Book 3: Chapter 18: Lady Sophia's Wish Part 8
A few more weeks went by, and Prince Lancelot’s birthday party drew near once more just as it did the year before. Although it was a party held by a member of the Royal family, Prince Alforth, and His Majesty, the King threw parties as well. Therefore, it didn’t mean that each and every noble would be attending every single time. However, the majority of the Royal family would be attending Prince Lancelot’s party, and there was also a rumor that this year Her Highness Folcenia, who had never made an appearance at formal events before, would be coming as well. Therefore, this party in particular was gathering a lot of attention.
For that reason alone, Imperial Prince Harold and Imperial Princess Charlotte were bound to attend this party. Moreover, Imperial Prince Harold’s partner was to be his younger sister, Imperial Princess Charlotte. Thus, Lady Sophia and I were designated to be their respective guides, as usual.
However, this wasn't any sort of official decision. In other words, the prominent nobles of the country actually believed that Imperial Prince Harold would be accompanied by Lady Sophia. Once the party was over, the acknowledgement of Lady Sophia as one of his primary choices for an engagement would spread to an irrevocable degree.
With such a situation fast approaching, the morning of the upcoming party day arrived.
“Cyril, I’m disappointed in you,” Young Master Ernest said when he entered my room, where I was doing some final adjustments to the prototype device. “Didn’t you say that you’d protect Sophia?”
“I did say that, yes.”
“Then why aren’t you doing anything in this kind of situation? At this rate, everyone will think that Sophia has been chosen to be His Highness’ fianceé. Once that happens, it’ll be too late, you know?”
“It’s exactly as you say.”
Even if everyone acknowledged her as one of the candidates for the engagement, it was still possible to deny it later. It wasn’t like this world had developed an information network as vast as my previous world’s. I expected this information to be simply spread as hearsay, like in a game of telephone.