"Rei-san, please wake up. Rei-san!"
Hearing that voice, Rei's consciousness rapidly surfaced.
He opened his eyes a crack, but couldn't grasp who was standing in front of him.
No—the very thought of trying to understand didn't even exist in his mind yet.
"Ah... mm... uh..."
Miranda, the maid who had come to wake him, couldn't believe at first that the person mumbling "ah, ah" in front of her was Rei.
The Rei she knew was someone who always stayed on guard, ready to respond to anything at a moment's notice. His ability was obvious from his perfect record in the mock battles against Duke Kerebel's Knight Order.
That was why she initially found it hard to believe that the person before her was showing such a defenseless side. Above all, since Rei had arrived at this mansion, she had come to wake him many mornings, and every time without fail, he had given a solid reply the moment she called out.
But today, for some reason, he was completely half-asleep—and to Miranda's eyes, Rei in such a state looked adorable.
...If cameras existed in this world, she would have wanted to take a photo of him right now and keep it forever.
But Miranda's role was, after all, to wake Rei.
She would have loved to keep watching him as he was, but today was the day of the New Year's party. Naturally, Rei, who would be attending that party, needed to get ready too.
Thinking what a shame—truly a shame—it was, Miranda called out to him.
"Rei-san, please wake up. Today is the day of the party, so there's a lot of preparation we need to do. Rei-san, are you listening?"
After calling out to him like that for several minutes, the light of awareness gradually began to return to the drowsy Rei's eyes.
"Miranda? Ah... morning, huh."
"Yes. You woke up late today, though. Usually you're already awake by the time I come to get you."
"I was up a bit late yesterday."
With those words, Miranda understood what Rei meant.
Yesterday, Miranda had been told to enjoy the party with Leodanis, and after that she hadn't seen Rei at all. But even so, anyone in the Duke Kerebel Mansion probably knew what had happened.
What's more, Miranda was also one of those who doted on Set. Hearing that agents of Count Ceresse had launched an attack on the stable where Set was sleeping, she couldn't help but feel it was absolutely unforgivable.
"Did you stay up late because of the Set-chan incident yesterday?"
"That's part of it. And I think I just happened to be in a deep sleep today, by chance."
Saying that, Rei sat up in bed and asked Miranda to help him with his morning routine.
Of course, getting ready wasn't something that usually took much time. Especially in Rei's case, being a man, he would often finish in just a few minutes. ...Of course, that was only when things were normal.
Today was the New Year's party, where a large number of nobles would gather. Since Rei would also be attending such an occasion, he naturally couldn't just go about things as usual.
He washed his face more carefully than usual, brushed his teeth, combed his hair...
"Hey, is it really necessary to do all this meticulously?"
His preparations finally finished after considerably longer than usual—about twenty minutes had passed.
Perhaps slightly dissatisfied by this, Rei asked the question, and Miranda smiled and nodded with full confidence.
"Yes, it's necessary. Or rather, if you don't do what can be done at this stage, it'll be tough when the real preparation begins, you know?"
He couldn't help but feel there was something contradictory about the phrase "the real preparation," but he judged that saying anything here would probably be meaningless, so he didn't press the matter.
"That much?"
"Yes. Fortunately, Rei-san, you don't grow any facial hair, so you won't need any grooming in that area... but if you were someone with thick facial hair, you'd need to shave properly before attending the party."
"...I see."
Nodding at Miranda's words, Rei reached a hand to his own chin. What his fingers felt was smooth skin. Not a single whisker grew—no rough or prickly sensation at all.
Normally, at Rei's age—mid-teens—it wouldn't be strange for him to have at least some facial hair. Depending on the person, some might already have quite thick growth.
However, Rei had never had any issues with facial hair at all. He had never once shaved since coming to Elgin.
In a way, this was probably something like Zephyle's parental consideration—though subtly different.
In Elgin, shaving was done with a specialized knife. Naturally, it was nothing like the sharp razors that existed in Japan, and if the person shaving was unskilled, they could cut their chin, cheek, or in some cases even their throat.
If one were a noble, they could afford to hire a specialist for the task, but ordinary people couldn't, so they had to do it themselves. It went without saying that since a blade was used near the neck, those entrusted with such a duty by nobles were limited to trusted individuals. If someone who had just entered a noble's service were entrusted with that role, that person might turn out to be an assassin, and the noble could end up with their throat slit. So it was only natural.
Perhaps Zephyle had made it so Rei's facial hair wouldn't grow, so that Rei wouldn't have to go through such a troublesome process.
(If that's the case, I suppose I should be grateful... right?)
Vaguely thinking something like that, Rei stood up after finishing his preparations.
Doing all this grooming first and then eating breakfast afterward felt, given the current situation, somehow wrong in various ways. Then again, saying anything at this point would be meaningless.
With that in mind, Rei headed to the dining hall.
Along the way, many servants were working busily, making Rei acutely aware that today was the day of the party.
"They really do seem busy. ...Are you sure it's okay for you, Miranda?"
"Once I'm done guiding Rei-san, I'll head over there too."
"...Sounds rough."
"Yes. Though this party is an annual event. Besides, we enjoyed ourselves so much at the party yesterday, so today we have to work that much harder."
"Is that how it works?"
If it were Rei, having thrown such a large-scale party and made a racket, he would naturally want to take it easy the next day. But from the look of Miranda, it seemed that precisely because there had been a party yesterday, she was energetic today.
"That's right. Is it different for you, Rei-san?"
"If it were me, I'd want to take it a bit easier."
"...You're quite the lazy one for someone so young, aren't you?"
At Miranda's words, which carried a hint of exasperation, Rei tilted his head, wondering if that was really the case.
During such exchanges, they eventually arrived at the dining hall.
"Huh?"
Upon entering, Rei noticed that there was no one there. Well, to be precise, the maids in charge of the dining hall were present—fewer in number than usual—but Elena, Liberte, Arcadia, and the others were absent.
"Huh? Where are Elena and the others?"
"The young ladies have already finished their meals and are helping with the party preparations."
"Ah... I see. So I was the last one."
To be precise, it was simply that Rei had overslept today, of all days.
"In that case, wouldn't it have been better to have breakfast brought to my room?"
"I wonder? That might have been nice too, but then again, it's possible some other problem would have come up instead."
"...You think so?"
While exchanging words with Miranda, Rei decided that since he had already come all the way to the dining hall, going back to his room now would be a hassle, so he quietly sat down to eat breakfast there.
What was prepared was not leftovers from yesterday's party, but a variety of dishes properly made this morning. Soft bread, soup with various toppings, salad, bacon steak, dried fruit—there were many other dishes besides those, and each one was carefully prepared.
"Is it really okay to put this much effort into breakfast on the day of the party?"
"This much isn't all that difficult, and above all, I think it also serves as a warm-up for the cooking they'll be doing today."
The dining hall maid responded to Rei's muttering with those words. Beside her, Miranda nodded with a smile.
"Warm-up, huh. ...Well, as long as I get to eat delicious food, I'm fine with it, so I won't complain."
Even as he said that, Rei figured that Georgima, the head chef, was probably regretting not being able to work on his ramen research.
For Georgima, ramen—no, to be precise, unknown dishes—should have been deeply fascinating. If he could make them, it wouldn't be strange for him to focus entirely on that. But his current position didn't allow it.
Right now, Georgima was nothing more than a cook employed by Duke Kerebel's House, meaning he had to fulfill that duty. When there was no work, or when things weren't too busy, Georgima could probably do as he pleased to some extent... but the New Year's party was one of the busiest days of the year. Given that, prioritizing the party's cooking was only natural for a hired cook.
(Well, even if he's busy today, starting tomorrow he'll be free again and can research ramen. In that case, there's no problem... right?)
Finishing the last bite of the remaining bread, Rei ended his breakfast. In reality, he could still eat more if he wanted to, but if he did, he would end up wanting to keep eating endlessly. Since he also had to prepare for the party starting now, he couldn't afford to keep going.
With the meal finished, it was time for the party preparation, as Miranda had said.
From this early in the morning? Is there really anything for me to do? was Rei's honest reaction.
If he were a woman, he would understand needing to do all sorts of preparations like makeup and whatnot, but Rei was, after all, a man. The custom-made party suit he'd had prepared was already finished and fine-tuned. Given that, he couldn't help but think he should only need to start getting ready about an hour before the party began.
But if he voiced those thoughts to Miranda, she would definitely call him out on it. No—not just call him out, he would probably be scolded spectacularly.
Knowing that, Rei obediently allowed himself to be led off to prepare for the party.
(Dona Dona, was it?)
Somehow—truly only vaguely—thinking something like that, Rei was led away by Miranda.
They arrived at a certain room. Upon entering, several people inside were having makeup applied.
"This place is..."
"It's a room for applying makeup to the men attending today's party. ...Excuse me, could someone do Rei-san's makeup?"
Several men and women turned their gazes toward Rei and Miranda as they entered.
(Stylist... was it? So they have people who do that sort of thing in Elgin too, huh.)
Rei was surprised, but the conversation progressed without pause.
"Oh, if it isn't Miranda. I just need to tidy up this person here, right?"
A woman who was apparently an acquaintance of Miranda's said that while looking at Rei. But upon seeing Rei's face with his hood off, surprise flickered across hers.
She already knew the information about Rei, so that didn't surprise her. What surprised her was seeing Rei's face itself. No blemishes, no facial hair. And yet his skin was smooth and dewy. It was hard to reconcile with the impression suggested by the alias "Crimson."
And at the same time, the woman felt a desire within herself to do Rei's makeup. Precisely because Rei's face would take makeup so well, wanting to showcase her own skills was only natural for a professional.
"Hey, Miranda. Let me do Rei-san's makeup, okay? I'll put my all into it and make it look absolutely perfect!"
"Huh? Well, we did come here intending to have Rei-san's makeup done, so that's fine, but... just don't overdo it, okay?"
"Who do you think you're talking to? Leave it to me."
At the woman's words, spoken with a smile full of professional confidence, Rei found himself about to have makeup applied without his own will having any say in the matter.