be completely outside his range of perception.

Linos, who had been gaping and moving his mouth for a while, finally asked.

“Did you control animals with your performance? Is that possible?”

“I did it because it’s possible. Originally, when excellent performers play, it’s common for birds to fly over from here and there or rabbits to approach.”

“But asking animals to move as the performer desires isn’t an easy thing to do.”

“Well… there are times when you have to do it anyway. You’ll quickly grasp the knack when you need it too.”

“Do people usually have moments when they need such things…?”

I smiled bitterly at Linos’s grumbling tone of disbelief.

I had gained this ability because, when I was trapped in the Tower before my regression, I had desperately sought various ways to escape somehow.

‘A thirsty person digs a well.’

Thanks to this ability, I was able to inform Tamar of my situation. Upon hearing the news that I was unjustly imprisoned, Tamar asked Dietrich, the expedition leader and prince of Petalien, to lead troops and advance on Lübenhartz.

Eurich, who learned of this fact belatedly, came to find me and went mad, ultimately causing me to fall from the Tower.

But still, I was fortunate that the technique I had learned then remained even after my regression. Indeed, effort never betrays me.

Unaware of my circumstances, Linos seemed to think I had awakened this ability to stalk Gert, and made a somewhat disgusted expression.

“I’m starting to feel a little sorry for Gert for getting caught by someone like you…”

“What do you mean, someone like me?”

“Never mind. Let’s not talk about it.”

Linos waved his hands dismissively.

I snorted at Linos. Really, his talent for being annoying while helping was truly remarkable!

***

Still, having boasted so loudly, Linos obtained an invitation to the social gathering without much difficulty.

After all those preparations, the day of the youngest daughter of the Tindal Count’s family’s coming-of-age ceremony finally arrived.

I rode in a carriage with Linos toward the Tindal Count’s Mansion.

Linos’s carriage wasn’t as good as Lübenhartz’s, but it was decent enough to maintain appearances.

Linos, dressed up with all his might, leaned against the carriage seat back and crossed his legs. With his hands clasped together supporting his head, Linos asked.

“By the way, the Tindal Count’s family is the household of those twins who participated in the Argos Expedition. So couldn’t you just ask them to invite you? Is there a reason you specifically need my help?”

Having spent a year together in the confined space of a ship, as Linos said, we were close enough that I could ask for an invitation to a social gathering.

But…

After staying secluded for years, suddenly appearing and asking for help only when I needed it would certainly be embarrassing. The situation was different from Linos or Tamar.

Tamar was a friend, and despite everything, Linos was family.

But if I honestly revealed that fact, I worried Linos might get unnecessarily cocky. I said curtly.

“I’m not that close with the twins. So I don’t want to owe them anything.”

“Hmm… You can honestly say that your brother is more reliable.”

“What are you saying.”

I irritably brushed away Linos’s hand that was poking my side. Linos held his hand and pouted.

“You were cute when you were little. Why did you become so cold-hearted after growing up?”

“…Do you really not know why?”

I glared at Linos with an incredulous look. Memories from the past flashed through my mind in an instant.

“Orphea, they say if you eat carrots, your fingers get longer! If your fingers get longer, your lyre playing will improve too.”

“Really? I want to eat them! …Ugh. But why aren’t you eating carrots, Linos?”

“There aren’t many carrots. So I’m giving them to you. Your fingers are shorter.”

“Really?”

“You’re grateful, right? You only have this brother, don’t you?”

“I only have you, brother!”

“Linos! How can you push all the carrots you don’t want to eat onto Orphea because they taste bad!”

Pushing carrots on me was nothing.

Taking me to graveyards in the middle of the night claiming it would help with singing and performing, or enticing me to steal quinces from the neighbor’s garden by promising to teach me difficult performance techniques, only to have me chased by the neighbor’s dog…

I shuddered slightly.

If I had become a cold-hearted person, the cause was entirely Linos.

While reminiscing about the past, we had already arrived at the Count of Tyndareus’ Estate.

Linos, who got out of the carriage a step ahead of me, looked around in admiration.

“They put quite a lot of effort into this. The scale of the banquet is large.”

“Really? We just passed the entrance, so how can you tell if the scale is large or not?”

“Look over there. Even if they’re decorating with flowers for a coming-of-age ceremony, the number is enormous. Usually they just decorate various spots on tables and pillars… Just looking at it, it probably cost about a year’s worth of taxes from a small city.”

Linos gestured toward the Count of Tyndareus’ Estate, which was almost buried in flowers. Even from a distance, you could almost feel the flower fragrance vibrating from all directions.

Since becoming an adult is called a bud blooming, it was customary to receive flowers at coming-of-age ceremonies regardless of gender.

For commoners like us, the coming-of-age ceremony ended with just exchanging bouquets made from picked wildflowers and wearing flower crowns made by family for the whole day. But for nobles, it seemed much more complicated.

“Well, since Princess Lairinne’s coming-of-age ceremony was a few months ago, they couldn’t make it too modest. Even if they can’t make it more splendid than the princess’s ceremony, it would be ridiculous if there was too much difference for a count’s heir’s coming-of-age ceremony.”

“What was Princess Lairinne’s coming-of-age ceremony like?”

“His Majesty had fully bloomed lilies planted throughout the Royal Palace Gardens to coincide with the princess’s coming-of-age ceremony day. The princess’s nickname is ‘Lily of Petalien.'”

Controlling the blooming time of flowers in a garden is not an easy task.

They had no choice but to make the lilies bloom in advance in the Greenhouse and then transplant them, and naturally the effort and cost involved was considerable.

Moreover, the area that needed to be replanted was the entire Royal Palace Gardens!

I could guess how much the king cherished Princess Lairinne.

“The princess will probably attend today too… Be careful, because if you fall out of favor with the princess, your social circle is over. The princess has quite a few followers.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————