Mitsuha 117

117. Gossip: If pearl’s were weapons, Iris would be the King of Braves 1

(Note: The title is a reference of vintage anime “The King of Braves GaoGaiGar”)

“Ugh…” (Count Bozes)

Count Bozes, who was currently staying in the capital to attend social season, stopped his work, his face twitching after reading a single letter.

“Th-This is…” (Count Bozes)

The source of his anguish was a party invitation from Marchioness Tinoberg.

A letter inviting the Bozes couple. Had it been addressed to just him, there would be no problem.

However, Iris and Marchioness Tinoberg were the worst of rivals.

It wasn’t as if the Count had a bad relationship with the Tinoberg family, neither did Iris have discord with the Marquee.

On the contrary, the Count and Marquee shared a friendly relationship and would often socialize together with neighboring nobility and those of their own faction.

However, Marchioness Tinoberg and Countess Bozes were the complete opposite.

The Count didn’t know how the two came to hate each other, could it have been when they attended the noble girl’s school in the capital? Or was it because he courted Iris in front of the Marchioness before she met the Marquee…?

Marriage within nobility tended to be decided between houses regardless of will, therefore cases like the Count’s, where one would court without family intervention were rare. Especially considering Iris, who was the youngest child of a lower rank noble who was being courted by one from a Count house.

(Note: I added a few words for it to make sense, so that’s not direct translation from the raw)

(Okaz: Agreed, the writing seemed all over the place in this section and the upcoming one.)

Naturally, this had caused Iris to be gazed with jealousy by the noble girls.

Iris had attended the school for a short period of time to give her a chance to get used to socializing with people other than her family. The basic education was usually taught by vassals, servants, tutors, etc.

However the school was a cesspool of factions and power struggles and attendants were prohibited from discussing the opposite sex.

In contrast, Count Bozes youth was filled with things like practicing sword techniques, goofing around, and meeting lifelong friends, it seemed like the boy’s school he went to was more carefree. He had tried asking his wife what caused the dispute between her and Tinoberg but she refused to tell him.

(Note: What did he ask though? The cause of the discord between the two wives maybe?)

(Okaz: Probably, FUNA-Sensei sometimes forgets to ad context or explain things.)

Whatever happened in the past, the two were currently at each other’s throat.

If this was just a debutante or birthday party for someone else, they could at least ignore and avoid each other, they were at least sensible enough to do that.

However since Marquees Tinoberg was the host, they would at least have to meet each other once.

And since the Marquee and Count are friendly with each other, the invitation had to be sent out to both the Count and his wife.

Neither Iris nor Tinoberg could avoid each other this time.

The destructive clash between a dragon and manticore was close at hand, and Count Bozes could only pray.

(Note: What was his name again? Lol I faintly remember he introduced his name in the early chapters)

“I’ll go, of course” (Iris-sama)

“Eh…” (Count Bozes)

Are you sure about that? Are you really sure about that? I think it would be better if you just don’t go… (Count Bozes)

The count could not voice his thoughts as he accepted his fate.

“I can’t have her thinking I’m running away simply because the fight will be at a place where I am at a disadvantage.” (Iris)

“So you are saying there will be a fight…” (Count Bozes)

A sense of dread befell the Count.

When Iris becomes like this, nothing can stop her.

“If the place we will fight is to my disadvantage, then I simply need to make up for it with better weapons.” (Iris)

“Eh?” (Count Bozes)

The Count had no idea what his wife was saying.

However, looking at his wife’s smirk, he knew whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

Noble parties followed rules when it came to greeting. Rather than the host greeting all his guests as they arrive, they would wait until after enough guests had gathered and then proceed to greet everyone at once. Things were done like this because it was hard to greet everyone since guests tended to arrive late.

Arriving early was considered rude, so arriving late was done on purpose, and nobles tried to arrive around the time almost all invited guests had gathered and it was time for the greeting.

“Dear guests, welcome to my birthday party tonight” (?)

Marchioness Tinoberg appeared, accompanied by her husband the Marquee, on a stage and began her greetings. However, the count couldn’t help but feel uneasy as he saw how calm his wife seemed.

He gazed at his wife who resembled her appearance from when he first met her, she wore a simple light shawl dress with a section cut to accentuate her chest. Once the greeting from the Marchioness ended, she descended from the stage and made a bee-line to them.

(Aaaaaaaaaaa….) (Count Bozes Inner Scream)

There’s nothing I can do from here on out! (Count Bozes)

With that thought, the count braced himself.

Following the Marchioness, her husband bore the same defeated expression as the count.

“Ara, Countess Bozes, could you have come to celebrate my birthday?” (Tinoberg)

While they were former classmates, the two never referred to each other by their first name.

“Of course! I had heard the Marchioness managed to survive another year so I came to see if that was true, ho-ho-ho!” (Iris)

Bikku-! (Annoyed SFX)

A vein appeared on the Marchioness’s forehead.

“Ara-ara, ho-ho-ho!” (Marchioness Tinoberg)

“ “Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho” “ (Both ladies)

The only sounds were the two’s laughter as everyone else had stiffened, afraid to make a sound.

(I want to go home…) (Count Bozes)

“Right, my husband gave me this as a birthday present…” (Marchioness)

Saying so, the Marchioness, who was wearing a similar outfit to Iris, grabbed something from within her chest.

“ “ “ “Ooohhh!” “ “ “ (Crowds)

The crowd began to murmur.

What was taken out was a pendant adorned by a brilliant red ruby. It’s size was admirable, and the color glowed without any signs of impurities.

The Marchioness placed the pendant a top her hand so that it could be clearly seen, and held it in front of Iris, a shit-eating grin on her face.

When fighting, the two refrained from using their status and wealth as that was their husbands hard work and had nothing to do with their feud.

But this was different, that pendant belonged to her, and it represented how much her husband thought of her, in other words, it was [proof of her worth.]

The Marchioness, who wanted to see Iris wallow in defeat, began to feel uneasy as Iris remained calm, in fact, she was forming a small smirk of her own.

(…Eh?) (Marchioness)

Of course, this was all within Iris’s expectation.

By offering her maids a bonus, Iris managed to convince them to make friends with the maids who worked for Marquee Tinoberg.

The maids took the bait, as they craved for sweets and sundries of a certain shop, and by treating the maids of the Marquees to sweets, easily befriended them. Like this, those maids from house Tinoberg shared all the details regarding Marchiness Tinoberg, including the fact she had been gifted a beautiful pendant that bore a brilliant ruby.

This had all been planned by Iris.

“Ara, I also happened to receive a gift from my husband. However, it wasn’t for my birthday…” (Iris)

With that, Iris reached for something hiding under her shawl.

And what appeared from underneath was…

“ “ “ “……..” “ “ “ (Crowds)

An eerie silence befell the venue.

Yes, it was [That].

That which should not have existed in this world.

Something that even a queen would not be fit to wear, in fact, it was something that could only be adorned on a goddess.

A divine necklace formed of pearls, each shaped in perfect. large spheres and uniform color and grain.

(… I won!) (Iris-sama)

Iris’s lips curled into a mighty smirk as the Marchioness face stiffened.

(Note: Gosh do I hate stuffy kanjis. It’s difficult to determine the English word of it. I apologies if the writing style is a bit weird)

116 | TOC | 118