After having Lynn return to keep an eye on Felix's surroundings, Monica left the outdoor stage. It would look suspicious if she remained there any longer, especially since she was not a member of the stage crew.
As she approached the school building, Monica saw Elliot and Benjamin. While she was hesitating if she should greet them, Elliot noticed Monica and approached her.
"Hey, Miss Norton. Have you seen Cyril?"
"Lord Cyril? Well… I met him in the school building just after the festival just started… but I haven't seen him since then."
Usually, Vice President Cyril would follow Felix around… or rather, he always sticking close by his side, but today she haven's seen him together.
Rather, ever since she had received the ornament, Monica had not seen Cyril in the school building nor on the outdoor play.
Elliot furrowed his brow and stroked his chin.
"I'm not in a hurry, but there's something I need to check with Cyril about before the ball starts… I thought he was working with you, Miss Norton."
At Elliot's words, Monica widened her eyes while tilting her head in puzzlement.
"With me?"
"I mean, you two looked very close to me."
"Huh? But I thought Lord Cyril's more closer to you rather than me."
Now it's was Elliot's turn that had become amazed at Monica's words.
"Me and Cyril? You gotta be kidding me."
Next to the surprised Elliot, Benjamin clapped his hands as if he had realized something.
"Oh, right. You were just transferred to this academy recently, Miss Norton. No wonder you don't know how their relationship was last year."
"…huh?"
Did Cyril and Elliot treat each other differently last year than they do now?
As far as Monica knew, Cyril and Elliot seemed to be close as usual. Rather, Elliot seems to have a relatively relaxed attitude toward Cyril.
"I thought you two were friends…"
"Friends, really? Please cut me some slack."
Elliot frowned as he shook his head. Rather than displeasure, he seemed to be saying that he couldn't stand it.
Then, benjamin explained to the puzzled Monica how their relationship was.
"You know how Elliot advocates status supremacy, right? He is proud to be a noble, and at the same time, he doesn't like to see the common people stepping into the noble culture. For me, I'm very pleased to see that song made for common people is accepted by the nobles, but he's too hard-headed to accept it."
"I-I see…"
Monica also understood that.
Elliot does not like the idea of upper-class nobles mixing with middle or lower-class people. Not because he looked down on those in the middle or lower class, but because he thought it best not to encroach on each other's domain in order to do their duty.
That's why Elliot disliked Monica and even tried to remove her from the student council. Now, though, he seems to be putting it on hold.
"Um, but what relation that has to do with Lord Cyril…"
"Vice President Cyril Ashley is the adopted son of Marquis Highon. Although he's related to them by blood, his father apparently didn't have a peerage."
"Oh…"
Monica couldn't believe her ears for a moment. Of all the people Monica met, Cyril was the ‘most noble' person she knew. How he displays his dignified manner and his bearing. And how refined when he conducted himself.
So, she always thought he's a person born and grown in a noble family.
"T-Then, what is his connection with Lady Claudia…"
"Oh, the siblings are not related by blood. Miss Claudia is the only child of Marquis Highon, and Cyril was adopted to become their heir."
Now Monica began to understand their relationship.
Cyril was not a noble from born. And Elliot disliked "those who have climbed the ladder".
Benjamin continued to speak, waving his index finger as if he was conducting.
"Elliot didn't get along very well with Vice President Ashley, who had just risen ranks… more like he was the one who one-sidedly challenged him."
"Hey, hey, cut me some slack about the old days."
"Despite his one-sided challenge, Elliot lost the written test…"
"I.Said.Stop.it."
Elliot covered his face with one hand and motioned with his other hand.
She couldn't imagine the two of them being on bad terms, but she could sort of imagine Elliot picking on Cyril.
After all, Monica herself had been subjected to Elliott's verbal attack, telling her to ‘know your place.'
"After losing all competition in written exams, Elliot, in a very immature way, challenged Vice President Ashley to a chess match. At the time, Vice President Ashley was inexperienced in chess and could not compete with Elliot. Then he said, ‘How can you call yourself the Ashley family name if you can't even play chess properly?'"
"Hey… can we stop with this conversation? I'm aware that was not very mature of me."
Elliot awkwardly tried to make an excuse, but once Benjamin's mouth started to roll, he couldn't be stopped.
"However, Vice-President Ashley is also a very competitive person, so he did not keep quiet. After studying chess hard for almost a month without sleeping, he challenged Elliot to a rematch and got pretty close to beating him, but due to lack of sleep, he collapsed in the middle of the game… in the end, with President intervened, they made up with each other!"
Both Cyril and Elliot were different in personality, but their pride was equal to each other. It's not hard to imagine that when it comes to a competition, they get fired up and heated up.
When Monica nodded approvingly, Elliot expressed his frustration and made an excuse.
"It's not that I made up with him or anything, it's just that I acknowledged how hardworking he was…"
"And so a passionate friendship is formed! Disputes arising from differences in status! The new harmony that comes from competing and improving each other! Oh, it's coming, it's coming, it's coming! The melodies are pouring in! I can make a song out of this… a new song is about to be born…!"
Elliot looked up to the skies with a sad face at Benjamin, who had tripped into his own world halfway through.
"I told you, it's not about friendship or anything! Our relationship is just like I treat you, Miss Norton! It's just a temporary truce to see how things go for now! If he makes a mistake, I'm going to point and laugh at him and say, ‘Look at that, you former commoner!'"
"I-I see…"
Monica was not sure if she understood or not, but what she understood was they were not so close to being called friends.
Elliot made a bitter face as he messed up his neatly coiffed amber-colored hair.
"Ah, jeez… how did we end up having this conversation? Right. It's your fault, Miss Norton. It's because you mistakenly thought that Cyril and I were friends."
"I-I'm sorry…"
However, if someone asks Monica if Elliot and Cyril don't get along, she doesn't think so. Of course, she is not going to say it, because if she did, Elliott would be upset.
"In fact, Cyril is much closer to you than he is to me, isn't he, Miss Norton? I mean, you two work together a lot, and… didn't you two go around the school festival together today?"
"No, not really, I only saw him this morning…"
When Monica shook her head, Elliot turned his attention to the flower ornament on Monica's chest.
"But Cyril gave you that flower ornament, didn't he?"
"…? How can you tell?"
Come to think of it, she felt that Felix had said the same thing. As she rolled up the ribbon, wondering if Cyril's name was written somewhere on the flower decoration, Elliot rounded his eyes in amazement.
"What, you haven't heard of it? Floral ornaments are often matched to the color of the giver's hair and eyes. If the giver's hair color is plain like mine, he might pick a safe choice by choosing a good flower and attaching it to a brown ribbon. In Cyril's case, his hair and eyes quite stand out, so anyone can easily recognize it."
"I see…"
Monica looked down at the flower ornament on her chest carefully. The beautiful pure white roses and blue ribbon reminded her of Cyril's platinum blonde hair and deep blue eyes.
Suddenly, Monica had an idea.
"Oh, I understand… so it's that kind of ‘charm'."
"‘charm' what?"
Monica recalled a book she had once read in Minerva's library.
It is said that in a certain region in the southeastern part of the Ridill Kingdom, it was believed that by wearing a part of another person, one could borrow that person's power.
This flower ornament was a derivative of that, Monica thought.
"If one wears this flower ornament, one can borrow the power of the giver… In other words, it's a "charm" that allows you to act like that person!"
"Y-Yeah…?"
That's why Cyril had said that it was a charm to protect her from humiliation, Monica thought to herself.
If she could conduct herself as Cyril did, Monica would not disgrace herself at the ball.
"I'm feeling a little braver now… If I wear this ornament, I might be able to behave in a dignified manner like Lord Cyril…"
Elliot looked at Monica with a blank look on his face, but then he slowly bent over and held his stomach, his whole body shaking.
"Um, Lord Howard? D-Did you get a stomach ache?"
"No…huhu, hahahahahahaha…no, nothing…hahaha…but, imagining Miss Norton acting like Cyril…what's that, too funny…I can't stop, I'm dying of laughter… huhu!"
"L-Lord Howard? Lord Howard??"
Monica was flustered looking at the convulsing-like state of Elliot.
As Elliot slowly straightened up, he wiped the tears from his droopy eyes then said.
"As for the matter of me and Cyril being close, I'll put that to rest now. Now I have a good story to make fun of him for."
"…??"
"Anyway, that's it. If you see Cyril, please tell him I'm looking for him. I'll be on the first floor of the school building."
"O-Okay."
After giving a curt bow, Monica left the place with a quick pace
Elliot has a small smile on his mouth as he watched Monica's back.
Really, not only ‘him', but there's also Cyril or Miss Monica… why do I only get surrounded by strange people like them, I wonder.
Elliot Howard disliked anyone who is not noble to climb over the boundary of their statuses.
Nevertheless, it is also true that he can no longer deny everything about those who have climbed up.
"Still, I'm not a fan of commoner music. If you're going to write a song, make it a classy one, Benjamin."
Benjamin did not respond to Elliot's words. After all, he, who was scribbling notes on the ground with a tree branch, had long since tripped into the world of music.
