Author: Suisei
Translator: Rinkage
Character page: Here
Chapter 127 – He escaped
I had somehow forgotten about my original objective and ended up wandering around the museum with Cecilia as if we were on a date. It was a blunder on my end, so I thought of looking for Raven and Happiness. Naturally, I didn’t intend to interfere with their date. I had already sealed away my flipped personality, so I would let nature take its course. However, I was also starting to think that continuing my date with Cecilia like this would be enjoyable as well.
“Is something wrong?” [Cecilia]
Cecilia, who was standing beside me, noticed I had stopped, so she looked concerned. Honestly, it was probably fine to keep things like this today.
“…Ah!” [Youki]
Just as that thought crossed my mind, I spotted Raven and Happiness. They seemed to be arguing, so I wondered what happened.
“…Over there.” [Happiness]
“Wait, that floor is off-limits. Absolutely.” [Raven]
“…Interested.” [Happiness]
“Don’t be. Seriously, it’s off-limits.” [Raven]
“…Breakthrough!” [Happiness]
“…!” [Raven]
With a graceful spin, Happiness slipped past Raven and dashed ahead.
What’s going on, Captain of Knight? Is there really something you don’t want her to see?
He looked panicked as he chased after Happiness.
“All right. Let’s go too.” [Youki]
“No, we should stop.” [Cecilia]
Just as I was about to take a bold step forward, I was stopped. Was this her way of saying we shouldn’t interfere with them?
“That corner… it’s just not good.” [Cecilia]
She averted her gaze as she said this, which suggested there was something behind it. But I could tell that it has nothing to do with Raven and Happiness. The only thing that came to mind was that something related to her was displayed there.
“Here we go!” [Youki]
“Ah, Youki-san, wait…” [Cecilia]
“Of course, I’m not leaving you behind.” [Youki]
I grabbed her hand and headed towards the corner where Raven and Happiness went, but as soon as we entered, I understood why Cecilia and Raven didn’t want us to come here.
“…There’re statues. And they’re pretty intricately made, too.” [Youki]
Since they were displayed in the center of the room, they had quite a presence. The more you looked at them, the more you could see how accurately they were made – beautifully and elegantly crafted.
“Ah…” [Cecilia]
Cecilia seemed too embarrassed to look at her statue directly, though, it made sense since there was a life-sized statue of herself in front of her.
“So, that’s why you guided me away from here when we first arrived.” [Youki]
She took my arm and walked with me, ensuring I wouldn’t come to this room. Raven did the same, too.
Happiness kept looking back and forth between the statue and Raven, making the whole situation awkward as well. The latter looked extremely flustered, but hiding his face like that wouldn’t help much. Relax, and act normal!
“Yes. Having a status of myself… it makes it tough to look at, and even tougher to have others see it.” [Cecilia]
“I guess so. Especially when the plague says, ‘Holy Mother Cecilia – a member of the hero’s party’.” [Youki]
No one would want to visit a place that would expose their insecurities.
“Yes. I honestly wanted to decline, but the hero was so enthusiastic about it…” [Cecilia]
“So, Yuuga had the final say on this, huh?” [Youki]
“…Yes.” [Cecilia]
Everyone aside from Yuuga must have been against it. In my opinion, nobody would want something like this left behind, especially not near where they lived.
“Well, it’s well-made, so maybe it’s okay…” [Youki]
An aura radiating from her was figuratively screaming that it wasn’t okay, so I clamped my mouth shut. This wasn’t something that I could laugh off. The quickest way to improve her mood was to get out of the room as soon as we could.
“Got it. Let’s wrap up here and move on…” [Youki]
I was about to suggest it to her when I realized a memo with the word, ‘Ah’, was stuck on me. Before I knew it, Happiness was sticking a bunch of memos on my back as well.
“Cecilia, can you tell me what’s written on the memos on my back?” [Youki]
“Yes. Um, it says…’insensitive’, ‘overconfident’, ‘the worst’, ‘sadist’, ‘fiend’…” [Cecilia]
“Those are the insults you’ve called me before!” [Youki]
Don’t go sticking those kinds of memos on me! It makes it look like I am parading myself as a terrible person.
“…It’s the truth!” [Happiness]
“Don’t say it with such conviction! It’s not true!” [Youki]
I wished Raven and Cecilia would stop laughing and help me stop this prankster instead.
“I apologize, dear guest. Please keep your voice down inside the museum.”
“Oh, sorry about that…” [Youki]
I got scolded by the staff for being too loud. It was only proper manners to keep our voices down in a place like this, so it couldn’t be helped. However, why was I the only one getting scolded?
“Wait, was that even my fault?!” [Youki]
“But thanks to you, Raven-san and I didn’t have our identities exposed. You drew their attention away.” [Cecilia]
“I wasn’t trying to draw any attention. And besides, in the first place, the one who caused all this trouble was her.” [Youki]
I pointed at Happiness. She started messing with me, and it turned into our usual bantering routine.
“…Shifting the blame.” [Happiness]
“So, you’re saying it’s my fault?” [Youki]
Just as another argument was about to kick off, Raven stepped in between us, showing me a note – probably telling me to calm down, as usual. When I looked, sure enough, it said, ‘Calm down’.
“Fine, we’ll settle this after we leave this place.” [Youki]
“…Roger that.” [Happiness]
“Where do you even pick up these phrases…” [Youki]
“I believe Tiel-chan is the one who spends time with her at the mansion. She also talks with other servants.” [Cecilia]
“…Are there any fellow servants who might be feeding her this knowledge?” [Youki]
Even though the conversation concerned Happiness, the person herself seemed uninterested. This was probably one of the seven mysteries of the Aquarain household.
“Please don’t say such ominous things…” [Cecilia]
“Oh, did I say that out loud?” [Youki]
“Yes, what’s this about a ‘seven mysteries’? There’s nothing like that in the place I live!” [Cecilia]
“Well, it was just a joke.” [Youki]
If we kept this up, we might get scolded again.
So, should we continue exploring the mansion together? Or read the room and separate? If we leave them alone, they might get close to each other, but what should we do?
In the end, as I was still undecided, I found myself exploring the place with them instead. I wasn’t sure if it was good or bad.
“…Maybe it was a bad choice.” [Youki]
From a distance, I could see Duke and Irene-san, who seemed to be arguing. Just as Irene-san was about to run off, Duke grabbed her arm to stop her.
What’s with those two? Are they actually having a romantic moment in public?
“Um, is something wrong?” [Cecilia]
“…A lovers’ quarrel.” [Happiness]
“Duke? I don’t want to think about it, but… could it be?” [Youki]
A note could be seen in Raven’s hand, asking the same thing as he couldn’t imagine Duke to be involved in a lover’s spat. I wasn’t sure if Raven was just oblivious, or if the two of them had kept their relationship hidden pretty well. Although, it was probably the former.
“I don’t really want to eavesdrop on a lovers’ quarrel.” [Youki]
“Lovers’ quarrel or not, you shouldn’t be eavesdropping at all.” [Cecilia]
“It depends on the time and place. Gathering information is important. Right, Raven?” [Youki]
But he responded by showing me a note that read, ‘Don’t drag me into this’, in huge letters.
“Ah, Irene-san noticed us.” [Youki]
She seemed to be pointing at me while nodding her head vigorously. It was almost as if she had finally found the person responsible for something. And soon enough, she started coming towards us as Duke chased after her. He looked like he was trying to stop her, reaching his hand out to her. It started to look more and more like a scene from a high school drama.
“Cecilia, I have a bad feeling about this.” [Youki]
“So do I.” [Cecilia]
“…Mutual mind reading.” [Happiness]
“Don’t go making up new words.” [Youki]
It wasn’t really the time for bantering. No sooner said than done, just as I had predicted, Irene-san stumbled and dived towards us. Normally, my body would’ve moved to catch Irene-san, but I found myself pulling Cecilia’s hand and shielding her instead. Honestly, what I did surprised even myself. Cecilia would’ve managed the predicament herself with ease without my help in the first place.
In the end, Duke caught up in time, so Irene-san didn’t end up getting hurt.
“Seriously, that’s why I told you to wait.” [Duke]
“S-Sorry. Are you okay?” [Irene]
“Y-Yes, I’m fine…” [Cecilia]
“M-Me too…” [Youki]
How long was I planning to hold her hand? The moment I made eye contact with Cecilia, I hastily let go. Thinking of how I was trying to act cool and protective of her made me feel flushed with embarrassment.
“…What kind of situation is this?”
“Raven!?” [Youki]
He actually spoke out loud in front of Cecilia and Irene-san. The latter frantically looked around as she didn’t know whose voice it was.
“Wait, Raven, hold on!” [Youki]
And just like that, Raven left us behind and ran off.
What kind of situation is this? That’s my question!
The entire situation was so sudden and baffling that I wanted to ask him that instead.
RinkageTranslation 
Thank you!
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