Now, while I am in the women's powdering room, I want to tell you about the small boxed rooms behind me. They're quite... amazing... actually, it's beyond me how it all works, and sadly not quite something I am in a position to find out. Still.

First of all, instead of just a hole in the ground, they are like a tall chair you sit on, made of a clay like substance. The reason for the material, is because there is water in it. It 'flushes' they call it.

To be quite frank with you, their sewage system is... incredible... they have 'running water' for these toilets, that they have servants fill up every day. The most amazing part is that this thing is not exclusively for nobles. It is there in common households.

The amount of money used on these luxury toilets seem... impossible... and unreasonable.

Still, from my queen's training I know enough to say that it is worth it in the big cities. The statistics do not lie. Their sickness and epidemic ratio is incredibly low.

Furthermore, this 'running water' is there for 'sinks' as well where you wash your hands. The water for the baths are later used for the toilet, and the pipes to everything seems to be connected.

And while on the subject of baths! I was always of the understanding that foreigners bathed rarely. They were always so amazed with our cleaning habits... still, here bathing daily or every second day appears to be the standard, even for commoners.

Everyone here are quite clean and well smelling. It's like something out of another world. I suppose the writer of this story must have been incredibly fixated on the problem of cleanliness for something like this to happen...

Ultimately... I come to the conclusion that this may not be entirely the same world I was born in previously... something like this is... too much, to be realistic. Of course, though I rant, I do not find this place that unpleasant... their annoying gender roles aside...

Well, for now it seems like I have ranted enough over such an unclean subject... I just feel that something so important as a sudden difference in toilet etiquette should not be left unsaid. It is a huge change after all. Just imagine a person used to this being reincarnated into a place without these things.

I'm sure the pretty ladies would faint the first couple of times.

Now, let's head back to the party and put this subject out of our minds and pretend it didn't happen. After all, surely Ladies have no need for doing such natural things.

—*—

The Salender mansion is truly magnificent. As I mentioned before it is built near the edge of a cliff, with part of the garden facing the ocean.

What makes it truly incredible, is their access to chalk. Several of the cliffs and large areas of the Salender territory has large amounts of chalk built up, enough to create some rather lovely vividly blue pools of water, which also acts as a tourist attraction.

Furthermore, this chalk has been used in the creation of the Salender mansion itself. The walls are painted with chalk, leaving the mansion purely white, indoors and outdoors. To break the white, their carpets, curtains, banners and other little things shine with a brilliant red color and it appears as though they have gone through enormous effort to make sure the rims of every red object is golden.

The halls are tall, but unlike ours it is less gothic and more... majestic... if one were to guess, one would say they were trying to show off their incredible wealth, which should be second to only very few dukes. Not even the Listere family can come close to comparing.

Well, in short, House Salender mainly deals in merchanting, and secondly with war. Where most Marquess families would teach their oldest the ropes of the military, and the second son the knowledge to assist him in business, they were the opposite.

They could afford it because they rarely see war, and even less raiders.

Well, since Gilbert doesn't have a younger brother he will likely be forced to focus more on sword and strategy than the oldest of their family usually would. I would expect it to put pressure on him... but even then I have no idea where that terrifying attitude of his comes from , other than perhaps something two years ago?

---*---

I stop on my way back to the dance hall, when I notice a well dressed blonde haired young boy with brown eyes peering at me like it is the end of the world. He looks one, maybe two years younger than me, but he is looking quite desperate.

In front of him is an older looking maid.

"You are feeling ill. You should drink up or you won't be able to go," she scold him sternly, and his figure seems to shrink in front of her. For a noble son he is rather quiet...

"...hai... Anna..."

I furrow my brows for a moment. The kid looks... somewhat familiar... more specifically... he reminds me of someone...

What worries me is the look he has right now.

He looks terrified.

I'm not sure why he is terrified, but if we were talking taking a gulp of medicine, then even a child wouldn't be afraid. They could easily be unwilling... but that was all. Thus...I glance up at the maid. At this point any information could be enough to find a way to deal with her peacefully.

The first important thing to note is that she isn't one of the Salender Mansion's maids. Even the Salender Maids keep the color scheme of the mansion after all. One could say that maids and servants are a part of the accessories of the mansion, so it wasn't too far fetched that they would change the uniform.

My eyes quickly find an emblem on her uniform to declare her ownership. Apparently she's a maid from House Tepet.

What?

I stare at her stunned for a moment. Lord Tepet has to my knowledge always been an incredibly up-front man. This was unexpected. Though... that meant the boy was likely connected to house Tepet as well.

I walk up to them while giving them the most serene look I can muster.

"Maid. You are part of house Tepet, yes? You are making a scene in a hallway where Ladies pass through. Could you act with a bit more thought?"

This should be enough to distract her, after all, she would have to apologize for her behavior. It should give the boy enough time to run off.

At least... I thought that was the plan. But in his 'attempt' to escape our shoulders hit and instead he ended up falling over on the floor like a klutz and spill the medicine all over the Salender's expensive brilliantly red carpet.

I am fine by the way. He may have partly run into me, but he wasn't aiming to tip me over. Actually, he fell splendidly on purpose. From that alone I know the following:

He was not scared of the maid. He was scared of the 'medicine'...

The look on his face right now, though he's apologizing profusely, reeks of relief...

"I am so sorry my Lady!"

Honestly, I would have preferred if tea had been spilled on me so I wouldn't have to go back to the dance room, but it would have put him in trouble. I'll take this in return though.

"Your name." I demand of him. As to be expected.

"...Bertram..." his voice suddenly turns hesitant and his eyes flicker as though he has told me something he shouldn't.

I glance to the maid, but she remains quiet. She looks nervous and is fidgeting quietly. She isn't going to say any more unless asked, or until I leave. It is pretty obvious Bertram is a part of house Tepet, but he is much too well dressed to be the son of a servant... furthermore, I cannot recall seeing any subordinates with Lord Tepet... who is this kid?

"Very well, I will allow you to leave, Bertram, but you should be more careful next time. If you were to bump into someone less kind than I, you could have put lord Tepet in trouble," I caution him to go for using another method next time... but it was a well made choice for his age.

I turn and leave with an odd feeling in my gut. I feel like I've seen something that will get me in trouble...

---*---

I finally manage to get back to the party hall without any further distractions, sadly. I peer inside carefully. I don't want to walk into Gilbert as the very first thing after I return. Of course I find him... but... he still hasn't put the drink away. I've got to admire his patient persistence...

I quickly sneak... I quickly walk by him quietly and head to the other end of the hall towards a group of adults.

Ordinarily us kids weren't brought along to evening parties before our debut parties at the age of 15, but it appears that the Salenders had made an exception because of the tea party earlier. Usually you'd hold the things separately, so I wonder if they were dealing information. Even if they did, the adults move to other rooms for such private matters. In other words, these dances are likely only a facade and we kids are allowed here as a part of the facade that it's a 'family party'.

I admit, I've been so busy with my own situation I missed the bigger picture for a while.

Since I am in the body of an 8-year old an immense amount of information is kept away from me. I am practically blind when it comes to the political situation, but I'll try to make a guess anyway.

If it is something so serious that both a tea party mostly for the ladies, and an evening party needs to be arranged, then it must be an incredibly important situation. If it had been impending war then it would only have been an evening party, and if it had only been slander then it would've been kept to a tea party...

The Salenders belong to the border facing the ocean. That means they become a trade hub for all other countries facing the ocean. In that case it isn't just merchandise but also information. In other words, they obtained important information that interests both warriors and ladies. In other words, it might have something to do with national security, and is incredibly juicy at the same time. It might be a marriage between royalty of other countries... like the countries on our borders such as Headal, Semor or Zocria, maybe even Crinia to the south...

I shake my head. I'll leave it at that, anything more would be making too many assumptions.

Where is Ameline? I look up through the crowd and... find something rather unpleasant... she still isn't there!

I keep walking away from Gilbert, but the moment he sees me he tries to walk in my direction. I gaze through the crowd for Magdalin. She should be done dancing now, so I should head back to her for now. It would open up for ways to deal with Gilbert... hopefully. Besides, Magdalin might be worried if I just disappear.

...

Ah, there she is, at the buffet table. She's still talking with Count Greenhall's son.

Should I just quietly approach them? It would be kind of mean for me to interrupt them though, as she looks quite happy. To think that she would find a semblance of happiness so soon after being released a bit as 'follower' of the villainess and have her heart soothed from the pain of her-

"Lady Lily."

I stop moving and slowly turn towards Lionel. He is being awfully persistent today.

Lionel looks incredibly annoyed, like he saw something uncomfortable. I can't blame him, I feel the same.

"Why are you avoiding Gilbert?"

I nearly click my tongue at him instinctively.

Then, in that moment I realized why Bertram had seemed familiar and my eyes end up widening.

Bertram looks like a cuter and more innocent version of the sadistic Lionel.

Bertram was probably Lionel's little brother.

"Is Bertram your brother?"

I flick that question back at him in self defense. I'd never heard about Bertram, and neither of Lionel's parents had blonde hair. If my guess is right then...

Lionel's eyes widen in shock.

His composure crumbles for a moment, like I'd stabbed him right in the chest without warning. As I thought, I've found out something quite bad... but why would Bertram even be here in the first place?

"May I have this dance, Lady Lily?" Lionel reaches out a hand as he gathers the shattered pieces of his crumbled composure. Still, his eyes are filled with caution. He wanted to head to the only place where children such as us could have a private conversation without disturbances, and where I would be out of Gilbert's reach.

The dance floor.

A place I'd already come to hate.