Upon returning to their quarters, Romeo, who had arrived early and was waiting, welcomed the two.
"What? Where did you go?"
"A walk after dinner."
When Calix answered gruffly, Romeo looked at Lelia. His eyes seemed to ask, 'Did it succeed?'
"It was successful. But..."
"But what?"
"I think I'll need to stay in the Imperial City a little longer."
"Really? Doesn't matter. We were going to stay here until Griffith and Oscar return anyway."
Romeo didn't ask for a reason, accepting it as it was, and turned his gaze to the magazine on the table.
"Why?"
The one who asked was Calix. He flopped down in the seat across from Romeo and stared intently at Lelia. Somehow, his gaze seemed dissatisfied.
"...Actually, there's something Leo hyung asked me to do when we were young. It seems I'll need a bit more time to fulfill that request."
"...."
Calix's eyebrows furrowed.
Lelia, who was approaching the table where the two sat, suddenly stopped in her tracks upon discovering something.
"...!"
[-100]
'What?'
Calix's affection score, which had definitely been in positive numbers, suddenly plummeted and turned negative.
'Why on earth?'
Lelia approached with an awkward feeling and sat diagonally across from the two.
'What did I do?'
She checked the quest window just in case, and saw that Calix's quest had been deactivated, turned gray.
The quest required her to raise his affection by [+10], but since it suddenly dropped to [-], it must have been deactivated.
After all, quests only appeared when the affection score was [+].
Lelia wanted to scream in frustration, but she held it back and looked at Calix.
What on earth was the cause?
"Are... are you angry?"
"Yes. You really look like Leo no matter how I look at you."
"...!"
Lelia froze in surprise as if struck by lightning on the crown of her head.
On the other hand, Romeo asked with an indifferent attitude.
"What nonsense is that."
"...If that Leo guy hadn't died and grown up, I think he would have turned out like this. That guy used to be scrawny like this one, you know."
"So what."
"Is it because of the hair styled like that? He looks even more like him. It feels exactly like Leo is alive and sitting right next to me... So you better be careful."
Calix pointed his finger and warned Lelia. Romeo took her side as if it was ridiculous.
"What did she do that you're making a fuss? You said you'd look after her like a younger sister—is bullying her your way of cherishing her?"
"No! This guy, earlier he made a greasy move on the Princess."
"What?"
Lelia let out the breath she had been holding, her tension relieved by Calix's nonsense.
'What a scare...'
She almost thought she'd been caught.
Anyway, 'making a move'? And 'greasily' at that...?
"Do you know what this one did earlier? He kissed the back of her hand while gazing deeply... and said, 'I am Raymond Lebester.'"
When saying 'I am Raymond Lebester,' Calix lowered his voice deeper than usual.
Lelia couldn't produce such a low voice in the first place.
She had no idea what kind of imitation he was doing.
"You. Don't go making moves on anyone just because you look like Leo. Got it?"
Lelia nodded without thinking. She didn't understand what had put him in a bad mood, or what he meant by such a warning.
Calix had always been a hard-to-understand personality, so Lelia decided to just feel relieved that she hadn't been caught.
Romeo held his stomach and giggled for a while, apparently finding Calix's imitation of her funny.
'By the way...'
Lelia narrowed her eyes and looked at Calix and Romeo.
'Why aren't you two leaving...?'
Lelia recalled her childhood spent at the temple and let her shoulders droop in exhaustion.
Fortunately, unlike in childhood, the two left before she had to tell them to get out.
It seemed they left on their own knowing that Lelia was a woman.
Left alone, Lelia locked the door and headed to the bathroom.
Even though she knew no one was there, perhaps because she was hiding her gender, she felt strangely conscious of her surroundings.
Before undressing, she happened to glance at the mirror, and the looks Uriana and the maids had given her earlier came to mind.
'...To think I'd end up kissing the back of Uriana's hand.'
She felt oddly awkward about it. Uriana, of all people, acting shy looking at her.
Not just Uriana, but the maids behind her were the same.
The maids looked at Lelia with excited eyes as if looking at luscious prey, even breathing heavily, scanning her thoroughly.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, it wasn't a gaze of suspicion that she was a man.
Rather, it was closer to eyes filled with romantic attraction.
'...Do I really look like a man?'
It's strangely unpleasant.
She looked into the mirror, touching her jawline and examining herself this way and that.
No matter how she looked, both her jawline and neck line looked feminine.
'Well, it's better than being suspected.'
Lelia thought nothing of it and began to wash.
She didn't know, but Route's words were true.
Currently, the most popular male type among the noble ladies of the capital was the 'beautiful pretty boy.'
Just like Lelia in men's clothing.
This phenomenon was due to a painter named 'Donatelli,' who had recently been making waves in the capital.
Donatelli was originally a promising painter, but after suddenly disappearing, he reappeared with a style of painting no one had ever seen before.
Many nobles liked his paintings, so everyone was expecting new works.
However, the paintings he brought were not the magnificent mythological paintings that were currently the most highly regarded in the art world.
They were paintings featuring beautiful young men with such delicate lines that they looked almost like women.
Noble men criticized them as 'decadent trash painted by a perverted sodomite,' but noble women cheered.
The reaction was split, but regardless, the 'handsome portraits' the painter produced sold like hotcakes among the capital's noble ladies.
Rumors even circulated that some male nobles secretly collected his paintings.
They were so popular that even reproductions couldn't meet the demand.
As a result, among aspiring painters, many began painting such works to make money.
However, the beautiful men in the paintings were such pretty boys that one would never have seen their like in reality, which caused quite a stir.
Noble men shaved their beards, lost weight, and reduced their muscle mass to try to look like the 'handsome portraits.'
But in the eyes of noble women, their efforts were only pitiful.
That was why Uriana and even the maids had looked at Lelia with shining eyes.
Romeo also had a beautiful appearance as if painted, but he was tall with a good build, so his masculinity was strongly felt.
In that respect, Lelia in men's clothing perfectly matched their tastes.
Lelia, never imagining such a reason existed, washed while glancing around nervously in the empty bathroom.
After lying down on the bed, a strange feeling washed over her.
'To think I'd be sleeping in the Imperial City again.'
Her family at the Superion territory would be greatly worried if they knew.
'I need to find the sacred artifact and return as soon as possible.'
However, when she recalled Route's glare that had looked at her like an enemy earlier, a sigh escaped her.
'Sub-quest... I don't want to do it.'
But there are things you have to do even if you don't want to. For Lelia, this quest was one of them.
She couldn't give up on it because both the sacred artifact and the shop system were very important for the future.
And while finding the sacred artifact and confessing the truth to her friends was important, what was more urgent was the matter of the territory.
The deaths of her grandfather and uncles, her aunt's misfortune, and ultimately the Superion territory falling into the hands of its vassals.
She had to prevent all of it.
'By the way, I wonder if Uncle Carius arrived safely.'
She asked Romeo to find out, and apparently Carius had returned straight to the territory on the very first day he came back to the capital.
Their paths had crossed.
'I wanted to have at least a brief conversation with him.'
Still, when she saw him in the procession, he seemed healthy without any injuries.
Lelia couldn't fall asleep until dawn due to various thoughts, and only closed her eyes after the sun had risen.
Perhaps because she slept while tense, Lelia woke up early.
Clear bird sounds could be heard from outside the window.
After washing while listening to those sounds, she barely ate the food the servant had brought and headed to the wardrobe.
'Come to think of it, I have too few men's clothes...'
She had originally planned to find materials in the cottage and leave the Imperial City immediately, so it was only natural.
But to complete the sub-quest and obtain Route's sacred artifact, she would have to stay in the Imperial City for a while longer.
'I need to buy clothes first.'
Thinking so, Lelia put on her one remaining set of spare clothes and spent a long time tying her cravat.
Then she went to Romeo's quarters.
She was planning to ask Romeo to go with her to a men's clothing shop and help her choose clothes.
Romeo was always wearing flashy clothes whenever she saw him.
At least he'd have better taste than Calix, who always wore nothing but dark-colored clothes.